Chapter Summaries

Andrew settled Peter’s handover with the Ministry, demonstrated his Transfiguration to Dumbledore, and received a thousand Galleons from Phineas Black. After hearing about Lockhart’s lesson with caged Cornish Pixies, Andrew found an idea for the Area Spell problem and headed to the kitchen.

• Andrew gave Dumbledore the Ministry’s official reply about Peter and confirmed the matter was nearly settled.
• Andrew transformed a real egg into a living Flobberworm, and Dumbledore praised his Transfiguration while declining to teach him anything further for now.
• Phineas Black asked Dumbledore to lend Andrew a thousand Galleons as thanks from the Black family, and Dumbledore gave Andrew a note to collect the money.
• Andrew collected the Galleons and a Gringotts bank draft, then arranged to transfer the money to another account.
• Hal told Andrew that Lockhart had released Cornish Pixies from a cage during a Gryffindor lesson, and Andrew rushed to the kitchen after realizing the detail gave him an idea.

Andrew experimented with combining two Transfiguration spells in a laboratory Professor McGonagall lent him, while Bell learned he might get a chance to train as a Quidditch substitute. The first day of classes ended with Andrew still puzzling over his experiments and forgetting something he could not identify.

• Andrew asked Professor McGonagall for access to a lit laboratory so he could test a plan to combine two Transfiguration spells, and she gave him its key.
• Andrew used a sealed can and an expanding bean to test how well his Transfigured container withstood an explosion.
• Andrew returned late from the laboratory and told his roommates that his new spell was proving difficult.
• Hal told Bell that the team might recruit a substitute, giving Bell a chance to train despite the lack of an opening for a Keeper.
• Andrew promised to cheer Bell on at the tryouts, finished the evening with his roommates, and went to sleep still unsure what he had forgotten.

Andrew noticed that the Black Lake’s shore had been magically altered, then learned that the Ministry was coming to collect Peter Pettigrew. He joined the handover party and watched the Ministry officials and Aurors arrive already at odds.

• Andrew realized he had forgotten to ask Percy about Ginny and reflected on his plan to find her diary and protect himself from the Basilisk.
• Andrew discovered that someone had magically moved the Black Lake’s shoreline and decided to tell Professor McGonagall.
• Professor Flitwick demanded seven colors for the Color-Changing Charm and assigned double homework, then Professor McGonagall summoned Andrew to arrange Peter Pettigrew’s handover.
• After the Ministry party arrived, Andrew recognized Mr. Perkins and met Arthur Weasley, who took the lead for the handover.
• The Ministry party headed to see Peter, while its Aurors and officials disagreed over procedures and warned against using interrogation spells.

Andrew accompanied Ministry officials to take Peter Pettigrew into custody and escort him to Azkaban, only to discover that Dumbledore’s letter required him to collect Sirius and return him to Hogwarts as well. The group photographed Peter and set off, pausing at Hagrid’s hut when Mr. Weasley encountered Ginny and the adults turned the handover into a school reunion.

• The Minister’s Assistant told Andrew that the Ministry would arrest Peter, photograph him, take him to Azkaban, release Sirius, and bring Andrew back to Hogwarts.
• Andrew read Dumbledore’s letter and realized that the Minister had arranged to release Sirius and send him back with a Hogwarts representative.
• Andrew explained the plan to Professor McGonagall, who told Huffman to stun Sirius and bring him back tied up for her to speak with him.
• The Ministry photographed Peter beside Mr. Weasley while Andrew and the Assistant watched, and Huffman arrived to escort them to Azkaban.
• Andrew led the group toward Hagrid’s hut, where Mr. Weasley greeted Ginny and the Aurors and Hit Wizards chatted with her classmates.

Andrew accompanied the Ministry officials to Azkaban to deliver Peter Pettigrew and process Sirius Black’s release. After experiencing the prison’s crushing atmosphere, he continued toward the Maximum-Security Wing and noticed someone trying to hide from him.

• Andrew questioned Mr. Weasley about the Knight Bus as it carried them to the coast.
• The Hit Wizards took Peter Pettigrew, Andrew, Huffman, and the others by boat to Azkaban.
• Andrew and Huffman felt the prison’s oppressive atmosphere as the Hit Wizards explained how Azkaban was run.
• The Minister’s Assistant presented documents ordering Peter Pettigrew’s transfer to an inner cell and Sirius Black’s release.
• Andrew heard someone react to seeing him, noticed a student trying to hide, and ignored him as he continued into Azkaban.

