When the first book in the Harry Potter series, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone" (or "Philosopher’s Stone" if you’re in the U.K.), released back in 1997, it was easy enough to be a Potterhead. All one had to do in the first few years of Potter-mania was keep up with the books, and you were as well-versed on the Wizarding World as anyone. However, it’s been a long time since Potter lore was contained merely to the pages of J.K. Rowling’s seven Harry Potter novels, and her tales have since spawned theme parks, supplemental literature, a play, countless websites, and of course, the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts film franchises.

If you’ve kept up with the films, you know that while the Harry Potter movies stick pretty closely to the books, they do take some liberties here and there. Meanwhile, the Fantastic Beasts films are creating their narrative almost from whole cloth, with characters and storylines that never existed in the Potterverse prior to the films. Because it can keep track of ten films worth of story spanning over a century’s worth of events, we’ve put together a detailed timeline of every event that takes place (or is implied to take place, or would’ve had to take place in order for other things to take place) within the Harry Potter movie-verse.

Of course, films don’t tend to hand out a lot of precise dates, so we’ve had to do some investigative work in order to pin down when a lot of these took place. Most of the time, we could use the dates from Wizarding World or the Harry Potter Wiki (many thanks to the folks who help keep both of those sites updated and well sourced) to help fill in the blanks, although sometimes when their dates seemed to conflict with what was presented in the films, we had to take an educated guess. As such, it’s always possible there’s a line or visual clue we missed here and there that would alter one of our listed dates, or a minor event we forgot to include, and of course there are more Fantastic Beasts movies still to come which could -- and almost certainly will - alter and add to this timeline. So take this more as a general guide than an irrefutable, all-inclusive roadmap to the Harry Potter series.

That said, we think we’re pretty close.

Obviously, spoilers abound:

Ancient History and Hogwarts Founders

382 B.C.

• An ancestor of Garrick Ollivander set up the first wand stall in the U.K., which would eventually become Ollivanders wand shop.

First Millennium

Sometime during the Middle Ages (476-1492):

• Durmstrang Institute is established in Scandinavia

962

• First recorded use of flying broomsticks in Europe.

Sometime before 976:

• Salazar Slytherin is born.
• Godric Gryffindor is born.
• Rowena Ravencalw is born.
• Helga Hufflepuff is born.

990

• Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is established in Scotland
• Castelobruxo is established in Brazil (it is a matter of some contention which school came first)

993

• Salazar Slytherin creates the Chamber of Secrets beneath Hogwarts

Middle Ages

Late 10th Century

• Helga Hufflepuff creates her magical cup.
• Rowena Ravenclaw creates her magical diadem, enchanting it to increase the wearer’s intelligence.
• Salazar Slytherin creates his magical locket, enchanting it so that only a Parseltongue can open it.
• Helena Ravenclaw is born. She will later attend Hogwarts, and be sorted into Ravenclaw House.

11th Century

• While discussing how students will continue to be sorted at Hogwarts once the founders have died, Godric Gryffindor removes the hat from his head and the four founders enchant it with their combined intelligence. From then on, Hogwarts first-years were sorted into their Houses by the Sorting Hat.
• Helena Ravenclaw steals her mother’s diadem and runs away from Hogwarts. When the Baron of Slytherin House, who is in love with her, is sent to find her, she hides the diadem. Upon being rejected by Helena, the Baron stabs her to death, then kills himself. The two then become the ghosts of Ravenclaw House (the Grey Lady) and Slytherin House (the Bloody Baron).
• Rowena Ravenclaw dies.
• Helga Hufflepuff dies.
• Salazar Slytherin dies.
• Godric Gryffindor dies.

13th Century

• Prior to 1214
  • Antioch Peverell is born
  • Cadmus Peverell is born
• July 12, 1214
  • Ignotus Peverell is born
• The three Peverell brothers each receive or create a powerful magical object. Antioch receives the Elder wand, the most powerful wand in existence. Cadmus receives the Resurrection Stone, which has the power to bring back the dead. And Ignotus receives the Cloak of Invisibility, which has the power to hide the wearer from detection. Legends say that these objects, which came to be known as the Deathly Hallows, were gifts from Death himself, but Albus Dumbledore believes they were created by the brothers, who were themselves powerful wizards.
• Sometime prior to 1290
  • Beauxbatons Academy of Magic is founded in France
• Prior to 1292
  • Antioch Peverell is killed in his sleep the night after winning his first duel with the Elder Wand.
  • Cadmus Peverell dies by hanging himself after discovering that the Resurrection Stone is only able to bring back a spirit version of the girl he loved.
• 1292
  • May 19
    • Ignotus Peverell dies
• c. 1294
• The first Triwizard Tournament is held between Hogwarts, Durmstrang, and Beauxbatons

14th Century

• Between 1300-1326
  • Nicolas Flamel is born.
• After slowly evolving over the course of several hundred years, the first games of modern Quidditch are played with the introduction of the Golden Snitch.
• Nicolas Flamel creates the Sorcerer’s Stone.

15th Century

• The fortress of Azkaban is constructed in the North Sea.
• 1474
  • Gringott’s Bank is established by a goblin named Gringott.
• 1492
  • October 31
    • Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington is executed via a botched decapitation. Fearing death, Nicholas decides to remain a ghost rather than moving on, and becomes the Gryffindor House ghost, Nearly-Headless Nick.

Early Modern Period

16th Century

• The Leaky Cauldron is established, along with the rest of Diagon Alley

17th Century

• 1627
  • Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is founded in the United States
• 1637
  • October
    • Armando Dippet is born.
• 1654
  • Flourish and Blotts bookshop is established on Diagon Alley.
  • Scourers, rogue wizarding mercenaries, begin operating in North America, tracking down anyone for whom a significant bounty was offered.

• 1693
  • The Magical Congress of the United States of America is founded.
  • The MACUSA begins rounding up Scourers and bringing them to justice.
  • At least one of the Scourers escaped, an ancestor of Mary Lou Barebone.

18th Century

• Azkaban is put into use as a magical detention facility.
• 1743
  • The Daily Prophet begins producing newspapers.
• 1792
  • The Triwizard Tournament is suspended indefinitely when the Heads of all three schools were injured by a rampaging cockatrice.

19th Century

• Mykew Gregorovitch is born.
• Gregorovitch acquires the Elder Wand and attempts to duplicate its powers.
• 1830
  • The first Hogwarts Express railway station is constructed in Hogsmeade.
• 1848
  • Steen National Bank is established at 1790 6th Avenue in New York.
• 1850
  • King’s Cross Station first opens in London. Unbeknownst to its Muggle creators, the Ministry of Magic adds the concealed magical Platform 9 ¾ to allow the Hogwarts Express to transport students to and from Hogwarts.
• Prior to 1854
  • Henry Shaw, Sr. is born.
• 1863
  • The antique shop Borgin and Burkes is established on Knockturn Alley.
• 1865
  • The Knight Bus is first commissioned.
• Prior to 1867
  • Laurena Kama is born.
• 1875
  • Henry Shaw, Sr. founds Shaw News, whose papers include the New-York Clarion.

• Late 1879s to early 1880s
  • Gellert Grindelwald is born.
• Prior to 1879
  • Corvus Lestrange IV is born.
• Prior to 1880
  • Clarisse Tremblay is born.
• Late 1880s or early 1890s
  • Gellert Grindelwald is accepted to Durmstrang Institute
• Summer, 1881
  • Albus Dumbledore is born
• Sometime between 1882 - 1913
  • Horace Slughorn is born
• 1883
  • The format of modern Quidditch pitches are finalized.
• Sometime between September 1, 1883 and August 31, 1884
  • Aberforth Dumbledore is born.
• Prior to 1884
  • Laurena Kama marries Mustafa Kama.
• 1884
  • Yusuf Kama is born.

• 1885
  • Ariana Dumbledore is born.
• c. 1888
  • Theseus Scamander is born.
• c. 1889
  • Minerva McGonagall is born.
• Prior to 1890
  • Henry Shaw, Jr. is born.
• Between 1890 and 1908
  • Langdon Shaw is born.
• 1891
  • The Mirror of Erised is moved into the Room of Requirement.
• 1895
  • Aberforth Dumbledore enrolls at Hogwarts.
• Prior to 1896
  • Corvus Lestrange IV uses the Imperius Curse to force the already married Laurena Kama to marry him against her will. Laurena becomes pregnant with Leta Lestrange.
• 1896
  • Leta Lestrange is born.
  • Laurena Kama dies.
  • Three months after Laurena Kama’s death, Corvus Lestrange IV marries Clarisse Tremblay.

• 1897
  • February 24
    • Newt Scamander is born.
• Prior to 1899
  • Gellert Grindelwald is expelled from Durmstrang Institute.
• 1899
  • Albus Dumbledore graduates from Hogwarts.
  • Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald meet and have an intense two-month relationship.
  • Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald swear a Blood Pact to never fight one another.
  • Aberforth Dumbledore get into a duel with Gellert Grindelwald. Albus intervenes, and Ariana Dumbledore is killed.

Early 20th Century: The Rise of Grindelwald

• Between 1899 and 1926
  • Gellert Grindelwald steals the Elder Wand from Gregorovitch’s wand shop.
• Gellert Grindelwald builds Nurmengard Castle.
• 1900
  • Jacob Kowalski is born.
  • Clarisse Tremblay becomes pregnant.
• 1901
  • Aurelius Dumbledore is born.
  • Corvus Lestrange V is born.
  • Clarisse Lestrange dies.
  • Yusuf Kama swears an Unbreakable Vow to kill the infant Corvus Lestrange V as retribution for the kidnapping, rape, and death of his mother.
  • Aurelius Dumbledore is taken by his aunt on a ship to America.
  • Leta Lestrange and her younger brother Corvus are sent to America on a ship.
  • When Corvus won’t stop crying, Leta switches him with the baby Aurelius Dumbledore.
  • The ship carrying Leta and Corvus sinks, and the real Corvus presumably drowns, while Leta and baby Aurelius make it safely to New York.
  • Aurelius is put up for adoption in New York.
  • August 19
    • Porpentina “Tina” Goldstein is born.
  • Minerva McGonagall enrolls at Hogwarts
  • Albus Dumbledore begins teaching Transfiguration
• Sometime between 1901 and 1905
  • Chastity Barebone is born, and subsequently adopted by Mary Lou Barebone.
• 1902
  • Aberforth Dumbledore graduates from Hogwarts.
• 1903
  • January 6
    • Queenie Goldstein is born.
• 1905
  • Tom Riddle, Sr. is born.

• October 21
  • Aurelius Dumbledore is adopted by the abusive Mary Lou Barebone and given the name Credence Barebone. The abuse he suffers under her care leads him to become an Obscurial.

