Chapter Summaries

Jon investigated a rumor about Andrew Cook, then reassured Professor McGonagall that Hogwarts’ staffing problems were being addressed. He said Horace Slughorn was expected to return before Easter and hinted that his invited Defence Against the Dark Arts candidate would arrive at one o’clock.

• Phineas Black reported that Andrew Cook’s father had no known connection to Griselda Marchbanks, and Jon ordered a mild disciplinary lecture and an end to the rumor.
• Professor McGonagall confronted Jon about parents’ doubts, the vacant Potions and Defence Against the Dark Arts posts, and Slytherin’s lack of a suitable Head of House.
• Jon told McGonagall that time would prove his worth as headmaster and that parents’ Howlers would not change his approach.
• Jon said evidence and a witness showed Horace Slughorn had joined their side before Voldemort’s downfall, and that Slughorn would soon return from Azkaban to teach Potions and lead Slytherin.
• Jon told McGonagall that Snape would not return soon and that he had invited a suitable Defence Against the Dark Arts professor to meet him at one o’clock.

Galatea Merles returned to Hogwarts as a temporary Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor and recognized several familiar portraits. Jon Hart privately explained that Tom Riddle had once sought the position and that a curse had since driven every Defence professor away within a year.

• Minerva McGonagall waited in the Headmaster's Office to meet the new Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor.
• Galatea Merles arrived, and McGonagall recognized her as a former Hogwarts professor returning temporarily from retirement.
• Merles greeted the portraits of Phineas Black and Armando Dippet, then asked why Albus Dumbledore's portrait was missing; Jon Hart said it was not yet finished.
• After McGonagall left, Jon asked Merles whether she remembered Tom Riddle and told her Dumbledore had rejected Riddle's application for her former post.
• Jon told Merles that a curse began after Riddle's rejection, preventing any Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor from staying at Hogwarts for more than a year.

Jon Hart asked Professor Galatea Merles to investigate the curse on the Defense Against the Dark Arts post, then went to the Burrow to meet with the Order of the Phoenix. The chapter ended with Sirius Black asking what direction the Order would take under Jon’s leadership.

• Jon told Professor Galatea Merles that Voldemort had cursed the Defense Against the Dark Arts post and asked her to find a way to lift the curse.
• Professor Merles agreed to investigate the curse and wished Jon luck as Hogwarts headmaster.
• Jon traveled to the Burrow, now the Order of the Phoenix’s temporary headquarters, for a meeting with its core members.
• Remus Lupin reported that Voldemort had been sighted in Albania, and Jon said the Order should wait for him to return to Britain.
• Sirius Black asked Jon where the Order of the Phoenix would go from there.

Jon Hart argued that the Order of the Phoenix should not disband after Voldemort's retreat, since Voldemort remained alive and the conditions that created Death Eaters persisted. He said the Order needed to change, though he had not yet explained how.

• Sirius Black asked Jon Hart for his opinion on whether the Order should disband, and Remus Lupin and Arthur Weasley supported returning to ordinary lives.
• Jon reminded the Order members that the Ministry had denied Voldemort's return and left them to fight Death Eaters in secret.
• Jon warned Alastor Moody that Voldemort was still alive and would return to Britain.
• Jon explained that Death Eaters would reappear as long as conflict between Pure-blood wizards, Muggles, and Muggle-born wizards continued.
• Jon told Kingsley Shacklebolt that even smarter Ministry officials would not fundamentally change the cycle of political mistakes.
• Harry Potter asked whether Jon meant the Order needed to change, and Jon agreed, criticizing Albus Dumbledore's work in building it.

Jon Hart argued that the Order of the Phoenix should make some of its members and deeds public so the Wizarding world would trust it when Voldemort returned. He proposed using a reporter to publicize the Order, with Hermione Granger’s help.