Andrew helped retrieve Sirius Black from Azkaban after the Ministry discovered Peter Pettigrew was alive, and Black was released to Hogwarts. Harry met Black in the Hospital Wing, where they recognized each other and began to reconnect.

• Andrew accompanied the Ministry team to Azkaban, where Sirius Black reacted furiously to news that Peter Pettigrew had been caught and begged to have him brought into his cell.
• Andrew told Black that Harry Potter was waiting for him, calming him enough for Huffman to stun him and the group to take him to Hogwarts.
• Madam Pomfrey treated Black in the Hospital Wing, while Andrew later learned from Professor McGonagall that a Patronus was the most effective defense against Dementors and that other approaches might be possible through advanced Transfiguration.
• The Daily Prophet reported Black's release and publicized Peter Pettigrew's crimes, leaving Harry and Ron shocked and Harry distressed that Pettigrew had fooled his father.
• Percy brought Harry and Ron to the Hospital Wing, where Black woke, recognized Harry as James's son, and invited Harry and Ron to talk.

Andrew avoided questions about Sirius Black and noticed that someone had dug farther into the shore of the Black Lake. In Professor Binns's class, Hal asked about Sirius and Peter Pettigrew, prompting Binns to discover that his account of events was outdated and dismiss the class almost immediately.

• Professor Adams praised Andrew's Herbology work and asked him about bringing Sirius Black to the Hospital Wing.
• Andrew found that another meter of the Black Lake shore had been dug up and decided to report it to a professor.
• Andrew hurried to Magical History class to avoid classmates asking about Sirius and Peter Pettigrew.
• Hal asked Professor Binns what he knew about Sirius and Peter, and Binns said Peter had received the Order of Merlin while Sirius was in Azkaban.
• Hughes told Binns that Sirius had been released and Peter had been sent to Azkaban, so Binns awarded Ravenclaw twenty points and dismissed class.

Professor Binns requested a year-long leave after realizing that important history had been forgotten, alarming Professor McGonagall and Andrew. Andrew persuaded him to postpone the leave and investigate Hogwarts’s hidden history instead, leaving the school’s teaching arrangements temporarily secure.

• Professor McGonagall told Andrew that Professor Binns had requested a year of leave, and Andrew explained that Hal Eden’s question about Sirius had prompted the request.
• Andrew and Professor McGonagall visited Professor Binns, who explained that he wanted to search for hidden histories after learning how much had been forgotten.
• Andrew suggested that Professor Binns investigate Hogwarts’s secrets and learn the stories of its Ghosts instead of traveling elsewhere.
• Professor Binns postponed his leave, and Professor McGonagall told Andrew he could take the day off while Percy covered his duty.

Andrew spent the first week back at Hogwarts struggling with Area Transfiguration experiments while Percy handled the Office workload. On the first weekend, Andrew went to take Ron to buy a Wand but found him at Gryffindor Quidditch tryouts after a brief fight with Slytherin students.

• Andrew spoke with an exhausted Percy, who explained that he was handling the Office work while Andrew was on leave.
• Andrew continued his experiments, earned twenty points in Professor Snape's class, and learned that Sirius was recovering in the hospital while Harry and Ron visited him daily.
• Andrew planned to take Ron to buy a Wand, with Percy providing the money and Professor McGonagall arranging for Dumbledore to watch for the culprit outside the school.
• Andrew discovered that Ron had gone to Gryffindor Quidditch tryouts, where Ron and other Gryffindors chased and beat a group of Slytherin students.
• Andrew approached Ron at the pitch and told him they had to leave to buy his Wand.

Ron feared that he would be expelled after the flying-car incident and fight, but Andrew took him to Diagon Alley to buy his first wand instead. Ron began trying wands at Ollivander’s while Andrew studied nearby, leaving the wand selection still underway.

• Ron asked to try out for Quidditch before facing possible expulsion, and Andrew let him take part; Ron stopped all ten shots.
• Harry and Hermione congratulated Ron on getting a wand, and he realized he was not being expelled.
• The Weasley Twins joked that Ron’s survival was another blow to their reputation, while Lee Jordan pointed out that they had nearly joined the fight.
• Andrew warned Ron not to leave school or misuse the Floo Network, then escorted him to Diagon Alley.
• At Ollivander’s, Andrew presented the letter authorizing Ron’s wand purchase, and Mr. Ollivander began measuring Ron while Andrew studied.

Ron celebrated earning a Quidditch substitute spot and told an exaggerated story about leaving Hogwarts, while Andrew reported the wand trip to Professor McGonagall. In the hospital wing, Sirius remembered Remus and asked Harry to write to him.

