HSWAW Background Information

The novels revolve around Harry Potter, an orphan who discovers that he is a wizard. Wizard ability is inborn, but children are sent to wizarding school to learn the magical skills necessary to succeed in the wizarding world. Harry is invited to attend the boarding school Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Each book chronicles one year in Harry's life, and most of the events take place at Hogwarts. As he struggles through adolescence, Harry learns to overcome many magical, social, and emotional hurdles. 

Flashbacks throughout the series reveal that when Harry was a baby, he witnessed his parents' murder by Lord Voldemort, a fascist Dark wizard obsessed with racial purity. For reasons not immediately revealed, Voldemort's attempt to kill Harry rebounds. Voldemort is seemingly killed and Harry survives with only a lightning-shaped mark on his forehead as a memento of the attack. As its inadvertent saviour from Voldemort's reign of terror, Harry becomes a living legend in the wizard world. At the orders of his patron, the wizard Albus Dumbledore, Harry is placed in the home of his Muggle (non-wizard) relatives, who keep him completely ignorant of his true heritage.

The first novel in the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, begins near Harry's 11th birthday. Half-giant Rubeus Hagrid reveals Harry's history and introduces him to the wizarding world. The world J. K. Rowling created is both completely separate from and yet intimately connected to the real world. While the fantasy world of Narnia is an alternative universe and the Lord of the Rings’ Middle-earth a mythic past, the Wizarding world of Harry Potter exists alongside that of the real world and contains magical elements similar to things in the non-magical world. Many of its institutions and locations are in places which are recognisable in the real world, such as London. It comprises a fragmented collection of hidden streets, overlooked and ancient pubs, lonely country manors and secluded castles that remain invisible to the non-magical population of Muggles.

With Hagrid's help, Harry prepares for and undertakes his first year of study at Hogwarts. As Harry begins to explore the magical world, the reader is introduced to many of the primary locations used throughout the series. Harry meets most of the main characters and gains his two closest friends: Ron Weasley, a kind-hearted member of an ancient wizarding family, and Hermione Granger, an obsessively bookish witch of non-magical parentage. Harry also encounters the school's potions master, Severus Snape, who appears to have a deep-seated and irrational hatred of him. The plot concludes with Harry's second confrontation with Lord Voldemort, who in his quest for immortality, yearns to gain the power of the Philosopher's Stone.

The series continues with Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets describing Harry's second year at Hogwarts. He and his friends investigate a 50-year-old mystery that appears tied to recent sinister events at the school. The novel delves into the history of Hogwarts and a legend revolving around the "Chamber of Secrets", the underground lair of an ancient evil. For the first time, Harry realizes that racial prejudice exists in the wizarding world, and he learns that Voldemort's reign of terror was often directed at wizards who were descended from Muggles. Harry is also shocked to learn that he can speak Parseltongue, the language of snakes; this rare ability is often equated with the dark arts. The novel ends after Harry saves the life of Ron's younger sister, Ginny Weasley, by defeating an attempt by Voldemort to reincarnate himself through the memories he stored within a diary.

The third novel, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, follows Harry in his third year of magical education. It is the only book in the series which does not feature Voldemort. Instead, Harry must deal with the knowledge that he has been targeted by Sirius Black, an escaped murderer believed to have assisted in the deaths of Harry's parents. As Harry struggles with his reaction to the dementors—dark creatures with the power to devour a human soul—which are ostensibly protecting the school, he reaches out to Remus Lupin, a Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher with a dark secret. Lupin teaches Harry defensive measures which are well above the level of magic generally shown by people his age. Harry learns that both Lupin and Black were close friends of his father and that Black was framed by their fourth friend, Peter Pettigrew.

During Harry's fourth year of school, detailed in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire , Harry unwillingly participates in the Triwizard Tournament, a dangerous magical contest. The plot centres on Harry's attempt to discover who has forced him to compete in the tournament and why. An anxious Harry is guided through the tournament by Professor Alastor Moody, the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. The point at which the mystery is unravelled marks the series' shift from foreboding and uncertainty into open conflict. The novel ends with the resurgence of Voldemort and the death of a student.

In the fifth book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry must confront the newly resurfaced Voldemort. In response to Voldemort's reappearance, Dumbledore re-activates the Order of the Phoenix, a secret society which works to defeat Voldemort's minions and protect Voldemort's targets, including Harry. The Order includes many of the adults Harry trusts, including Lupin, Black, and members of the Weasley family. Despite Harry's description of Voldemort's recent activities, the Ministry of Magic and many others in the magical world refuse to believe that Voldemort has returned.

In an attempt to enforce their version of curriculum, the Ministry appoints Dolores Umbridge as the new director of Hogwarts. She transforms the school into a quasi-dictatorial regime and refuses to allow the students to learn ways to defend themselves against dark magic. Harry forms a secret study group and begins to teach his classmates the higher-level skills he has learned. The novel introduces Harry to Luna Lovegood, an airy young witch with a tendency to believe in oddball conspiracy theories. Moreover, it reveals an important prophecy concerning Harry and Voldemort. Harry also discovers that he and Voldemort have a telepathic connection, allowing Harry to view some of Voldemort's actions. In the novel's climax, Harry and his school friends face off against Voldemort's Death Eaters. The timely arrival of members of the Order of the Phoenix saves the children's lives and allows many of the Death Eaters to be captured.

The sixth book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, shows clearly that Voldemort is leading another wizarding war, which has become so violent that even Muggles have noticed some of its effects. Harry is relatively protected from the danger as he completes his sixth year at Hogwarts. At the beginning of the novel, he stumbles upon an old potions textbook filled with annotations and recommendations signed by a mysterious writer, the Half-Blood Prince. While the shortcuts written in the book help Harry to finally excel at potions, he eventually realizes that some of the spells have evil results.

Harry also participates in private tutoring sessions with Albus Dumbledore, who shows him various memories concerning the early life of Voldemort. These sessions reveal that Voldemort's soul is splintered into a series of horcruxes, evil enchanted items hidden in various locations.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the last book in the series, begins directly after the events of the sixth book. Following Dumbledore's death, Voldemort has completed his ascension to power and gains control of the Ministry of Magic. Harry, Ron, and Hermione drop out of school so that they can find and destroy Voldemort's remaining horcruxes. To ensure their own safety as well as that of their family and friends, they are forced to isolate themselves. As they search for the horcruxes, the trio learn details about Dumbledore's past, as well as Snape's true motives.

The book culminates in a giant battle at Hogwarts. Harry, Ron, and Hermione, in conjunction with members of the Order of the Phoenix and many of the teachers and students, defend Hogwarts from Voldemort, his Death Eaters, and various magical creatures. Several major characters are killed in the first wave of the battle. In an effort to save the survivors, Harry surrenders himself to Voldemort, who attempts to kill Harry. The battle resumes as the parents of many Hogswarts students and residents of the nearby village Hogsmeade arrive to reinforce the Order of the Phoenix. With the last horcrux destroyed, Harry is able to kill Voldemort. An epilogue describes the lives of the surviving characters and reveals that peace has returned to the wizarding world.

-wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter

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Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry