1995

1995 is a notable year in the Harry Potter book series.

Events

January

• c. 8-9 January:
  • Rita Skeeter publishes an article about Rubeus Hagrid revealing he is a half-giant and an incompetent teacher. Hagrid goes into hiding.
  • Professor Grubbly-Plank takes over teaching Care of Magical Creatures.
  • Hermione Granger, Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley try to work out how Rita knew Hagrid is a half-giant. They go to Hagrid's Hut but he will not open the door.
• 9 - 15 January: Hagrid does not make an appearance.
• 15 or 16 January: Third-years and above have permission to go to Hogsmeade.
  • Harry speaks to Ludo Bagman about Bertha Jorkins and finds out that Barty Crouch Snr. has been off work for two weeks.
  • Harry and Hermione have an argument with Rita Skeeter. They go to Hagrid's to demand he speak to them. He opens the door to find Professor Dumbledore trying to persuade Hagrid to go back to work. Harry, Ron and Hermione pledge their support for Hagrid.
• 20 or 21 January (Thursday): Harry unlocks the golden egg he won in the first task of the Triwizard Tournament.
  • Harry notices the name Barty Crouch Jnr. on the Marauder's Map and bumps into "Professor Moody" who asks to borrow the Map.
• 21 or 22 January: Harry tells Ron and Hermione that he has worked out what the next task will be.
  • Fourth-years learn the Banishing Charm in Charms.
  • Harry sends a letter to Sirius Black to tell him everything he's found out about Barty Crouch and the second task. Harry starts focusing on how to win the second task.

February

• 14 February: Cedric takes Cho Chang on a date to Hogsmeade.
• 17 February: Harry still hasn't figured out a way to win the second task. He presumes he will have time to think of one.
• 19 February: Harry still hasn't figured out a way to breathe underwater for the second task but isn't in a hurry to figure it out.
• 21 February: Harry begins to get very worried about the second task.
• 22 February (Monday): Harry starts to go off his food. Sirius sends a letter back to Harry to find out when the next Hogsmeade weekend is. Harry sends one back.
  • The fourth-years have a Care of Magical Creatures lesson about unicorns and Hagrid pledges support for Harry in the next task.
• 23 February (Tuesday): Harry, Ron and Hermione spend the day thinking of a solution for Harry to breathe underwater in the second task but can't find one.
  • Ron and Hermione get taken to Professor McGonagall because she needs them in the second task. Harry stays up way into the night researching with the books for a way to breathe underwater.
• 24 February (Wednesday): Harry is woken up by Dobby who gives him Gillyweed for the second task.
  • The second task takes place. Harry saves both Ron and Gabrielle Delacour. The judges award points to each champion which puts Harry and Cedric Diggory in joint first place, Viktor Krum in second place and Fleur Delacour in third place.

February - March

• 25 February - 4 March: Everyone wants to know what happened in the second task. Ron loves the attention and starts over-exaggerating and telling fake stories to look good. Hermione gets teased for being the one Viktor had to save.

March

• 5 March (Friday): Sirius sends Harry a letter saying he will be at Dervish and Banges on Saturday.
  • Rita Skeeter publishes a fabricated article about Hermione saying she has broken Harry's heart by leaving him for Viktor. Skeeter even claims Hermione gave both of them a Love Potion to get them fall in love with her.
• 6 March (Saturday): Harry speaks to Sirius and finds out vital information about Barty Crouch Snr., who has not been seen since November. They speak of Barty's bad health, the Crouch family, Bertha Jorkins and the First Wizarding War. Sirius advises Harry on what to do next.
• 7 March (Sunday): Harry, Ron and Hermione send a letter to Percy Weasley to ask him about Barty Crouch Snr. Winky says that Barty Crouch Snr. has a secret but she will not tell Harry what it is.
• 8 March: Hermione is sent hate mail by Rita Skeeter's readers who believe her fabricated Witch Weekly article about her love life. She has to spend the day in the Hospital Wing when one poisons her.
• c. 9 - 15 March: Hermione continues to get hate mail, including Howlers.
• c. 16 March: Hermione wants to know how Rita keeps finding out key pieces of information like Viktor's summer invitation to Hermione. She asks "Professor Moody" at the end of Defence Against the Dark Arts whether Rita has an Invisibility Cloak and when she found out that she doesn't, she considers other ways.

