Chapter Summaries

Gale recounted how his intelligence helped his family survive as giant slaves and through their migration, before Loren offered Mill a deal. At Grimmauld Place, Sirius told Harry and the others about his family and Regulus, and Kreacher claimed Regulus had defeated the Dark Lord.

• Gale explained that he survived childhood because the Dark Lord's protection kept his parents from killing him, and that he learned to survive battle by running at the right pace.
• Gale and Mill described their mother's death after the giants migrated, and Mill thanked Loren for saving them.
• Loren healed Mill's shoulder and said he wanted to make a deal with her.
• At Grimmauld Place, Sirius gave Harry a Two-way mirror and explained that his mother had erased his name from the Black family tapestry after he ran away.
• Sirius described Regulus's talent, his joining the Death Eaters, and his mysterious death.
• Kreacher burst in, defended Regulus, and declared that Regulus had defeated the Dark Lord.

Loren used Bio-Alchemy to strengthen the unconscious giant Orr, while Hermione discussed how the Giants might build a more thoughtful society with Mill and Gale. The alchemy ended with Orr’s body absorbing the magic, and Gale wondered whether Giants might one day learn to use magic.

• Loren inscribed Alchemy Runes across Orr’s body, using Unicorn Hair and a heart-centered array to strengthen his muscles, skin, and joints.
• Gale recalled his deal with Morgan, who had promised to give him strength to help rule the Giant tribe and sustain their trade.
• Hermione told Mill that Giants could become stronger by teaching knowledge and thought to the young, while regulating adults who could not be taught.
• Gale asked Hermione whether Giants might eventually use magic, and she said Wizards were rare even among humans.
• Loren connected the arrays at Orr’s heart and brain, completed the alchemy, and watched the light vanish beneath Orr’s skin as his body fell silent.

Orr woke after Loren’s alchemical transformation and learned that he would take revenge on Grawp the next day. As night fell on Ben Nevis Mountain, Mill and her siblings prepared for the attack while Loren and Hermione waited nearby for the Death Eaters.

• Orr woke in pain, drank water from Mill, and discovered glowing Alchemy Arrays and new power in his body.
• Loren explained that Orr’s siblings had made a deal with him and promised Orr would not be used as disposable cannon fodder.
• Loren told Orr to get used to his strength because the next day would bring his revenge, with the plan for Orr to replace Grawp as Gurg.
• Loren and Hermione camped near the Giants’ depression and discussed guarding against McNair and Crouch before the attack.
• As night fell, the Giants ate their dinner while Orr saved the wizards’ food for a celebration after victory.

Loren and Hermione planned to confront McNair and Crouch, with Hermione assigned to duel McNair while Loren trained her for the fight. Meanwhile, Orr attacked Grawp in his cave and repeatedly struck him through the supposedly Indestructible Helmet, leaving Grawp defeated as the mountain shook.

• Hermione asked why McNair and Crouch were staying near the Giants, and Loren guessed they were preparing a route to move them using Portkeys.
• Hermione worried that Orr and his sister would be vulnerable after she and Loren left, but Loren said the Giants needed to learn to face threats themselves.
• Loren assigned himself to fight Crouch and Hermione to fight McNair, then advised her to stay calm against the cruel veteran.
• Orr rushed into Grawp’s cave and knocked aside the two guards protecting the new Gurg.
• Grawp put on the bronze Indestructible Helmet and charged Orr, but Orr knocked him down and repeatedly hammered the helmet with his fist.

Loren and Hermione confronted Barty Crouch and McNair on Ben Nevis Mountain, where Hermione proved her dueling skill by reflecting McNair’s curses. The battle continued with McNair unsettled and surrounded by trembling pebbles.

• McNair used potion dregs to drive away mosquitoes while Crouch assembled a large Portkey for Giants and decided to report Snape’s trip to Africa.
• Loren and Hermione intercepted Crouch and McNair, and Loren taunted Crouch about his father and his crimes.
• McNair cast the Cruciatus Curse at Hermione, but she blocked it with a Shield Charm.
• Crouch and McNair began dueling Loren and Hermione, and McNair struggled against Hermione’s rapid barrage of spells.
• Hermione reflected McNair’s Cruciatus Curse back at him, forcing him to dodge, then reflected his Stunning Spell as the pebbles he had avoided gathered and trembled nearby.

Loren and Hermione defeated two Death Eaters, then witnessed Orr claim leadership of the Giant tribe as its new Gurg. After helping Orr’s siblings and learning where Hagrid had gone, they set out to find him and the others.

