Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is the seventh and final novel in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. It was published on 21 July 2007 in the United Kingdom by Bloomsbury and in the United States by Scholastic. Rowling completed the manuscript in January 2007 at the Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh, and described her feelings at that point as a mixture of extreme emotions. The story had been planned for years: Rowling said the final chapter had been written around 1990, as part of her earliest work on the series, and that she could not change the ending because the previous six books all pointed in one direction.

The novel picks up directly where Half-Blood Prince ends. Harry turns seventeen, loses the magical protection of his aunt and uncle's house, and sets out with Ron and Hermione to find and destroy the Horcruxes, fragments of Lord Voldemort's soul that must be eliminated before he can be defeated. Their search takes them across Britain and brings them into conflict with Death Eaters, bounty hunters called Snatchers, and the Malfoy family manor. Alongside this quest runs the mystery of the three Deathly Hallows, a symbol that recurs throughout the book and is linked in a wizarding legend to the Elder Wand, the Resurrection Stone and the Invisibility Cloak. The book builds to the Battle of Hogwarts, where Severus Snape's loyalties and Albus Dumbledore's plans are finally revealed, and closes with an epilogue set nineteen years later.

The book shattered sales records, becoming the fastest-selling book in history, with millions of copies sold within the first day. Critics generally received it positively, and the American Library Association named it a Best Book for Young Adults. Its release was accompanied by a major promotional campaign, including mass readings and events, and by Rowling's public request that readers avoid spoiling its contents for others.