I recently got the idea of having an infographic made with every important event in the Harry Potter series but I had no idea what I was getting into! What I thought was going to be a simple task turned into a huge project. I had three days to gather the information that I wanted included to give to my designer and I used up all three days. It soon became clear that there was too much information for one graphic so I had her break it up into three and I only included the bare bones details needed to understand the story.

My designer did an amazing job, far better than I ever could have hoped, but I’ve decided to list all the events here. Why not, right? I’ve done the research so I might as well share what I found with anyone else who is interested.

Please bear in mind that the timeline of events found on this page are not exhaustive. It would be almost impossible for me to include every single thing that happened, and that’s why the Harry Potter Wiki was created. But as great as the Wiki is, the information is spread out on an untold number of pages. I wanted to resource where you could see the important information is in one place and since I couldn’t find it I made it myself.

Forgive me if some of the dates are incorrect. It was incredibly difficult to identify the dates for some events because I would sometimes find conflicting information about the same event, even on the same website. When that happened I did my best to logically decide when something happened.

One more thing – this list of events is not extensive. In fact, it is very light in the years that Harry Potter was at Hogwarts. I challenged myself to see if I could write down just the bare minimum of events, which is what you see here. I plan on adding more details at a later date.

1881

Exact date unknown:

• Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore was born.

1883

Exact date unknown:

• Gellert Grindelwald was born.

1884

Exact date unknown:

• Aberforth Dumbledore was born.

1885

Exact date unknown:

• Ariana Dumbledore was born.

Approximately 1894 – 1899

Exact dates unknown:

• Gellert Grindelwald attended Durmstrang Institute, where he learned about and became obsessed with the Deathly Hallows: the Elder Wand, Resurrection Stone, and Cloak of Invisibility.

1899

Spring or Summer, 1899:

• Gellert Grindelwald was expelled from Durmstrang and was sent to live with his great-aunt, Bathilda Bagshot in Godric’s Hollow. He met and befriended Albus Dumbledore, and they obsessed over the Deathly Hallows together. They talked about and dreamed of a time when witches and wizards could live freely without needing to hide from Muggles, but Albus started to understand that Gellert wanted to make this a reality by force.

Late Summer, 1899:

• Albus Dumbledore, his brother Aberforth, and Gellert Grindelwald got into an arguement that turned into a three-way duel. The duel ended when Albus’s 14-year-old sister Ariana was killed.
• Gellert Grindelwald fled from Godric’s Hollow.

Sometime Between 1899 and 1945

Exact date unknown:

• Gellert Grindelwald stole the Elder Wand from wandmaker Mykew Gregorovitch and won the wand’s allegiance. He then began his rise to power and was considered the darkest wizard of his time.

1907

Exact date unknown:

• Merope Gaunt was born (Tom Riddle’s mother) to a family of severe poverty. Merope, her father (Marvolo Gaunt), and her older brother (Morfin Gaunt) were the last living heirs of Salazar Slytherin.

1925

Fall or Winter, 1925:

• Merope Gaunt fell in love with a handsome Muggle named Tom Riddle and used a love spell to trick him into marrying her.

1926

Spring, 1926:

• A pregnant Merope Gaunt stopped using magic to keep her husband’s affections. Freed of her spell, Tom Riddle left Merope. She was desperate for money so she sold her only family heirloom, Salazar Slytherin’s locket, to Borgin and Burkes.

December 31, 1926:

• Merope Gaunt gave birth to a son at an orphanage and named him Tom Marvolo Riddle. Merope died hours after giving birth to Tom.

1927 – 1938

Exact dates unknown:

• Tom Riddle grew up in the orphanage and used his magical abilities to frighten the other kids. He terrorized two fellow orphans inside a cave while on a seaside outing near the orphanage.

1938

Spring or Summer, 1938:

• Albus Dumbledore visited Tom Riddle at the orphanage and met him for the first time. He told Tom about Hogwarts, told Tom that he was a wizard, and invited Tom to attend Hogwarts.

September 1, 1938:

• Tom Riddle entered Hogwarts and was sorted into Slytherin House, not yet aware that he was the last living heir of Salazar Slytherin.

Approximately 1943

Exact dates unknown:

• Tom Riddle learned about horcruxes. His Slytherin “friends” became the first Death Eaters, and he took on the name Lord Voldemort.
• Tom Riddle convinced the ghost of Ravenclaw House, Helena Ravenclaw, to tell him where Rowena Ravenclaw’s diadem was hidden.

1943

Spring, 1943:

• Tom Riddle opened the Chamber of Secrets and used the Basilisk within the Chamber to terrify students.

June 13, 1943:

• The Basilisk killed a student named Myrtle Warren. Tom used Myrtle’s death to turn his diary into his first Horcrux.  Her death almost shut down Hogwarts so Tom had to stop opening the Chamber. Tom magically put his memory into his diary so that the Chamber could be opened again in the future.
• Tom Riddle prevented the closure of Hogwarts by framing fellow student Rubeus Hagrid to make it look like Hagrid’s pet acromantula Aragog was the monster from the Chamber that killed Myrtle. This resulted in Hagrid’s expulsion, but not before he set Aragog free, who was able to escape into the Hidden Forest.

Summer, 1943:

• Tom Riddle went to his mother’s home to learn about his heritage where he met and was repulsed by his Uncle Morfin. He then went to Little Hangleton, murdered his father and grandparents, and framed his uncle for their deaths. He stole the last heirloom from the Gaunt home, a ring with a stone. Tom wore the ring for approximately one year.

Fall, 1943:

• After Tom Riddle returned to Hogwarts he asked Professor Horace Slughorn about horcruxes. He then asked about creating multiple horcruxes, the idea of which horrified Professor Slughorn.

1945

Exact dates unknown:

• Albus Dumbledore confronted Gellert Grindelwald in what many proclaimed to be the greatest wizarding duel of all time. Dumbledore won the duel, the Elder Wand, and the wand’s allegiance.
• Tom Riddle graduated from Hogwarts and started work at Borgin and Burkes, hired by Burke, the same man who bought Slytherin’s locket from Tom’s mother 18 years earlier.

Approximately 1946

Exact dates unknown:

• Tom Riddle used the murder of his father to turn the Gaunt ring into his second horcrux, unaware that the ring was made from the Resurrection Stone. Tom then hid the ring under the floorboards of abandoned and rotted home his mother grew up in.
• Tom Riddle traveled to the forest of Albania and found Rowena Ravenclaw’s hidden diadem. He killed an Albanian peasant and turned the diadem into his third horcrux.

1946

Exact dates unknown:

• While working at Borgin and Burkes Tom Riddle met Hepzibah Smith, a witch who owned Helga Hufflepuff’s cup and Salazar Slytherin’s locket. Tom killed Hepzibah, stole the cup and locket, and turned the cup into his fourth horcrux. He then disappeared for ten years.

Sometime Between 1946 and 1979

Exact dates unknown:

• Tom Riddle, now Lord Voldemort, killed a Muggle tramp to turn Slytherin’s locket into his fifth horcrux.

1951

Exact date unknown:

• Bellatrix Black was born.

1955

Exact date unknown:

• Narcissa Black was born.

Approximately 1956

Exact date unknown:

• Lord Voldemort returned to Hogwarts and asked Headmaster Albus Dumbledore for a job as a teacher, a request that Dumbledore denied. Voldemort hid the Ravenclaw diadem horcrux in the Room of Requirement before he left the castle.

Approximately 1957, 1958, or 1959

Exact date unknown:

• Petunia Evans was born.

1959 or 1960

Exact date unknown:

• Peter Pettigrew was born.

1959

November 3, 1959:

• Sirius Black was born.

1960

January 9, 1960:

• Severus Snape was born.

January 30, 1960:

• Lily J. Evans was born.

March 10, 1960:

• Remus John Lupin was born.

March 27, 1960:

• James Potter was born.

1965

March 17, 1965:

• Five year old Remus Lupin was bit by a werewolf named Fenrir Greyback and turned into a werewolf.Note: Most sources state that Remus was bitten in March of 1965 but I have narrowed it down to March 17, 1965, because that is the date of the full moon for that month.

1969

Exact date unknown:

• Severus Snape and Lily Evans met and became close friends. Severus fell deeply in love with Lily.

1970 – 1981

Exact dates unknown:

• Lord Voldemort rose to power, a time known as the First Wizarding War.
• The Order of the Phoenix was created by Albus Dumbledore in 1970. The members of the Order did what they could to fight back against Voldemort and his Death Eaters.
• Lord Voldemort gave his diary horcrux to Lucius Malfoy and they made plans to reopen the Chamber of Secrets using the diary.
• Lord Voldemort entrusted Helga Hufflepuff’s cup horcrux to Bellatrix Lestrange, one of his most trusted and loyal Death Eaters. She placed the cup in her vault at Gringotts Wizarding Bank.