• Loren defeated Crouch, transformed him into an Ermine, and captured him in a jar for Dumbledore.
• Hermione trapped McNair in stone vines, and Loren transformed him into another Ermine and added him to the jar.
• Loren and Hermione spent the night watching the battle’s aftermath and the sunrise before heading toward the Giant tribe.
• Orr showed the gathered Giants the helmet and head of the old Gurg, declared himself the new Gurg, and the Giants knelt to him.
• Gale told Loren and Hermione that Hagrid and Maxime had gone west with Grawp, and Loren gave Gale a Brass Disc to contact him.
• Loren and Hermione left to find Hagrid and the others, while Orr’s siblings concluded that they belonged to Loren Morgan.

Loren and Hermione followed Hagrid’s trail through the mountains and found him camping with his giant half-brother, Grawp. Hagrid explained that he had brought Grawp away from the Giant tribe because the other giants bullied him, while Hermione and Loren worried about the danger of bringing him to Hogwarts.

• Loren and Hermione ate breakfast, fed the two captured Death Eaters, and set off to follow Hagrid’s giant footprints.
• Loren and Hermione found Hagrid’s warm campfire and continued tracking him through the forest.
• Hagrid roasted rabbits for Grawp, who ate them and then returned with two wild boars for a larger meal.
• Loren and Hermione found Hagrid beside the remains of the boars and learned that Dumbledore had sent them to bring him back.
• Hermione warned Hagrid that Grawp was dangerous, and Hagrid explained that he had rescued him from the giants’ bullying.

Hagrid struggled with whether to send Grawp back to the Giant tribe or take him to Hogwarts, where he would have to keep him in the Forbidden Forest. After Hagrid chose the Giant tribe, Grawp revealed that he wanted to return with Hagrid for roast meat, leaving the group set to head back to Hogwarts.

• Hagrid explained how he had brought Grawp away from the Giant tribe and worried that returning him might be a mistake.
• Hermione urged Hagrid to send Grawp back, where Orr and his sisters could protect him, while Hagrid spent the night wrestling with the choice.
• Hagrid decided to take Grawp back to the Giant tribe and woke him to introduce Loren and Hermione.
• Grawp happily greeted Loren as “Naren” and roared when Hagrid told him he could go home.
• When Hagrid promised to roast him meat, Grawp pushed Hagrid and pointed toward the Giant tribe, making clear he would rather return to Hogwarts with Hagrid.

Bellatrix reported to Voldemort that the Elder Wand had been stolen, while Snape realized Voldemort was testing his loyalty and waited anxiously for the school term to begin. At Hogwarts, Loren and Hermione returned from their mission as McGonagall faced Umbridge, who announced that she would teach Defense Against the Dark Arts.

• Bellatrix told Voldemort that wandmaker Grigovich could not identify who had stolen the Elder Wand, and Voldemort ordered her to continue the search.
• Bellatrix shared Grigovich's information about Twin Wands, and Voldemort tested Snape before accepting his wand as a possible weapon against Harry Potter.
• Snape returned to his room and reflected on the danger of living among Voldemort and the Death Eaters, while looking forward to school starting.
• Loren and Hermione ate roasted lamb with Hagrid and Grawp, then headed to the Castle to report their mission to Dumbledore.
• McGonagall rejected Umbridge's claim that the Ministry could control Hogwarts and said the school could resist funding pressure because of its financial reforms.
• Umbridge told McGonagall that she had been recommended as Hogwarts's new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.

Loren and Hermione reported their summer journey to the Giants to Dumbledore, who considered Umbridge’s application for the Defense Against the Dark Arts post and discussed Grawp and two captured Death Eaters. Dumbledore sent the pair back to Grimmauld Place, where Molly scolded him for putting them in danger and Loren noticed the others were acting strangely.

• Professor McGonagall told Loren and Hermione that the Ministry had appointed Umbridge High Inquisitor and that Umbridge had applied to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts.
• Dumbledore said Umbridge could be hired as an ordinary professor without her Ministry powers, and Professor McGonagall reluctantly considered the idea.
• Hermione recounted how she and Loren had reached the Giant tribe, while Dumbledore discussed Grawp possibly becoming Hogwarts’ Gamekeeper and finding a safe place for the two captured Death Eaters.
• Dumbledore refused Loren and Hermione’s request to stay at Hogwarts before term and sent them to Grimmauld Place with Fawkes.
• Molly scolded Dumbledore for sending the young wizards into danger, while Loren noticed the others at the dinner table were acting oddly.