• 1907
  • Minerva McGonagall is appointed Head Girl
  • Merope Gaunt, a direct descendent of Salazar Slytherin, is born
• September 25, sometime prior to 1908
  • Garrick Ollivander is born.
• 1908
  • Spring
    • Minerva McGonagall graduates from Hogwarts
  • Fall

• • • Newt Scamander enrolls at Hogwarts and is sorted into Hufflepuff House.
    • Leta Lestrange enrolls at Hogwarts and is sorted into Slytherin House.
• Prior to 1909
  • Abernathy is born.

• 1910
  • Professor McGonagall begins teaching Transfiguration at Hogwarts
  • Professor Dumbledore begins teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts
  • Newt Scamander and Leta Lestrange become friends when Leta hides from bullies in the same cupboard where Newt is caring for a raven chick.
• Sometime between 1910 and 1913
  • Newt Scamander is given a month-long detention by Professor Prendergast for telling him that “there are no strange creatures, only blinkered people.” Leta Lestrange then sets off a dungbomb underneath Prendergast’s desk so she could join Newt in detention.
• 1912
  • Tina Goldstein enrolls at Ilvermorny and is sorted into Thunderbird House.
• 1913
  • Leta Lestrange conducts an experiment using a Jarvey, a large, ferret-like magical creature which is illegal for a student to possess. The experiment gets out of control, endangering the life of another student. Rather than see Leta expelled, Newt takes responsibility for the Jarvey, and is sentenced to expulsion. Albus Dumbledore argues against the expulsion, but whether or not the sentence is carried out is unknown.

• 1914
  • Queenie Goldstein enrolls at Ilvermorny and is sorted into Pukwudgie House.
• 1914 or 1915
  • Newt Scamander joins the Ministry of Magic's Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures in the Office for House-Elf Relocation.
• Sometime between 1914 and 1918
  • Newt Scamander serves on the Eastern Front during the First World War in a confidential Ministry of Magic program working with Ukranian Ironbellys. The program is canceled when it becomes clear that the dragons only respond positively to Newt and try to eat everyone else.
• 1916 or 1917
  • Newt Scamander transfers to the Beast Division of the Ministry of Magic’s Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures as a Magizoologist.
• 1917
  • August
    • Frank Bryce is born.
• 1918
  • Modesty Barebone is born, and subsequently adopted by Mary Lou Barebone.
  • Newt Scamander is commissioned by Augustus Worme of Obscurus Books to write “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.”

• c. 1919
  • Tina Goldstein begins working for the MACUSA as an Auror.
• Early 1920s
  • The New Salem Philanthropic Society is founded by Mary Lou Barebone.
• c. 1925
  • Merope Gaunt begins to have feelings for a muggle named Tom Riddle, and administers a love potion to get him to marry her.
  • Newt Scamander begins a trip to document magical creatures and their habitats, which includes travel to Sudan, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, and the United States. During his time in Egypt, he saves a large Thunderbird named Frank, due to a tip from Albus Dumbledore. He places Frank in his magical suitcase, where he joins a host of other magical creatures.
• Sometime prior to the end of 1926
  • Tina Goldstein is demoted to the role of Federal Wand Permit Officer after using magic to intervene in Mary Lou Barebone’s physically abusive behavior toward her adopted son, Credence.
  • Abernathy joins the Magical Congress of the United States of America, and becomes a supervisor in the Wand Permit Office.
• 1926
  • Tom Riddle Sr. abandons his pregnant wife after she stops giving him the love potion, in the hopes that he’d choose to stay with her of his own free will.

• November 29

• • • Daily Prophet reports that security at Hogwarts needs to be increased, due to the threat posed by Gellert Grindelwald
    • The Daily Prophet reports that the first ever Magical Waterplants Festival will be held in Hogsmeade.
  • Prior to December 6
    • Gellert Grindelwald assumes the identity of MACUSA Auror Percival Graves.
    • Grindelwald-as-Graves makes contact with Credence Barebone. He promises Credence that if he helps him find the Obscurial, he will set him free and teach him how to be a wizard.
  • December 6
    • Newt Scamander arrives in New York, intending to continue on to release Frank in Arizona.
    • Mary Lou Barebone holds a rally for the New Salem Philanthropic Society outside of Steen National Bank.
    • Jacob Kowalski goes to Steen National Bank to request a loan to open a bakery.

• A Niffler escapes from Newt Scamander’s suitcase, which Newt follows into the bank, not noticing that he left behind an Occamy egg, which is found by Jacob Kowalski.
  • • Jacob returns the egg to Newt Scamander, and then is brought inside the bank vault with Newt in his attempts to catch the Niffler. The alarm is activated by a bank employee, who assumes Newt and Jacob are robbing the bank, but Newt disapparates them to the street before the police can arrive.
    • Newt attempts to erase Jacob’s memories of what he just witnessed, but before he can, Jacob runs away. Unbeknownst to either of them, Jacob accidentally takes Newt’s suitcase, leaving Newt with Jacob’s.
    • Having witnessed Newt’s actions at the bank, Tina Goldstein brings him to the MACUSA headquarters, allowing him to assume she’s still an Auror. In an attempt to prove to officials at the Department of Magical Law Enforcement that Newt has broken magical laws, Tina opens his suitcase and finds Jacob Kowalski’s cakes.
    • Jacob opens Newt’s case at his house, and several magical creatures escape.
    • The magical creatures from Newt’s case begin causing a great deal of destruction and commotion throughout New York City.
    • Tina brings Newt and Jacob to her apartment, where they meet her sister, Queenie.
    • Mary Lou Barebone meets with Henry Shaw, Sr., a newspaper magnate in New York City, showing him evidence that members of a magical society are living amongst them, but Shaw dismisses her.
    • Jacob and Newt leave the Goldstein sisters’ apartment and attempt to recapture the Niffler in a jewelry store, where they create quite a bit of damage. The police arrive, but the two disapparate before they can be arrested.
    • Jacob and Newt begin recapturing Newt’s magical creatures.
    • Henry Shaw, Jr. is killed by Credence Barebone, an Obscurial.
    • Newt’s creatures are blamed for Shaw’s death, and Newt, Tina, and Jacob are arrested by the MACASA. The three are sentenced to death by Grindelwald-as-Graves, but are rescued with the help of Queenie and Newt’s creatures.

• December 7
  • Provoked by the threat of another beating, Credence releases his Obscurus, which kills Mary Lou and Chastity Barebone.
  • Assuming Modesty Barebone is the Obscurial, Grindelwald-as-Graves revokes his promises to Credence, prompting Credence to change into his Obscurus form and set out on a wave of destruction throughout New York City.
  • Newt and Tina pursue Credence to the subway station, where they attempt to calm Credence down. It appears to be working, until Graves and the MACASA officials arrive and begin to fight. Credence reverts to his Obscurus form and it appears that the Aurors have killed him, although Newt notices some shreds of his Obscurus form leave the scene.
  • Newt realizes that Graves is Gellert Grindelwald, and reveals the truth to the MACASA officials. Grindelwald is arrested by the Aurors.
  • Jacob is Obliviated, along with the other No-Majs who witnessed the magical events.
• December 15
  • Newt Scamander anonymously gives Jacob Kowalski a case full of silver Occamy eggshells to use as collateral to open his bakery.
• Prior to December 16
  • Tina Goldstein is restored to her position as Auror.
• December 31
  • Tom Marvolo Riddle is born.
  • Merope Riddle dies.

• Prior to 1927
  • Leta Lestrange and Theseus Scamander get engaged.
  • Nagini, a Maledictus who is cursed to turn into a snake, becomes a performer for the Circus Arcanus.
  • Corvus Lestrange IV dies.
• 1927
  • Between January 1 and March 19
    • “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” by Newt Scamander is first published.
  • The shreds of Credence Barebone come together and he resumes his human form. He returns to his former home to find his adoption papers before setting sail for Europe.
  • Thinking Credence is Corvus Lestrange, Yusuf Kama and begins tracking him through Europe.
  • Credence Barebone joins the Circus Arcanus.
  • Jacob Kowalski opens his bakery.
  • Queenie Goldstein visits Jacob Kowalski in his bakery, and they realize that the Obliviation didn’t fully work, since it only erased his bad memories, not his good memories of Queenie.
  • Queenie begins using a love potion on Jacob.
  • March 19
    • A book launch party for “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” is held at Flourish and Blotts booksellers in Diagon Alley.
  • End of March
    • An incorrect caption about the party in “Spellbound” magazine announces that Leta Lestrange is engaged to Newt Scamander, instead of Theseus Scamander.
  • Professor McGonagall leaves Hogwarts

• May 30
  • Gellert Grindelwald escapes MACASA custody with the help of Abernathy.
• September
  • Dumbledore takes over Transfiguration at Hogwarts.
  • Leta Lestrange begins working as an assistant to the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Torquil Travers.
  • Newt Scamander appeals to the British Ministry of Magic to restore his right to travel.
  • Newt learns that Credence Barebone survived the events at the New York subway station in 1926 and has been recently spotted in Europe. Newt is offered his travel rights back in exchange for becoming an Auror and killing Credence, but Newt refuses.
  • In light of Newt’s refusal, Gunnar Grimmson is given the job of killing Credence instead. Grimmson is secretly loyal to Grindelwald.
  • Queenie, Jacob, and Tina travel to Europe. Queenie and Jacob head to Newt’s apartment to surprise him, while Tina heads to Paris to find Credence.
  • Newt meets with Albus Dumbledore, who asks him to accompany him to Paris to find and help Credence. Newt is reluctant because it means violating his travel ban.
  • Newt convinces Queenie to lift the love spell on Jacob.
  • Queenie follows Tina to Paris, and Newt and Jacob follow the two of them.
  • Newt decides to take Dumbledore up on his offer to find Credence.

• Credence begins caring for a baby bird, who is later revealed to be a phoenix.
• Credence and Nagini escape the Circus Arcanus, releasing many of the animals as they do.
• Credence seeks out the nurse who put him up for adoption, but Grimmson kills her before she can provide any answers, under Grindelwald’s orders.
• Yusuf Kama abducts Tina, Newt, and Jacob, saying he won’t release them until he finds Credence. However, they escape, and the four of them travel to Dumbledore’s safehouse, which is also the home of Nicolas Flamel.
• Grindelwald holds a rally for his followers, where he preaches wizard supremacy and promises a world of “freedom” where wizards don’t have to hide from non-magical society. Queenie attends, and seems enraptured by Grindelwald’s promises.
• Newt and Tina infiltrate the French Ministry of Magic searching for proof of Credence’s identity. While there, they encounter Leta and Theseus. Theseus is stunned, and the rest of them follow the evidence to the Lestrange Mausoleum, where they’re surprised to find Jacob, Yusuf, Credence, Nagini.
• Yusuf prepares to kill Credence, until Leta reveals that she switched her brother with another baby on the ship, and the real Corvus Lestrange died.
• Aurors surround Grindelwald’s rally, including Theseus, and Grindelwald creates a circle of blue flame that kill many of them. Queenie and Credence decide to join Grindelwald, while Leta acts as though she will do the same, but it is only a diversion to allow the others time to escape.

