Chapter Summaries

Fudge arranged for Percy to help arrest Piers Sinix, then rewarded Percy with the position of Minister’s Assistant after Percy secretly offered him a Gaunt family ring. At Hogwarts, Harry and his friends learned that ten major criminals, including Bellatrix Lestrange, had escaped Azkaban, and Hermione suspected a conspiracy.

• Fudge rejected Umbridge’s doubts about Percy and ordered Percy to accompany Rufus Scrimgeour in arresting Sinix.
• Percy reported Sinix’s arrest and told Fudge about a Gaunt family ring he had pocketed, prompting Fudge to make Percy his Minister’s Assistant.
• Fred and George demonstrated their Headless Hat in the Gryffindor Common Room, and Harry told Ron and Hermione that the Ministry had arrested Sinix.
• Harry, Ron, and Hermione read that ten criminals had escaped Azkaban, including Bellatrix Lestrange, and Hermione wondered who had released them.

After the Azkaban escapees’ release unsettled Hogwarts, Harry encouraged the students to take Defense Against the Dark Arts seriously while Umbridge imposed another restrictive decree. As Valentine’s Day approached, Anne accidentally gave Harry the idea to celebrate with everyone together.

• Hermione worried that students were ignoring the escaped Death Eaters, and Harry suggested spreading rumors to make them recognize the danger.
• Rumors that the escapees had been seen in Hogsmeade frightened students, while Susan Bones told Harry that she understood how he felt about people discussing murdered relatives.
• Umbridge issued Educational Decree No. 26, banning teachers from sharing information unrelated to their subjects, and Lee Jordan was punished after challenging her.
• Harry promised Ron that Umbridge would soon be driven out and led unusually determined Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons as Neville rapidly improved his Charms.
• Anne asked Harry whom he would spend Valentine’s Day with, then suggested celebrating together, and Harry happily agreed.

Harry Potter received a Hogwarts acceptance letter that transported him from 1991 to 1887, where Matilda Weasley arranged aid and a place for him at school. On the Hogwarts Express, Harry befriended Gareth Weasley before an unfamiliar girl entered their compartment and stared at Harry’s scar.

• Harry found a Hogwarts acceptance letter and was transported to 1887 when he touched his scar.
• Matilda Weasley learned Harry was from 1991, warned him to keep his time travel secret, and let him stay with her family.
• The Hogwarts Board of Governors granted Harry enough aid to buy a wand and required books, and he met Headmaster Phineas Black.
• Matilda showed Harry how to board the Hogwarts Express, where Gareth Weasley invited him into a compartment and befriended him.
• Gareth bought snacks for Harry and explained the Chocolate Frog cards as Harry tried wizarding sweets.
• A beautiful girl entered the compartment and fixed her gaze on Harry’s forehead.

Harry turned Umbridge into a toad after she tried to enforce her dismissal of Professor Trelawney, and the Ministry abolished her Educational Decrees after removing Cornelius Fudge and appointing Sirius Black acting minister. Hogwarts celebrated Umbridge’s expulsion, while Harry invited Cassandra to consider the vacant Defense Against the Dark Arts post; she then told him that Mr. Septimus wanted to see him at Malfoy Manor.

• Harry burned Umbridge’s dismissal order and transformed her into a pink toad after she threatened him and Professor Trelawney.
• Harry told Professor McGonagall that Cornelius Fudge had been removed and Sirius Black appointed acting minister, then announced the new minister had abolished the Educational Decrees and banned the Hogwarts Inquisitor.
• Professor McGonagall sent the students away, and students from all four Houses celebrated Umbridge’s expulsion while Filch stayed away from his patrol.
• Harry asked Cassandra whether she wanted to apply for the vacant Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor position, and she considered approaching Pabbie.
• Cassandra told Harry that Sirius had become Minister for Magic and that Mr. Septimus wanted Harry to return to Malfoy Manor.

Harry met Cassandra Malfoy on the Hogwarts train, then arrived at Hogwarts and took part in the Sorting ceremony. The Sorting Hat placed Harry in Gryffindor, while Cassandra and several other students joined Slytherin.

• Cassandra Malfoy questioned Harry about his scar and introduced herself, and Gareth warned Harry about her powerful family.
• Harry and Gareth arrived at Hogwarts by boat, where Professor Weasley explained the four Houses and the Sorting ceremony.
• Harry watched the Sorting Hat place Stella Abercrombie in Gryffindor, Aurelius Gaunt and Cassandra Malfoy in Slytherin, and other students in their Houses.
• The Sorting Hat considered Harry for Slytherin, but Harry rejected it and was sorted into Gryffindor.
• The Sorting continued with Anne Salu and Sebastian Sallow sorted into Slytherin and Pabbie Sweeting sorted into Hufflepuff.

Harry attended the Hogwarts feast, met several classmates and professors, and followed Gryffindor prefect Emilia Crouch to the dormitory. He fell asleep after a long day and dreamed of a hostile first meeting with a boy named Malfoy, but forgot the dream when he woke.

• Headmaster Black gave a lengthy speech before announcing the feast and later reminded students about school rules and safety.
• Harry met Nearly Headless Nick and listened as his classmates shared stories about their families and interests.
• Harry saw Professor Garick and learned from Gareth that she taught Herbology and led Hufflepuff.
• Emilia Crouch led the Gryffindor first-years to their dormitory, where Randall explained the game Gobstones.
• Harry dreamed that he had fought a boy named Malfoy after the boy insulted the Weasley family, then forgot the dream when he woke.

Harry learned to use Floo Powder to travel around Hogwarts, encountered Peeves’s pranks, and heard how an earlier attempt to capture the poltergeist had failed. In his first Charms lesson, Professor Ronan awarded Slytherin points for a Lumos Charm despite his own weak demonstration.

• Gareth gave Harry Floo Powder and showed him how to travel to Gryffindor Tower through the Great Hall’s Floo Flame.
• Harry made his first Floo journey, recovered from the dizziness with Randall’s help, and learned the school provided Floo Powder for free.
• Peeves pelted Harry with chalk, and Gareth told him about caretaker Rankross Calpe’s failed trap and the agreement that granted Peeves privileges in exchange for surrendering weapons.
• An older Gryffindor advised Harry to threaten Peeves with Bloody Baron, while Gareth warned him about caretaker Mr. Moon’s punishments.
• Harry attended his first Charms class, where Violet MacDowall insulted Professor Ronan and Gareth criticized Ronan’s dim Lumos Charm.
• Professor Ronan awarded Slytherin five points for Miss Malfoy’s Lumos Charm.

Harry worked hard through his first Hogwarts lessons, received extra Charms tutoring from Professor Ronan, and partnered with Cassandra Malfoy in Potions. The chapter ended with Harry grinding snake fangs for Cassandra as she directed their potion work.

• Harry impressed Professor Ronan in Charms, and the professor invited him to attend weekly extra lessons.
• Harry practiced Transfiguration, learned to evade Charms and cast the Tarantella Dance, and endured Professor Binns’s tedious History of Magic lecture.
• During extra Charms tutoring, Professor Ronan had Harry use Lumos against conjured black-robed monsters and explained that people doubted him because he was an Indian wizard.
• Professor Sharpe assigned mixed-House pairs to brew an Itch-Cure Potion, and Cassandra Malfoy chose Harry as her partner.
• Cassandra directed Harry through their potion preparation, and he crushed the snake fangs before she told him to prepare the porcupine quills.

Harry learned that Sirius had become Minister for Magic and met with Dumbledore, who returned with a snake Horcrux after searching for Voldemort. They discussed the remaining threats and Hogwarts staffing, leaving Dumbledore considering rehiring Lupin as Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor.

• Harry read that Sirius had been elected Minister for Magic and that Fudge had been impeached and charged.
• Harry visited the Headmaster's Office, where Phineas celebrated Sirius's appointment as his great-grandson before the other portraits tied him up.
• Dumbledore returned with a snake Horcrux, and Harry and Dumbledore spoke to it in Parseltongue as it struggled against Voldemort's influence.
• Dumbledore said he had tracked Voldemort for six months, found the snake Horcrux, and learned that escaped Azkaban prisoners had left Britain.
• Dumbledore thanked Harry for protecting Hogwarts and admitted that Harry had been his backup plan against Umbridge.
• Dumbledore suggested rehiring Lupin as the Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor, and Harry heard his proposal.

Harry and Dumbledore agreed to appoint Remus Lupin as Hogwarts' Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, while Snape's bid for the position was rejected. Dumbledore then showed Harry the memory of Sybill Trelawney's prophecy that led him to hire her, but the chapter ended before the prophecy was completed.

• Harry supported Dumbledore's choice of Remus Lupin and abandoned his idea of recommending Cassandra for the post.
• Snape arrived hoping to claim the vacant Defense Against the Dark Arts position, but Dumbledore told him he had chosen Lupin instead.
• Dumbledore explained that he had assigned Snape to teach Potions and lead Slytherin rather than granting his original request to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts.
• Dumbledore thanked Harry for protecting Sybill Trelawney and explained that her prophecy had changed his decision about hiring her.
• Dumbledore used a Pensieve to show Harry the memory of Trelawney delivering the prophecy about the one who would vanquish the Dark Lord.

