Chapter Summaries

Harry and Hermione attended Regulus Black’s funeral, where Sirius explained that his brother had died years earlier after turning against Voldemort. After the ceremony, Harry learned that Sirius was going to become a professor.

• Harry and Hermione were discovered following the professors to Regulus Black’s funeral, and Sirius welcomed them.
• Dumbledore explained that Regulus’s sacrifice had to remain secret, while Sirius told Harry that his younger brother had died making amends for his past.
• Kreacher mourned Regulus as Sirius and the others gathered to honor him, and Amosta cremated him with white flames.
• Professor McGonagall punished Harry and Hermione for following the professors, and Dumbledore agreed that the consequence was appropriate.
• Sirius revealed to Harry that he was going to become a professor.

Sirius Black began his new role as Hogwarts' Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, astonishing the students and provoking open hostility from Snape. Harry and Ron worried about Sirius facing the subject's usual dangers and considered asking Professor Breen for advice.

• News of Sirius Black's appointment spread through Hogwarts, and Harry, Neville, Ron, and other Gryffindors reacted with excitement.
• Hermione warned the students that the Ministry would have closed any loophole Sirius used to escape Azkaban and reminded Harry that Defence Against the Dark Arts professors often met with accidents.
• Harry and Ron decided they should ask Professor Breen how he had avoided misfortunes in the post so Sirius would not suffer the same fate as Professor Lupin.
• McGonagall welcomed Sirius cautiously, while Sirius and Snape faced one another with hostility over their old grievances.
• Dumbledore tapped his glass and introduced Sirius as Hogwarts' new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor.

After the feast, Amosta persuaded Dumbledore to establish combat training for Hogwarts students, believing they needed skills to protect themselves against future threats. While walking the corridors, he encountered Luna Lovegood, whose unusual awareness caught his interest, and invited her to join the new course despite her being a second-year.

• The students celebrated Sirius Black becoming Defence Against the Dark Arts professor and speculated about his teaching and Harry's treatment by Snape.
• Amosta persuaded Dumbledore to accept a new practical course for third- and fourth-year students, arguing that Hogwarts needed to teach them how to protect themselves.
• After leaving the Great Hall, Amosta reflected on the wizarding world's weak defenses and the risks of preparing young wizards for combat.
• Luna Lovegood greeted Amosta and explained that the Gurdyroots around her ears had alerted her to his approach.
• Amosta recognized Luna's unusual talent and invited her to participate in his new course.

Amosta planned his new course and met with Harry, Ron, and Hermione, while Sirius brought Ron an owl to replace Scabbers. Harry asked Amosta how he had avoided the Defence Against the Dark Arts curse, and Sirius tried to reassure him that Amosta’s short teaching stint would be safe.

• Amosta expanded his list of students for the new course and decided to write its textbook and teaching plan himself.
• Harry, Ron, and Hermione visited Amosta’s office and learned that he had dismantled his school surveillance system after Sirius was cleared.
• Amosta told the three that the Ministry suspected an insider had helped murder Peter Pettigrew.
• Sirius arrived with an owl for Ron as compensation for Ron losing Scabbers, and Ron accepted it.
• Harry asked Amosta how he had avoided the Defence Against the Dark Arts curse, and Sirius said Amosta would teach only temporarily.

Harry looked forward to Sirius's first Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson, while Malfoy and Sirius clashed in their joint class with Slytherin. Sirius deducted points from Slytherin for Malfoy's insult, then began a lesson on defending against attacks from another kind of creature.

• Amosta believed the Defence Against the Dark Arts curse worked like a slow-acting poison, and he had allowed Sirius to take the post temporarily because the limited tenure could contain the damage.
• Harry learned from Fred and George that Sirius's lessons were interesting, while rumors spread that Malfoy and his allies had won a Slytherin conflict against Theodore Nott and Crabbe.
• Harry eagerly woke Ron for Sirius's class, and Hermione noticed Lavender and Parvati admiring Sirius at breakfast.
• Malfoy arrived late to the joint Gryffindor and Slytherin class and insulted Sirius by mocking his imprisonment.
• Sirius stopped Harry from confronting Malfoy, deducted twenty points from Slytherin, and announced a lesson on defending against attacks from another kind of creature.

