They were a motley collection; a mixture of the weak seeking protection, the ambitious seeking some shared glory, and the thuggish gravitating toward a leader who could show them more refined forms of cruelty."
The Death Eaters was the name given to the most ardent followers of Lord Voldemort. The group primarily consisted of wizards and witches who were radical pure-blood supremacists who practised the Dark Arts with reckless abandon, malevolence and without regard to or fear of wizarding law.
Lord Voldemort used this select group of wizards and witches during both the First and Second Wizarding Wars, employing them as his elite force. They often wore black hoods and skull-like masks with snake-like eye slits to cover their faces. The Death Eaters were considered Lord Voldemort's inner circle and had the Dark Mark burned into their left forearms. When Voldemort touched one of their marks, each of the Death Eaters felt it, signalling for them to Apparate to their leader's side.
Tom Riddle and his gang of "friends", many of whom would go on to become the first Death Eaters
The Death Eaters roots began with Tom Riddle (aka Lord Voldemort), who became the key to everything. Before the Death Eaters themselves came to be, Tom Riddle gathered together a gang of students who, according to former Hogwarts Headmaster Albus Dumbledore, were a mixture of the weak and cowardly seeking protection, the ambitious seeking a scope of power and the thuggish, seeking a leader who could show them a more refined sense of cruelty. The gang considered themselves Tom Riddle's friends, though in truth, he felt no real attachments to any of them due to his lack of desire for a true friend.
The members of this gang, who were all of ancient and wealthy pure-blood families are considered to be forerunners of the Death Eaters since most (if not all) indeed became the first Death Eaters. Riddle manipulated them to do his bidding, and though this led to several nasty incidents over the years, the most prominent being the First Opening of the Chamber of Secrets and the release of the Serpent of Slytherin, who resulted in the death of a muggle-born Ravenclaw, with Riddle's strategic discretion, none was linked back to the group, much less the model student Riddle himself, both a Prefect and Head Boy. At an unknown point in Riddle's time at school, he took on the name Lord Voldemort, an anagram of his full name; Tom Marvolo Riddle, though only those closest to him knew about this name change.
Origins
“
Voldemort... this wizard, about twenty years ago now, started lookin' fer followers. Got 'em, too –– some were afraid, some just wanted a bit o' his power, 'cause he was gettin' himself power, all right.
”
–Voldemort gaining his many followers, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
The Basilisk unleashed
Before 1970, Riddle formed a group he named the Knights of Walpurgis, an organisation that included people that Voldemort knew from his time at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Nearly all of those recruited were from Slytherin House. However there may have been recruits from Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and even from foreign schools within the ranks as well. Shortly after graduating, Voldemort vanished for a good ten years, and during this time, he traveled the world, exploring and studying the most obscure and rare branches of magic, as well as interacting with the worst of Wizardkind, meeting and collecting servants from the various dark wizards and witches he met in his travels, who he realized were very loyal to him. Voldemort would go on to combine the Knights of Walpurgis from his Hogwarts days with the dark wizards he met in his travels and they would eventually drop the name, The Knights of Walpurgis and rename themselves "the Death Eaters". Riddle's cause was made easier due to the fact that anti-Muggle sentiment had risen in England and all over Europe during the years of the Global Wizarding War, and Riddle capitalized on this to build the following he would later need to establish his dictatorship. Recognizing the blood-supremacist leanings that were particularly prevalent in Britain (notably England and Scotland), he borrowed the rhetoric of this movement to convince some of his old schoolmates, and through them, their families, into believing he intended to take Dark Wizard Gellert Grindelwald's Wizarding Supremacy Policies — which did not place any particular emphasis on so-called "blood purity" (Gellert Grindlewald and his comrades planning only to expose Wizardkind to Muggles) — further in Britain, extending them to include not only Muggles, but also half-breeds, Squibs, and any others whose bloodlines were traditionally considered "tainted" by some members of pure-blood Wizarding society. The name Riddle selected for his nascent organisation (in part to differentiate his group from Grindelwald's acolytes), the "Death Eaters", reflected his personal preoccupations rather than the aims he projected for the group. Nevertheless, the name stuck, and by the late 1950s, the group was using it actively; however it wasn't until the dawn of the First Wizarding War in the early 1970s that the name entered the common wizarding lexicon.
The defeat of Gellert Grindelwald in February 1945 forced the early Death Eaters underground, and Riddle and his closest acquaintance, Rufinus Lestrange, focused their efforts on quietly recruiting members from among disgruntled pure-blood families with supremacist leanings. When Riddle went abroad in the late 1940s, Lestrange took over the recruiting duties, and when Riddle returned in the mid-1950s, he was pleased to find that several influential pro-pure-blood supremacy families had joined the cause, including the Macnairs, the Notts, the Carrows, the Averys, and the Rosiers.
Emboldened by the return of their leader, several of the younger Death Eaters began a quiet program of anti-Muggle terrorism, which attracted the attention of Albus Dumbledore, who began to suspect that the boy he had known as Tom Riddle was now styling himself "Lord Voldemort" and was leading the group. When Riddle became aware of Dumbledore's scrutiny, he instructed his followers to cease any overt activity.
Sometime in the mid-1950s, Riddle began to explore the idea of branding his followers, and he began to research the possibility of using an enslavement mark, the existence of which had been the topic of much debate among wizarding historians. In 1957, one of his followers, Byron Macnair, procured a book that described a mark allegedly used by both Darius I and Sargon of Akkad to bind their followers to them. Riddle—by then calling himself "Lord Voldemort"—adapted the spell to create a mark of his own design that allowed him to summon his followers by touching his own mark. This would create a burning sensation in the follower, which would increase until he or she responded to the summons. Later, Riddle would further adapt the spell to allow certain of his followers to alert him to their locations by touching their marks. Members of the organisation Voldemort deemed to be valuable and faithful would be branded with the Dark Mark. This symbol, a skull with a snake protruding from the mouth, was used to mentally summon his followers at will.
In November 1957, Riddle suddenly disappeared to continue his seeking to aid this ultimate goal (about which his followers knew nothing), leaving Rufinus Lestrange in charge of the Death Eaters. Over the ten-year period during which he remained away, he stayed in contact with Lestrange and directed his activities, which were largely confined to gathering more followers, particularly among Wizarding Britain's most influential families. Lestrange, with his family connections, proved very successful at this, eventually bringing in members of newly wealthy families with supremacist leanings (and often dubious pedigrees that they were anxious to shed), notably the Malfoys, into the fold. He also succeeded in informing his future niece-by-marriage, Bellatrix Black, a daughter of the House of Black, one of Britain's oldest and wealthiest families, of the Death Eaters cause and planting an interest in the Death Eaters within her mind. The Blacks had long been known for their support of blood-purity laws, but no member of the family had ever been directly involved in the pure-blood supremacist movement.
Riddle directed Lestrange to keep Death-Eater activity quiet—there was to be absolutely no Muggle-baiting or the like—while building up their sphere of influence in Wizarding Britain. Lestrange's new recruits were invaluable in this; many were instructed to take positions in the Ministry of Magic, and a number of these would eventually rise to positions of influence, including several who secured seats on the Wizengamot.
As soon as Lord Voldemort, who had by that time officially dropped the name Tom Riddle, came out of hiding in 1971, an event that was a cause for quiet celebration among the Death Eaters, who had been growing increasingly restive and anxious to take definitive action, he and several of his henchmen traveled to Hogwarts, Voldemort planning to apply for the recently vacated Defence Against the Dark Arts position in the hopes of using the position to recruit more followers from the students, an idea he had taken from his old Potions teacher, Professor Horace Slughorn and his Slug Club. Unlike the last time he applied for a teaching position, which had been turned down by Armando Dippet due to Riddle's age, Dumbledore suspected that this desire to teach was insincere, and his main goal was to recruit students to his cause and train them in the Dark Art. In truth however, Voldemort was hoping to search the school for artefacts like the sword of Godric Gryffindor and turn it into his sixth Horcrux, which would complete his goal of splitting his soul into seven pieces. Unsurprisingly, Dumbledore declined to hire him; telling Riddle that he knew full well that his desire for the position was insincere and that it belied more nefarious desires. Perhaps out of spite for the Headmaster, or perhaps for being denied a genuine desire to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts, Voldemort secretly placed an unknown dark jinx on the position, making it so a professor could not hold it for more than one school year. Whatever the reason, this ended up having insidious benefits to his long-term plans, as decades of students (including many of his future enemies) would be stuck with erratic, poor-quality knowledge of Defence Against the Dark Arts. While in the school, Voldemort also took the opportunity to conceal Ravenclaw's Diadem in the legendary Room of Requirement, foolishly thinking that it was inaccessible to anyone else but himself. He was also unsuccessful in finding Gryffindor's sword.
Realizing that his plans to recruit an army from Hogwarts students was now impossible and that he must recruit an army another way, Tom Riddle turned his gaze towards the various shunned beings of Wizard society, many of whom he knew would jump to the opportunity to take revenge of Wizards and join his forces if offered the freedom and rights denied to them. He therefor began recruiting allies from the various shunned groups with various promises of power and freedom to roam wild. The creatures who joined him merge with his Death Eaters to form a vast army and included the remnants of the bloodthirsty Giant tribes, who had long ago been driven by Wizardkind into the mountains, a good number of Dementors (but not all of them) and Werewolves under the command of the infamous Fenrir Greyback. Under Riddle's direction, they began a slow campaign of terrorism combined with political action designed to undermine the Ministry and marginalize those who opposed them. However, some beings refused to forge an alliance with the dark army, such as Goblins, as they had no wish to throw themselves into what they viewed as a "wizard's war" and already had influence in the magical world.
In 1968, Nobby Leach, first ever Muggle-born Minister of Magic, left office for mysterious health reasons, leading to a conspiracy theory that he had been poisoned by his Muggle-prejudice advisor Abraxas Malfoy and various other Wizengamot of old pure-blood families who had resigned when Nobby Leach came to power. He was then replaced as Minister Of Magic by Eugenia Jenkins, who, like her predecessor, was sympathetic to issues of social justice. Squibs then began marching for their rights, which spurred pure-blood supremacists to riot. Throughout the decade, with various minority groups demanding to be treated as equals, many of the old, elite pure-blood houses, to which many of the Death Eaters belonged, increasingly felt that their very way of life was being threatened. Many pure-blood supremacists who did not join the ranks of the Death Eaters nonetheless gave their wholehearted support to Voldemort's cause in secret even still. Among the families that's members either joined the Death Eaters ranks or loyally supported their cause were the Malfoy, Lestrange, Black, Carrow, Avery, Yaxley, Crabbe, Nott, Goyle, Rosier, Lee, Snyde, Mulciber, Travers and Rowle families, many of whom were confirmed pure-blood fanatics, although, after seeing what Lord Voldemort was willing to do to gain power (such as slaughtering and torturing fellow pure-bloods against his cause, like the Prewetts and Longbottoms), many became disillusioned. The Death Eaters reasons for joining the Dark Lord varied, some joining out of fear, some joining because of their displeasure of the current political system and some joining for a scope of the power He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was gained.
Actively gathering an army of Dark Wizards and creatures, with the belief that his hidden Horcruxes granted him immortality, Voldemort and his followers planned to overthrow the Ministry of Magic. Their ranks were huge, outnumbering the Order of the Phoenix by approximately twenty to one.
Seeking dominance
First Wizarding War
It was in this charged climate that in 1970, Voldemort revealed himself openly, proclaiming himself the Dark Lord, and started to commit extreme acts of terrorism in Britain. With his army of dark wizards and dark creatures at his command, Voldemort launched an assault against the British Ministry of Magic with the intention of toppling it and creating a new world order run by pure-bloods, with Muggle-borns either killed en masse or kept in utter bondage, and Lord Voldemort himself as an immortal leader, though likely ruling from behind the scenes. To achieve these ends, the Death Eaters and their allies (including the particularly destructive Giants) began openly carrying out attacks on Muggles for sport and to sow chaos. Cleaning up these attacks, healing survivors, modifying memories, searching for the perpetrators, and attempting to prevent future attacks occupied more and more of the Ministry's time and attention. As their confidence grew, the Death Eaters began targeting Muggle-born and "Blood traitor" witches and wizards as well, torturing and sometimes killing their victims, which shocked even the most pro-pure-blood supremacists of the wizarding society. Other "inferior" magical beings such as house-elves (who were treated like vermin) and Goblins (a family of which was slaughtered by Lord Voldemort, possibly in anger of the Goblins' refusal to join the Death Eaters' ranks) also suffered under their reign of terror. To inspire yet more terror, the Death Eaters would cast an image of the Dark Mark in the sky over every house or scene that they killed at.
Many Death Eaters also managed to secretly gain strategic positions within the Ministry of Magic itself. They then used blackmail and the Imperius Curse to expand their influence and destabilise the government from within, which was desperately trying to keep order and continue to maintain secrecy from the Muggle world. Augustus Rookwood, an Unspeakable in the Department of Mysteries who was in truth a spy for the Death Eaters, managed to set up a particularly successful secret network of espionage within the Ministry. Minister Jenkins was ill-prepared to lead during wartime, and it seemed that the Ministry was incapable of gaining the upper hand. Voldemort himself personally killed hundreds of wizards, though he tended to only fight those he considered worthy of his attention or too powerful for his followers to defeat. In these encounters, he displayed his extraordinary abilities, many of which were thought impossible, and he very quickly earned the reputation of the most powerful and dangerous dark wizard of all time, surpassing even Gellert Grindelwald.
To make matters worse, Voldemort and his army killed countless poor and homeless Muggles (whose absences would not be noticed) and innocent wizard bystanders who's bodies the Dark Lord reanimated as Inferi, eventually killing enough to create an army of undead warriors, which he added to his already vast forces and allowed his Death Eaters to use.
In response to the growing threat of Lord Voldemort and his minions, Albus Dumbledore formed the Order of the Phoenix in 1971; to take the fight directly to the Death Eaters. Though the Ministry officially viewed the Order as a renegade outfit, a number of powerful Ministry officials (such as Elphias Doge and Dedalus Diggle; and the famous Aurors Alastor Moody and Frank and Alice Longbottom) joined instantly to participate in more secretive, sudden assaults to crush the dark rebellion. When Dumbledore helped black market trader Mundungus Fletcher out of trouble, he joined the Order and, due to his extensive knowledge of the criminal underworld, proved very useful. To allow members of the Order to covertly communicate with each other, Dumbledore invented a method of sending messages via the Patronus Charm.
Thirteen years of chaos
Height of the War
Harry Potter: "How d’you know what his plans are?"
Remus Lupin: "Dumbledore’s got a shrewd idea, and Dumbledore’s shrewd ideas normally turn out to be accurate."
Harry Potter: "So what does Dumbledore reckon he’s planning?"
Sirius Black: "Well, firstly, he wants to build up his army again. In the old days he had huge numbers at his command; witches and wizards he’d bullied or bewitched into following him, his faithful Death Eaters, a great variety of Dark creatures. You heard him planning to recruit the giants; well, they’ll be just one group he’s after. He’s certainly not going to try and take on the Ministry of Magic with only a dozen Death Eaters."
— Harry Potter, Remus Lupin and Sirius Black discussing Voldemort's plans to take over the wizarding world in 1995, by referencing his first attempts
Despite the Order’s best efforts, Voldemort continued to grow in magical power and influence, and his attacks, whether carried out personally or by his Death Eaters, became more frequent and brutal. It was clear that Dumbledore was the only wizard in the world who rivalled Voldemort in ability. The nascent Order of the Phoenix initially had very little success, and many continued to be killed by Voldemort. Terror and chaos gripped the populace of wizarding Britain to the point that many began to fear to speak Voldemort's name. He became widely referred to as "He Who Must Not Be Named," or, less formally, "You Know Who" within the first year of his reign. Numerous ordinary witches and wizards (such as Mr Thomas and Robert McGonagall Jnr) lost their lives, and the Death Eaters frequently cast the Dark Mark over the scenes of their murders. To protect the organisation, Voldemort ensured that Death Eaters did not know the identities of too many of their fellows, and, to society at large, their identities were completely unknown, although they were all still able to tell each other apart when it mattered by the masks they wore to conceal their identities; which were all unique to the individual using them. Increasing the confusion and paranoia even further, Voldemort and his followers (including Wulfric Mulciber) placed many dozens of innocent victims under the Imperius Curse simultaneously, and forced them to carry out his orders. Even friends and family members were not above suspicion of one another.
In 1975, Eugenia Jenkins was ousted as Minister Of Magic and replaced by Harold Minchum, a hardliner who placed more Dementors around Azkaban. In addition, ruthless Council of Magical Law Head Judge Bartemius "Barty" Crouch Senior rose rapidly through the Ministry's ranks until he also became the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Minchum and Crouch then began to make serious headway, though the anonymous and elusive Death Eaters still retained the advantage.
In 1978, Severus Snape graduated from Hogwarts and entered the ranks of the Death Eaters, joining his schoolmates Evan Rosier, Lucius Malfoy, Bellatrix Black, Regulus Black, Rodolphus Lestrange, Rabastan Lestrange, Avery and Mulciber. Likely at Snape's urging, Voldemort attempted to recruit Lily Evans, whose prodigious talents made up for her status as a Muggle-born, along with her blood traitor boyfriend James Potter; and James' childhood friends: Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew. Naturally, they all refused, defying Voldemort for the very first time, and James and Lily were soon married and joined the Order Of The Phoenix along with their other friends. Around this time, James and Sirius, who had been disowned by the House of Black, were pursued by a trio of Death Eaters, though they easily managed to evade them and escape.
Voldemort then gravitated towards several of his younger recruits who were specially magically powerful and fanatically loyal. He took only Severus Snape and Bellatrix Lestrange under his personal wing, sharing with them his personal-secret knowledge of the Dark Arts; and inspiring in Bellatrix a delusional-psychotic attraction bordering on loving obsession, which Voldemort never returned. He also entrusted his diary Horcrux to Lucius Malfoy, with whom he schemed of using to secretly re-open the Chamber of Secrets, for he did not dare attack Hogwarts directly as long as Dumbledore was Headmaster. This did not come to fruition till many years later. Severus Snape, a fellow half-blood with whom he had much in common, quickly became his most valuable servant; even more so than Bellatrix Lestrange, though Voldemort never told her that. Snape was also the only Death Eater, who Voldemort allowed to freely act, unless it was a mission of great importance.
Barty Crouch's edict
In 1980, Minister Minchum was also removed from office due to his failure to end the war and was immediately replaced with Millicent Bagnold, a extremely strong candidate how immediately used the Ministry's power to push back against the dark forces. Order member Peter Pettigrew was also secretly initiated as a Death Eater, because of the latter's great fear of Voldemort and the foolish conclusion that nothing could be truly gained by resisting him; and began feeding information on the Order's movements to Voldemort. Members began regarding each other uneasily, and Sirius Black suspected that his friend Remus Lupin, who was frequently undercover among Voldemort's werewolf allies, was a spy. When the entire order gathered for a group photograph in July of 1981, no one suspected the truth.
The years of chaos that signalled the Death Eaters apparently inevitable rise to power
Shortly afterwards, due to Pettigrew's betrayal, Death Eaters began systematically murdering Order members and the war entered its most desperate phase. Families of Order members were killed or tortured and it seemed that the entire British Wizarding World was about to fall to these Dark Forces. Marlene McKinnon was slaughtered alongside her entire family by Travers and several other Death Eaters (including Dirk Gibbon, Ryan Nott, Cuthbert Selwyn, Thorfinn Rowle, Piers Jugson, Corban Yaxley, and Wulfric Mulciber) and the same fate would meet Edgar Bones, a fellow Order member and Marlene's husband, and their children, who were all murdered during the height of the War in a massive Death Eater raid, as well as Edgar's mother and father, who were both killed by Voldemort personally. Gideon Prewett and Fabian Prewett both fought bravely but were ultimately killed by Antonin Dolohov and four others, and Dorcas Meadowes was murdered by Voldemort himself. Caradoc Dearborn disappeared, and though his body was never found, he was in fact killed by the dark organisation and his body was destroyed. Benjy Fenwick was killed by Death Eaters with a powerful curse, which killed him in such a powerful explosion that only bits of him were recovered.
Despite these horrific casualties, the Order remained firmly devoted to their goal of bring the dark organisation down. The Order was able to plant a network of spies among the Death Eaters ranks who supplied the underground resistance with information on the Death Eaters ranks, with included Everander Rosier, although, in order to remain inconspicuous, they could only supply a limited amount of information without giving themselves away. Though the Order was a non-Ministry approved organisation, the Order still had wealthy supporters among the most prestigious wizarding citizens, who supplied to Order with money, food, shelter and influence.
The Death Eaters were by that time carrying out Muggle slaughter simply for fun and countless innocent Muggles were murdered. Antonin Dolohov, Igor Karkaroff and presumably many others tortured countless Order members and Ministry of Magic employees either for information or for simple sadistic pleasure and whenever Lord Voldemort and the Death Eaters wanted to create a grand effect, they were aided by the Giants, who causes mass destruction and were responsible for some of the worst atrocities against the non-magical.
In response to this brutal onslaught, Barty Crouch Snr, who despised Voldemort, the Death Eaters, and the Dark Arts entirely; issued an edict giving Ministry Aurors full permission to employ the use of the Unforgivable Curses against their enemies. A massive Ministry campaign, spearheaded and led by Alastor Moody, Kingsley Shackelbolt, and Frank and Alice Longbottom; ensued, immediately turning the tide of the war against the Death Eaters. They initially focused their efforts on resisting the giants, killing many of them with the Killing Curse, and wiping out entire tribes until they forced the survivors to go into hiding. Finally, the Ministry began to identify and apprehend Death Eaters. with Order spies and informants helping from the shadows, luring Death Eaters into traps when they could without giving themselves away as traitors to the Dark Lord. Auror and Order member Alastor Moody became legendary for his successes, arresting and capturing Igor Karkaroff along with many other supporters of the Dark Lord, filling half the cells in Azkaban with Dark Lord supporters and also killing Evan Rosier when he resisted arrest, although losing a chunk of his nose in the process, as well as Rosier's former classmate, Wilkes. Antonin Dolohov also met his capture and imprisonment at the hands of Magical Law Enforcement Squad and the same fate would meet many of Voldemort's followers, as dozens were captured and sent to Azkaban as well. Still Voldemort himself remained untouchable, both for his elusiveness, and for his legendary power and skill, which no one but Dumbledore could match. Around this same time, another one of Gideon and Fabian's murderers, the infamous Andreiko Igorobravitch, was captured attempting to attack a young child by the name of Ulf-Harald John, the son of two of his most hated childhood nemeses, Jillie and Alex John, to take revenge on the couple (and possibly to show the might of the Death Eaters) by attacking the young child during one night. However things did not go as planned as he was captured by Alastor Moody, Remus Lupin and Markko Teräsinen (the cousin of Pekka). There had been no doubt about the atrocities committed and so Andreiko was put away for life with no trial by Barty Crouch Snr, an action that even Sirius Black, who would later be imprisoned without a trial by Barty Crouch Snr too approved of.
