Chapter Summaries

Harry and Dumbledore underwent physical examinations, while Charles secretly took their blood samples to preserve for possible future use. Three days later, Charles revealed Dumbledore’s health problems to the Hogwarts professors, including the need to cut back on sweets.

• Harry and Dumbledore had blood drawn at a London hospital, and Charles’s disguised agent took both blood bags from the laboratory.
• Charles stored the blood samples in an icy room at Seaside Villa, suspecting they might someday help against Voldemort.
• Charles prepared the latest wizarding household security system, which could detect Voldemort and Death Eaters, while work continued on deciphering the Dark Mark’s messages.
• Fudge and Hermione worried about Dumbledore’s examination results, and Charles advised that his diet should change gradually rather than abruptly.
• Charles received the report and told the professors that Dumbledore had osteoporosis, mild arteriosclerosis, and dangerously borderline blood sugar, blood lipids, and blood pressure, as well as sleep problems.

The teams drew lots to decide which teammate would be bound at the bottom of the lake for the fourth competition. Malfoy, Fred, and Erika were chosen, leaving Charles to dread Erika's reaction.

• Charles took Hermione's Mallorca Pie and later found that she had turned his bed into a cactus as a prank.
• Charles read news of rising grain prices and replied to Gabrielle, who had worried that he might go hungry.
• Jack arranged for Dumbledore to follow Dudley's strict weight-loss diet, leaving Dumbledore with plain, limited meals and no sweets.
• Dumbledore explained that teams had to find seven Key Fragments in the lake and assemble them to free the teammate bound below.
• Malfoy drew the lot to be sunk, and Fred drew the same lot for Cedric's team.
• Erika drew the lot for the Durmstrang team, and Charles realized she would likely drink heavily that night.

Seamus and his teammates searched the lake for Key Fragments, overcame dangerous creatures, and assembled the final key after the other teams had returned ashore. They realized they had lost track of Malfoy, who was still tied underwater, and did not know where to find him.

• Malfoy was tied to a stone and thrown into the lake as the contestants began the underwater competition.
• Rov drove away a fish that bit Harry, then was bitten himself and accidentally uncovered a Key Fragment beneath a stone; Seamus retrieved it.
• The giant squid frightened away the fish, and Harry, George, Neville, and Hermione worked together to defeat a giant lobster guarding another Key Fragment.
• Seamus froze a swarm of venomous water snakes so his team could retrieve a fragment, and Rov warmed them with a camping spell.
• Cedric's team, followed by the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang teams, returned ashore before Seamus's team found and assembled the last fragment into a key.
• Seamus and his teammates realized they could not locate Malfoy because they had lost track of where he had been thrown into the lake.

During the Easter holidays, Charles arranged Delicious Tablecloth advertisements and helped Gabrielle hide her sweets from Pheobe. The chapter ended with Charles questioning who had invented an Old London fish roll after Gabrielle and Ruby ordered one.

• Narcissa wept over a Daily Prophet image of Draco, while Voldemort resolved not to act rashly.
• Harry nervously asked Charles about holiday homework, and Charles agreed to their usual arrangement.
• Charles and Krum discussed advertising the Delicious Tablecloth and the possibility of selling it abroad.
• Charles and Gabrielle evaded Pheobe after Gabrielle bought a large stash of snacks, then Gabrielle ordered lunch with the tablecloth.
• Pheobe caught Charles and Gabrielle, scolded Charles about giving Gabrielle snacks, and hit him with her wand.
• Gabrielle and Ruby chose an Old London fish roll, and Charles summoned Dobby to ask who had invented it.

Charles anticipated that goblins would retaliate against the Dancing Grass Restaurant's takeout business and prepared Farbaton Castle and its staff for a possible attack. He left the response in motion, including plans to protect people, gather evidence, and safeguard research materials.

• On Easter, witches crowded the Dancing Grass Restaurant to buy Delicious Tablecloths, easing Fudge's worries about food prices.
• Charles predicted that takeout would threaten wizarding food sellers and that goblins might attack the restaurant or Farbaton Castle.
• Charles told Dobby to secretly install surveillance, prioritize staff safety during any goblin attack, and avoid interfering with damage to the restaurant.
• The next day, Charles's leaders discussed preparing a staged attack, including using goblins and old goblin weapons, while Aix Prewett planned to inflate the company's damage claims.
• Charles ordered three additional synchronized research-material backup centers in Iceland, Greenland, and beneath the Arctic Ocean, then privately briefed a Death Eater spy.

Dobby’s corporate-style meeting and Winky’s newfound ambitions gave Hermione a different perspective on House-elves’ needs and goals. After Charles received a message, he met a young goblin reporter named Zeta in a private room.

