Wizards and Witchcraft/Harry Potter

Harry Potter and his lightning-shaped scar are introduced to us -- he is "the boy who lived" despite an ettempt on his life by the He-who-must-not-be-named, the great dark wizard who killed his parents and was stopped only by his failure to kill Harry.

His life with Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon is full of bullying and privation, but he is about to turn eleven -- the age at which his magical connections will take him up and begin his training into the arcane mysteries of Wizardry. see also review

Harry begins his second year at Hogwarts with a hair-raising rescue from the Dursleys and a flying car ride to school. As foreshadowed in the first book, Harry speaks snake, and while cats and kids are struck stiff by a mysterious racist menace, he is suspect.

Once again, Harry, Ron and Hermione must use wits and magic to win through and save Hogwarts, Harry's real home and family.

It's the end of school holidays and before Harry can return to Hogwarts, he needs to get a permission slip signed and get through dinner with Aunt Marge without illegally using magic.

Fortunately blowing up one's aunt isn't really irreversible and after a hectic ride on the triple-decker bus to the Leaky Cauldron he discovers another threat to his life, this time in the person of notorious Sirius Black, his own godfather.

Fourth form at Hogwarts. Dumbledore announces the revival of a grand competition that hasn't taken place for one hundred years: the Triwizard Tournament, where a Hogwarts champion will compete against rivals from two other schools of magic in three highly dangerous tasks. Then someone frames Harry to participate in the tournament-which really means someone wants him dead.

Harry is guided through the competition by Professor Alastor Moody, this year's Defenst Against the Dark Arts teacher, but he must also contend with a nasty reporter named Rita Skeeter, who digs up some highly unflattering secrets about Hagrid; a terrible fight with Ron, who is deeply jealous of Harry's fame; Hermione's newfound activism on behalf of house-elves; and the terrifying prospect of asking a date to the Yule Ball.

Dumbledore reactivates the Order of the Phoenix, a secret society which works to defeat the Dark Lord's minions and protect his targets--especially Harry Potter. But Harry doesn't want to be protected. Even as the Ministry of Magic denies his claims, The Daily Prophet discredits him, and even Dumbledore won't look him in the eye, Harry grows more and more determined to fight his lifelong enemy Voldemort--if only he had the "weapon" the Order is guarding.

When Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince opens, the war against Voldemort has begun. The Wizarding world has split down the middle, and as the casualties mount, the effects even spill over onto the Muggles. Dumbledore is away from Hogwarts for long periods, and the Order of the Phoenix has suffered grievous losses. And yet, as in all wars, life goes on.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione, having passed their O.W.L. level exams, start on their specialist N.E.W.T. courses. Sixth-year students learn to Apparate, losing a few eyebrows in the process. Teenagers flirt and fight and fall in love. Harry becomes captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, while Draco Malfoy pursues his own dark ends. And classes are as fascinating and confounding as ever, as Harry receives some extraordinary help in Potions from the mysterious Half-Blood Prince.

Voldemort takes control of the Ministry of Magic, installs Severus Snape as headmaster at Hogwarts, and sends his Death Eaters across the country to wreak havoc and find Harry. Meanwhile, Harry, Ron, and Hermione embark on a desperate quest the length and breadth of Britain, trying to locate and destroy Voldemort's four remaining Horcruxes, the magical objects in which he has hidden parts of his broken soul. They visit the Burrow, Grimmauld Place, the Ministry, Godric's Hollow, Malfoy Manor, Diagon Alley...

But every time they solve one mystery, three more evolve--and not just about Voldemort, but about Dumbledore, and Harry's own past, and three mysterious objects called the Deathly Hallows. The Hallows