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It was in this charged climate that in 1970 , Voldemort revealed himself openly, proclaiming himself the Dark Lord, and started to commit extreme acts of terrorism in Britain. With his army of dark wizards and dark creatures at his command, Voldemort launched an assault against the British Ministry of Magic with the intention of toppling it and creating a new world order run by pure-bloods, with Muggle-borns either killed en masse or kept in utter bondage, and Lord Voldemort himself as an immortal leader, though likely ruling from behind the scenes. To achieve these ends, the Death Eaters and their allies (including the particularly destructive Giants, who services Voldemort often used whenever he and his followers wished to go for the grand effect and were responsible for some of the worst atrocities against the non-magical) began openly carrying out attacks on Muggles for sport and to sow chaos.
Cleaning up these attacks, healing survivors, modifying memories, searching for the perpetrators, and attempting to prevent future attacks occupied more and more of the Ministry's time and attention. As their confidence grew, the Death Eaters began targeting Muggle-born and blood traitor witches and wizards as well, torturing and sometimes killing their victims, which shocked wizarding society. Other "inferior" magical beings such as house-elves (who were treated like vermin) and Goblins (a family of which was slaughtered by Voldemort personally) also suffered under their reign of terror, albeit for different reasons. To inspire yet more terror, the Death Eaters would cast the Dark Mark in the sky over every house or scene that they killed at. Though they did not openly join the Death Eaters, many pure-blood supremacists, whose fear of their way of life ending had already been blossoming with the election of a Muggle-born Minister for Magic, gave Voldemort's uprising and the Death Eaters ideals of a new world order centred around the purity of magical blood their full support. Among these supporters were Walburga and Orion Black , whose very marriage was an example of their family 's fanatical maintenance of their so-called 'pure-blood', which had left them being forced to marry second cousins. As the war progressed and Voldemort's true colours were shown, however, even wizards of the most active anti-Muggle sentiment were appalled by the actions being taken out on the non-magical community, which eventually came to a point that was regarded as going too far even by the standard of the Blacks, causing Walburga and Orion to 'get cold feet' and withdraw their support.
Many Death Eaters also managed to secretly gain strategic positions within the Ministry of Magic itself. They then used blackmail and the Imperius Curse to expand their influence and destabilise the government from within, which was desperately trying to keep order and continue to maintain secrecy from the Muggle world. Augustus Rookwood , an Unspeakable in the Department of Mysteries , managed to set up a particularly successful secret network of espionage within the Ministry, while Fenrir Greyback, who had allied with Voldemort due to the promise of victims, was used frequently by the Death Eaters to force the co-operation of many, threatening otherwise to unleash Greyback on the individuals' children if they did not comply. Minister Jenkins was ill-prepared to lead during wartime, and it seemed that the Ministry was incapable of gaining the upper hand. Voldemort himself personally killed hundreds of wizards, though he tended to only fight those he considered worthy of his attention or too powerful for his followers to defeat. In these encounters, he displayed his extraordinary abilities, many of which were thought impossible, and he very quickly earned the reputation of the most powerful and dangerous dark wizard of all time, surpassing even Gellert Grindelwald.

In response to the growing threat of Lord Voldemort and his minions, Albus Dumbledore formed the Order of the Phoenix in 1971; to take the fight directly to the Death Eaters. Though the Ministry officially viewed the Order as a renegade outfit, a number of powerful Ministry officials (such as Elphias Doge and Dedalus Diggle ; and the famous Aurors Alastor Moody and Frank and Alice Longbottom) joined instantly to participate in more secretive, sudden assaults to crush the dark rebellion.[13]
When Dumbledore helped black market trader Mundungus Fletcher out of trouble, he joined the Order and, due to his extensive knowledge of the criminal underworld, proved very useful. To allow members of the Order to covertly communicate with each other, Dumbledore invented a method of sending messages via the Patronus Charm .

Despite the Order's best efforts, Voldemort continued to grow in magical power and influence, and his attacks, whether carried out personally or by his Death Eaters, became more frequent and brutal. It was clear that Dumbledore was the only wizard in the world who rivalled Voldemort in ability and as a result, Hogwarts became something of a single island of safety in a sea of chaos, the fear of Dumbledore causing Voldemort to never dare attack the school. The nascent Order of the Phoenix initially had very little success, and many continued to be killed by Voldemort. Terror and chaos gripped the populace of wizarding Britain to the point that many began to fear to speak Voldemort's name. He became widely referred to as "He Who Must Not Be Named", or, less formally, "You Know Who" within the first year of his reign.
Numerous ordinary witches and wizards (such as Mr Thomas and Robert McGonagall Jnr ) lost their lives for refusing to join the Dark Lord or even accidental involvement in the crossfire, and the Death Eaters frequently cast the Dark Mark over the scenes of their murders. To protect the organisation, Voldemort ensured that Death Eaters did not know the identities of too many of their fellows, and, to society at large, their identities were completely unknown.[14] Increasing the confusion and paranoia even further, Voldemort placed many dozens of innocent victims under the Imperius Curse simultaneously and forced them to carry out his orders and several of his followers, including Mulciber , became specialists in this area. Even friends and family members were not above suspicion of one another.
In 1975 , Eugenia Jenkins was ousted as Minister Of Magic and replaced by Harold Minchum , a hardliner who placed more Dementors around Azkaban.[12] In addition, ruthless Council of Magical Law Head Judge Bartemius "Barty" Crouch Senior rose rapidly through the Ministry's ranks until he also became the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement . Minchum and Crouch then began to make serious headway, though the anonymous and elusive Death Eaters still retained the advantage.
In 1978 , Severus Snape graduated from Hogwarts and entered the ranks of the Death Eaters, joining his schoolmates Evan Rosier, Lucius Malfoy, Bellatrix Lestrange, Sewlyn, Jerome Jugson, Jugson, Regulus Black, Rodolphus Lestrange, Rabastan Lestrange, Thorfinn Rowle, Gibbon, Augustus Rookwood, Igor Karkaroff, Crabbe, Goyle, Travers, and Antonin Dolohov. Likely at Snape's urging, Voldemort attempted to recruit Lily Evans , whose prodigious talents made up for her status as a Muggle-born, along with her blood traitor boyfriend James Potter ; and James' childhood friends: Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew. Naturally, they all refused, defying Voldemort for the very first time, and James and Lily were soon married and joined the Order of the Phoenix along with their other friends. Around this time, James and Sirius, who had been disowned by the House of Black, were pursued by a trio of Death Eaters , though they easily managed to evade them and escape, despite attracting the attention of several Muggles who had to be Oblivated.