• Dobby held a work meeting for the House-elves at Dancing Grass Restaurant, while Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Charles watched.
• At the Hog’s Head Inn, Hermione spoke with Winky, who described her energetic new life in corporate jargon and her plans to buy a house and a broomstick.
• Hermione realized she had never considered giving House-elves tangible goals and began thinking about applying what she had learned to the elves at Hogwarts.
• Charles received a message, left Gabrielle, and went to a private room, where he met TASS reporter Zeta, a young goblin testing a bottle of liquor.

Charles persuaded Hogsmeade shopkeepers to join a payment and delivery system using accounts linked to Communication Notebooks, advancing his plan to build a wizarding financial network. After returning to Farbaton Castle, he considered the risks of challenging Gringotts and the Ministry of Magic as wizarding society approached upheaval.

• Ambrosius Flume brought Charles to the Three Broomsticks, where Hogsmeade shopkeepers asked to use the Delicious Tablecloths and delivery services for their businesses.
• Charles explained that the shops could receive funds in accounts linked to their Communication Notebooks, with payments arriving quickly while cash withdrawals remained subject to monthly accounting and treasury schedules.
• Madam Rosmerta and the shopkeepers questioned the system's security and account options, and Charles described safeguards and possible joint-control business accounts.
• Charles picked up Gabrielle from the Hog's Head Inn, returned with her to Farbaton Castle, and found that she had begun listing names for a future sibling.
• After feeding the Dementors in Azkaban, Charles worried that his financial system could threaten Gringotts and draw the Ministry of Magic's attention.

Gripfang tried to persuade Charles to store his money at Gringotts, but Charles and Jack rejected the offer and emphasized Farbaton Castle’s security business. After Gripfang left, Charles and Jack discussed whether the goblins would use force, and Charles revealed he planned to let Voldemort in and control him through bloodline matters.

• Gringotts sent Gripfang to invite Charles to open a vault, but Charles rejected the offer because Gringotts had been robbed before.
• Gripfang listed Gringotts’s services and security measures, while Charles pointed out that the Dancing Grass Restaurant also had dragons and a security business.
• Jack arrived and backed Charles, noting that Farbaton Castle had already proved its defenses by catching an intruder.
• Gripfang warned that Dark Wizards might target Farbaton Castle, but Charles said they would not fear even Grindelwald and Gripfang left.
• Charles and Jack discussed the possibility that goblins would use force and the history of Goblin Rebellions.
• Charles told Jack he planned to let Voldemort in and control him through bloodline matters.

Charles and Seamus tested a magical shop cash register and Communication Notebook, but a payment test triggered an explosion in Gryffindor Tower. Charles escaped to his Geneva safe house, while Dumbledore and Jack tried to contact him and Jack left Number 3, Privet Drive.

• Harry counted his pounds while Charles and Seamus tested a cash register that scanned goods, counted coins, and calculated change.
• Charles and Seamus tested remote orders, account payments, spending limits, and other shop functions with Ron, Neville, Harry, and the others.
• Seamus placed an order with a note requesting Butterbeer, and the cash register malfunctioned and exploded in Gryffindor Tower.
• Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall found Seamus, Harry, Ron, and Neville unconscious, while Charles was missing and only one shoe remained at the scene.
• Charles used a Portkey to escape to his Geneva safe house, drank Happy Water, and wondered whether the cash register's control core had self-destructed.
• Dumbledore asked Jack to tell Charles to return, but Jack could not reach him through the Communication Notebook and left Number 3, Privet Drive.

Jack used Rita Skeeter to place a sensational report about Gringotts in the Daily Prophet, and the resulting scandal over stolen vaults and unpaid World Cup insurance spread internationally. As Dumbledore and Fudge clashed over how to handle the goblins, Charles supported Percy’s appointment to the special committee and left the Weasleys uneasy.

• Jack placed Rita Skeeter under the Imperius Curse and kept watch to ensure the Gringotts story became the Daily Prophet’s front-page headline.
• Charles endured jokes about Seamus’s Hogwarts explosion before students read that Gringotts’s vaults had been robbed.
• Charles realized the report could undermine Gringotts’s bid for Farbaton Castle’s business, while Dumbledore recognized that unseen forces were shaping events.
• Malfoy accused Gringotts of withholding World Cup tent insurance payments, and Seamus and Parvati said their families had also been denied compensation.
• Krum, the Irish Team, and other victims backed Malfoy’s case, so Dumbledore helped create an international committee led by Fudge, who appointed Percy secretary-general.
• Charles told the Weasleys he supported Percy’s new role and advised Percy that success would bring credit while failure could be blamed on a wicked enemy.

