The Deathly Hallows Read online

  HARRY

  POTTER

  and the Deathly Hallows

  J.K. ROWLING

  All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher

  This digital edition first published by Pottermore Limited in 2012

  First published in print in Great Britain in 2007 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

  Copyright © J. K. Rowling 2007

  Cover illustrations by Claire Melinsky copyright © J.K. Rowling 2010

  Harry Potter characters, names and related indicia are trademarks of and © Warner Bros. Ent.

  J.K. Rowling has asserted her moral rights

  The extract from The Libation Bearers is taken from the Penguin Classics edition of The Oresteia, translated by Robert Fagles, copyright © Robert Fagles, 1966, 1967, 1975, 1977

  The extract from More Fruits of Solitude is taken from More Fruits of Solitude by William Penn, first included in Everyman's Library, 1915

  A CIP catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library

  ISBN 978-1-78110-013-4

  www.pottermore.com

  by J.K. Rowling

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  The

  dedication

  of this book

  is split

  seven ways:

  to Neil,

  to Jessica,

  to David,

  to Kenzie,

  to Di,

  to Anne,

  and to you,

  if you have

  stuck

  with Harry

  until the

  very

  end.

  Oh, the torment bred in the race,

  the grinding scream of death

  and the stroke that hits the vein,

  the hemorrhage none can staunch, the grief,

  the curse no man can bear.

  But there is a cure in the house,

  and not outside it, no,

  not from others but from them,

  their bloody strife. We sing to you,

  dark gods beneath the earth.

  Now hear, you blissful powers underground —

  answer the call, send help.

  Bless the children, give them triumph now.

  Aeschylus, The Libation Bearers

  Death is but crossing the world, as friends do the seas; they live in one another still. For they must needs be present, that love and live in that which is omnipresent. In this divine glass, they see face to face; and their converse is free, as well as pure. This is the comfort of friends, that though they may be said to die, yet their friendship and society are, in the best sense, ever present, because immortal.

  William Penn, More Fruits of Solitude

  CONTENTS

  ONE

  The Dark Lord Ascending

  TWO

  In Memoriam

  THREE

  The Dursleys Departing

  FOUR

  The Seven Potters

  FIVE

  Fallen Warrior

  SIX

  The Ghoul in Pyjamas

  SEVEN

  The Will of Albus Dumbledore

  EIGHT

  The Wedding

  NINE

  A Place to Hide

  TEN

  Kreacher’s Tale

  ELEVEN

  The Bribe

  TWELVE

  Magic is Might

  THIRTEEN

  The Muggle-Born Registration Commission

  FOURTEEN

  The Thief

  FIFTEEN

  The Goblin’s Revenge

  SIXTEEN

  Godric’s Hollow

  SEVENTEEN

  Bathilda’s Secret

  EIGHTEEN

  The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore

  NINETEEN

  The Silver Doe

  TWENTY

  Xenophilius Lovegood

  TWENTY-ONE

  The Tale of the Three Brothers

  TWENTY-TWO

  The Deathly Hallows

  TWENTY-THREE

  Malfoy Manor

  TWENTY-FOUR

  The Wandmaker

  TWENTY-FIVE

  Shell Cottage

  TWENTY-SIX

  Gringotts

  TWENTY-SEVEN

  The Final Hiding Place

  TWENTY-EIGHT

  The Missing Mirror

  TWENTY-NINE

  The Lost Diadem

  THIRTY

  The Sacking of Severus Snape

  THIRTY-ONE

  The Battle of Hogwarts

  THIRTY-TWO

  The Elder Wand

  THIRTY-THREE

  The Prince’s Tale

  THIRTY-FOUR

  The Forest Again

  THIRTY-FIVE

  King’s Cross

  THIRTY-SIX

  The Flaw in the Plan

  EPILOGUE

  Nineteen Years Later

  — CHAPTER ONE —

  The Dark Lord Ascending

  The two men appeared out of nowhere, a few yards apart in the narrow, moonlit lane. For a second they stood quite still, wands directed at each other’s chests; then, recognising each other, they stowed their wands beneath their cloaks and started walking briskly in the same direction.

  ‘News?’ asked the taller of the two.

  ‘The best,’ replied Severus Snape.

  The lane was bordered on the left by wild, low-growing brambles, on the right by a high, neatly manicured hedge. The men’s long cloaks flapped around their ankles as they marched.

  ‘Thought I might be late,’ said Yaxley, his blunt features sliding in and out of sight as the branches of overhanging trees broke the moonlight. ‘It was a little trickier than I expected. But I hope he will be satisfied. You sound confident that your reception will be good?’

  Snape nodded, but did not elaborate. They turned right, into a wide driveway that led off the lane. The high hedge curved with them, running off into the distance beyond the pair of impressive wrought-iron gates barring the men’s way. Neither of them broke step: in silence both raised their left arms in a kind of salute and passed straight through as though the dark metal were smoke.

  The yew hedges muffled the sound of the men’s footsteps. There was a rustle somewhere to their right: Yaxley drew his wand again, pointing it over his companion’s head, but the source of the noise proved to be nothing more than a pure white peacock, strutting majestically along the top of the hedge.

  ‘He always did himself well, Lucius. Peacocks …’ Yaxley thrust his wand back under his cloak with a snort.

  A handsome manor house grew out of the darkness at the end of the straight drive, lights glinting in the diamond-paned downstairs windows. Somewhere in the dark garden beyond the hedge, a fountain was playing. Gravel crackled beneath their feet as Snape and Yaxley sped towards the front door, which swung inwards at their approach, though nobody had visibly opened it.

  The hallway was large, dimly lit and sumptuously decorated, with a magnificent carpet covering most of the stone floor. The eyes of the pale-faced portraits on the walls followed Snape and Yaxley as they strode past. The two men halted at a heavy wooden door leading into the next room, hesitated for the space of a heartbeat, then Snape turned the bronze handle.

  The drawing room was full of silent people, sitting at a long and ornate table. The room’s usual furniture had been pushed carelessly up against t