1971

Exact date unknown:

• The Whomping Willow was planted and the Shrieking Shack was built so that Remus Lupin could attend Hogwarts and have a safe place to hide while he was a werewolf each month.

September 1, 1971:

• James Potter, Lily Evans, Peter Pettigrew, Remus Lupin, Severus Snape, and Sirius Black entered Hogwarts and were sorted sorted into Gryffindor House except Severus, who became a Slytherin.
• James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew became friends.

1972 or 1973

Exact date unknown:

• Some time during their second year at Hogwarts James Potter, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew figured out that Remus Lupin was a werewolf. The three of them decided to become Animagus to keep Remus company during full moons, a process that took them three years to succeed at.

1975

Exact date unknown:

• James Potter, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew mastered the ability to become Animagus. Their animal forms were as follows: James was a stag, Sirius was a dog, and Peter was a rat.
• James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew called themselves the Marauders and created the Marauders Map. They used the map to secretly wander through all the hidden passageways throughout Hogwarts castle.

1976

Spring:

•  After finishing their Defense Against The Dark Arts O.W.L.s, James Potter bullied Severus Snape by magically suspending Severus upside down in the air, exposing his underwear, which was witnessed by many students, including Lily Evans. Lily tried to help Severus but he called her a Mudblood, which ended their friendship.

Exact date unknown:

• Severus Snape began to get suspicious of Remus Lupin who disappeared every full moon. Sirius Black tricked Severus by telling him how to get past the Whomping Willow so that Severus could follow Remus to the Shrieking Shack at a time when Remus was inside as a werewolf. James Potter found out what Sirius had done and prevented Severus from entering the shack, an action that either saved Severus’s life or prevented him from becoming a werewolf.

1976 or 1977

Exact date unknown:

• Severus Snape had always had a fascination with the Dark Arts his interest in them increased after he became a Slytherin. Severus, along with several other Slytherins,became a Death Eater because he thought that it would impress Lily Evans and that this would help him win her back, but Lily was not impressed.

1978

Exact date unknown:

• James Potter, Lily Evans, Peter Pettigrew, Remus Lupin, Severus Snape, and Sirius Black graduate from Hogwarts.

1978 or 1979

Exact dates unknown:

• James Potter married Lily Evans. Sirius Black was their best man.
• Lord Voldemort was defied three times by James and Lily Potter, and by Frank and Alice Longbottom.

1979

Exact date unknown:

• Lord Voldemort ordered Death Eater Regulus Black’s house elf Kreacher to hide Slytherin’s locket in the seaside cave that Voldemort had visited as a child. Regulus somehow learned that the locket was a horcrux and decided to do what he could to defeat Voldemort. He switched the locket with a fake one, hid the fake one in the cave with the help of his house elf Kreacher, then told Kreacher to take the real locket home and destroy it. Regulus died in the cave and Kreacher returned home but was unable to destroy the locket and it stayed in the Black family house.

September 19, 1979:

• Hermione Jean Granger was born.

September or October, 1979:

• Lily Potter and Alice Longbottom became pregnant.

Fall or Winter, 1979:

• Peter Pettigrew started passing information to Lord Voldemort.

1980

Winter or Spring, 1980:

• Albus Dumbledore interviewed Sybil Trelawney for the job of Divinations teacher at Hogwarts. During the interview Sybil fell into a trance and uttered a prophecy about a boy born at the end of July to parents who had thrice defied the Dark Lord, and that this boy would be able to defeat the Dark Lord. Severus Snape overheard the first half of the prophecy and shared what he had heard with Lord Voldemort.

March 1, 1980:

• Ronald Bilius Weasley was born.

July 30, 1980:

• Neville Longbottom was born.

July 31, 1980:

• Harry Potter was born and Sirius Black was made his Godfather.

1981

Exact dates unknown:

• Lord Voldemort interpreted the prophecy to mean that Harry Potter was the child who had the ability to defeat him and set out to kill him. Severus Snape was horrified when he realized that Lily’s son might be killed because of his actions. He begged Voldemort to spare Lily’s life. Severus worried that this wasn’t enough so he also went to Albus Dumbledore and pleaded that Lily Potter be kept safe. Dumbledore agreed but only if Severus became a spy for Dumbledore, something Severus agreed to do because of his love for Lily.
• Albus Dumbledore hired Severus Snape to teach Potions, even though he applied for Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Approximately October 24, 1981:

• James and Lily Potter use a Fidelius Charm to protect them and baby Harry from Lord Voldemort. Sirius Black was to be their secret keeper but at the last minute he convinced James and Lily to make Peter Pettigrew their secret keeper, which they did.

