Harry Potter Books in Order – The Ultimate Reading List
The truth is that reading the Harry Potter books in order is essential. The novels follow the life of young Harry Potter from the age of 11 to 18 years old. Each book is a full school year, so leaping would be very confused if you didn’t already know the story.
Harry discovers he is a wizard on his tenth birthday and enrolls at Hogwarts, where he meets Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger.
Harry Potter is ready to embark on perilous adventures alongside his two best friends in order to defeat evil and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.
The Fantastic Beasts films will be released first in chronological order, but they are set in the film universe, and it is unclear what, if anything, will have transpired in the book universe.
At the very least, we know that Rolf Scamander exists in the book universe and that he authored a textbook on magical creatures.
1. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is a 2001 guide book authored by British author J. K. Rowling (under the pen name of the fictional author Newt Scamander) about the magical beings in the Harry Potter universe.
Rowling mentioned in a 2001 interview with Scholastic that she chose the subject of magical creatures because it was a good subject for which she had already created a lot of information in previous books.
Rowling’s name didn’t even appear on the cover of the first edition, with the work attributed under the pen name “Newt Scamander,” who, in the novels, authored this book seen on Harry’s first-year shopping list.
Newt Scamander, the novel’s fictitious writer, does not feature in the main Harry Potter book serial, although his name appears on the Marauder’s Map in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
He is the main character in the Fantastic Beasts film series, portrayed by Eddie Redmayne.
2. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
J. K. Rowling’s fantasy novel Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was published in the United Kingdom in 2007.
The first book in the Harry Potter series and Rowling’s novel, follows Harry Potter, a young wizard who learns his magical ancestry on his 11th birthday when he gets an acceptance letter to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
The ending marks the need for the following book in the series.
Bloomsbury published the novel for the first time in the United Kingdom on June 26, 1997.
The following year, Scholastic Corporation released it in the United States under the title Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.
As Quirrell tries to grab the stone and kill Harry, his flesh burns and blisters when it comes into contact with the boy’s skin. Harry’s scar burns with anguish and he collapses.
Three days later, he wakes up in the school’s hospital, where Dumbledore says that his survival against Voldemort is thanks to his mother giving her life so that he could live.
This left a strong protective charm in Harry’s blood, causing Quirrell’s hands to burn on contact with Harry due to his hate and greed.
He also exposes himself as the one who sent Harry his father’s Cloak of Invisibility, while Quirrell was left to die by Voldemort, who is also alive, and the Stone has since been destroyed.
The exciting academic year comes to a close with the final celebration, at which Gryffindor takes the House Cup.
Harry returns to Privet Drive for the season, failing to inform the Dursleys that the use of magic by under-aged wizards and witches is outlawed, and thereby hoping for some fun and calm over the summer.
3. Quidditch Through the Ages
Quidditch Through the Ages is a 2001 book about Quidditch in the Harry Potter universe authored by British novelist J. K. Rowling under the pen name Kennilworthy Whisp.
It claims to be the Hogwarts library’s version of the non-fiction book of the same name, which is listed in many Harry Potter novels.
Quidditch Through the Ages is a book written by Kennilworthy Whisp, a noted Quidditch specialist, set in the fictional world of Harry Potter.
It is the definitive manual on the game’s history and intricacies in both the imaginary and real worlds. It also serves as a directory of the various British Quidditch teams.
When Severus Snape caught Harry outside the school with this book in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, he made the rule that no library books could be taken outside the school and seized it.
4. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
The story follows Harry’s second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, in which a written message on the walls of the school’s corridors alert that the “Chamber of Secrets” has been reopened and that the “heir of Slytherin” intends to destroy all students who do not originate from all-magical backgrounds.
These attacks are discovered following attacks that leave students and faculty terrified. During the year, Harry and his friends Ron and Hermione explore the incidents.
The sixth book in the series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince has several parallels with Chamber of Secrets.
Half-Blood Prince was the working title for Chamber of Secrets, and Rowling says she had planned to introduce some “crucial bits of information” in the second book, but eventually thought “this information’s proper home was book six.”
5. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry discovers Sirius Black, an escaped prisoner from Azkaban, the wizard jail, who is thought to be one of Lord Voldemort’s old allies, with the help of friends Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger.
Prior to leaving for Hogwarts, Harry learns from Arthur Weasley that Sirius Black is a sentenced wizarding world killer who has escaped from the wizard jail Azkaban in order to kill Harry.
A Dementor enters the train on the way to Hogwarts, forcing Harry to relive his parents’ deaths before passing out.
Remus Lupin, his new Defense Against the Dark Arts trainer, shields him from the Dementor. They discover that Dementors will be patrolling the school in an attempt to apprehend Black.
When Ron thinks Hermione’s cat, Crookshanks, has eaten his rat, Scabbers, their relationship suffers.
This is significant in the story because we later learn that he is actually Peter Pettigrew, who will play an important role as Voldemort’s servant.
Peter faked his own death and blamed Sirius for betraying James and Lily, as well as his own assassination and the murders of the twelve Muggles he murdered throughout his flee, after his defeat.
6. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
In a prologue that Harry sees through a dream, Lord Voldemort kills Frank Bryce, the Muggle caretaker of an abandoned mansion known as the Riddle House, after stumbling upon him and Wormtail. Harry is awakened by the pain in his scar.
The Weasleys accompany Harry and Hermione Granger to the Quidditch World Cup, which they attend to with the help of a Portkey.
Following the match, disguised Death Eaters, Voldemort’s followers, raid the campsite. The Dark Mark is launched into the sky, sparking widespread panic.
Harry learns that his wand has vanished. After being used to cast the Mark, it is later discovered in the hands of Winky, Barty Crouch’s house-elf.
Voldemort’s return to Hogwarts is announced by Dumbledore. Many people, including Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge, are skeptical. Crouch Jr. receives the Dementor’s Kiss, leaving him unable to testify against Voldemort’s return.
Dumbledore pulls Voldemort’s plans into action. Harry returns to the Dursleys after giving his tournament winnings to Fred and George to start a joke shop.
Rowling stated that she was inspired to write Malfalda Weasley, a Weasley relative who, according to Rowling, was the daughter of the second cousin who works as a stockbroker, as listed in Philosopher’s Stone.
This stockbroker had previously been very rude to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, but now that he and his (Muggle) wife had inconveniently spawned a witch, they returned to the Weasleys and asked for their help in bringing her to wizarding society before she started at Hogwarts.
7. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Dementors harass Harry Potter and his nephew Dudley during the summer.
Harry is expelled from Hogwarts after being compelled to use magic to defend himself, but his expulsion is delayed awaiting a hearing at the Ministry of Magic.
A group of Order of the Phoenix wizards whisks Harry away to Number 12, Grimmauld Place, Sirius Black’s hometown.
The Order of the Phoenix is a secret organization headed by Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore that is committed to combating Lord Voldemort and the Death Eaters.
Voldemort is looking for something he lacked prior to his defeat, according to Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny Weasley, and Fred and George Weasley.
One of Voldemort’s followers heard a portion of the prophecy and told Voldemort, who then attempted to murder Harry the baby.
The rest of the prophecy, which Voldemort didn’t even hear, implied that Voldemort would regard his opponent as an equal and that one would inevitably destroy the other.
Frustrated by the prophecy and grieving the loss of Sirius, Harry becomes sullen, although the wizarding community now holds him in high regard.
Harry returns to the Dursleys, prompted by his friends. As the books usually end.
8. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The novel took on a serious shade than its predecessors, according to reviewers, though it actually contained some humor.
The primary themes, according to some, were love, death, trust, and salvation. The significant personal growth of Harry and many other adolescent characters attracted attention as well.
Harry and Dumbledore travel to a cave near the end of the year to recover a Horcrux, Slytherin’s locket.
They find the locket in the middle of a lake in a potion-filled basin. Dumbledore consumes the potion in order to get the locket, greatly weakening him.
After defeating Inferi concealed in the lake, Harry and Dumbledore take the locket and return to Hogwarts, where they discover the Dark Mark over a school tower.