Charles learned that the goblins had challenged wizards to open a heavily rewarded Gringotts vault, and he planned to respond while investigating a possible threat against him. After discovering that Eleanor was magically prevented from revealing secrets, he arranged to discuss how to use her condition to feed the goblins staged false intelligence.

• The goblins announced a Gringotts vault-opening challenge with a reward five times larger than the Black bounty, while Charles ordered his company to stay silent.
• Eleanor told Charles that wizard food retailers' sales had fallen below forty percent of normal and hinted that some goblins might be plotting against him.
• Charles suggested the Moonlight Sonata Restaurant in Coventry, and Eleanor understood his hint about the Coventry Conspiracy.
• Charles had Zeta and a goblin examine the sleeping Eleanor, and they found extensive Silencing Magic that could be temporarily disabled but was dangerous to remove.
• Charles asked Zeta to create a fake security office with staged maps and photographs, and she proposed passing the false intelligence to the goblins in stages.

Charles infiltrated a heavily guarded Gringotts vault by passing through its enchanted metal wall. He left without touching the thirty thousand Galleons, having completed his mission and set up a sarcastic declaration to unfold.

• Charles and Jack used a hummingbird to scout Gringotts' underground vault system, where Charles saw goblin fighters and five Peruvian Vipertooth Dragons.
• Charles entered the vault complex by sinking through the bedrock after Mirror Space proved impractical.
• Charles struggled against the vault wall's powerful protective magic until he broke through and entered the vault.
• Charles studied the arrangement of thirty thousand Galleons without approaching them, then decided his mission was complete.
• Charles passed back through the wall and vanished, leaving the vault undisturbed as his declaration was about to unfold.

After Gringotts announced a vault-breaking challenge to restore its reputation and provoke Charles, Charles and his allies kept their plans secret while schools and observers tried to guess his next move. As the challenge approached, Dumbledore and Grindelwald offered to help Charles disguise himself, but the chapter left his response and plan unknown.

• After the Daily Prophet exposed the looted vault, Gringotts announced a thirty-thousand-galleon challenge and aimed its publicity at Charles.
• Charles told Hermione that his company would vacation in the Caribbean, then arranged for the employees to be reported as away during the challenge.
• Krum warned Charles that Gringotts planned to drag him into the controversy, and the two spoke privately before Krum filmed another advertisement.
• Rita Skeeter struggled to write an article that mocked Gringotts while criticizing Farbaton Castle, as Dumbledore, McGonagall, Voldemort, Agard, and Madame Maxime suspected Charles was plotting something.
• As the challenge neared, Dumbledore and Grindelwald each offered to disguise themselves and help Charles.

Gringotts’ public vault challenge ended with every wizard failing to breach the door, only for its opening to reveal a Dancing Grass Restaurant banner planted among the prize Galleons. Gronuk collapsed in shock as the stunt spread through the press.

• Gronuk announced the vault challenge and mocked Farbaton Castle for not sending anyone.
• Wizards from around the world tried and failed to overcome the vault’s defenses, and the competition ended after three days without a winner.
• Gronuk used the Master Key to open the vault and reveal the thirty thousand Galleons beneath a banner advertising Dancing Grass Restaurant.
• Fudge told Percy that Charles had acted, while the gathered wizards discussed the restaurant and cameras captured the spectacle.
• The Daily Prophet printed a special edition with the photographs, and Gronuk collapsed as the Master Key clattered to the ground.

Charles dodged questions about how he entered Gringotts, first giving Dumbledore a misleading explanation and later telling his friends the magic required learning Apparition. Dumbledore warned him to stay at Hogwarts while the goblins were angry, and Hermione remained concerned that Charles’s powerful magic might come at a dangerous cost.

• Erika and Pheobe questioned Charles about his Gringotts break-in, but he distracted them with talk of garlic beer.
• Dumbledore asked Charles how he entered the vault, and Charles claimed he had learned a wall-passing spell from Professor Peeves.
• Dumbledore worked out that Charles had passed through a wall, then warned him to stay at Hogwarts because the goblins might retaliate.
• Harry, Ron, and Hermione waited for Charles in the Common Room and offered him shoulder rubs, Happy Water, and a cream roll in exchange for an explanation.
• Hermione worried Charles had altered his body with dangerous magic, but Charles deflected her concern and promised to practice boxing with Harry.
• Charles finally told his friends that the magic he used required learning Apparition first.

Charles considered a custom nanny doll request from Augusta Lumbardon, who wanted it to resemble Neville and serve as a capable household companion. After settling her specifications, he returned to the Gryffindor Common Room, where Seamus asked about ordering a special Housekeeping Doll.

