1996

1996 is a notable year in the Harry Potter book series.

Events

January

• c. 6 January: Severus Snape tells Harry Potter and Sirius Black he will be giving Occlumency lessons to Harry after the Christmas holidays per Dumbledore's request.
• c. 7 January (Sunday): Harry, Hermione Granger and Ron, Fred, George and Ginny Weasley head back to Hogwarts on the Knight Bus escorted by Lupin and Tonks.
• c. 8 January (the next day): Harry's first Occlumency lesson takes place.
  • Harry successfully asks Cho Chang to go to Hogsmeade for a date on Valentine's Day.
  • Harry works out that the door he has been dreaming about is in the Department of Mysteries.
  • Ten Death Eaters escape Azkaban including Bellatrix Lestrange.
  • Broderick Bode is strangled to death by a Devil's Snare sent by Death Eaters to stop Bode telling everyone they put him under the Imperius Curse to steal a weapon for Voldemort.
• c. 9 January (Tuesday): News breaks of the Death Eaters escape Azkab and of Bode's death.
  • Harry, Ron and Hermione find out Rubeus Hagrid is being put on probation by Dolores Umbridge.
• c. 10 January: Educational Decree Number Twenty-six forbids teachers talking to students about anything unrelated to their subject.
• c. 11 - 31 January: The school finds out about Hagrid's probation.
  • Rumours start spreading that the ten Death Eaters that escaped Azkaban are in Hogsmeade or the Shrieking Shack. The public starts to believe Harry and Dumbledore are telling the truth of Voldemort's return after the government concocts a poor story about their escape.
  • Umbridge attends every Divination and Care of Magical Creatures lesson to continue evaluating the teachers on probation.
  • Dumbledore's Army are very determined to continue learning Defence Against the Dark Arts after the ten Death Eaters escaped. Neville Longbottom has improved immensely. Harry teaches them the Shield Charm.
  • Harry's scar rarely stops hurting and he continues to dream about a door he can't open.

February

• 14 February: The second Hogsmeade day of the year.
  • Angelina Johnson has the Gryffindir Quidditch team spend the day training on the Hogwarts Quidditch pitch.
  • Harry takes Cho Chang on a date but she talks about Cedric Diggory the whole time. Harry finds it frustrating and they argue.
  • Hermione arranges a secret interview for Harry in the Three Broomsticks Inn with Rita Skeeter to talk about what really happened in Little Hangleton.
• 16 February (the next Monday): Harry tells a few of his friends about the interview and they offer their support.
  • Gryffindor Quidditch practice is a failure.
• 21 February (the next Saturday): Hufflepuff defeats Gryffindor 240-230.
• 22 February (Sunday): The March edition of The Quibbler publishes Harry and Rita's interview.
• 23 February: Harry gets a copy of The Quibbler and lots of mail voicing support for him.
  • Professor Umbridge guves him detention and bans him from going to Hogsmeade. Other teachers reward Harry by giving him house points.
  • Educational Decree Number Twenty-seven bans students from owning a copy of The Quibbler.
• 24 February: Cho and Seamus Finnigan voice support for Harry.
  • Draco is angry because Harry named Lucius a Death Eater in the interview.
  • That night, Harry dreams of Voldemort and Augustus Rookwood talking about getting a weapon from a room. Rookwood claims Bode, who they had Imperiused, was the wrong Unspeakable to use because he couldn't have known how to get it. Voldemort sends for Avery to be punished for suggesting Bode.
• 25 February: Harry and Ron tell Hermione about Rookwood.

March

• c. 11 March (probably Monday): In Occlumency, Harry successfully fought it with a Shield Charm. Then he saw the door in the dream open for the first time.
  • Firenze is banished from the centaur herd in the Forbidden Forest when he accepts an offer of employment from Dumbledore.
  • Professor Umbridge sacks Professor Trelawney once the Ministry of Magic signs her Order of Dismissal. Dumbledore stops Umbridge forcing Trelawney to leave the school because she lives there. To her dismay, he introduces her to the new Divination teacher, Firenze, which shocks her.
• c. 13 March: Harry, Ron and a few other fifth years have their first Divination lesson with the new teacher who tells Harry to tell Hagrid that the thing he is attempting is not working and he should abandon it. However, he will not tell Harry what Hagrid's secret is.

March - April

• 14 March - early April: Harry tells Hagrid what Firenze said but Hagrid says he's wrong.
  • Umbridge continues to attend every one of Hagrid's Care of Magical Creatures to evaluate him.
  • O.W.L. exams approach and the fifth years begin to get stressed. Hannah Abbott needs a Calming Draught in Herbology.