They climb the tower only to be ambushed by Draco, who reveals that his mission is to assassinate Dumbledore and that he has assisted Death Eaters in infiltrating Hogwarts. Draco, on the other hand, is unable to carry it out. Snape instead comes and murders Dumbledore.
Harry ignores the Hogwarts battle to pursue Snape but is beaten by him, who reveals himself to be the Half-Blood Prince prior to fleeing with Draco and others.
Rowling claimed that she had “planned for years” Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, but she spent the entire two months looking over her plan before she started writing the story seriously.
This was a lesson she learned after failing to double-check the plan for Goblet of Fire and having to rewrite a part of the novel.
9. The Tales of Beedle the Bard
J. K. Rowling’s The Tales of Beedle the Bard is a collection of children’s tales.
The same-named storybook is discussed in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the final book in the Harry Potter series. J. K. Rowling handwrote and illustrated each copy of the book in a limited edition of just seven copies.
Albus Dumbledore, the former headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, has bequeathed the book to Hermione Granger.
It is presented as a famous collection of Wizarding children’s fairy tales, so while Ron Weasley is familiar with the tales, Harry Potter and Hermione Granger had never heard of them because of her non-magical childhood.
The novel serves as a vehicle for introducing the trio to the Deathly Hallows.
Hermione Granger discovers a curious symbol above the tale “The Tale of the Three Brothers,” which is later discovered by Xenophilius Lovegood to be the symbol of the Hallows.
The Invisibility Cloak is represented by the triangle in the glyph, the Resurrection Stone is represented by the circle within the triangle, and the Elder Wand is represented by the vertical line.
10. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Throughout the previous six novels in the series, the main character Harry Potter has struggled with the struggles of adolescence while also becoming renowned for being the only person to ever survive the Killing Curse.
The curse was cast by Tom Riddle, also known as Lord Voldemort, a powerful evil wizard who killed Harry’s parents and tried to kill him as a baby due to a prophecy that Harry would be able to stop him.
Harry was put as an orphan in the care of his Muggle (non-magical) relatives Petunia and Vernon Dursley, along with their son Dudley Dursley.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione prepare to track down Voldemort’s four surviving Horcruxes, and they each receive a bequest from Dumbledore: a Golden Snitch for Harry, a Deluminator for Ron, and “The Tales of Beedle the Bard” for Hermione.
They are also bequeathed the Sword of Godric Gryffindor, which has the power to kill Horcruxes, but the Ministry forbids them from possessing it.
The Ministry falls to Voldemort during Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour’s wedding, and the wedding is raided by Death Eaters. Harry, Ron, and Hermione escape to Sirius Black’s family house at 12 Grimmauld Place.
Harry is now the master of the Elder Wand, having previously disarmed Draco. Voldemort casts the Killing Curse on Harry, but the spell backfires, killing Voldemort.
Harry repairs his original wand with the Elder Wand, intending to return it to Dumbledore’s tomb. He preserves his Invisibility Cloak and abandons the Resurrection Stone. The wizarding world has returned to normalcy.
11. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is a two-part British play written by Jack Thorne in 2016 based on an original story by J. K. Rowling, John Tiffany, and Thorne.
The plot picks up 19 years after the end of the 2007 novel Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, following Harry Potter, currently Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement at the Ministry of Magic, and his younger son, Albus Severus Potter, who has yet to enter Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
The play is presented as the eighth installment in the Harry Potter series.
Harry and Ginny Potter bring their son, Albus Severus, to the Hogwarts Express to start his first day at Hogwarts in the opening scene, set during the epilogue of Deathly Hallows in the year 2017.
Harry works at the Ministry of Magic as the Head of Magical Law Enforcement, while Ginny is the editor of The Daily Prophet’s sports section. Ron and Hermione Granger send their daughter Rose on the train as well.
Hermione is now the Minister of Magic, and Ron works at Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes in Diagon Alley.
The fans of the original series were not too pleased with the continuation of the story and some do not consider it to be the 8th book, but only addition that is not obligatory. Rather it is an elective book for those who wish to know more.
