Chapter Summaries

Vaughn helped Draco choose to remain at Hogwarts and oppose Voldemort, then eased Creevey’s guilt by telling him he had helped defeat the Dark Lord. With the school’s crisis contained, Vaughn considered Slughorn as the new Potions professor as news of Voldemort’s return spread across England.

• Draco chose Vaughn’s second option, deciding to keep attending Hogwarts and someday confront Lucius about casting the Killing Curse at him.
• Vaughn reassured Creevey that the Diary had bewitched him and claimed he had helped Dumbledore and Vaughn lure Voldemort into the Chamber of Secrets.
• Creevey’s guilt disappeared after Vaughn called him a savior, while Vaughn planned to let Harry and Ron learn the full story from the coming news coverage.
• Vaughn considered recruiting Horace Slughorn to replace Snape as Potions professor and rejected using him as bait to trap Voldemort.
• Owls carried news of Voldemort’s return as a media storm swept across England.

Vaughn watched the press turn a string of attacks linked to Voldemort into a public crisis ahead of the Wizarding Sages' Council meeting. In the hospital, he confirmed to Harry, Ron, and Hermione that he and Dumbledore had anticipated the events, while Ron angrily challenged the dangers they had faced.

• Rita Skeeter reported that the Azkaban riot had been contained and that Vaughn and Amelia had helped avert a disaster.
• Newspapers reported attacks on Gringotts, the Scamander Residence, Hogwarts, WAC Headquarters, the Burrow, and Muggles, with several stories identifying the attackers as Death Eaters.
• Vaughn read the reports in the Hogwarts Hospital Wing and expected the Wizarding Sages' Council meeting that evening to be the main event.
• Harry, Ron, and Hermione visited Vaughn under the Invisibility Cloak, and Vaughn explained that the Ministry or Wizengamot needed to announce Voldemort's return for the public to believe it.
• Vaughn confirmed that he and Dumbledore had known the attacks would happen, prompting Ron to condemn the risks to Harry, Draco, Creevey, and Goyle.
• Vaughn reminded Ron that he had trusted him in the Chamber of Secrets, then asked Harry whether he could have kept Voldemort from reading his memories if he had known the plan.

Vaughn explained why he had kept his plans from Harry and Ron, while Ron and Harry reflected on their trust in him and their own weakness. Hermione asked about Harry’s wand, and Vaughn revealed he had recovered it and offered to trade it for the Death Eaters’ wands.

• Vaughn told Ron that keeping him uninformed had protected him and Harry, and Ron left with Harry after Vaughn invited him to go home with Ginny.
• Harry and Ron agreed to ask Hermione to tutor them, and Harry realized Ron had trusted Vaughn enough to call for help in the Chamber of Secrets.
• Hermione warned Vaughn not to face danger alone again and asked why Harry’s wand had resisted him when he used Snape’s wand.
• Vaughn explained that Harry had not won Snape’s wand’s allegiance and revealed that Professor McGonagall had recovered Harry’s own wand.
• Vaughn offered to return Harry’s wand in exchange for the Death Eaters’ wands, then asked Hermione why she had trusted him to handle the danger in the Chamber.

At the Wizarding Sages' Council, Umbridge resigned as Minister for Magic and accused former Minister Fudge of aiding Death Eaters, while Vaughn began explaining how he had prepared for Voldemort's return. The meeting continued with the Aurors ordered to summon Fudge as the council heard the history of the dark wizard attacks.

• Harry and Hermione brought Vaughn the wands of Corban and Lucius, and Vaughn let Harry keep his own wand while offering Jacob's wand for Sirius.
• Vaughn agreed to take Harry and the Weasley children to the Wizarding Sages' Council and then to the Burrow, and Dumbledore allowed them to leave Hogwarts.
• At the Court of Law, Amelia opened the council and announced that it would address the dark wizard incidents and try those who had colluded with dark wizards.
• Umbridge resigned as Minister for Magic and accused Cornelius Fudge of maintaining ties with Death Eaters and participating in their attacks.
• Amelia accepted Umbridge's charges, added them to the agenda, and Kingsley left to bring Fudge in under a compulsory summons.
• Vaughn recounted how he and Dumbledore had discovered Voldemort's survival, warned about Azkaban, and prepared for the Dark Lord's return.

Vaughn recounted the recent attacks and revealed that North American dark wizards, including a Legend, had attacked Newt Scamander before Dumbledore addressed Voldemort’s return, the Dementors, and Hogwarts. The Council then began trying pure-blood families, while Vaughn’s deliberate hint of a mole was poised to fuel suspicion among Voldemort’s followers.

• Vaughn explained that he had protected his family and WAC Headquarters, then said North American dark wizards led by a Legend had attacked Newt and Tina Scamander before Mr. Li helped save them.
• Dumbledore urged the wizards to accept that Voldemort had returned and proposed banishing the Dementors, then gave a false account of Hogwarts’s plan and Snape’s exposure.
• The Ministry representative backed Vaughn’s account as his faction’s influence eclipsed Fudge and the collapsed Pure-blood Alliance.
• The Council began trying nine pure-blood families and more than a hundred wizards, many of whom had been abandoned by the families’ core members.
• Vaughn let the assembled wizards suspect that he had a mole among Voldemort’s allies, hoping their suspicion would fracture the Death Eaters.

At the Wizarding Sages' Council, Umbridge presented evidence that former Minister Fudge had colluded with Death Eaters, and Fudge pleaded guilty while accusing her in turn. Vaughn backed Umbridge's claim that she had secretly investigated Fudge for him, leaving Fudge disgraced and the Weasley family increasingly powerful.

• Kingsley brought Fudge to the Council, where Amelia announced that he would stand trial on charges brought by Umbridge.
• Umbridge presented Fudge's letters to Death Eaters and testimony linking him to several Dark Wizard attacks.
• Fudge lost his temper, then pleaded guilty and demanded that Umbridge be tried as well.
• Umbridge admitted her role but claimed she had acted on Vaughn's instructions to investigate Fudge and thwart the Death Eaters.
• Vaughn testified for Umbridge and submitted their letters as evidence, while Fudge realized that Umbridge had turned against him during Vaughn's North American trip.
• Newspaper reports spread the story, and Vaughn's influence and the Weasley family's political power continued to rise.

Vaughn left the Ministry’s political changes to Amelia and met his family at the Burrow, where they discussed the new Ministry leadership, Gringotts, and their plans amid the danger in England. The chapter ended with Molly calling everyone to dinner after Vaughn and the Weasley men talked at length.

• Amelia’s appointment as Minister for Magic became all but certain, while Kingsley, Old Crouch, and Scrimgeour took new Ministry posts that brought the Aurors under closer Ministry control.
• Ginny and Vaughn arrived at the Burrow, where Molly welcomed them, Harry, Hermione, and the Weasley brothers and fretted over Vaughn’s encounter with Voldemort.
• Bill asked Vaughn how he had predicted the Death Eaters’ attack on Gringotts, and Vaughn warned him to keep the information confidential.
• Charlie advised Percy to observe more and ask fewer questions, while Vaughn reflected that he would not use his influence to advance Percy’s Ministry career.
• Arthur declined Amelia’s offer to move him to a more powerful department because he preferred his current work and time with his family.
• Vaughn asked Bill about returning to London, but Bill chose to remain in Egypt, and Molly ended the men’s discussion when she came out of the kitchen.