• Leta Lestrange attacks and is subsequently killed by Gellert Grindelwald.
• Nicolas Flamel arrives at the French Ministry and helps Newt and the others contain the blue flame, keeping it from destroying the city.
• Newt visits Dumbledore at Hogwarts and gives him the vial that binds him to his Blood Pact with Grindelwald. If the vial is destroyed, Dumbledore will be able to fight Grindelwald.
• Grindelwald reveals to Credence that he’s really Aurelius Dumbledore.
• Credence is given a wand, and demonstrates his power by blasting a mountain into dust.
• Beauxbatons Academy students whose parents work in the French Ministry of Magic are offered an exchange programme to attend Ilvermorny for six months.
• December 6, 1928
  • Rubeus Hagrid is born

• 1928 or 1929
  • Myrtle Warren is born.

Global Wizarding War (1930s - 1945)

•  1931
  • Horace Slughorn becomes Potions Master at Hogwarts
• Some point prior to 1938
  • Dumbledore first meets Fawkes the phoenix, who will live with him for the rest of his life.
• 1938
  • Two tail feathers from Fawkes are used by Garrick Ollivander to fashion two wands, one made of yew and the other made of holly.
  • Dumbledore goes to find Tom Riddle at Wool’s Orphanage in London to inform him that he’s a wizard, and has been accepted to Hogwarts.
  • Tom Riddle purchases the yew wand from Ollivanders wand shop.
  • Tom Riddle enrolls at Hogwarts and is sorted into Slytherin House.
• 1940
  • Rubeus Hagrid enrolls at Hogwarts and is sorted into Gryffindor house.
  • (approximation) Armando Dippet begins to serve as Headmaster at Hogwarts
  • (approximation) Myrtle Warren enrolls at Hogwarts and is sorted into Ravenclaw House.
• Sometime between 1940 and 1954
  • Marjorie Dursley is born.
  • Vernon Dursley is born.

• 1942
  • The Acromantula Aragog is hatched in the care of Rubeus Hagrid.
• 1943
  • Tom Riddle questions his Potions Master, Horace Slughorn, about the possibility of creating multiple Horcruxes. Riddle suggests that seven Horcruxes would be ideal, since seven is the most powerful magical number.
  • Tom Riddle opens the Chamber of Secrets.
  • Moaning Myrtle Warren is murdered by Tom Riddle, who uses her death to create his first Horcrux, his childhood diary.
  • After being confronted by Tom Riddle, who accuses him of opening the Chamber of Secrets and releasing the giant spider, Rubeus Hagrid helps Aragog escape into the Forbidden Forest.
  • Hagrid is blamed for opening the Chamber of Secrets and is expelled.
  • August
    • Tom Riddle murders Tom Riddle, Sr., along with his paternal grandparents, Thomas Riddle and Mary Riddle, using the Killing Curse. Riddle then modified the memory of his uncle, Morfin Gaunt, to make him believe he killed the Riddles. This marked the first mass murder Riddle committed.
    • Morfin Gaunt is arrested by the Ministry of Magic for the murder of the Riddles, and is sent to Azkaban prison.
    • Frank Bryce is arrested by the Muggle police for the murder of the Riddles, but is eventually released due to a lack of evidence, although his neighbors in Little Hangleton still suspected that he was guilty.
    • Tom Riddle creates his second Horcrux, the Gaunt ring, using the murder of his father. The Gaunt ring has been passed down through the family line for hundreds of years, dating back to when it intersected with the Peverell family line, and contains the Resurrection Stone.

• 1944
  • Tom Riddle is made Head Boy of Hogwarts.
  • Tom Riddle questions the Grey Lady about Rowena Ravenclaw’s diadem. After he promises her that if he finds it, he will destroy it, the Grey Lady reveals that it’s hidden in Albania. She later tells Harry that she regrets telling Riddle where to find the diadem.
• Prior to 1945
  • Fenrir Greyback is born. Early in his life, he is bitten by a werewolf.
• 1945
  • Tom Riddle graduates Hogwarts
  • Tom Riddle travels to Albania to find Rowena Ravenclaw’s diadem, which he transforms into his third Horcrux. Riddle then returns the diadem to Hogwarts, where he hides it in the Room of Requirement.
  • Tom Riddle begins working at Borgin and Burkes.
  • Albus Dumbledore defeats Gellert Grindelwald in a duel, gaining mastery of the Elder Wand.
  • End of Global Wizarding War.
  • Grindelwald is imprisoned at Nurmengard Castle.

A Time of Peace

• 1947
  • Bathilda Bagshot publishes “A History of Magic.”
• 1949
  • October 30
    • Molly Prewett is born.
• 1950
  • February 6
    • Arthur Weasley is born.
• 1951
  • Bellatrix Lestrange is born.
• c. 1953
  • Lucius Malfoy is born.
• 1954
  • January 26
    • Gilderoy Lockhart is born.
• 1955
  • Narcissa Black is born.
• c. 1958
  • Petunia Evans is born
  • October 17
    • Filius Flitwick is born (could have been an earlier year).
• 1959
  • November 3
    • Sirius Black is born
• 1960
  • January 9
    • Severus Snape is born.
  • January 30
    • Lily Evans is born.
  • March 10
    • Remus Lupin is born.
  • March 27
    • James Potter is born.
  • Sometime before the end of August
    • Peter Pettigrew is born.

• Sometime between 1955 and 1961
  • Tom Riddle acquires Helga Hufflepuff’s cup and Salazar Slytherin’s locket while working at Borgin and Burkes, and turns both into Horcruxes.
• 1961
  • Regulus Black is born.
  • September
    • Arthur Weasley and Molly Prewett begin attending Hogwarts and are both sorted into Gryffindor House.
• 1962 or 1963
  • Bellatrix Lestrange enrolls in Hogwarts and is sorted into Slytherin House.
• Sometime prior to 1965
  • Igor Karkaroff is born.
  • August 26
    • Dolores Umbridge is born.
• 1965
  • Winter
    • Remus Lupin is bitten by Fenrir Greyback and turned into a werewolf.
  • September
    • Lucius Malfoy enrolls in Hogwarts and is sorted into Slytherin House.
• Sometime between March, 1965 and March, 1971
  • Armando Dippet retires as Headmaster of Hogwarts, and is succeeded by Albus Dumbledore.
• 1966
  • Narcissa Black enrolls in Hogwarts and is sorted into Slytherin House. While there, she meets Lucius Malfoy.

• 1968
  • Arthur Weasley and Molly Prewett graduate from Hogwarts, and elope soon after.
  • Argus Filch becomes Caretaker of Hogwarts.
• 1969
  • September
• Lucius Malfoy is made a Prefect of Slytherin House.
• • • (approximation) Filius Flitwick begins attending Hogwarts and is sorted into Ravenclaw House.
• Quirinus Quirrell is born on September 26, no later than 1970.
• Severus Snape and Lily Evans become close friends as young children.

The First Wizarding War: 1970-1981

• At some point between 1972 and 1980, Lucius Malfoy and Narcissa Black are married.
• Voldemort gathers his Death Eaters, which include Lucius Malfoy, Igor Karkaroff, and Severus Snape.
• Voldemort entrusts Lucius Malfoy with his childhood diary.
• 1970
  • November 29 - Bill Weasley is born

• 1971
  • Lily Evans, James Potter, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, and Sirius Black enroll at Hogwarts and are sorted into Gryffindor House.
  • Severus Snape enrolls at Hogwarts and is sorted into Slytherin House.
  • The Whomping Willow is planted on the Hogwarts grounds in order to disguise the tunnel that leads to the Shrieking Shack in Hogsmeade, allowing Remus Lupin to undergo his monthly werewolf transformation in privacy.
  • The Shrieking Shack is constructed in Hogsmeade to secretly house Remus Lupin during his transformations. Albus Dumbledore starts the rumor that the shack is haunted in order to provide an explanation for Lupin’s howls.

• Sometime between 1971 and 1978
  • James Potter and Sirius Black bully Severus Snape mercilessly.
  • Lily Evans and Severus Snape remain friends.

• 1972
  • James Potter, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew discover that Remus Lupin is a werewolf, and begin learning how to become Animagi. They call themselves the Marauders.

• December 12
  • Charlie Weasley is born

• Sometime between September 1972 and August 1973
  • Nymphadora Tonks is born.

• 1973
  • Minerva McGonagall returns to Hogwarts to teach Transfiguration

• Sometime between September 15, 1974 and September 13, 1975
  • Stanley Shunpike is born.

• 1975
  • (approximation) Filius Flitwick becomes Charms Master at Hogwarts.
  • Gilderoy Lockhart enrolls at Hogwarts and is sorted into Ravenclaw House.
  • James Potter, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew complete their tasks to become Animagi. James turns into a stag, earning him the nickname “Prongs.” Sirius becomes a large black dog, making him “Padfoot.” And Peter transforms into a rat, gaining him the name “Wormtail.” Remus, a werewolf who transforms with the full moon, is nicknamed “Moony.”
• Sometime between 1975 and 1978
  • James Potter, Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, and Remus Lupin create the Marauder’s Map in order to facilitate mischief-making around Hogwarts, signing it with their nicknames.

• 1976
  • Sometime between April-August
    • Viktor Krum is born.
  • August 22
    • Percy Weasley is born.
  • September
    • Severus Snape writes a note in his Potions textbook saying it belongs to the “Half-Blood Prince.” It is a play on words, with “Half-Blood” referring to his magical mother and Muggle father, and “Prince” referring to his mother’s maiden name. A gifted Potions student, Snape continues to make notes in his textbook throughout the year.

• 1976 or 1977
  • Fleur Delacour is born.

• 1977
  • The Dursleys move into their house at 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey.
  • September or October
    • Cedric Diggory is born.

• 1978
  • At some point prior to May, 1978, Argus Filch confiscates the Marauder’s Map and puts it in his office.
  • April 1
    • Fred and George Weasley are born.
  • May
    • James Potter, Lily Evans, Severus Snape, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, and Sirius Black graduate Hogwarts.

• 1979
  • Voldemort hides his fifth Horcrux, Salazar Slytherin’s locket, in a seaside cave. He uses the Black family’s house elf, Kreacher, to test the safeguards around the locket. Kreacher then brings his master, Regulus Black, back to the cave. Regulus swaps out the locket for a fake, and orders Kreacher to destroy the Horcrux. Regulus is killed retrieving the locket, and Kreacher, unable to carry out his directive to destroy it, hides it in 12 Grimmauld Place.
  • Sometime between September 1 and April 22, 1980
    • Parvati and Padma Patil are born.
  • Sometime between September 1 and August 31, 1980
    • Lavender Brown is born.
    • Gregory Goyle is born.
  • September 19
    • Hermione Granger is born.
  • Lily and James Potter go into hiding after discovering Lily is pregnant

• 1980
  • Justin Finch-Fletchley is born.
  • Late winter or early spring
    • Sybill Trelawney makes a prophecy about a boy born at the end of July, 1980, who will have the power to defeat Voldemort. The prophecy: “The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives... the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies...."
    • Severus Snape tells Voldemort about Trelawney’s prophecy.

