Chapter Summaries

After Harry was badly injured by Malfoy, Ginny worried about him and went to Potions class, where students from all four Houses had been assembled. The students waited in the dungeon classroom to meet their new Potions teacher.

• Ron told Ginny and Hermione that Harry was expected to recover and would be sent to St Mungo's for continued treatment.
• Hermione said Harry may have been struck by the Cruciatus or Imperius Curse, while Ron accused Malfoy of plotting with the Death Eaters and Ginny demanded to know whether he would be expelled.
• Hermione apologized after Ginny reminded her that Harry was their friend, and Ginny left for Potions class without eating breakfast.
• Ginny arrived at the crowded dungeon classroom and sat with Colin, then spoke with Luna about Harry and Greengrass.
• Students from all four Houses filled the classroom and waited for their new Potions teacher.

Albus Dumbledore temporarily took over Potions while Professor Slughorn was unavailable and challenged students to think beyond the idea that potions were simply magical concoctions. He ended the lesson by asking Ginny Weasley why a bezoar could neutralise poison.

• Ginny Weasley and the other students were surprised to find Albus Dumbledore at the lectern as their new temporary Potions teacher.
• Dumbledore explained that Professor Slughorn would return within two months, while Professor Snape had declined to teach Potions in the meantime.
• Dumbledore asked what a potion was, and Melinda Bobbin gave Snape’s familiar description before Dumbledore said that view was too narrow.
• Ginny Weasley answered that a bezoar could serve as a powerful antidote, earning five points for Gryffindor.
• Dumbledore explained that a bezoar was a cow’s gallstone that required no magic to form and was also used in Muggle medicines.
• Dumbledore asked Ginny why a bezoar could neutralise poison.

Albus Dumbledore introduced a Potions class focused on investigating how ingredients work, using Lobalug venom, bezoar, and mice. The lesson ended with students fascinated by the experiments, while Luna Lovegood stayed behind to examine the microscope.

• Dumbledore questioned the limits of Professor Arseny Spore’s claims about bezoars and described how excessive bezoar had likely killed Alvaro Cecilio.
• Astoria Greengrass asked whether the class would study the principles behind potions, and Dumbledore confirmed it.
• Dumbledore guided the students through experiments using mice, different doses of Lobalug venom and bezoar, and a microscope.
• After class, Luna Lovegood told Melinda Bobbin she had found something interesting and stayed behind to examine the instrument.

Harry woke in the Hospital Wing and told Dumbledore that Draco Malfoy had cursed him in the Room of Requirement, but Dumbledore said Snape had treated it as a student fight and given Draco detention. Dumbledore took Harry to his office for the promised private lessons and brought out a Pensieve to show him memories about Voldemort and Harry’s connection to him.

• Harry woke in the Hospital Wing and told Dumbledore that Draco Malfoy had attacked him in the Room of Requirement.
• Dumbledore told Harry that Snape had judged the incident an ordinary student fight and assigned Draco several weeks of detention.
• Dumbledore revealed that he had taken over as the Potions teacher, and Harry was pleased that Snape would not be teaching the class.
• Dumbledore brought Harry to his office and said they had limited time to resolve one of their problems.
• Dumbledore set out a Pensieve filled with memories to begin Harry’s extra private lessons about Voldemort and their connection.

Harry worried that Dumbledore was preparing to leave him the task of destroying Voldemort’s final Horcrux, while Malfoy secretly returned to the Room of Requirement. Malfoy reached the Vanishing Cabinet and froze when someone spoke to him from behind.

• Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione discussed Dumbledore’s unusual farewell-like tone and the possibility that Harry would have to find Voldemort’s last Horcrux.
• Ron spotted Malfoy on the stairs and nearly attacked him, but Harry and Hermione restrained him.
• Hermione noticed that Malfoy had been heading toward the eighth floor, though Ron dismissed her concern.
• Malfoy entered the Room of Requirement with Crabbe and Goyle and made his way to the Vanishing Cabinet.
• A voice addressed Malfoy from behind, and he turned in shock.

Draco Malfoy reunited with Kristoff in the Room of Requirement and revealed what he knew about Voldemort’s plans for the Vanishing Cabinet and Dumbledore. Kristoff told him their mission was not only to kill Dumbledore, but also to kill Voldemort.