Lupin returned to Hogwarts as Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, while the Fifth-years received Career Advice about their future careers. Ron chose to become an Auror and was assigned private Potions tutoring by Snape after his constitution summoned him when he spoke ill of Snape; Harry appeared to know more about the arrangement than he admitted.

• Dumbledore rehired Lupin, who returned to Hogwarts on April first and was welcomed enthusiastically by the Third-years.
• During Career Advice, McGonagall explained the demanding Auror requirements to Ron, while she quickly approved Harry's plan to become an Auror.
• Hermione reassured Lavender after her own interview, and later advised Ron that he needed strong O.W.L. grades, including in Potions, to pursue his goal.
• Harry suggested Ron disliked Snape more than Potions, and Ron began criticizing Snape before Snape suddenly appeared beside him.
• Snape offered Ron private Potions tutoring every Wednesday and Friday evening, and Harry claimed it was punishment for summoning Snape by speaking ill of him.
• Hermione suspected Harry had concealed his role in Snape's decision to tutor Ron.

As the O.W.L. exams approached, Ron endured Snape’s tutoring and a swollen hand, while Hermione thwarted a dubious study-aid scam. The fifth years received their exam schedule, and the exams were about to begin.

• Harry admitted he had introduced Ron to Snape for Potions tutoring, and Ron returned from their first session thoroughly dispirited.
• After an ingredient prick left Ron’s hand swollen, Snape gave him an antidote that restored it to normal within fifteen minutes.
• Ron told Ernie Macmillan that he was studying Potions with Snape, prompting Ernie to decide he would rather revise alone.
• Hermione confiscated Eddie Carmichael’s Skele-Gro and poured it away after warning Neville and Seamus about its side effects and ingredients.
• In June, Professor McGonagall gave the fifth years their O.W.L. exam schedule and warned them against cheating.

Harry watched his classmates prepare for their O.W.L. exams, while he reminisced with Professor Marchbanks about the exams he had taken a century earlier. After the written Charms exam, the fifth-years worried about their upcoming practical, and Hagrid gave them Lucky Rabbit’s Feet for good luck.

• Ron urged Harry to revise for the O.W.L.s, but Harry reminded him that he had already earned twelve 'O's and did not need to retake them.
• Dumbledore welcomed Professor Marchbanks and the other examiners, and Marchbanks recalled examining Harry, Dumbledore, and other exceptional students years earlier.
• Hermione, Ron, Anne, and the other fifth-years grew anxious before their exams, while Harry encouraged them and watched them enter the Great Hall.
• After the written Charms exam, Hermione fretted over her answers and Ron tried to stop her from reviewing them.
• Hagrid gave Hermione and Ron Lucky Rabbit’s Feet before their afternoon Charms practical exam.

During the exams, Dumbledore summoned Harry and others to discuss Nagini, revealing that she was his nephew’s wife and a Blood curse beastman carrying one of Voldemort’s soul fragments. He listed the Horcruxes in their possession and proposed that Harry try an unfinished plan to deal with them.

• Hermione completed her practical exam and told Harry and Ron that she thought it had gone well.
• After several days of exams, Ron delivered Dumbledore’s message asking Harry to come to the Headmaster’s Office.
• Dumbledore revealed that Nagini was a Blood curse beastman and his nephew Aurelius Dumbledore’s wife, and asked for help freeing her from Voldemort’s control.
• Dumbledore showed Harry, Sirius, Lupin, and Snape four Horcruxes in his possession and said Nagini made five; Voldemort’s diary and Harry’s former soul fragment accounted for the other two.
• Dumbledore said Harry might be able to try his unfinished idea for dealing with the Horcruxes.

Harry agreed to use Ancient Magic-enhanced Legilimency to investigate Voldemort’s Horcruxes and trained until he could pull others’ thoughts into his mindscape. When he entered Hufflepuff’s Cup, he encountered young Tom Riddle, who recognized the intrusion and confronted him.

• Harry accepted Dumbledore’s proposal despite Sirius, Snape, and Lupin warning that it was dangerous.
• Harry met Veratia in Vienna and worked with the four portrait professors to develop a plan for combining Ancient Magic with Legilimency.
• Harry practiced on Dark Wizards and successfully pulled Veratia’s thoughts into his mindscape.
• After the O.W.L.s, Harry brought Hufflepuff’s Cup to Vienna and used Legilimency on it under Veratia’s supervision.
• Harry entered a memory of Hogwarts fifty years earlier and watched Tom Riddle question Professor Slughorn about Horcruxes.
• Riddle noticed Harry in the mindscape, made Slughorn vanish, and pointed his wand at the intruder.