• Jon Hart said the Order had lost its early advantage by wasting time fighting the Ministry after Voldemort returned.
• Jon praised Alastor Moody, Remus Lupin, and Sirius Black for their service and argued that the Order’s heroes should be known.
• Jon said publicizing the Order’s past sacrifices and naming Death Eaters could have prevented the Ministry from dismissing Dumbledore’s warning and Death Eaters from infiltrating it.
• Kingsley Shacklebolt and Alastor Moody raised concerns that public exposure could endanger the Order, and Jon said some members should remain hidden while others stepped forward.
• Harry Potter offered to help publicize the Order through The Quibbler, but Jon proposed using a reporter who had been trying to cause him trouble and asking Miss Granger for help.

As Hogwarts students prepared for final exams, Hermione Granger went to meet Jon Hart while he recruited Horace Slughorn to help publicize the Order of the Phoenix. Slughorn agreed to contact Daily Prophet editor Barnabas Guffe and join the Order, and Hermione was summoned into the office.

• Hermione Granger kept Jon Hart's instructions secret from Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, then left the Library for the Headmaster's Office.
• Jon Hart welcomed Horace Slughorn back to Hogwarts and reminded him that he had spoken in his defense at the Ministry hearing.
• Jon asked Slughorn to use his connection with Barnabas Guffe to promote the Order of the Phoenix and present Slughorn as a model member.
• Jon confessed that he had forged the evidence claiming Professor Dumbledore left instructions, and Slughorn agreed to help and join the Order.
• Slughorn left the office without noticing Hermione, and Jon called her in.

Hermione Granger brought Rita Skeeter to Jon Hart, the new Hogwarts headmaster, after he summoned her. Jon recruited Skeeter as a special correspondent for the Order of the Phoenix.

• Hermione met Jon in the Headmaster's Office and asked how he felt about becoming headmaster.
• Jon told Hermione that Slughorn was untrustworthy but would side with them when it mattered.
• Hermione gave Jon a jar containing Rita Skeeter, whom she had caught secretly entering Hogwarts.
• Rita transformed back into human form after Fawkes blocked her escape, and Jon sealed her mouth with magic when she tried to turn the meeting into a news story.
• Jon invited Rita to become a special correspondent for the Order of the Phoenix.

Jon Hart coerced Rita Skeeter into becoming a special correspondent for the Order of the Phoenix and arranged for her to interview prominent members. After Rita left for The Hog’s Head, Astoria Greengrass returned to Hogwarts and approached Jon’s office, where she heard voices inside.

• Jon confronted Rita Skeeter about her article and her unregistered Animagus form, then persuaded her to work as a special correspondent for the Order of the Phoenix.
• Jon asked Rita to publish a series of interviews about Horace Slughorn, Alastor Moody, Remus Lupin, and the Weasley family, and she agreed for a high fee.
• Jon sent Rita to The Hog’s Head to wait for Horace Slughorn and instructed Fawkes to follow her.
• Astoria Greengrass returned to Hogwarts after Easter, went to the Headmaster’s Office, and heard faint voices inside.

After Hermione Granger left Jon Hart’s office, Astoria Greengrass teased Jon about their private moment before explaining that she had been joking. They chatted about school and Astoria’s family, and she gave Jon a glass bottle from her mother whose contents she did not know.

• Jon awkwardly dismissed Hermione Granger from his office, and she discovered Astoria Greengrass waiting outside.
• Astoria teased Jon about Hermione, then laughed, kissed him, and listened as he explained Hermione’s role in hiring Rita Skeeter for the Order of the Phoenix.
• Astoria admitted that she hated Hermione, then quickly reassured Jon that it had nothing to do with him.
• Astoria told Jon that she and her sister had returned to school and updated him about her mother, Selwyn, and Professor Slughorn.
• Astoria handed Jon a small glass bottle from her mother, saying she did not know what was inside.

Jon Hart and Astoria Greengrass used a Pensieve to enter a memory from Astoria’s mother, Diana Greengrass. They found young Diana confined in a locked room with her Hogwarts letter, where she spoke through a ceiling hatch with Alice.

• Jon recognized the substance in Astoria’s bottle as a memory belonging to her mother.
• Jon brought out a Pensieve, transferred the memory into it, and guided Astoria inside.
• Astoria and Jon arrived in a dark, locked room and saw a young girl who looked like Astoria.
• Jon noticed that the room was boarded up and locked, while young Diana Greengrass held a Hogwarts letter.
• Alice spoke to Diana through a ceiling hatch, and Diana happily said Alice would receive a Hogwarts letter someday too.