• Draco Malfoy found Kristoff waiting in the Room of Requirement and learned he had entered Hogwarts through a secret passage from the Hog's Head.
• Kristoff recognized the Vanishing Cabinet and praised Draco for repairing it so Death Eaters could enter Hogwarts.
• Draco told Kristoff that Voldemort wanted him to lure the Death Eaters into Hogwarts and kill Albus Dumbledore, with Snape and possibly Slughorn as backup plans.
• Kristoff offered to help Draco escape to Sweden, but Draco refused because he feared his departure would put Kristoff in danger.
• Kristoff told Draco that their mission was to kill both Albus Dumbledore and Voldemort.

After Professor Trelawney survived a poisoned Mead and Professor Slughorn returned to teaching, Hogwarts continued under gloomy weather and tighter restrictions. Astoria Greengrass secretly went to the Headmaster’s Office and overheard Dumbledore speaking with a hysterical woman.

• Dumbledore explained that Trelawney had suffered food poisoning, though the truth was that someone had poisoned the Mead intended for him.
• Slughorn returned to Hogwarts and resumed teaching Potions, replacing Dumbledore’s lessons.
• The school cancelled all remaining Hogsmeade visits for the term after a series of accidents.
• Daphne Greengrass struggled with Apparition lessons while Astoria quizzed her and claimed she was going to the Library.
• Astoria went instead to the Headmaster’s Office, where she heard Dumbledore speaking with a hysterical woman.

Astoria overheard Professor Trelawney complain to Dumbledore about students throwing her out of the Room of Requirement, then met Jon in the Headmaster's Office and studied with him. Trelawney's account reminded Jon that he needed to bring certain matters forward, and he prepared to act.

• Trelawney argued with Dumbledore about Firenze and said students had thrown her out of a hidden room on the Eighth Floor.
• Dumbledore promised to investigate, and Trelawney left without noticing Astoria outside the office.
• Astoria entered and found Jon in the Headmaster's seat; he explained that he could neither send Firenze back to the forest nor let Trelawney leave Hogwarts safely.
• Astoria asked Jon about Gobarot's Third Law and Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration, and he explained the potion and transfiguration principles.
• As the clock struck eleven, Jon said Trelawney had reminded him to move certain matters up, and Astoria returned while he prepared to act.

Jon Hart, disguised as Albus Dumbledore, and Severus Snape confronted Horace Slughorn in the Potions classroom office. Slughorn confessed to helping Voldemort and betraying Diana Greengrass, while claiming he had later tried to warn Jon Hart.

• Jon Hart ordered Phineas Black to contact Severus Snape, drank Polyjuice Potion, and took Albus Dumbledore's Elder Wand.
• Severus Snape and Jon Hart, disguised as Albus Dumbledore, confronted Horace Slughorn outside his office, and Snape disarmed him.
• Horace Slughorn agreed to confess and explained that he had joined Voldemort after Diana Greengrass's arrival exposed his whereabouts.
• Slughorn admitted that he told Voldemort Diana was making a Horcrux and also leaked information about Jon Hart to save himself.
• Slughorn claimed that after escaping Voldemort's control, he had quietly warned Diana's daughter to tell Jon Hart the truth.

Dumbledore and Snape interrogated Slughorn, who confessed that Voldemort had sent him to Hogwarts to kill Dumbledore and revealed his suspicions about Dumbledore’s role in Nurmengard Tower’s collapse. Dumbledore accepted his account but said Slughorn’s trip to Azkaban would be delayed by an accident there that night.

• Slughorn confessed that Voldemort had assigned him to kill Dumbledore and said a Hogwarts teacher and student had received the same task.
• Slughorn admitted that he had given Dumbledore poisoned Mead supplied by Madam Rosmerta, which Professor Trelawney had drunk, and Dumbledore said Slughorn would face attempted-murder charges.
• Slughorn said he had abandoned Voldemort after Nurmengard Tower collapsed and guessed that Dumbledore had planned the escape of the Dark Lord who had once been imprisoned there.
• Dumbledore believed Slughorn had told the truth, while Snape questioned whether Slughorn could be trusted not to betray them again.
• Dumbledore said an accident at Azkaban would delay Slughorn’s imprisonment and asked Snape to stay with him for the night.

Voldemort learned that Lucius Malfoy had attacked Azkaban and heard Gibbon explain Draco Malfoy’s plan to lure Dumbledore into an ambush at Hogwarts. Voldemort decided to carry out the plan himself and entrusted Bellatrix with something important he could not bring.