April

• mid to late-April: Percy sends a letter back to Harry, Ron and Hermione. He says Crouch Snr. still sends him notes and he is only taking a break.

May

• 27 May: Ludo Bagman shows the champions the maze for the third task.
  • Barty Crouch Snr. escapes imprisonment by Barty Crouch Jnr., Peter Pettigrew and Voldemort and heads to Hogwarts. He is deluded when he is found by Harry and Viktor Krum. He asks to speak to Dumbledore so Harry goes to get him. Crouch Jnr. stuns Viktor and kills Crouch Snr. whose body is transfigured into a bone. Dumbledore organises a search for the missing Crouch Snr. while he is buried.
• 28 May: Harry, Ron and Hermione talk about Barty Crouch Snr. and the things he said. They send a letter explaining what happened to Sirius.
• They find Fred and George acting strange in the Owlery and talking about blackmail.
  • They ask "Professor Moody" whether he has found Crouch Snr. but he says no. He then advises Harry to focus on the third task.
• 29 May: Sirius sends a letter back asking Harry to focus on the third task because whoever put Harry's name in the tournament wants to kill him, and the task will be their final chance.

May - June

• c. 30 May - 4 June: Harry tries to learn new spells for the third task, focusing on the Stunning Spell.

June

• c. 1 June - c. 4 June (on a Monday): Harry tries the Stunning Spell on Hermione and Ron.
  • During Divination, Harry's mind connected to Voldemort's again. He listens to him speaking to Peter Pettigrew about a plan to kill Harry. Voldemort punishes Peter for nearly ruining the plan by letting Barty Crouch Snr. escape.
  • Cornelius Fudge speaks to Dumbledore and refuses the idea that Bertha was killed and that her disappearance is linked to Barty Crouch Snr.'s.
  • Harry speaks to Fudge about the day Crouch Snr. went missing. Fudge and Dumbledore leave.
  • Harry looks into the Pensieve. He watches Death Eater trials led by Crouch Snr. for Karkaoff, Bagman and Crouch Jnr.
  • Harry and Dumbledore propose Harry's "dream" of Voldemort might not have been a dream. Dumbledore wishes him luck in the next task.
  • Harry tells Ron and Hermione everything he heard Fudge and Dumbledore say and what he learned in the Pensieve, except for what he found out about the Longbottom family.
• c. 5 June - 23 June: Professor McGonagall gives Harry permission to use the Transfiguration classroom to learn charms and curses for the third task. He learns the Impediment Jinx, the Reductor Curse and the Four-Point Spell. They start to focus on the Shield Charm.
  • Sirius sends an owl every day advising Harry to focus on getting through the third task safely under Dumbledore's protection.
• 24 June: Rita Skeeter publishes an article portraying Harry to be insane and dangerous. Hermione keeps trying to work out how Rita knows things she shouldn't.
  • The fourth-years have a History of Magic exam except for Harry, who is taken to a chamber with the other champions. Molly Weasley and Bill Weasley spend the day with Harry. The school has a feast.
  • The third task takes places. Crouch Jnr. subdues Viktor and Fleur. Harry saves Cedric and they decide to share victory. The Cup transports them to Little Hangleton graveyard.
  • Voldemort and Peter Pettigrew kill Cedric and take Harry captive. Peter carries out a ritual to give Voldemort a body again and then Voldemort and Harry duel. Because they have twin wands, the duel created Priori Incantem which gives Harry the chance to get back to Hogwarts.
  • Harry informs important wizarding authority and Dumbledore of what happened. Dumbledore calls for the second formation of Order of the Phoenix. "Professor Moody" is proven to be Barty Crouch Jnr. who tells them about the plan he carried out for Voldemort. He is given the Dementor's Kiss on the orders of Fudge before he could hear the story.
  • Fudge will not accept Voldemort is back.
  • The Second Wizarding War unofficially begins.
  • Ludo Bagman runs away after he lost a bet against goblins that Harry would win the tournament outright.
• 25 June: Harry speaks to the Diggory family about what happened. Dumbledore talks to Hogwarts students and asks them not to bother Harry.
• 25 - 29 June: Mrs Weasley asks Dumbledore if Harry can stay at the The Burrow for the summer but he says Harry has to go to the Dursley family first.
  • Thursday: Harry, Ron and Hermione speak to Hagrid.
• 30 June: The final day of the school year. At the Leaving Feast, Dumbledore gives a speech for Cedric in which he tells everyone Voldemort is back.
  • The students head home for the summer. Hermione tells Harry and Ron that she has figured out how Rita Skeeter has been spying on them - she is a secret Animagus. She has trapped her in a jar to stop her fabricating stories.
  • Harry hexes Draco. He gives the winnings from the tournament to Fred and George to open a joke shop.