A few weeks before the Godric Hollow incident, Jane Crane, a Muggle-born witch and the wife of the famed Auror Donovar Crane, who's name had become a nightmare for the Death Eaters due to Donovar having captured dozens of their fellows, presumably in an attempt to force Donovar to cease his efforts in capturing and exposing them. In retaliation, Donovar and his group of Aurors initiated "Operation Archangel", despite it not having been officially approved by the Ministry. The operation was a massive success, and Donovar was not only able to capture multiple core members of Voldemort's Death Eaters, but also uncovered critical information on Voldemort's inner circle and most trusted followers. However, one of the Death Eaters who were involved in Jane's kidnapping was Donovar's own younger brother, Jonathan. Before he could reach her in time, Jane was killed by Jonathan shortly before his subsequent life on the run and capture. During his last few days of freedom before Azkaban, Jonathan was attacked by a were-vampire, which, without treatment, caused Jonathan to transform into a vampire during his incarceration within Azkaban, and, as a result, believed he can no longer stay among the living unless the Dark Lord won, due to the Wizarding World looking at him in disgust, which further increased Johnathan's loyalty to Voldemort.
“
The Dark Lord will rise again, Crouch! Throw us into Azkaban; we will wait! He will rise again and will come for us, he will reward us beyond any of his other supporters! We alone were faithful! We alone tried to find him!
”
–Voldemort gaining his many followers, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
During the worst days of the war, in late 1980; James and Lily Potter lived in Godric's Hollow, England with their son, Harry. The family had been asked to go into hiding by Professor Dumbledore himself, as they knew they were definitely on Voldemort's radar as hated enemies. James then lent his family heirloom invisibility cloak to Dumbledore, who was curious about its properties. Around this time, Dumbledore met with Sybill Trelawney at the Hog's Head Inn in Hogsmeade regarding the vacant position of Divination teacher. During the interview, Trewlaney entered into a magical trance and made a real prophecy: in which she foretold the futuristic coming of a young wizard who would not only become Voldemort's equal; but would finish The Dark Lord for good, due to this individual having strength, power, courage, will, purity of heart, and most of all: a deep love that would not only surpass those of Lord Voldemort, but of Albus Dumbledore himself.
There were two possible candidates, both born in July of 1980 to members of the Order of the Phoenix who had thrice defied the Dark Lord: Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom. Severus Snape was also secretly at the inn, and managed to overhear only part of the prophecy before being discovered and thrown out by the inn's keeper, who was secretly Order member Aberforth Dumbledore, Dumbledore's younger brother. Snape then immediately reported what he had heard to Voldemort, who became so fearful and was greatly concerned over the information. Voldemort then immediately assumed that it meant the Potters' son (a half-blood like himself) and resolved to personally kill the infant at any cost whatsoever. Dumbledore then hired Trelawney so that she would be safe from Voldemort and his Death Eaters.
Complicating Voldemort's plan, Snape secretly harboured a deep everlasting love for Lily Potter, since the two had been friends since childhood; so great enough that he covertly defected to the Order Of The Phoenix after he secretly told Dumbledore that Voldemort had marked her and her family for death, begging the legendary wizard to hide and protect the family from Voldemort at all cost. Dumbledore agreed, and urgently bade the Potters to go into hiding under the protection of the Fidelius Charm. While James and Lily wanted Sirius Black to be their Secret-Keeper, because he was their closest and most trusted friend, and the fact the Sirius had been made Harry's godfather; it was for exactly those reasons that Black claimed that he was too obvious a choice and that Voldemort would suspect him. Instead, he suggested Peter Pettigrew, an ordinary wizard who no one would ever expect. Thus, the real traitor became the Potters' Secret-Keeper, though no one (not even Dumbledore or Lupin) knew of the switch, and within a week Pettigrew told his master Voldemort the Potters' location, officially breaking the Fidelius Charm and leaving the Potters completely vulnerable. Meanwhile, Dumbledore discovered that James's invisibility cloak was in fact the Cloak of Invisibility, the third of the legendary Deathly Hallows.
A day that was to be a glorious victory for the Death Eaters became the signal of their first downfall
After Lord Voldemort attempted to circumvent a prophecy written by Sybill Trelawney during the height of the war, he fell out of the picture following his attack on Godric's Hollow that resulted in the murder of James and Lily Potter. His primary target, the infant Harry Potter, was mysteriously credited for Voldemort's fall and surviving with nothing but a scar, thus sealing his fate as the "Boy Who Lived" as well as starting the destiny forced upon him. Although Voldemort's body and magic were destroyed, he did not die because of his Horcruxes enabling him to survive; albeit in a bodiless, powerless spectral form. In utter fear and desperation, he immediately fled the collapsing house and the country entirely, unwilling to be seen by anyone in such a weakened and desperate state, not even his own Death Eaters, going into hiding within the forests of Albania.
In the aftermath of Voldemort's shocking defeat and subsequent disappearance without a trace, many were sceptical that he was really dead, believing that he was too powerful or too inhuman to die like a normal wizard. Aurors, Order members, and Ministry officials searched at home and abroad for any sign of him but found none. Although they eventually came to the conclusion that Voldemort had truly been defeated and was dead, many Death Eaters were still at large and considered a threat. Being none the wiser to what had become of their master, the Death Eaters largely fell into chaos and many of their allies, knowing the cause was lost, abandoned the Death Eaters and went into hiding.
Having secretly retrieved his master's wand from the destroyed Potter residence, Peter Pettigrew attempted to go into hiding with it the next day in fear of being perceived a traitor by the Death Eaters (since his information inadvertently caused Voldemort's downfall), but was confronted by Sirius Black on a street in London, England full of Muggles. In order to escape, he used Voldemort's wand to conjure a powerful Blasting Curse that killed twelve Muggle bystanders and transformed into his Animagus form of a rat, leaving behind a severed index finger as fake evidence against his opponent. This left Black universally perceived as the traitor to the Potters, as well as a mass murderer, for which he was quickly arrested and carted off to Azkaban without a trial, whereas Pettigrew was universally thought to be dead and unjustly awarded the Order of Merlin (First Class) for his supposed willingness to stand up for the safety of a friend.
In addition, other Death Eaters like Travers, Dirk Gibbon, Mulciber, and many others were likewise captured and imprisoned within Azkaban for life, many without trial as part of the hard line taken by Ministry official Barty Crouch Snr, who had legalised the Unforgivable Curses against those suspected to be among the enemy's ranks. while Dumbledore gave personal testimony exonerating Severus Snape, who he also hired as the Potions Master at Hogwarts to replace the retiring Horace Slughorn. Fenrir Greyback and other werewolves went back underground, and the few remaining Giants left the British Isles entirely and resettled in the last remaining Giant colony in the world in rural Denmark.
However, some Death Eaters, the most prominent among them being Igor Karkaroff, gave up many names in exchange for freedom, Karkaroff give the Ministry the name of the Death Eater, Augustus Rookwood, who was thrown into Azkaban, in exchange for his freedom, which he used as an opportunity to flee the country and eventually gain employment as the new Headmaster of Durmstrang Institute Of Magic in Eastern Europe. The subsequent investigation of Rookwood's spy network led to numerous individuals being questioned (including Ludovic "Ludo" Bagman, Beater for the Wimbourne Wasps, who was found not guilty). However, Rookwood's arrest was not without it's casualties, and, while bring the traitor to justice, Cassandra Macmillan, Auror and Order member, took a Killing Curse intended for a fellow Auror. Her sacrifice however, was not in vein, for, as she ran forwards to protect her fellow Auror, she sent a Knockout Jinx at the traitorous Unspeakable, knocking him out and allowing the Ministry to capture him. Around the same time, another Order member, Matilda Webbs, found out her Unspeakable husband, Cassius, was a secret Death Eater, but was struck down in cold blood by Cassius after finding out where his true loyalties lay, forcing the traitorous Unspeakable to go on the run before being captured and sent to Azkaban, leaving his son, Simon, in his grandfather's care.
Despite the Ministry crackdown, spearheaded by Barty Crouch Snr, Albus Dumbledore, and Alastor Moody; some Death Eaters were able to elude justice walk free, such as the Malfoy Family, who claimed to have been under the Imperius Curse and were cleared. Many innocent people were released from the Imperius Curse indeed, following Voldemort's defeat, so most of them used this as an excuse. Others simply used their wealth, power, and influence to avoid punishment for their crimes. Lucius Malfoy, Nott, Avery, Crabbe, Goyle, Amycus and Alecto Carrow and Corban Yaxley, were officially considered innocent in the years after the war, while others either went into hiding or were simply never identified. Due to many trying to escape by claiming they were bewitched, the Ministry assigned specialists to find out who was lying, although this did not work out to the fullest since Malfoy and dozens of others were found innocent. Assuming that Voldemort was dead and gone, those who were cleared simply carried on with their daily lives as if nothing had ever happened. Most followers hid their allegiance to Voldemort and therefore did not try to find him.
However, not all Death Eaters were content to give up Voldemort's cause. Despite having successfully talked their way out of Azkaban, Bellatrix Lestrange, Rodolphus Lestrange, and Rabastan Lestrange, along with Crouch Snr's own son, Bartemius "Barty" Crouch Jnr, remained loyal to their fallen master. The four abducted and interrogated Frank and Alice Longbottom, believing that they had information on Voldemort's whereabouts, they tortured them with the Cruciatus Curse so severely that they were left mentally insane with no possibility of returning to their former state. However, even the entire Lestrange Family and Crouch Jnr were ultimately captured and arrested by a convoy of Aurors. The Longbottoms were moved to St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries in Diagon Alley for long-term care and their infant son, Neville Longbottom, was left to be raised by his grandmother Augusta Longbottom. The horrific attack enraged the magical public so much and was considered one of the most dreadful crimes ever recorded. Barty Crouch Snr, disgusted and shame-ridden that his own son was a Death Eater, sentenced them all to life in Azkaban, to the savage pleasure of the entire Wizengamot. As they were dragged away by a horde of Dementors, Bellatrix proudly proclaimed her loyalty and declared that the Dark Lord would return and free her, her husband and her brother-in-law, along with his other imprisoned servants and that they would wait.
Some, such as Evan Rosier and Wilkes, chose to resist arrest and fought to the death. Sirius Black believed that if the rogue Death Eaters got wind of Peter Pettigrew is still alive, they would seek to kill him for it was his information that led to Voldemort's downfall. It was for this reason that Pettigrew hid in his unregistered Animagus form as a pet rat, stationed near Harry in an attempt to bide his time to turn the boy in should the Death Eaters start to regain momentum, in which nobody would dare say he betrayed Lord Voldemort.
Servant returns to the master
"The Dark Lord lies alone and friendless, abandoned by his followers. His servant has been chained these twelve years. Tonight, before midnight... the servant will break free and set out to rejoin his master. The Dark Lord will rise again with his servant's aid, greater and more terrible than ever he was. Tonight... before midnight... the servant... will set out... to rejoin... his master."
— Professor Trelawney's second prediction[src]
In 1994, Ron's pet grey rat, Scabbers, was revealed as Peter Pettigrew. Although thought to be dead (he was believed to be murdered by Sirius Black), he turned out to have been in hiding, due to the fact he was now a Death Eater and an accomplice. He had been hiding in his Animagus form of a grey rat named Wormtail since shortly after betraying the Lily and James Potter to their deaths on 31 October, 1981. He spent 12 years with the Weasley family, as their pet.
Pettigrew's disguise was discovered by the part-Kneazle Crookshanks, Sirius Black, who had escaped from Azkaban in the Animagus form of a black dog named Padfoot, and Remus Lupin. Though not from lack of trying, Harry Potter failed to successfully turn Peter Pettigrew over to the Ministry of Magic, and Pettigrew escaped to return to service to Voldemort, though he later regretted it, where he made two complicated dark potions, one of which was the Regeneration potion, to return Voldemort to a body. During his travels to Albania, where Voldemort was believed to be in hiding, Peter stopped off at a tavern for the night. There, he came into contact with a Ministry of Magic witch, Bertha Jenkins, who recognized him. Displaying a shocking streak of cunning, Peter was able to persuade Bertha to take a stroll with him into the woods, and was able to overpower Bertha before completing his journey to Voldemort's lair, bring her before to shattered Dark Lord. Lord Voldemort was able to break through the memory charm placed by Barty Crouch Snr on Bertha due to her sighting his believed-dead son through torture and learned of the imprisonment of his Lestrange followers. Yet, he also learn't of the escape of the fourth Longbottom torturer - Barty Crouch Jr, who was now imprisoned under his father's control. Realizing that Bertha's body was to badly damaged to be a vessel for his soul, Voldemort, after murdering the Ministry witch, set out with Peter in rudimentary body for Britain. Bertha's disappearance, however, did not concern most of the Ministry (although some, like Barty Crouch Snr and Arthur Weasley felt otherwise), due to her reputation of being forgetful and not very bright made many believe she had lost track of time and was perhaps just lost. Voldemort and Wormtail went to the Crouch estate, where Voldemort placed Crouch Snr under the Imperius Curse and freed Crouch Jnr for good. After Barty Crouch Jr reaffirmed his loyalty to his master, Voldemort ordered Crouch Jnr and Pettigrew to capture Moody at his home. When they did it, Crouch placed Moody under Imperius Curse and created Polyjuice Potion which he used to impersonate Moody for the entire school year. He influenced the Tournament for months, ensuring that Harry would be the one to get to the Triwizard Cup first which, unbeknownst to anyone, was a Portkey. Meanwhile Voldemort returned to the Crouch estate with Wormtail, where they ordered Crouch Snr to continue about his business as usual.
Receiving a sign
Death Eaters on the march
Thirteen years later, at the four hundred and twenty-second Quidditch World Cup in 1994, a group of Death Eaters attacked the camp of wizards and witches and a nearby Muggle family. The Death Eaters seemed to consider torturing and humiliating Muggles a form of entertainment. When Crouch Jnr launched the Dark Mark into the air out of rage for his comrades not seeking out their fallen master, the Death Eaters fled in fear of Voldemort's retribution for their disloyalty.
Second Wizarding War
The Second Wizarding Disappearance
When Crouch Snr started to show signs of resisting the Imperius Curse, Voldemort decided it was no longer safe to allow him to leave the house, and instead made him stay home under the presumption of being sick. In late May of 1995 Crouch Snr continued to fight through Voldemort's control and eventually escaped due to Wormtail's negligence.
Voldemort quickly alerted Crouch Jnr to stop his father at all costs as he surmised that Crouch was intending to tell Dumbledore all about his past actions and Voldemort's plans. Upon Jnr's success, Voldemort spared Pettigrew from being given to Nagini as meat instead opting to punish him with the Cruciatus Curse.
The Dark Lord's return
“
Welcome, Death Eaters. Thirteen years... thirteen years since last we met. Yet you answer my call as though it were yesterday.... We are still united under the Dark Mark, then! Or are we? I smell guilt. There is a stench of guilt upon the air I see you all, whole and healthy, with your powers intact — such prompt appearances! — and I ask myself... why did this band of wizards never come to the aid of their master, to whom they swore eternal loyalty? And I answer myself they must have believed me broken, they thought I was gone. They slipped back among my enemies, and they pleaded innocence, and ignorance, and bewitchment...
”
On 24 June 1995, Lord Voldemort finally returned to a physical body through a Dark potion created by Peter Pettigrew (the potion required a bone from Voldemort's father, flesh from the servant and blood from the enemy — that being Harry). The body was human-shaped, though hairless and with many unusual features such as serpentine nostril slits and feline-esque eyes.
Moments after Lord Voldemort had finally regained his body, he summoned his followers to him by touching Peter Pettigrew's Dark Mark. Some proved too afraid to return to him, such as defector Igor Karkaroff, while all others who were dead or imprisoned remained absent. Severus Snape did not return on the claim that he had to appear more loyal to Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix: Snape returned two hours later, under the claim that he was trying to maintain the cover of a double agent, which the Dark Lord found satisfying.
Despite several absences, there were many who returned the call, possibly those who were perhaps most loyal to him, save for those who willingly went to Azkaban in his name, appeared, including Walden Macnair, Lucius Malfoy, Nott, Corban Yaxley, Amycus and Alecto Carrow, Crabbe, and Goyle, and Avery. Avery went to beg for forgiveness, but Voldemort told the band of Death Eaters who did not try to find him that he wants thirteen years of repayment before he could forgive them for their wavered loyalty: Snape would later comment that had the faithless Death Eaters not been forgiven, then Voldemort would have very few followers left. The Dark Lord told the Death Eaters of the events that had led to his first downfall, his years in hiding before he tried to steal the Philosopher's Stone by possessing Quirrell and eventual defeat before finally of how Pettigrew had located him, and they set out to orchestrate his resurrection. He rewarded Wormtail by constructing a silver hand.
Harry Potter was present for Voldemort's return to power, and even duelled him, resulting in a spectacular display of Priori Incantatem, revealing that the cores of Voldemort's and Harry's wands were related. After reprimanding his followers, Voldemort set his attention on Harry, and began to mock and humiliate the boy before the Death Eaters. He then had Harry untied so he could force the young wizard into a duel where the Dark Lord had a greater advantage over Harry. After inflicting the Cruciatus Curse several times and the Imperius Curse on Harry, Voldemort was ready to end the one sided duel and kill Harry once and for all. Yet as Voldemort cast Avada Kedavra, Harry simultaneously cast Expelliarmus and their twin-core wands became locked in Priori Incantatem.
People who had been killed by Voldemort's wand came out as spectral visions: First, Diggory, next Bryce, then Jorkins, and followed by Lily and James Potter. They encouraged Harry, while distracting Voldemort. Harry pulled away and had enough time to grab Cedric's body and the Triwizard Cup to return to Hogwarts infuriating Voldemort who had lost his chance at killing Harry right then and there which resulted in Harry alerting Dumbledore to Voldemort's return which then created obvious obstacles in his plans to regain his power over the Wizarding World. Because of this, Voldemort, who still feared Dumbledore, chose to, instead of declaring full on Armageddon on the British Wizarding World, play his hand quietly and carefully, silently beginning to rebuild his army, currently reduced to a dozen or so Death Eaters, in the shadows, choosing to draw together the dozens of fractions that had once served him back under his banner, as well as recruiting new servants in silence.
Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge and most of the Ministry of Magic originally refused to believe that Voldemort had returned. Though Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore served as dissenting voices, the majority of the public chose to believe in the Ministry and its wider propaganda and smear campaign against Potter and Dumbledore, which would be printed in news outlets such as the Daily Prophet. Finally in 1996, the Minister for Magic witnessed Voldemort and Dumbledore's duel in the Ministry of Magic and was forced to admit his mistake. Falsely-reformed Death Eaters such as Lucius Malfoy and Walden Macnair remained in the Ministry's trust, subtly sabotaging the government's efficiency and gathering information on them.
Despite the Ministry's propaganda and corrupt political procedures suppressing the truth, which affected many citizens' opinions, there are many who chose to believe Dumbledore and Harry instead, such as the Longbottom and Macmillan families, both of whom had had members among the Order of the Phoenix during the first war. The Order had also be restarted, with many of its surviving former members either joining or supporting them. However, the Ministry's belief put the Order at a critical disadvantage and forced them to work in the dark, making it much harder to caution others against the Dark Lord, although they still had several influential supporters who aided them, such as Louisa and Alaric Madley and Macklemore Macmillan. When Harry provided an interview of the truth via The Quibbler, it riled many more people to support him, such as Seamus Finnigan.
Bid for the Prophecy
“
The Ministry of Magic announced late last night that there has been a mass breakout from Azkaban. Speaking to reporters in his private office, Cornelius Fudge, Minister of Magic, confirmed that ten high-security prisoners escaped in the early hours of yesterday evening, and that he has already informed the Muggle Prime Minister of the dangerous nature of these individuals. “We find ourselves, most unfortunately, in the same position we were two and a half years ago when the murderer Sirius Black escaped,” said Fudge last night. “Nor do we think the two breakouts are unrelated. An escape of this magnitude suggests outside help, and we must remember that Black, as the first person ever to break out of Azkaban, would be ideally placed to help others follow in his footsteps. We think it likely that these individuals, who include Black’s cousin, Bellatrix Lestrange, have rallied around Black as their leader. We are, however, doing all we can to round up the criminals and beg the magical community to remain alert and cautious. On no account should any of these individuals be approached.”
”
Bellatrix and her comrades escape
Armed with the advantage of the Ministry's denial, the Death Eaters kept a low profile in order to maintain their standing in the wizarding world and slowly but surely rebuild their forces without detection or hindrance. Due in part to the Ministry's refusal to remove the Dementors from Azkaban, a proposition Dumbledore supported immediately following Voldemort's return, the Death Eaters informally recruited the Dementors to their cause. Similar progress was made with the giants. The quiet revolt of the Dementors fostered a mass breakout of imprisoned Death Eaters from Azkaban in early 1996. Meanwhile, Voldemort sent Warden Macnair and an unknown other to the remnants of the Death Eaters old giant allies, a mission that was helped by the Ministry's refusal to extend a hand of friendship to the hated beings. Dumbledore, predicting that the pirate captain would very likely send an messager or messagers to the remnants of the banished tribes to rally them together for war, sent the two half-giants Hagrid and Olympe Maxime as his representatives, bearing gifts to attempt to convince the shunned beings over to the Order's side this time or to remain neutral. Finally, the two of them arrived in a Giant colony made up of approximately eighty Giants. Once the Giants awoke, Hagrid and Olympe approached the Gurg, Karkus, with gifts — a branch of Gubraithian Fire and a Goblin-made helmet, which they gifted on two separate days. On the second day, Hagrid and Olympe extended the offer for Karkus to join Dumbledore. Karkus, having heard good things about the great wizard, seemed to be receptive. However, that very night, a fight broke out in the camp which result in the death of Karkus after the cause of the fight: a giant named Golgomath, who tore the former's head off his shoulders. This skirmish was crucial in the recrutation of the Giant Colony, as Hagrid and Olympe, who were watching from a mountain cave, suspected that Golgomath would not be keen to listen. This uprising was orchestrated by Walden Macnair and his comrade, who had been secretly making contact with Golgomath and his followers, prompting rebellion. After Karkus's death, Dumbledore's envoys attempted to make peace with Golgomath as they had with Karkus, but, due to Golgomath already bending over to Voldemort's side, he had his cronies attack the pair near-moments after the entered, forcing Olympe to use magic against them to aid their escape, while Golgomath peacefully making contact with the Death Eaters. Finally, acnair and his various colleges who were making contact with the various other tribes of gigantic humanoids, were able to convince the majority of the Giants to their cause for the coming war. During their time at the colony, Golgomath also told Macnair and his comrades that Hagrid and Olympe were in the area, and the dark wizards attempted to weed them out, poking around the mountain caves for the two, but the two half-giants managed to escape, though without any giant allies (save Hagrid's half-brother, Grawp). The only resistance the Death Eaters met with, at the time, was the Order of the Phoenix, which was suppressed by the Ministry's propaganda and threat of dismissal, thus furthering Voldemort's freedom of action. Falsely-reformed Death Eaters such as Lucius Malfoy and Walden Macnair remained in the Ministry's trust, subtly sabotaging the government's efficiency and gathering information on them. While Harry and several Order members suggested that Fudge was under the Imperius Curse, Dumbledore believed otherwise, which was not a lot of comfort.
