"Imagine that Voldemort's powerful now. You don't know who his supporters are, you don't know who's working for him and who isn't; you know he can control people so that they do terrible things without being able to stop themselves. You're scared for yourself, and your family, and your friends. Every week, news comes of more deaths, more disappearances, more torturing… The Ministry of Magic's in disarray, they don't know what to do, they're trying to keep everything hidden from the Muggles, but meanwhile, Muggles are dying too. Terror everywhere… panic… confusion… that's how it used to be."

The event known as the First Wizarding War was a major conflict with foundations as early as the 1940s, but officially beginning in 1970 and ending abruptly in 1981. It marked the original "reign" of the Dark Lord Voldemort.

Contents

Prelude

Rise of the Heir of Slytherin (1940s)

Tom Riddle: "Surely you didn't think I was going to keep my filthy Muggle father's name, did you? Keep the name of a man who abandoned my mother when he found out that she was a witch? No! I fashioned myself a new name, a name I knew wizards everywhere would one day fear to speak, when I became the greatest sorcerer in the world!"

Around this time, Riddle also learned about Horcruxes and planned to make his own in order to secure himself immortality. He began committing more murders to facilitate this goal, including a triple murder of his own relatives, the Muggle Riddle family. He framed his maternal uncle Morfin Gaunt for the crimes and used the House of Gaunt's signet ring as a Horcrux. While at school, Riddle also began assembling a group of friends who would become his followers, the Death Eaters.

After graduating from Hogwarts, Riddle began working at Borgin and Burkes, a Dark shop in Knockturn Alley. He used this position to befriend Hepzibah Smith, a wealthy old witch who was soon found dead with two of her most prized possessions stolen. Riddle acquired two more Horcruxes and soon left Britain.[2]

Immersion in the Dark Arts (1950s-1960s)

Dumbledore: "You call it 'greatness,' what you have been doing, do you?"

Voldemort: "Certainly. I have experimented; I have pushed the boundaries of magic further, perhaps, than they have ever been pushed..."

For the next two decades, Riddle, now known as Lord Voldemort, laid low and travelled, notably to Albania.[3] He studied the Dark Arts extensively, and underwent several transformations which made him more powerful and less human. He returned to Britain briefly at some point to request that Hogwarts' new Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, give him the position of professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts. Dumbledore, who had been suspicious of Riddle ever since he admitted to enjoying inflicting pain as a boy, turned him down, and took note of how his former student had changed for the worse. As a result of this rejection, Riddle placed a jinx upon the job position, making it so that the job could not be held more than a year[2].

War

Death Eater Rebellion

"...this wizard, about twenty years ago, started lookin' fer followers. Got 'em, too -- some were afraid, some just wanted a bit o' his power, 'cause he was gettin' himself power, all right."

By 1970, Voldemort had formed the Death Eater organisation and proclaimed himself the new Dark Lord. With this army and his Horcruxes, he planned a revolution against the Ministry of Magic.

The Death Eaters originally attacked mostly Muggles and Muggle-born wizards and witches, while using blackmail and the Imperius Curse to gain secret servants in high places, intending to destabilise the Ministry, which desperately tried to keep order as well as secrecy from the Muggle world. Albus Dumbledore, in response to the growing threat of the Dark Lord and his minions, formed the Order of the Phoenix to combat the Death Eaters directly. Some Aurors from the Ministry also joined the Order of the Phoenix to participate in more secretive, sudden assaults to crush the Dark Rebellion.[4]

Height of the War

Remus Lupin: "The last time Voldemort had power he almost destroyed everything we hold most dear..."

Sirius Black: "...he had huge numbers at his command -- not just witches and wizards but all manner of Dark creatures..."

Terror and chaos gripped the wizarding world at the increased brutality of the Death Eaters, whose identities were still largely unknown.[5] This made people suspicious of one another, even within the Order; Sirius Black, for instance, came to distrust his old friend Remus Lupin, suspecting that he might be a spy.[6]

Voldemort also made use of his alliance with the Giants and werewolves. Aurors fought hard to maintain resistance during the Invasion of Britain, which was fronted by Voldemort-supporting Giants. Many lost their lives and entire tribes of Giants were wiped out until, finally, the beasts retreated and went into hiding.[4]

Decline of the Death Eaters

After the Giants' defeat, the tide of the war began to turn. Death Eaters Evan Rosier and Wilkes met their ends at the hands of Aurors, now given permission by the Ministry per an edict from the office of Bartemius Crouch Sr. to employ the Unforgivable Curses against their enemies. Many ordinary wizards also met their ends while bravely trying to face Death Eaters, such as the father of Dean Thomas.[4]

The Prophecy and the Death of the Potters

"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches...born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies...and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not...and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survive..."

