Recaps

Albert competed in the Magical School Potions Tournament, exposed the judges’ favoritism, and won the championship with an improved Baruffio’s Brain Elixir. He returned to Hogwarts celebrated as a champion and shared his plans with Isobel and his friends.

• Albert and Isobel traveled with Professor Slughorn to the Potions Championship, where Albert used his Patronus to protect them from Dementors and promised Isobel he would win the Golden Cauldron.
• Albert won the first round with a score of 99, then entered the Magical Garden for the second round and secretly fed Alioto’s Leaves to Gai Bernard, forcing Gai to withdraw.
• Albert found the Fountain of Fair Fortune, then challenged the judges after an organizer accused him of attacking Gai, and the wand inspection cleared him.
• The judges gave Albert a low score for his perfect Shrinking Potion, prompting schools and contestants to protest President Bernard’s apparent favoritism toward Gai.
• Albert revealed his plan to brew Hertok’s improved Baruffio’s Brain Elixir in the final round and completed it successfully despite the judges’ scrutiny.
• After Kasa drank Albert’s potion without ill effects, the judges declared Albert the champion and awarded him the Golden Cauldron and prize money.
• Albert celebrated with Isobel, told her he had used Felix Felicis to improve his chances, and returned to Hogwarts for a celebration with Fred, George, and Lee Jordan.

Albert used Rita Skeeter’s reports to turn public opinion against the Ministry’s use of Dementors while helping Harry and his friends through the fallout at Hogwarts. As Buckbeak’s hearing approached, Albert prepared a secret rescue plan and Peter Pettigrew fled before Sirius could find him.

• Albert gave Rita Skeeter material exposing the contest’s rigging, then supplied photographs of the Dementor attack, making President Bernard and Fudge targets of public criticism.
• Dementors attacked the Quidditch crowd and later frightened students at Hogsmeade station, where Albert protected people with his Patronus and challenged the Aurors.
• Albert deduced that Sirius Black was the black dog and that Scabbers might be Peter Pettigrew, then told Fred, George, and Lee Jordan about his suspicions and a chance to catch Black.
• Albert promised Hagrid he would secretly arrange a way to save Buckbeak, while he practiced making a convincing Transfigured Hippogriff and prepared his Hogsmeade house as a safe house.
• Sirius used Crookshanks and Kreacher to buy Harry a Firebolt anonymously, and Professor McGonagall later cleared the broom of Dark Curses and returned it to Harry.
• Albert helped Fred, George, and Lee practice Patronuses, reassured Hermione about Lupin’s secret, and helped her reconcile the Firebolt’s inspection with Harry’s hopes of playing.
• Peter remembered betraying the Potters and staged Scabbers’s death before escaping from the castle, while Buckbeak’s April hearing and Harry’s looming Quidditch match remained unresolved.

Albert investigated Sirius Black’s escape, suspected Black was hunting Peter Pettigrew, and pursued a plan to save Buckbeak while preparing for the danger at Hogwarts. He founded the Defence Association, recruited students for exam preparation and Boggart practice, and left the group facing their fears as Harry’s Boggart revealed Voldemort.

• Albert watched Harry drive Malfoy and his companions away with a Patronus, then learned that Sirius Black had entered the Gryffindor common room and began investigating how he got into Hogwarts.
• Albert, Fred, George, and Lee Jordan found footprints changing from human tracks to dog paw prints, suspected Black was an Animagus and Scabbers was Peter Pettigrew, and decided to capture Black if they could.
• Albert warned Hermione that Hagrid’s letter could be used against him, then advised Hagrid to keep appealing Buckbeak’s sentence while he privately planned to save the Hippogriff.
• Albert founded the Defence Association to help students prepare for their exams, found a hidden room behind a portrait, and began tutoring students from Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff.
• Albert bought a Boggart for practice, but it escaped in the library and frightened Ron before Albert turned it into a book and took it away.
• Albert helped Hermione manage her heavy course load and gave her an experimental candy containing an improved Brain Boosting Potion, while he and Isobel refined their plans at a secluded house.
• Albert met Morg MacDougal, Bard, Ge Bo Smith, and Tiberius Ogden, discussed testing his Human-Shape Restoration Charm on Lupin after he left Hogwarts, and returned with desserts for his friends.
• Albert led a Defence Association lesson in which students faced the Boggart, and Harry’s fear became Voldemort before the students struggled to laugh at the transformed figure.

Albert arranged Buckbeak’s escape, exposed Peter Pettigrew, and helped clear Sirius Black’s name. The story ended with Lupin gone, the students preparing for O.W.L.s, and Fudge seeking honors for Albert.

• Albert helped Hagrid prepare Buckbeak’s escape, then accepted Phineas Nigellus Black’s payment to investigate Sirius and Peter Pettigrew.
• Albert organized the Defence Association, while Harry and Ron confronted Malfoy and Gryffindor defeated Slytherin in a violent Quidditch match.
• Crookshanks found Peter hiding as Scabbers in Hagrid’s Hut, and Peter fled with Ron, Harry, and Hermione pursuing him.
• Albert captured Peter and Sirius, restrained Lupin during his transformation, drove away the Dementors, and exposed the false Aurors.
• Dumbledore revealed that Scabbers was Peter Pettigrew, who confessed to betraying the Potters and faking his death, clearing Sirius’s name.
• Sirius offered Harry a home, while Lupin resigned after Snape disclosed that he was a werewolf and Albert received a Time-Turner from Fudge.
• Albert helped the students prepare for their O.W.L.s, and he learned that Fudge was seeking an Order of Merlin for him.