Recaps

Albert and the students undermined Umbridge with pranks and resistance while Harry formed Dumbledore’s Army and prepared to learn defensive magic. Voldemort’s followers planned their next moves as Hogwarts’s conflicts escalated toward the Gryffindor-Slytherin Quidditch match.

• Albert returned to Hogwarts and helped Fred, George, and Lee Jordan expose Umbridge to a succession of humiliations, including a swarm of toads and photographs of her disgrace.
• Umbridge became High Inquisitor and imposed increasingly harsh decrees, while Albert and the students spread rumors and pranks that frustrated her efforts to control Hogwarts.
• Harry formed the Defence Association with Hermione’s help, and the students agreed to use Albert’s Self-Defense Guide and later gathered in the Room of Requirement for training.
• Trelawney predicted Umbridge’s disgrace and death in Azkaban, while Albert told Fred, George, and Lee Jordan that her prophecies were real but the future could change.
• Voldemort learned from Lucius Malfoy about Albert’s suspected ancestry and prophecies, ordered Lucius to find a chance to kill him, and continued trying to use Harry against Dumbledore.
• Albert warned Dumbledore that Voldemort’s victory would bring many deaths and that he had foreseen Sirius’s death, while refusing Dumbledore’s request to teach Harry Occlumency.
• As Umbridge’s favoritism fueled conflict between the houses, Albert and Katrina declined McGonagall’s request to intervene, and students continued pranking Umbridge and clashing with Slytherins.
• Fred and George prepared the Gryffindor team for its match against Slytherin, gave the players support, and challenged their opponents to bet twenty Galleons.

Albert and the students resisted Umbridge as she escalated her attacks on Hogwarts, while Harry prepared the DA for Voldemort’s return. The Death Eaters broke their comrades out of Azkaban, and the story left Amelia Bones warned of her coming death as Harry prepared to learn Occlumency.

• After the Quidditch brawl, Umbridge banned Harry, Fred, and George from playing and confiscated their brooms, while Gryffindor students and Peeves retaliated against her and the Slytherins.
• Albert warned Hagrid that Umbridge was looking for grounds to dismiss him, while Hagrid helped Firenze escape the Centaurs and Dumbledore appointed him to teach Divination.
• Umbridge fired Trelawney, interrogated Cedric with Veritaserum, and formed an action squad, but Hermione, Harry, and the DA repeatedly sabotaged her efforts and eventually transformed her into a toad.
• Dumbledore and the school concealed Umbridge’s transformation as a possible Defence Against the Dark Arts curse, while the students mocked her and the DA expanded its training in preparation for Voldemort’s return.
• Voldemort used a vision of Arthur Weasley’s attack to lure Harry toward the Department of Mysteries, then ordered Lucius Malfoy to arrange a January breakout at Azkaban.
• Albert spent Christmas with Isobel and Katrina, gave Mrs. McDougal Phoenix tears for the injured Arthur, and confirmed that he was the anonymous Prophecy Master.
• Avery led the Death Eaters into Azkaban, where they freed Bellatrix and other prisoners, while Albert recognized that his prophecy about the breakout had come true.
• Defence Reporter published Harry’s interview and scrutiny of Fudge, Sirius warned Amelia Bones that she might not survive the summer, and Snape agreed to teach Harry Occlumency privately.

Albert helped the students drive Umbridge and the Ministry’s forces out of Hogwarts while using the upheaval to weaken Fudge’s position. As Dumbledore recruited Albert to help find Voldemort’s Horcruxes, Harry and the Order prepared to confront the trap surrounding the Prophecy Sphere, and Albert began securing shops for Fred and George.

• Albert advised Fred and George to expand the Anti-Toad Alliance, and students used badges, Peeves, and pranks to undermine Umbridge.
• Albert proposed exposing Umbridge’s abuses through The Quibbler, while Umbridge raided the Defence Association and Dumbledore escaped after taking responsibility for it.
• Fred, George, Lee Jordan, and the students resisted the Ministry’s arrival, and Albert confronted Fudge and Umbridge as the crowd drove them from Hogwarts.
• Umbridge became Headmistress and formed the Inquisitorial Squad, but Peeves and the students’ pranks left her and her allies humiliated and overwhelmed.
• Albert warned Hagrid to flee, ambushed the Aurors pursuing him, and later helped Harry escape Umbridge’s Veritaserum questioning as the office was wrecked and Umbridge was turned into a toad.
• The Ministry struggled to respond to its defeat at Hogwarts, and Albert told Scrimgeour that Amelia Bones might become Minister and Britain could collapse without Dumbledore’s protection.
• Dumbledore asked Albert to help locate Voldemort’s Horcruxes, while Harry and the Order decided to prepare for Voldemort’s trap involving the Prophecy Sphere.
• Albert advised Hermione about pursuing influence in the Ministry and decided to buy several Diagon Alley properties for Fred and George’s joke shop.

As Umbridge’s rule provoked a Hogwarts uprising, Albert helped the students resist and defeated the Ministry Aurors sent to arrest him. Voldemort’s plan to seize the prophecy failed, but the Death Eaters escaped, Voldemort returned openly, and Dumbledore confronted Fudge over the Ministry’s failures.

• Lucius Malfoy organized the Death Eaters’ plan to lure Harry to the Ministry and seize the Prophecy Sphere, while Albert and the LeMay Couple prepared for threats to Albert’s wedding.
• Umbridge tightened her control of Hogwarts, but Fred, George, Lee Jordan, and the students built the Anti-Toad Alliance and resisted her rule.
• Umbridge had Harry and other DA members arrested, so Fred and George unleashed fireworks across Hogwarts and escaped as Albert fought off the Aurors and drove Umbridge from the school.
• The Ministry’s failed arrest attempt turned public opinion against Fudge, while Scrimgeour acknowledged Albert’s power and the Death Eaters renewed their plan to capture Harry and the prophecy.
• Harry saw Voldemort apparently torturing Sirius and went with Ron and Hermione to the Ministry, where they found the Prophecy Sphere and sprang the Order’s ambush on the Death Eaters.
• Voldemort arrived and fought the Order, but Harry destroyed the Prophecy Sphere and Dumbledore helped drive Voldemort away before the Aurors reached the Ministry.
• Albert looted Voldemort’s hidden chambers and burned the laboratory, while Voldemort returned to find his possessions destroyed.
• Dumbledore explained the prophecy to Harry, then confirmed Voldemort’s return to Fudge and demanded that he remove Umbridge from Hogwarts and stop the investigation of Hagrid.