SPOILERS BELOW!

I’ve jotted down a few notes from chapters 14-25, which I’ll refer to as I prepare subsequent posts. "First Third" was posted last week, and "Last Third" and posts on Christian themes will follow. Read my first impressions of the book.

The first part of this series, "First Third," ended with a shout-out to Nazi Germany. Harry, Ron, and Hermione learned that the Ministry of Magic was persecuting Muggle-borns and accusing them of stealing magic from “legitimate” witches and wizards. In Chapter Thirteen, the trio went into the Ministry undercover and retrieved Slytherin’s locket, one of Voldemort’s Horcruxes, from power hungry "Nazi" Dolores Umbridge.

Chapters 14-19: On the Run

The second third part of the book begins at Chapter Fourteen with the enigmatic title, “The Thief.”

This chapter marks the beginning of the trio’s on-the-run forest camp-out in a magic tent (same one used at the World Quidditch Cup in Goblet of Fire), aided by Hermione’s enchanted beaded handbag, which holds the tent, clothing, supplies, and various objects of importance. The small handbag, which is small enough for Hermione to stuff in her sock, is a clever and convenient invention. Bravo, JKR.

For reasons that can only be explained as a plot device to set up the drawn-out bickering between Harry, Ron, and Hermione, they decide to take turns wearing the Horcrux locket around their necks, presumably to keep in safe. Why doesn’t Harry just carry it in his magical pouch ( seen around Harry's neck on the US cover), which no one but the owner can get into? That’s rhetorical.

Harry dreams that Voldemort has found Gregorovitch, a Bulgarian wandmaker. Harry enters Voldemort’s thoughts as he performs Legillimancy on Gregorivitch and sees a laughing blond man stealing something from the wandmaker. Later in the book, the stolen object and the thief are revealed.

Tension mounts between the trio over the next two chapters, culminating in a falling out between Harry and Ron, with Hermione caught in the middle. The irritable moods, caused by too little food and no plan to find the Horcruxes, are exacerbated by the locket's dark residue, so to speak. At one point, they overhear voices outside the tent. Two goblins, schoolmate Dean Thomas, Ted Tonks, and another wizard are on the run from Death Eaters. They set up camp near the trio’s tent (with food!), which they can’t see because it’s protected by Hermione's spells.

A fake Sword of Gryffindor, they overhear, is locked away at Gringott’s bank in Bellatrix's vault, but the Death Eaters don't know it's fake. Snape (who knew it was fake) sent it to Gringott's for safekeeping after Hogwart's Ginny Weasley and others tried to steal it for Harry after Scrimgeour refuses to give it to him, although Dumbledore left it to Harry.

Back in Chapter Twelve, Hermione took Phineas Nigellus's portrait from Grimmauld Place so he couldn't go to his portait in Snape's office and rat out the trio. After overhearing the bit about the attempted theft, Hermione removes the portrait from her pouch to find out if Phineas witnessed the attempted theft. He did.

Dumbledore's Skeletons

Finally, Harry ventures to Godric's Hollow where his parents are buried, a long-awaited moment for fans. We’ve often wondered why Harry hasn't been more curious about his parent’s hometown and why he’d never visited before.

[Side note — Deathly Hallows should end all doubt whether JRK uses Christians themes and symbolism in the series. In Book 7, we learn that some wizards attend church (my assumption, since wizards are buried in the churchyard), and on Harry’s parents’ headstone is the Bible verse, “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death” (1 Corinthians 15:26). The headstone of late headmaster Albus Dumbledore’s mother and sister reads, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (Matthew 6:21). And most importantly, Harry dies (sort of) and is resurrected (sort of). I'll elaborate in the "Christian themes post.]

After visiting the graves, Harry and Hermione are wordlessly beckoned by an elderly woman they believe is Bathilda Bagshot, author of well-known, A History of Magic, and main source for Rita Skeeter’s tell-all book about Dumbledore. But they’re wearing the Invisibility Cloak. How can she see them? “Bathilda” turns out to be Bathilda’s corpse with Volemort Nagini’s snake inside her (horrid visual). In the ensuing battle to escape the house, Hermione accidentally breaks Harry’s beloved wand.

Back in the tent, Hermione shows Harry Rita’s book, The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore, which she found at Bathilda’s house. Harry learns that Dumbledore had been friends with dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald (though for a brief period of time), whom Dumbledore fought and defeated many years later, and flirted with the idea of ruling over Muggles “for the greater good.” Hey, we all have a past, right? In the book, Rita insinuates that Dumbledore turned his back on his mentally ill younger sister Ariana. Harry also discovers that Grindelwald is the laughing blond thief (blond…Nazi-like - Get it?) who stole something from Gregorovitch — the Elder Wand.

In another shout-out to the Nazi’s, JRK introduces us to Nurmengard, a prison Grindelwald built to hold his opponents, the same prison he’s eventually sentenced to after his defeat. Nuremberg, a city in Bavaria, was Adolf Hitler’s city of choice to hold Nazi rallies and pass laws against the Jews. Ironically, trials against Nazi war criminals were held in the same city. These prosecutions were known as the Nuremberg trials.

Silver Doe and Weird Blue Lights

In Chapter Nineteen, we catch our second glimpse of Severus Snape, though we don’t know it yet (but I’ll reveal it here.) Venturing deeper into the forest alone, Harry follows what appears to be a silver doe Patronus, which turns out to be Snape's. The former Potions Master is helping Harry on Dumbledore’s orders.

The doe leads Harry to a frozen pond, where he spots the real Sword of Gryffindor at the bottom. Jumping in to retrieve it, Harry begins to drown as the Horcrux locket chokes him. Ron rescues him just in time.