Sirius taught a lively Defense Against the Dark Arts class, punished Draco for disrupting it, and left Hermione worried that his conflict with Snape would cause trouble. At lunch, Filch announced that Sirius and Snape were fighting.

• Sirius revealed a Doxy, and Hermione explained its origins, uses, and dangerous cries, earning Gryffindor points.
• Sirius took points from Draco and Pansy for mocking Hermione, then praised Hermione’s knowledge and awarded Gryffindor ten more points.
• During the Doxy lesson, Draco tried to remove Harry’s earmuffs, so Sirius petrified him and ordered Crabbe and Goyle to carry him to Snape.
• Hermione worried that Draco’s father would retaliate against Sirius, while Harry and Ron defended Sirius’s treatment of Draco.
• At lunch, Filch tumbled down the stairs and told Dumbledore that Sirius and Snape were fighting.

Sirius and Snape fought outside the Hospital Wing after Malfoy’s punishment brought them together, while Harry tried to rush upstairs to help Sirius. Dumbledore reached the duel and found Amosta’s barrier protecting the onlookers, but the fight continued as Snape summoned a swarm of snakes against Sirius.

• Filch announced that two professors were fighting, and Harry tried to run upstairs before Dumbledore stopped the students and went to investigate.
• Hermione told Harry that his presence would make Sirius and Snape’s feud worse, while Harry remained angry that Dumbledore would not let him help.
• Dumbledore followed directions from Adalbert Wulflyn and reached the fourth floor, where an explosion’s smoke struck Amosta’s magical barrier.
• Madam Pomfrey told Dumbledore that Amosta had protected everyone, and Amosta explained how Malfoy’s punishment and messages had led Sirius and Snape to fight.
• Sirius attacked Snape with a scarlet spell, and Snape countered by turning stones into more than a hundred venomous snakes.

Sirius and Snape’s duel outside the Hospital Wing escalated until Amosta stopped them with a powerful spell, and Dumbledore demanded explanations. After the two men left, Dumbledore repaired the damage while Amosta took a shaken Draco to his office.

• Snape sent venomous snakes and flying glass at Sirius, who fought back with magical flames and a protective barrier.
• Amosta unleashed a thunderous spell that destroyed the attacks and left Sirius, Snape, Draco, Madam Pomfrey, and several students disoriented.
• Dumbledore reprimanded Sirius and Snape as they argued over Sirius’s punishment of Draco and Snape’s treatment of Harry.
• Snape and Sirius ended the confrontation and left in opposite directions, with Sirius warning that he would take responsibility if Snape mistreated Harry again.
• Dumbledore restored the damaged Hospital Wing, while Amosta reassured Draco and invited him to his office to help with something.

After Sirius Black and Snape's duel heightened tensions between Gryffindor and Slytherin, students crowded around a notice Malfoy and Filch had posted. They learned Professor Breen planned to introduce physical education classes, and Harry was left disappointed after Cho focused her attention on Cedric.

• Students argued over whether Sirius or Snape had won their duel, deepening the hostility between Gryffindor and Slytherin.
• Harry refused Ron's suggestion that they ask Sirius about the duel, while the absent professors left the staff table sparsely occupied.
• Malfoy helped Filch post notices, prompting Fred and George to consider pranking Filch until Hermione warned them Filch was under Professor Breen's authority.
• Harry, Ron, and Hermione joined the crowd at the Entrance Hall bulletin board, where Harry awkwardly spoke with Cho and Cedric about Sirius.
• Hermione read that Professor Breen planned physical education classes for third- and fourth-years, with students in other years able to apply through the Student Safety Office with their Head of House's approval.

The Gryffindors discussed Professor Breen’s upcoming physical education class, and students from every house applied to join. The class finally began on Monday morning, leaving its actual activities yet to be revealed.

• Fred, George, Ginny, Percy, and the others returned to the common room after getting their applications signed, and they explained why they had joined.
• Hermione suggested that Percy ask Professor Breen for help entering the Ministry of Magic, and Percy hurried off to consider how to persuade him.
• Harry and Seamus described Muggle physical education to the Gryffindors, while Hermione speculated that Breen wanted students to understand Muggles better.
• Professor Black and Professor Snape appeared at the staff table without showing signs of serious injury and continued to ignore each other.
• Students from all four houses applied to join Breen’s class, and most applications were approved with warnings that it might be demanding.
• After the weekend, Professor Breen’s physical education class began on Monday morning.