• March 1
  • Ron Weasley is born
• June 5
  • Draco Malfoy is born.
• June 23
  • Dudley Dursley is born.
• July 30
  • Neville Longbottom is born.
• July 31
  • Harry Potter is born.
• August
  • Voldemort decides the prophecy was about Harry Potter, and begins planning to kill the Potters.
  • Snape goes to Dumbledore to beg him to protect Lily Potter. Dumbledore agrees, on the condition that Snape leaves the Death Eaters and begins working for him. Snape agrees.
• October
  • Peter Pettigrew begins working as a spy for Voldemort.

• Sirius Black is named Harry Potter’s godfather.

• 1981
  • Colin Creevey is born.
  • February 13
    • Luna Lovegood is born.
  • August 11
    • Ginny Weasley is born.
  • Horace Slughorn retires from teaching out of fear that Dumbledore will discover that he was the one who told Tom Riddle about Horcruxes.
  • Sybill Trelawney is hired as Professor of Divination at Hogwarts
  • James Potter asks Sirius Black to be the Potters' Secret Keeper; Sirius suggests Peter Pettigrew instead.
  • October 31
    • James and Lily Potter are killed by Voldemort.
    • Harry survives Voldemort’s killing curse, reflecting the spell back on the Dark Lord, destroying his body, and accidentally making Harry his sixth Horcrux.
    • Severus Snape arrives at the Potter home too late to save Lily, and cries over her dead body.
    • First Wizarding War ends.
    • Sirius Black lends Hagrid his flying motorbike, saying he won’t need it anymore.
    • Sirius Black confronts Peter Pettigrew about betraying his friends. Peter then accuses Sirius of being the one to betray them and creates an explosion that kills 12 Muggles. Peter escapes in his rat form, but leaves behind his own severed finger as evidence that he was killed. Sirius is arrested by Cornelius Fudge and placed in Azkaban Prison.
  • November 1
    • Minerva McGonagall spends a day observing the Dursleys and determines they are the “worst sort of Muggles imaginable.”
    • Harry Potter is delivered by Rubeus Hagrid to the Dursley family.

Between Wars

• Sometime after 1981
  • Igor Karkaroff becomes headmaster of Durmstrang Institute

• 1982
  • Gilderoy Lockhart graduates Hogwarts
  • Between 1982-1992, Gilderoy Lockhart publishes the books Break with a Banshee, Gadding with Ghouls, Gilderoy Lockhart's Guide to Household Pests, Holidays with Hags, Marauding with Monsters, One Hundred and One Practical Uses for Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, Travels with Trolls, Voyages with Vampires, Wanderings with Werewolves, Year with the Yeti, and his autobiography Magical Me. Unbeknownst to his fans, all of his books are actually about the achievements of other wizards, whose memories Lockhart has erased in order to claim their accomplishments for himself.
• 1984
  • September 1
    • Nymphadora Tonks enrolls in Hogwarts and is sorted into Hufflepuff House.

• 1986-1987 school year
  • Ancient ruins are discovered beneath Castelobruxo castle.
• 1989
  • Fred and George Weasley enroll at Hogwarts, and are sorted into Gryffindor House.
  • Cedric Diggory enrolls at Hogwarts, and is sorted into Hufflepuff House.
  • Fred and George Weasley steal the Marauder’s Map from Filch’s office.

• 1990
  • Cornelius Fudge is appointed Minister of Magic.

• 1991
  • The Nimbus Racing Broom Company releases their newest model, the Nimbus 2000.
  • May
    • Nymphadora Tonks graduates from Hogwarts.
  • June 23
    • Dudley Dursley turns 11. On his birthday outing to the zoo, Harry Potter speaks Parseltongue for the first time, and accidentally uses magic to vanish the glass in the snake house.
  • July 24
    • Harry Potter receives his first acceptance letter to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
  • July 30
    • Vernon Dursley decides to move his family to Hut-on-the-Rock in order to avoid more Hogwarts letters.
  • July 31
    • Rubeus Hagrid appears at Hut-on-the-Rock to wish Harry a happy birthday and bring him to Hogwarts. Irritated by the Dursleys, he uses the wand concealed in his pink umbrella to give Dudley Dursley a pink pig’s tail.
    • Quirinus Quirrell attempts to break into Vault 713 at Gringott’s Bank in order to steal the Sorcerer’s Stone

• August 1
  • Hagrid takes Harry to Diagon Alley, where Harry purchases his school supplies and Hagrid surprises him with a pet, a white owl named Hedwig. Later, in The Leaky Cauldron, Hagrid tells Harry the truth about the death of his parents and his involvement with Voldemort.
  • Harry purchases his holly wand from Ollivanders wand shop.
  • Hagrid retrieves the Sorcerer’s Stone from Gringott’s Bank.
• September
  • Harry Potter boards the Hogwarts Express, and first meets Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom, and Draco Malfoy.
  • Professor Quirrell begins teaching at Hogwarts as its Defense Against the Dark Arts instructor.
  • Albus Dumbledore, Filius Flitwick, Minerva McGonagall, and Pomona Sprout put a number of enchantments in place at Hogwarts Castle to protect the Sorcerer’s Stone. Hagrid also offers his three-headed dog, Fluffy, to help guard the entrance to the obstacles protecting the Stone.
  • The first-years arrive at Hogwarts. Ron, Hermione, and Neville are sorted into Gryffindor House. The Sorting Hat considers putting Harry into Slytherin, saying he would do well there, but after taking Harry’s preference into account, sorts him into Gryffindor instead.
  • Draco Malfoy and Gregory Goyle are sorted into Slytherin House.
  • Justin Finch-Fletchley is sorted into Hufflepuff House.
  • Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown are sorted into Gryffindor House.
  • Padma Patil is sorted into Ravenclaw House.
  • During his first flying lesson, Harry discovers he has a knack for riding broomsticks when he goes to recover Neville’s Remembrall from Draco Malfoy. Upon seeing Harry’s flying skills, Minerva McGonagall introduces Harry to Oliver Wood, the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Harry becomes the Gryffindor Seeker, the youngest person to hold the position in a century.

• October 31
  • Professor Quirrell lets a troll into the dungeons to act as a distraction while he attempts to steal the Sorcerer’s Stone. Suspicious, Professor Snape goes to protect the Stone, and is injured while thwarting Quirrell. Meanwhile, Harry, Ron, and Hermione defeat the troll when it corners Hermione in the girls’ bathroom.
• November
  • Harry receives a Nimbus 2000 broomstick from Minerva McGonagall.
  • Harry’s broom is cursed by Professor Quirrell at his first Quidditch match. Snape successfully manages to cast a counter-curse, keeping Harry from being thrown off, until Hermione sets his robes on fire, distracting him. However, unbeknownst to Hermione, Quirrell also is distracted by the fire, enabling Harry to regain control of his broom and win the match.
• December
  • For Christmas, Albus Dumbledore anonymously gifts Harry with the Invisibility Cloak that once belonged to his father. The cloak has been passed down through the Potter family line for centuries, since it intersected with the Peverell family line, and is the cloak that once belonged to Ignotus Peverell.
  • Using the Invisibility Cloak, Harry discovers the Mirror of Erised, which Dumbledore tells him shows the viewer the most desperate desire of their heart.

• 1992
  • Winter/Spring
    • A disguised Quirrell tricks Hagrid into giving him information on how to get past Fluffy, giving him a dragon egg in order to gain Hagrid’s trust.
    • Harry, Ron, and Hermione work out that the Sorcerer’s Stone is being kept inside Hogwarts, and that someone is trying to steal it.
    • Hagrid’s dragon egg hatches, and Hagrid names the baby dragon Norbert.
    • Harry, Ron, Hermione and Draco are given detention for being out of their beds at night, and are given detention in the Forbidden Forest by Professor McGonagall.
    • While serving their detention, Harry and Draco come upon a hooded figure drinking unicorn blood in the Forest; this is Quirrell and the parasitic Voldemort.
    • Harry first meets the centaur Firenze.
    • Harry, Ron, and Hermione attempt to warn Dumbledore that someone (they assume Snape, although they are wrong) will attempt to steal the Sorcerer’s Stone. However, when they learn that Dumbledore is away, they decide to go protect the Stone themselves.
    • Neville Longbottom attempts to stop Harry, Ron, and Hermione from getting further points deducted from Gryffindor, and is petrified by Hermione.
    • After Ron is injured playing Wizard’s Chess and Hermione decides to stay with him, Harry continues on alone to find the Stone. He is surprised to find Quirrell looking into the Mirror of Erised. Quirrell forces Harry to look in the mirror, and Harry sees the Stone being placed in his pocket. When Harry lies about what he saw in the mirror, Quirrell unwraps his turban to reveal Voldemort’s face on the back of his head. Voldemort tries to persuade Harry to give up the Stone, but when Harry refuses, he orders Quirrell to kill him. However, Harry’s touch on Quirrell’s skin proves deadly, due to the lingering protective magic of his mother’s love, and Quirrell turns to dust. From Quirrell’s ashes, Voldemort spirit rises up and knocks Harry unconscious.
    • The Sorcerer’s Stone is destroyed.
    • After Dumbledore awards some last-minute points at the end of the school year, Gryffindor House is awarded the House Cup.

• Summer
  • Dobby, the Malfoy house-elf, overhears his masters discussing a plot to re-open the Chamber of Secrets at Hogwarts. Fearing for Harry Potter’s life, Dobby begins intercepting Harry’s mail, hoping that if Harry thinks his friends have forgotten about him, then he won’t want to return to school.
  • Arthur Weasley helps write and introduce the Muggle Protection Act in the Ministry of Magic, meeting strong opposition from Lucius Malfoy.
  • July 31
    • Dobby shows up at the Dursley house, and asks Harry to promise not to go back to Hogwarts. When Harry insists on returning, Dobby uses a Hover Charm to drop a cake on the head of the wife of Vernon Dursley’s important client. As punishment, the Dursleys install bars on Harry’s bedroom window to prevent him from returning.

• August
  • Fred, George, and Ron Weasley show up outside Harry’s bedroom window in their father’s flying Ford Anglia, and bring Harry and Hedwig to the Weasley home, the Burrow.
  • Harry, Hermione, and the Weasleys go shopping for the new school year in Diagon Alley. At a Gilderoy Lockhart book signing in Flourish and Blotts, they encounter the Malfoys, and Lucius Malfoy slips Tom Riddle’s diary into Ginny Weasley’s cauldron.

