Chapter Summaries

Barty Crouch confronted Regulus Black with evidence linking him to the death of Wizengamot member Edmund Wilton and tried to take him to the Ministry and seize his wand. Slughorn blocked the move while Regulus stayed calm and weighed the political trap, and the standoff ended as Regulus tapped the armrest.

• Crouch showed Regulus the report comparing Wilton’s death scene with the destruction at Rowle Manor and said the department wanted to verify Regulus’s movements and magic.
• Regulus denied killing Wilton, and Crouch ordered the Aurors to take him to the Ministry and restrict his spellcasting.
• Regulus asked whether Crouch had brought the Aurors to arrest him, while Slughorn insisted that Regulus remain at school until Orion arrived.
• Crouch ordered an Auror to secure Regulus’s wand, but Regulus did not hand it over, so Crouch had his refusal recorded.
• Crouch threatened compulsory measures, including Veritaserum, and Slughorn said Crouch would have to record him as an obstruction too.
• Regulus raised his hand and tapped the armrest as the confrontation continued.

Regulus used a sound-propagated Severing Charm to incapacitate Crouch and the Aurors who came to seize his wand, while protecting Slughorn from the attack. Crouch ordered Moody to restrain Regulus, but Regulus raised his finger again, leaving the confrontation poised to continue.

• Regulus assessed Crouch's protections and Auror escort, then decided that Crouch should pay for trying to force him into custody.
• Regulus tapped the armrest and sent an inaudible, Mandrake-infused Severing Charm through the office, making two Aurors collapse and leaving Crouch and Moody struggling with nausea.
• Regulus canceled the spell's vibrations around himself and Slughorn, keeping the professor unharmed while the attack struck the others.
• Slughorn recognized the Mandrake-based spell and saw that the Aurors remained conscious and could recover, so he settled back and judged Regulus to be exercising restraint.
• Crouch regained his wand and ordered Moody to restrain Regulus as the surviving Auror raised his wand and the two fallen Aurors struggled to move.
• Regulus raised his index finger again while Moody aimed his wand at him.

Regulus incapacitated Crouch and several Aurors with increasingly powerful uses of the Severing Charm while Moody resisted, then prepared a lethal third strike. Slughorn and Moody moved to stop him, but McGonagall burst into the office and confronted Crouch.

• Regulus used the Severing Charm to injure Crouch and the Aurors, while Moody dodged one attack but remained impaired.
• Crouch activated an alarm and tried unsuccessfully to reach his escape device as Slughorn assessed the injured men.
• Regulus raised the Severing Charm to its lethal setting, and Slughorn and Moody recognized that his next strike could kill everyone in the office.
• McGonagall burst through the office door and angrily challenged Barty Crouch.

Regulus stopped attacking the Aurors after McGonagall intervened, and Slughorn began treating the injured. Regulus left to meet Orion outside while Crouch recovered and prepared to regain control of the investigation and negotiate with Orion.

• McGonagall entered Slughorn's office and saw Regulus's magic restraining Moody, Crouch, and two Aurors while leaving Slughorn unharmed.
• Slughorn told McGonagall that Crouch had planned to confiscate Regulus's wand and force him to take Veritaserum.
• McGonagall called to Regulus, and he withdrew his magic, stopping the injuries from worsening.
• Slughorn treated Crouch and the young Auror while Moody ordered arriving Aurors to help the wounded and keep others outside.
• McGonagall told Regulus that Orion was waiting on the stone bridge, and Regulus said he would wait for Crouch outside.
• Crouch resolved to keep control of the reports and deployments, preserve room to negotiate with Orion, and ordered the people outside to hold their positions.

Regulus left the dungeons with McGonagall after Crouch’s arrival, then gathered a crowd of Hogwarts students as he headed toward his parents and the Ministry officials. The chapter ended with Regulus walking alone across the bridge toward Orion, Walburga, and the hooded figures while Aurors watched from both sides.

• McGonagall escorted Regulus out of the dungeon corridor as Aurors hurried in to assist the incapacitated Crouch.
• Aksha met Regulus on the stairs, and Regulus told her that Crouch had brought people from the Ministry of Magic.
• Regulus told Avery to gather the Slytherins, and students began assembling as he led them out of the Castle.
• Orion and Walburga waited at the far end of the bridge with more than thirty hooded figures, while Aurors stood between them and the Castle.
• Regulus walked onto the bridge toward his parents as McGonagall, Aksha, and the gathered students watched from the Castle end.

