Chapter Summaries

Harry spent the summer eating and training at 3 Privet Drive with Black, Lupin, Jack, and Dumbledore, while Hogwarts prepared to add a self-study course. Dumbledore asked Harry to help explain the wizarding world to Muggle parents before term began.

• Dudley began a strict diet and swimming regimen after his weight caused him to break a chair, while Harry trained at a boxing gym nearby.
• Harry left the Dursleys’ sparse dinner for Kreacher’s Beef Pie at 3 Privet Drive, where Black was protecting him from the escaped Death Eaters.
• Lupin and Percy worked on the werewolf antidote project at the house, while Lupin told Harry that Hogwarts’ new self-study course would require monthly workbooks and could cost students Hogsmeade visits if they failed.
• Dumbledore told Harry that Hogwarts would hold its Muggle-parent visit before term and asked him to help explain wizarding phenomena; Harry agreed, and Petunia arrived.

Petunia asked Harry to copy a photograph of Lily, and Dumbledore arranged for the Daily Prophet to help. While Harry and Black visited Diagon Alley, Harry met Seamus with Mafalda Prewett, a new Hogwarts student who knew Charles.

• Petunia asked Harry for a copy of the part of his family photograph showing Lily, so Dumbledore contacted the Daily Prophet for help.
• Harry and Black went to the Daily Prophet’s headquarters in Diagon Alley, stopping at Florin Fosco’s ice-cream shop on the way.
• Harry spotted Seamus studying parchment with Mafalda Prewett and went over to meet her.
• Mafalda told Harry and Seamus that Charles had given her books about wizarding society and that her father worked at Charles’s Farbaton Castle.
• Harry realized Charles had wrongly blamed himself for eating a cake that Mafalda had eaten during a visit to Charles’s house.
• Seamus explained that Charles had asked him to take Mafalda to Diagon Alley because Charles had gone abroad.

While shopping in Diagon Alley with Seamus and Mafalda, Harry slipped away to follow Draco Malfoy in Knockturn Alley. He overheard Malfoy making a deal for an unnamed important figure, concluded it was likely Voldemort, and went to find Black so they could report to Dumbledore.

• Mafalda showed Seamus and Harry her grandfather's wand and demonstrated spells she had learned, accidentally startling passing wizards with a Muggle-repelling spell that sounded like gunfire.
• Seamus, Harry, and Mafalda visited Madam Malkin's and Flourish and Blotts, where Mafalda ordered a large collection of magical books for delivery to Farbaton Castle.
• The group bought school supplies, and Mafalda chose an emerald-green parrot at the Magical Creatures Shop.
• Harry left the others and followed Draco Malfoy through Knockturn Alley while disguised in a foul-smelling secondhand cloak.
• Harry overheard Malfoy arranging expanded cooperation with a wizard in a dog-head mask on behalf of an unnamed important figure, then saw Malfoy leave by Portkey.
• Harry suspected the important figure was Voldemort and left to find Black before returning to report to Dumbledore.

Harry and Black went to Borgin and Borgin’s shop in Knockturn Alley to investigate items connected to the Death Eaters and the Malfoy family. After Black bought a large collection of Lestrange family objects, Borgin jokingly offered to sell something to young Master Malfoy, and Black asked how much.

• Dumbledore rejected Black’s claim that Draco Malfoy was working for Voldemort, arguing that Draco was more likely being used as a pawn.
• The following evening, Black disguised himself and Harry with cloaks and took Harry to Knockturn Alley.
• Black entered Borgin and Borgin’s shop and examined dangerous Dark Magic items offered for sale.
• Black bought nearly all the genuine Lestrange family items, spending a thousand Galleons.
• Black asked whether Borgin had any Malfoy family items, and Borgin jokingly asked young Master Malfoy if he wanted to buy the family collection.
• Black took Borgin’s joke seriously and asked how much.

Black kidnapped Malfoy and interrogated him for ten days, but failed to learn anything before releasing him. Harry was then invited to stay with the Weasleys, while Petunia’s knowledge of Dementors led him to begin recalling Lily.

• Black paid Borgin to arrange for Malfoy to be captured alive, then took Harry to the Black family home and interrogated Malfoy in the dungeon.
• Kreacher warmed to Harry after Harry praised Regulus Black, while Malfoy repeatedly claimed ignorance and eventually blamed Charles.
• After ten days, Black released Malfoy and lied to Dumbledore about his motorcycle being towed; Malfoy sat dazed in Diagon Alley, distressed that Charles’s ten-thousand-Galleon check had been stolen.
• Molly Weasley invited Harry to stay with her family, and the Dursleys agreed to let him leave the next day.
• Harry learned that Bill’s girlfriend Bakalova was a Veela, then asked Petunia whether she knew about Dementors; Petunia said Lily had told her what they did, prompting Harry to start recalling his mother.

