Chapter Summaries

Amosta told Amelia that Muggle progress would eventually threaten the wizarding world and argued that its entrenched pure-blood interests made peaceful reform impossible. He left Amelia alarmed by the possibility that he might one day push for a destructive internal upheaval, though he said he had no present plans to do so.

• Amosta warned Amelia that Muggle technology could one day make wizards as helpless as animals in a zoo.
• Amosta explained that Voldemort had sought dictatorship and chaos, while Grindelwald had recognized the danger of Muggle progress but chosen the wrong path for change.
• Amosta argued that pure-blood families controlled wizarding society and that reform would require an internal war rather than a conflict with Muggles.
• Amelia feared that Amosta could become a new Dark Lord and said Dumbledore would oppose such upheaval.
• Amosta reassured Amelia that he had no intention of forcing change now, but might act if the right opportunity arose in the future.

Amelia Bones met Amosta Breen and Daily Prophet editor Barnaby Guffey to discuss Rita Skeeter’s planned article accusing Amosta of dark magic. After reading the manuscript, Amosta reacted with an unreadable smile, leaving the article’s publication unresolved.

• Amelia Bones met Amosta in a Muggle tea restaurant after learning Rita Skeeter planned to publish damaging claims about him.
• Barnaby Guffey arrived and explained that he had delayed Rita’s article but could not prevent publication without a suitable reason.
• Amelia urged Guffey to prioritize the Ministry’s announcement that Sirius Black had been captured.
• Amosta asked to review Rita’s manuscript, and Guffey handed it over.
• Amosta read the article alleging that he had injured Hogwarts students, concealed an incident involving Avada Kedavra and Fiendfyre, and used Fiendfyre against an Auror.

Golden Viper arrived at Cacus’s home in Badley Babberton Village and trapped it in place, overwhelming its defenses while the family tried to escape. He finally revealed himself as an old friend, leaving Cacus and his family stunned by his unexpected visit.

• Golden Viper traveled to Badley Babberton Village after Rita Skeeter’s article prompted him to show Amelia Bones that he could handle problems himself.
• Golden Viper triggered the magical defenses around Cacus’s house, then used a green ribbon of magic to prevent the house from escaping into spatial turbulence.
• Cacus urged his wife and daughter Beatrice to flee through the Floo Network, but Golden Viper’s spatial seal caused their escape attempt to fail.
• Golden Viper coughed to get the family’s attention and greeted Cacus as an old friend.

Amosta Breen visited Cacus Foley to ask about the missing information on the Druids and commission him to stop Rita Skeeter’s report from being published. After Cacus secured the newspaper directors’ agreement, Amosta left having promised to remember the favor, but Cacus asked whether he planned to take on more commissions.

• Amosta asked Cacus whether his bounty wizards had found information about the Druidic Order, and Cacus suggested the Druids had gone into hiding after angering the Vatican.
• Amosta showed Cacus Rita Skeeter’s report and commissioned him to prevent The Daily Prophet from publishing it.
• Cacus obtained the support of the Greengrass and Bulstrode family heads and personally delivered the order to the newspaper before printing was complete.
• Amosta thanked Cacus and said he would remember the favor as he prepared to leave.
• Cacus followed Amosta and asked whether he planned to accept any commissions.

Amosta accepted Thanatos Hode’s commission to find a recently deceased Dragon skeleton, intending to contact Thanatos directly. Meanwhile, as the Ministry kept Sirius Black’s capture secret from reporters, Amosta waited in a London hotel for Peter Pettigrew to appear publicly.

• Cacus Fley told Amosta that Thanatos Hode wanted a recently deceased Dragon skeleton after his Bone Dragon had been destroyed by Scrimgeour.
• Amosta accepted the commission for six thousand Gold Galleons plus additional payment and said he would contact Thanatos directly.
• News of Sirius Black’s recapture drew reporters back to Britain, but the Ministry refused to reveal details or grant interviews with Black.
• Amosta stayed in a London hotel, waiting for Peter Pettigrew to appear and answering fan letters.
• After breakfast, Amosta returned to his room and heard an abrupt knock while preparing to answer a letter from MACUSA.