• Fall
  • September
    • Dobby erects a barrier at King’s Cross station, barring Ron and Harry from entering Platform 9 ¾. Determined not to miss the start of the term, Harry and Ron follow the Hogwarts Express in the flying Ford Anglia, but the car’s Invisibility Booster malfunctions and the two ultimately crash into the Hogwarts Whomping Willow. After ejecting Harry, Ron, and their possessions, the car drives off on its own into the Forbidden Forest. Ron’s wand is broken.
    • Colin Creevey and Ginny Weasley enroll at Hogwarts and are sorted into Gryffindor House.
    • Luna Lovegood enrolls at Hogwarts and is sorted into Ravenclaw House.
    • Professor Snape requests that Ron and Harry be expelled for their reckless behavior, but Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall decide that they should receive detention instead.
    • Gilderoy Lockhart assumes the role of Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts.
    • Ginny Weasley begins writing in Tom Riddle’s diary, and is gradually put under its spell.
  • October
    • Following instructions given to her by Tom Riddle through his diary, Ginny Weasley opens the Chamber of Secrets, releasing the Basilisk within. She then writes a message on the wall in blood.
    • After serving detention with Professor Lockhart, Harry hears whispered voices and comes across the petrified body of Filch’s cat, Mrs. Norris, hanging from a torch. Written in blood on the wall nearby is a message that reads, “The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir… beware.” Professor McGonagall explains that this is referring to the Heir of Salazar Slytherin, who legend said would come to Hogwarts and command the monster within the Chamber of Secrets to purge the school of all its non-pureblood students.

• November
  • Harry’s arm is broken during the first Quidditch match of the season. In an attempt to heal it, Professor Lockhart accidentally vanishes the bones in Harry’s arm.
  • While trying to sneak Harry some grapes while he’s in the Hospital Wing, Colin Creevey encounters the Basilisk and is petrified.
  • Suspecting that Draco Malfoy is the Heir of Slytherin, Hermione suggests they question him, using Polyjuice Potion to disguise themselves as other Slytherin students. However, the potion will take a month to brew.
• December
  • Professor Lockhart starts a Dueling Club to teach the students defensive spells. At the first meeting, Draco Malfoy conjures a snake, which seems to threaten fellow student Justin Finch-Fletchley. Harry calls the snake off by speaking Parseltongue, causing the other students to suspect he might be the Heir of Slytherin.
  • Justin Finch-Fletchley sees the Basilisk through Nearly-Headless Nick, and both the boy and the ghost are petrified.
  • The Polyjuice Potion finishes brewing, but Hermione’s plan backfires when she accidentally puts cat hairs in the potion instead of the hair of the person she wants to transform into. Hermione is temporarily transformed into a cat-human hybrid, and is forced to spend a month in the Hospital Wing. Harry and Ron question Draco, and learn that he is not the Heir of Slytherin, but learn that a girl was killed last time the Chamber was opened.

• 1993
  • Winter
    • Harry Potter first visits the town of Hogsmeade
    • February
      • Ginny Weasley attempts to get rid of Riddle’s diary by throwing it into a toilet, through the ghost of Moaning Myrtle.
      • Harry finds Tom Riddle’s diary in the girls bathroom after following the sounds of the whispers in the walls. When he writes in the diary, he sees a flashback to the 1943 school year, the last time the Chamber of Secrets was opened. He sees Tom Riddle accuse Hagrid of opening it, and that Hagrid freed a giant spider and was subsequently expelled.

• May
  • Hermione Granger figures out that the monster is a Basilisk, and that it’s using the pipes to move through the school unnoticed, which is why Harry can hear it whispering in Parseltongue through the walls. She begins using a mirror to look around corners to avoid being killed by the Basilisk’s gaze, and this strategy saves her life, although she still winds up petrified.
  • Harry and Ron go to ask Hagrid what happened 50 years ago, but before they can learn much, Hagrid is arrested by Dumbledore, Lucius Malfoy, and Cornelius Fudge and taken to Azkaban. As he’s taken away, Hagrid makes a comment to Harry and Ron (who are concealed under Harry’s Invisibility Cloak) to “follow the spiders.”
  • Harry and Ron meet Aragog, who tell them that Hagrid did not open the Chamber of Secrets 50 years ago, and that the girl who died was found in a bathroom. Aragog also says that the monster in the Chamber is something he and his kind fear.
  • Harry and Ron realize the monster is a Basilisk, and that the girl who was killed was Moaning Myrtle.
  • Ginny Weasley steals the diary back from Harry, and is forced to write another bloody message on the wall, which says, “Her skeleton will lie in the chamber forever.” She then descends into the Chamber herself.
  • Professor Lockhart attempts to flee Hogwarts Castle rather than go after Ginny, but Harry and Ron force him to accompany them to the girls’ bathroom, where they discover the hidden entrance to the Chamber of Secrets.

• Harry uses Parseltongue to open the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets.
• Lockhart tries to use Ron’s broken wand to erase the boys’ memories, but the spell backfires and he erases his own memory instead. Part of the cave collapses, separating Harry from Ron and Lockhart.
• Harry continues on alone into the Chamber of Secrets, where he finds Tom Riddle draining the life from Ginny’s body. Harry learns that Tom Riddle is actually Voldemort, who asks Harry to join him. After Harry refuses to be swayed by Riddle’s persuasion and expresses loyalty to Dumbledore, Fawkes arrives to deliver the Sorting Hat to Harry. Fawkes then blinds the Basilisk, nullifying the powers of its gaze.
• Harry draws the sword of Godric Gryffindor from the Sorting Hat and uses it to kill the Basilisk, but not before one of the snake’s poisoned fangs has pierced his arm.
• Harry pulls the poisoned fang from his arm and uses it to destroy the diary. Unbeknownst to Harry, Basilisk venom is one of the few ways to destroy a Horcrux.
• Fawkes heals Harry with his tears.
• Realizing that it was Lucius Malfoy who slipped Ginny the diary, intending to open the Chamber of Secrets, Harry returns the ruined diary to him. Disgusted, Malfoy hands it to Dobby, not realizing that Harry has hidden one of his socks inside. Because his master technically gave him a piece of clothing, Dobby is freed.
• Lucius Malfoy attempts to kill Harry, but his spell is blocked by Dobby, who is now a free elf.
• Hagrid is released from Azkaban.
• The petrified students, including Hermione, are revived using a potion made with mature Mandrake roots.

• July
  • The Granger family vacations in France.
  • Hermione acquires a large cat named Crookshanks.
  • July 24
    • The Daily Prophet runs a photo of the Weasley family vacationing in Egypt.
    • After seeing a photo of Scabbers the rat, who is really Peter Pettigrew, in the photo of the Weasleys in The Daily Prophet, Sirius Black escapes from Azkaban prison.
  • July 31
    • Harry accidentally magically inflates his Aunt Marge when she insults his parents. Vernon Durlsey forbids him from returning to Hogwarts, and assuming he’ll be expelled anyway for using magic outside of school, Harry runs away from home.
    • Harry first sees Sirius Black in his dog form.
    • Harry is picked up by the Knight Bus, conducted by Stan Shunpike.
    • Harry goes to the Leaky Cauldron, where Cornelius Fudge tells him he won’t be expelled.
• August 1
  • The Weasley family and Hermione Granger arrive at the Leaky Cauldron. Harry is warned not to go looking for Sirius Black.
• September
  • Remus Lupin takes over the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts.
  • Rubeus Hagrid takes over the position of Care of Magical Creatures professor at Hogwarts.
  • Professor Snape begins making wolfsbane potion for Remus Lupin.
  • Harry, Ron, and Hermione take the Hogwarts Express to Hogwarts, and share a compartment with Remus Lupin. The train is stopped by Dementors, sent by the Ministry to look for Black, and Harry faints. Lupin fends off the Dementor with a Patronus Charm, and revives Harry with chocolate.

• Dementors are stationed around Hogwarts to protect the students from Sirius Black.
• Hermione Granger is given a Time Turner by Professor McGonnagal to help her manage her heavy course load, and is told to keep it secret.
• Harry, Ron, and Hermione have their first Divination class with Professor Trelawney. Reading Harry’s tea leaves, Trelawney says she sees the Grim, a black dog that is an omen of death.
• Hagrid introduces his students to Hippogriffs during their first Care of Magical Creatures class. However, Draco Malfoy provokes his Hippogriff, Buckbeak, and is injured.
• Professor Lupin installs a Boggart in an old wardrobe, and uses it to teach his first Defense Against the Dark Arts class, where the third-years learn the Riddikulus charm.

• October
  • Third-years take their first weekend trip to Hogsmeade. Harry is forced to stay behind due to not having his permission form signed. Harry learns that Professor Lupin knew his parents.
  • In an attempt to enter Gryffindor Tower to confront Peter Pettigrew, Sirius Black attacks the Fat Lady’s portrait.
• November
  • Following the attack by Sirius Black, the Hogwarts students sleep in the Great Hall, where Harry overhears Snape telling Dumbledore that the appointment of a teacher may have been dangerous, and they both agree that Harry is in danger.
  • Snape substitutes for Lupin teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts while Lupin is in his werewolf state thanks to the full moon. Snape spends his lesson teaching the students about werewolves and Animagi.
  • During the first Quidditch match of the season, Dementors enter the Quidditch pitch, causing Harry to fall off his broom. Harry’s Nimbus 2000 broomstick flies into the Whomping Willow and is destroyed.

• December
  • Harry attempts to sneak to Hogsmeade, but is caught by Fred and George Weasley.
  • Fred and George give Harry the Marauder’s Map.
  • Wearing his Invisibility Cloak in Hogsmeade, Harry learns that Sirius Black was friends with his parents, and was his godfather. Further, he learns that Black was said to have betrayed his parents, leading to their deaths.

• Sometime prior to 1994: Nagini’s curse turns her permanently into a snake, and she becomes the loyal companion to Lord Voldemort.

• 1994
  • Winter/Spring
    • Professor Lupin begins to teach Harry how to conjure a Patronus Charm.
    • Harry Potter notices Peter Pettigrew’s name on the Marauder’s Map, but when he goes looking for him, he can’t see anyone. He tells Professor Lupin.
    • Scabbers goes missing.
    • Buckbeak has his hearing with the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures, and is sentenced to death.
    • Sybill Trelawney makes her second prophecy to Harry following a Divination Class: "He will return tonight... Tonight, he who betrayed his friends, whose heart rots with murder... shall break free. Innocent blood shall be spilt...and servant and master shall be reunited once... more!"
    • Harry, Ron, and Hermione visit Hagrid to console him while he awaits Buckbeak’s execution, and are surprised to find that Hagrid has Scabbers. They notice Dumbledore and the Ministry officials heading to the cabin, and hide in Hagrid’s pumpkin patch. From a distance, they hear the executioner’s axe fall, and assume that means Buckbeak has been executed.