Voldemort then gravitated towards several of his younger recruits who were specially magically powerful and fanatically loyal. He took only Severus Snape and Bellatrix Lestrange under his personal wing, sharing with them his personal-secret knowledge of the Dark Arts; and inspiring in Bellatrix a delusional-psychotic attraction bordering on loving obsession, which Voldemort never returned. He also entrusted his diary Horcrux to Lucius Malfoy, with whom he schemed of using to secretly re-open the Chamber of Secrets, for he did not dare attack Hogwarts directly as long as Dumbledore was Headmaster. This did not come to fruition till many years later. Severus Snape, a fellow half-blood with whom he had much in common, quickly became his most valuable servant; even more so than his right-hand Bellatrix Lestrange, though Voldemort never told her that. Snape was also the only Death Eater, who Voldemort allowed to freely act, unless it was a mission of great importance.

In 1979 , Regulus Black , the younger brother Sirius Black, graduated from Hogwarts and joined the Death Eaters. He remained a pure-blood supremacist, but quickly became incredibly disenchanted with the cause's insane and brutal leader and despite his upbringing, the actions being taken out against Muggles left Regulus mortified. Around this time, Voldemort felt the need to test the defences around his Horcruxes. To make sure Slytherin's locket was secure, he requested the use of Regulus's house-elf Kreacher and then callously left him to die. When Kreacher managed survive and to return home, Regulus deduced that Voldemort had created a Horcrux and attempted to destroy it. This failed and resulted in his violent death at the hands of the Inferi, though he did manage to replace the locket with a fake and entrust the real Horcrux to Kreacher.[15]
Despite being in the midst of a war, life went on for those who had not yet become its victims. Under the leadership of Dumbledore, Hogwarts remained a bastion of elite-supreme magical education and was left totally untouched by the Death Eaters. It was suggested after the war that marriages and births increased significantly during these years, as the future was uncertain.[15] Late in July of 1980 , Order members James Potter and Lily Potter had a son, Harry Potter , while Frank Longbottom and Alice Longbottom had Neville Longbottom . At the same time, Death Eater Lucius Malfoy and Narcissa Black (who, unlike her husband and sister Bellatrix, simply assisted the Dark Lord, rather than became one of his followers) had Draco Malfoy, while Crabbe Snr and Goyle Snr also had sons with their respective wives; and Bellatrix Lestrange married Rodolphus Lestrange, though neither of them actually viewed their marriage as legit, only a means of avoiding ending up with anyone less than a pure-blood. Nott and his wife also bore a son named Theodore , though Mrs Nott eventually passed away from unspecified circumstances, leaving her husband a widow and son with the ability to see Thestrals .

In 1980, Minister Minchum was also removed from office due to his failure to end the war and was immediately replaced with Millicent Bagnold .[12] Order member Peter Pettigrew was also secretly initiated as a Death Eater, because of the latter's great fear of Voldemort and the foolish conclusion that nothing could be truly gained by resisting him; and began feeding information on the Order's movements to Voldemort. Members began regarding each other uneasily, and Sirius Black suspected that his friend Remus Lupin, who was frequently undercover among Voldemort's werewolf allies, was a spy.[16] When the entire order gathered for a group photograph in July of 1981 , no one suspected the truth.
Shortly afterwards, due to Pettigrew's betrayal, Death Eaters began systematically murdering Order members and the war entered its most desperate phase. Marlene McKinnon was slaughtered alongside her entire family by Travers, Nott, and Mulciber. Edgar Bones , his wife , and their children were murdered by Thorfinn Rowle and Fenrir Greyback and Edgar and Amelia Bone's mother and father were both killed by Voldemort himself. Gideon Prewett and Fabian Prewett both fought bravely but were ultimately slain by Antonin Dolohov and four others (losses that deeply affected their younger sister Molly), and Dorcas Meadowes was singled out for murder Voldemort himself for the threat she posed. Caradoc Dearborn disappeared and was never found, though he was presumed dead, and his body disposed of. Benjy Fenwick was killed by Death Eaters with a powerful curse , which killed him in such a powerful explosion that only bits of him were recovered.[13] Witches and wizards of the Order were not the only to face attack and during the fray, many who had aided the war effort against them were marked out by the Death Eaters for execution. Among these brave souls were Mr and Mrs Winger , a married couple who, though they were not members of any defence organisation, still gave those who defied the Death Eaters their full support, providing their services to the freedom fighters and even entering the fight against Voldemort's forces at least once. In answer, the Death Eaters attacked the Winger family 's home and slew both of them, though the couple's son Talbott had been trained by his mother to morph into an Eagle at will, allowing him to fly away to safety.[17] Peregrine also participated in the seemingly futile fight against the growing enemy forces and in the process, not only were several of his friends thrown ill-prepared (at least in his eyes) into the battle and killed, but his wife was also once nearly captured or killed, to his terror, something that contributed to his eventually conclusion that the Ministry was corrupt.[18] Numerous wizards who made their defiance against the dark forces known were marked out for torture, dozens of which were carried out by Antonin Dolohov, with the aid of Igor Karkaroff.

In response to this brutal onslaught, Barty Crouch Snr, who despised Voldemort, the Death Eaters, and the Dark Arts entirely; issued an edict giving Ministry Aurors full permission to fight to kill and employ the use of the Unforgivable Curses against their enemies. A massive Ministry campaign, spearheaded and led by Alastor Moody, Kingsley Shacklebolt, and Frank and Alice Longbottom; ensued, immediately turning the tide of the war against the Death Eaters. They initially focused their efforts on resisting the armies of giants , killing many of them with the Killing Curse, and wiping out entire tribes until they forced the survivors to go into hiding.[13] Finally, the Ministry began to identify and apprehend Death Eaters.
Auror and Order member Alastor Moody became legendary for his successes, arresting and capturing Igor Karkaroff along with many other supporters of the Dark Lord, and also killing Evan Rosier when he resisted arrest, although at the cost of losing a chunk of his nose in the process and gaining himself a vast array of enemies among the families of those he captured. Antonin Dolohov also met his capture and imprisonment at the hands of Magical Law Enforcement Squad and Corban Yaxley, one of Voldemort's earliest followers, was captured and sent to Azkaban as well, though he would eventually worm his way into receiving a general pardon. Still Voldemort himself remained untouchable, both for his elusiveness, and for his legendary power and skill, which no one but Dumbledore could match.

During the worst days of the war, in late 1980; James and Lily Potter lived in Godric's Hollow , England with their son, Harry. The family had been asked to go into hiding by Professor Dumbledore himself, as they knew they were definitely on Voldemort's radar as hated enemies. James then lent his family heirloom Invisibility Cloak to Dumbledore, who was curious about its properties. Around this time, Dumbledore met with Sybill Trelawney at the Hog's Head Inn in Hogsmeade regarding the vacant position of Divination teacher. During the interview, Trelawney entered into a magical trance and made a real prophecy : in which she foretold the futuristic coming of a young wizard who would not only become Voldemort's equal; but would finish The Dark Lord for good, due to this individual having strength, power, courage, will, purity of heart, and most of all: a deep love that would not only surpass those of Lord Voldemort, but of Albus Dumbledore himself.
There were two possible candidates, both born in July of 1980 to members of the Order of the Phoenix who had thrice defied the Dark Lord: Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom.[13] Severus Snape was also secretly at the inn, and managed to overhear only part of the prophecy before being discovered and thrown out by the inn's keeper, who was secretly Order member Aberforth Dumbledore , Dumbledore's younger brother. Snape then immediately reported what he had heard to Voldemort, who became so fearful and was greatly concerned over the information. Voldemort then immediately assumed that it meant the Potters' son (a half-blood like himself) and resolved to personally kill the infant at any cost whatsoever. Dumbledore then hired Trelawney so that she would be safe from Voldemort and his Death Eaters.

Complicating Voldemort's plan, Snape secretly harboured a deep everlasting love for Lily Potter, since the two had been friends since childhood; so great enough that he covertly defected to the Order Of The Phoenix after he secretly told Dumbledore that Voldemort had marked her and her family for death, begging the legendary wizard to hide and protect the family from Voldemort at all cost.[15] Dumbledore agreed, and urgently bade the Potters to go into hiding under the protection of the Fidelius Charm . While James and Lily wanted Sirius Black to be their Secret-Keeper , because he was their closest and most trusted friend, and the fact the Sirius had been made Harry's godfather; it was for exactly those reasons that Black claimed that he was too obvious a choice and that Voldemort would suspect him.
Instead, he suggested Peter Pettigrew, an ordinary wizard who no one would ever expect. Thus, the real traitor became the Potters' Secret-Keeper, though no one (not even Dumbledore or Lupin) knew of the switch, and within a week Pettigrew told his master Voldemort the Potters' location, officially breaking the Fidelius Charm and leaving the Potters completely vulnerable.[16] Meanwhile, Dumbledore discovered that James's Invisibility Cloak was in fact the Cloak of Invisibility , the third of the legendary Deathly Hallows.

On 31 October 1981 , Voldemort travelled to the Potters residence in Godric's Hollow. He then casually and secretly entered their house, and instantly and swiftly murdered James with the Killing Curse, who was unarmed, but he offered Lily a chance to save herself if she stepped away from the crib containing her infant son. Voldemort wished to honour Snape's request to spare Lily, but Lily refused and when Voldemort became agitated and angry, he gave her one last warning to move aside. Lily still refused, thus, Voldemort murdered her as well with the Killing Curse. He then turned his wand on Harry.

However, Lily's loving sacrifice gave Harry an ancient and unbelievably powerful magical protection (an ancient counter-charm rooted in the power of love); and when Voldemort attempted to kill Harry with the Killing Curse, the curse rebounded and was deflected upon Voldemort himself. It was in that very moment, that Voldemort unknowingly made Harry himself his seventh and final Horcrux. However, it did not come without serious cost. The Killing Curse caused Voldemort's physical body to be destroyed and his power was completely broken and zapped from him. In addition, the curse left Harry with only a lightning-shaped scar on his forehead, and also secretly transferred an array of Voldemort's own power and magical skills to Harry: caused when the fragment of Voldemort's already mangled and shattered soul entered Harry and turned him into a Horcrux.

Although Voldemort's body and magic were destroyed, he did not die because of his Horcruxes enabling him to survive; albeit in a bodiless, powerless spectral form. In utter fear and desperation, he immediately fled the collapsing house and the country entirely, unwilling to be seen by anyone in such a weakened and desperate state, not even his own Death Eaters. Only one ability remained to Voldemort: he could still possess the bodies of other living beings. Order member and Hogwarts groundskeeper Rubeus Hagrid arrived on the scene about an hour after Voldemort fled; secretly acting on Dumbledore's orders to rescue Harry from the cottage ruins with unexpected help from Sirius Black, who instantly became aware of Pettigrew's treachery after finding his house empty with little sign of a struggle. Black then tried to convince Hagrid to give him Harry (since had been named the boy's legal guardian in the event of James and Lily's deaths), but Hagrid told him that Dumbledore had ordered Hagrid to bring Harry directly to him at an undisclosed location, so Black lent the half-giant wizard his flying motorbike to carry the baby on for the journey to meet with Dumbledore.
That same night, news of Voldemort's downfall and apparent death spread like wildfire throughout all of Great Britain; with monumental celebrations breaking out all across the country so strenuously that numerous large-scale breaches of the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy were noticed by the Muggle international media. This was excused by Minister Bagnold, who asserted the war-weary wizarding community's "inalienable right to party". Though some people, like Barty Crouch Snr, claimed the celebrating got out of hand and became childish and ridiculous.