Summer

• Hagrid and Maxime are sent by Dumbledore to persuade the giants not to take Voldemort's side. They get the support of Karkus but the Death Eaters cause a fight between Karkus and a rival. Karkus is killed. Hagrid and Maxime run away but get separated on the way home.
  • Hagrid finds out out he had a half-brother, Grawp and takes him away from the giants to help him.

July

• Early July: Cornelius Fudge keeps denying that Voldemort is back. Percy takes Fudge's side and accepts the offer of Junior Assistant.
  • Percy Weasley and Arthur Weasley argue about Fudge. He cuts off communication with everyone in the Weasley family.
  • Sirius is taken to 12 Grimmauld Place, the new headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. He stays in hiding from Voldemort and the Ministry of Magic.
  • Dumbledore is voted out of the International Confederation of Wizards by Ministry wizards for telling everyone at Hogwarts about Voldemort without their permission.
• Late July: Dumbledore is asked to step down from the Wizengamot due to Fudge's campaign against him to discredit him.
• 31 July: Dudley Dursley beats up Mark Evans.

August

• 2 August: Harry and Dudley are attacked by two Dementors sent by Dolores Umbridge, unknown to the Ministry of Magic. Harry fights them off by using the Patronus Charm.
  • Mundungus Fletcher, who has been sent to keep an eye on Harry, abandons his post briefly to buy stolen cauldrons. Harry finds out that Arabella Figg knows Dumbledore.
  • Harry is sent a letter from the Improper Use of Magic Office for using underage magic, informing him he had been expelled and they will destroy his wand.
  • Dumbledore goes to the Ministry of Magic to try and sort it out. Arthur sends Harry a note telling him to stay at the Dursley house, not to use magic and not to give the Ministry his wand to destroy.
  • Harry receives another letter explaining he is not expelled and he will keep his wand until after a trial on 12 August.
  • Harry and the Dursleys talk about the wizarding world properly for the first time in Harry's life.
  • Sirius sends a letter telling Harry to stay at the Dursley house. Vernon tells Harry to go but Dumbledore sends Petunia a Howler warning her that he has to stay. Harry sends two letters to Ron and Hermione telling them what happened.
• 3 - 5 August: Hedwig does not bring any letters back. Harry is not permitted to leave the bedroom and spends three days locked in it.
• 6 August: Vernon and Petunia take Dudley out for the evening. Harry is collected from Privet Drive by the Advance Guard who are part of the Order of the Phoenix. They take him to 12 Grimmauld Place. The Order of the Phoenix has a meeting and the Order tells Harry what they think he needs to know.
• 7 August: Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fred, George and Ginny start helping Mrs Weasley rid the house of doxies. Harry finds out vital things about the Black family.
• 8 - 10 August: Harry, Ron and Hermione continues to help clean the house. Lupin goes away on Order business. They mend a grandfather clock. The Order stops by the house many times every day.
• 10 August: Dumbledore stops by at night to give orders on Harry's hearing to Arthur.
• 11 August: Mrs Weasley irons Harry's clothes and tells him the plan for the next day.
• 12 August: Harry's hearing for under-age magic is held at 8am. Fudge refuses to accept the story that Dementors were in Little Whinging even after Dumbledore and Mrs Figg havr their say, but the judges rule in Harry's favour and he is exempt from every charge.
  • Dumbledore leaves without speaking to Harry. Arthur catches Fudge speaking to Lucius Malfoy.
  • Lucius puts Sturgis Podmore under the Imperius Curse to get a weapon for Voldemort in the Department of Mysteries.
• 13 - 30 August: Sirius starts to get very depressed and spends time away from the main group. The Order continues to go to and from the house every day. Harry finds out nothing new about Order business.
• 31 August: Letters from school arrive later in the summer than normal. Ron and Hermione find out that they have been made Prefects.
  • Educational Decree Number Twenty-two is passed by the Ministry which gives them the power to appoint their own teacher for Defence Against the Dark Arts if Dumbledore is unable to find one. He is not successful and the Ministry appoints Professor Umbridge the new Defence teacher.
  • Harry's scar hurts because Voldemort is angry. Sturgis Podmore has failed to get the weapon he needed from the Department of Mysteries after he is caught and sentenced to 6 months in Azkaban.