• Ron told students he had traveled through the Forbidden Forest and kept the secret passage’s location hidden.
• Ron earned a substitute position on the Quidditch team and learned he would receive Charlie’s old Cleansweep broom.
• Andrew told Professor McGonagall that the wand purchase had gone smoothly and destroyed the unused permits.
• Harry told Sirius he still needed to rest, while Sirius complained about being confined to the hospital wing.
• Sirius remembered Remus and asked Harry to write and tell him that Sirius was recovering at Hogwarts.

Remus Lupin struggled to find work and considered contacting Sirius after learning the truth about Peter, while Andrew developed a successful area spell using Transfiguration and Spreading Ability. The chapter ended with Andrew planning to report his discovery to Professor McGonagall and study area spellcasting further.

• Sirius told Harry that Hedwig could not locate Remus because his name had been hidden, and he decided to keep trying to contact him.
• Remus, using the name Cecil Cullen, worried about finding work and considered applying for Hogwarts’s temporary Magical History professor opening so he might see Sirius.
• A smuggler and potion-maker joked that he planned to become a major merchant by selling a potion intended to raise the wizarding world’s birth rate.
• Andrew used Transfiguration, Suppression, and Spreading Ability to make a can of beans burst into particles that transformed patches of the floor.
• Andrew tested the method on sand, confirmed it could spread Transfiguration across a room, and concluded that spreading and erosion were the key to his area spell.
• Andrew planned to report the spell to Professor McGonagall and preserve it while beginning to study proper area spellcasting.

Andrew impressed Professor McGonagall with his new Area Spell variant and began formal study while watching Hagrid’s chickens for a death that might expose Ginny’s connection to the diary. Harry, Ron, and Hermione visited Hagrid and learned about Sirius’s flying motorcycle, leaving Ron suspicious about the vehicle and Hagrid’s invitation.

• Andrew demonstrated a spell that made beans burst from their cocoons, fly across a desk, and fall gently back down, and Professor McGonagall praised his Area Spell variant.
• Professor McGonagall told Andrew to focus on Area Spell, let him use the laboratory, and allowed him to borrow books from the Restricted Section.
• Andrew collected the books from Madam Pince and continued checking Hagrid’s chickens, hoping one would die so he could blame Ginny and request a search for the diary.
• Harry, Ron, and Hermione visited Hagrid, who told them Sirius had entrusted him with a flying motorcycle and had used it to carry Harry to Dumbledore.
• Hagrid took Harry and Ron for a ride on the motorcycle, and on their way back Ron wondered whether Hagrid had invited them only after repairing it and why the vehicle looked familiar.

Andrew visited Hagrid, examined and rode an enchanted flying Motorcycle that Hagrid had received from Black, and gained a new way to travel to Hogsmeade. He returned to the Castle with the Roosters still alive and noted that Sirius remained at Hogwarts as he prepared for a discussion about a Club with Professor Lockhart.

• Andrew brought Hagrid a basket of fruit and discovered an enchanted flying Motorcycle in his hut.
• Hagrid explained that Black had given him the Motorcycle years earlier and offered to lend it to Andrew for trips to Hogsmeade.
• Andrew used rope and spells to secure the Motorcycle, then rode it into the sky and landed safely.
• Andrew ran back toward the Castle, where he found that the Roosters were still alive and considered his reasons for visiting Hagrid and entering the Forbidden Forest.
• Andrew reflected that Sirius was still staying at Hogwarts and remembered that he had to discuss a Club with Professor Lockhart.

Andrew and the other students attended Charms, where Ron unexpectedly excelled with his new Wand and earned Gryffindor points. Ron credited the Wand as a reliable friend, while he and Harry worried Hermione would be angry about his performance and homework request.

• Andrew considered Professor Lockhart's proposed Love and Legend club and anticipated that someone would be assigned to manage it.
• In Charms, Andrew mastered the direction-disrupting spell, but Ron used it to make a beetle draw shapes and won ten points for Gryffindor.
• Professor Flitwick awarded Hermione three points and Andrew one, leaving Andrew frustrated as he focused on studying Transfiguration.
• Nash questioned Andrew about Ron's sudden improvement and went to the library, while Andrew speculated that Ron's new Wand might be the reason.
• Hermione questioned Ron and Harry about whether Ron had studied ahead, then walked away suspiciously.
• Ron called his Wand a reliable friend, and he and Harry joked about Hermione before Ron asked Harry for his Magical History homework.