Touted as the "Boy Who Lived", Harry Potter's status as the being who defeated the most powerful dark wizard who ever lived, the first and only person ever to survive the Killing Curse and the reason for the end of the war lead to him becoming a world famous household name and celebrity overnight. However, he was also an orphan, so Hagrid took him to the town of Little Whinging , Surrey. Dumbledore and Order member Minerva McGonagall were both waiting.

They then left Harry at the doorstep of 4 Privet Drive , the residence of his maternal aunt Petunia Dursley and her husband Vernon Dursley, whom were muggles and despised magic. Dumbledore left a note with him explaining the circumstances to the Dursleys, most importantly that they must allow Harry to grow up in their home and return there once a year in order to ensure that his mother's protection would continue working, as he knew that Voldemort would someday return and that Harry would be in danger. Order member Arabella Figg , who was a Squib and also lived a few houses down, accepted the task of secretly keeping watch over Harry and the Dursleys.

In the aftermath of Voldemort's shocking defeat and subsequent disappearance without a trace, many were sceptical that he was really dead, believing that he was too powerful or too inhuman to die like a normal wizard. Aurors, Order members, and Ministry officials searched at home and abroad for any sign of him but found none. Although they eventually came to the conclusion that Voldemort had truly been defeated and was dead, many Death Eaters were still at large and considered a threat.

Having secretly retrieved his master's wand from the destroyed Potter residence, Peter Pettigrew attempted to go into hiding with it the next day in fear of being perceived a traitor by the Death Eaters (since his information inadvertently caused Voldemort's downfall), but was confronted by Sirius Black on a street in London, England full of Muggles. In order to escape, he used Voldemort's wand to conjure a powerful Blasting Curse that killed twelve Muggle bystanders and transformed into his Animagus form of a rat, leaving behind a severed index finger as fake evidence against his opponent. This left Black universally perceived as the traitor to the Potters, as well as a mass murderer, for which he was quickly arrested and carted off to Azkaban without a trial, whereas Pettigrew was universally thought to be dead and unjustly awarded the Order of Merlin (First Class) for his supposed willingness to stand up for the safety of a friend.[16]
In addition, other Death Eaters like Travers, Mulciber, and three others who helped murder the Bones family, were likewise captured and imprisoned, while Dumbledore gave personal testimony exonerating Severus Snape, who he also hired as the Potions Master at Hogwarts to replace the retiring Horace Slughorn. Fenrir Greyback and other werewolves went back underground, and the few remaining Giants left the British Isles entirely and resettled in the last remaining Giant colony in the world in rural Denmark.[13] Mr and Mrs Snyde , who had both been responsible for numerous injuries and deaths among the Aurors, both stood before a court for their crimes at a trial witnessed by their daughter Merula and both were sentenced to Azkaban. Their imprisonment had a highly damaging and traumatising effect on all of the family, especially Merula, who adopted a cold attitude towards most people after this and grew to strongly believe in the importance of loyalty to family, rendering her susceptible to the manipulations of her aunt Verucca in later years. The remaining Snydes would also receive a constant flow of hate mail from victims of Merula's parents and their families, who threatened in their notes to take vengeance on Merula, something that led to her aunt isolating herself from Merula. Barnaby Lee 's mother and father were subjected to the same fate as that of Merula's parents.
However, Igor Karkaroff gave up Augustus Rookwood, who was thrown into Azkaban, in exchange for his freedom, which he used as an opportunity to flee the country and eventually gain employment as the new Headmaster of Durmstrang Institute Of Magic in Eastern Europe. The subsequent investigation of Rookwood's spy network led to numerous individuals being questioned (including Ludovic "Ludo" Bagman , Beater for the Wimbourne Wasps , who was found not guilty).[14] Despite the Ministry crackdown, spearheaded by Barty Crouch Snr, Albus Dumbledore, and Alastor Moody; some Death Eaters were able to walk free [such as the Malfoy Family, who claimed to have been under the Imperius Curse and were cleared]. Many innocent people were released from the Imperius Curse indeed, following Voldemort's defeat, so some of them used this as an excuse. Others simply used their wealth, power, and influence to avoid punishment for their crimes. Lucius Malfoy, Narcissa Malfoy, Nott, Avery, the Carrow siblings, Crabbe, Goyle, and Corban Yaxley were officially considered innocent in the years after the war, while Thorfinn Rowle, Gibbon, Selwyn, Jugson, were all convicted and sent to Azkaban.[ citation needed] Assuming that Voldemort was dead and gone, those who were cleared simply carried on with their daily lives as if nothing had ever happened.

However, not all Death Eaters were content to give up Voldemort's cause. Bellatrix Lestrange, Rodolphus Lestrange, and Rabastan Lestrange, along with Crouch Snr's own son, Bartemius "Barty" Crouch Jnr , abducted and interrogated Frank and Alice Longbottom. Believing that they had information on Voldemort's whereabouts, they tortured them at once with the Cruciatus Curse so severely that they were left mentally insane with no possibility of returning to their former state. However, even the entire Lestrange Family and Crouch Jnr were ultimately captured and arrested by a convoy of Aurors led by Alastor Moody and Kingsley Shacklebolt.
The Longbottoms were moved to St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries in Diagon Alley for long-term care and their infant son, Neville Longbottom, was left to be raised by his grandmother Augusta Longbottom . The horrific attack enraged the magical public so much and was considered one of the most dreadful crimes ever recorded. Barty Crouch Snr, disgusted and shame-ridden that his own son was a Death Eater, sentenced them all to life in Azkaban. Bellatrix then proudly proclaimed her loyalty and declared that the Dark Lord would return as they were dragged away by a horde of Dementors.[14]
(Source: First Wizarding War | Harry Potter Wiki | Fandom )