April

• c. 23 April: Harry begins teaching Dumbledore's Army the Patronus Charm. Seamus Finnigan attends his first ever session. Cho and Hermione both produce a corporeal Patronus. Marietta Edgecombe betrays the D.A. to Umbridge who finally catches she Harry with help of the Inquisitorial Squad.
  • Cornelius Fudge sacks Dumbledore after he lies that he founded Dumbledore's Army. Fudge wants to send him to Azkaban but Dumbledore escapes.
  • Umbridge is appointed the new Head of Hogwarts but the Head of Hogwarts' office locks her out.
• c. 24 April: Educational Decree Number Twenty-eight is passed appointing Umbridge the official new Head. She gives the Inquisitorial Squad the power to take house points.
  • Fred and George push Montague into a Vanishing Cabinet after deciding they will leave school early and create mayhem in the process.
  • Fred and George wreck havoc on Umbridge way into the night by letting flying piglets out on the school grounds.
  • Harry dreams about the door again but he wakes up when he was finally about to open it.
• c. 25 April: Marietta Edgecombe has not left the hospital because the word "SNEAK" has been carved onto her face for betraying the D.A. and couldn't be erased.
  • Montague is found after being thrown into the Vanishing Cabient the day before by Fred andGeorge.
  • Harry views Snape's Pensieve during his Occlumency lesson and finds a memory of James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew bullying him. Lily Evans defends him but he calls her a "mudblood". Snape is very angry at Harry. Occlumency is indefinitely cancelled.
• c. 26 April (Friday): First day of the Easter holidays. Harry tells Ron and Hermione what happened in Occlumency. Harry has a poor opinion of James because of what he saw in the Pensieve.
• c. 28 April (the next Sunday): Jack Sloper is knocked out by a Beater bat in Quidditch practice.
  • Umbridge starts inspecting every package being sent to the students at Hogwarts.
  • Irma Pince throws Harry and Ginny out of the library for eating chocolate.

May

• Final day of the Easter holidays: Near the end of the Easter holidays, the fifth years get a date and time for their careers advice appointment with their Head of House.
• Saturday: The fifth years begin spending the final two days of the Easter holidays looking at wizarding careers.
• c. 10 May (Sunday): Harry, Ron and Hermione debate potential careers.
  • Fred and George tell Harry they will help him speak to Sirius in Umbridge's office when they create a diversion the next day.
• c. 11 May: Harry spots Hagrid going into the Forbidden Forest.
  • Professor Umbridge attends Harry's careers advice with Professor McGonagall, who argues with her when she scoffs at the thought of Harry being an Auror.
  • Fred and George create a swamp in a corridor so Harry could speak to Sirius and Remus Lupin.
  • Umbridge gets permission to whip Fred and George but they had decide to leave the school and they fly off on broomsticks.
• c. 12 - 18 May: The other students talk about Fred and George's legendary escape but the story gets elaborated. They copy Fred and George by continuing to cause trouble. Lee Jordan puts a Niffler in Umbridge's office which she blames on Hagrid.
  • Warrington and Pansy Parkinson of the Inquisitorial Squad get jinxed for helping Umbridge.
  • Umbridge has no idea how to get rid of the swamp.
• c. 18 May (Tuesday): Harry has another dream about the door. He opens the door and is now in the room. He goes to Row 97 and realises he is very close to finding the weapon Voldemort is after.
  • Montague's parents arrive after he was hurt getting shoved in to a Vanishing Cabient by Fred and George. They are very upset.
  • Harry, Ron and Hermione attend a Charms lesson.
• c. 22 May (Saturday): Slytherin narrowly defeats Hufflepuff in their Quidditch game.
• c. 30 May (Sunday): Gryffindor defeats Ravenclaw in the final Quidditch game of the year. Ron's confidence has improved and he saves lots of goals. Gryffindor wins the Quidditch Cup.
  • Harry and Hermione are introduced to Hagrid's brother, Grawp who he is keeping in the Forbidden Forest.
  • Ginny and Michael Corner break up because he was very upset about Ravenclaw getting defeated. He starts dating Cho Chang.
• 31 May: Harry and Hermione tell Ron about Grawp and that they promise Hagrid they will teach Grawp how to speak English.

June

• c. 1 - 3 June: Fifth years prepare for their O.W.L. exams starting next Monday.
  • Teachers no longer give out homework.
  • Ernie Macmillan spends around eight hours every day researching his notes.
  • Eddie Carmichael starts selling Baruffio's Brain Elixir which he claims helped him get through O.W.L.s.
  • Harold Dingle is selling powdered Dragon claw which Hermione confiscates. Harry, Ron and Hermione get their exam timetable in Transfiguration.