Andrew attended a Prefects’ Office meeting where the older Prefects teased him into acting as a senior to two new Fifth Year Prefects, then Professor McGonagall assigned him to help prepare Professor Lockhart’s Club. The chapter ended with Andrew marking a stack of difficult Fourth Year essays before returning to class.

• Andrew asked Huffman who the Student Council Presidents were, and Huffman explained that he had passed the boys’ role to a Hufflepuff Prefect because he would be away for Adventure Training.
• The Fifth Year Prefects arrived late after helping disperse a crowd following Peeves’s destruction of a corridor, and Huffman introduced Andrew as an old hand for them to respect.
• Professor McGonagall asked the Prefects to organize a space for Professor Lockhart’s Club, and a Seventh Year Prefect and Sheila volunteered to handle the arrangements.
• Professor McGonagall assigned Andrew to accompany the volunteers and learn from them, then left him a stack of Fourth Year Theses to mark.
• Andrew began grading the poor Hufflepuff and Slytherin assignments while Huffman urged him to finish quickly and prepare for class.

Lockhart prepared to launch his Club while Andrew watched Prefects expand and decorate its room, then was appointed to supervise their work. After the decorating ended, Andrew left to check the Laboratory.

• Lockhart failed to punish a Fire Crab, calmed himself with a spell, and prepared to show students how to build his Club.
• Andrew watched Fia and Sheila cast the Undetectable Extension Charm and an Area Spell to enlarge and floor the Club room.
• Lockhart arrived with a Prefect from Andrew's School, and a Gryffindor Prefect declared Andrew the supervisor of the decorating.
• Andrew held back his laughter as the Prefect recalled Lockhart's story of sending himself eight hundred Valentine's Day cards at Hogwarts.
• Lockhart gave each helper a signed book from his series, and Andrew left to check the Laboratory.

Andrew struggled to understand his professor’s instruction to “read more, think more” and began systematically practicing Area Transfiguration. Hermione joined the Lockhart Fan Club while Ron persuaded Harry to study Charms with him, where they discovered Dumbledore’s notes in a book and copied them down.

• Andrew tested Area Transfiguration by turning the Laboratory floor to sand, then shaping it into figures and objects that quickly crumbled back into sand.
• Andrew concluded that his professor wanted him to practice the many types of Area Transfiguration described in books and started with grassland Transfiguration.
• Hermione announced that she planned to join the Lockhart Fan Club, while Harry declined and Ron agreed to spend time studying Charms with him.
• Ron took Harry to the Library to read ahead for Charms, and Harry decided to copy down useful spells to improve his combat skills.
• Harry spotted Dumbledore’s notes appearing in his book, and he and Ron hurriedly copied them before leaving the Library pleased with their haul.

Fred and George tried to arrange detention so they could meet Sirius in the Hospital Wing, but Andrew assigned them to help Filch instead. While sorting records, they found a fifty-year-old blank notebook bearing the name Tom Riddle and took it to their secret base to investigate.

• Andrew agreed to postpone Fred and George's detention but assigned them to help Professor Snape prepare toad innards, so they chose Filch's work instead.
• Fred and George explained that they wanted to meet Sirius and ask him about Peeves and the legendary troublemakers they admired.
• Filch ordered them to sort records and locked the drawers before leaving on patrol.
• George used the Marauder's Map to keep watch while Fred searched the drawers and found a battered notebook named Tom Riddle.
• Fred and George finished their work, returned the records to Filch, and secretly took the notebook to their underground Empty Room to examine it.

Andrew believed Hagrid had killed the rooster and hoped to use the death to implicate Ginny, but learned Hagrid had only roasted it for breakfast and planned to buy more. Meanwhile, the Weasley twins discovered that the diary restored pages torn from it, and a Charms contest ended with Hermione placing first while Professor Flitwick singled out Ron’s performance for extra attention.

• Tom Riddle’s soul fragment noticed faint magic reaching the diary but decided the twins’ strange ritual offered him little useful information.
• Fred and George tore pages from the diary and watched them vanish and reappear, then brainstormed ways to test the book’s apparent indestructibility.
• Andrew saw blood and feathers by Hagrid’s chicken coop and assumed a rooster had died, but Hagrid explained that he had roasted it for breakfast and agreed to buy more chickens.
• Andrew went to Charms class and learned that Hermione, Nash, and Ron were competing to prove who performed best.
• Professor Flitwick awarded Hermione five points, Nash three, and Andrew one, then asked Ron to stay after class following his unusual effort.