Lesson Three

Like many battles, the Battle of Hogwarts can be divided up into several stages. This lesson will take a look at each stage and exactly what happened during that particular part of the battle.

Stage One: Arrivals

Before the fighting could begin, the fighters had to arrive. The first to arrive were Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger. After arriving in Hogsmeade and avoiding the Death Eaters with the help of Aberforth Dumbledore, they were greeted by their classmate, Neville Longbottom. Neville then led them through the only tunnel open in and out of Hogwarts, which connected a portrait of Ariana Dumbledore in the Hog's Head to the room of requirement. The foursome made their way made their way through the tunnel and arrived to a room full of Dumbledore's Army members. Once in the Room of Requirement, they were greeted with great excitement. The people there were ready and willing to help Harry in his fight against Voldemort. Harry finally realizes that he is not alone in this and agrees to accept their help. At this point members of the Order of the Phoenix are summoned to help with the battle as well.

Stage Two: The Search for Horcruxes

In the next stage, a quite crucial one, Harry sets off to find the horcrux he believes is hidden in Hogwarts. With the help of Luna Lovegood, Harry makes his way to the Ravenclaw common room where he hopes to locate the diadem. However, they are interrupted with the arrivals of Alecto and Amycus Carrow and Professor McGonagall. While Luna manages to take out one of the Carrows, the other insults Professor McGonagall by spitting in her face. This angers Harry enough to reveal himself and attack the remaining Carrow.

Meanwhile, Ron and Hermione are searching for a way to destroy the remaining horcruxes. They head off to the Chamber of Secrets where, using his memory of Harry speaking parseltongue, Ron is able to open the chamber. They make their way through and locate the dead Basilisk. They collect some of its fangs to use to destroy the remaining horcruxes. Hermione then destroys Helga Hufflepuff's cup, one of the horcruxes they already found, using one of the fangs.

Stage Three: Preparing to Fight

Once the Carrows are taken care of, Harry informs Professor McGonagall that Lord Voldemort is coming. Professor McGonagall gathers all of the Heads of House, as well as the members of the Order of the Phoenix that have arrived and the members of Dumbledore's Army. Together they form a plan to hold off Lord Voldemort as long as possible, buying Harry the time he needs to locate the final horcrux. They divide up the castle and start setting up protective enchantments. Students were led to fight on the tallest towers by Professor Flitwick, McGonagall, and Sprout. Others were taken out onto the grounds by Arthur Weasley, Kingsley Shacklebolt, and Remus Lupin. The secret tunnels are defended by the Weasley twins. The Death Eaters were arriving and preparing to fight during this time.

Stage Four: The Fighting Begins

At the beginning of the fighting, Lord Voldemort makes those in the castle an offer. If they turned Harry Potter over to him, he would not attack. No one besides Slytherin students were willing to consider this. Professor McGonagall ordered Slytherin students to leave the castle. Also leaving were all students who did not want to fight or were not of age. They were escorted out of the castle by Madam Pomfrey and Argus Filch. Some who were not of age, however, remained behind.

When they refused to hand Harry over, the fighting began. The castle became under attack by Death Eaters and their allies discussed in the previous lesson. Those fighting for Hogwarts were able to hold off the Death Eaters for some time, but it was not without casualties.

Meanwhile, in the Room of Requirement, Harry, Ron, and Hermione are searching for Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem. However, they were met by Draco Malfoy, Gregory Goyle, and Vincent Crabbe who then attacked then. Crabbe attempted to use Fiendfyre against them, which only backfired. They entire room was set engulfed in uncontrollable flames. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were able to locate brooms and escape the flames while rescuing Malfoy and Goyle in the process. The diadem was destroyed by the fire. This meant that only one known horcrux remained: Nagini. Harry was able to discover, using his connection with Voldemort, that Lord Voldemort was currently in the Shrieking Shack. The trio headed their immediately, but were slowed up by the arrival of Dementors. However, they were saved by Luna Lovegood, Seamus Finnigan, and Ernie Macmillan. They arrived at the shack just in time to witness the death of Severus Snape by Nagini, who was acting on Lord Voldemort's orders. Voldemort did not think the Elder Wand was working for him because Snape had been the one to kill Dumbledore. He therefore had to kill Snape. Once Lord Voldemort had left, Harry rushed over to Snape, but there was nothing that could be done. Snape transferred his memories over to Harry and died soon after. Lord Voldemort then called a temporary end to the fighting. Casualties in this stage: Colin Creevey, Fred Weasley, Nymphadora Tonks, Remus Lupin, Severus Snape, Vincent Crabbe.