Harry watched his friends face their O.W.L. exams while he sat out because he had already earned twelve 'O's. After the written Charms exam, the students prepared for the practical exam, with Hagrid offering them Lucky Rabbit's Feet for good luck.

• Professor McGonagall told the students that their exam results would arrive by owl in July, and Hermione asked when they would learn their scores.
• Harry teased the revising students because he had already completed his O.W.L.s, while Ron and Hermione studied anxiously for the Charms exam.
• Professor Marchbanks arrived with Dumbledore and recalled examining Harry, Miss Malfoy, and Miss Grindelwald in their past exams.
• Harry encouraged Anne before she entered the exam, then spoke with Dumbledore and Professor Marchbanks outside the Great Hall.
• Hermione and Ron finished the written Charms exam and discussed their worries about the practical test.
• Hagrid gave Hermione and Ron Lucky Rabbit's Feet, and they put them on before the practical exam.

Harry removed the Dark Arts mark from Hufflepuff's Cup and entered the memory inside Ravenclaw's Diadem, where he watched Dumbledore meet the young Tom Riddle at Wool's Orphanage. The memory continued without revealing where the diadem's soul fragment was hidden.

• Harry revealed his identity to the Horcrux fragment in Hufflepuff's Cup, then erased the fragment and Hogwarts Castle from the mental world.
• Harry confirmed that his method removed the Dark Arts mark without damaging Hufflepuff's Cup.
• Gellert told Harry and Veratia that another Riddle was believed to be hiding in a pyramid in T.P.L.A.C.
• Harry used Legiliments on Ravenclaw's Diadem and entered a memory of Wool's Orphanage.
• Harry watched Dumbledore invite the young Tom Riddle to Hogwarts and saw Riddle react with excitement and greed when he learned magic was real.
• Harry searched the memory for the soul fragment but had not found it yet.

Harry confronted Riddle in a mental world, rejected his excuses, and destroyed him before claiming Ravenclaw's Diadem. After learning the diadem's history, Harry faced teasing from Gellert about whom he planned to give it to.

• Harry watched Dumbledore confront young Riddle over stolen belongings and uncontrolled magic, while Riddle blamed Dumbledore for making him distrust others.
• Harry revealed that he knew Riddle's origins and Horcruxes, then destroyed him after explaining that Riddle had killed his parents.
• Harry emerged from the mental world as the black mist dispersed from Ravenclaw's Diadem and asked Dumbledore if he could keep it.
• Veratia explained Helena's history and how Riddle gained her trust and hid the diadem in the Room of Requirement.
• Gellert teased Harry about giving the diadem to a woman, and Veratia asked Harry if his suggestion was true.

Harry gave Veratia the diadem to pass on to Cassandra, then resumed working with Dumbledore on Voldemort’s Horcruxes. Sirius reported that escaped Death Eaters were performing an evil ritual in the Mississippi River Basin, leaving the group to wonder what they were doing.

• Harry deflected Gellert’s questions about the diadem, and Veratia called for a rest from removing Horcrux soul fragments.
• Veratia guessed Harry had intended the diadem for Cassandra, accepted it, and promised to give it to her while discussing Harry’s mistake in raising her hopes about the Defense Against the Dark Arts position.
• Harry and Veratia discussed Sirius’s work at the Ministry, escaped Death Eaters, and Veratia’s ambitions for the Greater German Ministry of Magic.
• The next morning, Harry suggested a more efficient way to investigate the Horcruxes, but Sirius called with news that escaped Death Eaters were performing an evil ritual near the Mississippi River.
• Dumbledore and Gellert discussed the ritual, and Gellert denied that his identity as a Dark Wizard meant he understood or practiced such atrocities.

Harry entered the memory inside Marvolo Gaunt’s ring and witnessed the Gaunt family torment Merope over her love for Tom Riddle Sr. He confronted Voldemort in the memory, but Voldemort turned to black mist and threatened to take over Harry’s mind.

• Harry entered the ring’s memory and followed Tom Riddle Sr. and Cecilia near Little Hangleton.
• Harry saw Marvolo Gaunt, Morfin Gaunt, Merope Gaunt, and Ogden inside Gaunt Old House as Morfin exposed Merope’s feelings for Tom.
• Marvolo attacked Merope, and Ogden used Relashio to free her before Morfin drove him from the house with curses.
• Morfin revealed himself as Voldemort, who tried to kill Harry with the Killing Curse, but Harry remained unharmed.
• Harry taunted Voldemort about Merope and the Love Potion, and Voldemort transformed into black mist and threatened to take over Harry’s mind.