Despite the Ministry's propaganda and corrupt political procedures suppressing the truth, which affected many citizens' opinions, there are many who chose to believe Dumbledore and Harry instead, such as remnants of the Longbottom family and Ernest Macmillan and his father, both of whom had loyally supported the Order in the First War. When Harry provided an interview of the truth via The Quibbler, it riled many more people to support him, such as Seamus Finnigan.
After the Death Eaters made two unsuccessful attempts to steal a prophecy from the Department of Mysteries, it was realised that only those about whom the prophecy referred could remove them from the shelves in the Hall of Prophecy. Thus, in early summer of 1996, Voldemort sent a group of twelve Death Eaters, led by Lucius Malfoy, into the Department of Mysteries in order to steal the prophecy concerning himself and Harry Potter. Having originally attacked Harry Potter based upon a partial recounting of it, Voldemort now desired to hear the full version in order to understand entirely the nature of the connection between himself and Potter. Harry was lured there, along with five other members of Dumbledore's Army, when Voldemort used their connection to give Harry a false vision of his godfather being tortured.
Death Eaters duel
The D.A. students quickly distracted the Death Eaters, scattering throughout the Department of Mysteries, and frequently encountering and duelling with the dark wizards. Neville had his face kicked and as a result could not perform spells; Hermione, Luna, Ron, and Ginny were all incapacitated, as well as numerous Death Eaters, but there were no fatalities until five members from the Order of the Phoenix — Sirius Black, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Nymphadora Tonks, Remus Lupin, and Alastor Moody — arrived. They battled the Death Eaters before Bellatrix Lestrange suddenly blasted Sirius Black with her wand, causing him to fall and disappear through a mysterious veil, killing him instantly.
Soon afterwards, Albus Dumbledore appeared and captured (through the use of an Anti-Disapparition Jinx) all the Death Eaters except Bellatrix, who ran out of the chamber chased by Harry Potter, and for the first time in his life Harry used an unforgivable curse and cast the Cruciatus Curse on Bellatrix. However the curse was too weak, because Harry was angry at Bellatrix for murdering Sirius, rather than wanting to purely cause Bellatrix pain, and so gave Bellatrix only a small amount of pain. The two proceeded to exchange spells in the Atrium.
Voldemort faced Dumbledore
Searching for Harry and Bellatrix. Dumbledore then came across Lord Voldemort himself. The two engaged in a duel of epic proportions which left the Fountain of Magical Brethren in ruins, with Dumbledore taking the upper hand and eventually incapacitating Voldemort with an orb of water. Unable to defeat Dumbledore, Lord Voldemort attempted to possess Harry in the hope that Dumbledore would sacrifice Harry in order to kill Voldemort. When an army of Aurors arrived, Voldemort hastily fled, thus ending the battle and causing Fudge to finally believe Dumbledore and Harry's claims about the Dark Lord's return
Start of open war
The raid was a failure for the Death Eaters because their reactivation was no longer a secret and the captured Death Eaters were then sent to Azkaban. Additionally, Voldemort failed in his objective to seize the prophecy concerning himself and Harry, infuriating him. Revealed at last to the wizarding community, the Death Eaters proceeded to resume their earlier lifestyle and behaviour. Kidnapping, torturing, and murdering of wizards, witches and Muggles began anew as the Second War began, which included the capture of wandmaker Garrick Ollivander, the murder of Order Of The Phoenix member Emmeline Vance, and the murder of Amelia Bones, who was until that point the head of the Department For Magical Law Enforcement at the Ministry of Magic and whom was murdered by Voldemort himself. Due to the Ministry's failure to accept the reality of Voldemort's return early on, the Death Eaters' forces had already grown to the point where the Ministry had a very difficult time keeping them in check, made only worse when the Minister for Magic still cared more about the bureaucracy's reputation than actual security. When Minister Cornelius Fudge refused to surrender the Ministry, Voldemort destroyed the Brockdale Bridge drowning many Muggles. Florean Fortescue and Garrick Ollivander both went missing and Ollivanders was emptied, but there was no sign of struggle. Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour showed evidence of a struggle or fight, but no sign of him was ever found. A man named Octavius Pepper disappeared in the early spring and Hogwart's student Hannah Abbot was found murdered. Igor Karkaroff was found dead in a shack with a Dark Mark cast over the building a year after he deserted Voldemort. Dementors, now no longer confined to Azkaban, ran wild, spreading fear and mist through the Magical and Muggle world and, in the West Country, Death Eaters and at least one giant attacked, causing mass destruction and horrible injuries, though it was associated by Muggles to a hurricane, though the Ministry was still forced to dispatch a team of Obliviators to modify the memories of all Muggles who witnessed the truth and most of the Department For The Regulation And Control Of Magical Creatures to search for the suspected giant, while the Office of Misinformation worked around the clock to help create a plausible, non-magical explanation for the raid. Every Auror was once again given permission to use the most dangerous spells against their foes and were charged with attempting to located the Dark Lord and round-up the Death Eaters. These events allowed Head of the Auror Office Rufus Scrimgeour to replace Fudge as the new Minister for Magic.
Unfortunately for the Ministry, even with the consequences of Fudge's denial as an example, it did little to change their preference of reputation over true security; Fudge attempted to request Harry to lie to the public how the Ministry was doing a great job in their defence against the Death Eaters, which would have led to more false sense of safety that would endanger them. Although Harry refused, Minister Scrimgeour attempted to do the same and also created many cover ups such as Azkaban breakouts and arresting random suspects to make it look like progress. This campaign of corruption and false security would cause the Ministry's defence to drop further, as Death Eaters were able to place Imperius Curses onto high-ranking officials, who in turn would take control of others, leading to a network of powerful conspirators, and eventually, the Ministry would pay for its folly in 1997. The Death Eaters also once again reached out to Fenrir Greyback and recruited him and his werewolf army (which had been swollen by the mass breakout) once again to their cause.
The Burrow alight
Planning to lure Harry Potter out of his safe house and capture him, Lord Voldemort sent a squadron of Death Eaters under the command of his second-in-command, Bellatrix Lestrange and consisting of Fenrir Greyback, Travers, Dirk Gibbon and an unidentified Female Death Eaters to attack the Burrow, which Harry was known to be visiting. Slipping into the reeds during the evening of the Christmas day, Gibbon, Bellatrix, Travers, Fenrir and their unnamed companion encircled the Burrow and watched the house, waiting for a change to stick. As night falls, the dark wizards and witches stole into the pitch black sky on smoky wings via Umbra Flight. As Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks were leaving, Bellatrix Lestrange swoops from the sky a few metres from the front door then encircled the house with a raging ring of fire. Enraged by the sight of his godfather's killer, Harry pursues the witch into the reeds, followed by Ginny, who Fenrir Greyback in turn follows. As Harry tore after Bellatrix through the tall-grass, she taunted him with the memory of his deceased godfather. Suddenly, Bellatrix Disapparated, leaving Harry disoriented among the reeds and trying to determine where she disappeared too. By this time, Ginny had lost her way, as well. Hearing a noise behind her, she looked to see if it was Harry she called his name, only to be approached by Fenrir Greyback. As she was about to be attacked, Harry emerged from behind her and tried to stun Greyback, but his spell was deflected with ease. Greyback then Disapparated into the surrounding tall-grass, where he and Bellatrix encircled the pair in order to confuse them. As the two Death Eaters heard the adults approaching, they started jinxing Harry and Ginny who deflected the spells. Hearing the spells being cast ahead of them, Lupin, Tonks, and Mr Weasley joined Harry and Ginny and tried to protect them from the Death Eaters. After firing of another round of spells, largely outnumbered, Bellatrix and Greyback retreated. While retreating they and their comrades went out of their way to set fire to the Burrow. The fire destroyed all the items in the Weasley family home and ruined the rest of the Christmas holidays for all of those present, greatly upsetting Mrs Weasley in the process. Though the squadron were unable to capture Harry, they left him without a safe location for his holiday, forcing him to return to Hogwarts early and struck even more fear into the Wizarding World, who realised how easy it was for Death Eaters to get any of them.
Victory at Hogwarts
“
Dumbledore cornered! Dumbledore wandless! Dumbledore alone! Well done, Draco, well done!
”
During the Second Wizarding War, Voldemort plotted to be rid of Albus Dumbledore. At the close of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry year in June 1997, Dumbledore and Harry obtained a locket that they believed to be one of the Horcruxes of Voldemort from a cave filled with Inferi. They Apparated into Hogsmeade and through the assistance of Madam Rosmerta, they saw a Dark Mark hanging in the sky above Hogwarts Castle. Dumbledore and Harry borrowed broomsticks and flew to Hogwarts' highest tower in the castle, the Astronomy Tower.
Dumbledore encountered Draco Malfoy and performed the Full Body-Bind Curse on Harry, who was hidden under the Cloak of Invisibility. Draco revealed how he successfully used a Vanishing Cabinet to help the Death Eaters enter Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Dumbledore then informed Draco that he already knew about the assassination plot, the cursed necklace, and the poison intended to kill him. He also delayed Draco in his plans to murder him until several Death Eaters, including Alecto and Amycus Carrow, Fenrir Greyback, and Corban Yaxley, arrived at the scene.
Severus Snape successfully cast the Killing Curse on Dumbledore in front of the four Death Eaters, Fenrir Greyback, Draco, and Harry, who was still hidden under his Invisibility Cloak and frozen in place by Dumbledore's spell. After the latter's death, the jubilant Death Eaters retreated on Snape's orders. Harry, free from Dumbledore's Full Body-Bind Curse, quickly chased after the Death Eaters and cast several unsuccessful spells at Snape when they reached the grounds. One Death Eater, Thorfinn Rowle, set fire to Rubeus Hagrid's hut, and the Death Eaters disapparated when they reached the gate.
Also present were Rowle and Gibbon, who was accidentally killed by a stray Killing Curse from the former, the only casualty on the Death Eater's side. In addition to Dumbledore's death, Bill Weasley was attacked by Fenrir Greyback and received scars on his face but lived without becoming a werewolf because Greyback was not fully transformed at the time of the attack. However, Bill sustained minimal lycanthropic symptoms, including a taste for raw meat. Overall, the mission was a great success for the Death Eaters as they had destroyed their master's most powerful enemy, striking a devastating blow to the morale of those who remained standing against Voldemort.
Throughout the year, parents withdrew their children from Hogwarts due to the Death Eaters' activities becoming increasingly brazen due to the lead they had; families preferred to stick together during these challenging times despite the school being a safer place due to the powerful magical protections. However, it was only when Draco successfully allowed Death Eaters into the fortress that the community was struck with the horrific realisation that there was no longer anywhere safe from Lord Voldemort and his army, resulting in many more families rushing to gather together
Plottings and tactics
“
Not content with corrupting and polluting the minds of Wizarding children, last week Professor Burbage wrote an impassioned defence of Mudbloods in the Daily Prophet. Wizards, she says, must accept these thieves of their knowledge and magic. The dwindling of the pure-bloods is, says Professor Burbage, a most desirable circumstance... She would have us all mate with Muggles...
”
Death Eaters meeting
Now that Dumbledore had been killed, the Death Eaters became even bolder in their campaign of terror against the British wizarding world. Voldemort, with his Death Eaters, planned several courses of action following the successful assassination of Dumbledore. One was the overthrowing of the Ministry of Magic so that Voldemort would have absolute power. Another was capturing Harry Potter and killing him. While Voldemort went on his own personal quests and stayed out of sight of the wizarding community's eye, he worked through others, including Corban Yaxley at the Ministry working in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and Severus Snape and the Carrows at Hogwarts working as professors.
The meeting place for the Death Eaters was Malfoy Manor. At this place, the Death Eaters would make reports, and the Dark Lord would give them orders. On one occasion, Voldemort heard Yaxley's reports concerning events at the Ministry of Magic, though he was more impressed with Snape's reports regarding the Order of the Phoenix's plans to move Harry Potter. Voldemort also ridiculed Bellatrix Lestrange and the Malfoys for the marriage of Remus Lupin (a known werewolf) to Nymphadora Tonks, their niece. At this meeting, Charity Burbage, a professor of Muggle Studies at Hogwarts, was murdered by Voldemort and then fed to Nagini. Voldemort also took Lucius Malfoy's wand to fight against Harry Potter, believing his own to be inferior.
Attempt on Harry Potter
Main article: Battle of the Seven Potters
“
That's him, it's him, it's the real one!
”
Still opposed by the Order of the Phoenix and Dumbledore's Army, who knew it was not safe to trust the Ministry of Magic, Voldemort knew through Snape that Harry Potter would be moved from the house of his aunt and uncle a few days before his seventeenth birthday, which is when Lilly's Potter's charm protecting him would have broken if Harry had continued to call the place home until that point. The exact details of this move were unknown to the Death Eaters at large; though Snape manipulated Mundungus Fletcher with magic and knew the plans, he only told the Dark Lord enough to display loyalty.
As a congregation of members of the Order of the Phoenix and Dumbledore's Army, including Alastor Moody, Arthur Weasley, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Nymphadora Tonks, Remus Lupin, Rubeus Hagrid, Bill Weasley, Fleur Delacour, Fred and George Weasley, Mundungus Fletcher, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger, along with Harry Potter himself, left the home of the Dursleys, the Death Eaters attacked immediately. They could not tell right away which pair included the real Harry Potter because six of the congregation had used Polyjuice Potion. It was assumed that Harry would be with the strongest members, so Shacklebolt and Moody were attacked most fervently at first, leading to Voldemort, who himself was present in the air without aid of magical transportation in any shape or form, personally killing the latter. During the ensuing battle, numerous Death Eaters were injured, including Rodolphus Lestrange, and at least one was supposedly killed. However, they inflicted noticeable casualties of their own, even by accident: George Weasley lost an ear and Hedwig was killed.
When Harry Potter used Expelliarmus, which they had come to consider his trademark spell, against Stan Shunpike, who was under the Imperius Curse, the Death Eaters knew the real Harry to be with Hagrid. Despite their attempts to capture the boy, they were thwarted by Harry's spell-work, Hagrid's selfless courage, and finally, when Harry crossed into a protective spell over the home of Ted Tonks. Lucius' wand was disintegrated by a spell cast by Harry's wand, infuriating Voldemort even more.
The Death Eater-controlled Ministry
The Fall of the Ministry of Magic
“
The Ministry has fallen. Scrimgeour is dead. They are coming.
”
In spite of their most recent failure to terminate Harry, the Death Eaters' plans of overthrowing the Ministry of Magic and taking a huge step towards reigning supreme were still underway. On 1 August 1997, they stormed into the complex, killing Minister for Magic Rufus Scrimgeour. Before Scrimgeour died, he was interrogated under use of the Cruciatus Curse about Harry's whereabouts; despite his knowledge, Scrimgeour's last act was to protect Harry from Voldemort. Then Pius Thicknesse was installed in his place, controlled by the Imperius Curse placed on him by Yaxley after great difficulty and effectively Voldemort's thrall, and several Death Eaters became employees of the Ministry, most notably Corban Yaxley. Voldemort himself did not declare open leadership, instead choosing to use secrecy and confusion to maintain the public's distrust for each other, thus preventing rebellion. Whether Death Eaters actually entered the Ministry and fought in person is not known. The Death Eaters used the Ministry's resources to eliminate the Order of the Phoenix's defences, attacking and forcing their way into the Burrow and other homes of Order members, as well as those of some of their allies, such as Ted and Andromeda Tonks. While no one was killed, many were hurt under questioning about the whereabouts of Harry Potter, and all were subsequently put under surveillance.
The Death Eater's attempt to discredit Harry Potter
The fates of Muggle-borns during this terrifying reign
With the Ministry's resources all but absolutely in the hands of the Death Eaters, Lord Voldemort stationed Nagini at Godric's Hollow and left them to run the Ministry in his name until he could seek out the fabled Elder Wand. The Death Eater-controlled Ministry continued to flourish in his absence. They created the Muggle-Born Registration Commission, an instrument for the humiliation and persecution of Muggle-borns, who were falsely accused of having "stolen" magic and consequently imprisoned in Azkaban. Propaganda against Muggle-borns and Harry Potter was spread: Harry was considered "Undesirable Number One," and there was a 10,000 Galleon reward for his capture. The Taboo curse was also placed upon Voldemort's name as a method of locating anybody who was brave enough to say it. Dozens of bounty hunter groups known as Snatchers were formed to hunt down runaway Muggle-borns, blood traitors and Death Eater enemies, who's captures were all being offered gold for.
Headmaster Snape
“
Severus Snape, long-standing Potions master at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and wizardry, was today appointed Headmaster in the most important of several staffing changes at the ancient school. Following the resignation of the previous Muggle Studies teacher, Alecto Carrow will take over the post while her brother, Amycus, fills the position of Defence Against the Dark Arts professor.
”
Attendance at Hogwarts became mandatory during the 1997-1998 school year since Voldemort wanted all members of the magical population under his control which among other things was another way to weed out Muggle-borns. Students were required to prove blood status, and any Muggle-born children were sent to the Muggle-Born Registration Commission and then to Azkaban.
Severus Snape was appointed Headmaster, though he faced fierce opposition from Minerva McGonagall and other professors, as well as the remaining members of Dumbledore's Army, including Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood, and Ginny Weasley. They encouraged rebellion, saved students from detentions that now involved corporal punishment with one known means being the Cruciatus Curse, and eventually stopped attending classes and took up residence in the Room of Requirement.
The Carrows were also there at the school, with Amycus Carrow teaching the Dark Arts, although the class' name remained as Defence Against the Dark Arts. There were many favoured students, such as Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, who were at home performing black magic. His sister, Alecto, took over the now mandatory Muggle Studies, though the course became a brainwashing of the superiority of wizard-kind over Muggles.
Infiltration of the Ministry
"Blooming pain in the bum, this, eh? Forcing us all to get to work this way! Who are they expecting to turn up, Harry Potter?"
— Ministry employee[src]
Death Eater among the Ministry
On 2 September, 1997, Harry, Ron, and Hermione infiltrated the Death Eater-controlled Ministry under the disguise of Polyjuice Potion. They disguised themselves as Albert Runcorn, Reginald Cattermole, and Mafalda Hopkirk, respectively. They were looking for Salazar Slytherin's Locket, which they believed to be in the possession of Dolores Umbridge. Not only did they manage to reclaim the locket, but Harry Potter also liberated Alastor Moody's magical eye from the front of Umbridge's office door. In addition, they assisted several Muggle-born wizards in escaping interrogation. There were no known deaths or permanent injuries. However, they were forced to abandon 12 Grimmauld Place as a safe house after Yaxley forcibly Disapparated with them by grabbing Hermione's arm.
Attack at Godric's Hollow
""Bathilda must’ve been dead a while. The snake was... was inside her. You-Know-Who put it there in Godric’s Hollow, to wait. You were right. He knew I’d go back."
— Harry Potter regarding Voldemort's motives[src]
On Christmas Eve of 1997, Harry Potter and Hermione Granger made their way to Godric's Hollow, both to visit the graves of the former's parents and to see if Bathilda Bagshot knew anything about the symbol on a book left to Hermione by Albus Dumbledore, and if she possibly had Godric Gryffindor's Sword. After visiting the graves of James and Lily Potter, Harry and Hermione were spotted by Bathilda, despite being under Harry's Invisibility Cloak. They followed her back to her home, where Harry saw a picture of a young wizard he later learned was Bathilda's nephew, Gellert Grindelwald. Bathilda beckoned Harry to follow her upstairs, and Hermione reluctantly remained on the lower floor.
Upstairs, Bathilda asked if he was Harry Potter; he was not aware that she asked this in Parseltongue. When he confirmed that he was, he felt his scar burn — Bathilda had in fact been dead for some time, and Nagini was in her animated corpse. She signalled Voldemort and then attacked Harry, biting and coiling herself around him. Hermione came running upstairs and tried to curse the snake while Harry felt Voldemort approaching. Hermione repelled Nagini from Harry using a Blasting Curse that also ended up breaking Harry's wand. Both jumped out of the window and Disapparated just as Voldemort arrived. Hermione managed to heal Harry's bite, but they had to share her wand until Ron Weasley returned to them, with a spare wand taken from Snatchers.
Ambush at the Lovegood House
On 30 December, 1997, shortly after Ron Weasley returned to the hunt and his friends. Ron destroyed the locket Horcrux, Hermione Granger expressed a desire to visit Xenophilius Lovegood in order to question him about a mysterious symbol somehow connected to The Tales of Beedle the Bard, Albus Dumbledore, Gellert Grindelwald, and Godric's Hollow. It was also the symbol Xenophilius had worn to the wedding at the Burrow in the summer.
In spite of Harry Potter's scepticism, the trio went to the Lovegood House. There, Xenophilius told them about the legend of the Deathly Hallows. They began to grow suspicious, however, when they saw a copy of The Quibbler that was no longer supportive of Harry and the Order of the Phoenix, and when they deduced that Luna Lovegood had not been home for a long time. Xenophilius admitted that Death Eaters had taken her hostage against his good behaviour, and that he had alerted them to Harry's presence in his home. He tried to hold them there, but ended up causing the erumpent horn in his living room to explode. The trio hid as Selwyn and Travers arrived and started to beat and torture Xenophilius, thinking he had been lying to them. Hermione then engineered their escape so that the Death Eaters caught a glimpse of her and Harry but not of Ron, who was supposed to be home with spattergroit. That way, Ron's alibi was preserved and the Death Eaters would not punish Xenophilius or Luna.
Skirmish at Malfoy Manor
Main article: Skirmish at Malfoy Manor
“
The Dark Lord is coming, Harry Potter! Your death approaches! Now… Cissy, I think we ought to tie these little heroes up again, while Greyback takes care of Miss Mudblood. I am sure the Dark Lord will not begrudge you the girl, Greyback, after what you have done tonight.
”
During Harry Potter's time hidden from the Death Eaters, he accidentally said Voldemort's name and thus triggered the Taboo placed upon the name. He, Ron and Hermione were captured by a group of Snatchers led by Fenrir Greyback and brought to Malfoy Manor, where they were confronted by Bellatrix Lestrange and the Malfoys. Bellatrix spotted Godric Gryffindor's Sword among the trio's possessions and interrogated Hermione using the Cruciatus Curse to find out where they got the item, but Hermione lied, claiming it was only a copy.