Harry joined the Weasleys at the Burrow, where Bill introduced his girlfriend Bakalova and Charlie teased his brothers about an upcoming Hogwarts secret. The gathering ended with Harry bringing Charles to meet Bakalova, who wanted to consult him about historical matters.

• Arthur brought Harry from 3 Privet Drive to the Burrow after Dumbledore and Lupin took Black to meet a potential marriage partner.
• Molly welcomed Harry, and the Weasleys, Hermione, and Penelope laughed as Ron performed somersaults and Ginny showed Harry her new dress.
• Bill introduced Bakalova, a historian and Bulgarian Wizard's Chess champion, to Harry.
• Charlie hinted that something secret was happening at Hogwarts, while Penelope told the group that Charles would soon return for the Decryption Challenge award ceremony.
• Bakalova asked Penelope to help her contact Charles, and Harry went to fetch him from 3 Privet Drive.
• Harry returned five minutes later with a somewhat anemic-looking Charles.

Charles visited the Weasleys with Harry, explained that Patricia Rackhpur had been released from Azkaban on parole to work for his company, and discussed her past with Bill. He then arranged to help Bakalova with her research while dodging questions about the Old Man, before giving Percy and Penelope detailed instructions for the werewolf drug trials at St. Mungo’s Hospital.

• Charles told the Weasleys that he had secured Patricia Rackhpur’s parole and hired her, and Bill asked to visit her at the company.
• Bakalova asked Charles for help interviewing a key person from the 1930s and 1940s and finding information about the African Demon Kings; Charles agreed to make inquiries.
• Bakalova hinted that old debts could be inherited, and Charles tried to change the subject by discussing the dragon meat ordered for the Dancing Grass Restaurant.
• Charles teased Percy and Penelope about possibly living together, and Fred and George revealed Percy had been collecting rental advertisements.
• Percy reported that St. Mungo’s had prepared thirty-six wards and a team for the werewolf drug trials, while Lupin had interviewed participants and created individual files.
• Charles instructed Percy and Penelope to support the participating werewolves, manage meals and records, and prepare St. Mungo’s for Slughorn’s upcoming inspection.

Charles prepared the Dancing Grass Restaurant’s tent at the Quidditch World Cup and returned to Farbaton Castle to work on his research paper. Dumbledore came back after a disastrous attempt to teach Black, while Charles asked him to connect Grindelwald with someone seeking an interview.

• Molly learned that Charles had invested 1,000 Galleons in Fred and George, and Harry explained that Charles had been heading to the restaurant’s World Cup branch.
• Charles warned Dobby to prepare the restaurant tent for possible attacks and learned that Norma and other American House-elves had joined the workforce.
• Charles visited the workers’ training session at Farbaton Castle, then returned to 3 Privet Drive and began turning his fertilizer experiment data into a paper.
• Dumbledore told Charles that his attempt to teach Black had ended in disaster, and Charles suggested that he ask Professor Sprout for advice.
• Charles asked Dumbledore to have Grindelwald contact him about an interview, and Dumbledore agreed.

Charles left for Moscow to pursue a Nobel Prize, while Grindelwald presented Bakalova with a new plan for wizards to gain power through wealth and control of capital. After Bakalova and Bill left, Jack questioned whether Grindelwald had used the Imperius Curse on her.

• Charles told Dumbledore he was going to Moscow and arranged for the Ministry and Auror Office to protect his businesses after his paper found that Muggle fertilizer increased magical herbs’ growth limits.
• Charles mailed his paper in Diagon Alley and headed to the airport with graphite, silicon wafers, and tape for his Moscow research trip.
• Bakalova interviewed Grindelwald at the Dancing Grass Restaurant while Bill accompanied her.
• Grindelwald called his younger self foolish and argued that wizards should gain power by accumulating wealth and controlling governments through capital.
• Jack asked Grindelwald whether he had cast the Imperius Curse on Bakalova, and Grindelwald said he had only suggested that she publish his statements.

After a wizard tried to burn down 3 Privet Drive, Harry and the Weasleys suspected Jack had been targeted because of his Muggle background and recent work. Molly invited Jack to stay at the Burrow, but he refused to run away.