Rita Skeeter confronted Amosta Breen at his room, hoping to interview him about the article he had prevented from being published. Amosta challenged her account of the Hogwarts incident, and Rita pressed him about the injured wizards Prian and Philoya.

• Amosta opened his door to Rita Skeeter, who barged into his room and tried to inspect his letters.
• Amosta used magic to hide the letters and warned Rita that she could be detained for entering without permission.
• Rita set up her Quick-Quotes Quill on the balcony and said the public was more interested in Amosta than Sirius Black.
• Amosta accused Rita's unpublished article of misrepresenting the Hogwarts incident and denied any link to the dark wizard's crimes at Grimmauld Place.
• Rita asked Amosta whether he had seriously injured Prian and Philoya, and Amosta replied that neither she nor the wizarding public had sought the truth.

Amosta Breen drove Rita Skeeter away after burning her belongings, but Rita resolved to investigate his hidden past and use his letters against him. That night, Rita tried to enter his hotel room disguised as a beetle and triggered a magical explosion that left her unconscious on the balcony.

• Rita Skeeter confronted Amosta Breen and tried to publish a slanderous report about him.
• Amosta burned Rita’s wristband and Quick-Quotes Quill, then ordered her to leave.
• Rita investigated Amosta’s missing years and decided to use letters on his desk to support a damaging story.
• Amosta felt recurring head pain and exhaustion before going to bed.
• Rita, disguised as a beetle, tried to slip beneath Amosta’s balcony door and triggered an explosion that left her unconscious, half-dangling over the ground.

Norris Derman left the Ministry and traveled through Knockturn Alley to meet a wizard about a secret trade near Hogwarts. A colossal skeleton rose from a lake amid a storm, and Norris fell to his knees in awe.

• Norris returned to the Ministry, where reporters crowded the entrance over Sirius Black's capture and Peter Pettigrew's return.
• Norris left work and went to Knockturn Alley, where he collected the details for a secret meeting arranged by Cacus Foley.
• Norris used a hidden fireplace to reach a small island in a lake near Hogwarts, carrying a crystal-topped cane for protection.
• The lake and sky erupted with violent magical forces, and Norris realized a huge creature was rising from the water.
• A sixty-foot skeleton emerged from the lake, and Norris dropped to his knees.

Golden Viper offered Thanatos the Titan Giant Skeleton in exchange for help with three difficult tasks. Thanatos agreed eagerly, and Golden Viper began by asking him to find a way to extend a Time-Turner's reach several years into the past.

• Thanatos discovered that the enormous undead skeleton belonged to Golden Viper and pleaded to buy it.
• Golden Viper refused to lower the price, and Thanatos offered his fortune and his services in exchange for the skeleton.
• Golden Viper agreed to trade the skeleton for help with three matters, so Thanatos accepted.
• Golden Viper asked Thanatos to find a technique that would let a Time-Turner send someone several years into the past.

Amosta negotiated with Thanatos over the Titan Giant Skeleton, securing his agreement to three conditions in exchange for it. After leaving the wilderness, Amosta returned to the underground market to investigate the Blood Curse manuscripts, then noticed something suspicious during a pet-market disturbance.

• Golden Viper told Thanatos he had to provide an enhanced Time-Turner enchantment, swear future loyalty, and help kill a person whose name he whispered.
• Thanatos hesitated over the dangerous conditions but accepted the deal to obtain the Titan Giant Skeleton, and Amosta Apparated away after they arranged the enchantment handover.
• Amosta asked the Greek stall owner whether he had found anything besides the notebook, but learned it had been the expedition's only discovery.
• Amosta saw African Pygmy Owls cause chaos in the pet market, then jumped from his cart when he noticed something suspicious among the magical creatures.

Amosta realized that his Blood Curse experiments had failed because ordinary creatures’ souls were too weak, then bought stronger magical creatures for a new attempt. He arrived at Breen Manor to prepare for the experiment and told Kreacher he had two pieces of good news to share.