Loren, Hermione, Sirius Black, and the others went to the Cave to retrieve Regulus’s body after learning about the mission from Kreacher. They opened the blood-locked entrance, leaving the group poised to enter the darkness.

• Hermione and Loren noticed that Harry, Ron, Ginny, and the twins were acting suspiciously at breakfast.
• After the adults left, Sirius Black revealed the plan to retrieve Regulus’s body from the Cave, and Loren and Hermione agreed to join the group.
• Kreacher transported Sirius Black, Loren, Hermione, Harry, Ron, Ginny, George, and Fred to the desolate sea cliff and led them through the underwater fissure into the Cave.
• George and Fred tried to break through the Cave’s first magical barrier, and Loren found that animal blood could not open it.
• Sirius Black cut his forearm and let human blood fall across the wall, revealing a doorway into the Cave.

Sirius and the others reached the lake guarding Voldemort’s Horcrux, where Kreacher recounted how Voldemort had abandoned him there and Regulus had ordered him to return home. Sirius found the hidden boat and set off with Harry, while Loren asked Kreacher to teleport the rest of them across.

• Sirius healed his self-inflicted wound as the group followed Kreacher deeper into the cave, determined to bring Regulus’s body home.
• Loren saw the Inferi beneath the lake, and Kreacher warned the group not to touch the water.
• Kreacher described how Voldemort had made him drink poison on the island and left him to die, while Regulus’s command to return home had kept him going.
• Sirius detected an invisible chain, revealed it with his wand, and pulled Voldemort’s boat to shore.
• Sirius and Harry boarded the boat to cross the lake, and Loren asked Kreacher to teleport the remaining group across.

Harry, Sirius, and their companions reached the island in Voldemort’s Cave, where they used Doxies to drain the cursed potion and found Regulus’s locket and his note identifying it as a stolen Horcrux. As Kreacher mourned Regulus, Inferi swarmed onto the rocks and the group fought to hold them back.

• Kreacher used House-elf magic to bring Loren, Ginny, and the others to the island, where he explained that drinking the cursed potion would reveal what lay beneath the Stone Basin.
• Sirius prepared to drink the potion, but Loren identified its painful effects, and Fred and George suggested using Doxies instead.
• After twelve goblets of potion had been consumed, the group found Regulus’s locket beneath the basin, and Sirius read Regulus’s note saying he had stolen the real Horcrux.
• Kreacher broke down in grief over Regulus as Sirius examined the locket and the others absorbed the note.
• Inferi devoured the poisoned Doxies and surged out of the lake, forcing the group to fight them with spells as Ginny blasted apart the leading Inferius.

Loren, Harry, and the others fought through the Inferi at the lake to recover Regulus Black's body, and Loren destroyed the remaining Inferi with Fiendfyre. Back at 12 Grimmauld Place, the Weasley children found Molly confronting a Boggart that showed her family dead and comforted her after Loren banished it.

• Ginny, Fred, George, Harry, Loren, Sirius Black, and Kreacher held off the Inferi as they climbed onto Lake Island.
• Loren identified Regulus among the Inferi, and Sirius Black bound the corpse and carried it from the lake.
• Loren cast Fiendfyre, burning away the lake and the Inferi before the group returned to 12 Grimmauld Place.
• At dinner, Molly Weasley sobbed over the children's dangerous outing, and the children later found a Boggart showing the Weasley family dead.
• Loren drove the Boggart back into its trunk, and the Weasley children comforted Molly until she laughed with them.

Loren and the others failed to remove the Inferi curse from Regulus, and Sirius held a quiet funeral for his brother. Meanwhile, Voldemort learned that Dumbledore had destroyed Slytherin’s Locket and began planning a surprise for Azkaban, while Harry dreamed of a locked black door.

• Loren examined Regulus’s cursed body, but he and Bill could not remove the Inferi curse, so Sirius accepted that Regulus would be cremated.
• Dumbledore delivered Regulus’s funeral speech, and Sirius remembered his brother as a brave Seeker before carrying his urn to the Black family Graveyard.
• Snape told Voldemort that Barty Jr. and Walden had been captured by the Order of the Phoenix and that Dumbledore had destroyed Slytherin’s Locket.
• Voldemort decided to accelerate his plans, seek allies, and surprise Azkaban before Christmas.
• Harry dreamed of walking down a stone corridor to a black door he desperately wanted to open.

