As we all eagerly wait to watch the conclusion of Harry Potter, here's a quick recap of the first seven films to get you up to speed:
1. Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone
Just before his 11th birthday, a lonely orphan named Harry Potter learns that he is a wizard. Swept away from his miserable existence with cruel relatives, he is admitted into Hogwarts School of Witching and Wizardry.
There, he learns that he is special even among wizards, the only person to have ever survived an attack by Voldemort. Harry might have been a baby at the time, but Voldemort was defeated and Harry was left with nothing but a lightning-shaped scar on his forehead.
At school he makes two good friends, Ron and Hermione, a couple of enemies and learns that Voldemort is not as dead as was previously thought.
2. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets
Forced to spend his summer holidays with his muggle relatives, Harry gets a real shock when he gets a surprise visitor - Dobby the house-elf, who warns Harry against returning to Hogwarts. Harry decides to ignore Dobby's warning. At Hogwarts, strange and terrible things are indeed happening: Harry is suddenly hearing mysterious voices from inside the walls, muggle-born students are being attacked, and a message scrawled on the wall in blood puts everyone on their guard.
To solve the mystery of the Chamber of Secrets, Harry has to battle giant spiders, a violent tree and a gargantuan snake. Fortunately, our young bespectacled wizard has help in the form of ghosts, an enchanted car, a hat, a phoenix, and, of course, Ron and Hermione.
3. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban
Hogwarts is under lockdown because a dangerous prisoner, Sirius Black, has escaped from the Azkaban prison and wants to kill Harry to avenge the Dark Lord. To worsen the conditions for Harry, vile shape-shifters called Dementors are appointed to guard the school gates and inexplicably happen to have the most horrible effect on him.
Harry, Hermione and Ron cross paths with a man who can turn into a large dog, a man who can turn into a rat and a man who turns into a werewolf. Hermione’s special secret to taking twice as many classes as is humanely possible becomes the solution to saving the day after it is too late.
4. Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire
It is Harry’s fourth year at Hogwarts and there is to be an interschool competition. Hogwarts is hosting 'The Triwizard Tournament', a magical tournament between three well-known schools of magic - Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. The contestants have to be above the age of 17, and are chosen by a magical object called the Goblet of Fire. On the night of selection, however, the Goblet spews out four names instead of the usual three, with Harry unwittingly being selected as the Fourth Champion.
It looks like Harry might win, until in the final challenge he comes face-to-face with Voldemort again, stronger than when Harry last beat him. Their confrontation results in the first death of a Hogwarts student.
5. Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix
The fight between good and evil is no longer between Harry and Voldemort. Though most witches and wizards are in denial about what is happening, Voldemort’s old followers know he is back and are eager to win back his favour. Dumbledore and the other wizards, known as the Order of the Phoenix, is also preparing to fight on the side of good.
Harry also meets his first love interest Cho Chang.
6. Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince
Love is in the air as Harry and Hermione find they are each in love with a Weasley. Harry’s affection for Ron’s sister, Ginnie, is reciprocated, but Ron is as unaware of Hermione’s feelings for him as of his own for her. Dumbledore goes from being a kindly but removed presence in Harry’s life to an equal, asking the boy for help on his crusade to stop Voldemort.
They share a quest, their first and last, and the film ends with Dumbledore’s shocking assassination. Destroyed, Harry is determined not to return to Hogwarts the next year, but to continue the search for and destroy the bits of Voldemort’s soul the dark wizard has hidden throughout the world.
7. Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 1
Following Dumbledore's death, Voldemort completes his ascension to power and gains control of the Ministry of Magic. A reverse witch hunt is in full fledge to weed out members of the magical world who are not pure blood witches and wizards.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione decide to finish Dumbledore's work and find the rest of the Horcruxes to defeat the Dark Lord. A Horcrux is a very powerful object in which Voldermort has hidden a fragment of his or her soul for the purpose of attaining immortality.
The trio repeatedly encounter a strange symbol, that an eccentric wizard named Xenophilius Lovegood tells them represents the mythical Deathly Hallows. The Hallows are three sacred objects: the Resurrection Stone, with the power to summon the dead to the living world; the Elder Wand, an unbeatable wand; and an infallible Invisibility Cloak.
According to legend, he who possesses these three artefacts would become the Master of Death. Dumbledore told Harry that this means that the uniter of the Deathly Hallows would be invincible.