Professor Breen introduced Hogwarts students to his new physical education class and explained that its first stage would begin with daily early-morning runs. The students faced twenty laps around the Quidditch Pitch, with a month to decide whether to withdraw before they had to complete the stage.

• Harry and the other students gathered shivering at the Quidditch Pitch before six in the morning for Professor Breen’s first physical education class.
• Professor Breen told the students that he would not yet explain the class’s purpose, that it had no homework, and that it would not take up normal class time.
• Professor Breen said students could withdraw during the first month but would have to continue until the stage ended if they stayed beyond it.
• None of the students chose to quit, and Professor Breen ordered them to run twenty laps around the Quidditch Pitch every morning for a month.

After a Dungbomb attack worsened tensions between Gryffindor and Slytherin, Amosta’s early-morning physical education class left students exhausted and disrupted other lessons. The houses’ hostility eased somewhat, but the class continued to drive students away as the term neared its end.

• Harry suspected Malfoy had tripped him and thrown Dungbombs at him, while Sirius later admitted he had given Harry and the Weasley twins advice for pranking without being caught.
• Crabbe and Goyle followed a Dungbomb scent into the Great Hall, where the stench overwhelmed Filch and left the room foul despite his efforts to clean it.
• Snape insinuated that Sirius might have committed the attack, but McGonagall stopped their argument and Dumbledore warned the staff to ease the tension between the houses.
• Amosta told Sirius he had helped remove Draco, Crabbe, Goyle, and the Dungbomb smell, and the hostility between Slytherin and Gryffindor eased somewhat.
• McGonagall confronted Amosta because his physical education class was making students doze during lessons, while many students had already dropped the course.
• Ginny told Hermione and the others that Penelope had quit Amosta’s class after falling asleep in Snape’s Potions Class, while Percy planned to continue so he could ask Amosta for a recommendation.

Harry and the other students struggled with Professor Breen’s exhausting physical education class as several Gryffindors decided to quit. Harry went to training with Neville while Ron stayed in bed, and Malfoy mocked Harry for losing his friend.

• Seamus and Dean said they planned to quit Professor Breen’s class, while Harry told Hermione he would ask Sirius about the class in Hogsmeade.
• Harry woke for the morning run and found Ron lying motionless beneath his blanket after Dean and Seamus had quit.
• Harry and Neville went to the Quidditch Pitch, where Ginny angrily defended Professor Breen and Hermione stayed silent.
• Luna told Harry that Ron had made the wrong decision by giving up an interesting class.
• Malfoy mocked Harry about Ron quitting, and Hermione and Ginny both shouted at Malfoy.

Amosta led the students through their morning training while Ron’s absence and his argument with Hermione strained the trio’s friendship. On the way to Hogsmeade, Sirius told Harry and Ron that Amosta’s physical training had a purpose they might not yet understand.

• Amosta noticed Ron was missing from Gryffindor’s training line and inferred that a conflict had led to his absence.
• After completing their laps, Harry and Hermione refused breakfast, and Hermione told Harry she would no longer let Ron copy her homework.
• Harry slept until late morning, then found Ron playing chess with Seamus and hurried out with him to meet Sirius.
• Sirius revealed that Hermione was waiting for them in Hogsmeade, and Ron reacted awkwardly after apparently already encountering her.
• Harry asked Sirius whether Amosta’s physical training was worthwhile, and Ron argued that they should be learning magic instead.
• Sirius said Amosta was a wizard on Dumbledore and Voldemort’s level and assured Harry and Ron that he was not simply wearing them out.

Sirius told Harry that he would take him away from the Dursleys, arrange for him to stay with the Weasleys, and take him to the Quidditch World Cup. Harry eagerly anticipated visiting Godric's Hollow, but Sirius's conversation was interrupted when they reached the Three Broomsticks.