As the summer holiday ended, Loren and the others prepared to return to Hogwarts while Harry suffered increasingly strange dreams and his friends arranged guards for the journey. Before leaving 12 Grimmauld Place, Loren spoke with Kreacher about securing a new Black heir as the House-elf’s future master.

• Hermione woke Loren, and he hurried through getting ready before joining the others as they prepared to leave for Hogwarts.
• Harry described nightmares about his parents, Mrs. Weasley mourning Kreacher, and a locked corridor, and said he would ask Dumbledore to examine him.
• Moody and Sirius insisted Harry needed protection on the way to King’s Cross, and Sturgis Podmore arrived to join the guard detail.
• Sirius argued with Molly and Moody about accompanying Harry, while the group set off from 12 Grimmauld Place with Tonks waiting nearby.
• Loren returned to the empty house and suggested that Kreacher help bring about a new Black heir who could become his future master.
• Loren rejoined Hermione, and the group drove toward the station in Arthur’s Ford Anglia.

Harry and his friends traveled to Hogwarts, where they discussed school news and Draco privately told Loren that Voldemort had moved into Malfoy Manor and was using Lucius to control Sturgis Podmore. Draco revealed that he had cast Counter-charms on Sturgis, leaving Loren to consider the danger.

• Sirius said goodbye to Harry and the others at King's Cross after Molly and Moody persuaded him not to hide in Hogsmeade.
• Harry's group boarded the Hogwarts Express, met Neville, and learned he had become a prefect while Ron was expected to take over as Quidditch captain.
• Luna shared The Quibbler's sensational stories about Fudge, prompting the group to discuss the magazine and the Ministry.
• Draco pulled Loren onto the train's observation platform and complained that Loren had barely replied to his holiday messages.
• Draco told Loren that Voldemort had moved into Malfoy Manor and that Lucius had secretly met Sturgis Podmore while apparently under the Imperius Curse.
• Draco said he had followed Sturgis and cast Counter-charms on him, and Loren realized Sturgis was the guard he had seen earlier that morning.

On the train to Hogwarts, Loren rebuked Draco for interfering with Sturgis Podmore’s mission and warned him to stay away from Voldemort. Loren then told Hermione what Draco had revealed, and they decided to speak to Dumbledore when they arrived at school.

• Loren warned Draco that disrupting Sturgis Podmore’s task could endanger Draco and Lucius Malfoy, and told him not to tell his parents or return home for the holidays.
• Draco said he would stay at Hogwarts for Christmas and that his father had also told him not to go home.
• Back in the compartment, Loren told Hermione that Draco had seen Sturgis Podmore under the Imperius Curse at Malfoy Manor and had followed him after Lucius gave him orders.
• Hermione asked whether they should contact Professor Moody and Mrs. Weasley, and Loren suggested speaking to Headmaster Dumbledore upon reaching school.
• The train slowed as night fell, and the young wizards pressed against the windows to look outside.

Dumbledore and McGonagall discussed Sturgis’s escape from the Imperius Curse and the attempt to steal a Prophecy Orb, while the students arrived at Hogwarts for the feast. Loren teased Neville and Hannah as they headed into the Castle, where the first years were about to be welcomed.

• McGonagall brought Dumbledore Alastor’s letter reporting that Sturgis had been Imperiused and ordered to infiltrate the Department of Mysteries for a Prophecy Orb.
• Dumbledore concluded that an unknown ally had freed Sturgis and said the Prophecy Orb could only be touched by someone involved in the prophecy.
• Dumbledore asked McGonagall to welcome the arriving first years while he prepared to join the feast.
• The Half-Giant led the first years ashore from the Black Lake, carrying two children who had fallen into the water.
• Loren teased Neville about acting like a prefect and called after Hannah as she led Neville toward the Entrance Hall.

At the start-of-term feast, Harry challenged his classmates to choose whether they trusted Dumbledore or the Ministry, while the Sorting Hat warned Hogwarts about danger and the need for unity. The chapter left the students weighing the Hat’s warning as the Sorting Ceremony began.

• Dean and Seamus asked Harry whether Dumbledore had lost his mind and whether Voldemort had been a hallucination, and Harry asked the students whether they believed Dumbledore or the Ministry’s newspapers.
• Loren teased Nearly Headless Nick about visiting Mrs. Griff, prompting Nick to leave for the new students.
• The students noticed the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Umbridge, and Pansy Parkinson and Daphne Greengrass mocked her clothes.
• Professor McGonagall led the first years into the Great Hall, and the Sorting Hat began singing a new song.
• The Sorting Hat warned that Hogwarts faced danger and urged the school to stand united.