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Description

It was in this charged climate that in 1970 , Voldemort revealed himself openly, proclaiming himself the Dark Lord, and started to commit extreme acts of terrorism in Britain. With his army of dark wizards and dark creatures at his command, Voldemort launched an assault against the British Ministry of Magic with the intention of toppling it and creating a new world order run by pure-bloods, with Muggle-borns either killed en masse or kept in utter bondage, and Lord Voldemort himself as an immortal leader, though likely ruling from behind the scenes. To achieve these ends, the Death Eaters and their allies (including the particularly destructive Giants, who services Voldemort often used whenever he and his followers wished to go for the grand effect and were responsible for some of the worst atrocities against the non-magical) began openly carrying out attacks on Muggles for sport and to sow chaos.
Cleaning up these attacks, healing survivors, modifying memories, searching for the perpetrators, and attempting to prevent future attacks occupied more and more of the Ministry's time and attention. As their confidence grew, the Death Eaters began targeting Muggle-born and blood traitor witches and wizards as well, torturing and sometimes killing their victims, which shocked wizarding society. Other "inferior" magical beings such as house-elves (who were treated like vermin) and Goblins (a family of which was slaughtered by Voldemort personally) also suffered under their reign of terror, albeit for different reasons. To inspire yet more terror, the Death Eaters would cast the Dark Mark in the sky over every house or scene that they killed at. Though they did not openly join the Death Eaters, many pure-blood supremacists, whose fear of their way of life ending had already been blossoming with the election of a Muggle-born Minister for Magic, gave Voldemort's uprising and the Death Eaters ideals of a new world order centred around the purity of magical blood their full support. Among these supporters were Walburga and Orion Black , whose very marriage was an example of their family 's fanatical maintenance of their so-called 'pure-blood', which had left them being forced to marry second cousins. As the war progressed and Voldemort's true colours were shown, however, even wizards of the most active anti-Muggle sentiment were appalled by the actions being taken out on the non-magical community, which eventually came to a point that was regarded as going too far even by the standard of the Blacks, causing Walburga and Orion to 'get cold feet' and withdraw their support.
Many Death Eaters also managed to secretly gain strategic positions within the Ministry of Magic itself. They then used blackmail and the Imperius Curse to expand their influence and destabilise the government from within, which was desperately trying to keep order and continue to maintain secrecy from the Muggle world. Augustus Rookwood , an Unspeakable in the Department of Mysteries , managed to set up a particularly successful secret network of espionage within the Ministry, while Fenrir Greyback, who had allied with Voldemort due to the promise of victims, was used frequently by the Death Eaters to force the co-operation of many, threatening otherwise to unleash Greyback on the individuals' children if they did not comply. Minister Jenkins was ill-prepared to lead during wartime, and it seemed that the Ministry was incapable of gaining the upper hand. Voldemort himself personally killed hundreds of wizards, though he tended to only fight those he considered worthy of his attention or too powerful for his followers to defeat. In these encounters, he displayed his extraordinary abilities, many of which were thought impossible, and he very quickly earned the reputation of the most powerful and dangerous dark wizard of all time, surpassing even Gellert Grindelwald.

In response to the growing threat of Lord Voldemort and his minions, Albus Dumbledore formed the Order of the Phoenix in 1971; to take the fight directly to the Death Eaters. Though the Ministry officially viewed the Order as a renegade outfit, a number of powerful Ministry officials (such as Elphias Doge and Dedalus Diggle ; and the famous Aurors Alastor Moody and Frank and Alice Longbottom) joined instantly to participate in more secretive, sudden assaults to crush the dark rebellion.[13]
When Dumbledore helped black market trader Mundungus Fletcher out of trouble, he joined the Order and, due to his extensive knowledge of the criminal underworld, proved very useful. To allow members of the Order to covertly communicate with each other, Dumbledore invented a method of sending messages via the Patronus Charm .

Despite the Order's best efforts, Voldemort continued to grow in magical power and influence, and his attacks, whether carried out personally or by his Death Eaters, became more frequent and brutal. It was clear that Dumbledore was the only wizard in the world who rivalled Voldemort in ability and as a result, Hogwarts became something of a single island of safety in a sea of chaos, the fear of Dumbledore causing Voldemort to never dare attack the school. The nascent Order of the Phoenix initially had very little success, and many continued to be killed by Voldemort. Terror and chaos gripped the populace of wizarding Britain to the point that many began to fear to speak Voldemort's name. He became widely referred to as "He Who Must Not Be Named", or, less formally, "You Know Who" within the first year of his reign.
Numerous ordinary witches and wizards (such as Mr Thomas and Robert McGonagall Jnr ) lost their lives for refusing to join the Dark Lord or even accidental involvement in the crossfire, and the Death Eaters frequently cast the Dark Mark over the scenes of their murders. To protect the organisation, Voldemort ensured that Death Eaters did not know the identities of too many of their fellows, and, to society at large, their identities were completely unknown.[14] Increasing the confusion and paranoia even further, Voldemort placed many dozens of innocent victims under the Imperius Curse simultaneously and forced them to carry out his orders and several of his followers, including Mulciber , became specialists in this area. Even friends and family members were not above suspicion of one another.
In 1975 , Eugenia Jenkins was ousted as Minister Of Magic and replaced by Harold Minchum , a hardliner who placed more Dementors around Azkaban.[12] In addition, ruthless Council of Magical Law Head Judge Bartemius "Barty" Crouch Senior rose rapidly through the Ministry's ranks until he also became the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement . Minchum and Crouch then began to make serious headway, though the anonymous and elusive Death Eaters still retained the advantage.
In 1978 , Severus Snape graduated from Hogwarts and entered the ranks of the Death Eaters, joining his schoolmates Evan Rosier, Lucius Malfoy, Bellatrix Lestrange, Sewlyn, Jerome Jugson, Jugson, Regulus Black, Rodolphus Lestrange, Rabastan Lestrange, Thorfinn Rowle, Gibbon, Augustus Rookwood, Igor Karkaroff, Crabbe, Goyle, Travers, and Antonin Dolohov. Likely at Snape's urging, Voldemort attempted to recruit Lily Evans , whose prodigious talents made up for her status as a Muggle-born, along with her blood traitor boyfriend James Potter ; and James' childhood friends: Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew. Naturally, they all refused, defying Voldemort for the very first time, and James and Lily were soon married and joined the Order of the Phoenix along with their other friends. Around this time, James and Sirius, who had been disowned by the House of Black, were pursued by a trio of Death Eaters , though they easily managed to evade them and escape, despite attracting the attention of several Muggles who had to be Oblivated.