October 31, 1981:

• Peter Pettigrew betrayed James and Lily Potter by sharing their location with Lord Voldemort. Voldemort went to the Potters home and killed James Potter, then went after baby Harry. Lily Potter pleaded with him to kill her instead and to show mercy on Harry but Voldemort killed Lily just before he tried to kill her son. Lily’s loving sacrifice protected Harry and caused Voldemort’s killing curse to rebound off Harry and destroyed his body. The last fragment of Voldemort’s soul survived and he became less than a ghost.

November 1, 1981:

• Hagrid delivered baby Harry to his relatives, Vernon and Petunia Dursley, where Albus Dumbledore and Minerva McGonagall left Harry on their doorstep, along with a note explaining what had happened. Sirius Black was arrested for the murder of 12 Muggles and Peter Pettigrew.

December, 1981:

• Bellatrix Black Lestrange, Rodolphus Lestrange, Rabastan Lestrange, and Bartemius Crouch Jr. tortured Frank and Alice Longbottom using the Cruciatus Curse in an effort to find Voldemort. The four Death Eaters were arrested and sent to Azkaban. The Longbottoms were driven permanently insane from the torture and were committed to a lifetime at St. Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries.

1981 – 1991

• Harry Potter was raised by his only living relatives, the Dursleys.
• Neville Longbottom was raised by his paternal grandmother.

1982

Exact dates unknown:

• Peter Pettigrew, disguised as a rat, made his way to the Weasley family and became Percy Weasley’s pet.
• Barty Crouch Sr. helped his son, Barty Crouch Jr., secretly escape from Azkaban and kept his son imprisoned at his home.

1991

July 24, 1991:

• Harry Potter received his first letter to Hogwarts, which was intercepted and burned by his uncle Vernon.

July 31, 1991:

• Harry Potter learned from Hagrid that he was a wizard. Hagrid took Harry to The Leaky Cauldron, where he met Quirinus Quirrell, who would be his Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher. Quirinus broke into Gringotts Wizarding Bank in a failed attempt to steal the Sorcerer’s Stone.

September 1, 1991:

• Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, and Neville Longbottom entered Hogwarts and were all sorted into Gryffindor. Harry and Ron became friends.

October 31, 1991:

• Harry Potter and Ron Weasley became friends with Hermione Granger.

December 25, 1991:

• Harry Potter received the Cloak of Invisibility.

1992

June 4, 1992:

• Harry Potter learned from Professor Quirinus Quirrell that Lord Voldemort was alive, and battled with Quirrell to keep the Sorcerer’s Stone from him. After hearing what happened Headmaster Albus Dumbledore realized that Lord Voldemort had returned.

July 31, 1992:

• Dobby the house elf warned Harry Potter about the dangers of returning to Hogwarts.

August, 1992:

• Ginny Weasley was unknowingly given Tom Riddle’s diary horcrux by Lucius Malfoy.

September 8, 1992:

• Tom Riddle’s memory from the diary used Ginny Weasley to open the Chamber of Secrets.

1993

May 8, 1993:

• Hermione Granger was petrified by the Basilisk.

May 24, 1993:

• Harry Potter and Ron Weasley met Aragog in the Forbidden Forest.

May 29, 1993:

• Harry Potter entered the Chamber of Secrets where he saved Ginny Weasley’s life and destroyed Tom Riddle’s diary.

July, 1993:

• Sirius Black saw Peter Pettigrew disguised as a rat in an issue of “The Daily Prophet”. He escaped from Azkaban and headed towards Hogwarts to find Peter.

September 1, 1993:

• Harry Potter met Remus Lupin, the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.

Late December, 1993:

• Fred and George Weasley gave the Marauder’s Map to Harry Potter.

1994

Winter or Spring, 1994:

• Lord Voldemort killed Bertha Jorkins and used her death to create a horcrux out of his pet snake, Nagini. This was his sixth, and last, horcrux.

June 6, 1994:

• Sybil Trelawney told her second prophecy to Harry Potter, which said that Lord Voldemort’s servant would be reunited with his master. Later that night Sirius Black found and confronted Peter Pettigrew. Peter escaped and returned to the Dark Lord, while Harry Potter and Hermione Granger helped Sirius escape to freedom.

August 18, 1994:

• Barty Crouch Jr. escaped from his father’s imprisonment.