September

• 1 September: Hogwarts students go back to school. Harry is introduced to Luna Lovegood.
  • Harry and Seamus Finnigan have an argument when he tells Harry and Dumbledore he is lying about what happened at Little Hangleton.
  • The appointment of Professor Umbridge for the Defence Against the Dark Arts teaching post is announced.
• 2 September: Fred and George put out an ad for students to be employed at their new shop.
  • Angelina Johnson is made Quidditch Captain.
  • Harry finds out that at least half the school believes he is lying.
• Fifth year students begin studying for their Ordinary Wizarding Level exams.
  • Harry and Professor Umbridge have an argument about things that happened at Little Hangleton. The students are also unhappy to learn she will not teach them practical defence. He is given detention every evening for the next seven days and sent to Professor McGonagall's office, but she offers support instead of punishment and advises him not to upset Umbridge because she is too powerful.
  • Ron starts training to try-out for the Keeper position in the Gryffindor Quidditch team.
• 3 September: Harry starts to gain support off other students.
  • Quidditch try-outs for the Gryffindor team is scheduled for Friday but Harry has to try and get out of detention that day. At the first detention, Professor Umbridge refuses to let Harry skip detention on Friday.
  • Harry is tortured during the detention with a Blood quill, which goes on until after midnight,
• 4 September: Harry has a second detention.
• 5 September (Thursday): Harry's second detention doesn't stop until after midnight. He stays up doing Potions homework instead of sleeping.
  • The third detention starts to scar Harry's hand.
  • Harry finds out that Ron wants to try-out for Keeper. Ron and Hermione find out what happens in Harry's detentions.
• 6 September (Friday): Ron gets the role of Keeper on the Quidditch team. Harry's scar hurts in detention because Voldemort is happy.
• 7 September: Harry sends Sirius Black a letter in the Owlery. Filch suspiciously demands to look at it but it is too late to get it back.
  • When the Gryffindor Quidditch team have their first practice, the team loses concentration because other students are watching.
  • Percy sends Ron a letter advising him to cut Harry off.
• 8 September: Harry, Ron and Hermione speak to Sirius. They find out Hagrid is supposed to be back by now, having been sent on a secret task, but he is searching for Maxime after they got separated on the way home.
  • The Ministry of Magic appoints Umbridge the "High Inqusitior" by passing Educational Decree Twenty-three, granting her the power to inspect the other staff and decide on a course of action. Lucius Malfoy and Percy Weasley speak out in support of it.
  • Griselda Marchbanks and Tiberius Odgen leave their posts in the Wizengamot in support of Dumbledore.
• 9 September: News of Professor Umbridge's new appointment is broken. Umbridge evaluates Professor Flitwick and Professor Trelawney's lessons.
  • Harry and Umbridge have another argument in Defence Against the Dark Arts when Umbridge takes ten points from Hermione. He is given another seven days of detention.
• 10 September: Harry's first detention. He does not speak to Umbridge or make a sound the whole time.
  • Angelina Johnson shouts at Harry for skipping Quidditch practice.
  • Umbridge evaluates Professor McGonagall's lessons but she shuts Umbridge down. Then she evaluates Professor Grubbly-Plank's lesson. Harry stands up for Hagrid and Umbridge adds another day of detention.
  • Hermione proposes that Harry teach Defence Against the Dark Arts in secret because Umbridge is incompetent.
• 11 September: Harry's scar hurts and it wakes him up.
• 11 - 24 September: Harry has his latest detention with Umbridge. There are four Quidditch practices and Ron has improved. Harry, Ron and Hermione successfully vanish mice in Transfiguration.
  • 19 September: Trelawney and Flitwick are due to get the results of their inspection. Trelawney is put on probation.
  • 20 September: McGonagall and Grubbly-Plank are sent the results of their inspection.
  • 24 September: Hermione persuades Harry to go to Hogsmeade and speak to students who want him to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts.
• 25 September - 4 October: Harry, Ron and Hermione have not heard from Sirius since the beginning of September. Harry and Ron fall behind on their homework. They have Quidditch practice twice a week. Hermione continues knitting hats and socks to free house-elves.