In the meantime, Dobby the house-elf came and rescued Harry, Ron, Garrick Ollivander, Luna Lovegood, and Dean Thomas from the basement, along with Griphook, who had reluctantly supported Hermione's lie. Together, they took various wands from the house's occupants before fleeing, but Dobby was killed by Bellatrix, who had finally had time to summon the Dark Lord, in the process. Upon his arrival, Voldemort was enraged that he had been summoned for nothing and cruelly caused physical harm to all present and placed them under house arrest. Having recently interrogated the leader of the forerunners of the Death Eaters, who was Gellert Grindelwald of the Alliance, he proceeded to complete his quest and steal the Elder Wand, at which point he could lead the Death Eaters directly and further tighten their iron fist around Great Britain.
Destruction of Voldemort's Horcruxes
Unknown to anyone even vaguely associated with the Death Eaters, Harry, along with Ron and Hermione, was out seeking to destroy Voldemort's Horcruxes and finish what Regulus Black had started in the seventies that Albus Dumbledore, thanks to the destruction of Marvolo Gaunt's ring in 1995, could not finish. One Horcrux, Tom Riddle's diary, had already been destroyed by Harry four years prior, the first Voldemort would learn of. From Bellatrix's behaviour at Malfoy Manor, Harry Potter concluded that a Horcrux was in her safe at Gringotts Wizarding Bank.
Although the three companions were successful in locating and destroying Slytherin's Locket and now had a second Horcrux in their grasp, Voldemort learned of Harry's mission from the bank's protectors. In panic, he wiped them out and went to the places the Horcruxes were hidden, leaving Hogwarts last, but in the process revealing to Harry Potter that Hogwarts was indeed the last place to go.
Gringotts break-in
Harry Potter: "The vault we need to get into isn't empty, and I'm guessing its protection will be pretty powerful. It belongs to the Lestranges."
Griphook: "You have no chance. No chance at all."
— Discussion of breaking into Gringotts
While staying at Shell Cottage, Harry, Ron, and Hermione planned to break into Gringotts Wizarding Bank in order to steal an item from the Lestrange vault, as they suspected from Bellatrix’s earlier panic that it was one of Voldemort’s Horcruxes. Using hair that had fallen onto Hermione's sweater when Bellatrix was holding her at Malfoy Manor, the trio brewed Polyjuice Potion so that Hermione could disguise herself as the Death Eater. She then transfigured various aspects of Ron's appearance and he took on the alias of "Dragomir Despard", a foreign wizard. Harry and Griphook followed under the Invisibility Cloak.
With Griphook's help, and Harry using Confundus Charms and the Imperius Curse on Death Eater Travers and various bank employees, the trio got into the Lestrange vault. There, they struggled to get Helga Hufflepuff's Cup as the treasure turned hot enough to burn them and multiplied when touched. Just as they obtained the Cup, Griphook took Godric Gryffindor's Sword from Harry and deserted them. Harry, Hermione and Ron escaped by flying the half-blind dragon that had been guarding the vault out of the bank.
Malfoy Manor massacre
"The Elder Wand slashed through the air..."
— Voldemort's massacre
After learning his Horcruxes were being systematically hunted and destroyed, Lord Voldemort slaughtered all those who brought him the news
Battle of Hogwarts
“
I command my forces to retreat immediately. You have one hour... I speak now, Harry Potter, directly to you... I shall wait for one hour in the Forbidden Forest. If, at the end of that hour, you have not come to me, have not given yourself up, then battle recommences. This time, I shall enter the fray myself, Harry Potter, and I shall find you, and I shall punish every last man, woman, and child who has tried to conceal you from me. One hour.
”
The Death Eaters wreak destruction
Voldemort, along with his Death Eaters and other allies, attacked Hogwarts and those defending it in May 1998. During this battle, Harry, Hermione, and Ron managed to find Rowena Ravenclaw's Diadem in the Room of Requirement. It was accidentally destroyed by Vincent Crabbe's out of control Fiendfyre curse. In the meantime, Death Eaters and their allies were storming the castle: Colin Creevey and Fred Weasley were murdered, Lavander was injured by Fenrir Greyback (though she survived, although not without gaining everlasting scars from the assault), and Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks were murdered in duels with Antonin Dolohov and Bellatrix Lestrange, respectively. Voldemort had Nagini kill Severus Snape, believing it would make him the true master of the Elder Wand, and then issued an ultimatum to the other side: Harry turns himself over within an hour, or everyone in Hogwarts will be killed.
Upon realising through Harry’s mental connection to Lord Voldemort that Voldemort’s fifth and second last source of immortality, The Diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw, was hidden in Hogwarts, Harry, Ron, and Hermione, all wearing Harry's Cloak of Invisibility, apparated into the main street of Hogsmeade. However, they immediately triggered a Caterwauling Charm, and a dozen cloaked, and hooded Death Eaters lead by Aidan Carrow dashed into the street from the Three Broomsticks. One of the Death Eaters tried to summon the Cloak, but the Summoning Charm did not work on it because it was secretly the cloak of legend, one of the fabled Deathly Hallows. Harry, Ron, and Hermione backed quickly down the nearest side street. Harry informed the others that the Death Eaters must have set up the Caterwauling Charm to alert them to the trio's presence, and they likely had done something to trap them there. At that moment, one Death Eater suggested releasing the Dementors, pointing out that the Dementors wouldn't kill Harry. Voldemort wanted Harry's life, not his soul, and he would be easier to kill if he had been subjected by the Dementor's Kiss first, which, after some conversation, the Death Eaters agree too.
Hermione suggested that they disapparate, but as they tried, the air through which they needed to move seemed to become solid. They could not Disapparate due to an Anti-Disapparation Jinx placed by the Death Eaters. Ten or more Dementors closed in on them, and Harry raised his wand to cast a Patronus, causing the silver stag to burst from his wand and charge. The Dementors scattered and there was a triumphant yell from the Death Eaters. Suddenly, a door near the trio opened and the three of them were hustled inside the Hog's Head Inn while the inn's proprietor confronted the Death Eaters, pulling out his wand and cast a goat Patronus; he insisted that the Death Eaters had mistaken his Patronus for a stag and that he had set off the alarm when he let out his cat, as well as reminded them that without his inn, the Death Eaters would have nowhere to traffic their “potions and poisons”. Reluctantly convinced, the Death Eaters strode back toward the High Street, letting Aberforth off with a warning.
The Death Eater crowd
Upon entering Hogwarts, Harry, attempting to locate his enemy’s Horcrux (which, though he did not know what the Horcrux was, he suspect it to be connect to Rowena Ravenclaw), alongside Luna Lovegood, made his way to the Ravenclaw Common Room in search of a clue to where the Horcrux was. They were caught there by Alecto Carrow, who summoned Voldemort by way of the Dark Mark on her arm before being stunned by Luna. Amycus Carrow and Professor McGonagall then arrived in the room. Horrified of what punishment his master might dole out on his sister, Amycus decided that he would blame Alecto's (seemingly unnecessary) summoning of Voldemort on the students. McGonagall however, refused to allow him to put her students in danger, causing him to spit in her face in anger. Harry, outraged, used the Cruciatus Curse on him, revealing himself to McGonagall. After subduing both siblings, McGonagall sent three cats Patronus messengers to summon the other Heads of House and started for the Great Hall with Harry and Luna following closely behind her. As they walked down from Ravenclaw Tower, they encountered Headmaster Snape in the hall. He continually darted his eyes about, perhaps suspecting that Harry was nearby. When asked what she was doing there, McGonagall claimed she heard a disturbance. She was evasive when asked about Harry, then slashed her wand through the air. Snape, faster, deflected her charm. She then waved her wand at a torch on the wall, making it fly off its bracket. The flames became a ring of fire that filled the corridor and flew like a lasso at Snape. Snape turned the descending flames into a great black snake that McGonagall blasted to smoke and turned into a swarm of daggers, which she directed towards him. The Headmaster pulled a suit of armour in front of him, which the daggers sank into with echoing clangs Filius Flitwick and Pomona Sprout came running to McGonagall's aid with a huffing Slughorn lagging behind. Flitwick raised his wand, bewitching the suit of armour to attack Snape by crushing him. Outnumbered, Snape sent the suit of armour flying back against his attackers and dashed into a deserted classroom, where a loud crash was heard. Pursuing, McGonagall screamed, "Coward!" Uncloaked, Harry and Luna rushed inside to find that Snape had fled by leaping out the window in the form of a jet-black stream of smoke. Harry thought that Snape was surely dead, but McGonagall bitterly commented that, unlike Dumbledore, Snape had a wand and had learned a few tricks from his master, Voldemort. Harry saw a large, bat-like figure soaring across the school grounds. Harry slid into Voldemort's mind again and saw an Inferi-filled lake. Voldemort leapt from the boat in a murderous rage, headed for Hogwarts.
Knowing that his archenemy was now at Hogwarts, Voldemort summoned his entire army, now reinforced by Ministry workers and Imperiused Wizards and Witches for a mass attack of the school. Voldemort also doled out command of the various factions to multiple commanders, placing his lieutenant, Bellatrix, in command of the Death Eaters with various officers (including Andreiko Igorobravitch, Antonin Dolohov and Cassius Grey) under her. He also appointed various leaders for the different groups under his command, placed a still-imperiused Pius Thicknesse, Fenrir Greyback and Golgomath in command over the Ministry and Imperiused forces, the Werewolf Army and the Northern Giant Colonies respectively. Voldemort then magically amplifies his voice, causing it to ring through the Great Hall and heard throughout all of Hogwarts and Hogsmeade. Voldemort informed the school that if they surrendered Harry to him by midnight, nobody in the school would be hurt. Pansy Parkinson, spotting Harry, stood and shrieked for someone to grab him; all of Gryffindor House rose in a mass, almost immediately followed by all of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, and as one drew their wands, indicating their willingness to fight for Harry, while only a dozen or so Slytherins, mainly Death Eater children, rose in support of Pansy, while most of their housemates remained seated. McGonagall then has all of Slytherin and every student either under-age or unwilling to fight evacuated (although several Slytherins (including all secret D.A. member of the house) disobeyed and stayed to fight).
As midnight fell, the attack began, the Death Eaters army attacking every main entrance to the school. As the defenders of Hogwarts prepared to hold off Voldemort so that Harry could finish his search for the object of Ravenclaw's, the Death Eaters launched attacks on the castle but were kept from entering. The Hogwarts defenders were able to fend off the Death Eaters using an array of tactics: Professor Sprout and Neville planned to use dangerous plants from the greenhouses against the Death Eaters, such as lobbying mandrakes over the walls, Devil's Snare, Venomous Tentaculas and Snargaluff pods, as well as the bewitched suits of armour and wand duels. The whole castle shook with the force of the Death Eaters' sinister enchantments, and Harry met up with Aberforth Dumbledore and Rubeus Hagrid, his boarhound Fang, and his giant half-brother, Grawp, as they joined in defending the castle against Death Eaters. During the duels, portraits on the walls, including that of Sir Cadogan, rushed between their canvases screaming news from other parts of the castle or giving encouragements to the fighters.
As the teachers secured the Castle, Minerva McGonagall, predicting the Snatcher fraction of Voldermort's armies' move, instructed Neville Longbottom to lead Seamus Finnigan to rig the Wooden Bridge, one of the two entryways into the Castle, and bring it down if necessary.
The Snatchers arrived at the Hogwarts Grounds shortly before midnight. Three of their number died on the spot after inadvertently crossing the magical barriers around the Castle. The Snatchers waited outside the Sundial Garden for the Death Eaters to break the magical protections and were taunted by Neville Longbottom, as they were powerless to attack.
At midnight, the Death Eaters started the attack on Lord Voldemort's orders, effectively breaking the protective enchantments around the school. After Scabior tested if it was safe to cross the now-broken protections, the Snatchers charged into the Wooden Bridge. As Neville ran for the Clock Tower Courtyard, he briefly duelled Scabior before casting a spell that rebounded into the wooden beams producing a large explosion on the Sundial Garden-side of the Wooden Bridge. As many of the Snatchers fell into the ravine below, Neville threw himself onto the un-exploded part of the bridge, holding to the intact wooden beams, as Ginny Weasley, Seamus Finnigan, Cho Chang, Ernie Macmillan, Leanne, Padma Patil, and Nigel Wolpert managed to help him up.
As the giants made their way into the Viaduct the Viaduct Courtyard came under fire of the Death Eaters' curses, exploding much of the cloister. The suits of armour struggled against the giants on the Viaduct, managing to floor one, but they too came under Death Eater fire. Two giants died during this onslaught, one throttled by Devil's Snare vines placed by Professor Sprout and the other felled by the suits of armour.
Meanwhile, several more giants stormed into the eastern courtyard, accompanied by several Death Eaters, shooting Fiendfyre curses, however, they were confronted by an army of gargoyles, students and creatures created by enchantments, this army included Daphne and Astoria Greengrass and Tracey Davis, all of whom were in Slytherin and, unlike their friend Pansy Parkinson who they had a fight over due to Pansy deciding to flee instead of fight during the battle, had decided to join Dumbledore's Army and fight loyally for Harry and the Order along with both of the Greengrass’s parents and had convinced many other Slytherins to join them and help prevent Hogwarts from burning to the ground. Alongside D.A. member Cho Chang, Marietta Edgecombe, Susan Bones, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Terry Boot, Lily Moon, Bem Nigorian, Hermione Puckle, Fred and George Weasley, Euan Coote, Henry Thomas, Mylor Silvanus, Kevin Entwhistle, Owen Cauldwell, Parvati and Padma Patil, Katie Bell, Ernie Mcmillan, Curtis Evercreech, Laurie Fawcett, Oliver Rivers, Hannah Abbott, Colin and Dennis Creevey, Alice Tolipan, Angelina O'Connor, Mandy Brocklehurst, Maisie Cattermole, Phoebe Blackheart and Luna Lovegood they fought in the through the hall against a number of the giants that were invading the castle. All fought bravely until, sadly, Tracey was killed, much to Daphne's horror and grief. Daphne refused to leave the body of her best friend until she moved Tracey's body, she and her sister blasted their way through the main body of the invading army to their allies, an act of extreme bravery and selflessness.
While the giants struggled with the bewitched suits of armour in the Viaduct, the Death Eaters started casting curses at the Viaduct Courtyard and at the battlements around the Quad.
As part of the battlements shattered, a Death Eater managed to Apparate into the set of catwalks on which Order of the Phoenix members aimed spells. The Death Eater shot a wordless Killing Curse, ruthlessly killing a wizard, and then fired another at Arthur Weasley, who responded with a red spell of his own which locked the two in battle. As another bald Death Eater (possibly being Jugson) tried to Apparate through one of the windows, he was spotted by Kingsley Shacklebolt, who hit him with a momentum-reversing spell which stopped him dead then sent him flying right back out to his death.
After learning from Helena Ravenclaw that it was the Diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw that was Voldemort’s fifth Horcrux, Harry realized that Voldemort might have hidden the diadem within the Room of Requirement and, leaving the Grey Lady floating stunned, heads towards the magical location. Meanwhile, in the Chamber of Secrets, Hermione Granger, using one of the dead Basilisk’s fangs, destroyed the Cup of Hufflepuff. Harry, Ron and Hermione split up to search for the diadem within the mounds of hidden and not-wanted-to-be-found objects. As Harry found it, however, he was cornered by Draco Malfoy and his sidekicks, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle. A fierce duel erupted; Hermione found Harry and his enemies and fired a Stunning Spell at Crabbe, which would have hit him had Malfoy not pulled him out of the way, and Crabbe responded with a Killing Curse which Hermione dodged. Infuriated that Crabbe had actually attempted murder, Harry fired a Stunning Spell at Crabbe, who inadvertently knocked Malfoy's wand (Mahogany with Phoenix feather,9¾ inches long, which actually belonged to his mother, but which had been given to him for protection after Harry took Draco's wand during the Skirmish at Malfoy Manor), out of his hand before firing a second Killing Curse at Ron, who pursued in rage while Goyle was Disarmed by Harry and Stunned by Hermione. Attempting to destroy them, Crabbe unleashed Fiendfyre, setting the room ablaze. The flames began to burn the multiple objects in the room. As the cursed fire consumed the whole room, Crabbe was lost amongst the flames, now looking terrified as he had no control over the flames. Harry spotted some old broomsticks and in order to escape from the conflagration, mounted them to escape. As they left, though, Harry saw Malfoy and the still unconscious Goyle and rescued them. He then saw the diadem being thrown about by the Fiendfyre and grabbed it as well, then he made for the door. They narrowly missed being killed by the inferno, and upon getting out of the room they collapsed on the hallway floor. As they flew out into the corridor, the door slammed shut behind them and vanished. Now landed, Harry watched as the diadem emitted a thin shriek and then fell apart in his hand. Hermione then mentioned that Fiendfyre was one of the few things capable of destroying Horcruxes.
Harry realised that it was midnight, and Voldemort's forces had penetrated the castle's boundaries. Death Eaters, based on the Forbidden Forest, came streaming out in great numbers. Curses, hexes jinxes flew in every direction, lighting up the sky in green and red. Draco and Goyle disappeared into the battle, and the trio encountered multiple duelling witches and wizards. The trio was joined by Fred Weasley and Percy Weasley, each of them duelling a separate Death Eater. The hood of the Death Eater duelled by Percy slipped, revealing the opponent to be Pius Thicknesse, and Percy hit him with a sea urchin jinx, telling him to consider it his resignation, while Fred's opponent collapsed under three separate Stunning Spells. The moment when danger seemed at bay, however, ended when a massive explosion shattered the wall, blowing apart a side of the castle. As Harry and Hermione struggled through the rubble to see what happened, they realised with horror that Fred was dead. As the trio and Percy stood in horror at the prospect of Fred being killed, more curses flew in at them from the darkness after a body fell past the hole blown into the side of the school. As Harry, Ron, and Hermione tried to get Percy to stop clutching to his dead brother so they could get out of danger, an Acromantula (one of Aragog's descendants) was trying to climb through the huge hole in the wall, but Ron and Harry blasted it backwards with a combined spell. However, more spiders were climbing the side of the building, driven out of the Forbidden Forest by the Death Eaters, who decided to use it as a base. Seeking to protect Fred's body from further harm or desecration, Harry and Percy stuffed his body inside a crevice, and Percy left them into the battle, chasing after the Death Eater Augustus Rookwood.
Returning from another visit in Voldemort's mind, Harry informed the other two what he saw and the two decided who should go to the Shack to kill Nagini. Before they came to an arrangement, the tapestry on the top of the staircase on which they stood was ripped open by two masked Death Eaters. Hermione shouted Glisseo, causing the stairs to flatten into a chute. Harry, Ron, and Hermione hurtled down it, went through the tapestry at the bottom, and hit the opposite wall. As the Death Eaters sped down the slide after them, Hermione cast the Hardening Charm, causing the tapestry to turn to stone and the Death Eaters crumpled as they hit it. They turned and saw Professor McGonagall leading a group of enchanted desks to gallop past them into the fray, ordering into battle with a cry of "CHARGE!". The three of them put on the Invisibility Cloak and ran down the next staircase. The trio, invisible, found themselves in a corridor full of duellers, masked and unmasked Death Eaters fighting students and teachers. Dean Thomas had won himself a wand, which was fortunate, as he was face-to-face with Antonin Dolohov, while Parvati Patil was fighting Travers. As Harry, Ron, and Hermione stood braced, ready to help, Peeves zoomed over them dropping Snargaluff pods on the Death Eaters, whose heads were engulfed in wriggling green tubers. However, some of the slimy green roots hit the Cloak over Ron's head, and seeing the tubers suspended in mid-air, a Death Eater informed his fellows that there was an invisible person. Using the temporary distraction, Dean shot a Stunning Spell at the Death Eater and Dolohov had a Body-Bind Curse shot at him by Parvati before he could react.
Pelting through the fighters, Harry, Ron, and Hermione viewed Draco Malfoy on the upper landing pleading with a Death Eater that he was on their side. Harry Stunned the Death Eater and Ron punched Draco from under the Cloak, commenting that it was the second time they saved him that evening. There were more duellers all over the stairs and in the entrance hall: Yaxley was close to the front doors in combat with Filius Flitwick, and a masked Death Eater duelling Kingsley Shacklebolt right beside them. Harry directed a Stunning Spell at the masked Death Eater, but it missed and almost hit Neville Longbottom, who emerged with armfuls of Venomous Tentacula, which happily began to attack the Death Eaters.
As Harry, Ron, and Hermione ran down the marble staircase, the hourglass used to record Slytherin's house points was shattered and spilt its emeralds everywhere. At this moment, two bodies fell from the balcony overhead, and Fenrir Greyback sped toward one of the fallen to sink his teeth in. Hermione threw him backwards from Lavender Brown, and as he struggled to get up, he was hit on the head with a crystal ball thrown by Professor Trelawney, who threw another through a window with a tennis serve-like movement. As Lavander struggled, another Death Eater prepared to finish her off, only to be blasted down the stairway by Ophelia, Lavander’s sister, who quickly casts a healing spell on her sister before rushing Lavender to Madam Pomfrey for healing.
At that moment, the front doors burst open, and the gigantic spiders forced their way in. Panicking at the sight of the massive arachnids, the duellists broke combat and temporary allies, fired spells both lethal and non-lethal into the mass of spiders. Hagrid went to the spiders shouting for people not to hurt them, and he vanished into their midst as the spiders swarmed away from the onslaught of spells being fired at them. As Harry ran after him, a monumental foot almost crushed Harry. Looking up, he saw it belonged to a twenty-foot-high giant, which proceeded to smash a fist through an upper window. Grawp came lurching around the corner, and the two giants launched themselves at each other savagely.
The trio ran away from the giants, and as they were halfway toward the forest, a hundred Dementors glided toward them, sucking the happiness from Harry as they advanced; Hermione and Ron's Patronuses flickered and died. Filled with despair the last nine months had brought them along with the loss of Fred, Harry almost welcomed oblivion that would come with a Dementor's Kiss, but a silver hare, a boar, and fox soared past and impeded the Dementors' approach. Luna Lovegood, Ernie Macmillan, and Seamus Finnigan had arrived to save them. With the greatest effort it had ever cost him, Harry managed to conjure his stag Patronus, and the Dementors scattered in earnest.