• Amosta deduced that the souls of his weak test creatures had collapsed at a critical point, causing his Blood Curse experiments to fail.
• Amosta stunned the Doxies and the dazed wizards, then bought six Doxies from the Wagadu Wizard for 1,500 Galleons.
• Amosta spared the Centaurs and Veela, bought Irish leprechauns and other experimental materials, and chose Breen Manor as his place to work.
• Amosta arrived at Breen Manor and learned from Kreacher that Sirius's mother's portrait had been grieving since Regulus's body was brought back.
• Amosta told Kreacher that he had two pieces of good news to share.

Amosta told Kreacher that Sirius would soon be free, then showed it that he had destroyed the magic on Salazar Slytherin's locket and fulfilled Regulus's final wish. Later, he experimented on a Doxy's soul in the Black family home and successfully created a black curse seed.

• Amosta told Kreacher that Peter Pettigrew's trial was approaching and Sirius might soon return, but he did not answer Kreacher's question about Regulus's funeral.
• Amosta showed Kreacher the locket with its Dark Magic destroyed, and Kreacher wept with gratitude before preparing lunch.
• Amosta rested, then prepared a guest room on the third floor as a laboratory and told Kreacher to stay out unless summoned.
• Amosta subdued a Doxy and an Irish leprechaun and began an experiment using the Doxy's soul.
• Amosta corrupted the Doxy's soul with a dark magical pattern and produced a black curse seed shaped like a flame.

Amosta successfully restored the Blood Curse and tested it by transforming an Irish leprechaun into a Doxy, then discovered a way to use Voldemort’s purified soul essence as a decisive weapon against him. He continued experimenting at the Black townhouse until a letter from the Wizengamot, forwarded by Dumbledore, ended his secluded stay.

• Amosta’s Blood Curse experiment covered much of the Black townhouse in frost and knocked Kreacher unconscious.
• Amosta used the Blood Curse on an Irish leprechaun, transforming it into a Doxy and then back again.
• Amosta examined a bottle containing the purified essence of a soul fragment from Voldemort’s diary and recognized it as the key to killing Voldemort.
• Amosta kept the leprechaun for further experiments and spent several days conducting research in the Black townhouse.
• A letter from the Wizengamot, forwarded by Dumbledore, brought Amosta’s holiday to an end.

Amosta arrived at the Ministry of Magic for Peter Pettigrew’s trial and made his way through heavy security to Courtroom Ten. He entered the courtroom as the Wizengamot’s members and observers watched, while Dumbledore welcomed him to take his seat.

• Amosta disguised himself to pass through the crowd at the Ministry and met Mr. Weasley, who escorted him toward the trial.
• Mr. Weasley gave Amosta the Wizengamot robe and explained that the trial would be held in the rarely used Courtroom Ten.
• Kingsley allowed Amosta to proceed into the heavily guarded underground area but stopped Mr. Weasley from going farther.
• Amosta asked Kingsley to help Tonks get a few more days of leave because she was busy resolving her singlehood problem.
• Amosta entered Courtroom Ten, where Amelia Bones, Cornelius Fudge, Dumbledore, and other attendees greeted him.
• Dumbledore welcomed Amosta and told him to take his seat.

At the Wizengamot trial, Peter Pettigrew faced charges for betraying The Potters, while Sirius Black explained how Peter became their Secret-Keeper. Delix presented Peter’s Veritaserum testimony, leaving the tribunal with evidence of his betrayal and years in hiding.

• Amosta took a seat beside Amelia Bones on the dais as Barty Crouch began the trial.
• Peter Pettigrew was brought into the courtroom, and Dumbledore acknowledged his own responsibility for the events involving The Potters.
• Sirius Black lunged at Peter, but the Aurors stopped him and Barty Crouch threatened to find him guilty of disrupting the trial.
• Sirius explained that he had persuaded James and Lily to make Peter their Secret-Keeper instead of himself.
• Delix submitted Peter’s recorded Veritaserum testimony, which detailed his betrayal of The Potters, his escape from Sirius, and his years in hiding.

The Wizengamot tried Peter Pettigrew for betraying the Potters, murdering Muggles, and torturing Draco Malfoy, while Amosta and Dumbledore discussed the Ministry’s motives. The jury sentenced Peter to life imprisonment, but Barty Crouch then brought a new charge against Sirius Black.