During the worst days of the war, a prophecy was made by Sybill Trelawney about the person who would have the ability to defeat Lord Voldemort. There were two possible candidates, both born to members of the Order of the Phoenix in July of 1980: Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom.[4] Death Eater Severus Snape overheard part of the prophecy and reported it to Voldemort, who believed it meant the Potters' son, a half-blood like himself, and resolved to kill the infant. This caused Snape, who was in love with the boy's mother, to defect to the Order without any of the Death Eaters or Lord Voldemort finding out.[7]

Voldemort murdering Lily Potter - one of his greatest mistakes.

Dumbledore bade the Potters go into hiding with the protection of the Fidelius Charm. While James and Lily Potter wanted to have their close friend Sirius Black be their Secret-Keeper, Sirius thought the enemy would suspect him, but not a “weak, talentless thing” like Peter Pettigrew. Thus, Pettigrew became the Potters' Secret-Keeper. No one, not even Dumbledore or Remus Lupin, knew of the switch. However, Pettigrew was a traitor working for Voldemort, and he told his master that the Potters were hiding in Godric's Hollow.[6]

On 31 October, 1981, Voldemort travelled there himself. He killed James when the latter opposed Voldemort unarmed, but offered Lily a chance to save herself if she stepped away from the crib containing her infant son - Snape had requested that she be spared. Lily refused, and Voldemort killed her before turning the Killing Curse on Harry Potter. However, Lily's sacrifice gave her son the protection of an ancient magic, and the curse backfired, destroying Voldemort's physical body and leaving a lightning-shaped scar on Harry's forehead that a fragment of Voldemort's soul became attached to, inadvertently making Harry a Horcrux.[7]

End of the War

"Harry Potter rolled over inside his blankets without waking up. One small hand closed on the letter beside him and he slept on, not knowing he was special, not knowing he was famous…. He couldn’t know that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices: “To Harry Potter – the boy who lived!”"

—Description of the celebrations going on at the end of the war and the destiny forced upon the young Harry Potter.[src]

The Dark Lord's body was destroyed, leaving behind only his mangled soul which fled the collapsing building to go into hiding. Voldemort's defeat meant that his followers were sent into disarray; some, like Bellatrix Lestrange were sent to Azkaban and others, such as Lucius Malfoy, used their wealth, power, and influence (and claims that they had been under the Imperius Curse) to avoid imprisonment. There was celebration all across the country at the end of Voldemort's reign of terror.

Harry Potter, now orphaned, was taken from the remains of the Godric's Hollow cottage to 4 Privet Drive, the residence of his aunt Petunia and her husband Vernon. Waiting for Hagrid in the Muggle neighborhood of Little Whinging was Albus Dumbledore and Minerva McGonagall, and Dumbledore left a note with the sleeping baby Harry explaining everything 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. The plan worked: While the Dursleys abused and tormented Harry during all his years living there, they did always allow him houseroom.

Aftermath

"The Dark Lord will rise again, Crouch! Throw us into Azkaban; we will wait!"

Although the war was over with Voldemort's defeat, some Death Eaters were still free to cause trouble, leading the Ministry, spearheaded by Barty Crouch Sr to launch a massive crackdown on the Death Eaters and their acts of terrorism against the wizarding world. Peter Pettigrew attempted to go into hiding, but was tracked down by Sirius Black, who had realised his treachery, on a Muggle street. Faking his own death, Pettigrew created an explosion that killed twelve Muggle bystanders, and then transformed into his Animagus form of a rat, escaping. Sirius was blamed for the explosion as well as the betrayal of the Potters and the "murder" of Pettigrew, and, by order of Bartemius Crouch (who was, at that time, the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement within the Ministry of Magic) was imprisoned in Azkaban without a trial.[6]

Though the war was over, Albus Dumbledore knew that Lord Voldemort would return. He and Severus Snape - pardoned for his Death Eater crimes because of his defection - agreed to protect Harry Potter, the boy destined to defeat the Dark Lord.[7] Others, such as Cornelius Fudge, would believe that Voldemort has perished for good and prefer to keep such a delusion as a form of comfort and peace, to the point of discrediting Harry for declaring Voldemort's return, apparently being highly ungrateful for stopping the Dark Lord the first time.