Voldemort then gravitated towards several of his younger recruits who were specially magically powerful and fanatically loyal. He took only Severus Snape and Bellatrix Lestrange under his personal wing, sharing with them his personal-secret knowledge of the Dark Arts; and inspiring in Bellatrix a delusional-psychotic attraction bordering on loving obsession, which Voldemort never returned. He also entrusted his diary Horcrux to Lucius Malfoy, with whom he schemed of using to secretly re-open the Chamber of Secrets, for he did not dare attack Hogwarts directly as long as Dumbledore was Headmaster. This did not come to fruition till many years later. Severus Snape, a fellow half-blood with whom he had much in common, quickly became his most valuable servant; even more so than his right-hand Bellatrix Lestrange, though Voldemort never told her that. Snape was also the only Death Eater, who Voldemort allowed to freely act, unless it was a mission of great importance.

In 1979 , Regulus Black , the younger brother Sirius Black, graduated from Hogwarts and joined the Death Eaters. He remained a pure-blood supremacist, but quickly became incredibly disenchanted with the cause's insane and brutal leader and despite his upbringing, the actions being taken out against Muggles left Regulus mortified. Around this time, Voldemort felt the need to test the defences around his Horcruxes. To make sure Slytherin's locket was secure, he requested the use of Regulus's house-elf Kreacher and then callously left him to die. When Kreacher managed survive and to return home, Regulus deduced that Voldemort had created a Horcrux and attempted to destroy it. This failed and resulted in his violent death at the hands of the Inferi, though he did manage to replace the locket with a fake and entrust the real Horcrux to Kreacher.[15]
Despite being in the midst of a war, life went on for those who had not yet become its victims. Under the leadership of Dumbledore, Hogwarts remained a bastion of elite-supreme magical education and was left totally untouched by the Death Eaters. It was suggested after the war that marriages and births increased significantly during these years, as the future was uncertain.[15] Late in July of 1980 , Order members James Potter and Lily Potter had a son, Harry Potter , while Frank Longbottom and Alice Longbottom had Neville Longbottom . At the same time, Death Eater Lucius Malfoy and Narcissa Black (who, unlike her husband and sister Bellatrix, simply assisted the Dark Lord, rather than became one of his followers) had Draco Malfoy, while Crabbe Snr and Goyle Snr also had sons with their respective wives; and Bellatrix Lestrange married Rodolphus Lestrange, though neither of them actually viewed their marriage as legit, only a means of avoiding ending up with anyone less than a pure-blood. Nott and his wife also bore a son named Theodore , though Mrs Nott eventually passed away from unspecified circumstances, leaving her husband a widow and son with the ability to see Thestrals .

In 1980, Minister Minchum was also removed from office due to his failure to end the war and was immediately replaced with Millicent Bagnold .[12] Order member Peter Pettigrew was also secretly initiated as a Death Eater, because of the latter's great fear of Voldemort and the foolish conclusion that nothing could be truly gained by resisting him; and began feeding information on the Order's movements to Voldemort. Members began regarding each other uneasily, and Sirius Black suspected that his friend Remus Lupin, who was frequently undercover among Voldemort's werewolf allies, was a spy.[16] When the entire order gathered for a group photograph in July of 1981 , no one suspected the truth.
Shortly afterwards, due to Pettigrew's betrayal, Death Eaters began systematically murdering Order members and the war entered its most desperate phase. Marlene McKinnon was slaughtered alongside her entire family by Travers, Nott, and Mulciber. Edgar Bones , his wife , and their children were murdered by Thorfinn Rowle and Fenrir Greyback and Edgar and Amelia Bone's mother and father were both killed by Voldemort himself. Gideon Prewett and Fabian Prewett both fought bravely but were ultimately slain by Antonin Dolohov and four others (losses that deeply affected their younger sister Molly), and Dorcas Meadowes was singled out for murder Voldemort himself for the threat she posed. Caradoc Dearborn disappeared and was never found, though he was presumed dead, and his body disposed of. Benjy Fenwick was killed by Death Eaters with a powerful curse , which killed him in such a powerful explosion that only bits of him were recovered.[13] Witches and wizards of the Order were not the only to face attack and during the fray, many who had aided the war effort against them were marked out by the Death Eaters for execution. Among these brave souls were Mr and Mrs Winger , a married couple who, though they were not members of any defence organisation, still gave those who defied the Death Eaters their full support, providing their services to the freedom fighters and even entering the fight against Voldemort's forces at least once. In answer, the Death Eaters attacked the Winger family 's home and slew both of them, though the couple's son Talbott had been trained by his mother to morph into an Eagle at will, allowing him to fly away to safety.[17] Peregrine also participated in the seemingly futile fight against the growing enemy forces and in the process, not only were several of his friends thrown ill-prepared (at least in his eyes) into the battle and killed, but his wife was also once nearly captured or killed, to his terror, something that contributed to his eventually conclusion that the Ministry was corrupt.[18] Numerous wizards who made their defiance against the dark forces known were marked out for torture, dozens of which were carried out by Antonin Dolohov, with the aid of Igor Karkaroff.