• Barty Crouch added the charge that Peter had used the Cruciatus Curse to control Draco Malfoy for three months.
• Amosta and Dumbledore discussed Hogwarts’ failure to protect Draco and Barty Crouch’s reasons for raising the charge.
• Barty recommended the death penalty for Peter, prompting Fudge to object and the courtroom to erupt in debate.
• The jury voted overwhelmingly to sentence Peter to life imprisonment, and Aurors took him away to be sent to Azkaban.
• Barty Crouch charged Sirius with illegally learning and using Animagus magic.

At Sirius Black’s hearing, Barty Crouch tried to undermine Sirius’s credibility by exposing his illegal Animagus transformation and questioning why he had stayed silent about his innocence. Amelia Bones challenged Crouch’s misleading claims, and Crouch resigned from the Wizengamot while urging the tribunal to investigate Sirius further.

• Fudge ordered Rufus to investigate how Sirius Black had escaped from Azkaban after Sirius was taken into custody.
• Barty Crouch questioned Sirius about his unregistered Animagus transformation, and Sirius admitted he had learned it at sixteen at Hogwarts.
• Crouch pressed Sirius about why he had not denied being the Potters’ Secret Keeper, and Sirius said he had blamed himself for James and Lily’s deaths.
• Amosta stopped Dumbledore from intervening, and Amelia Bones objected that Crouch’s questioning was misleading and unsupported by reliable facts.
• Crouch argued that Sirius’s illegal Animagus status made his testimony untrustworthy and urged the Ministry to interrogate him again.
• Crouch announced he was withdrawing from the Wizengamot judicial body and asked the tribunal to consider his claims about Sirius.

Barty Crouch withdrew from the Wizengamot, and Sirius Black was cleared of all charges. Just as Sirius celebrated his freedom, Delix arrived with news that Peter Pettigrew had been killed by a giant skeleton after a tampered Portkey sent him to a remote wilderness.

• Barty Crouch announced that he was withdrawing from the Wizengamot and left the courtroom.
• Dumbledore and Amelia Bones confirmed that Sirius had committed no crimes beyond being an unregistered Animagus, and Fudge agreed not to prosecute him for it.
• Dumbledore called for a vote, and the Wizengamot found Sirius innocent by 42 votes to three abstentions.
• Sirius thanked Amosta for helping him regain his freedom and said he planned to visit Remus at St Mungo's.
• Delix reported that a tampered Portkey had sent Peter and his escorts to a remote wilderness, where a giant skeleton killed Peter, leaving only a bloody finger.

After Gryffindor gained another chance at the Quidditch championship, Harry remained distracted by Peter Pettigrew’s murder and the absence of Professor Lupin, Professor Breen, and Dumbledore. Hermione spoke with Harry by the lake, where they noticed Professor Snape and Professor McGonagall heading toward the Forbidden Forest.

• Ravenclaw defeated Hufflepuff, giving Gryffindor another chance to win the championship after its earlier loss to the Dementor riot.
• Ron invited Harry to practise flying, but Harry stayed behind while Ron, Seamus, and Neville went to fetch the brooms.
• Hermione asked Harry about his mood as they sat by the lake, and he discussed Peter Pettigrew’s murder and wondered whether Lucius Malfoy had arranged it.
• Hermione and Harry saw Professor Snape and Professor McGonagall heading toward the Forbidden Forest.

Harry and Hermione followed Snape and McGonagall into the Forbidden Forest and discovered they were attending Regulus Black’s funeral. Amosta invited the two students to join the gathering as everyone prepared to send Regulus off.

• Harry and Hermione followed Snape and McGonagall under the Invisibility Cloak into the Forbidden Forest.
• Harry and Hermione found ancient gravestones along a hidden path and feared they belonged to the Heads of House.
• Snape and McGonagall reached a garden where Dumbledore, Amosta, Sirius, Remus Lupin, Kreacher, and Regulus Black had gathered for a funeral.
• McGonagall grieved over Regulus, while Sirius and Kreacher mourned beside his body and Snape reflected on his own fate.
• Amosta revealed that he and Dumbledore had noticed Harry and Hermione, then invited them to join the farewell.