• Wormtail brought Voldemort a Daily Prophet report accusing Lucius Malfoy and Death Eaters of attacking Azkaban.
• Bellatrix blamed Lucius and his new master for the attack, while Voldemort questioned Gibbon about his visit to Hogwarts.
• Gibbon explained Draco’s plan to draw Dumbledore to a tower at Hogwarts by releasing the Dark Mark and ambush him there.
• Voldemort rejected Bellatrix’s offer to lead the mission and announced that he would infiltrate Hogwarts and kill Dumbledore himself.
• Voldemort refused Bellatrix’s request to accompany him and said he needed to leave something important in her safekeeping.

Jon Hart told Hogwarts’ former headmasters that Voldemort was likely to come to the castle that night, drawn by the chance to kill the supposedly present Albus Dumbledore. He ordered defenses and allies summoned, then left his own plan unexplained.

• Jon explained that Voldemort believed Dumbledore was at Hogwarts and would seize the opportunity to attack after Draco Malfoy’s Vanishing Cabinet had enabled an infiltration.
• Jon argued that Voldemort would avoid widespread destruction and a massacre at Hogwarts, but agreed the castle was still in danger.
• Jon ordered Dexter to have Minerva impose an eight o’clock curfew on students.
• Jon sent Chris to ask Rufus Scrimgeour to dispatch Aurors to Hogwarts and directed Phineas Black to summon the Order of the Phoenix from Grimmauld Place.
• Jon sent Fawkes to summon Harry Potter to his office at eight that evening, then assured Phineas he did not expect the gathered defenders alone to defeat Voldemort.

Harry went to Dumbledore’s office after Fawkes delivered a message and discovered that Jon Hart was alive and waiting there. Jon and Harry checked the Marauder’s Map for a threat near the Room of Requirement, where Draco Malfoy and Tom Riddle appeared.

• Harry heard that Azkaban had been attacked again and learned that Hogwarts had imposed a nighttime curfew.
• Fawkes delivered Dumbledore’s message, and Harry hurried to the office with the Marauder’s Map.
• Harry found Jon Hart in Dumbledore’s office and learned that Jon had not died at Little Hangleton.
• Jon asked Harry to help Dumbledore, and they searched the Marauder’s Map for activity on the Eighth Floor.
• Harry and Jon saw Draco Malfoy and Tom Riddle appear at the Room of Requirement.

Voldemort led Death Eaters into Hogwarts while Dumbledore was away, splitting them between an attack near the Forbidden Forest and a march toward the Astronomy Tower. In the Headmaster’s Office, Jon gathered Harry, Moody, Kingsley, Durmstrang’s Headmaster, and the witch who had killed Kingsley, then prepared to confront Voldemort with a plan to play dirty.

• Voldemort marked Draco Malfoy with the Dark Mark and ordered him to scout the corridor.
• Voldemort sent Gibbon and his group toward the Forbidden Forest to cause destruction while he led the others toward the Astronomy Tower.
• Auror patrols spotted the Death Eaters, and an alarm alerted Hogwarts’s guards and teachers as the attackers split up.
• Harry saw Tom Riddle’s name on the Marauder’s Map and urged Jon to find Dumbledore, but Jon told him to stay calm and focus on their task.
• Moody, Kingsley, Durmstrang’s Headmaster, and the witch who had killed Kingsley arrived in the Headmaster’s Office by fireplace.
• Jon announced that everyone was ready and told Phineas he planned to play dirty with Tom.

Jon led Harry, Moody, Kingsley, Rosier, and Vance from Hogwarts to the Death Eaters’ headquarters, intending to capture Bellatrix Lestrange and locate Hufflepuff’s golden cup, Tom Riddle’s final Horcrux. After discovering protective spells around the manor, Jon heard squeaks from a nearby thicket and led the group toward them.

• Jon told Phineas Black that he meant to find Tom Riddle’s final Horcrux, Hufflepuff’s golden cup, and used a silver rat statuette to track Bellatrix Lestrange.
• Jon led Moody, Harry, Kingsley, Rosier, and Vance through the Floo Network to Diagon Alley, then Apparated with them to a manor in County of Avon.
• Jon identified the manor as a likely Death Eater headquarters and said Bellatrix Lestrange was their target, whom they needed to capture alive.
• Rosier and Moody detected powerful protective spells around the manor, so Jon told the group to wait.
• After hearing squeaks from a thicket, Jon ordered the group to follow and charged toward the bushes.