The trio sprinted to the Whomping Willow, the entrance to the Shack, knowing that destroying the snake and defeating Voldemort was the only way to end it. Panting and gasping over their sprint, the trio reached the tree and tried to find the single knot in the back that would paralyse the branches. Ron wondered where Crookshanks was when they could have used his help, but Hermione reminded him that he is a wizard. So, he used a Levitation Charm to cause a twig to fly up and jab the place near the roots, stopping the writhing branches instantly. Though Harry had second thoughts about leading Ron and Hermione exactly where Voldemort expected him to go, he realised that the only way forward was to kill the snake, the trio crawled along the underground secret passage that led to the Shrieking Shack, where the watch Snape (who was in fact still helping the Order from behind the lines) being killed by Nagini on Voldemort’s orders. Voldemort then once again magically amplifies his voice and orders his forces to immediately return to the Forbidden Forest for one hour of ceasefire before issuing a threat to Harry, promising that, unless Harry came to meet him, Voldemort would enter the fray and kill every person who had attempted to help him. It was then revealed to Harry that he himself had accidentally been turned into a Horcrux. He willingly took a Killing Curse from Voldemort in order to destroy it, but because his mother's sacrifice lived on in his blood, the blood Voldemort took in himself in order to regain a body, Harry was not killed. He found himself in limbo, the plane between life and death and was given the choice to move on but, knowing that Voldemort was still out there, returns. Harry ffinds himself lying face down on the hard ground again, with the smell of the forest in his nostrils and the hinge of his glasses, which were knocked sideways when he fell, cutting into his temple. Expected to hear cheers of triumph and jubilation at his death, Harry instead hears hurried footsteps, whispers, and solicitous murmurs filling the air. He then heard Bellatrix's voice, speaking as if to a lover as she addressed Voldemort. Harry, not daring to open his eyes, allowed his other senses to explore his situation, and he found that his wand was stowed beneath his robes and due to a slight cushioning effect around his stomach, he knew that the Invisibility Cloak was also there. Bellatrix addressed Voldemort again, but he cut her off. Harry heard more footsteps, and several people backed away from the same spot. Opening his eyes a millimetre, Harry saw that Voldemort seemed to be getting to his feet with various Death Eaters hurrying away from him, with only Bellatrix remaining kneeled beside him. Harry closed his eyes and considered what he saw. The Death Eaters had been huddled around Voldemort, who seemed to have fallen to the ground; perhaps Voldemort had also collapsed when he hit Harry with the Killing Curse. Both of them had fallen briefly unconscious and both of them had now returned. Voldemort declined Bellatrix's offer of assistance coldly and asked if the boy was dead. There was complete silence in the clearing as no one approached Harry, and with a bang and a small shriek of pain Voldemort ordered someone to examine Harry and then tell him whether the boy was dead, Voldemort himself being wary of approaching him, as he suspected not everything had gone according to plan. Harry felt a woman's hands touch his face, pull back an eyelid, creep beneath his shirt, down to his chest, and feel his heart. Harry’s fear intensified, knowing that she could feel the steady pounding of his heartbeat against his ribs. In a barely audible whisper, with her lips an inch from Harry's ear and her long hair shielding his face from the onlookers, the woman asked if Draco was alive and in the castle. Harry breathed back a "yes". Getting to her feet, a grateful Narcissa Malfoy falsely announced to the watchers that the boy was indeed dead. Now the Death Eaters shouted, yelling in triumph, and stamping their feet, and Harry saw through his eyelids bursts of red and silver light shoot into the air in celebration while Bellatrix, Dolohov and Andreiko create an enormous Dark Mark above them. Still feigning death on the ground, Harry understood that Narcissa no longer cared whether Voldemort won, and so she lied to the Dark Lord knowing that the only way she would be permitted to enter Hogwarts, and find her son, was as part of the conquering army. Screeching over the tumult, Voldemort announced that now, with Harry Potter dead by his hand, no man could ever threaten him. Voldemort then cast the Cruciatus Curse on Harry's body, believing that his body must not be allowed to remain unsullied upon the floor but must be subjected to humiliation to prove Voldemort's victory. Harry was lifted into the air, and he tried as hard as he could to remain limp, yet the pain he expected from the Torture Curse did not come. He was thrown three times into the air, and his glasses fell off while his wand slid a little beneath his robes, and he kept himself floppy and lifeless. When he fell to the ground for the last time, the clearing was still echoing with jeers and shrieks of laughter.
Voldemort then announced that they would go to the castle to display the defenders of Hogwarts what had become of Harry. Voldemort decided that Hagrid should carry Harry's body, as the boy would be nice and visible in Hagrid's arms, and Harry felt his glasses slammed onto his face with deliberate force when Voldemort ordered that he wear the glasses to be recognisable. The enormous hands that lifted Harry up were exceedingly gentle, and Harry could feel Hagrid's arms trembling with the force of his sobs; great tears splashed down upon him as Hagrid cradled Harry in his arms, but Harry did not dare to tell Hagrid that all was not, yet, lost. Voldemort commanded Hagrid to move, and Hagrid stumbled forward as he forced his way through the close-growing trees back through the forest, and, in the darkness, with the Death Eaters crowing all around them and Hagrid still sobbing, no one looked to see if a pulse beat in Harry's exposed neck. Two giants crashed along behind the Death Eaters, creating so much noise that the birds rose shrieking into the sky, and even the jeers of the Death Eaters were drowned. The victorious procession continued to march on toward the open ground, and Harry could tell, after a while, by the lightening of the darkness through his closed eyelids, that the trees were beginning to thin. Then, Hagrid unexpectedly bellowed at Bane and the other centaurs for not fighting, asking them if they were happy that Harry was dead, but he broke down in fresh tears and couldn't finish. As the procession pass, several Death Eaters calling insults at the centaurs as they left them behind. A little later, Harry sensed, by a freshening of the air, that they had reached the edge of the forest, and Voldemort commanded Hagrid to stop and due to Hagrid's lurch, Harry suspected that the gamekeeper had been forced to obey as the patrolling Dementors that patrolled the outer trees joined the force. However, the fact of Harry own survival burned inside of the boy-who-lived, acting like a Patronus in his heart.
Voldemort, his voice magically magnified, announced that Harry was dead and that he was killed as he ran away, trying to save himself. He tells the defenders of Hogwarts that his Death Eaters outnumbered them and the Boy Who Lived was finished. Calling for no more war, Voldemort threatened that anyone who continued to resist would be killed, but that those who came out and knelt before him would be forgiven and spared. He then claimed that there must be no more conflict, offering the survivors the chance to join the Death Eaters and help the Dark Lord build a New World Order together. Voldemort strode in front of the procession, followed by a weeping Hagrid carrying Harry's supposed dead body, and wearing Nagini, now free of her enchanted cage, around his shoulders. Hagrid continued to sob, and Harry strained his ears to distinguish above the gleeful voice of the Death Eaters and their footsteps any sign of life from those within the castle.
The Death Eaters came to a halt, and Harry could see through his closed lids light streaming upon him from the Entrance Hall. Harry waited for the moment when the people for whom he had tried to die would see him, lying apparently dead, in Hagrid's arms. The first of the resistance to see Harry was Professor McGonagall, whose scream of anger, despair and denial was all the more terrible to Harry's ears because he had never imagined her capable of such a noise. The mocking laughter of another woman nearby was heard, and he knew it was Bellatrix glorying in McGonagall's despair. Harry squinted again for a single second and saw the open doorway filling with people, as the survivors of the battle came out onto the front steps to face the Death Eaters and see the truth of Harry's death for himself. Harry saw Voldemort standing a little in front of him, stroking Nagini's head with a single white finger. He then heard Ron, Hermione and Ginny's shouts of horror, even worse than McGonagall's, but Harry forced himself to remain lying silent. Their cries acted like a trigger, and the rest of the survivors began screaming and yelling abuse at the Death Eaters until Voldemort cried for silence and with a bang and flash of bright light, silence was forced upon them all.Voldemort ordered Harry to be lowered down and set at his feet, and he proclaimed to the survivors that Harry Potter was nothing but a boy who relied on others to sacrifice themselves for him. Ron then yelled and cursed at Voldemort, claiming that Harry was always better then him, and the charm broke, and the defenders of Hogwarts were shouting and screaming again until another bang extinguished their voices once more. Voldemort lied once more that Harry was killed when trying to sneak out of the castle grounds, but he was interrupted by a scuffle and a shout, then a bang, a flash of light, and a grunt of pain. Opening his eyes slightly, Harry saw that someone had broken free of the crowd and charged at Voldemort, but hit the ground, disarmed, and Voldemort laughed as he threw the challenger's wand aside.
Voldemort asked the crowd who had stepped forth to show what happened to people who continued to fight when the battle was lost. Laughing delightedly, Bellatrix answered that it was Neville Longbottom, the student in particular who had been giving the Carrows so much trouble, and son of the Aurors, Frank and Alice Longbottom. Voldemort turned back to a defenceless Neville, who was standing between the survivors and Death Eaters. Impressed by Neville's bravery, Voldemort claimed that Neville would be a very valuable Death Eater; but the latter instantly refused and showed his full allegiance to Dumbledore's Army, and there was an answering cheer from the crowd, whom Voldemort's wand bangs seemed unable to hold. Voldemort answered in a dangerous, silky voice that, if that was Neville's choice, they would revert to the original plan. Still watching through his lashes, Harry saw Voldemort wave his wand, and out of one of the castle's windows came the ragged Sorting Hat. Voldemort announced that there would be no more Sorting at Hogwarts; Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw would be no more. In his mind, the colours of Salazar Slytherin would suffice for everyone. He pointed his wand at Neville, who grew rigid and still as Voldemort cast a Full Body-Bind Curse on him, then Voldemort forced the hat onto Neville's head. There were movements from the watching crowd, but the Death Eaters raised their wands as one and held the fighters of Hogwarts at bay. With a flick of his wand, Voldemort caused the Sorting Hat on Neville's head to burst into flames.
There was screaming as Neville, aflame, stood rooted to the spot and unable to move, and just as Harry planned to act, several things happened simultaneously. There was an uproar from the distant boundary of the school as what sounded like hundreds of people came swarming over the out-of-sight walls and pelted toward the castle with loud war cries. At the same time, Grawp came around the side of the castle, and when he saw that his brother Hagrid was captured; he furiously yelled "HAGGER!" upon seeing his half-brother in captivity, and Voldemort's giants roared in return and ran at Grawp like bull elephants, making the ground tremble beneath them. Grawp, showing no fear despite actually being a young giant himself; flung himself at the oncoming giants and began to pummel and floor them. There was then the sound of hooves and the twangs of bows as the centaurs, ending their neutrality, joined the fray. Arrows began falling amongst the Death Eaters, who broke ranks shouting in surprise
Harry pulled the Invisibility Cloak from inside his robes, swung it over himself, and sprang to his feet while Neville moved at the same time. In one swift, fluid motion, Neville broke free of the Body-Bind curse placed upon him, and the flaming hat fell from his head, and he drew from inside it something silver, with a glittering, rubied handle: the Sword of Godric Gryffindor, once more brought into the fray to assist the good. The slash of the silver blade could not be heard over sounds of battle; the clashing giants and the stampeding centaurs, though it seemed to draw every eye. With a single stroke Neville sliced off Nagini's head, which flew spinning into the air and as Voldemort let out of a scream of fury that no one could hear, the snake's body thudded to the ground.
Still hidden beneath the Invisibility Cloak, Harry cast a Shield Charm between Neville and Voldemort before the latter could try to attack the boy. Then, over the screams and the roars and the thunderous stamps of the battling giants, Hagrid yelled for Harry, asking where Harry was. There was chaos as the charging centaurs scattered the Death Eaters and everyone fled from the giants' stamping feet, and nearer and nearer thundered the reinforcements. Harry saw great winged creatures soaring around the heads of Voldemort's giants, Thestrals and Hippogriffs under the command of Buckbeak scratching at their eyes while Grawp punched and pummelled them. Both defenders of Hogwarts and Death Eaters were being forced back into the castle, and Harry was shooting jinxes, hexes and curses at any Death Eater he could see, and they crumped without knowing who or what had hit them, while their bodies were trampled by the retreating crowd. Hidden beneath the Cloak, Harry was buffeted into the entrance hall. He saw Voldemort across the room firing spells from his wand as he backed into the Great Hall while screaming instructions to his followers as he sent curses everywhere, while Harry cast more Shield Charms while Voldemort's would-be victims, Seamus Finnigan and Hannah Abbott, ran past him into the Great Hall and joined the fight inside.
There were even more people storming up the front steps, and Harry saw Charlie Weasley overtaking Horace Slughorn, who was still wearing his emerald pyjamas, leading what looked like the families and friends of every Hogwarts student who remained to fight, along with the shopkeepers and homeowners of Hogsmeade, a vast number of witches and wizards who had rushed to join the battle (including Rita Skeeter, Cornelius Fudge, Madam Rosmerta and many others) and dozens of Slytherin students inspired by their house head to join the battle. The centaurs Bane, Ronan, and Magorian burst into the hall with clattering hooves, followed by many of their herd, as behind Harry the door that led to the kitchens was blasted off its hinges; the house-elves of Hogwarts swarmed into the entrance hall screaming and waving carving knives and cleavers. At their head, with locket of Regulus Black bouncing on his chest, was Kreacher, yelling at his compatriots to fight the Dark Lord in the name of his master's sacrifice. The house-elves were hacking and stabbing at the ankles and shins of Death Eaters with their tiny faces alive with malice, and everywhere Harry looked the Death Eaters were folding under sheer weight of numbers, overcome by spells, dragging arrows from wounds, stabbed in the leg by elves, or else simply attempted to escape but swallowed by the charging army.
During the battle several duels continued, friends and foes escaping the Entrance Hall, continuing to fight in the courtyards, walls and towers in and surrounding the Great Hall before buckling of the replenished forces of the Order. Within the Divination Area of the Clock Tower Courtyard Pekka Teräsinen and his cousin Markko duelled both their fathers' killer: the criminally insane Death Eater, Andreiko Igorobravitch. Andreiko, as usual, duelled very foully as he casted two Cruciatus Curses right at Pekka's face and chest, throwing him, jerking, into the wall violently, before beginning to inflicting Pekka with more torment from the Fiendlightning curse while, at the same time, violently wounding and injured Markko (both with Curses, Hexes or even non-magical physical harm until he was weak enough for him to try to cast the Killing Curse at Markko, think in his arrogance that he was defenceless and had no chance of survival but to his surprise and anger Markko countered it with his last strength, defending him and his cousin with a Disarming Charm thus a beam of a Reverse Spell (Prior Incantato) combined with a frantic Stunning Spell (Stupefy)and(surprisingly) two Patronus Charms (Expecto Patronum) which took the forms of a Antipodean Opaleye dragon (Pekka) and a Sea Serpent (Markko) causing Markko's father, Pekka's father and Andreiko's other Battle of Hogwarts’ victims to appear, much to Igorobravitch's terror. Because of this, Andreiko decided to use the wandless Summoning Charm with his hand to get the closest wand from a nearby recently fallen Death Eater fellow that had been killed when the death eaters stormed the Great Hall in order to use another Cruciatus curse at his foe, Markko in order to weaken him and destroy the apparitions of his ruthless murders, discarding the 11" length, Spruce wood wand with shed Dragon heartstring for a core that had served him loyalty and faithful for his entire life without a second thought in replacement for a wand he hadn't earnt honourably only for that wand to be destroyed by Pekka who had risen up and intended to help his cousin by giving "some of Andreiko`s own medicine". Andreiko got hit by an stray centaur's arrow in his left arm's lower clavicle of his shoulder and later by the Vermillous Charm in his chest by Pekka (thus weakening Andreiko the same way as he has injured Pekka and Markko before) who then decided to combine his wand with his cousin's wand to make the strengthen the effects of the Disarming Charm thus the "orb" of the beams incantatem headed towards Andreiko who attempted to shoot a Killing Curse only for his curse to meet the two cousin's charm and to be smashed through and disarm Andreiko, throwing the wand into the air while still firing its murderous curse, now heading straight for its caster, who was both blasted by both his own Killing Curse and the Disarming Charm and hitting the ground, already stone dead. Andreiko died in complete disgrace. During the time this duel took place a duel between family commenced. Within the Transfiguration Courtyard several stray battles began between the inhabitants of Hogwarts and the dark wizard invaders. During these random battles, the Hogwarts Illusions Professor, and Order member, Professor Donovar Oswaldo Archimedes Hannibal LeClair Crane confronted his younger death eater brother, Jonathan Amadeus Arthur Hades Crane, who was a vampire, and had abducted and murdered Donovar's muggle-born wife, his sister-in-law, Jane Roslin Crane (née Westerling) during the First Wizarding War, which prompted her widowed husband to imprison Jonathan and at least eleven other death eaters in Azkaban after the War ended and leaving the Auror Office in grief after his brother was sentenced to Azkaban after willingly declaring his devotion to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and after Jonathan's loyalty was also confirmed by Igor Karkaroff while the latter was trying to gain his freedom by bailing out his former comrades, in the Dark Tower battlements. Despite his crimes, Donovar still loved his brother, pleading with him to abandoned the dark lord and the death eaters and come back home with him. However, Jonathan reveals to his brother that during his last few days of freedom before Azkaban he was attacked by a were-vampire, transforming into a vampire during his incarceration within Azkaban, and, as a result, believed he can no longer stay among the living unless the dark lord won, due to the wizarding world looking at him in disgust which prompted him into attacking his brother. The two Cranes duelled for a moment, during which Jonathan boasted that his brother had no chance of defeating him and revealed to Donovar that the dark lord "trusted” him and had even put him in command of his tribe of vampires for the battle, until Donovar managed to disarms his brother, in the hopes of trying to lead Jonathan away from the influence of Voldemort and the Dark Arts. Jonathan, however, tried to attack him bare-handed but loses his footing and to his brother's horror fell back, flailing his hands over the edge of the battlements and grabbing hold of one of the gargoyles pillars. Donovar run to the edge and reached down, begging his brother to take his hand. Jonathan however recoiled from this brother's pleading hand, snarling that did Donovar “expect him to willingly surrender and allow him to cart him of too Azkaban” or more likely kill him in retribution for his wife's murder. Donovar denied this but asked him why he killed Jane when their family, The Most Noble and Greatest House of Crane-LeClair of Blackmoor, never hated muggles and taught their children that a person of muggle lineage can be just a great wizard or witch as those of wizard ancestry and those who clung to the “old ways” could never be pure of heart, no matter who pure of blood they were. Jonathan however growled that there family were one of the “cowardly families who were not answering the cries of vengeance from the spirits of their family that had been accused of wizards and witches during the Salem Witch Trials in the 17th century”. It was then that Donovar noticed that Jonathan's hand was slowly, slowly, ever so slowly slipping from the column and begged his brother to take his hand or his life would be lost but was only replied with a cruel, cold smile and Jonathan's reply that it was better to suffer a quick death than the fate that awaited his brother and his order “buddies” at his master's hands before slipping from the pedestal and down, down, down the battlements into the courtyard to his death, to Donovar's grief, although he later accepted that the wizarding world could sleep safer now the monster that had consumed and murdered the brother he once loved was gone for good. Despite this, Donovar remained on the battlements, tears streaming down his face and mixing with the drizzle of rain that had started. However, Donovar's grief was interrupted by an explosion in the West Tower courtyard, causing him to remember that battle was still continuing, prompting him to return to battle and see to it that the Dark Lord was defeat and the many innocent children entrusted under his care, stopping only to stare down at his brother's sprawled body one last time and mutter “fly straight and find your rest “whispering his hopes that his brother would find piece in the next life, before heading back to combat.
Meanwhile, as the battles below were beginning to cease, the two Order of the Phoenix members, Simon Grey and his wife, Audrey Grey (née Galland) run past the victories crowds towards the Transfiguration Department, where several screams had been heard coming from a minute before. The couple entered the room to find nine masked, hooded death eaters threatening and assaulting several trembling first years who wear attempting to hid behind several upturned desks. Audrey was the first to react, screaming a horrified "NO" and firing three Stunning Spells and one Disarming Charm, all of which hit their target, knocking out three, disarming one and turning the attention of the enemy from the students to them. The couple immediately sprinted down the stairs and waded into battle with the remaining six death eaters, Simon knocking out one with a Knockback Jinx (Flipendo) with the use of his staff, Audrey shotting a fourth stunning spell at the disarmed death eater before summoning up a Shield Charm around the children to protect them from further harm before charging back into battle to tie up a third death eater with a Incarcerous Spell whilst Simon immobilized two of the remaining three with a Freezing Charm (Immobulus)and a Body-Bind Curse (Petrificus Totalus) before turning to the last of the death eaters, who had recently been unmasked by the young students of their burnished bronze mask, that was etched with a gleeful expression, only to find himself face-to-face with his traitorous father, Cassius Grey, who had passed information to Voldemort from inside the Department of Mysteries alongside his fellow spy, Augustus Rookwood and killed his own wife, Simon's mother, the Order of the Phoenix member Matilda Jane Grey (née Webb) in cold blood a few days after the Voldemort's Fall at the hands of an infant Harry Potter after Matilda discovered his connections to Voldemort before going on the run, although he was eventually tracked down by Aurors and sent to Azkaban. Simon was at first paralysed with fear, his father being his worst nightmare that haunted his dreams since his Mother's murder, but fortunately Audrey call out to her husband, shocking Simon out of his horrified trance and caused him to draw his wand in a flourish, much to Cassius's amusement before Cassius's gleeful face turned into a snarl, growling that he could not believe the speech that Simon had made a few years ago, speaking of how “Pure-blood supremacy is a cancer that's been festering at the foundations of the wizarding world for centuries. It’s nearly destroyed it, too, more than once, and the scars it's left run deep. We can't continue to cling to antiquated beliefs. The past is the past. We must look to the future." saying he could not believe that his own son was defending the filthy muggle's and mudblood's before engaged Audrey and Simon in a vicious duel, firing a Disintegration Curse (Solvaso) at his only son and child. Cassius had the upper hand for a time, being a seasoned wizard and remorseless killer. During the battle Simon asked about his mother and how Cassius could have killed his own wife, questioning “what kind of man kills his own wife”, to which Cassius replied, saying “Did you expect some revelation? There is none. I loved your mother-once. Perhaps...perhaps I still do.... But this cause is about something greater! A BETTER world, a PURER world, for our children. Can’t you see that? You’re on the wrong side, son. The Dark Lord doesn't want such precious blood to be spilt. He has use and appreciation for talents such as yours.” before continuing to fight, blasting Audrey aside with the Expulso Curse, before began to torture his son, intent on eventually kill him, but not before Simon experienced pain for being in his father's cold, cruel, mirthless eyes, a blood traitor and not worthy of the name Grey. Audrey, however, recovered and retaliated just in time, drawing Cassius's attention away from Simon long enough for his son to rise and draw his Elmwood wand. Despite his situation Cassius continued to cackle, saying that Simon wouldn't kill his own father, only for Simon to reply that he didn't want to be a Grey if it meant he had to murder, betray and cause harm to the innocent and that Cassius didn't disown him as his son, but he disowned Cassius as his father and that his true parent was his mother and his real family were the Webb's and the Order before wordlessly causing a beam of red light at the death eater, which wiped the smirk off his father's face, Simon telling him that “that was for Mother”. The two began duelling, but the duel short lived, for Simon had stopped fearing his father. The duel ended with Audrey destroying and killing Cassius with a Blasting Curse and Simon farewelling his father. The couple then usher the children they'd saved to safety.
