How Are The Harry Potter Books Structured?

The Harry Potter books follow a similar structure. The book will always start out with Harry staying at the Dursley's. His summers are usually spent at The Burrow, the home of his best friend Ron Weasley. Harry's term starts on the 1st of September, and the first part of his year at Hogwarts usually consists with Harry settling in to his lessons and having Quidditch practices. New characters in the books are usually introduced in the first part of the book (Gilderoy Lockhart is introduced in Diagon Alley in the second book when Harry collects his school books, Sirius Black (Harry's godfather) is mentioned early in the third book, Cedric Diggory is introduced early in the fourth book, members of the Order of the Pheonix and Luna Lovegood are introduced early in the fifth book and the character Horace Slughorn is introduced in the first part of the sixth book).

Harry's adventures always take place towards the end of term and the last part of the book usually consist of Harry recovering from battles and returning to the Dursleys for the summer, until his next year begins.

The sixth book, released in 2005, raised questions as to whether Harry would be returning to Hogwarts, leaving fans questioning what exactly would happen.