Jon and Astoria witnessed memories of Diana Greengrass leaving for Hogwarts while Alice remained hidden beneath the floor. The memories ended with Diana being sorted into Slytherin.

• Diana's family discovered that Alice, not Diana, had been hidden in the trapdoor, and they took Diana away.
• Diana prepared to leave for Hogwarts, then secretly promised Alice she would return at Christmas.
• Diana boarded the Hogwarts Express and wrote both her and Alice's names on the window.
• Professor Herbert Beery placed the Sorting Hat on Diana, and it sorted her into Slytherin.

Jon and Astoria watched Diana Greengrass’s memories of her Sorting and first Christmas holiday at home, where Diana’s mother denied that Alice existed. The memory ended before they learned more, and Jon left for The Hog’s Head while Astoria returned to the Slytherin common room.

• Diana Greengrass was Sorted into Slytherin and was welcomed by Narcissa Black.
• Diana returned to Greengrass Manor for Christmas and asked the house-elf Emily about her sister, Alice.
• Diana’s mother insisted that she had only one daughter and that Alice did not exist.
• The memory ended, leaving Astoria shaken and eager to see what happened next.
• Jon put the Pensieve away without returning Diana’s memory to its Crystal Vial, then left for The Hog’s Head as Astoria returned to the Slytherin common room.

Jon concealed the rest of Diana Greengrass's memories from Astoria and went to The Hog's Head, where Rita Skeeter interviewed Horace Slughorn while waiting for him. Slughorn described why he joined the Order of the Phoenix and began recounting his standing among the Death Eaters.

• Jon locked away the Pensieve and decided Astoria would not see the rest of Diana Greengrass's memories.
• Jon asked portraits to notify Horace Slughorn and secure the Headmaster's Office, then Flooed to The Hog's Head.
• Rita Skeeter waited impatiently at The Hog's Head until Horace Slughorn arrived and offered to be interviewed first.
• Rita Skeeter asked Slughorn about joining the Order of the Phoenix and resisting the Death Eaters.
• Slughorn said Lily Evans's murder by Voldemort had driven him to oppose the Death Eaters, then began explaining how his former position as Head of Slytherin gave him access to their upper ranks.

A Daily Prophet column about Order of the Phoenix heroes made Professor Slughorn’s wartime role public and drew attention to Harry. Jon Hart faced Ministry criticism over the column but planned to continue with an interview about Edgar Bones.

• Gryffindor students discussed Rita Skeeter’s interview with Slughorn, which revealed he had passed information from the Death Eaters to the Order of the Phoenix.
• Harry Potter and Ron Weasley heard the students’ discussion, and Harry said he was reluctant to talk about his mother, who had been one of Slughorn’s favorite students.
• Colin Cleever loudly told Harry that he knew Harry had been an Order of the Phoenix member, prompting admiring stares from the common room before Harry and Ron went upstairs.
• Jon Hart told the portraits that the interview was popular but that Ministry officials objected to its implication that the Ministry had failed during the war.
• Jon said he had arranged more interviews and that the next installment would recall Edgar Bones, an Order member who had died sixteen years earlier.

The Daily Prophet’s interviews about the Order of the Phoenix gained public support and weakened the Ministry’s opposition, as Jon Hart planned further reports. Meanwhile, the delayed O.W.L. exams began at Hogwarts, where Jon welcomed Professor Marchbanks and the examiners.

• Rita Skeeter’s interviews about Horace Slughorn and Edgar Bones drew public interest and goodwill toward the Order of the Phoenix.
• Barnabas Guffe published Skeeter’s second interview despite pressure from the Ministry, and Rufus Scrimgeour’s opposition lost influence.
• Jon Hart planned a report in which Rita Skeeter would interview Elphias Doge and other older Order members about remembering Albus Dumbledore.
• The Wizarding Examinations Authority arrived at Hogwarts to begin the postponed O.W.L. exams, and Jon greeted Professor Marchbanks at the Great Hall.
• Professor Marchbanks remarked that she had never expected Dumbledore to die before her.