October

• 5 October (Saturday): In the Hog's Head in Hogsmeade, Harry, Ron, Hermione establish Dumbledore's Army with over twenty students.
  • Mundungus Fletcher, who is on patrol in Hogsmeade, overhears and tells the Order of the Phoenix about Harry's plans. Umbridge's spy tells her and she writes to Fudge.
• 6 October (Sunday): Harry and Ron spends the day outside catching up on homework. Hermione spends the day knitting for house-elves.
• 7 October: Umbridge passes Educational Decree Twenty-four which bans every society, team, group and club at Hogwarts. If they want to get reinstated, they have to get permission.
  • Hedwig's wing is damaged when she is bringing a letter to Harry off Sirius. Harry finds her and takes her to Professor Wilhelmina Grubbly-Plank to get her treated.
  • Umbridge inspects Potions.
  • Angelina Johnson appeals to Umbridge to get permission to continue the Gryffindor Quidditch team but she is denied. Gryffindor Quidditch team practices have to be cancelled.
  • Fred and George Weasley experiment witqh a new product, the Snicking Snackbox.
• 8 October: Sirius speaks to Harry, Ron and Hermione just after midnight.
  • Mrs Weasley is on duty for the Order but demands Ron stay out of Dumbledore's Army and advises Harry and Hermione to do the same. However, Sirius approves of their plans and they consider locations to teach it in. He has to go when Umbridge is about to catch him there.
  • Harry, Ron and Hermione studies the Silencing Charm in Charms. Angelina Johnson goes to Professor McGonagall to appeal Umbridge's refusual to reinstate the Gryffindor Quidditch team. McGonagall goes to Dumbledore and Umbridge is forced to give her permission.
  • At their first Quidditch practice in ages, Harry's scar hurts because Voldemort is angry. Voldemort wants something done but the progress is too slow. Harry realises he is reading Voldemort's mind to a certain point.
• 9 October: Dobby gives Hedwig back to Harry and helps him find a location for Dumbledore's Army. Dobby tells him about the Room of Requirement.
  • Care of Magical Creatures has to be taken inside because of bad weather. Angelina cancels Quidditch practice.
  • Harry tells Dumbledore's Army that they will have a meeting that evening in the Room of Requirement.
  • Dumbledore's Army have their first meeting and Harry teaches them the Disarming Charm from 8pm to ten minutes after 9pm because it is past their curfew.
• 16 October: Dumbledore's Army has their next meeting.
• 10 - 23 October: The D.A. have their third meeting during which Colin Creevey learns the Impediment Jinx. Parvati Patil produces a good Reductor Curse and in the fourth meeting, Hermione Granger introduces gives a fake Galleon to every member, enchanted to tell them the next date and time of their meeting.
• 24 October - end of October: D.A. meetings are postponed when a few of the students need to practice for the next Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Slytherin. They practice near enough every day but Slytherins keep hexing the Gryffindor players.
  • Alicia Spinnet has the Hair-Thickening Charm put on her eyebrows by Miles Bletchley.
  • Ron has improved the standard of his performance in practices. However, Slytherins started taunting him which makes Ron lose confidence.

