Harry, Ron, and Hermione do not return to Hogwarts. Instead they go on the run, hunting Horcruxes across Britain while Voldemort tightens his grip on the wizarding world and the people who sheltered Harry are placed in increasing danger. The final novel abandons the school structure of its predecessors entirely, becoming a road story and then a war story before its climactic battle on the grounds of Hogwarts. It answers every question the series has been building toward, including some the reader did not know to ask, and brings characters who have been present since the first chapter to ends that feel earned.