Meanwhile, while the battles inside the castle raged on, fighters spilled out of the school into the outer school grounds and the village of Hogsmeade the ruthless forces of the Death Eaters duelled the magical village's inhabitants, returning students and Order and D.A. members. One of these death eaters, a man by the name of Rafleur Scabior, Scabior's death eater brother, would duel a furious Daphne Greengrass. During this Rafleur, cackling wildly, taunting her of her best friend’s death and after he killed her, he would kill her sister Astoria and her mother and father, all the while screeching with insane laughter, until she blasted him back into the wall of Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop–quills & stationary in an attempt to knock him out but, it instead snapped his neck, killing him instantly. Meanwhile, though there were many battles, most were pockets of house-to-house combat. Many village families had either barricaded themselves inside their homes, gone to join the battle alongside Horace Slughorn and Charlie, joined one of their battles or abandoned their households to more well protected areas. Shops and Stores were boarded up. Archers and ready wizards lurked in upper-story windows on the lookout for enemies. Many of the streets were deserted. Roving bands of Eurynomoi, Snatchers, Werewolves and an even a few Dementors attacked any living thing they could find. A group of several sales wizards of many of the stores including Zonko's Joke Shop, Dervish and Banges, Dogweed and Deathcap, the Hogsmeade branch of Potage's Cauldron Shop, Honeydukes and Tomes and Scrolls battled a dozen slavering ghouls outside a boarded-up sidewalk café. From the windows above, small children and their parents were tossing things at the slobbering Eurynomoi— rocks, pots, pans, books, bottles, joke products, plants, flasks of ink—while the wizards jabbed their wands and shot spells over the tops of their locked shield charms.
Meanwhile outside the castle, an army of monsters had attempted to attack the defenders from the inside through the path from the Boathouse only to be attacked by the defenders of the school and driven back towards the lake before spreading across the outer grounds. A quarter way through the battle, Howard Feret, Aurora Sinistra, Sarah Vale, Cuthbert Binns, Silvanus Kettleburn, Wilhelmina Grubbly-Plank, Irma Pince and a few other members of Hogwarts’ staff were attempting to creep through the Hogwarts's grounds to take the enemy by surprise, only to be spotted by a dozen large humanoids covered in shaggy blond hair. The creatures immediately pointed at the group and began to give of an ear-piecing screech which cause every creature in a square mile to fall to their knees, clutching their ears, before the beings bounded towards the group, their jagged teeth bared. A stunned Professor Grubbly-Plank realized to her shock that these monsters were Khromandae, a species of ferocious demi-humans with gorgeous grey eyes, dirty, shaggy blond pelts make them look like Muppets who have been used as dust rags and doglike teeth clearly never get a proper flossing that originated from Greece and India but had slowly spread across the Mediterranean, Tyrrhenian and Labrador Seas and into mountainous regions in British Isles in the 20th century but hadn't been reported to have been seen since 1901. On instinct the group, as one, cast shield charms, sending them smashing into the snarling, drooling creatures and sending them flying back, earning the group a few, precious seconds. A bewildered Sarah Vale questioned Wilhelmina what their attackers were, but Wilhelmina, who's charm had done the most damaged, but was there for the most costing, was only able to stutter out the name K-K-Khromandae. Fortunately, Irma Pince, the Hogwarts's Librarian was able to remember a reference on Khromandae in several books, the most descriptive of which were A Guide To The Creatures Of The Dark Side, The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection and the Creature Section of Practical Defensive Magic and Its Use Against the Dark Arts, providing the adults with information on Khromandae and how they are strong, aggressive, and can only communicate in ear-splitting shrieks. By then the Khromandae had recover and were pacing, more warily, towards the ground and were beginning to grow more brave, prowling forwards, licking their fangs and emitting mind distorting howls of satisfaction. Fortunately, in the nick of time, a green, human shape blur appeared out of nowhere, taking the form of Katie Gardner, her wand in her right hand and welding her yew staff in the left, brandishing the staff like a weapon. Before the shock of her attack wore off Katie had dispatched six of the twelve giants destroying two and knocking out others. After the remaining six got over their surprise they encircled her, growling. Luckily for Katie and unluckily for the Khromandae, another distraction presented itself when a blur of green and pink rocketed out of the sky and ripped the Lead Khromandae's face off with such force it caused the poor monster to crumb to dust, before the blur took the form of what looked like a pudgy human baby toddler wearing only a linen diaper with green hair and eyes, sharp nails and dry, brittle wings like corn husks, all while screaming the word "PEACHES". Both of the distractions gave the teachers enough time to recover and fire several jinxes at the last five Khromandae, one making a hairy monster puff up like he had been inflated like a balloon, another transformed the Khromandae's fur into sea urchin spikes, the third and fourth causing the Khromandaes in question to have their nose and left hand swell up respectively and the fifth causing the Khromandae to hop around scratching its foot before smashing into its four fellows and causing the who pack to tumble down the hill in a ball, bowling over a group of advancing enemies like pinballs. A whoop of joy in the form of the Italian words “C’è un karpos!” sprung from the hill behind the group as Peaches' mistress, Kandra White run down to join them. Meanwhile, surrounding them, the battle raged on as the enemy trooped forwards. Squads of Pandai, Blemmyae, Cyprian Centaurs, Hyperborean Cyclopes, Cynocephali, Two-Headed Men, Earthborn and Creatures of the Dark Side were all fighting their way through flaming trenches, Booby traps, staked barricades and magical defences. The ones making the best progress were groups of creatures huddled behind what looked at first like large, armoured vehicles that crawled on eight legs, only to be shockingly identified by a horror-stricken, recovered Wilhelmina Grubbly-Plank to be Myrmekes, giant ant-like creatures that will grow at least to the size of a full-grown German Shepherd. They are fierce, territorial and love shiny things, such as gold, are armed with acid-like poison, almost unbreakable back armour, vicious mandibles, a call on the rest of their nestmates' to aid them and can quickly overpower and swarm over even the most skilled fighter. And these are the ones that reside in the wilderness. Now the school's fighters were confronting several of these Gargantuan ants trained for war and outfitted in armour, snapping trees in half with their razor-sharp pincers and spraying acid to melt through the school’s defensive pickets. Two of these Gargantuan ants trampled their way toward the schools battlements, spewing acid to try to clear the hillside of skirmishers but taking down more monsters that defenders. Pandai in black Kevlar and helmets, which blended almost completely with their black and deep grey fur, almost invisible in the dusk, glided around on their huge parasail ears, dropping onto any unsuspecting fighters they could find. Several Dementors sailed through the air, spreading fear and hopelessness among the fighters. Higher up, giant eagles fought with giant ravens, their wingtips glinting in the blood red moonlight. Meanwhile, across the grounds Voldemort's servants fought against the school's protectors. Chest headed, thick-skinned Blemmyae, smashed through the defending lines, using swords, clubs or their own fists, all while giving cries of "excuse me" or "thank you" or "lovely day”. While two or three of the headless beings were clad in tasteless, unstylish armour, most wore next to nothings, or at least had their chest faces fully exposed, just a hundred yards to the group left, wolf-headed Cynocephali howled as they bounded into battle, crashing into the shields of the nearest legion of enchanted suits of armour, which looked small and alone and critically undermanned in a sea of bad guys, cut off from the main body of the defending force. That was only on their slide of hill. The group could see fires burning across the whole western front along the schools' borders —maybe half a mile of patchwork battles. On the battlements, three catapults had appeared and were firing boulders and pieces of broken wall that had been summoned to them from the ruined walls destroyed in the first half of the battle, whilst clearing paths for more fighters to join the conflict, firing the debris I=onto the Hyperborean Cyclopes siege towers whilst figures rushed across the battlements, raining down spells upon the slowly shrinking invading army as more attackers tried to force their way into the school, only to be destroyed by spells. Just then, a cannon ball hit the lower astronomy towers top, causing the sound of smashing glass to fill the air as the glass roof caved in on itself. More monsters kept appearing-karpoi grain spirits swirling out of the grass, Storm Spirits-almost invisible in the still-dark clouds seemed to formed out of the sky, shooting bolts of lightning, lumpy clay humanoids that looked like evil Play-Doh men. They’re ghosts with earthen shells!’ Kandra warned. ‘Don’t let them hit you!’ Obviously, Voldemort had kept some surprises in reserve, just in case. Despite the masses of enemies, the defenders seemed to be channelling the courage from the fellows inside into themselves outside. A few club-wielding Cyclopes were bellowing, ‘Bad dog! Bad dog!’ as they bashed the heads of a pack of former drooling-now whimpering and trying to run-cynocephali. A team of satyrs danced around with their panpipes, playing harmonies so dissonant that the earthen-shelled ghosts cracked apart. Ballistae launched glowing spears from the summits. Catapults hurled boulders that shattered on impact, spraying shards of Celestial Bronze, Imperial gold and enchanted boulders into the enemy lines. Flaming logs—which had always been a fun Roman war party game—rolled down the hillsides, smashing through packs of Earthborn. The Hogwarts Ghosts had formed a shimmering line of purple, white, blue and silver against a mob of pitch-black ancient armour filled with vaporous shadows. Meanwhile, on the eastern slopes the enemy was marching forwards towards an army of students and monsters defending the invaders nearest un-blocked entrance, a hole in the battlements created by a stray bolder. An entire phalanx of dracaenae, fully clothed in spell-proof armour, marched in the lead, their shields locked together, spear tips bristling over the top. An occasional arrow or a sharpened stone or spell or curse would connect with their snaky trunks, or a neck, or a chink in their armour, and the unlucky snake woman would disintegrate, but most of the missiles glanced harmlessly off their shield wall. About a hundred more assortments of monsters marched behind them, Giants with clubs, rogue Cyclopes, Telkhine sea demons waddled forwards with a combination of paddling and walking, fiery haired Empousai screeched and gnashed their fangs, centaurs cantered forwards, barrelling through the enemies ranks towards the entrance to the school, yelling drunkenly and waving their clubs or shooting flaming arrows, their bull horns glinting in the first glimmer of morning and the moonlight, hordes of two-headed men banging pipes on trash-can lid shields, cynocephali bounded forwards, howling for blood, their canine teeth bared, their swords glowing red and sometimes even getting out of control and attacking their weaker allies, bellowing Earthborn wielded weapons in each of their six arms, Khromandae bounded forwards, their shrieks cutting through the air, Blemmyae marched forwards in polite, orderly rows, looking perplexed by the rudeness of their comrades, enemy sorcerers, most walking on foot, but a few were riding enormous hellhounds, armoured skeletal oxs or enormous ants, firing spells from the saddle, and, just to rub it in the World War II-era WWII M4 Sherman Tank, pushing objects out of its way as it rumbled towards the tunnel. Hellhounds leaped ahead of the line from time to time. Most were destroyed with dryad's arrows, but one got hold of a satyr and dragged him away into the shadows. Aria, Giant Ravens, Strixes and other winged enemies swooped across the enemy lines, but like the ground forces, most were destroyed by missiles, destroying enemies until the remaining flying monsters got the message and fled back into the army, though most were hit by sailing long-range weapons. A ball of raging fire soared over the battles and smashed into the outer edge of the Forbidden Forest setting several bushes and trees alight. A roar exploded from the wilds of the forest. A roar filled with pain, fury, rage, grief, and horror. A roar created by thousands of growls, hisses, clinks, squawks, bellows, shouts, curses, and howls. Every head of or other main watching or hearing organ turned towards the shadows of the trees, which appeared to be giving birth to a army of creatures and beings. Hundreds of wild animals, both Magical and Normal appeared out of the shade of a undergrowth, or flew in from the pine trees. Like the Acromantula, these creatures had been brutally driven from their various homes in the forest by the battle of the invading Death Eaters. The entire battle had stopped and every fighter were staring as more and more creature materialize from the shade to join the millions of other animals, more and more forest inhabitants — more Centaurs, Thestrals, Acromantulas and Hippogriffs, Unicorns, Three-Headed Dogs, Blood-Sucking Bugbears, Forest, River and Mountain Trolls, Bowtruckles, one or two Blast-Ended Skrewts, Orchard Keepers, Land Limpets, Silence Spiders, Flesh Pythons, Giant Plains Scorpions and Fighting Spiders, forest inhabiting Lares, Owls of all colours and species, Pig Rats, Nodnaps, Wild Horses, Pinwheel Vipers, Mouse Banes, Brownies, Spitfire Dragon Lizards, Hippalectryons, Deer, Foxes, Scorpion Lizards, clouds of Insects, Hobs, Goblins, Snowcats, Sprites, Cockatrices, Eagle Phoenixes, Griffins, Werefoxes, Bears, Wolves, Dragons of all size and colour, Pixies, Wyverns, several tribes of the more peaceful species non-violent, vegetarian of giants, such as Thunderdell, Jumbo Frilly-Eared Dreamer, Mammoth Gorgontopper Lumper, Frost, River Willow Collosallclumper, Long-Armed Monumentors and even a few Longstopper High-Walker Giants — joining the battle in revenge for the harm of innocents, Elves, Werecats, Dwarves, Pukwudgies, Hidebehinds, Forbidden Forest Werewolves, Hob-Elves, hooded Droods, Will 'O' Wisps, Banshees, Hairy-Backed Rogres, Rogrebreaths of all shapes and sizes, wild enchanted objects, Flying Elephants, Lynxes, Blue Unicorns, Strixes, Manticores, Striped Nundus, Giant Cats, Carnivorous Mushrooms, Boggarts, Greenteeth, Laywings, Mountain Lions, Bogeymen, Ogres of all sizes, Dog-Headed Cynocephali, Lunar Moths, Augureys, Jack 'o' Kents, Bugbears, Fairies, Hawks, Kelpies, Grim Annises, Drakons, Myrmekes, Giant Scorpions, Yales, Bambazooker, Bear-Men Shamans, Arabian Winged Serpents, Imps, Red Caps, Lumpen Boggarts, Dogwolves, Fire Crabs, Kneazles, Murtlaps, Nifflers, Streelers, Hellhounds, Snake People, Cockatrices, Griffins, Fire-Breathing Horses, Jarveys, Greater Bull Goblins, wild-looking Scythian Dracanae, Blemmyae, Pandai, Earthborn, Khromandae, Telkhines and Lares, Aethiopian Bulls, Giant Gassy Badgers, Leprechauns, Chimaeras, Crups, Porlocks, Three-Eyed Stoats, Vampire Dogs, Long-Haired Ogres, Shining Elves, Great Howling Hairy Hindogres, Yetis, Ashwinders, Pegasi, Blow Toads, Field Pixies, Gnomes, Ents, Millipede Ogres, Cornish Pixies, Gyrashes, Exploding Mushroom Snails, Old-World Leprechauns, Manticores, Treefolk, Hamadryads, Freshwater Nixies, Northern Quarry Dwarves, Eastern Hill Giant Golems, Common Ground Goblins, Common House Brownies and Boggarts, Fire Salamanders, Stray Sods, Wandering Clumps, Stray Tufts, European Cockatrices, Wood Elves, Talking animals and birds. The army surveyed the battlefield. Who would they fight? Were they freind or foe? Then on some unseen signal, the army charged. But not at the defenders. The animal army smashed into the back of the invading force, destroying hundreds of enemies before the invaders got over the shock. Animal Ghost pounced or swooped onto the dementors, causing the entire horde to completely freak out, scattering in a dispersing of slimy colours. the wilder-looking, forest versions of the enemy, charged, some letting lose bloodcurdling howls as they attacked the enemy versions of their species, cutting down the creatures that were responsible for their homes endangerment without hesitation. Droods apparated across the ground, already in the middle of their spells. As if on signal, the first enemy lines erupted into chaos as the school's protectors, led by Aurora Sinistra, Sarah Vale and Wilhelmina Grubbly-Plank pressed forwards, firing spells of all varieties. Meanwhile, the school's defences kicked in. The jogging trail erupted in Greek fire, incinerating many of the monsters instantly. Others flailed around, engulfed in green flames, spreading the fire to their unlucky allies, setting more monsters ablaze. One of the flaming monsters, a Laistrygonian Ogre, brushed against the slimy robes of a dementor, causing the horrific creature to go up in a pillar of green with a ghastly shriek and begin spread the fire into the enemy air forces, incinerating even more invaders including the remaining dementors that hadn't been taken down by animal ghosts. Animated warrior of stone formed out of the various stones threw grappling hooks around the largest giants and pulled them to the ground. Five pairs of stone pillars erupted from the ground, each one of the holding a boulder swinging on a rope of blue light, which swung at the column boulder twin, scooping up screaming monsters and smashing into its brother, reducing the monsters to a layer of fine dust. Nearer to the wall, poisonous vines exploding from the ground, sprouting deadly flowers or shot prickles like darts. One Laistrygonian fell with a prickle as long of a man's arm imbedded in its forehead, a telkhine crumbled to dust, its neck throttled by a vine, a Scythian Dracanae slumped to the ground, covered in corn cockle flowers. Several buckets of hissing venomous snakes rained down, releasing snake onto the ground who slithered in all directions, attacking enemies and defending students. Waves of panic were now roaring through the enemy as their victory turned to defeat. The creatures drew together, remaining where they were, clinging to a small hope of victory. Hundreds of eyes darted back and forth, weighing the odds. But when a column of fire erupted from the mouths of several forest dragons, obliterating the first line, the troops broke apart, turned tail (if they had tails) and fled, scattered down the grounds towards the Great Lake in a panic, some leaping straight over the guardrails and into the void just to get away from the defenders faster, fleeing towards the figures of the largest body of the Voldemort's army's troops, only to attempt to turn around, screaming as a mass of tentacles of every colour burst out of the lake: The Giant Squid doing its part in defending the school that was its home, plucking up screaming enemies and dragging them under the dark waters or hurling them shrieking over and into the far distance of the lake. Several monsters even tried to flee back into the forbidden forest, only to be intercepted by more foresters. Silver Wolves leapt out of the shadows in blurs of silver to sink their teeth into their foes, Wood Nymphs, Tree Dryads and Nature Spirits armed with shields and spears made of honey-gold wood and wearing armour made out of the bark of their respective trees: Yew, Birch, Vine, Acacia, Rowan, Hazel, Elder, Pine, Apple, Poplar, Mahogany, Chestnut, Prickly Ash, Oak, Black Walnut, Thorn, Holly, Elm, Clove, Ash, Beech, Maple, Willow, Cypress, Sequoia, Redwood, Gum, Banksia, Wattle, Sycamore, Coral, Larch, Hornbeam, English Oak, Peach, Camphor, Rosewood, Pear, Laurel, Magnolia, Eucalyptus, Crabgrass, Agave, Money Maker, Spruce, Fir, Red Oak, Balsam, Walnut, Ebony, Aspen, Kudzu, Breadfruit, Fig, Mulberry, Juniper, Dogwood, Almond, Teasels, Pecan, Knotweed, Aloe Vera, Prickly Pear, Cherry, Hazel-Nut, Ilex, Black Poplars, Cedar, Silver Lime, Joshua, Reed, Hawthorn, Tamarack, Swamp Mayhaw, Lime, Alder, Blackthorn, Thistle, Oleander, Nightshade, Sugar Maple, all glimmered in the new-morning light. Goat-legged Satyrs leapt over fallen trees, playing their reed Pan Pipes and unleashing their magical music on the forest as their songs ordered the plants to attack, ivy, vines or roots wrapping around their enemies. Finally, as the last troops were either destroyed or fled, the army looks up the castle, knowing their victory might only be temporary.
Thanks to Harry's sacrifice that lived on in the blood of his allies, the Death Eaters were defeated, with Antonin Dolohov notably being defeated by Filius Flitwick and Bellatrix Lestrange notably being slain by Molly Weasley.
Aftermath
With the Death Eater forces silenced and the battle all but lost, Harry Potter destroyed their master once and for all thanks to his mastery of the Elder Wand. Without their master, the surviving Death Eaters fell. Nevertheless, a select few, such as the Malfoys, were pardoned. In fact, Lucius had given much information on his former comrades and assisted the Auror Office in their capture, and many Death Eaters were permanently imprisoned. After Voldemort's death, the Dark Marks on the Death Eaters' forearms faded into scars.
Following the outbreak of The Calamity on December 14, 2018, whereupon a powerful piece of Chaotic Magic was unleashed upon the world and resulted in one of the most massive breaches of the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy in the history of the wizarding world, several magical communities around the world saw a sudden resurgence of Dark Wizards adorning the black robes and masks of the original followers of the Dark Lord. Capitalising on the troubles of the day, these individuals would be sighted both in Great Britain as well as overseas, presumably trying to expose the wizardkind and provoke war between the magical and non-magical worlds as a pretext to re-establishing their prior reign of terror. They were known to have had numerous violent encounters with Aurors, Professors and even Magizoologists counted among the ranks of the Statute of Secrecy Task Force. It is unknown if these were a fraction of Lord Voldemort's old supporters that were still loyal to the cause, family members of former Death Eaters that shared their kin's ideology on a quest for revenge for their defeat at the Battle of Hogwarts, a group of disaffected anarchist wizards that were unrelated to the Death Eaters who enjoyed the chaos and used their public image as a type of scare tactic, or all of the above.
Ideology
“
Many of our oldest family trees become a little diseased over time. You must prune yours, must you not, to keep it healthy? Cut away those parts that threaten the health of the rest... And in your family, so in the world...we shall cut away the cancer that infects us until only those of the true blood remain...
”
There are hints that a long-standing dispute had existed in the wizarding world regarding the relationship between Magic and Muggles, and the status of magically talented people born to Muggle parents. These disputes clearly date back to at least the time of the founding of Hogwarts, as the Sorting Hat described the rift between pure blood-valuing Slytherin and the other three founders, who were enthusiastic to admit any young witch or wizard of talent.
There are also hints in The Fountain of Fair Fortune and other legends, to the point of even Muggle ones, that once upon a time witches, wizards and Muggles were known to each other and interacted. The International Statute of Secrecy was the solution settled upon in the 1600s to end these relationships, preventing misunderstanding, miscommunication, and cruelty by enforcing the hiding of magic and bringing about the obliviation of any Muggle aware of magic. Probably not coincidentally, the Scientific Revolution began in the Muggle world around this time.
But this remained a controversial choice. There were many in the magical world to whom it occurred that, united, the wizarding community had enough power to openly take control of governments worldwide. For some this was just a means of power, wealth, or fame; but to others, such as Dumbledore, who flirted with the idea of a wizard-led society with Grindelwald in his youth, this was an opportunity to improve the world, to use power responsibly and prevent tragedies based on xenophobia and secrecy like the one that had torn apart his own family.