Stage Five: A Pause in Fighting

Lord Voldemort then made another announcement to those fighting. He ordered that they stop fighting for an hour and the Death Eaters retreat. He told Harry that he would wait for him in the Forbidden Forest. If Harry did not arrive in the forest in that hour, Lord Voldemort would attack the castle with his Death Eaters.

During the break, those that had survived the battle thus far, gathered in the Great Hall to mourn those that had not made it. Harry, however, goes to the headmaster's office in search of Albus Dumbledore's pensieve. Once there, he pours Snape's memories inside it. What he sees is Snape's great love for his mother, Lily. When Snape had learned that Lord Voldemort planned to attack Lily, he sought help from Dumbledore. Snape agreed to work as a double agent to keep Lily safe. It is revealed how devastated he was at her death and how he continued to work for Albus Dumbledore. The memories also show Harry that Dumbledore's death had been planned all along. Harry learns that he has to die in order for Lord Voldemort to be defeated. Harry leaves the headmaster's office under the cover of his invisibility cloak and makes his way through the castle. He passes those removing the dead from the grounds, but continues on without speaking to anyone. He then arrives in the Forbidden Forest to face Lord Voldemort one final time.

Stage Six: Facing Lord Voldemort

Before Harry reaches Lord Voldemort and the Death Eaters, he opens the golden snitch left to him by Albus Dumbledore. Inside he finds the resurrection stone. Turning it over in his hand three times, Harry recalls his parents, Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin. After they reassure him that they will stay with him and that death does not hurt, Harry continues on his way to Voldemort. Lord Voldemort does not waste much time and attacks Harry with the killing curse. However, Harry survives it and is merely knocked out for a few moments. During these moments, he has a "conversation" in his head with Albus Dumbledore. Dumbledore informs him that he has the choice of dying or living. Harry chooses to live and wakes up. Lord Voldemort sends Narcissa Malfoy over to make sure that Harry was truly dead. Narcissa, however, is more concerned for her son's safety. She realizes that Harry is alive, but instead of telling the others, she asks if Draco is safe. When Harry tells her that he is, she lies to Lord Voldemort and the other Death Eaters, telling them that Harry is dead. Rubeus is then made to pick up what he believes is Harry's dead body and carry it back to the castle with the Death Eaters and Lord Voldemort.

Stage Seven: Revelations and the Fighting Continues

When they reach the castle, the defenders of the castle are waiting. Lord Voldemort tells them that Harry Potter is dead and they see his body in Hagrid's arms. When the defenders see this, they yell out in anger. Neville Longbottom tries to attack Lord Voldemort, but is not successful. Lord Voldemort uses a full body bind curse on him and places the sorting hat on his head.

At this point, the Death Eaters come under attack again. This time it is by the centaurs of the Forbidden Forest and Grawp. Fighting resumes and Harry uses this time to put his invisibility cloak back on and wait. Neville was able to pull Godric Gryffindor's sword out of the hat and used it to cut off the head of Nagini, Lord Voldemort's final horcrux. Hogwarts forces now extremely out number Lord Voldemort's allies. During the hour-long break, more Hogwarts supporters arrived such as those who lived in Hogsmeade and the families of those fighting. Kreacher also led the house elves into battle in the name of Regulus Black, one of his previous owners. Fighting is then moved into the Great Hall where many of the Death Eaters fight their last battles. Antonin Dolohov, Augustus Rookwood, Fenrir Greyback, Pius Thicknesse, Walden Macnair, and Yaxley are all defeated by the Hogwarts fighters. The final two showdowns occur during this stage. When Bellatrix Lestrange uses a killing curse against Ginny Weasley, Molly Weasley steps in to protect Ginny and fight Bellatrix herself. The two dueled and Molly finally managed to kill Bellatrix. This greatly angered Lord Voldemort, who turned away from Professors Slughorn and McGonagall and Kingsley Shacklebolt, who had been fighting, to attack Molly. However, before he could attack her, Harry cast a shield charm protecting Molly. He then revealed himself, shocking all of those watching, including Lord Voldemort. The two began to taunt each other during which Harry reveals the truth about Snape to Lord Voldemort. They then duel. Lord Voldemort uses the killing curse against Harry, but because Harry is the true master of the Deathly Hallows, the curse rebounds on Lord Voldemort and kills him, thus ending the battle.