• Arthur showed Harry a Daily Prophet article reporting that a wizard had been arrested for trying to burn down 3 Privet Drive.
• Harry, Hermione, Ron, and the Weasleys speculated about why the attacker had targeted Jack, and Arthur suspected blood-purity extremists resented Jack's friendships with wizards.
• Charlie connected the attack to Charles's paper in The Hat about growing herbs with Muggle fertilizer.
• Arthur proposed inviting Jack to stay at the Burrow, and Molly took Harry, Ginny, and Hermione to ask him.
• Molly found Fudge, Scrimgeour, and Frank Lumbardon at Jack's house, where Fudge had arranged for Frank to guard him.
• Molly invited Jack to the Burrow, but Jack insisted that he would not run away.

Hogsmeade filled with visitors as Jack gave a formal interview about the attack on Charles’s family, while Fudge asked Dumbledore not to interfere. Fudge promised Jack’s safety and revealed that Severus would protect him, leaving Dumbledore to seek answers from Grindelwald.

• Foreign visitors crowded Hogsmeade, and local businesses rented houses and served the influx of guests.
• Dumbledore learned that the attack on Charles’s family had been prompted by Charles’s paper and found Jack giving a formal interview at the Three Broomsticks Inn.
• Mr. Garrick condemned the attacker for threatening a scholar’s family to force him to admit an academic mistake.
• Fudge asked Dumbledore to stay away from Jack’s interview and argued that wizards had to break with convention for their greater good.
• Fudge offered Ministry funding for Dumbledore’s proposed Magical Research Institute, and Dumbledore insisted that Jack be kept safe.
• Fudge assured Dumbledore that the Ministry would protect Jack and said Severus had been assigned as his bodyguard.

At the Three Broomsticks Inn, Jack argued that the wall separating wizards and Muggles had caused many tragedies and asked whether it should continue to be preserved. His speech stirred the crowd as Moss Jeff and his colleagues prepared Farbaton Castle for a possible attack.

• Jack thanked the Aurors, then described tragedies caused by the separation between wizards and Muggles, including families denied help and relationships broken apart.
• Jack recounted the story of two sisters divided by the wall and other wizards separated by deliberate discord, while Snape recognized people connected to the stories in the crowd.
• Jack asked whether the wall that had caused countless tragedies should continue to be preserved, and the listeners erupted into debate.
• The reporters noticed that no one from the Ministry of Magic had appeared, while Snape wondered why Jack had focused on him and said nothing about McGonagall.
• At Farbaton Castle, Moss Jeff urged his colleagues to strengthen the castle's defenses in case wizards attacked.

Voldemort mistook the Ministry’s public support for Jack for a trap, while Harry’s dizziness led to an examination that found him healthy. In Switzerland, Charles managed an Internet business investment under the influence of singing magic, then agreed to take Gabrielle camping in the mountains.

• At Malfoy Manor, Voldemort decided the Ministry was baiting the Death Eaters with Jack’s press conference and ordered them to stay away from him.
• Harry became dizzy at the Burrow and nearly fell down the stairs, so the Weasleys urged him to get checked at St. Mungo’s Hospital.
• After examining Harry, the Healers concluded he was healthy and fit to attend the Quidditch World Cup.
• In Lucerne, Charles met with Internet company representatives, gave them his business plan, and arranged funding while using singing magic to make them comply.
• Gabrielle asked Charles about the spell he had practiced, and after their work was finished, she suggested they camp in the snow-covered mountains.

Charles and Gabrielle camped in the Alps, watched wildlife, and prepared meals together while Gabrielle learned to cook. In France, Pheobe returned home early to find the house empty and a note saying that Gabrielle and Charles had gone abroad.

• Charles and Gabrielle built a cabin, grilled lamb chops and noodles, and spent the night watching the stars beside the lake.
• Charles took Gabrielle to see chamois, where they watched wolves chase one up a cliff and later spotted a lynx catching a rabbit.
• Gabrielle fed swans, watched birds, and learned from Charles how to prepare and marinate meat for their meals.
• Pheobe returned home early from Beauxbatons, found a note about Gabrielle and Charles being abroad, and discovered there was no food in the house.

Charles reunited with Pheobe in Switzerland, where she told him that an attack on his home had failed and his grandfather was safe. After cooking and spending time together with Gabrielle, Charles prepared to travel to China for Air Fryer company business, while the group enjoyed one last meal before returning.

• Pheobe found Charles and Gabrielle in the woods, then told Charles that an attacker had tried to kidnap his grandfather, but alarm magic had brought the Aurors and Mr. Smith was safe.
• Pheobe explained that Mr. Smith had publicly condemned the International Statute of Secrecy, drawing criticism from American newspapers while the French press mostly observed.
• Charles told Gabrielle he planned to handle Air Fryer company business in China, and the sisters picked apples for pork chops the next day.
• Pheobe stayed overnight, and Charles set up a tent rather than share the cabin; while they shopped, he revealed that he could Apparate and asked her to keep it secret.
• The next day, Charles, Pheobe, and Gabrielle cooked apple-stewed pork chops, ate, extinguished their fire, and prepared to head back.

