The problem I had was would Voldemort really have been at the Malfoys with the others? Especially Draco who wasn't a Death Eater. Yeah sure he had been given a mission in the Half Blood Prince, but that was because of his father's failings, not because he would become a Death Eater! I put aside this reservation though and continued to read.

Again, there's no preamble about Harry having a bad time with the Dursleys or the type of "fill" you get to try and set the plot for the reader. We know after reading the six previous Harry Potter books what the story is and we want answers in this one. Answers to questions like "Is Harry going back to Hogwarts?" and "How will Neville and the prophecy come into this final book?"We aren't kept waiting long. As soon as we start reading about Harry at Privet Drive we're on tenterhooks. Of course Harry's going to make it to Tonk's Parent's, it's too early in the Story to start getting setbacks. Well I was wrong here. As soon as they leave with the six other poly juiced Harry Potters we see Voldemort's attack, the loss of one of the most powerful Aurors, Hedwig and Harry's wand breaking. Great start to the Deathly Hallows. This is what I wanted to see, this is what I've been waiting two years for, six hundred pages of edge of the seat writing.

Well it now gets into the plot further. The plans, the lack of ideas and the decision that Harry, Hermione & Ron are going it alone, continue from the nail biting start. At this time I really can't see how Harry and his pals are going to find the rest of the Horcruxes let alone destroy them. After what happened to Dumbledore's hand when he destroyed the ring in Half Blood Prince it was difficult to see how Harry was going to get any further. Again I was so wrong. J.K.Rowling's storyline for her characters is faultless. I was amazed to find out that Dumbledore had tried to use the ring which had cursed him and caused his hand to die. That was a great twist and one that was well backed up by the story of his past as he grew up.

Once Harry, Hermione & Ron escape the Death Eaters' raid on the Weasleys and make it to Grimmauld Place the introduction of the book is finally behind us. But the trio are worried that Snape could walk in at any time, being part of the order who had access to the house, but it's their only hiding place. One that does have at least some form of protective charms & spells to defend against hostiles. With the realisation that one of the Horcruxes is with Dolores Umbridge at the Ministry they set out a plan which takes them weeks to get organised and formulate. Death Eaters sitting virtually on their door step, waiting just in case they showed up there doesn't cause them too much grief, as a combination of Harry's invisibility cloak and the dissaparation spell gets them about happily enough. It's only when they put their plan into action than no sooner do they arrive at the Ministry then things start going very wrong. The side helping of humour is there none-the-less but they only just escape this time. Grimmauld Place becomes another no-go place as one of the Death Eaters manages to dissaparate with them. So they go into hiding in the Woods, staying in a Tent. Now, even though they do work out how to destroy the Horcrux they took from Umbridge this part of the story does go on a bit too much for me. There's a lot of backfill about Dumbledore & his Family which I do appreciate I really do and as the last book comes to a climax you see how it all fits. Never-the-less, I was starting to get slightly bored by this point! The introduction of "Potter Watch" over the radio was a great feature and highly amusing but could really have worked better if it had been expanded on instead of the plot taking more of a route over the history of everything rather than the present, so we only get to hear it once.

Thankfully, they get captured, strange as it may sound but it was about time something exciting happened! They escape with the help of Dobby and free others at the same time. In the process Harry disarms Draco which is a very important part of the plot for the end but one we aren't supposed to get at this time. Still, it's worth mentioning as again it's a great idea.

Harry and the others escape to Bill and Fleur's place where he has to make a very important decision. Does he go after another Horcrux or the Elder Wand (as one of the 3 Death Hallows)? As that decision not only has a change of plan to defeating Voldemort but also a time frame to it. Depending who he talks to first will decide on what path he follows. Again we're left wondering why Harry makes the decision he does when the other idea could have worked better. But it was Dumbledore's plan and Harry's not going to waver from it.

They set off to break into Gringotts knowing that their decision several hours before had left Voldemort acquiring the Elder Wand unchallenged. But their mission was another Horcrux. This time it was in the Bank in Bellatrix LeStrange's vault. Not much planning went into this break-in and personally I felt it was rather rushed. The way they got in was hardly mind blowing or up to J.K.Rowling's normal high quality of creativity. It was one of the most obvious ways come to think of it. A poly juice potion, the "Confundo" charm and the "Imperio" curse is all that was used to gain access to the vault. They escaped with the Goblet and a Dragon though and then finally decide to go to Hogwarts.