• While the trio are in Hagrid’s cabin, future-Harry and future-Hermione arrive and provide the distraction that causes their past selves to leave. While Dumbledore is in the cabin, they save Buckbeak, ensuring that the Headmaster won’t be suspected of foul play.
• Scabbers attempts to flee, and Ron chases him, but once he catches him, he’s bitten by Sirius Black in his dog form and dragged into the tunnel beneath the Whomping Willow to the Shrieking Shack, holding Scabbers.
• Lupin arrives in the Shrieking Shack, and embraces his old friend, Sirius Black.
• Severus Snape arrives in the Shrieking Shack, intending to arrest Lupin and Sirius, but is knocked unconscious by Harry.
• Harry learns the truth about what happened to his parents, and Peter Pettigrew is forced to transform back into his human form.
• The full moon rises as they head back to the castle, causing Lupin to transform and giving Pettigrew opportunity to escape. Sirius transforms into his dog form to keep him from hurting anyone, but Lupin is distracted by future-Hermione’s werewolf call and runs away.
• Dementors arrive and begin to perform the Dementor’s Kiss on Sirius, but before they can finish the spell, future-Harry arrives and casts a Patronus Charm, driving them all away. The Harry with Sirius sees this happen, and thinks that it’s his father coming to save him. After the Dementors disperse, both Harry and Sirius lose consciousness.
• Harry is taken to the Hospital Wing, while Sirius awaits his sentence of the Dementor’s kiss. Dumbledore suggests that Harry and Hermione can save two lives that evening.
• Hermione reveals the Time Turner she’s been using all year, and uses it to send herself and Harry back in time three hours. They stop Buckbeak’s execution, and distract Lupin, then Buckbeak saves them when the werewolf comes looking for them. One they’re safe, Harry drives the Dementors away from Sirius, and they finally fly Buckbeak to the tower where Sirius is being held, allowing both to escape and go into hiding.
• Harry and Hermione return to the Hospital Wing an instant after their past selves left, confusing Ron.
• Percy Weasley graduates from Hogwarts.
• At some point after this, Sirius Black gives Harry a two-way mirror he can use to contact him.

• • Summer
    • Lupin resigns as Defense against the Dark Arts teacher.
    • Percy Weasley begins working at the Ministry of Magic.
    • Harry is sent a Firebolt broomstick from Sirius Black.
    • Barty Crouch, Jr. kidnaps Alastor Moody and hides him in an enchanted trunk, using bits of his hair to make the Polyjuice Potion that will allow Crouch to impersonate him.
    • August
      • Frank Bryce, Muggle caretaker of the Riddle family mansion, is murdered by Voldemort with the Killing Curse after overhearing Voldemort's plans to murder Harry Potter. Harry sees this event play out in his dream, although he assumes it’s just a nightmare.
      • At some point, Voldemort turns Nagini into his seventh Horcrux, possibly with the murder of Frank Bryce, although it is not specified.
      • The Weasley family join Amos and Cedric Diggory and travel via Portkey to the Quidditch World Cup, where they watch the Irish team defeat the Bulgarian team.
      • Death Eaters begin terrorizing the campsites at the Quidditch World Cup, and Barty Crouch, Jr. sends up the Dark Mark into the sky.

• Fall
  • September
    • Harry, Ron, and Hermione return to Hogwarts, where they learn that the school will be hosting the Triwizard Tournament.
    • Delegations of students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang arrive at Hogwarts, including Fleur Delacour and Viktor Krum.
    • Barty Crouch, Jr., disguised as Alastor “Mad-Eye” Moody, takes over as Defence Against the Dark Arts professor.
    • The Triwizard Champions are chosen from the Goblet of Fire: Fleur Delacour, Viktor Krum, Cedric Diggory, and a surprising fourth champion: Harry Potter, who did not put his name in.
  • Crouch-as-Moody teaches his students Unforgivable Curses.
  • Crouch-as-Moody transforms Draco Malfoy into a ferret to help endear himself to Harry.
  • November
    • Hagrid reveals to Harry that the first task the champions will face involves Dragons.
    • Harry warns Cedric that the first task is dragons.
    • The four champions successfully face their dragons and capture their Golden Eggs. Cedric Diggory faces a Swedish Short-Snout, Viktor Krum faces a Chinese Fireball, Fleur Delacour faces a Welsh Green, and Harry Potter faces a Hungarian Horntail.
  • December
    • Hogwarts hosts the Yule Ball, which Hermione attends with Viktor Krum, while Ron and Harry attend with the twins Parvati and Padma Patil. Cho Chang attends with Cedric Diggory. Neville Longbottom attends with Ginny Weasley.

• 1995
  • Winter/Spring
    • Cedric gives Harry the tip to “take a bath,” enabling him to solve the clue of the Golden Egg.
    • Ron, Hermione, Cho Chang, and Gabrielle Delacour are enchanted and tethered to the bottom of the Black Lake as the objects of the second task.
    • Influenced by Crouch-as-Moody, Neville Longbottom gives Harry gillyweed before the second task, which will allow him to sprout gills and breathe underwater.
    • Fleur Delacour is attacked by Grindylows, preventing her from reaching her sister before her time runs out.
    • Harry rescues Ron, and then when Fleur doesn’t arrive, he rescues Gabrielle as well.
    • Barty Crouch, Sr. gets in an argument with Crouch-as-Moody, and seems to suspect something is off.
  • May
    • Severus Snape notices Boomslang skin is missing from his Potions supplies, leading him to suspect Harry and his friends are making Polyjuice Potion.
    • Barty Crouch, Sr. is murdered by Barty Crouch, Jr.
    • Harry and Hagrid find Crouch’s corpse in the Forbidden Forest, and Harry goes to tell Dumbledore in his office. Despite the murder, Cornelius Fudge refuses to cancel the Triwizard Tournament. He leaves the office with Dumbledore and Crouch-as-Moody, leaving Harry in the office alone.
    • Harry discovers Dumbledore’s Pensieve, which he uses to learn that Igor Karkaroff was once a Death Eater and that Crouch, Sr. had a son that looked like the man from Harry’s dreams.
    • Snape accuses Harry of stealing from him, but Harry denies it. The real thief is Barty Crouch, Jr., who is making Polyjuice Potion in order to impersonate Mad-Eye Moody.

• June
  • June 24
    • The final task is an enchanted hedge maze, with the Triwizard Cup at the center. The four champions enter the maze.
    • Crouch-as-Moody uses the Imperius Curse to control Viktor Krum, who stuns Fleur Delacour, but is then stunned by Cedric Diggory before he can incapacitate him. Harry and Cedric reach the Cup at the same time, and decide to claim it together, not realizing it is a Portkey.
    • Harry and Cedric are transported to the town of Little Hangleton, where Voldemort and Peter Pettigrew await.
    • Cedric Diggory is murdered with the Killing Curse by Peter Pettigrew.
    • Peter Pettigrew uses Harry’s blood to perform a spell to give Voldemort a new body. The spell also requires Peter to cut off his own hand. Once Voldemort arises, he gives Peter a new hand made of silver.
    • Voldemort summons his Death Eaters and attempts to kill Harry, but due to his and Harry’s wands sharing a core, their duel triggers Priori Incantatum, which cause the past spells of each wand to manifest. Harry sees a number of Voldemort’s victims, including Cedric and Harry’s parents, come out of the wand and offer him encouragement. James Potter’s spirit promises to cause a diversion once the spell is broken, allowing Harry to escape, and Cedric asks him to bring his body back to his father. As the spirits swarm Voldemort, Harry runs to Cedric’s body and uses the Accio charm to call the Portkey, transporting them both back to Hogwarts.
    • Harry tells the stunned spectators at Hogwarts that Voldemort has returned. In the ensuing confusion, Crouch-as-Moody takes Harry up to his office and confesses that he was the one pulling strings to get Harry into the Triwizard Tournament and help ensure he was the first one to get to the Cup.
    • Realizing that something is amiss, Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Snape burst into Moody’s office and administer a magical truth serum, Veritaserum, to the imposter. Crouch-as-Moody tells them where they can find the real Moody, and transforms back into Barty Crouch, Jr.
  • A memorial feast is held in honor of Cedric Diggory.
  • Cornelius Fudge refuses to believe Voldemort has returned.

The Second Wizarding War 1995-1998

•  1995
  • Summer
    • Albus Dumbledore asks Arabella Figg, a squib and the Dursley’s neighbor, to keep an eye on Harry over the summer.
    • Rubeus Hagrid discovers his half-brother Grawp among a tribe of giants and brings him back to Hogwarts, hiding him in the Forbidden Forest.
    • The Order of the Phoenix reconvenes and makes their headquarters at 12 Grimmauld Place.
    • Harry and Dudley are attacked by Dementors on their way home from the park, sent by Dolores Umbridge, and Harry casts Patronus Charm in order to save them.
    • Harry is notified via Howler that he is expelled from Hogwarts for performing magic in front of a Muggle.
    • Albus Dumbledore has Harry’s expulsion order suspended in favor of a disciplinary hearing.
    • Harry is transported by the Order of the Phoenix to 12 Grimmauld Place, where he is reunited with Hermione and the Weasleys. The Order consists of the Weasleys, Mad-Eye Moody (real this time), Sirius Black, Severus Snape, Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, and Kingsley Shacklebolt, among others.
    • Harry is accompanied by Dumbledore to his hearing at the Ministry of Magic, and is acquitted, although Cornelius Fudge refuses to believe Harry’s version of what happened to him.

• Fall
  • September
    • Dolores Umbridge is appointed as the new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts.
    • Harry, Ron, and Hermione meet Luna Lovegood in a carriage pulled by thestrals.
    • Umbridge gives Harry detention for insisting that Voldemort is back, and forces him to write “I must not tell lies,” for “as long as it takes for the message to sink in,” using an enchanted quill that carves the words into Harry’s hand as he writes.
    • Dolores Umbridge is appointed “High Inquisitor” of Hogwarts, with the power to oversee the school’s operations and fire teachers who are not performing up to her standards, and creates a student Inquisitorial Squad, led by Draco Malfoy, to help her enforce school rules and report infractions.
  • Professor Trelawney is fired by Dolores Umbridge, but is allowed to remain on school grounds by Albus Dumbledore.
  • Harry, Ron, and Hermione, together with a group of other students from Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw, decide to start meeting in secret to learn defensive spells, since they’re sure Umbridge won’t teach them anything useful. They call themselves “Dumbledore’s Army,” or the DA, and they meet in the Room of Requirement, a suggestion from Neville Longbottom.
  • Harry is appointed the DA’s Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, and begins by teaching his “students” the Patronus Charm.
  • Harry begins to date Cho Chang.
  • Umbridge passes an “Educational Decree” prohibiting all student groups and meetings consisting of three or more people in an attempt to undermine the DA.
  • Harry has a vision of Arthur Weasley being attacked in the Ministry of Magic.
  • At the request of Albus Dumbledore, Professor Snape begins giving Harry Occlumency lessons in order to help him shield his mind from Voldemort.
  • During the Order of the Phoenix Christmas party, Sirius Black tells Harry his family history.