As the exams approached, Jon Hart dealt with the visiting examiner, a student potion scam, and Astoria’s anxiety. Astoria’s final question about whether Jon had received the rest of her mother’s memories left their conversation unresolved.

• Professor Marchbanks and the other examiners reminisced with McGonagall, allowing Jon to slip away from welcoming them.
• Filch told Jon he had confiscated fake Dragon Claw Powder and Baffling Brew from Woddy Cartasa and Harold Dingo, and Jon ordered a lengthy detention.
• Jon found Astoria in his office, nervous about the exams and worried that Peeves had seen her, so he asked Madam Pomfrey to have the Bloody Baron restrain him.
• Astoria admitted Selwyn had given her a bottle she claimed was Baffling Brew, and Jon told her it was fake and reassured her about Professor Marchbanks.
• Astoria asked Jon whether her mother had given him the latter part of her memories.

Jon reassured Astoria that he would show her her mother's complete memory after the O.W.L. examinations, then discussed Voldemort's curse on the Defence Against the Dark Arts post with Professor Galatea Merles. Merles revealed that the curse targeted her, and Jon asked whether she had found a solution.

• Jon told Astoria to focus on her O.W.L. examinations and promised to show her her mother's complete memory afterward.
• After Astoria left, Jon reviewed documents until Professor Galatea Merles came to see him.
• Merles reported that she had found clues about Voldemort's curse on the Defence Against the Dark Arts position.
• Merles explained that Voldemort had cursed her, Galatea Merles, so she would never retire from the post, preventing the school from recognizing any later professors.
• Jon asked Merles whether she knew how to break the curse.

Jon and Professor Merles traced the curse that kept her from leaving her Defence Against the Dark Arts post to Voldemort’s possible contact with an inheritance in the Chamber of Secrets. The curse remained in place, so Jon agreed that Merles would stay at Hogwarts and doubled her salary.

• Professor Merles told Jon that the curse could not be stopped unless it was broken, she taught forever, or she died.
• Jon and Merles reasoned that Voldemort had used his knowledge of her and her isolation from the magical world to curse her.
• Jon realized that Voldemort might have gained authority over the Defence Against the Dark Arts post through an inheritance from Salazar Slytherin in the Chamber of Secrets.
• Jon suggested Voldemort had revisited the Chamber after Dumbledore rejected his application to teach and cursed Merles before she retired.
• Merles warned that only Slytherin’s descendants could enter the Chamber, and Jon agreed she would remain in her post until the curse vanished.
• Merles asked for a doubled salary, and Jon accepted.

Harry received a message from Headmaster Jon Hart asking him to meet outside an abandoned girls' bathroom, and he set off through Hogwarts alone. Filch caught him after curfew, but Jon confirmed that he had summoned Harry.

• Ginny kissed Harry good luck before leaving the Gryffindor common room to prepare for her exams.
• Fawkes appeared in the fireplace, left Harry a feather, and delivered Jon Hart's invitation to meet outside the abandoned second-floor girls' bathroom.
• Harry left the common room alone after deciding not to bring Ron or his absent friend Hermione.
• Mrs. Norris spotted Harry in the castle and alerted Filch, who caught him and threatened to take him to Professor McGonagall.
• Jon Hart called out from downstairs and confirmed that he had asked Harry to meet him.

Jon Hart took Harry Potter to the Chamber of Secrets, where Harry opened its hidden entrance with Parseltongue. They reached the dark stone tunnel, and Jon sensed a foul smell deeper inside.

• Jon Hart stopped Argus Filch from confronting Harry Potter and explained that he had called Harry to help investigate the Chamber of Secrets.
• Jon and Harry entered the abandoned girls' bathroom, where Moaning Myrtle recognized Harry before retreating at Jon's request.
• Harry found the snake-carved tap and opened the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets by speaking Parseltongue.
• Harry crawled down the pipe, and Jon followed with Fawkes, reaching a dark stone tunnel beneath the school.
• Jon silenced Harry after detecting a sickening stench coming from deeper in the tunnel.