As for Muggle-born witches and wizards, it seems that their status had been the subject of sometimes violent dispute for centuries. At the time of Harry's first year, and perhaps due to the influence of Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff long before that, it was considered gross and impolite to openly disparage Muggle-borns or use slurs like 'mudblood'. But clearly, prejudice and belief in the superiority and supremacy of a long-suffering aristocratic class persisted in many corners of the magical community, to the point of it being centred in England around Hogwarts' Slytherin house, just as Slytherin himself had intended.
In many ways, this form of racism was delusional comparable to Nazi white supremacism, relying on a romanticised, imaginary history of wizarding genealogy, and conveniently ignoring realities such as the partial or total Muggle origins of most witches and wizards, the existence of Squibs, and the lack of real differences in talent between pure-bloods and others. And like Germany in the time of the Nazis, while most people were not openly prejudiced, only a few were really courageous enough to stand up to it as well. Most government officials were content to ignore the problems of classism in magical society, and many participated without complaint when the new Voldemort-backed regime began to persecute Muggle-borns.
Organisation
“
The Death Eaters can't be all pure-blood, there aren't enough pure-blood wizards left. I expect most of them are half-bloods, pretending to be pure. It's only Muggle-borns they hate...
”
The Death Eaters were an organisation of pure-blood supremacists that coalesced around Voldemort, the Dark Lord himself, a man who offered a lightning rod for their hatred and bloodlust and especially those who sought to enforce pure-blood supremacy or establish New World Order for both wizards and non-magics. He found them very useful, as their ranks included wizarding aristocrats that could accomplish his goals through government and money, and deadly, remorseless thugs of all stripes. However, Voldemort's single-minded pursuit of power was unpopular and he merely preyed on prejudice to obtain followers to unwittingly bring him to worldwide dominion. Though he allowed them to establish purification policies when they took over the Ministry of Magic, he busied himself with seeking power for himself while never bothering to help them with these goals.
Death Eaters followed their leader's commands first and foremost, and he treated them ruthlessly, often sending them on virtually impossible missions and punishing them horribly if they failed him, even due to bad luck rather than incompetence. At his command, they worked against Voldemort's opponents, the Order of the Phoenix, through espionage, murder, and battle, and also infiltrated and undermined the Ministry of Magic. When he needed tasks done to increase his own power, he often sent them if he considered the task trivial enough to not warrant his personal attention, such as retrieving the prophecy from the Department of Mysteries and visiting the werewolves and the giants. The Death Eaters' other, more spontaneous activities included Muggle torture and murder for fun, property crime, and conspiracy against the world powers, beginning with Great Britain. Upon their success in taking over the Ministry during the Second Wizarding War, they began a campaign to identify Muggle-born witches and wizards and strip them of their wands, or even imprison or kill them, on the trumped-up premise that they must have 'stolen' their magic from a 'real' witch or wizard.
Although some Death Eaters appeared to have been fanatically loyal to Voldemort, such as Bellatrix Lestrange and Barty Crouch Jnr, several only aligned with him for the ideals of purification and shared glory, such as Lucius Malfoy and Regulus Black, while many others seemed to serve him largely out of fear, such as Peter Pettigrew and (apparently) Avery. As soon as he was defeated in 1981, many immediately renounced their loyalty and did not attempt to find Voldemort in the intervening years. Also, due to maltreatment from Voldemort, some who joined him would come to regret it later on, such as Lucius, Draco, and Regulus, when they either suffered his abuse or witnessed the true extent of his diabolical means. Those who rioted at the 1994 Quidditch World Cup also fled when the Dark Mark was cast. Bill Weasley speculated then that those Death Eaters were “even more frightened than the rest of us to see him come back”. However, most Apparated to his side if they were able to when Voldemort called them upon his return, claiming that they had been loyal all along.
Although Voldemort's standard recruitment seems to be centred around Slytherins, the Dark Wizard-inclined house which he was sorted into and thus the easiest to gain followers, he sometimes gained Death Eaters from other locations such as Peter Pettigrew of Gryffindor and Igor Karkaroff of the north. Valuing their loyalty over their social statuses or ages, Voldemort recruited Regulus Black and Draco Malfoy, both of whom were sixteen years old at the time of induction. This was beneficial to him because it, at least in Malfoy's case, gained him the latter's respect and anticipation for Death Eater-related duty.
In turn, even though Voldemort valued the services they provided, and spoke as though they were a family, he saw them as no more than dispensable servants. Voldemort was willing to sacrifice even the most loyal of them if it would increase his power, the most prominent example being Severus Snape, who he thought to the end was faithful. Some Death Eaters deluded themselves to thinking that they alone knew and understood Voldemort, or were even close to him, but Voldemort never desired friendship. Voldemort had some commons with several Death Eaters (such as a disappointing father like Barty Crouch Jnr, or trying to cover his Muggle heritage like Severus Snape), and even sharing such facts to garner the loyalty of such people, making it seem as he understand them in return, taking advantage of their inner feelings without gaining any attachments to them in return. Coupled with either disloyalty or constant failures, Voldemort lost faith in some of the once-highly revered servants such as Lucius and Bellatrix. As a sign of distrust-based precaution, the Death Eaters did not have knowledge of all their colleagues' identities: Voldemort alone knew who they all were. This was done in order to prevent any traitors from turning all the others in.
And I answer myself, perhaps they believed a still greater power could exist, one that could vanquish even Lord Voldemort... perhaps they now pay allegiance to another... perhaps that champion of commoners, of Mudbloods and Muggles, Albus Dumbledore? It is a disappointment to me... I confess myself disappointed....
–Voldemort's disappointment in his Death Eaters for their disloyalty
Becoming a Death Eater meant a lifetime service to Lord Voldemort. Death Eaters were denied the right to resign under any circumstances, under penalty of death. Sirius Black thought his younger brother was killed for attempting to quit after being given an exorbitantly taxing assignment, even though later this turned out to be the opposite. Igor Karkaroff deserted the Death Eaters after turning many of them over to the Ministry, and even though he went into hiding after his former master was revived, he was eventually caught and killed for his disloyalty. However, Voldemort did forgive the servants who did not attempt to find him but returned when he touched Wormtail's Dark Mark since Snape claimed that, if otherwise, Voldemort would be left with very few followers. Because of his diminished military forces at the time of his rebirth ceremony, Voldemort only punished those who returned to him by mild torture and demands: he let Wormtail suffer the pain of severing his hand as punishment for years of disloyalty, and demanded that Avery suffer thirteen years of pain as repayment for thirteen years of disloyalty before truly being forgiven.
Hierarchy
Voldemort's most senior Death Eaters, most of whom were old chums from Slytherin house or younger Slytherin alumni, mostly pure-bloods, and people highly useful to Voldemort for their wealth, skill, or ruthlessness, were bestowed with the Dark Mark on the inside of their lower left arm. These were his inner circle, those he summoned to his side upon his rebirth in Harry's fourth year, and who sat around his high table at Malfoy Manor. Being branded with the Dark Mark was a symbol of the highest status and honour in Voldemort's social order, but was also something of a dangerous burden, as it allowed the Dark Lord to track, communicate with, and summon his chosen few. Some associates, such as relatives of Death Eaters, are also on par with the actual members, prominently Narcissa Malfoy. On the other hand, Peter Pettigrew was branded a Dark Mark as well, though he was considered to be lower ranked than any other Death Eater, as Voldemort disdained his disloyalty and only saw him occasionally useful, thus assigning him to menial tasks most of the time. Age plays little influence on one's induction into the group, as both Draco Malfoy and Regulus Black became Death Eaters at age 16, their devotion being more important than their social qualifications.
The next level down were allowed to wear Death Eater garments in order to command the respect they engendered, but were not Marked. These seem to included those that Voldemort found useful but did not prefer to associate with. Genuine Death Eaters also regard these faux members with disrespect, as they did not hesitate to speak down on them, nor outright attack them. The most notable example was the werewolf Fenrir Greyback, notorious for his savagery and cannibalism. Another example was the Imperiused Minister for Magic, Pius Thicknesse, who only place under the Imperius Curse after a great struggle, and wore Death Eater robes during the Battle of Hogwarts.
On the lowest rung was a mass of supportive rabble, loyal to Voldemort but not useful enough to him to deal with him directly. They were given orders and opportunities to commit crimes or advance themselves through the senior Death Eaters. On the same tier were witches and wizards under the Imperius Curse (subtly implied to disproportionately constitute of the required Imperiused, the weak-willed and slow-witted, like Stan Shunpike, and the dubiously loyal), people who were serving the Death Eaters willingly but were not useful enough to be admitted into the Death Eaters, like the Snatchers, and non-humans of different degrees of sentience such as Werewolves, Giants, Dementors and the Inferi. These were pressed into service by the Death Eaters, and sentient groups that would have ordinarily remained neutral like the Dementors, Giants, and Werewolves were brought into the fold with false promises that their grievances would be avenged upon victory in battle. This entire mass was mobilised for Voldemort's attack on Hogwarts, though before then, they were only used to maintain the new regime, or else roam uncontrolled, sowing chaos and demoralisation as they sought individual gain. During Voldemort's assault on Hogwarts, they were used as expendable cannon fodder meant to overwhelm the students and teachers through shear force of numbers or test Hogwarts's formidable magic defences.
One of Lord Voldemort's very first Death Eaters. Attended Hogwarts with Tom Riddle. Suspected of being involved in the first muggle-born Minister for Magic, Nobby Leach, out of office. Fought in the First Wizarding War and survived. Was never caught or identified and escaped imprisonment. Died before the Second Wizarding War began.
Fought in the Second Wizarding War, during which he led the Death Eaters guarding Hogsmeade during the Death Eaters reign over the Ministry in 1998. Later participated in the Battle of Hogwarts and was killed attempting to escape capture after the war ended.
Alastor Locke
One of the original Death Eaters of Lord Voldemort. Fought in the First Wizarding War, during which he helped Death Eaters such as Antonin Dolohov and Igor Karkaroff torture many Muggles, and wizards and witches who were not supporters of the Dark Lord. After Lord Voldemort's First Fall in 1981, Alastor would go into hiding and was not captured for five years, before finally being captured by Aurors after torturing several Muggles in a drunken rage, and was imprisoned in Azkaban. Escaped in 1996, and fought in the Second Wizarding War. Participated in the Battle of Hogwarts, where he duelled and was defeated by Bill Weasley during the Battle of Hogwarts
Presumably Imprisoned or Deceased
Alecto Carrow
Fought in the First Wizarding War and managed to avoid Azkaban. Returned to the Dark Lord's side after his rebirth and fought in the Second Wizarding War, during which she participated in the Battle of the Astronomy Tower. Became Muggle Studies professor at Hogwarts when the Ministry of Magic came under Voldemort's control, using this position to spread anti-Muggle propaganda and abuse students. Participated in the Battle of Hogwarts, in which she was defeated by Luna Lovegood at Ravenclaw Tower, though not before pressing her Dark Mark and summoning Voldemort and his Death Eater army.
Presumably imprisoned
Alfred Avery
One of Lord Voldemort's very first Death Eaters. Attended Hogwarts with Tom Riddle. Fought in the First Wizarding War
Presumably Imprisoned or Deceased
Amaryllis Walburga Mort (née Black)
Supported Lord Voldemort during the First and Second Wizarding War, where she was given the Dark Mark along with her husband, Alois Mort, but defected in order to protect her family later.
Alive, Defected
Amycus Carrow
Fought in the First Wizarding War and managed to avoid Azkaban. Returned following the Dark Lord's rebirth and fought in the Second Wizarding War, during which he participated in the Battle of the Astronomy Tower. Became "Dark Arts" professor at Hogwarts when the Ministry of Magic fell under Voldemort's control, using this position to abuse students. Placed under the Imperius Curse by Minerva McGonagall and tortured with the Cruciatus Curse by Harry Potter before the Battle of Hogwarts began.
Presumably Imprisoned
Anders Elias Valter Ludvig Eriksson
Fought in the First Wizarding War and avoided Azkaban by claiming to have been under the Imperius Curse. Was later one of the hundreds present at the Dark Lord's rebirth. Participated in the Battle of Lilliput, but escaped to fight, albeit reluctantly, in the Battle of Hogwarts. Surrendered himself to the Ministry of Magic after Lord Voldemort's and was incarcerated in Azkaban for a time of three years before being released for rehabilitation.
Served as one of Lord Voldemort's lieutenants during the First Wizarding War, in which he tortured many Muggles and anti-Voldemort supporters committed the savage but unsuccessful attack on a infant Ulf-Harald John, which lead to his capture and imprisonment. Participated in the illegal break-in and Battle of the Department of Mysteries and was captured afterwards, but was kept at the Ministry for questioning but escaped his escort in a Death Eater raid. Attended several meetings involving plans for Dumbledore's assassination and participated in the following battle. Fought in the Battle of the Seven Potters, where he pursued Remus Lupin and George Weasley and later raided 4 Privet Drive in search of the Dursleys. After the Ministry fell under Death Eater control, Andreiko was among the Death Eaters assigned to hunt down and kill or torture Aurors who did not submit to the Dark Lord's will and was responsible for the deaths of several Aurors and their families (including children and unborn infants). Participated in the Skirmish at Malfoy Manor, where he aided in the torturing of Hermione Granger. Killed Plamuk, Gladock and Peeka Teräsinen's father and uncle in the Battle of Hogwarts. Subsequently killed by Markko and Pekka Teräsinen in same battle
Fought in the First Wizarding War, in which he was involved with the brutal murders of Fabian and Gideon Prewett. During the Second Wizarding War, Dolohov participated in the illegal break-in and battle of the Department of Mysteries. After escaping Azkaban, Dolohov failed to capture Harry Potter on Tottenham Court Road and was subsequently punished by his master. During the Battle of Hogwarts, he killed Remus Lupin and was later defeated by Filius Flitwick.
Presumed imprisoned or deceased
Armas Kalle Nestori Henrikki Karppinen
Fought in the Second Wizarding War, during which he participated in the Battle of Liliput, where he murdered Silja Karppinen and Åke Strand. Later fought in the Battle of Hogwarts, where he dueled Percy and Fred Weasley alongside Pius Thicknesse in the Seventh Floor Corridor before being brought down by three separate Stunning Spells cast by Fred Weasley. Later recovered and dueled his brother, Lasse Karppinen and was captured, but escaped when a troll broke into the open area of the dungeons and returned to the Forbidden Forest with the rest of the Dark Forces and watched his master "kill" Harry Potter. Later fought in the second half of the battle, where he was taken down by Viktor Krum. He was later imprisoned in Azkaban for life after his master's defeat.
Alive, Imprisoned
Arwen Rosier (née McLaughlin)
Served Lord Voldemort during the early events of Second Wizarding War alongside her husband, sister and brother-in-law. Alerted her comrades of the success of their plans to lure Harry Potter to the Department of Mysteries, resulting the subsequent battle. Tortured Flynn Orpington for information regarding Robyn Dumbledore’s whereabouts alongside her sister Morwenna and participated in the Skirmish at Lestrange Manor. Participated in the Battle of Hogwarts, during which she battled with and killed her brother Rheinallt in a rage at him for bringing about their sister Morwenna's death. Subsequently killed shortly after by Flynn Orpington.
One of Lord Voldemort's first Death Eaters. Attended Hogwarts with Tom Riddle. Fought in the First Wizarding War and avoided Azkaban by claiming to have been under the Imperius Curse. Was later one of the many present at the Dark Lord's rebirth. Attended the Meeting at Malfoy Manor, where she and her fellows discussed plans to capture Harry Potter. Later fought in the Battle of Hogwarts, where she was seen holding Hagrid down in the Forbidden Forest during the one hour of ceasefire. Abandoned the battle after Harry revealed himself to be alive.
Served as Lord Voldemort's spy within the Ministry of Magic, as an Unspeakable of the Department of Mysteries, during the First Wizarding War. Imprisoned in Azkaban when betrayed by Igor Karkaroff in exchange for his freedom, though not before putting up a great fight resisting arrest, during which he killed Cassandra Macmillan. Escaped during the 1996 mass breakout. Re-incarcerated after participating in the illegal break-in and battle of the Department of Mysteries. In 1997, and escaped once again during another mass breakout and fought in the Battle of Hogwarts, where he was stunned by Aberforth Dumbledore.
Presumed imprisoned
Bartemius Crouch Jnr
Served as Lord Voldemort's prize rookie at the height of the First Wizarding War, during the aftermath of which he participated in the torture and permanent incapacitation of Frank and Alice Longbottom. Smuggled out of Azkaban by his father (at his mother's request) and imprisoned in their home under the Imperius Curse in between the wars. Secretly attended the 1994 Quidditch World Cup, during which he used Harry Potter's wand to cast the Dark Mark over the violent Death Eater riot at the stadium grounds. Was rescued from imprisonment shortly afterwards by Voldemort, and assisted in the Dark Lord's rebirth by sabotaging the Triwizard Tournament while impersonating Alastor Moody at Hogwarts via Polyjuice Potion; these actions included entering Harry Potter into the Goblet of Fire, murdering his own father using the Killing Curse, placing Viktor Krum under the Imperius Curse in order to torture Cedric Diggory, stunning Fleur Delacour, and turning the Triwizard Cup into a Portkey designed to deliver Harry to Voldemort himself. Subsequently suffered the Dementor's Kiss.
Served as Lord Voldemort's devoted right-hand witch and protege throughout the First Wizarding War, during the aftermath of which she participated in the torture and permanent incapacitation of Frank and Alice Longbottom with the Cruciatus Curse. Imprisoned in Azkaban but escape in the Fist Mass Breakout Fought in the Second Wizarding War, during which she participated in the illegal break-in and battle at the Department of Mysteries, killing Sirius Black, and was the only Death Eater who escaped capture following that battle due to Voldemort's interference. Tortured Hermione Granger and killed Dobby at Malfoy Manor. Killed Nymphadora Tonks and attempted to kill Ginny Weasley during the Battle of Hogwarts. Subsequently killed by Molly Weasley in the same battle.
Deceased
Björn Detlef Franz Hotchberg
Convinced to join the Death Eaters during the height of the First Wizarding War. Avoided Azkaban by claiming to have been under the Imperius Curse and continued to solidify his influence within the Ministry for several years through various donations. Was later among the many to return to Voldemort after his rebirth. Began to feel regret for his actions and participated only reluctantly in Death Eater activities, secretly releasing several convicted muggle-borns from custody. Imprisoned in Azkaban but released in 2011 for his help in the escape of several innocent "Undesirables".
Alive, Defected
Blodwen Benyna Aeronwen Eriksson (née Vaughan)
Fought in the First Wizarding War, during which she infiltrated the Ministry of Magic and worked her way into the Wizengamot, a position she used to supply Lord Voldemort with information from inside the Ministry alongside a network of others. Personally killed Igriane Penhallow, representative of the Department of Mysteries after attempting to torture information from her. Identified as a traitor several weeks before Lord Voldemort's first downfall and went on the run. Killed by Ayanda Moody attempting to avoid imprisonment.
Fought and died in the First Wizarding War, where she dueled and overcame various Aurors. Killed dueling Rufus Scrimgeour
Boruslav Lestrange
One of Lord Voldemort's very first Death Eaters. Attended Hogwarts with Tom Riddle. Fought in the First Wizarding War, during which he aided in placing protective charms around the Gaunt Shack to ensure the safety of his master's Horcrux: The Ring of the Gaunts. Killed by Alice Longbottom during the Battle of Hogsmeade in 1981.
Bret EnRolen
Joined the Death Eaters’ ranks during the Second Wizarding War and participated in the Battle of Hogwarts, during which he attempted to kill Hermione Granger and caused the explosion that killed Fred Weasley. Escaped capture and died in an attempted Muggle attack.
Byron Macnair
One of Lord Voldemort's very first Death Eaters. Attended Hogwarts with Tom Riddle. Procured the book that would eventually lead to the idea of the Dark Mark. Fought in the First Wizarding War
Presumably Imprisoned or Deceased
Cadwal Urien Bedwyr Vaughan
Fought in the Second Wizarding War. Particapated in the Battle of the Seven Potters, during which he pursued Arthur and Fred Weasley. Later assigned to keep tabs on Amos Diggory after the Ministry fell under Death Eater control. Particapated in the first and second half of the Battle of Hogwarts and was captured by Kalevi Vanhanen and imprisoned in Azkaban for life. Died in prison.
Deceased
Casimir Yanick Noël Lévesque
Participated in the First Wizarding War. Avoided Azkaban and became a prosecutor for the Ministry of Magic in between the wars. Participated in the violent riot and torture of a Muggle family at the 1994 Quidditch World Cup, and was one of the at the Dark Lord's rebirth and fought in the Second Wizarding War, during which he was sent to recruit the giants to join Lord Voldemort's side. Participated in the Battle of Hogwarts but was killed Leóna Írisdóttir during the second half of the battle.
One of Lord Voldemort's very first Death Eaters. Attended Hogwarts with Tom Riddle. Fought in the First Wizarding War
Presumably Imprisoned or Deceased
Colin Crabbe
Fought in the First Wizarding War and avoided Azkaban following Lord Voldemort's downfall. Was present when the Dark Lord was reborn. Particapated in the Battle of Hogwarts and was captured afterwards and imprisoned.
Fought in the First Wizarding War. Following Lord Voldemort's downfall, Yaxley was able to avoid Azkaban. During the Second Wizarding War participated in the Battle of the Astronomy Tower. Placed the Imperius Curse on Pius Thicknesse. Participated in the persecution of Muggle-borns with the Muggle-Born Registration Commission. Participated in the Battle of Hogwarts and was defeated by George Weasley and Lee Jordan. Escaped the Battle and formed the Serpent Society, but was killed by cutting curse to the heart fighting Albus Potter.
Deceased
Corvus Lestrange VI
Served Lord Voldemort during the early events of Second Wizarding War alongside his wife, sister-in-law and brothers-in-law. He participated in the illegal break-in and battle of the Department of Mysteries during the Second Wizarding War and was the only Death Eater to perish in the battle, dying while resisting arrest.
One of Lord Voldemort's first Death Eaters. Attended Hogwarts with Tom Riddle. Helped force the first Muggle-born Minister of Magic, Nobby Leech, out of office. Fought in the First Wizarding War and was never identified. Died after the First Wizarding War ended.
Fought in the First Wizarding War, during which he participated in the savage murders of Fabian and Gideon Prewett, the tortures of dozens of Muggles and non-supporters of the Dark Lord, casting the Imperius Curse on countless people and in the brutal attack on the McKinnon and Bones families, which resulted in his capture and imprisonment in Azkaban. Escaped in 1996 and participated in the Burning of the Burrow. Conjured the Dark Mark over Hogwarts during the Battle of the Astronomy Tower. During that battle, Gibbon was struck by a Killing Curse intended for Remus Lupin by Thorfinn Rowle.
Dorian Flint
Fought in the First Wizarding War. Following Lord Voldemort's downfall, Flint was able to avoid Azkaban. Returned to Tom Riddle's side after his rebirth and participated in the murder of Emmeline Vance. Particapated in the persecution of Muggle-borns with the Muggle-born Registration Commission. Particapated in the Battle of Hogwarts and was defeated by Oliver Wood and Angelina Johnson.