• 1996
  • Winter/Spring

• • • In a mass breakout from Azkaban prison, Bellatrix Lestrange, along with nine other Death Eaters, escapes.
    • Using illegal Veritaserum, Umbridge interrogates Cho Chang and rounds up the members of the DA. Dumbledore takes the blame, but before the Ministry can arrest him, he escapes with Fawkes.
    • Umbridge becomes Headmistress of Hogwarts.
    • The entire DA serves detention with Umbridge and is forced to use the blood quill.
    • Hagrid introduces Harry, Ron, and Hermione to his half-brother, the giant Grawp, who lives in the Forbidden Forest. He informs the trio that the centaurs are growing increasingly more angry with the Ministry of Magic, who keeps seizing their land.
    • During an Occlumency lesson, Harry accidentally gets a glimpse of Snape’s memories of being bullied by James Potter and Sirius Black while they were students at Hogwarts. Furious at Harry for invading his mind, Snape ends Harry’s Occlumency lessons.
  • June
    • During O.W.L. exams, Fred and George Weasley set off an impressive amount of fireworks in the Great Hall, disrupting the testing and destroying all of Umbridge’s Educational Decrees, and flee the school on broomsticks to the cheers of the other students.
    • Harry has a vision of Sirius being tortured by Voldemort at the Ministry of Magic, in the Department of Mysteries.
    • Harry attempts to warn the Order about his vision, but is stopped by Umbridge.
    • Umbridge orders Snape to help her interrogate Harry, but he tells her she has used the last of his Veritaserum on Cho Chang. Harry tries to give him a coded message about what he saw, but Snape doesn’t appear to understand (or so Harry thinks).
    • Snape alerts the Order of Harry’s message.

• Hermione tricks Umbridge into entering the Forbidden Forest in search of Dumbledore’s “secret weapon,” leading her to Grawp’s hiding place.
• Umbridge is confronted by the centaurs, who drag her off into the woods.
• Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, and Luna ride thestrals to the Ministry of Magic to save Sirius. However, they are ambushed by Death Eaters, including Lucius Malfoy, Bellatrix Lestrange, who reveal that Harry’s visions were fakes planted by Voldemort in order to lure him to the Department of Mysteries. Voldemort needed Harry to take the prophecy that was made about his defeat, and Malfoy threatens to kill Harry’s friends if he doesn’t hand it over. After putting up a fight, Harry surrenders.
• The Order arrives in the Department of Mysteries, sent by Snape, and fights the Death Eaters. Sirius and Harry fight side by side and manage to defeat Malfoy, leading to the destruction of the prophecy.
• Sirius is hit with a Killing Curse by Bellatrix, and falls through the magical veil, dead.
• Harry chases Bellatrix, seeking revenge, and knocks her down with an Unforgivable Curse. Voldemort arrives and urges him to kill her, but Harry refuses.
• Dumbledore arrives in the Ministry, and he and Voldemort duel, providing enough distraction for Bellatrix to escape.
• Ministry officials arrive and Voldemort disapparates, but not before Cornelius Fudge sees him and is forced to admit that he’s back.
• Harry finally learns the full prophecy that was made about him and Voldemort.
• Cornelius Fudge resigns as Minister of Magic.
• Umbridge is fired from Hogwarts.
• Lucius Malfoy and the other Death Eaters remaining at the Ministry are sent to Azkaban.

• • Summer
    • Rufus Scrimgeour is appointed Minister of Magic.
    • Mundungus Fletcher steals Salazar Slytherin’s locket from 12 Grimmauld Place following the death of Sirius Black.
    • Draco Malfoy is given a mission by Voldemort to kill Albus Dumbledore.
    • Albus Dumbledore travels to the Gaunt shack in Little Hangleton to retrieve the Gaunt Ring, one of Voldemort’s Horcruxes. Dumbledore tries on the ring, and a deadly curse begins to spread through his body.
    • Dumbledore returns to Hogwarts and destroys the Gaunt Ring with Godric Gryffindor’s sword.
    • Severus Snape manages to contain the Horcrux’s curse to Dumbledore’s right hand, although he warns that the solution will only last for about a year.
    • Dumbledore tells Snape that he knows Draco Malfoy has been ordered to kill him, and makes Snape promise to be the one to do it instead.
    • Dumbledore tells Snape that when Voldemort’s Killing Curse rebounded off of Harry as a child, it left a piece of Voldemort’s soul behind, turning Harry into a Horcrux. Dumbledore asks Snape to tell Harry this only after the other Horcruxes are destroyed. Snape is horrified that Dumbledore kept Harry alive all this time only to kill him at an opportune time, and Dumbledore asks if this means Snape has come to care for Harry. Snape casts his Patronus Charm, which is a doe, like Lily’s, which he uses to demonstrate that his loyalty is still to Lily.
    • Severus Snape makes an Unbreakable Vow to Narcissa Malfoy to protect Draco and carry out his task if Draco fails.
    • Horace Slughorn comes out of retirement to resume teaching Potions at Hogwarts.
    • Draco Malfoy inquires about (and presumably purchases) a Vanishing Cabinet in Borgin and Burkes.
  • Fall
    • September
      • On the Hogwarts Express, Harry eavesdrops on Draco using the Invisibility Cloak. However, Draco notices Harry is there, and waits until the train has stopped and everyone has left to petrify Harry and break his nose.
      • Luna Lovegood finds Harry and helps him off the train.
      • Severus Snape is appointed as the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts.
      • Harry borrows a used book for Slughorn’s Potions class, and sees that it is inscribed as belonging to the “Half-Blood Prince.” Harry follows the HBP’s written instructions, and finds that he gets better Potions results than when he merely follows the textbook’s instructions.
    • Dumbledore shows Harry a memory of Tom Riddle in the orphanage where he grew up, and tells Harry that Professor Slughorn has an important memory that they’ll need to defeat Voldemort.
    • Ron becomes Keeper of the Gryffindor Quidditch team.
    • Ron begins dating Lavender Brown.
    • Harry reveals to Hermione that he has romantic feelings for Ginny Weasley.
    • Throughout the year, Draco Malfoy tests his Vanishing Cabinet, attempting to repair it.
    • December
      • Harry heads to the Burrow to spend Christmas with the Weasleys.
      • December 24
        • Bellatrix Lestrange and Fenrir Greyback set fire to the Burrow.

• 1997
  • Winter/Spring

• • • Draco Malfoy attempts to kill Dumbledore using a cursed necklace, but instead, the necklace curses Katie Bell, although she survives.
    • Ron almost dies from poisoned mead intended for Albus Dumbledore, which was sent by Draco Malfoy.
    • While ill, Ron mutters Hermione’s name, leading to his break-up with Lavender Brown.
    • Harry uses the “Sectumsempra” curse written by the HBP in his Potions textbook to grievously wound Draco Malfoy.
    • Ginny and Harry hide the Potions textbook in the Room of Requirement, where they have their first kiss.
    • Harry uses Felix Felicis potion to improve his luck, and is able to retrieve Slughorn’s memory of his conversation with Tom Riddle, when Tom mentioned wanting to create seven Horcruxes.
  • Summer
    • June 30
      • Dumbledore tells Harry that two of the Horcruxes have already been destroyed -- the diary, by Harry, and the Gaunt ring, by Dumbledore. He asks Harry to come with him to find and destroy a third Horcrux, Slytherin’s locket, although neither of them realize that the locket being held in the seaside cave is a fake.
      • Dumbledore drinks the poisoned potion protecting the locket, weakening him severely.
      • When Harry and Dumbledore return to the top of the Astronomy Tower at Hogwarts, they are greeted by Draco Malfoy and several Death Eaters, including Bellatrix Lestrange, whom Draco has gotten onto school grounds using his repaired Vanishing Cabinet.
      • Harry hides, observing the confrontation between Dumbledore and the Death Eaters.
      • Draco Malfoy disarms Albus Dumbledore, becoming the new master of the Elder Wand.
      • Snape arrives and sees Harry, and Harry asks him to help Dumbledore. Snape tells Harry to be quiet, then ascends to the top of the tower.

• Albus Dumbledore is killed by Severus Snape.
• Bellatrix Lestrange sends the Dark Mark into the sky.
• Bellatrix Lestrange burns down Hagrid’s hut.
• Harry attempts to curse Snape as he flees Hogwarts with the Death Eaters, and Snape reveals himself to be the Half-Blood Prince. He leaves with Draco and the Death Eaters.

• • • July
      • Harry reveals to Ron and Hermione that the locket he retrieved with Dumbledore is a fake, and shows them a note from “R.A.B.” (Regulus Arcturus Black), saying he has taken the Horcrux in order to destroy it.
      • Albus Dumbledore is entombed with the Elder Wand.
      • Harry, Ron, and Hermione decide not to return for their final year at Hogwarts, and to instead seek out and destroy the remaining Horcruxes so that they can defeat Voldemort.
      • Rufus Scrimgeour makes an announcement to the wizarding world about Voldemort’s return.
      • The Dursleys move away from Privet Drive, while Hermione erases her Muggle parents’ memories of her in order to protect them.
      • Voldemort holds a meeting of Death Eaters at Malfoy Manor, where Snape informs the group of the date that Harry will leave 4 Privet Drive, putting him outside the realm of Dumbledore’s protection.
      • Voldemort asks for a different wand to use against Harry, since he doesn’t want to trigger Priori Incantatum again. He decides to use Lucius Malfoy’s wand.
      • Charity Burbage, Muggle Studies professor at Hogwarts, is murdered by Voldemort.

• July 27
  • Several members of the Order of the Phoenix arrive at Privet Drive in order to relocate Harry to the Burrow using broomsticks. To confuse the Death Eaters, six of them take Polyjuice Potion in order to look like Harry: Fred and George Weasley, Mundungus Fletcher, Fleur Delacour, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger.
  • The real Harry rides with Hagrid on the sidecar of his motorbike, and releases Hedwig, telling her to meet them at the Burrow.
  • The Order is ambushed by Death Eaters, and Mad-Eye Moody and Hedwig are killed, and George Weasley’s ear is cut off by Severus Snape.
  • Mundungus Fletcher vanishes as soon as he sees Voldemort.
  • Harry and Voldemort duel, and Harry destroys the wand Voldemort borrowed from Malfoy.
  • Not wanting anyone else to get hurt, Harry attempts to sneak out of the Burrow, but Ron convinces him to stay for Bill and Fleur’s wedding.
• July 28
  • Rufus Scrimgeour arrives at the Burrow to read the will of Albus Dumbledore, and bestow items he has left to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Harry receives the Golden Snitch he won in his first Quidditch match, Hermione receives a book called “The Tales of Beedle the Bard,” and Ron receives a Deluminator. Harry was also supposed to receive the sword of Godric Gryffindor, but it has gone missing. (The sword is in the possession of Severus Snape.)

• • • August
      • Mundungus Fletcher is forced to give Salazar Slytherin’s locket to Dolores Umbridge.