November

• Saturday (unknown date): Gryffindor defeats Slytherin in the first Quidditch game because Ron hears Slytherin's song about him and keeps letting goals in.
  • Harry and George fight Draco when he taunts them about their families.
  • Educational Decree Number Twenty-five is passed granting Umbridge the power to override other teachers, so she bans Harry, George and Fred from Quidditch.
  • Hagrid finally arrived back at the school but he was hurt. He tells Harry, Ron and Hermione everything which happens except for how he got hurt.
  • Umbridge arrives at Hagrid's Hut to speak to him and she tells him she will inspect his Care of Magical Creatures lesson.
• Sunday (the next day): Hermione tries persuading Hagrid not to teach anything too bold when Umbridge inspects him but he is determined to teach what he wants.
• Monday (the next day): Hagrid's appearance in the Great Hall for the first time that year makes many students happy.
• Tuesday (the next day): Hagrid teaches fifth-years about Thestrals. Umbridge inspects Hagrid's lesson, trying to fail him and manipulating everything he says.
• Ten days later: Hagrid finds out if he has passed Umbridge's inspection. He is put on probation.

December

• c. December: Broderick Bode is put under the Imperius Curse by Lucius Malfoy because Voldemort is informed by Avery that he can get the weapon he is after. Bode fails to get pass the defensive spells surrounding it and he is brain damaged.
  • Bode is taken to St. Mungo's Hospital but the Death Eaters concoct a plan to kill him before he is able to speak. They sent him a small Devil's Snare which slowly starts to grow.
• Early to mid-December: Ron and Hermione supervise the Christmas decorating with carry out other prefect duties.
• mid-December: At the final D.A. meeting before the holiday break, they practice spells they have studied up-to-date.
  • Angelina finds new players for her team after Harry, Fred and George were banned.
  • Harry and Cho Chang have their first kiss. Hermione writes a letter to Viktor Krum.
  • Harry has a dream in which Nagini attacks Arthur Weasley in the Department of Mysteries. He wakes up and tells Professor McGonagall.
  • McGonagall takes him to Dumbledore. Dumbledore sends help and Arthur is saved. He sends Harry, Ron and the other Weasley children to 12 Grimmauld Place via Portkey. Umbridge us angry when she finds out they were given permission to go home from school early.
  • Then at 5:10am, Mrs Weasley arrives to tell them that Arthur is okay. Harry tells Sirius he is worried about the dream because he was the snake.
  • In the afternoon, Harry and the Weasley family go to St. Mungo's Hospital to visit Arthur. Harry overhears Mad-Eye telling Mrs Weasley he believes Harry is getting possessed by Voldemort.
  • Harry starts to consider if Moody is right that he is possessed by Voldemort and whether he is the weapon Voldemort is looking for.
  • In the evening, he attempts to go back to Privet Drive out of fear Voldemort will find the Order through him, but a portrait of Phineas Nigellus Black persuades him to stay.
  • Harry dreams about a door and beyond that door is an unknown object that he wants but could not get to.
• The next day: Harry helps the Weasley family decorate 12 Grimmauld Place.
  • Term ends at Hogwarts. Hermione arrives at Grimmauld Place on the Knight Bus to spend the holidays there instead of going skiing with her parents.
  • Hermione and Ron persuade Harry that he is not possessed because it is impossible.
• mid-December - 24 December: Harry, Hermione and the Weasley family continue decorating the house.
• 25 December: Harry, Hermione and the Weasley family spend the day at St. Mungo's Hospital with Arthur.
  • Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny talk to Gilderoy Lockhart, and Neville and Augusta Longbottom. They are introduced to Neville's parents Frank and Alice Longbottom.

Notes and sources

Timeline
For a general timeline of the Harry Potter universe, click here. Please go to one of the pages below for the events that happen in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
1991 • 1992 • 1993 • 1994 • 1995 • 1996 • 1997 • 1998