Charles visited Ruby Kitchens Joint Venture Co., Ltd., praised its growth, and laid out priorities for its workers and managers. He warned the staff about risky Indian trade schemes and continued preparing a secure fallback in China amid uncertainty in Britain.

• Vernon addressed the company’s senior officials, praised its production, and promised trips to Europe for employees who met their targets.
• Charles introduced himself in fluent Mandarin, praised the company’s achievements, and urged staff to promote efficiency and quality while developing useful new products.
• After Vernon left, Charles invited the officials to share complaints, and the sales chief said Vernon rejected Indian orders.
• Charles explained a scheme involving custom White-Cut Chicken Sushi orders and advised the company to demand full payment or deposits covering its costs when dealing with Indian buyers.
• Charles and the officials rode to Guangzhou for a meal at Tao Tao Ju, while Charles considered the company a useful fallback if he had to flee Britain.

Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, and the Weasley twins prepared the Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes stall for the Quidditch World Cup while Harry remained troubled by Charles's mysterious singing. Marlene, a vampire and Charles Smith's close friend, visited the stall, and Bulgarian Seeker Viktor Krum returned to buy from Hermione.

• Harry and Hermione arrived at the World Cup stalls, where Fred and George opened their joke shop with help from Lee Jordan and the others.
• Harry, Ron, and Hermione discussed the unexplained effect that made Harry hear Charles singing before the twins prepared the stall for the crowd.
• Marlene, a vampire cheerleader for Germany, recognized Harry and his friends and revealed that she had stayed with Charles for a month.
• Hermione secretly planned to use what she had learned from Marlene to get Charles to buy her snacks for the school year.
• Viktor Krum bought a Cat Mirror from Hermione, then returned five minutes later to buy a Pig's Head Quill.

The Weasleys ran a successful stall before Dumbledore joined them for dinner and discussed Grindelwald’s interview. Dumbledore told Harry he suspected a connection with Voldemort was causing Harry’s dizziness, then left to speak with a potential Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.

• Hermione, Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Seamus joked at the Weasley stall, where Seamus revealed he had been eating ice cream with a first-year girl whose father worked for Charles.
• The stall sold most of its stock, and Fred and George bought Butterbeer before everyone returned to The Burrow.
• Dumbledore arrived with a roast goose, and Arthur complained that Ministry officials were trying to claim credit for the werewolf preparations.
• Bill told Dumbledore that Bakalova had returned to Bulgaria after interviewing Grindelwald, whose remarks about his past mistakes and violence made Dumbledore suspicious.
• Dumbledore asked Harry about his dizziness and guessed that Harry and Voldemort had formed a connection when Voldemort lost his body; Harry agreed to record his symptoms and dreams.
• Dumbledore told Harry to return to The Burrow while he went to speak with an old friend interested in teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Charles organized a rescue of kidnapped children from a private island, using Steve Rogers and Russian and Cuban forces to capture the perpetrators and recover evidence. After the rescue, Charles confirmed the children were alive, then left Miami for East Africa to establish an alibi before the scandal broke.

• Three aliens attacked the island's guards while Steve Rogers entered the villa and confronted the congressman and the other men holding girls hostage.
• Steve made four men transfer five million dollars each, accepted another man's offer of six million dollars' worth of gold, and gathered the rescued girls and boys.
• Russian and Spanish-speaking soldiers took the island's survivors to Moscow and recovered documents, photographs, videos, and cash.
• Charles called Lily Smith to confirm that the kidnapped children had been rescued and were alive.
• Charles left Miami, traveled through Havana, and headed to East Africa to watch the annual animal migration and secure an alibi.

Charles met Eleanor in Africa after she helped him establish an alibi, and she told him about a plan to disrupt goblin control of the wizarding food trade. She asked him to take over the effort, but he refused, while Eleanor resolved to lead the Centaur Liaison Office despite the dangers.

• Charles and Eleanor used a potion to return to their original appearances, and she asked why he had summoned her to Africa.
• Eleanor explained that Gringotts' network was lobbying European countries and raising prices through control of food suppliers to provoke conflict between wizards and goblins.
• Eleanor said the group planned for Charles to take over the food business, but he refused because he lacked the time and a suitable agent.
• Eleanor told Charles that an anonymous letter and a Gringotts check drawn by him had been left in his office safe.
• Eleanor warned that the Ministry might turn the Centaur Liaison Office into an intelligence organization, then told Charles she wanted to lead it; Charles accepted her decision.