Remember the Deluminator, which Dumbledore willed to Ron, and the weird blue lights I mentioned in the previous post? While separated from Harry and Hermione, Ron hears Hermione’s voice emanating from it. A "pulsating…bluish" light appears outside the window (of Bill’s house, where he was staying), like the light of a Portkey. Ron grabs his stuff and follows the light behind the shed, and the light enters him, transporting him back to the forest. Because of the tent’s protective spells, Ron can't see it. He clicks the Deluminator again, and the blue light comes out, enters him, and transports him to Harry’s and Hermione’s next location. That’s when the doe Patronus leads Harry to the pond, and Ron finds him.

Ron ends up destroying the locket Horcrux with the sword. Before he does, the cursed locket feeds on his worst fears: playing second fiddle to the famous Harry Potter in love and war.

Chapters 20-25: Deathly Hallows

Over the next three chapters, the trio learns more about the legend presented in “The Tale of the Three Brothers” in Hermione’s book. Spotting the triangular symbol in the book, Harry remembers that the same symbol was on Xenophilius Lovegood’s cloak at Bill’s and Fleur’s wedding, which Viktor Krum said was Grindelwald’s mark. They decide to go to Xeno's house for a little chat, and we (and they) finally learn the details of the Deathly Hallows. The Elder Wand, the most powerful wand in the world; the Resurrection Stone, which brings people back from the dead; and the Cloak of Invisibility, which shields the wearer from death.

Harry deduces that Voldemort is trying to find the Elder Wand and guesses that the Resurrection Stone lay within the Golden Snitch Dumbledore left him in his will. Harry now possesses two of the Deathly Hallows: the Cloak of Invisibility and the Resurrection Stone.

As Harry becomes more obsessed with the Deathly Hallows, we’re treated to an inspirational aside called Potterwatch, an underground radio program hosted by former classmate and Quidditch match announcer Lee Jordan, going by the name “River” (River Jordan - Get it?). The trio recognize the voices of Fred and George Weasley, Remus Lupin, and Kingsley Shaklebolt, all using code names. Remus’s code name is Romulus. (According to myth, twins Remus and Romulus founded Rome - Get it?)

To Draco Malfoy's House They Go

By the way, Ron tells the other two that Voldmort’s name has been jinxed. Using his name breaks protection charms, and the Death Eaters are able to find whoever uses it. As bad luck would have it, Harry forgets and utters the name before Ron can stop him. Within seconds, the Death Eaters have Apparated just outside their tent, the protective charms around it broken.

Always quicker than the others, Hermione casts a painful stinging spell on Harry, obscuring his true features so the Death Eaters won’t recognize him. But they recognize Hermione from a newspaper clipping and figure out the disguised person must be Harry. The trio are transported to Malfoy Manor, Voldemort’s current headquarters (though he’s in Bulgaria looking for the Elder Wand).

We see a tiny bit of Draco’s remorse in this chapter. Asked if he recognizes the three, he refuses to positively identify them, though we know he knows who they are. Bellatrix spots the Sword of Gryffindor and stops Lucius from summoning Voldemort. She knows the power of the sword and how dangerous it is for Voldemort (and for them). To determine whether the sword is real, Bellatrix imprisons the others and tortures Hermione.

[Commenter and blogger Sora adds: "Minor detail correction — Bellatrix was not concerned about the sword's danger to Voldemort. She believed that the only way the trio could have the sword is that they had already broken into her Gringott's vault (she did not know the sword in her vault was a fake). If her Gringott's vault was not secure, then neither was the horcrux Voldemort had entrusted to her for hiding there. And Bellatrix was terrified of what Voldemort would do if he discovered that Harry had had access to the contents of the vault. (With good reason, as we see later in the book.) " This is true; I remember reading that but neglected to mention the connection here. ]

In the dungeon prison, Harry and Ron discover Luna Lovegood, Dean Thomas, and wandmaker Ollivander, who's been missing since Book 6. This is where we see one of many coincidences in the book. Just when things are getting even hairier for the young wizards, Dobby the free house-elf Apparates into the dungeon, having been sent by Aberforth Dumbledore (who's kept tabs on Harry with the other half of Sirius Black's enchanted mirror), and rescues everyone. Peter “the rat” Pettigrew pays his life-debt to Harry by releasing his hold on Harry’s throat, and his silver hand, apparently enchanted by Voldemort to ensure his loyalty, strangles Pettigrew.

Dobby, stabbed by Bellatrix, dies saving his beloved Harry Potter. In the final two chapters of this section, the trio hide out at Bill’s and Fleur’s cottage by the sea. Harry works off grief and tension by digging a hole for Dobby’s grave without using magic. Harry learns more about the Elder Wand from Ollivander and has a vision of Voldemort breaking into Dumbledore’s tomb to retrieve it. Harry's Hallows v. Horcruxes dilemma is solved: he must find and destroy the remaining Horcruxes and forget about possessing all three Hallows…for the time being.

Harry asks for goblin Griphook’s help breaking into Bellatrix’s vault at Gringott’s, where one of Voldemort’s Horcruxes (Hufflepuff’s cup) is hidden. The goblin agrees to help…in exchange for the Sword of Gryffindor.

The end of Chapter Twenty-Five foreshadows Remus's and Tonks's deaths. They've named Harry godfather to their newborn son, Teddy. Thinking about his crazy plan to break into a highly secured wizards bank, guarded by a dragon, Harry starts to think he’s “set on course to become just as reckless a godfather to Teddy Lupin as Sirius Black had been to him.”

Addendum: Corrections are noted and appreciated. This summary is based on one read-through and notes I took after reading the book.