• c. 4 June (Thursday): In fifth-year Herbology, Ernie Macmillan asks Harry and Ron how many hours they spend researching their notes.
• c. 5 June (Friday): Draco Malfoy boasts in Potions that he knows Griselda Marchbanks, the O.W.L. examiner but Neville tells them he thought Draco was lying because he does know her.
• c. 7 June (Sunday): Harry tests Hermione on Charms at lunch. Ron goes through two years worth of notes. Then at dinner, the O.W.L. examiners arrive.
• c. 8 June: O.W.L. exams start. They have a Charms theory and then a practical exam.
• c. 9 June: Harry forgets the definition of a Switching Spell in the Transfiguration theory exam, but he is successful at producing the Vanishing Spell that afternoon.
  • Hannah Abbott multiplies a ferret into a flock of flamingos by accident and the exam has to be postponed for ten minutes.

• c. 10 June: The Herbology O.W.L. exam takes place.
• c. 11 June (Thursday): The Defence Against the Dark Arts O.W.L. exam is a very successful for students who are in Dumbledore's Army. Harry gains an extra point for showing the examiner the Patronus Charm which is very advanced for a fifth-year.
• c. 12 June (Friday): Hermione takes the Study of Anicent Runes exam.
  • Harry and Ron have the day off and spend it taking a break.
  • Another Niffler is put in Umbridge's office.

• c. 13 - 14 June (Saturday - Sunday): Harry and Ron prepare for their Potions exam on Monday.
  • Hermione is angry about the Niffler because she is worried Hagrid is going to kept getting the blame for it.

• c. 15 June: The Potions exam is taken.

• c. 16 June: The Care of Magical Creatures exam takes place on the lawn at the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

• c. 17 June: The Astronomy, Arithmancy and Divination exams are taken.
• c. 18 June (Thursday): Just after midnight during the evening Astronomy exam, Umbridge and six Aurors arrest Hagrid. Professor McGonagall defends him and is Stunned. Hagrid runs off and escapes.
  • The fifth-year History of Magic O.W.L. exam is taken. Harry starts dreaming that Voldemort has taken Sirius into the Ministry of Magic.
  • Harry decides to go and save Sirius, ignoring Hermione's warning that it might have been a trick implanted in his mind by Voldemort. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Luna and Neville decide to go with him.
  • Umbridge catches them contacting Kreacher in her office. Harry finds a way to tell Snape about "Padfoot".
  • Hermione lies about Dumbledore having a secret weapon and tricks Umbridge into going into the Forbidden Forest, introducing her to Grawp. Umbridge insults the centaurs and they drag her off.
  • Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Luna and Neville head to the Ministry of Magic. They find the weapon, a prophecy. Death Eaters show up and demand it they give it to them.
  • The Battle of the Department of Mysteries is fought and the weapon is destroyed. The Order of the Phoenix help.
  • Bellatrix Lestrange kills Sirius Black.
  • Harry hunts Bellatrix and faces Voldemort. Dumbledore and Voldemort fight in a duel and Voldemort takes possession of Harry.
  • Cornelius Fudge and others in the Ministry of Magic arrive and realise Voldemort is there. Fudge has to accept that he is really back.
  • Umbridge is sacked.
  • Hagrid is given permission to resume teaching and Dumbledore is reinstated the Head of Hogwarts.
  • The Death Eaters caught in the Ministry are sent to Azkaban except for Bellatrix who escapes.

• 19 June (Friday): Dumbledore and Harry speak for the first time in ages and Dumbledore advises Harry.
  • Fudge gives an official statement and confirmes that Voldemort is back. He also reveals that the Dementors have joined the Death Eaters.
  • The Second Wizarding War officially begins.
• 19 - 21 June: Filius Flitwick gets rid of the swamp that Fred and George created before they left, but keep part of it in honour of their rebellion against Umbridge.
• 21 June (Sunday): Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Luna and Neville read Fudge's official statement in the Hospital Wing.
  • Draco and Harry taunt each other over Lucius who is now in Azkaban.
  • Harry spoke to Hagrid, who was back at the school.

• 3 days before the end of term: Ron and Hermione leave the Hospital Wing.
• 1 day before the end of term: Umbridge is chased out of Hogwarts when she leaves the Hospital Wing at dinnertime.
  • Harry finds the two-way mirror that Sirius gave him earlier in the year.
  • Harry speaks to Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington and asks whether Sirius could be a ghost. Nick does not think so because he had to be afraid of dying, which Sirius was not.
  • Luna searches for her possessions that went missing throughout the school year.
• Final day of term: Draco, Crabbe and Goyle try to attack Harry on the way home but members of the D.A. intervened and jinx them.
  • The Order of the Phoenix confront and tell the Dursley family to treat Harry better or they will intervene.

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