September 1, 1994:

• Barty Crouch Jr. captured Alastair “Mad-Eye” Moody the day that Mad-Eye was to start teaching at Hogwarts. Barty Jr. successfully impersonated Mad-Eye using Polyjuice Potion the entire school year.

Sometime Between 1995 and 1997

Exact date unknown:

• Mundungus Fletcher stole the Salazar Slytherin’s locket from the Black family home, then sold it to Dolores Umbridge.

1995

Exact date unknown:

• Lord Voldemort wanted to hear the complete prophecy made by Sybil Trelawney and made plans to retrieve it from the Ministry of Magic where it was kept.

June 24, 1995:

• Barty Crouch Jr. created a Portkey that delivered Harry Potter and Cedric Diggory to Lord Voldemort at the end of Harry’s fourth year at Hogwarts. Peter Pettigrew killed Cedric, then used Harry’s blood to resurrect Lord Voldemort to human form.

July, 1995:

• Albus Dumbledore re-formed The Order of the Phoenix.

September, 1995:

• Ministry employee Delores Umbridge was put in the position of Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts but refused to teach anything helpful.

October 5, 1995:

• Harry Potter created Dumbledore’s Army and secretly taught many students how to protect themselves against the Dark Arts and attacks.

1996

June 18, 1996:

• Lord Voldemort lured Harry Potter to the Ministry of Magic and tricked Harry into taking the prophecy. The prophecy broke in the fight that ensued and Voldemort was unable to hear the complete prophecy. Sirius Black was killed during the battle by Bellatrix Lestrange. The wizarding world realized that Lord Voldemort was back. The Second Wizarding War began.

July, 1996:

• Draco Malfoy became a Death Eater and Lord Voldemort tasked him with killing Albus Dumbledore. Severus Snape took the Unbreakable Vow with Narcissa Malfoy to protect Draco and assist him with his assignment.

July or August, 1996:

• Albus Dumbledore found the Gaunt ring and realized that it was made from the Resurrection Stone. He forgot that it was a horcrux and put it on. The horcrux cursed him but Severus Snape stopped the curse from killing Dumbledore. Both men knew that Dumbledore had about a year to live as a result of the curse. Dumbledore, who knew about Draco Malfoy’s task, made Severus promise to kill him instead of Draco Malfoy.

1997

April 20, 1997:

• Professor Horace Slughorn gave his memory where he told a young Tom Riddle about horcruxes to Harry Potter. Harry took the memory to Albus Dumbledore, who then realized that Lord Voldemort had made a total of six horcruxes. Dumbledore told Harry about horcruxes and that they all needed to be destroyed before Voldemort could be killed.

June 30, 1997:

• Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore went to the seaside cave and found the fake Slytherin locket. They returned to Hogwarts where Draco Malfoy confronted Dumbledore in an attempt to kill the Headmaster. Severus Snape arrived and killed Dumbledore.

August 1, 1997:

• Lord Voldemort took over the Ministry of Magic. Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley set off to find and destroy the remaining horcruxes.

September 2, 1997:

• Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley broke into the Ministry of Magic and stole the real Slytherin locket from Dolores Umbridge.

December 28, 1997:

• Ron Weasley destroyed the Slytherin locket horcrux.

1998

Late March, 1998:

• Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley were captured by Snatchers and taken to Malfoy Manor. Peter Pettigrew tried to kill Harry but died while unintentionally saving Harry’s life. Dobby the house elf was killed by Bellatrix Lestrange as he rescued Harry, Hermione, Ron, and several others from Malfoy Manor.

May 1, 1998:

• Griphook the goblin helped Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley break into Gringotts Wizarding Bank where they took Helga Hufflepuff’s cup from Bellatrix Lestrange’s vault.

May 2, 1998:

• The Battle of Hogwarts began. Hermione Granger destroyed the horcrux inside the Hufflepuff cup. Harry Potter, Hermione, and Ron Weasley found Rowena Ravenclaw’s diadem in the Room of Requirements and it was destroyed by a magical fire that broke out in the room. Severus Snape was attacked by Lord Voldemort. Harry found Severus, who shared his memories with Harry. Harry watched Severus’s memories, which showed Severus’s love for Lily and how he had helped work to bring down Lord Voldemort. Harry sacrificed himself to Voldemort, who unintentionally destroyed the piece of his soul that was inside Harry. Neville Longbottom killed Nagini (the last surviving horcrux) and left Voldemort mortal. Harry Potter defeated Lord Voldemort for good and the Second Wizarding War ended.