Chapter Summaries

Vaughn visited Xenophilius and Pandora Lovegood to recruit Pandora as Hogwarts’ new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor and to arrange for The Quibbler to report on Voldemort’s curse. After returning to The Burrow, he reunited with Molly and Arthur, who warned him that people were watching for a mistake as WAC made a major move.

• Pandora welcomed Vaughn and suggested that the Lovegoods and Vaughn’s family hold a party during the summer.
• Vaughn asked Pandora to take over the Defense Against the Dark Arts position from Isa while helping him weaken and eventually break Voldemort’s curse.
• Pandora accepted the idea enthusiastically, and Vaughn explained that Isa would continue teaching while Pandora took the post and shared the curse’s effects.
• Xenophilius asked to publish an article about Voldemort’s curse in The Quibbler, and Vaughn gave him permission.
• Vaughn returned to The Burrow after one in the morning, and Molly and Arthur initially mistook him for an impostor until he revealed his Maine Coon Patronus form.
• Over breakfast, Arthur told Vaughn that many Werewolves had entered England and that people were waiting for WAC to make a mistake.

After learning that news of WAC’s plans had leaked, Vaughn convened its executive committee and announced the creation of the International Werewolf Association in partnership with Agamemnon and the Confederation. The meeting ended with Vaughn firmly in control of the new organization, and he reassured Lupin that the Ministry’s Pure-blood opponents were too occupied to target WAC before asking about Lupin and Tonks.

• Arthur told Vaughn that news of the WAC meeting had spread through the Ministry, apparently from the Executive Board.
• Vaughn went to WAC Headquarters, where Chevalier told him the committee members had gathered.
• Vaughn announced that WAC would establish the International Werewolf Association at Agamemnon’s proposal and asked Chevalier to explain its structure and authority.
• Chevalier described how WAC, the Confederation, and Werewolf representatives would share seats in the association’s branches and round-table meetings.
• Vaughn reassured Lupin that the Ministry’s Pure-blood families had no time to oppose WAC, then asked how things were progressing between Lupin and Tonks.

Vaughn planned WAC’s second General Assembly and discussed Hogwarts’ exchange program and Defense Against the Dark Arts staffing with Dumbledore. The chapter ended with them uncertain whether replacing the professor could weaken the Curse affecting the position.

• Vaughn teased Lupin about Tonks, then entrusted him with handling international werewolf affairs and asked him to privately notify four officials about WAC’s upcoming second General Assembly.
• Vaughn planned to use political conflict at the Assembly to expand the Executive Board and divide WAC’s factions while keeping Lupin as his spokesperson.
• Vaughn returned to Hogwarts after Fawkes summoned him, where Dumbledore confronted him for failing to mention the exchange-student program.
• Vaughn explained that Agamemnon’s support through the Confederation could overcome the Board of Governors’ objections, and Dumbledore asked to be consulted about future Hogwarts plans.
• Vaughn and Dumbledore discussed the unseen attacker and whether replacing the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor while keeping Isa as an assistant could lessen the position’s Curse.

Vaughn confronted Dumbledore about his plan to die at Voldemort’s hands and argued that Hogwarts students needed stronger preparation for the dangers ahead. Dumbledore agreed to reconsider his plan, while Vaughn promised to take responsibility for Hogwarts if Dumbledore survived until the troubles were resolved.

• Dumbledore and Vaughn debated whether Pandora should replace Professor Rosier as Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, with Vaughn defending her unconventional teaching methods.
• Vaughn warned that Voldemort was not their only threat and challenged Dumbledore’s willingness to sacrifice Harry to destroy Voldemort.
• Vaughn deduced that Dumbledore planned to die after making Harry master of the Elder Wand, so Voldemort’s Killing Curse would rebound from Harry.
• Dumbledore’s plan relied on Li Nanyu protecting Vaughn and England after his death, but Vaughn argued that his growing Soul Magic could offer another way to separate Voldemort’s soul fragment from Harry.
• Dumbledore agreed to reconsider his plan, and Vaughn promised to consider succeeding him as Headmaster if Dumbledore lived until the dangers passed.

Vaughn persuaded Dumbledore to hire Pandora Lovegood and consider Remus Lupin for Defense Against the Dark Arts, then arranged to visit China for an academic exchange. The next morning, Hogwarts students learned from The Quibbler that Voldemort’s curse on the Defense Against the Dark Arts post might be real, and Isabella confirmed she had been attacked.

• Vaughn proposed Remus Lupin as the next Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, and Dumbledore approved of the choice.
• Vaughn told Dumbledore he planned to visit China for the Luo Tian Da Jiao and study Chinese Magic, and Dumbledore agreed to accompany him through the International Confederation of Wizards.
• Vaughn gave Dumbledore WAC’s proposal for its second general assembly, and Dumbledore left to handle arrangements.
• The Quibbler published an article claiming Voldemort had cursed the Defense Against the Dark Arts post after Hogwarts rejected his application to teach.
• Isabella confirmed she had suffered accidents, including a suspected Dark Wizard attack, and said Vaughn and Dumbledore were seeking a way to break the curse.

Hermione worried that Vaughn had been isolated by public opposition to WAC’s planned changes, while Harry decided to use his connection to Voldemort to uncover the Dark Lord’s plans. Harry entered a memory and saw Peter Pettigrew serving Voldemort, but he had not yet learned where they were.

• Hermione discussed the criticism of Vaughn and WAC with Ron and Harry, who left the Great Hall to return to their dormitory.
• Harry told Ron that he planned to release his Occlumency and use his connection to Voldemort, asking Ron to stop him and summon a professor if needed.
• Harry released his Occlumency and fell into Voldemort’s perspective, first glimpsing a woman he believed was his mother.
• Harry saw Peter Pettigrew speaking with Voldemort and learned that Voldemort was watching something and had told Peter to feed Nagini.

Harry saw Voldemort speaking with Peter through their connection, then promised Ron he would not risk entering Voldemort’s mind again. Meanwhile, an anti-WAC campaign made Vaughn look politically isolated, though he had staged the turmoil to draw out his opponents, and Li Nanyu prepared to give him a gift.

• Harry saw Voldemort question Peter’s loyalty and identify Vaughn Weasley as an opponent before the vision ended with Voldemort’s scarlet eyes.
• Harry told Ron he had seen Peter alive with Voldemort, and Ron warned him not to risk another connection.
• Ron guarded Harry over the next two days as Harry recovered and focused on studying.
• Hermione grew upset as a Daily Prophet article intensified the anti-WAC campaign and portrayed Vaughn as a ruthless manipulator.
• Vaughn told Li Nanyu that the public backlash was a performance meant to lure his opponents into acting.
• Li Nanyu said he had brought Vaughn a gift and trusted him to handle matters without Dumbledore.

Li Nanyu showed Vaughn a reconstructed memory of Isabella surviving a Killing Curse attack and revealed the attacker’s face as Igor Karkaroff. Vaughn ruled Karkaroff out and began searching the visiting delegations for the real culprit, focusing on possible motives among Ilvermorny, Uagadou, and the Magic Institute.

• Li Nanyu showed Vaughn a magical projection of a shadowy attacker casting the Killing Curse at Isabella, who dodged and escaped unharmed.
• Li Nanyu revealed the attacker’s face as Igor Karkaroff and explained that he had reconstructed the scene after discovering it the previous day.
• Vaughn told Li Nanyu that he believed Karkaroff was not the real culprit and decided to continue investigating.
• Vaughn reviewed Karkaroff’s history in his Memory Archive and concluded that Voldemort would not trust the former Death Eater who had betrayed his allies.
• Vaughn eliminated the other visiting delegations as suspects and began examining Ilvermorny wizards for motives, while considering possible ties to DeSantis and the Magical Congress.

Vaughn investigated the disguised attacker and shared his findings with Dumbledore, while Fudge and the Pure-blood Alliance maneuvered over WAC’s next assembly. Lucius revealed that Voldemort had been found in Little Hangleton and told Jacob and Corban they would meet him together.

• Vaughn reviewed the footage and considered the Magic Institute and Uagadou as suspects, but could not identify the attacker.
• Dumbledore viewed Vaughn’s memory of Li Nanyu’s visit and agreed that Karkaroff likely lacked the courage to return to Voldemort’s side.
• Fudge learned that Roberts had been coerced and told Umbridge to reassure his allies that he remained their friend.
• Lucius, Jacob, and Corban discussed Fudge’s request for help and planned to pressure Weasley at WAC’s second general assembly.
• Lucius announced that his people had found Voldemort in an old house in Little Hangleton and said the three of them would go meet him.

Jacob agreed to meet Voldemort, accepting that he would likely have to become a Death Eater to secure the Pure-blood Alliance’s survival. Meanwhile, Harry secretly tried to reach Voldemort through their soul connection, while Vaughn worked with the Confederation and prepared for WAC’s public assembly, where the England Branch intervened in the dispute.

• Jacob left Malfoy Manor grimly resolved to bind himself to Voldemort, believing the Pure-blood Alliance had no other way to resist the Weasley faction.
• Harry repeatedly tried to enter Voldemort’s Mindscape after Ron fell asleep, but he only drifted off, unaware that his scar had reddened.
• Vaughn attended Confederation meetings with Dumbledore and studied Alchemy under Nicholas, rapidly advancing with his teacher’s guidance.
• Amelia approved WAC’s second general assembly despite opposition, and Vaughn arrived at the Ministry accompanied by reporters.
• Old Barty Crouch, Amelia, and Dumbledore enabled the England Branch of the International Confederation of Wizards to attend the assembly and intervene in the WAC dispute.
• Agamemnon used the International Werewolf Association and Vaughn as a means to extend the Confederation’s influence beyond its internal structure.

Vaughn attended WAC’s second General Assembly, where Amelia used the Wizarding Sages’ Council to give the meeting authority to decide reforms. As debate began over adding committee members to the WAC Executive Board, a Confederation representative defended the proposal and clarified that the International Werewolf Association was jointly founded by the Confederation and WAC.

• Vaughn met Kingsley and Tonks at the Ministry, encouraged Kingsley in his new role, and told Tonks he had supported shortening her probation so she could become a full Auror sooner.
• Kingsley explained that the Wizengamot had invited Ministry departments and elite wizard representatives to participate in the assembly, and Vaughn recognized the move as an attempt to turn public opinion against him.
• Vaughn took his reserved seat between Amelia and Dumbledore as the crowded Court of Law watched him enter.
• Amelia opened the assembly under the Wizarding Sages’ Council and announced that it would deliberate on Vaughn’s proposed WAC reforms.
• Vaughn argued that WAC needed additional Executive Board members because the International Werewolf Association had expanded its work, and a Confederation representative supported the proposal by explaining that WAC was the association’s headquarters and a co-founder.

Vaughn’s proposal to expand WAC’s Executive Board faced a challenge from Lucius, who argued that non-Werewolf members must retain control. After the Wizengamot voted to adopt Lucius’s conditions, Vaughn accepted the decision and apologized, leaving the meeting poised to continue under the new limits.

• The Confederation Branch representative defended Vaughn’s proposal while Vaughn remained silent, and the Irish delegation’s support surprised the opposing factions.
• Lucius accepted WAC’s right to add committee members but argued that two existing seats must remain for non-Werewolves and all new members must be non-Werewolves.
• Vaughn rejected Lucius’s position and accused him of Pure-blood arrogance, while Lucius invoked Werewolf risks and the Werewolf Parade Incident to press his case.
• A Wizengamot representative proposed adopting Lucius’s conditions, and the Wizarding Sages’ Council voted to approve them.
• Vaughn accepted the Council’s decision on behalf of WAC and apologized for his remarks.

Vaughn secured WAC’s independence by threatening to move its core personnel abroad, while the Ministry created a liaison department headed by Scrimgeour. He revealed to Amelia and Dumbledore that he had deliberately damaged his reputation as an experiment to draw Voldemort out and test whether negative renown could increase his standing with the system.

• Vaughn argued that WAC needed independence from the Ministry and implied that he could move its core personnel to another country if the proposal failed.
• An elderly neutral wizard proposed a Ministry department to liaise with WAC and impose restrictions in extreme circumstances, and the council approved both the department and WAC’s self-governance.
• The Wizengamot elected the suspended Scrimgeour to lead the new Werewolf Affairs Exchange and Cooperation Department.
• Amelia, Dumbledore, and Vaughn discussed his damaged reputation over tea, and Amelia warned that his renown would suffer.
• Vaughn explained that he had acted to appear weak and provoke Voldemort, while testing whether negative publicity could increase his Renown Earnings.

During Potions class, Snape punished Harry and Ron, while Hermione noticed that something had unsettled Ginny. The Daily Prophet had turned public opinion against Vaughn, and Hermione decided to seek him out at the laboratory as Ginny resolved to defend him through journalism.

• Harry woke from a spell of unusual sleepiness, and Ron worried that it might be connected to Harry's attempts to reach Voldemort.
• Snape caught Harry and Ron mocking him, quizzed Harry on a potion, and deducted twenty points from Gryffindor for disrespecting a professor.
• At the Great Hall, Ginny told Hermione that people were saying bad things about Vaughn and insisted that the Daily Prophet was slandering him.
• Hermione read the paper's hostile articles about Vaughn and WAC, concluding that Vaughn had offended many people and that there might be hidden circumstances.
• Hermione decided to visit Vaughn's laboratory that night and reassured Ginny that they should trust him.

Hermione learned that Vaughn had deliberately invited public distrust to weaken his political opponents and protect his plans, while he managed WAC’s leadership changes. After Vaughn rejected her kiss, Hermione grew upset and later deciphered the hidden meaning in Snape’s question, suspecting it concerned Harry’s mother.

• Ron felt left out as classmates from several Houses gathered around Harry, Hermione, and Ginny to show their faith in Vaughn, while Dean, Seamus, and the twins teased him.
• Hermione visited Vaughn’s laboratory, told him about Snape’s strange behavior in Potions, and asked whether the accusations about Vaughn’s political actions were true.
• Vaughn admitted he had deliberately smeared his own reputation to prevent Fudge’s faction and the Pure-blood Families from regaining power before Voldemort’s return.
• Hermione kissed Vaughn, but he gently refused further intimacy because they were too young, leaving her hurt and angry as she ran from the laboratory.
• Vaughn spent two days overseeing WAC’s private committee meeting, using Lucius’s pressure as cover to change the organization’s leadership without alienating the Werewolves.
• Hermione searched the library for the meanings of asphodel and wormwood, interpreted Snape’s question as regret and sorrow over an absence, and suspected it referred to Harry’s mother.

While public opinion turned against Vaughn, he met with Irish Confederation Branch officials and arranged for them to spread a prophecy among Muggles without letting wizards hear of it. Vaughn suggested the prophecy could come true, while Dumbledore visited an old friend in Nurmengard and was teased for repeatedly talking about Vaughn.

• The Pure-blood Alliance and Fudge's faction blamed Vaughn for the WAC controversy while leaving the organization itself untouched.
• Vaughn met Patrick, Matthew, and Irish Confederation Branch officials at a private banquet and asked how their assigned task was progressing.
• Patrick reported that the officials had found a dying old man, and Vaughn instructed them to spread the man's prophecy among Muggles while keeping it from wizards.
• Matthew wondered whether Vaughn had fabricated the prophecy, and Vaughn said it might make the old man one of history's greatest Seers if it came true.
• Dumbledore sneezed in Nurmengard, and his old friend observed that he had been bringing up Vaughn on every visit.

Harry reestablished a soul connection with Voldemort and saw what appeared to be a Death Eater gathering where Snape was ordered to recover the Diary. Dumbledore and Vaughn revealed that Voldemort had planted false memories to mislead Harry, while Vaughn secretly monitored Snape through Persona Armor.

• Harry watched Voldemort order Snape to find the Diary, then woke screaming from the soul connection and angered his roommates.
• Harry decided he needed to warn Ron that Voldemort and the Death Eaters would soon act, but Ron refused to speak with him.
• Voldemort met Jacob, Corban, Lucius, and Snape in Albania and showed them memories suggesting the Diary was hidden at Hogwarts by Peeves and Colin Creevey.
• Voldemort's followers knelt as he signaled his intention to return and rise again.
• Dumbledore questioned Vaughn about Harry's vision, and Vaughn explained that Voldemort had fabricated the memories and did not need the Diary to return to life.
• Vaughn revealed that he could learn what happened at Voldemort's gathering through the Persona Armor on Snape.

Vaughn explained to Dumbledore that Voldemort planned to use Harry’s blood in the Regeneration Spell, while revealing that he intended to defy Destiny and prevent the foretold duel. The next morning, Harry told Ron that Voldemort and several Death Eaters were preparing to return, but they feared warning the professors would expose their plans to Snape.

• Dumbledore realized Voldemort’s trip to Riddle Manor might have been to obtain his father’s bone for the Regeneration Spell, and feared Harry would be in danger.
• Vaughn explained why he had opposed using Snape to guide Harry, and Dumbledore defended the plan to let Voldemort resurrect so they could later destroy his Horcruxes and remove the soul fragment from Harry.
• Vaughn told Dumbledore that Destiny had set the Twin Stars on a course toward a duel, but he planned to use his status as a variable to overturn that fate.
• The next morning, Harry told Ron that he had seen Voldemort with Peter, Jacob, Lucius, Snape, and Corban, and Ron concluded that the Dark Lord would soon return.
• Harry argued that telling Dumbledore or Professor McGonagall could alert Snape, and Ron reluctantly agreed that the professors’ trust in Snape made the warning risky.

Harry and Ron recruited Hermione and Guoguo Tea to help stop a group of Death Eaters from retrieving the diary and reviving Voldemort. Hermione led them through a secret passage beneath the Whomping Willow to a hidden base, where they found Fred and George.

• Harry told Ron that they needed more help to confront the Death Eaters, and Ron went to find Hermione while Harry went to find Hagrid.
• Ron explained Harry's soul connection with Voldemort and the Death Eaters' plan to retrieve the diary, and Hermione rebuked them for keeping the danger from her.
• Hermione recruited Guoguo Tea, whose trained owl army impressed Ron.
• Hermione revealed that she knew how to subdue the Whomping Willow and opened the passage beneath it.
• Hermione, Ron, and Guoguo Tea entered the secret base and found Fred and George working there.

Ron, Hermione, Fred, and George joined Harry and Hagrid to stop Snape and Voldemort from finding a Horcrux Diary. The group split up to search for Colin Creevey and Peeves, while Ron, Harry, and Hagrid waited for Guoguo Tea’s animal network to locate Creevey.

• Ron told Fred and George that Snape wanted to help Voldemort return, and the twins eagerly agreed to help.
• Hermione led Ron and the twins to the West Tower, where they reunited with Harry and Hagrid and learned that Harry wanted to find the Diary before Snape acted.
• Ron explained that the Diary was suspected to be a Horcrux, and Hermione proposed capturing Colin Creevey and Peeves to keep them from helping Snape and Voldemort.
• Ron divided the group: Hermione, Fred, and George went to find Peeves, while Ron, Harry, Hagrid, and Guoguo Tea searched for Creevey.
• Ron asked Guoguo Tea to send her animal followers to find Creevey, then explained to Harry that he had kept Hermione with the twins because she could manage them.