In response to this brutal onslaught, Barty Crouch Snr, who despised Voldemort, the Death Eaters, and the Dark Arts entirely; issued an edict giving Ministry Aurors full permission to fight to kill and employ the use of the Unforgivable Curses against their enemies. A massive Ministry campaign, spearheaded and led by Alastor Moody, Kingsley Shacklebolt, and Frank and Alice Longbottom; ensued, immediately turning the tide of the war against the Death Eaters. They initially focused their efforts on resisting the armies of giants , killing many of them with the Killing Curse, and wiping out entire tribes until they forced the survivors to go into hiding.[13] Finally, the Ministry began to identify and apprehend Death Eaters.
Auror and Order member Alastor Moody became legendary for his successes, arresting and capturing Igor Karkaroff along with many other supporters of the Dark Lord, and also killing Evan Rosier when he resisted arrest, although at the cost of losing a chunk of his nose in the process and gaining himself a vast array of enemies among the families of those he captured. Antonin Dolohov also met his capture and imprisonment at the hands of Magical Law Enforcement Squad and Corban Yaxley, one of Voldemort's earliest followers, was captured and sent to Azkaban as well, though he would eventually worm his way into receiving a general pardon. Still Voldemort himself remained untouchable, both for his elusiveness, and for his legendary power and skill, which no one but Dumbledore could match.

During the worst days of the war, in late 1980; James and Lily Potter lived in Godric's Hollow , England with their son, Harry. The family had been asked to go into hiding by Professor Dumbledore himself, as they knew they were definitely on Voldemort's radar as hated enemies. James then lent his family heirloom Invisibility Cloak to Dumbledore, who was curious about its properties. Around this time, Dumbledore met with Sybill Trelawney at the Hog's Head Inn in Hogsmeade regarding the vacant position of Divination teacher. During the interview, Trelawney entered into a magical trance and made a real prophecy : in which she foretold the futuristic coming of a young wizard who would not only become Voldemort's equal; but would finish The Dark Lord for good, due to this individual having strength, power, courage, will, purity of heart, and most of all: a deep love that would not only surpass those of Lord Voldemort, but of Albus Dumbledore himself.
There were two possible candidates, both born in July of 1980 to members of the Order of the Phoenix who had thrice defied the Dark Lord: Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom.[13] Severus Snape was also secretly at the inn, and managed to overhear only part of the prophecy before being discovered and thrown out by the inn's keeper, who was secretly Order member Aberforth Dumbledore , Dumbledore's younger brother. Snape then immediately reported what he had heard to Voldemort, who became so fearful and was greatly concerned over the information. Voldemort then immediately assumed that it meant the Potters' son (a half-blood like himself) and resolved to personally kill the infant at any cost whatsoever. Dumbledore then hired Trelawney so that she would be safe from Voldemort and his Death Eaters.

Complicating Voldemort's plan, Snape secretly harboured a deep everlasting love for Lily Potter, since the two had been friends since childhood; so great enough that he covertly defected to the Order Of The Phoenix after he secretly told Dumbledore that Voldemort had marked her and her family for death, begging the legendary wizard to hide and protect the family from Voldemort at all cost.[15] Dumbledore agreed, and urgently bade the Potters to go into hiding under the protection of the Fidelius Charm . While James and Lily wanted Sirius Black to be their Secret-Keeper , because he was their closest and most trusted friend, and the fact the Sirius had been made Harry's godfather; it was for exactly those reasons that Black claimed that he was too obvious a choice and that Voldemort would suspect him.
Instead, he suggested Peter Pettigrew, an ordinary wizard who no one would ever expect. Thus, the real traitor became the Potters' Secret-Keeper, though no one (not even Dumbledore or Lupin) knew of the switch, and within a week Pettigrew told his master Voldemort the Potters' location, officially breaking the Fidelius Charm and leaving the Potters completely vulnerable.[16] Meanwhile, Dumbledore discovered that James's Invisibility Cloak was in fact the Cloak of Invisibility , the third of the legendary Deathly Hallows.

On 31 October 1981 , Voldemort travelled to the Potters residence in Godric's Hollow. He then casually and secretly entered their house, and instantly and swiftly murdered James with the Killing Curse, who was unarmed, but he offered Lily a chance to save herself if she stepped away from the crib containing her infant son. Voldemort wished to honour Snape's request to spare Lily, but Lily refused and when Voldemort became agitated and angry, he gave her one last warning to move aside. Lily still refused, thus, Voldemort murdered her as well with the Killing Curse. He then turned his wand on Harry.

However, Lily's loving sacrifice gave Harry an ancient and unbelievably powerful magical protection (an ancient counter-charm rooted in the power of love); and when Voldemort attempted to kill Harry with the Killing Curse, the curse rebounded and was deflected upon Voldemort himself. It was in that very moment, that Voldemort unknowingly made Harry himself his seventh and final Horcrux. However, it did not come without serious cost. The Killing Curse caused Voldemort's physical body to be destroyed and his power was completely broken and zapped from him. In addition, the curse left Harry with only a lightning-shaped scar on his forehead, and also secretly transferred an array of Voldemort's own power and magical skills to Harry: caused when the fragment of Voldemort's already mangled and shattered soul entered Harry and turned him into a Horcrux.

Although Voldemort's body and magic were destroyed, he did not die because of his Horcruxes enabling him to survive; albeit in a bodiless, powerless spectral form. In utter fear and desperation, he immediately fled the collapsing house and the country entirely, unwilling to be seen by anyone in such a weakened and desperate state, not even his own Death Eaters. Only one ability remained to Voldemort: he could still possess the bodies of other living beings. Order member and Hogwarts groundskeeper Rubeus Hagrid arrived on the scene about an hour after Voldemort fled; secretly acting on Dumbledore's orders to rescue Harry from the cottage ruins with unexpected help from Sirius Black, who instantly became aware of Pettigrew's treachery after finding his house empty with little sign of a struggle. Black then tried to convince Hagrid to give him Harry (since had been named the boy's legal guardian in the event of James and Lily's deaths), but Hagrid told him that Dumbledore had ordered Hagrid to bring Harry directly to him at an undisclosed location, so Black lent the half-giant wizard his flying motorbike to carry the baby on for the journey to meet with Dumbledore.
That same night, news of Voldemort's downfall and apparent death spread like wildfire throughout all of Great Britain; with monumental celebrations breaking out all across the country so strenuously that numerous large-scale breaches of the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy were noticed by the Muggle international media. This was excused by Minister Bagnold, who asserted the war-weary wizarding community's "inalienable right to party". Though some people, like Barty Crouch Snr, claimed the celebrating got out of hand and became childish and ridiculous.

