Battle of Hogwarts: Encyclopedia II - Battle of Hogwarts - Circumstances

Battle of Hogwarts - Circumstances

Further to his investigations into the personal history and motivations of the evil Lord Voldemort, Professor Albus Dumbledore invites Harry Potter to accompany him on a quest to retrieve one of Voldemort's Horcruxes.

Harry, who believes that Draco Malfoy is up to something in the Room of Requirement, briefs Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, and Ginny Weasley as well as giving them Felix Felicis, his luck potion. A summoning of the disbanded Dumbledore's Army is answered by Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood, and the five set up watch on Malfoy, and on Severus Snape, who is known to be a double agent, although Harry has long had reason to question where Snape's real loyalties lie.

Dumbledore, accompanied by Harry, leaves the school to begin the mission. Hogwarts is left in the hands of the senior staff, but Dumbledore has given no explicit instruction to monitor Malfoy or to expect any unusual activity. He has previously appeared to refuse to give credence to Harry's warnings about Malfoy's suspicious behaviour. Ultimately, it emerges that Harry is correct, however: Malfoy had joined Voldemort the previous summer, only to find himself increasingly afraid and under pressure from the Dark Lord to carry out the assassination of the powerful Dumbledore. After several amateurish attempts on Dumbledore's life, he has managed to repair a Vanishing Cabinet in the Room of Requirement, allowing an invasive force to bypass the anti-Apparition and entrance-guarding protections.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Circumstances", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki