Chapter Summaries

Dumbledore asked Jon for advice on candidates for the Defense Against the Dark Arts post, and Jon recommended Gilderoy Lockhart. Dumbledore agreed to write to Lockhart before making a decision.

• Dumbledore asked Jon what he thought of Snape and several Ministry of Magic officials as Defense Against the Dark Arts professors, and Jon rejected them.
• Dumbledore mentioned hearing from Jon's maternal grandmother that Jon had hired a private tutor, and Jon revealed that the tutor was Gilderoy Lockhart.
• Jon defended Lockhart's intelligence and social skills while acknowledging his poor reputation, and told Dumbledore that he trusted him.
• Dumbledore agreed to write to Lockhart and ask whether he was interested before deciding.

Jon left Dumbledore’s office after discussing a serious matter involving Lockhart, and Snape waited to speak with him. Dumbledore read an Order of the Phoenix report on Lockhart’s past, which showed how his need for attention had shaped him as a student.

• Jon told Dumbledore to give the serious matter more thought, then left the Headmaster’s office after midnight.
• Snape confronted Jon outside the office and Jon persuaded him to talk as they walked.
• After Jon left, Dumbledore opened an Order of the Phoenix investigation report on Jon’s teacher.
• Dumbledore read that Lockhart had been a talented Ravenclaw student who craved attention and awards, then began cutting corners when he grew dissatisfied with himself.
• Dumbledore remembered Lockhart’s ambition to start a school newspaper and noted that he had heard nothing of him after graduation.

Dumbledore reviewed what he knew about Gilderoy Lockhart’s fraudulent career and Memory Magic, then decided Lockhart might suit his plans for Jon. He wrote a carefully worded invitation for Lockhart to visit Hogwarts and sent it with Fawkes.

• Dumbledore recalled how Lockhart had drawn attention to himself at school through outrageous stunts and later gained fame by stealing other wizards’ achievements.
• Dumbledore considered the Order of the Phoenix’s investigation, which had revealed that Lockhart erased the memories of people whose deeds he claimed as his own.
• Dumbledore read an interview about Lockhart’s latest book and awards, and thought Lockhart’s talent and showmanship might make him a suitable candidate for Jon to study under.
• Dumbledore drafted an ambiguous letter inviting Lockhart to Hogwarts for a face-to-face discussion without revealing his full purpose.
• Fawkes arrived, and Dumbledore gave him the letter to deliver to Lockhart.

Jon received a reply from Lockhart confirming that he would visit Hogwarts soon to speak with Dumbledore and see Jon. After a picnic with Bella and his friends, Jon told Stephen that Lockhart’s appointment had been settled.

• Jon prepared a picnic with Stephen, Fren, Scaly, and Bella to celebrate resolving his matter.
• Bella pinned Jon down, then helped prepare the food while Jon grilled meat for the group.
• An owl delivered Lockhart’s reply, and Jon went into the cabin to write back.
• After Bella left, Stephen pressed Jon to explain the letter, and Jon revealed that Lockhart would visit Hogwarts soon to meet Dumbledore and see him.

Jon received Stephen’s accumulated reports and discussed Joanne, MI0, and the tension at Hogwarts. As exams approached, Jon decided he would attend Harry Potter’s upcoming detention in the Forbidden Forest instead of Snape.

• Stephen told Jon that Professor Lockhart would arrive within the next few days and handed him more than a month of reports.
• Jon explained that Joanne was attending MI0 meetings and had not been writing, while Riel Gavin began surveilling Rank as Jon had asked.
• Jon reconsidered how to counter Dumbledore, deciding Grindelwald might be able to influence Dumbledore through their past relationship.
• Stephen discussed the House Cup with Jon, then left and asked him to get Professor Lockhart’s autograph for his mother.
• Jon began studying for his exams and reasoned that Voldemort was hunting unicorns to restore his strength.
• Jon agreed with Snape that Snape should not accompany Harry Potter’s detention and decided to go to the Forbidden Forest himself.

Harry, Hermione, Neville, and Malfoy served detention under Hagrid’s supervision in the Forbidden Forest, while Jon secretly followed them to investigate the unicorn deaths and Voldemort’s presence. The group headed deeper into the woods as Jon recognized the trail and sensed the lingering scent of blood.

• Harry, Hermione, and Neville said goodbye to Ron before joining Malfoy and Filch for their detention.
• Filch told the students they were going into the Forbidden Forest, frightening Neville and unsettling Malfoy.
• Hagrid took responsibility for the students and led them toward the Forbidden Forest with Fang.
• Jon secretly followed the group, using concealment magic and noting that the trail led past his training ground.
• Jon sensed blood in the wind and recalled that Voldemort had killed two elderly unicorns nearby.

Jon followed Hagrid and the students into the Forbidden Forest, where Voldemort’s presence drew Harry and Malfoy toward the unicorn burial ground. As Harry neared danger, Jon summoned a young centaur to help.

• Jon explained how magical beings' bodies returned to magic after death and wondered how Dumbledore knew Voldemort's movements.
• Hagrid led Harry's group into the Forbidden Forest to find a badly injured unicorn after discovering its blood.
• Neville fired a false alarm after Malfoy pranked him, and Hagrid assigned Harry and Malfoy to the same group.
• Jon followed Harry and Malfoy as they tracked Voldemort's traces toward the unicorn burial ground.
• Jon flew into the woods and summoned a young centaur he had befriended.

Jon hid in the Forbidden Forest while Firenze rescued Harry Potter from Voldemort. Firenze struck Voldemort with a shining fist, scattering his cursed, semi-physical form into the night.

• Jon reflected on his limited friendship with Firenze and his memories of the events from the Original Work.
• Jon considered how his family and the Hufflepuff students might avoid danger when Voldemort returned.
• Jon stayed hidden because he expected Firenze to save Harry Potter as he had in the Original Work.
• Firenze attacked Voldemort with a silvery-white fist and scattered his shadowy body into the night.

Jon watched Firenze rescue Harry after Harry fainted from his scar’s reaction to Voldemort, then spoke with Firenze about the danger facing the centaurs. Back at his cabin, Jon finished his record and agreed to attend Lockhart’s upcoming interview at Hogwarts.

• Harry fainted when his scar reacted to Voldemort, and Firenze helped him recover and carried him toward Hagrid.
• Bane rebuked Firenze for helping Harry, but Firenze argued that the unicorn’s death required him to resist the threat and protect humans.
• Jon met Firenze in the forest, confirmed that he had sent help for Harry, and warned Firenze he could contact him if trouble arose.
• Jon returned to his cabin, finished his record of the night, and read before receiving a letter from Lockhart.
• Lockhart invited Jon to attend his interview at Hogwarts, and Jon replied that he would be there.

Jon accompanied his former teacher Gilderoy Lockhart to Hogwarts for an interview for the Defense Against the Dark Arts position. Dumbledore gathered Snape and Peeves as well, and the interview began with an unexplained tension in the room.

• After Harry and the others' detention ended, Draco returned to Slytherin and focused on his final exams while Jon continued his research and magical training.
• Jon warned Lockhart that Hogwarts's Defense Against the Dark Arts position was dangerous, but Lockhart said he had discussed a plan with Dumbledore.
• Jon and Lockhart entered Dumbledore's office, where Dumbledore said he wanted Jon's assessment of Lockhart's teaching ability.
• Dumbledore waited while Lockhart grew increasingly nervous, then Snape and Peeves arrived.
• Dumbledore announced that everyone was present and began Lockhart's interview.

Dumbledore arranged a magical duel between Lockhart and Snape as part of Lockhart’s interview for the Defense Against the Dark Arts position. After Snape easily defeated him, Dumbledore told Lockhart that he needed to appear even weaker, leaving Lockhart confused about how that would help the students.

• Dumbledore expanded his office and set up a magical duel between Lockhart and Snape to assess Lockhart’s ability.
• Snape overwhelmed Lockhart with spells and ended the duel by cutting open his collar with a Severing Charm.
• Dumbledore praised the duel and told Lockhart to perform more weakly, while Snape explained that he should appear to know nothing at all.
• Snape left the office after Dumbledore dismissed him, and Dumbledore began discussing the position with Lockhart.
• Lockhart questioned the value of pretending to be incompetent, and Dumbledore said Jon had recommended him as highly suited to the job.

Dumbledore explained how Lockhart would teach less impressively without neglecting most students, while helping him plan a new identity and a peaceful departure. Jon agreed to cooperate, then discussed his own coming absence from Hogwarts and felt guilty about withholding his plans.

• Dumbledore clarified that Lockhart would ease up mainly on second-years while still teaching the other students at a reduced level.
• Peeves gave Lockhart Dumbledore's plan, and Lockhart left for Jon's cabin to discuss it with him.
• Dumbledore asked Jon to persuade Lockhart and explained that Lockhart wanted help assuming a different identity.
• Jon agreed to cooperate with Dumbledore's arrangements in return for his help leaving Hogwarts.
• Dumbledore asked where Jon would study during his two years away, and Jon said he would wait for Helga to awaken before deciding.
• Jon felt guilty as Dumbledore sincerely offered to help him plan his next steps.

Jon returned from Dumbledore’s office and discussed Dumbledore’s proposal with Lockhart, who planned to leave his fame behind and start anew. Lockhart explained how his mother’s expectations had shaped his life, leaving Jon to recognize that their backgrounds were different.

• Jon returned to his cabin and found Lockhart eating a late-night snack beside Dumbledore’s proposal.
• Jon asked Lockhart what he thought of the proposal, and Lockhart burned it after explaining it offered him a chance to stage a grand performance and begin anew under a new identity.
• Lockhart admitted that his fame and success came from stolen work and that he was willing to give them up for a dignified ending.
• Lockhart told Jon that he had grown up poor and that his Muggle-born witch mother expected him to become far more powerful than she was.
• Lockhart explained that his mother’s expectations stemmed from her own magical ambitions and the fact that his two older sisters had no magic, then told Jon, “That is why we are different.”

Lockhart explained to Jon how his mother’s high expectations and his feelings of inferiority drove him to seek fame, and how becoming a celebrity eventually burdened him. He said he had decided to help Dumbledore with his plan at Hogwarts and leave his old life behind, and Jon addressed him as Professor Lockhart.

• Lockhart told Jon that his childhood under his mother’s high expectations led him to feel ordinary and crave attention.
• Lockhart described how he used fame to compensate for his insecurity, eventually becoming a writer despite lacking other talents.
• Lockhart said his fame brought unwanted attention and made his personal safety difficult to guarantee.
• Lockhart told Jon he had decided to join Hogwarts and help Dumbledore carry out his plan before leaving his former life behind.
• Jon called him Professor Lockhart.

Jon spent the end of the school year studying for his exams, then enjoyed his sudden free time after the second-year term ended. Stephen brought him a damaged Invisibility Cloak found in the Forbidden Forest, which Jon suspected Voldemort had used while hunting unicorns.

• Jon studied in Hufflepuff's communal study room while his magical research stalled without Helga's guidance.
• Professor Sprout's deciphering of the Castonian Manuscript drew scholars to London ahead of the Potioneers Conference.
• Jon completed his second-year exams as the semester came to an end.
• Jon relaxed in the courtyard after the assembly, and Stephen brought him a defective Invisibility Cloak found in the Forbidden Forest.
• Jon recognized the cloak as possibly the one Voldemort had worn while hunting unicorns, but noted that it was ruined.

Jon and Stephen secretly listened to Harry, Ron, and Hermione discuss Harry’s recurring scar pain and his fear that danger was approaching. When Harry suddenly hurried away, Jon suggested following him to learn what had happened.

• Stephen told Jon he had come to check on Harry, and Jon agreed to go with him.
• Jon and Stephen used Jon’s [Mobile Fortress] to enter Gryffindor’s section and watched Harry, Ron, and Hermione from a boulder.
• Jon used a concave mirror and Poseidon’s water threads to hear and see the group from a distance.
• Harry said his scar had been hurting more often and wondered if it warned him of danger, while Ron and Hermione urged him not to worry.
• Harry abruptly sprang up and hurried down the slope, so Jon and Stephen rose into the air to follow him.

Harry realized the stranger who gave Hagrid the dragon egg had likely been trying to learn how to get past Fluffy, so he rushed to question Hagrid. After Hagrid revealed Fluffy’s weakness, Harry, Ron, and Hermione hurried back toward the castle while Jon and Stephen followed.

• Harry suspected the stranger had deliberately won Hagrid’s trust to learn about Fluffy and hurried with Ron and Hermione to question Hagrid.
• Hagrid said the hooded stranger had asked about his work and the animals he cared for before gambling a dragon egg against Norbert.
• Hagrid admitted he had told the stranger that music could make Fluffy fall asleep, then realized he should not have revealed it.
• Harry, Ron, and Hermione ran off, and Ron finally understood what had happened.
• Jon and Stephen followed the children toward the castle, with Jon warning Stephen to avoid flying into a Slytherin space.

Harry and the others tried to warn Professor McGonagall that someone planned to steal the Philosopher's Stone, while Jon and Stephen watched under Snape's cover. Harry concluded that Snape would use the trapdoor that night, and Filch followed Snape into the staff room.

• Harry told Ron and Hermione that Hagrid had revealed how to get past Fluffy and sought Dumbledore's office.
• Snape pulled Jon and Stephen into the shadows and reprimanded Jon for being there without permission.
• Harry warned Professor McGonagall that someone was trying to steal the Philosopher's Stone, but she dismissed his concern and said Dumbledore would return tomorrow.
• After McGonagall left, Harry told Ron and Hermione he believed Snape would go through the trapdoor that night.
• Snape warned Harry and the others to stay out of the castle at night, then went toward the staff room with Jon and Stephen.
• Filch followed Snape into the staff room and bowed to Professor McGonagall.

Jon and Snape were confronted by Professor McGonagall, who demanded an explanation for their secrecy and Snape’s treatment of Harry. Jon warned her that Harry and his friends were heading to the fourth floor, then used Snape’s help to slip past Hermione under a Disillusionment Charm.

• Professor McGonagall exposed Jon’s disguise as Filch and demanded to know why he was with Snape.
• McGonagall rebuked Snape for targeting Harry, while Jon asked her to wait for Dumbledore to explain their secret arrangements.
• Jon told McGonagall that Harry and his friends had gone toward the fourth floor, and she Apparated away to stop them.
• Jon and Snape discussed whether McGonagall should be told more about their plans, and Snape pointed out that Hermione was waiting outside.
• Jon became invisible and passed Hermione while Snape distracted her by offering to find Professor Flitwick.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione left Gryffindor under the Invisibility Cloak to reach the forbidden Fourth floor entrance, while Jon learned of their departure and set out to intercept them. Peeves spotted signs of the hidden students as they approached the stairs.

• Jon worried that something was about to happen, then received word from a House-elf that Harry, Ron, and Hermione had left Gryffindor.
• Harry retrieved the Invisibility Cloak and Hagrid’s flute, but Neville tried to stop the group from leaving.
• Hermione cast the Full Body-Bind Curse on Neville, and the three friends left the Common Room beneath the cloak.
• Jon left his cabin after learning the students were on the move.
• Harry, Ron, and Hermione evaded Mrs. Norris and reached the stairs to the Fourth floor, where Peeves sensed their presence.