Regulus stood with his parents and the Black family’s armed retainers as Crouch demanded that he return to the Ministry of Magic for investigation. With both sides facing off at Hogwarts, Regulus prepared to answer Crouch publicly, beginning with a friend’s question about a wizard’s power.

• Regulus met Orion and Walburga on the bridge, and Orion told him to do as he intended.
• Crouch arrived with a large force of Aurors and accused Regulus of attacking law enforcement while resisting an investigation into Edmund Wilton’s death.
• Orion refused to hand Regulus over, while Crouch tried to make him publicly admit that the Black family would use force to obstruct the Ministry.
• Students and Hogwarts staff watched as the standoff intensified, and Slytherins weighed the consequences of staying or leaving.
• Crouch demanded one last time that Regulus return to the Ministry, and Regulus looked to his parents before addressing the gathering about a friend’s question on how powerful a wizard could become.

Regulus confronted Crouch and the Aurors at Hogwarts, transforming Fiendfyre into a small blue bird under his control. He sent it skyward, where it burst into an immense canopy of blue flame, leaving the gathered witnesses staring at the blazing sky.

• Regulus stepped forward to answer Crouch and summoned orange-red Fiendfyre above his palm, alarming the Aurors.
• Regulus joined Guardian Will with the flames and shaped Fiendfyre into a small blue bird that perched calmly on his hand.
• Aksha began forming black flames, but McGonagall stopped her and extinguished them.
• Regulus released the blue bird into the sky as Crouch and the Aurors watched without attacking.
• The bird exploded into expanding waves of blue flame that covered the sky above the bridge and bathed Hogwarts in blue light.

Regulus held a vast sea of Fiendfyre over the bridge, forcing Crouch and the Aurors to recognize the danger of confronting him. Crouch ordered his Aurors to put away their wands, leaving the conflict unresolved but forcing the Ministry to reconsider its course.

• Orion and Walburga watched Regulus’s display and considered what his question about a friend revealed about the people close to him.
• Crouch compared Regulus’s controlled Fiendfyre to accounts of Grindelwald’s power and wondered whether Dumbledore had taught Regulus or whether Regulus had developed the magic himself.
• Regulus directed the Fiendfyre’s threat toward the people on the bridge, and Moody stopped the Aurors from raising their wands.
• The watching students realized the importance of what they had witnessed, while Avery gained the older students’ approval.
• Moody judged that fighting Regulus would be pointless, and Crouch ordered the Aurors to put away their wands.

Regulus gave Avery instructions to keep Sirius and their allies safe while warning that the conflict might continue, then left Hogwarts with Orion and Walburga as the blue flames vanished. Watching his father, Barty Crouch Jr. realized that his commands could be disobeyed.

• Regulus called Avery to the bridge and told him to repeat what he had witnessed, keep Sirius at school, and have Sirius stop practicing the Patronus until Regulus returned.
• Regulus told Avery to warn Mr. Cuthbert and Mr. Mulciber to prepare for further trouble, and arranged for Baruk to go to 12 Grimmauld Place by Floo Network.
• Aksha asked Regulus to show her the bird when he returned, while Orion considered what a relationship between Regulus and Aksha might mean for the family.
• Regulus left with Orion and Walburga as the blue flames receded and vanished, and the Black family's dependents Apparated away afterward.
• Barty Crouch Jr. watched his father and, remembering Regulus's defiance, felt excited by the realization that his father's commands could be disobeyed.

After Regulus and the Black family left Hogwarts following a confrontation with the Ministry, the students reacted to the display of blue flames and were allowed to leave or contact home. Lily worried about Regulus’s conflict with the Ministry, while Sirius received warnings from Regulus’s friends and chose to remain at school.

• The professors sent the students back to the castle, suspended afternoon classes, and arranged supervised departures through the Floo Network and school owls.
• Marcia and Susan questioned Lily about her connection to Regulus, and Lily admitted she had asked him about the blue bird.
• Lily worried that Regulus and the Black family might suffer for confronting the Ministry, while Marcia invited Lily and Susan to go home with her.
• Avery told Sirius that Regulus had ordered him to stay at school, avoid Hogsmeade and secret passages, and stop practicing his Patronus until Regulus returned.
• James invited Sirius, Remus, and Peter to go to his home, but Sirius refused and chose to stay at Hogwarts.