Touted as the "Boy Who Lived", Harry Potter's status as the being who defeated the most powerful dark wizard who ever lived, the first and only person ever to survive the Killing Curse and the reason for the end of the war lead to him becoming a world famous household name and celebrity overnight. However, he was also an orphan, so Hagrid took him to the town of Little Whinging , Surrey. Dumbledore and Order member Minerva McGonagall were both waiting.

They then left Harry at the doorstep of 4 Privet Drive , the residence of his maternal aunt Petunia Dursley and her husband Vernon Dursley, whom were muggles and despised magic. Dumbledore left a note with him explaining the circumstances to the Dursleys, most importantly that they must allow Harry to grow up in their home and return there once a year in order to ensure that his mother's protection would continue working, as he knew that Voldemort would someday return and that Harry would be in danger. Order member Arabella Figg , who was a Squib and also lived a few houses down, accepted the task of secretly keeping watch over Harry and the Dursleys.

In the aftermath of Voldemort's shocking defeat and subsequent disappearance without a trace, many were sceptical that he was really dead, believing that he was too powerful or too inhuman to die like a normal wizard. Aurors, Order members, and Ministry officials searched at home and abroad for any sign of him but found none. Although they eventually came to the conclusion that Voldemort had truly been defeated and was dead, many Death Eaters were still at large and considered a threat.

Having secretly retrieved his master's wand from the destroyed Potter residence, Peter Pettigrew attempted to go into hiding with it the next day in fear of being perceived a traitor by the Death Eaters (since his information inadvertently caused Voldemort's downfall), but was confronted by Sirius Black on a street in London, England full of Muggles. In order to escape, he used Voldemort's wand to conjure a powerful Blasting Curse that killed twelve Muggle bystanders and transformed into his Animagus form of a rat, leaving behind a severed index finger as fake evidence against his opponent. This left Black universally perceived as the traitor to the Potters, as well as a mass murderer, for which he was quickly arrested and carted off to Azkaban without a trial, whereas Pettigrew was universally thought to be dead and unjustly awarded the Order of Merlin (First Class) for his supposed willingness to stand up for the safety of a friend.[16]
In addition, other Death Eaters like Travers, Mulciber, and three others who helped murder the Bones family, were likewise captured and imprisoned, while Dumbledore gave personal testimony exonerating Severus Snape, who he also hired as the Potions Master at Hogwarts to replace the retiring Horace Slughorn. Fenrir Greyback and other werewolves went back underground, and the few remaining Giants left the British Isles entirely and resettled in the last remaining Giant colony in the world in rural Denmark.[13] Mr and Mrs Snyde , who had both been responsible for numerous injuries and deaths among the Aurors, both stood before a court for their crimes at a trial witnessed by their daughter Merula and both were sentenced to Azkaban. Their imprisonment had a highly damaging and traumatising effect on all of the family, especially Merula, who adopted a cold attitude towards most people after this and grew to strongly believe in the importance of loyalty to family, rendering her susceptible to the manipulations of her aunt Verucca in later years. The remaining Snydes would also receive a constant flow of hate mail from victims of Merula's parents and their families, who threatened in their notes to take vengeance on Merula, something that led to her aunt isolating herself from Merula. Barnaby Lee 's mother and father were subjected to the same fate as that of Merula's parents.
However, Igor Karkaroff gave up Augustus Rookwood, who was thrown into Azkaban, in exchange for his freedom, which he used as an opportunity to flee the country and eventually gain employment as the new Headmaster of Durmstrang Institute Of Magic in Eastern Europe. The subsequent investigation of Rookwood's spy network led to numerous individuals being questioned (including Ludovic "Ludo" Bagman , Beater for the Wimbourne Wasps , who was found not guilty).[14] Despite the Ministry crackdown, spearheaded by Barty Crouch Snr, Albus Dumbledore, and Alastor Moody; some Death Eaters were able to walk free [such as the Malfoy Family, who claimed to have been under the Imperius Curse and were cleared]. Many innocent people were released from the Imperius Curse indeed, following Voldemort's defeat, so some of them used this as an excuse. Others simply used their wealth, power, and influence to avoid punishment for their crimes. Lucius Malfoy, Narcissa Malfoy, Nott, Avery, the Carrow siblings, Crabbe, Goyle, and Corban Yaxley were officially considered innocent in the years after the war, while Thorfinn Rowle, Gibbon, Selwyn, Jugson, were all convicted and sent to Azkaban.[ citation needed] Assuming that Voldemort was dead and gone, those who were cleared simply carried on with their daily lives as if nothing had ever happened.

However, not all Death Eaters were content to give up Voldemort's cause. Bellatrix Lestrange, Rodolphus Lestrange, and Rabastan Lestrange, along with Crouch Snr's own son, Bartemius "Barty" Crouch Jnr , abducted and interrogated Frank and Alice Longbottom. Believing that they had information on Voldemort's whereabouts, they tortured them at once with the Cruciatus Curse so severely that they were left mentally insane with no possibility of returning to their former state. However, even the entire Lestrange Family and Crouch Jnr were ultimately captured and arrested by a convoy of Aurors led by Alastor Moody and Kingsley Shacklebolt.
The Longbottoms were moved to St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries in Diagon Alley for long-term care and their infant son, Neville Longbottom, was left to be raised by his grandmother Augusta Longbottom . The horrific attack enraged the magical public so much and was considered one of the most dreadful crimes ever recorded. Barty Crouch Snr, disgusted and shame-ridden that his own son was a Death Eater, sentenced them all to life in Azkaban. Bellatrix then proudly proclaimed her loyalty and declared that the Dark Lord would return as they were dragged away by a horde of Dementors.[14]
(Source: First Wizarding War | Harry Potter Wiki | Fandom )

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