Served as one of Lord Voldemort's youngest recruits during the Second Wizarding War, during which Forced to commit two failed assassination attempts on Albus Dumbledore under direct threat, but managed to corner and disarm him on the third attempt before deciding not to kill him. Placed the Imperius Curse on Madam Rosmerta to pass on a cursed necklace, with which he unitentionally poisoned Ron Weasley and cursed Katie Bell. Repaired the vanishing cabinet which allowed various Death Eaters to breach Hogwarts defences prior to the Battle of the Astronomy Tower. Tried to capture Harry Potter during the Battle of Hogwarts. Participated reluctantly in Death Eater activity.
Fought in the First Wizarding War, during which he participated in the Battle of Hogsmeade in 1981, where he dueled Sturgis Podmore. Died attempting evade capture by Aurors.
Deceased
Emeryn Wilkes
Fought in the First Wizarding War, during which he was actively responsible for various heinous acts against Muggles and Muggle-borns. Fought in the Attack on Budleigh, during which he duelled a group of five Aurors led by Alastor Moody before casting a powerful explosion curse that killed him and Moody’s four companions
Fought in the First Wizarding War. Killed by Alastor Moody after resisting capture following Lord Voldemort's downfall.
Felix Rosier
Served Lord Voldemort during the early events of Second Wizarding War alongside his wife, sister-in-law and brothers-in-law. Aided in destroying the Millennium Bridge and participated in the Battle of the Astronomy Tower, where he lost his life duelling an Auror.
Fought in the First Wizarding War and avoided Azkaban following Lord Voldemort's downfall. Was present when the Dark Lord was reborn. He later participated in the illegal break-in and battle of the Department of Mysteries during the Second Wizarding War and was subsequently imprisoned. Crabbe, along with other Death Eaters, escaped during the 1997 mass breakout. Participated in the Battle of Hogwarts, but defected and abandoned the battle after hearing of his son's death.
Defected
Fenrir Greyback
Did not have the Dark Mark unlike the other Death Eaters. He became cannibalistic in the Second Wizarding War, and his duty was to scare, kill, and infect the opposing side. Was a part of the Battle of the Astronomy Tower, where he scarred Bill Weasley, and was present at the death of Albus Dumbledore. He was involved with the Snatchers and brought Harry Potter to Malfoy Manor. Fenrir participated in the Battle of Hogwarts. He savaged Lavender Brown and presumably many others, although Lavander Borwn at least survived. He was eventually brought down by Ron Weasley and Neville Longbottom.
Presumed imprisoned or deceased
Gannet Avery
Fought during the First Wizarding War, during which he participated in various raids on the Ministry of Magic and Order of the Phoenix suppliers. Died during one particular raid, defecting from the Death Eaters and sacrificing himself to save his Order sister, Maren, from Lord Voldemort.
Defected, Deceased
Gaspar Avery
Fought in the First Wizarding War and avoided Azkaban by claiming to have been under the Imperius Curse. Was later one of the few present at the Dark Lord's rebirth. He also participated in the illegal break-in and battle of the Department of Mysteries during the Second Wizarding War. Avery, along with other Death Eaters, escaped during the 1997 mass breakout of Azkaban. Participated in the Battle of Hogwarts but abandoned the Battle after Harry Potter revealed himself to be alive. Captured and sentenced to life in Azkaban.
Imprisoned
George Avery
One of Lord Voldemort's very first Death Eaters. Attended Hogwarts with Tom Riddle. Fought in the First Wizarding War
Presumed imprisoned or deceased
Gordon Mulciber
One of Lord Voldemort's first Death Eaters. Fought in the First Wizarding War. Accompanied Tom Riddle to Hogsmeade when the Dark Lord attempted to secure the job of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.
Gordon Callwell
Served as an assassin for Lord Voldemort during his first rise to power, during which he disguised his murder of several important Aurors and Ministry employees as trifle accidents. Captured and sent to Azkaban after the war ended, Gordon escaped in the 1996 Mass Breakout. Aided in murdering Emmeline Vance and later helped torture Ted and Andromeda Tonks for information on Harry Potter in 1997. Participated in and survived the first half of the Battle of Hogwarts, after which he patrolled the Forbidden Forest during the one hour of ceasefire. Defeated and re-imprisoned in Azkaban after
Alive, Imprisoned
Goyle Snr
Fought in the First Wizarding War. Having avoided Azkaban following Lord Voldemort's downfall, Goyle was present when the Dark Lord was reborn.
Presumably Imprisoned or Deceased
Graham Nott
One of Lord Voldemort's very first Death Eaters. Attended Hogwarts with Tom Riddle. Fought in the First Wizarding War
Grant Fuller
Fought in the First Wizarding War but grew disillusioned after seeing what his cohorts were willing to do to achieve their goals. Defected from the Death Eaters after being ordered to kill his wife and was subsequently killed by Voldemort.
Deceased
Harrison Byrne
Humphrey Avery
One of Lord Voldemort's very first Death Eaters. Attended Hogwarts with Tom Riddle. Fought in the First Wizarding War
Presumably Imprisoned or Deceased
Igor Karkaroff
Fought in the First Wizarding War, during which he aided in torturing countless Muggles and anti-Voldemort supporters before being captured and subsequently imprisoned by Alastor Moody. Avoided Azkaban by betraying several Death Eaters to the Ministry of Magic following Lord Voldemort's downfall, and became Headmaster of Durmstrang in between the wars, but was killed for his disloyalty during the Second Wizarding War.
Deceased
Ivory Nathairbane (née Hemlock)
Served Lord Voldemort during the First Wizarding War, during which she acted as an important lieutenant in the Dark Lord’s army. Avoided imprisonment in Azkaban after the First Wizarding War by fleeing into Bulgaria before returning to her master’s side after his rebirth.
Presumably Imprisoned or Deceased
Janice Fray
Fought in the First Wizarding War and avoided Azkaban following Lord Voldemort's downfall. Served as the adoptive mother of Robyn Dumbledore, attempting to raise the young girl to be a future Death Eater. Was present when the Dark Lord was reborn and later hunted for her adopted daughter in 1997-1998 alongside her husband and various others. Kidnapped Flynn Orpington and participated in the Skirmish at Lestrange Manor, duelling Robyn alongside her husband. Captured and imprisoned in Azkaban after the end of the war.
Alive, Imprisoned
Jonathan Amadeus Arthur Hades Crane
Participated in the First Wizarding War, during which he betrayed his own family and joined the Dark Lord. Abducted and murdered his muggle-born sister-in-law, Jane Crane, during the height of the war, which prompted his widowed brother Donovar to hunt him down and capture him and was subsequently imprisoned in Azkaban. Escaped in the 1996 Mass Breakout. Participated in the Burning of the Burrow and later on, the Battle of Hogwarts, during which he led the Death Eaters' clan of Vampire allies. Killed in the second half of the battle by Donovar.
Deceased
Johnathan Fray
Fought in the First Wizarding War and avoided Azkaban following Lord Voldemort's downfall. Served as the adoptive father of Robyn Dumbledore, attempting to raise the young girl to be a future Death Eater. Was present when the Dark Lord was reborn and later hunted for his adopted daughter in 1997-1998 alongside his wife and various others. Kidnapped Flynn Orpington and participated in the Skirmish at Lestrange Manor, duelling Robyn alongside his wife. Captured and imprisoned in Azkaban after the end of the war.
Alive, Imprisoned
Jon Travers
One of Lord Voldemort's very first Death Eaters. Attended Hogwarts with Tom Riddle. Fought in the First Wizarding War
Presumably Imprisoned or Deceased
Jorius Avery
Fought in the First Wizarding War, during which he attempted to murder the then Minister for Magic Harold Minchum and was subsequently arrest and imprisoned. Attempted to escape in the Mass Breakout of 1996, but was killed on his way down from the prison wall.
Participated in the First Wizarding War, where his intelligence made him a fearsome strategist and high-prioritized target of the Aurors, though he's savage fighting skills and raw power in duelling caused a good number of the Aurors he battled to wind up in St. Mungo's due to the unusual injuries inflicted upon them, though none perished at Joseph’s hands. Also acted as a spy for the Dark Lord, using his status as an Animagus to listen in on enemy plans. Participated in the Battle of Binnend and was the only Death Eater survivor. Eluded capture by Alastor Moody on three occasions, all of which included dangerous breaches of the International Statute of Secrecy. Later laid a false trail for Evan Rosier in order to avenge the deaths of two of his brothers, who had been struck down by the latter, which lead to Rosier’s death. Captured and triad but escaped after a long and complex trial during which he pointed out he had never killed while in Voldemort’s service. Officially defected from the Death Eaters and helped unmask several of his comrades. Joined the Ministry of Magic and eventually became Head of the Magical Equipment and Object Control Office and a blood traitor after marrying Muggle-born witch, Stephanie Blake. Joined the Order of the Phoenix during the Second Wizarding War and turned the talents he had formerly used as a Death Eater against his former comrades. Fought in and survived the Battle of Hogwarts.
Defected, Alive
Jugson
Participated in the illegal break-in and battle of the Department of Mysteries during the Second Wizarding War and was subsequently imprisoned. Jugson, along with other Death Eaters, escaped during the 1997 mass breakout.
Presumed imprisoned or deceased
Laurence Rosier
One of Lord Voldemort's first Death Eaters. Fought in the First Wizarding War. Accompanied Tom Riddle to Hogsmeade when the Dark Lord attempted to secure the job of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.
Linnea Wilkes
Fought in the First Wizarding War, during which she plied a trade of creating cursed items and weapons for the Death Eaters, as well as sending cursed toys to kill innocent Muggles either for her own pleasure or to add to their Inferi forces. Killed attempting to avoid capture after her master fell.
Served as Lord Voldemort's right-hand wizard for a majority of the First Wizarding War, during which he was entrusted with Tom Riddle's Diary until given consent from his master to smuggle said Horcrux into Hogwarts and use it to reopen the Chamber of Secrets. Avoided Azkaban by claiming to have been under the Imperius Curse following his master's downfall, and became Chairman of the Hogwarts Board of Governors in between the wars, using this position to campaign for Albus Dumbledore's suspension from the school for poor Headmastership and render Harry Potter vulnerable to the Dark Lord. In 1992, he planted the diary on Ginny Weasley in order to sabotage her father Arthur's Muggle Protection Act, whilst threatening the other school governors into signing an Order of Suspension for Dumbledore's dismissal. Participated in the violent riot and torture of a Muggle family at the 1994 Quidditch World Cup, and was one of the first present at the Dark Lord’s rebirth. Placed Department of Mysteries employee Broderick Bode and possibly Sturgis Podmore under the Imperius Curse in an attempt to commit theft on Voldemort's behalf. Led the break-in of the Department of Mysteries. After escaping Azkaban, his home was used as the Death Eater headquarters. Defected and did not fight in the Battle of Hogwarts.
Defected
Madoc Borgin
One of Lord Voldemort's very first Death Eaters. Attended Hogwarts with Tom Riddle. Fought in the First Wizarding War
Presumably Imprisoned or Deceased
Maja Catharina Rosier (née Holmström)
Fought in the First Wizarding War, during which she murdered nearly her entire family under the belief that they had become "blood traitors". Avoided Azkaban by escaping into Bulgaria before slipping back into Great Britain in 1992. Participated in the violent riot and torture of the Robert Family at the 1994 Quidditch World Cup and was among the hundreds of Death Eaters who answered Lord Voldemort's call, apparating to her master's side. Later participated in the Battle of Hogwarts, during which she duelled Bill Weasley only to obey her master's orders to retreat into the Forbidden Forest. Duelled with a killed by Poppy Pomfrey when the battle recommenced
Deceased
Marius Beaulieu
Fought in the First Wizarding War, during which he established a reputation of being a ruthless Death Eater with no empathy for those he considered his inferiors. Escaped imprisonment by claiming to have been under the Imperius Curse. Returned to Lord Voldemort’s side after his rebirth. Participated in the Battle of Hogwarts, during which he duelled Kingsley Shacklebolt.
Presumably Imprisoned or Deceased
Morwenna Lestrange (née McLaughlin)
Served Lord Voldemort during the early events of Second Wizarding War alongside her husband, sister and brother-in-law. Alerted her comrades of the success of their plans to lure Harry Potter to the Department of Mysteries, resulting the subsequent battle. Tortured Flynn Orpington for information regarding Robyn Dumbledore’s whereabouts alongside her sister Arwen and participated in the Skirmish at Lestrange Manor. Participated in the Battle of Hogwarts, during which she was killed by her brother, Rheinallt.
Deceased
Mr Lee
Served Lord Voldemort during the First Wizarding War, eventually visited in his home by the Dark Lord. He was imprisoned in Azkaban with his wife after the war ended.
Mrs Lee
Served Lord Voldemort during the First Wizarding War. She was imprisoned in Azkaban with her husband after the war ended.
Mr Snyde
Served Lord Voldemort during the First Wizarding War, imprisoned in Azkaban along with his wife.
Mrs Snyde
Served Lord Voldemort during the First Wizarding War, imprisoned in Azkaban along with her husband.
Orcus Carrow
One of Lord Voldemort's very first Death Eaters. Attended Hogwarts with Tom Riddle. Fought in the First Wizarding War
Presumably Imprisoned or Deceased
Paul Nathairbane
Served Lord Voldemort during the First Wizarding War, during which he acted as an important lieutenant in the Dark Lord’s army. Avoided imprisonment in Azkaban after the First Wizarding War by fleeing into Bulgaria before returning to his master’s side after his rebirth.
Participated in the First Wizarding War, during which she participated in the Battle of Montrose and was believed to have aided in the murder the Inglebee family. Fought and died in the Battle of Normanby le Wold, where she killed Louisa Abney before dying herself.
Deceased
Persephone Parkinson
Fought in the First Wizarding War and avoided Azkaban following Lord Voldemort's downfall. Returned to the Dark Lord’s side after his resurrection to a full body and re-entered his service. Participated in the Battle of Hogwarts and was imprisoned in Azkaban after The Dark Lord’s defeat with her husband.
Served as Lord Voldemort's spy within the Order of the Phoenix at the height of the First Wizarding War, during which he betrayed James and Lily Potter's whereabouts as their Secret-Keeper and murdered twelve Muggles on a London street with a single Blasting Curse whilst faking his own death, framing Sirius Black for both crimes. Went into hiding in his Animagus form of a rat following his master's downfall, and became the pet rat of Percy and Ron Weasley in between the wars, using this position to keep track of news regarding Voldemort's whereabouts and stay close to Harry Potter at Hogwarts until the time came to deliver him to the Dark Lord right under Albus Dumbledore's nose. In 1993, he was exposed during Black's escape from Azkaban and revelation of the truth, but escaped again to fulfil the prophecy regarding his return to Voldemort. Captured Bertha Jorkins in Albania and brought her before his master in 1994, and assisted the Dark Lord with his rebirth, murdering Cedric Diggory in the process. Participated in the Skirmish at Malfoy Manor, where he tried to strangle Harry but hesitated when the latter reminded him of a life debt. Strangled to death by his own enchanted silver hand.
Deceased
Pyrites (possibly)
Accompanied Lord Voldemort to Godric's Hollow the night he murdered the Potters. Met Sirius Black outside of the Potter's home following the attack.
Unknown
Queenie Rionach Greengrass (née Selwyn)
Fought in the First Wizarding War and avoided Azkaban by claiming to have been under the Imperius Curse. Was later one of the few present at the Dark Lord's rebirth. Captured after the Battle of Hogwarts and imprisoned in Azkaban for life with her husband.
One of Lord Voldemort's first Death Eaters. Participated in the torture and permanent incapacitation of Alice and Frank Longbottom using the Cruciatus Curse during the First Wizarding War. Participated in the illegal break-in and battle at the Department of Mysteries and was subsequently imprisoned. Rabastan, along with other Death Eaters, escaped during the 1997 mass breakout. Fought in the Battle of Hogwarts but abandoned the battle after Harry revealed himself to be alive. Imprisoned in Azkaban after the Battle but was release thanks to the efforts Avela.
Fought in the Battle of the Seven Potters during the Second Wizarding War, during which he pursued and nearly killed Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour. Helped burn down Dedalus Diggle’s home after the Ministry of Magic fell under Death Eater control and acted as an examiner of suspected Muggle-borns’ family trees for the Muggle-Born Registration Commission. Participated in the Battle of Hogwarts and later dueled Daphne Greengrass during the second half of the Battle, which ended in his death.
Served as a foot soldier at the the height of the First Wizarding War, during which he volunteered Kreacher to assist Lord Voldemort in hiding Salazar Slytherin's Locket. Changed sides and attempted to destroy said Horcrux, but was killed by Inferi in the process.
One of Lord Voldemort's first Death Eaters. Attended Hogwarts with Tom Riddle. Participated in the First Wizarding War.
Rheinallt Abraxas McLaughlin
Served as one of Lord Voldemort's youngest recruits during the Second Wizarding War, being forced into silence after his sisters and brothers-in-law all became Death Eaters ranks. Alerted his sisters to the success of their plans to draw Harry Potter to the Department of Mysteries, resulting the subsequent battle. Officially given the Dark Mark after his graduation and worked closely with his sisters as well as fellow Death Eaters Janice and Johnathan Fray and Bellatrix Lestrange to hunt down Robyn Dumbledore, coming up with the idea kidnapping Robyn's close friends, Flynn, Lisa, and Rose, and torture them for information on Robyn's whereabouts. After seeing the ruthless nature of the torture used on his former classmates, however, Rheinallt began to doubt the true intentions of the Dark Lord's cause, beginning to participate only reluctantly in Death Eater activities and eventually secretly defected until he revealed his new loyalties in the Battle of the Astronomy Tower.
Participated in the torture and the permanent incapacitation of Alice and Frank Longbottom via the Cruciatus Curse during the First Wizarding War. Participated in the illegal break-in and battle of the Department of Mysteries and was subsequently imprisoned. Rodolphus escaped in the 1997 mass breakout and participated in the Battle of the Seven Potters.
Unknown (was imprisoned after the Battle of Hogwarts, but has escaped as of 2020)
Romualdo Kevin
Fought in the First Wizarding War, during which he participated in the First Attack on the Millenium Bridge, where he helped battle James Potter, Sirius Black, Taylor Current and Mario Holiday before fleeing.
Fought in the First Wizarding War, during which he personally murdered and mutilated Benjy Fenwick. He was killed by Aurors attempting to avoid Azkaban.
One of Lord Voldemort's first Death Eaters, Nott fought in the First Wizarding War, accompanying Tom Riddle to Hogsmeade when the Dark Lord attempted to secure the job of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Following Voldemort's downfall, Nott was able to avoid Azkaban and was later present at the Dark Lord's rebirth. Participated in the illegal break-in and battle of the Department of Mysteries during the Second Wizarding War and was subsequently imprisoned. Nott, along with other Death Eaters, escaped during the 1997 mass breakout. Defected and did not fight in the Battle of Hogwarts.
Defected
Selwyn
During the Second Wizarding War, participated in the Battle of the Seven Potters. Along with Travers, tortured Xenophilius Lovegood about the whereabouts of Harry Potter.
Served as Lord Voldemort's volunteer for monitoring Albus Dumbledore around Hogwarts at the height of the First Wizarding War, during which he passed information about a prophecy foretold to Dumbledore by Sybill Trelawney at the Hog's Head Inn. Reformed out of remorse for the welfare of his childhood friend Lily Potter, and was thus exonerated by Dumbledore following his master’s downfall. Became Potions Master of Hogwarts and Head of Slytherin House in between the wars, using this position to keep a close eye on Harry Potter and his friends. Returned to the Death Eater ranks two hours after the Dark Lord’s rebirth, and served as Voldemort's right-hand wizard throughout the Second Wizarding War, though secretly acting as a double agent for the Order of the Phoenix. Participated in a plan of Dumbledore's resulting in his death and himself becoming Headmaster of Hogwarts, a position he used to covertly assist Harry Potter and his friends. Killed by Nagini during the Battle of Hogwarts, under Voldemort’s belief that he was the master of the Elder Wand.
Defected,
Deceased
Sirius Pikeman
Served Lord Voldemort during the First Wizarding War, imprisoned in Azkaban along with his wife.
Spencer Parkinson
Fought in the First Wizarding War and avoided Azkaban following Lord Voldemort's downfall. Returned to the Dark Lord’s side after his resurrection to a full body and re-entered his service. Participated in the Battle of Hogwarts and was imprisoned in Azkaban after The Dark Lord’s defeat with his wife.
Alive, Imprisoned
Star Pikeman
Served Lord Voldemort during the First Wizarding War, imprisoned in Azkaban along with her husband.
Participated in the murder of the McKinnons during the First Wizarding War. Participated in the Battle of the Seven Potters and intimidated employees of Gringotts bank during the Second Wizarding War. Dueled Parvati Patil in the Battle of Hogwarts. Accidentally taken down be Remus Lupin with a lethal curse intended for Antonin Dolohov
During the Second Wizarding War, participated in the Battle of the Astronomy Tower and accidentally struck Gibbon with a Killing Curse intended for Remus Lupin. He was later punished by the Dark Lord having failed to capture Harry Potter on Tottenham Court Road. Rowle later participated in the Battle of Hogwarts.
Served as one of Lord Voldemort's first Death Eaters during the First Wizarding War. Avoided Azkaban by claiming to have been under the Imperius Curse after his master's downfall, and bacame an executioner for the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures in between the wars. Participated in the violent riot and torture of a Muggle family at the 1994 Quidditch World Cup, and was one of the at the Dark Lord's rebirth and fought in the Second Wizarding War, during which he was sent to recruit the giants to join Lord Voldemort's side. Participated in the illegal break-in and battle at the Department of Mysteries and was subsequently imprisoned. Macnair, along with other Death Eaters, escaped during the 1997 mass breakout and participated in the Battle of Hogwarts, in which he was knocked unconscious after Rubeus Hagrid slammed him into a wall.
Waldorf Minos Greengrass
Fought in the First Wizarding War, during which he secretly betrayed his family and joined the Death Eaters. Avoided Azkaban by claiming to have been under the Imperius Curse. Was later one of the many present at the Dark Lord's rebirth. Captured after the Battle of Hogwarts and imprisoned in Azkaban for life with his wife.
Served as Lord Voldemort's Imperius Curse specialist at the height of the First Wizarding War, during which he placed said curse on many people and forcing them to do horrific things. Later unable to avoid Azkaban after his master’s downfall. Following the Dark Lord's rebirth, Mulciber escaped in 1996 during a mass breakout. During the Second Wizarding War, he participated in the illegal break-in and battle of the Department of Mysteries and was subsequently re-imprisoned. However, Mulciber later escaped once again during the 1997 mass breakout. Fought in the Battle of Hogwarts, where he personally killed two students before being brought down himself.