• August 1
  • Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour get married.
  • The Ministry of Magic falls to Voldemort and his Death Eaters. Rufus Scrimgeour is killed in the struggle.
  • Kingsley Shacklebolt’s Patronus interrupts the wedding to warn them that Death Eaters are on their way.
  • Harry, Ron, and Hermione escape and head to a coffee shop in London, but they are ambushed by Death Eaters. Ron suggests killing them, but the trio wipes their memories instead.
• Pius Thicknesse is appointed the new Minister of Magic.
• Pius Thicknesse passes a law that all witches and wizards must be screened to determine their blood status.
• Harry is declared “Undesirable No. 1” by the Ministry of Magic.
• Harry, Ron, and Hermione head to 12 Grimmauld Place, where they learn about Regulus Black and the locket from Kreacher, and learn from Mundungus Fletcher that the real locket is at the Ministry of Magic with Dolores Umbridge.
• Severus Snape is named Headmaster of Hogwarts.

• • Fall
    • September
      • September 1
        • Neville Longbottom, Ginny Weasley, and Luna Lovegood return to Hogwarts. Shortly thereafter, they decide to restart the DA.
        • Alecto and Amycus Carrow assume the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts instructors.
        • Dementors are brought in to surround Hogwarts castle.

• September 2
  • Mykew Gregorovitch is killed by Voldemort using the Killing Curse. Harry Potter witnesses the murder due to his link to Voldemort.
  • Ron, Hermione, and Harry use Polyjuice Potion to infiltrate the Ministry of Magic and steal back the locket.
• The trio apparates to the Forest of Dean, where Ron is splinched, and subsequently healed by Hermione.

• • • Fearful of the abusive Death Eaters, the DA begins hiding out in the Room of Requirement.
    • The DA discovers a secret passage from the Room of Requirement to Aberforth Dumbledore’s house, which they use to acquire food and supplies.
    • Members of the DA start transmitting a coded broadcast to deliver news to the Order and the rest of the resistance.
    • Harry, Ron, and Hermione take turns wearing the locket, but discover it twists their minds, making them angry and suspicious of one another. Eventually, it causes Ron to abandon Harry and Hermione in the woods.
    • December
      • Bathilda Bagshot is killed by Voldemort.
      • Luna Lovegood is captured by Death Eaters.

• December 24
  • Harry and Hermione visit Godric’s Hollow searching for the Sword of Gryffindor in the home of Bathilda Bagshot.
  • Harry visits his parents’ graves for the first time.
  • Nagini, disguised as Bathilda Bagshot, lures Harry and Hermione to Bathilda’s house and attempts to kill them, but they escape back to the Forest of Dean, where Harry discovers his wand is broken.
• Snape sends his doe Patronus to Harry to guide him to Godric Gryffindor’s sword, which he has left at the bottom of a pond in the forest.
• Harry dives in to retrieve the sword, but is dragged down by the locket, but is saved by Ron, who used the Deluminator to return to his friends. Ron also retrieves the sword, and uses it to destroy the locket.
• The trio visits Xenophilius Lovegood’s house, who tells them the tale of the Deathly Hallows, while also alerting the Death Eaters to Harry’s presence as ransom for Luna.

• • 1998
    • Winter/Spring
      • Voldemort visits Gellert Grindelwald in Nurmengard, where Grindelwald reveals the location of the Elder Wand. It is unclear if Voldemort leaves Grindelwald alive.
      • Harry, Hermione, and Ron are captured by a group of Snatchers in the forest. Hermione casts a stinging jinx on Harry to make his face swell so he is unrecognizable as they are taken to Malfoy Manor.
      • The trio are imprisoned in the cellar, along with Luna Lovegood, Garrick Ollivander, and Griphook the Goblin.
      • Harry uses the two-way mirror Sirius gave him to call for help, and sees another man’s face looking back at him. Dobby apparates at Malfoy Manor, and at Harry’s request, transports Luna, Griphook, and Ollivander to safety at Shell Cottage, where Bill and Fleur Weasley are living.
      • Harry Potter defeats Draco Malfoy during a skirmish at Malfoy Manor, becoming the new master of the Elder Wand. Harry keeps Draco’s wand, and uses it to replace his broken holly wand.
      • With Dobby’s help, Harry and Ron free Hermione, who was being tortured by Bellatrix Lestrange. They all escape to Shell Cottage, but not before Dobby is mortally wounded by Bellatrix Lestrange.
      • Harry, Ron, and Hermione bury Dobby at Shell Cottage.
      • Voldemort retrieves the Elder Wand from Dumbledore’s tomb.
      • Luna Lovegood returns to school at Hogwarts, and joins the DA in the Room of Requirement.

• May
  • Harry, Ron, and Hermione break into the Lestrange vault at Gringott’s using Polyjuice Potion to steal Helga Hufflepuff’s cup, the fourth Horcrux. They escape on a dragon, marking the only successful break-in in Gringott’s history.
  • The trio apparate to Hogsmeade, where alarms immediately begin to go off, but they are brought to safety by Aberforth Dumbledore, who was the person he saw in the mirror.
  • Harry, Ron, and Hermione follow Neville through the secret tunnel to the Room of Requirement, where they ask the DA for ideas about the other Horcruxes. Luna Lovegood suggests Rowena Ravenclaw’s lost diadem.
  • Snape orders the students to the Great Hall, where Harry reveals himself to be among them. Professor McGonagall stands up to Snape, and he flees the school.
  • As the Hogwarts professors, students, and allies prepare for the coming battle, Luna takes Harry to talk to the Grey Lady about the location of the diadem. They realize it’s hidden in the Room of Requirement.
  • Ron and Hermione enter the Chamber of Secrets to find a Basilisk fang to destroy the remaining Horcruxes. Ron uses the Parseltongue he remembers Harry using to open the Chamber in their second year. Hermione destroys Hufflepuff’s Cup using the fang, and the two finally share a kiss.
  • Voldemort dissolves the shield the professors have placed around the school.

May 2, 1998 - The Battle of Hogwarts

• Neville blows up the Wooden Bridge leading to Hogwarts.
• Harry finds the diadem in the Room of Requirement, but is confronted by Draco Malfoy, Gregory Goyle, and Blaise Zabini, who attempt to stop him from taking it. Ron and Hermione arrive to help, and Goyle casts a Fiendfyre spell, which quickly devours the room in flames. Goyle is killed. Using broomsticks, Harry and Ron rescue Draco and Blaise, and along with Hermione, they escape the fire.
• Harry destroys the diadem Horcrux with the Basilisk fang.
• Voldemort kills Pius Thicknesse.
• Voldemort orders Lucius Malfoy to bring Severus Snape to the Boathouse.
• Fenrir Greyback kills Lavender Brown.
• Hermione Granger kills Fenrir Greyback.
• Fred Weasley dies.
• Remus Lupin dies.
• Nymphadora Tonks dies.
• Rubeus Hagrid is captured by Death Eaters.
• Voldemort slits Snape’s throat with the Sectumsempra curse, then orders Nagini to finish him off, thinking it will give him mastery over the Elder Wand. They then leave, and Harry and his friends enter the Boathouse. Snape asks Harry to take his tears and the memories contained within, and observes again that he has his mother’s eyes, then he dies.
• Voldemort calls for a pause to the fighting, offering Harry the opportunity to surrender and save those who are still standing.

• Harry uses the Pensieve in the Headmaster’s office to view the memories in Snape’s tears, where he learns about Snape’s friendship with Lily Evans, and his love for her after she married James Potter. He sees that Snape told Voldemort about the prophecy of his destruction, and then that Snape turned to Dumbledore for help to save Lily, which is what prompted Snape to leave the Death Eaters. He sees that Snape cried over his mother’s body after she died, and then agreed to help Dumbledore protect baby Harry from harm. He also sees Snape’s true role in Dumbledore’s death, and learns that he himself is the final Horcrux.
• Harry heads into the Forbidden Forest, prepared to die. He reminds his friends to kill Nagini, the only other Horcrux remaining. As he enters the Forest, he realizes what the inscription “I open at the close” on the Golden Snitch Dumbledore left him means. He tells the Snitch he is ready to die, and it opens to reveal the Resurrection Stone, which Harry uses to conjure the spirits of his parents, Remus, and Sirius. They offer to go with him, but once Harry has gained his strength from them, he drops the Stone to the forest floor, and they disappear.
• Harry stands in front of Voldemort and the Death Eaters, and waits calmly as Voldemort fires a Killing Curse at him.
• Harry finds himself in what appears to be a glowing King’s Cross station, where he sees Albus Dumbledore. Dumbledore tells him that he is not actually dead, and that the Killing Curse only destroyed the part of him that was a Horcrux. He offers Harry the choice to continue on to the afterlife, or return to the world of the living.
• Harry awakes in the forest and plays dead as Narcissa Malfoy checks for signs of life. In a whisper, she asks if Draco is alive, and Harry nods slightly. Narcissa lies to Voldemort and tells him Harry is dead, and Voldemort orders Hagrid to carry him back to the castle.
• Displaying Harry’s seemingly dead body, Voldemort offers the people of Hogwarts the choice to join him or die. Draco Malfoy emerges to join his parents and Voldemort. Neville Longbottom steps forward, holding the Sorting Hat, and at first Voldemort thinks he is joining the Death Eaters, but instead Neville urges his friends and allies to keep fighting and resisting. He pulls Gryffindor’s Sword out of the hat, and Harry tumbles out of Hagrid’s arms, shooting a curse at Nagini, although it rebounds off her.
• The Malfoys flee the battle, abandoning the Death Eaters.
• The battle surges back to life in the Great Hall. Hermione and Ron attempt to kill Nagini, but the snake is ultimately killed by Neville using the sword of Gryffindor.
• Bellatrix Lestrange attempts to kill Ginny Weasley, but is stopped by Molly Weasley, who kills Bellatrix.

• Voldemort and Harry duel, and Harry reveals that he is the true master of the Elder Wand, having defeated Draco Malfoy. Because of this, Harry is able to deflect Voldemort’s Killing Curse back on him once more, and Voldemort dies.
• The Second Wizarding War ends.
• Harry snaps the Elder Wand in two pieces and throws them away.

21st Century

• Sometime between 1998 and 2004
  • Hermione and Ron get married.
  • Harry and Ginny get married.
  • Draco Malfoy gets married.

• 2004
  • James Sirius Potter is born.
• 2006
  • Albus Severus Potter is born.
  • (approximately) Rose Granger-Weasley is born.
  • (approximately) Scorpius Malfoy is born.
• 2008
  • Lily Luna Potter is born.
• c. 2009
  • Hugo Granger-Weasley is born.
• 2015
  • September 1
    • James Potter enrolls in Hogwarts and is sorted into Gryffindor House.
• 2017
  • September 1

• • • Albus Potter prepares to enroll at Hogwarts, and his parents come to see him off at Platform 9 ¾. He worries he will get sorted into Slytherin House, and Harry assures him that good people can come out of Slytherin House, but that the Sorting Hat will take his preference into consideration.
    • James Potter, Albus Potter, Rose Granger-Weasley, and Scorpius Malfoy all board the Hogwarts Express, and their parents watch as they pull away from the station.

Films included in this timeline include:

• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001)
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 (2010)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (2011)
• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016)
• Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018)