• Charles warned Augusta Lumbardon that a doll resembling Neville might affect his feelings, but she insisted the family had agreed to the request.
• Augusta became furious when Charles suggested the doll could make Neville feel useless, and Charles apologized.
• Charles sculpted the doll's face to resemble Neville and worked late to fulfill Augusta's customization requests.
• Charles returned to the Gryffindor Common Room and teased Hermione about being popular.
• Seamus told Charles that his mother wanted a specially customized Housekeeping Doll, and Charles said it was possible for an extra charge.

Gringotts goblins debated how to respond to Charles Smith’s breach of their vault and rejected assassination as too risky. They decided to capture him during a Hogsmeade outing and force him to reveal how he infiltrated the vault.

• Gronuk convened the goblins after Charles’s banner exposed Gringotts’ security failure, and Goldring proposed killing Charles in an apparent accident.
• Malagak warned that Charles’s ties to Hogwarts, influential businesses, and powerful wizards would make his murder disastrous for Gringotts.
• Malagak urged the goblins to prioritize discovering how Charles breached the vault, and Gronuk ordered them to capture him alive.
• Goldring proposed using disguised foreign wizards to seize Charles in Hogsmeade and secretly bring him to Gringotts.
• Malagak advised making Charles sign a confidentiality contract or erasing his memories before releasing him, and Gronuk approved the plan.
• Goldring suggested capturing Jack Smith as leverage, but Gronuk ordered the goblins to target Charles first and assigned the tasks.

Dobby worked to improve Dancing Grass Restaurant’s operations as Gronuk’s goblins launched an attack on Charles and set the restaurant ablaze. The fire spread through Hogsmeade, and a huge explosion shook the village as the instigator prepared to flee.

• Dobby analyzed the restaurant’s growing workload and recorded ideas for improving its kitchen and management.
• Gronuk ordered an early operation to capture Charles, while Charles arranged for people at Farbaton Castle to evacuate and coordinated with Zeta’s forces.
• Dobby escaped the goblins surrounding the restaurant using a Portkey, and Charles walked toward Farbaton Castle as the goblins’ ambush began.
• Eleven goblins attacked Dancing Grass Restaurant with blue-green flames that resisted water charms and spread into Madam Puddifoot’s Tea Shop and nearby shops.
• Aberforth rescued Madam Puddifoot as villagers fled, while the attack’s instigator prepared to leave Hogsmeade.
• A thunderous explosion shattered windows throughout Hogsmeade, blasted wizards into the air, and shook Hogwarts.

Charles killed the goblins who ambushed him outside Hogsmeade and planted a Lestrange ring on Malagak’s corpse, while goblin attacks spread through Hogsmeade and Farbaton Castle. As Dumbledore and Grindelwald searched for Charles, Charles killed Goldring and replaced his earrings with a Malfoy-crested pair, while a dying Death Eater blamed goblins for his death.

• Malagak’s goblins surrounded Charles outside Hogsmeade, but Charles used Flash and magic to kill them all, then replaced one of Malagak’s rings with a Lestrange Family ring.
• Professor McGonagall stopped Harry and the others from leaving Hogwarts, while rumors spread through the Communication Notebooks about the attacks and Charles’s whereabouts.
• Grindelwald told Dumbledore that goblins had injured Aberforth and attacked Hogsmeade businesses, and Dumbledore set off for Farbaton Castle to look for Charles.
• Goldring’s goblins fought Karkaroff in Farbaton Castle, killed him, and then Charles killed Goldring and replaced his earrings with a pair bearing the Malfoy family crest.
• A dying Death Eater sent a message through the Dark Mark, claiming that goblins had killed him.

After goblins attacked Farbaton Castle, the wizarding world mourned Igor Karkaroff and wondered what had happened to Charles Smith. As Phoenix Logistics assessed its losses and refused to reveal Charles’s whereabouts, Voldemort suspected the goblins had been ambushed, while Charles remained alive and considered his next move.

• The Daily Prophet reported that Igor Karkaroff had died covering Charles Smith’s retreat during the goblin attack, and the fifth match was postponed.
• Hermione and other students listened as Sirius Black announced Phoenix Logistics had suffered at least two million five hundred thousand Galleons in losses but remained in business.
• Dumbledore collapsed after hearing the estimated losses, and professors carried him to the Hospital Wing.
• Sirius Black said Charles would decide the company’s next steps but gave no comment about Charles’s whereabouts.
• Voldemort studied reports of the dead goblins and suspected they had been trapped and ambushed rather than having successfully attacked Charles.
• Charles used Occlumency to suppress a sneeze, drank Happy Water, and considered what to do next.