In the previous book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the last chapter, titled 'The Second War Begins,' started.

'In a brief statement on Friday night, Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge confirmed that He Who Must Not Be Named has returned to this country and is once more active. 

'It is with great regret that I must confirm that the wizard styling himself Lord — well, you know who I mean — is alive and among us again,' said Fudge.'

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince takes up the story of Harry Potter's sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry at this point as Voldemort's power and followers are increasing day by day, in the midst of this battle of good and evil.

Harry Potter is due to start his fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He is desperate to get back to school and to find out why his friends Ron and Hermione have been so secretive all summer. However, what Harry is about to discover in his new year at Hogwarts will turn his world upside down.

It is the summer holidays, and one night Harry Potter wakes up with his scar burning. He has had a strange dream, one that he can't help worrying about … until a timely invitation from Ron Weasley arrives: to nothing less than the Quidditch World Cup.Soon Harry is reunited with Ron and Hermione and gasping at the thrills of an international Quidditch match. But then something horrible happens which casts a shadow over everybody, and Harry in particular.

Harry Potter, along with his friends, Ron and Hermione, is about to start his third year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry can't wait to get back to school after the summer holidays. (Who wouldn't if they lived with the Dursleys?) But when Harry gets to Hogwarts, the atmosphere is tense. There's an escaped mass murderer on the loose, and the sinister prison guards of Azkaban have been called in to guard the school.

Winner of the 1999 Nestle Smarties Book Prize and the 2000 Scottish Arts Council Children's Book Award.

'The Harry Potter books are that rare thing,  a series pf stories adored by parents and children alike.' The Daily Telegraph Winner of the 1999 Whitbread Children's Book of the Year

Harry Potter is a wizard. He is in his second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. As Harry and Ron embark on their journey to Hogwarts in a flying Ford Anglia, little do they know that this year will be just as eventful as the last as ghosts from Hogwarts past return to haunt the school corridors.'Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is as good as its predecessor…Hogwarts is a creation of genius' The Times Literary Supplement.'Joanne Rowling's second book is just as funny, frightening and unexpected as her first' The Daily Mail Winner of the 1998 Smarties Gold Award.

Harry Potter thinks he is an ordinary boy - until he is rescued by a beetle eyed giant of a man, enrols at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, learns to play Quidditch and does battle in a deadly duel. All because Harry Potter is a wizard! Follow the adventures of Harry Potter as he discovers the magical, the dangerous, the unpredictable world of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.Shortlisted for the 1997 Carnegie Medal Award.Winner of the 1997 Smarties Book Prize Gold Award for 9-11 years.