The story has been leading up to this for some time now and even though there are over one hundred and fifty pages left you can just feel the tension mounting and the apprehension that this will be their last visit. The last one hundred and fifty pages are by far J.K.Rowling's best work over the seven books. I am on the edge of my seat throughout the rest of the book. The three enter Hogwarts hoping to search the castle quietly and undetected by the Death Eaters. That goes wrong when Harry removes the invisibility cloak though and for the second time in his life Harry uses the Crucio curse but this time with meaning, which puts pay to a Death Eater in the Ravenclaw common room and gives me a great feeling of "have it ya scum".

My heart starts beating faster as he re-enters the Room of Requirement and sees that not only are Neville and most of the DA there but also the Order of the Phoenix and others. He informs them that Voldemort is on his way. He knows Harry's there and even though he wanted to do the search of the Horcrux quietly there's no chance now, the Teachers are preparing the castle for battle and so the DA get their wish. They're going to fight!

By now it's 4am and I can't put the book down. I've got no chance on going to sleep until this is finished, so on I go. Harry, Hermione and Ron find the Horcrux and after destroying it they go looking for Voldemort. They watch as he kills Snape and walks off, but not before Snape's last breath is to part some of his memory into a bottle for Harry. Confused Harry takes it to Dumbledore's old office and pours into the Pensieve and here is where we find out who Snape really was. He was in love with Harry's mum. Everything that had been going on between Harry and Snape was very accurate. Snape hated Harry but his love for Lily and guilt for her death was his reasoning behind protecting Harry. As I read the chapter about Snape's memory I realise why he was so anti-social with everyone, why he hated Harry and yet at times helped him out and why he killed Dumbledore. I was now starting to respect what Snape had done. Even though his information had lead to Lily and James' deaths I could see how he had been trying to make up for it and the belief and trust he had in Dumbledore. I still would have set the toad on fire if I could but at least not all his intentions were evil!

Anyway, it's not all rose tinted glasses in this chapter. Here we also find out that Dumbledore had not only been training & educating Harry from the start to kill Voldemort, but that he would have to die too, for the great good. This sent a shock through me as I'd heard rumours for months that Harry might die not to mention that J.K. herself had stated she had no problem with killing him off just to stop others writing stories about him afterwards. I really didn't want to read that Harry dies and so when he confronts Voldemort in the Forbidden Forest unarmed I thought it was all over. But no! No Harry wasn't dead yet. Somehow he's in-between worlds now and is meeting Dumbledore. The killing curse that Voldemort should have killed Harry with (again) hasn't killed him but split the Horcrux that Harry had carried with him unknowingly for sixteen years from his own soul. Harry was now able to return in one piece. And this is now where Harry understands, where we understand all the background that has gone into this, all the education of who Voldemort is and what needed to be done to beat him.

Feigning death, Harry gets carried to the Castle by Hagrid. His friends and colleagues all attack Voldemort and his Death Eaters for they know that there's no chance left now. With Harry dead it's do or die, literally. Harry sneaks on his cloak in the confusion and takes out any Death Eater he can whilst being buffeted into the Castle. I loved the description of all the onlookers watching the last two fights whilst Harry was still under the cloak afraid of taking aim in case he hit one of the Order. I was screaming at Harry get rid of the cloak, and take them on. Then with Mrs Weasley taking out Bellatrix and Voldemort overcoming his three opponents Harry joins the battle. Casting the "Protego" spell to stop Voldemort killing Mrs Weasley he removes his cloak. I was over joyed. I felt like his friends and other onlookers did when they shouted "HE'S ALIVE". Come on Harry, I thought, you can do it. Now this is my favourite part. So many times have I read a book or seen a film where you really want the hero to let the villain know why he's about to lose and so many times its cut short. Not here though. In the penultimate chapter Harry and Voldemort have one of the longest uninterrupted two way conversations over the seven books. It's only five pages long but it's brilliantly crafted with Voldemort desperately clinging on to the hope that he's the better man (if you can call him that at all), that because he holds the Elder Wand he will beat Harry and that because he's the most powerful Wizard that ever lived little Harry Potter has no chance. But each time Harry beats him down and tears strips through his beliefs. Then Voldemort strikes and Harry's instinct is quick enough to let lose his response. Both beams meet again as they did in the Graveyard but this time Voldemort's strike backfires, throwing him across the room dead from his own rebounded spell.

I was really hoping that Harry would confront Voldemort about him being a Mudblood but he never did which I thought was something he would have been dying (lol) to inform the hundreds of onlookers of. But the conversation between the two is so well written it doesn't matter now.

The final chapter of the last book ends with a scene nineteen years later when Harry & Ginny are seeing their kids off at platform nine and three quarters. I'm glad it had some kind of closure and I can understand why it was done.

Overall Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows gets a 9/10 from me. I can't wait for the last two films to come out I really can't. If I'm still at the same work place at that time I might even get to see the employee's preview again (working at an IMAX Cinema has it's perks :)).