• Ron cheered up when he told Harry that his family could take him to the Quidditch World Cup that summer.
• Sirius offered to move Harry's belongings from the Dursleys' house to 12 Grimmauld Place, then planned for Harry to stay at the Burrow while he handled business with Amosta.
• Sirius said he would collect Harry after two or three weeks and take him to the World Cup, where Ron explained that matches could last for days or even a month.
• Sirius suggested that Harry visit Godric's Hollow after the World Cup, and Harry felt an intense longing to go there.
• At the Three Broomsticks, Harry, Ron, and Sirius joined Hermione and Ginny, who were watching Amosta, Percy, and Penelope Crewe talk.
• Ginny explained that Penelope had injured her nose with splattered Potions after falling asleep in Snape's class.

At the Three Broomsticks, Amosta refused Percy’s request for a recommendation to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and challenged his ambition and judgment. The conversation revealed Penelope’s family pressures and that Percy had assumed she would follow his career plans, leaving him confronted with how little he knew of her wishes.

• Percy asked Amosta to recommend him to Madam Bones so he could intern with the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.
• Amosta refused and warned Percy that his twelve expected Outstanding N.E.W.T.S. results could secure Ministry work without a recommendation, while relying on Amosta could expose him to criticism and hostility.
• Amosta asked Penelope about her career plans, and Percy reacted with shock when she said she did not intend to work at the Ministry.
• Penelope explained that her parents wanted her to leave the wizarding world after graduation and help manage her family’s farm in Gloucestershire.
• Percy angrily accused Penelope of never telling him about her plans, and Amosta questioned whether Percy had cared about her wishes during their relationship.

Amosta’s words exposed the conflict between Percy and Penelope’s visions of the future, and Percy and Penelope left the inn separately. Sirius asked to take Harry away from the Dursleys for the summer, but Amosta told him to consult Dumbledore; the chapter ended with Fred and George revealing that Amosta had bought every Dungbomb in Zonko’s.

• Penelope ran out of The Three Broomsticks Inn in tears, and Percy left soon after, looking devastated.
• Amosta advised Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny not to interfere in Percy and Penelope’s disagreement about their future plans.
• Sirius asked Amosta’s permission to take Harry away from the Dursleys for the summer, but Amosta told him to consult Dumbledore.
• Amosta left for Zonko’s Joke Shop to prepare teaching materials, and Sirius and the others later followed.
• Fred and George told Sirius that Amosta had bought every Dungbomb in the shop.

As O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s approached, Harry and his friends noticed how the pressure affected Percy and Sirius, while Professor Breen’s physical education class moved into a new stage. The class gathered in the maze classroom at night, where the suits of armour began clicking to life.

• Ginny told Harry and his friends that Percy and Penelope had passed each other without speaking, and Percy stopped attending Professor Breen’s physical education class.
• Harry realized that a month had passed since Professor Breen began the first stage of training, and Hermione asked when the course would change.
• Professor Breen announced that the second stage would take place in the maze classroom from eight to nine on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
• Harry and his friends entered the maze classroom that evening, where the suits of armour along the walls began making clicking sounds.

Professor Breen revealed that the students who had completed a month of physical training would begin a year-long course in combat, and he demonstrated the next exercise. The students had to cross a classroom guarded by animated suits of armor, which were preparing to throw dungbombs.

• Cho Chang worried that Professor Breen would make the students fight the suits of armor, while Cedric Diggory tried to reassure her.
• Professor Breen took roll and told the remaining students that they had passed the first month of training and would have to complete a year-long program.
• Professor Breen explained that he was creating a systematic combat course and said the students would need to become capable of defeating Professor Black in a duel to qualify.
• Professor Breen described the next exercise: crossing the classroom without a wand while passing the suits of armor.
• Professor Breen animated the suits of armor, and Harry and Fred realized they were about to throw dungbombs.

Professor Breen demonstrated how he could evade a barrage of Dungbombs, then selected the four House Seekers to undergo the trial themselves. The chapter ended as Harry, Malfoy, Cedric, and Cho Chang prepared to run, with Breen warning them not to help one another.

• Professor Breen dodged a torrent of Dungbombs thrown by the classroom’s suits of armor and showed the students how quickly he could move.
• Professor Breen cleaned the classroom with magic and told the students their training would begin at a lower intensity before gradually becoming harder.
• When no one volunteered to try first, Professor Breen called Harry, Malfoy, Cedric, and Cho Chang to demonstrate.
• Harry and Malfoy challenged each other to see who could get farther, while Cedric reassured Cho Chang.
• Professor Breen told Cedric not to help Cho Chang as the four Seekers lined up for the trial.