Jon led Harry, Wormtail, and their allies in an ambush on the Death Eaters at Yaxley Manor to capture Bellatrix Lestrange and secure the Dark Lord’s secret. Bellatrix was overwhelmed in the wine cellar, but she activated her Dark Mark as she was captured.

• Bellatrix discovered that the manor was unnaturally quiet while the Dark Lord was away on a secret mission.
• Jon ordered Wormtail to guide the group into the manor, and Wormtail opened the doors by presenting his Dark Mark.
• Jon’s group attacked the Death Eaters inside, with Moody and Vance holding the stairs while Kingsley, Harry, and others confronted Bellatrix.
• Bellatrix tried to escape by Apparition, but a golden rope caught her and pulled her down.
• Bellatrix threw away her wand and pressed her fingers against the Dark Mark on her left arm.

Jon and the Order captured Bellatrix Lestrange and learned she had hidden Voldemort’s Hufflepuff cup in a Dorset cemetery. Harry felt Voldemort’s rage through his scar as Jon revealed that Dumbledore was returning to Hogwarts despite Voldemort’s infiltration.

• Voldemort and the Death Eaters felt Bellatrix touch her Dark Mark, and Voldemort’s eyes turned an eerie green.
• Jon subdued Bellatrix, then used a potion to make her reveal that she had hidden Voldemort’s golden cup in a Lestrange family cemetery in Dorset.
• Kingsley transported Jon, Bellatrix, Moody, Vance, and the others to the cemetery after Moody blasted open the cellar exit.
• Harry collapsed as his scar burned and he struggled to suppress a sudden murderous rage.
• Jon told the others that Dumbledore was returning to Hogwarts, knowing Voldemort had infiltrated the castle.

Jon and the others found and destroyed Voldemort’s Horcrux, Hufflepuff’s golden cup, while Voldemort believed he had killed Dumbledore. The cup was left with Jon to return to Hogwarts.

• Jon told Kingsley that Dumbledore had been gravely injured by Voldemort’s curse and had sacrificed his life to buy time for the Horcrux mission.
• Moody found Rabastan Lestrange’s grave, and the group opened it to retrieve the golden cup.
• Voldemort praised Draco for bringing him into Hogwarts, then killed a white-haired figure who appeared to be Dumbledore and celebrated his apparent death with the Death Eaters.
• Harry clutched his scar in pain, so Jon summoned Gryffindor’s sword from the Sorting Hat.
• Jon drove off the cup’s black-serpent defense and shattered Hufflepuff’s golden cup with the sword.

The defenders fought Death Eaters at Hogwarts as Voldemort announced Dumbledore’s death and fled toward the Forbidden Forest. After the last Horcrux was destroyed at Lestrange Mausoleum, Jon stayed behind with Harry and greeted the pain-stricken Voldemort as Tom.

• McGonagall’s group fought its way to the Astronomy Tower, where Voldemort collapsed part of the tower wall and escaped with the Death Eaters.
• Arthur, Remus, and other defenders pursued Voldemort toward the Forbidden Forest, while Hermione suspected that Dumbledore had died.
• Voldemort felt the destruction of Hufflepuff’s golden cup and realized that the Dumbledore he had killed was an impostor.
• At Lestrange Mausoleum, Kingsley and Mad-Eye left to reach Hogwarts while Jon remained with Harry after the last Horcrux was destroyed.
• Jon watched Harry suffer and addressed Voldemort as Tom.

Harry Potter was forced to speak as Voldemort confronted Jon Hart through him, and Jon revealed that he had destroyed all of Voldemort’s Horcruxes and deceived him at the graveyard. Jon then claimed to be a Prophet Animagus and hinted that Voldemort could not leave Hogwarts, leaving Harry convulsing as Voldemort faced an unexplained trap.

• Harry felt Voldemort’s presence take control of his body and spoke Jon Hart’s name through his mouth.
• Jon admitted he had destroyed Hufflepuff’s cup and explained how he had helped destroy Voldemort’s other Horcruxes.
• Jon revealed that Barty Crouch Jr. had disguised himself as Jon at the graveyard while Alastor Moody disguised himself as Barty.
• Jon said he had learned Voldemort’s plans and Horcrux locations because he was a Prophet Animagus who could see what was about to happen.
• Jon confessed he was stalling for time and challenged Voldemort’s belief that he could leave Hogwarts, prompting Harry to convulse.