Chapter Summaries

Harry returned to Hogwarts with Hagrid, checked on Big Black and the concealed hotel under construction, and learned when he would receive his medal. After testing Apparition from Hogwarts to London, he received a Ministry warning and concluded that the Trace only detected nearby magic, not who cast it.

• Harry and Hagrid returned to Hogwarts after visiting the hotel, whose seven-story structure was being built behind a magical concealment.
• Harry saw that Big Black had become more wary after entering the Forbidden Forest, while Little Snow remained unchanged.
• Dumbledore told Harry they would receive the medal at Merlin's Circle next Wednesday, and Harry left for London.
• Harry Apparated from beside the Black Lake to his room at the Sherlock Hotel, where Optimus Prime attacked the owl carrying a Ministry letter.
• Harry read Mafalda Hopkirk's warning about underage magic and the Statute of Secrecy, then reasoned that the Trace detected magic near him without identifying its caster.

Harry retrieved Little Cutie from the hotel lobby and refused to sell the cat despite a receptionist’s claim that Miss Copernic would pay a fortune. After returning from dinner, he realized that Cho Chang and Hermione had not replied to his letters and began suspecting Dobby was involved.

• Harry found Little Cutie attracting attention at the hotel front desk and picked the cat up to leave.
• A receptionist told Harry that Miss Copernic wanted his cat, but Harry refused to sell it and extended his hotel stay for another month.
• The receptionist claimed Miss Copernic would pay four hundred thousand pounds, and Harry told her the star needed a hospital.
• Harry returned to the hotel after dinner, realized he had spent nearly all his inherited money, and slept well.
• Harry noticed that Cho Chang and Hermione had not answered his letters and suspected Dobby might be responsible.

Half a month earlier, Lucius Malfoy awakened a Horcrux containing young Tom and learned that Voldemort had died. When Voldemort demanded entry to Hogwarts, Lucius planned to use the opportunity to frame Weasley.

• Lucius opened a black notebook in his study and saw young Tom appear as a translucent figure.
• Lucius recognized Tom as Voldemort’s Horcrux and hid his realization that Voldemort’s death had weakened the Dark Lord’s hold over him.
• Voldemort asked where Harry Potter was and ordered Lucius to send him into Hogwarts.
• Voldemort returned to the notebook, and Lucius decided to smuggle it into Hogwarts without risking his own exposure.
• Lucius chose Weasley as a target to frame for bringing the Horcrux into Hogwarts.

Harry discovered that Dobby had hidden his letters and was trying to keep him from returning to Hogwarts because of a threat involving Voldemort. After sending Dobby away with a promise to help it escape the Malfoy family, Harry received a warning letter from the Ministry of Magic.

• Dobby overheard Lucius discussing a threat to Harry and decided to warn him not to go to Hogwarts.
• Harry found Hermione's and Cho Chang's letters hidden under the guest room bed and sent replies to both of them.
• Dobby appeared beside Harry's bed, and Harry confirmed that it had hidden his letters and wanted to stop him from going to school.
• Harry silenced and bound Dobby, then offered to help it escape the Malfoy family if it stayed away from him.
• An owl delivered a warning letter from the Ministry of Magic, and Harry frowned at its contents.

Harry received a Ministry letter threatening to destroy his wand and expel him for using magic, but Dumbledore intervened and the punishment was postponed until a hearing. After recognizing Fudge’s political maneuvering, Harry urged Dumbledore to become Minister for Magic, but Dumbledore refused and left for the Ministry.

• Harry read Mafalda Hopkirk’s letter ordering him to attend a disciplinary hearing and warning that the Ministry would destroy his wand.
• Dumbledore arrived, changed the Ministry’s decision, and asked Harry why he had used magic.
• Harry claimed that Dobby had warned him Voldemort had returned and would harm him at school, prompting Dumbledore to reconsider the threat.
• A second letter confirmed that Harry could keep his wand and that the Ministry had postponed its expulsion decision until the hearing.
• Harry realized Fudge had arranged the case to pressure Dumbledore and considered how his changes had shifted events from the future he remembered.
• Harry urged Dumbledore to become Minister for Magic, but Dumbledore refused and left for the Ministry.

Harry received the Mirror of Erised from Dumbledore for his twelfth birthday and sent it to Snape, who saw a cherished memory of his childhood with Lily. Dumbledore, meanwhile, gave up the mirror and found relief in letting go of the woman he had long seen in it.

• Hagrid told Harry that Dumbledore had once sought power and the Minister for Magic position, but his sister's death made him refuse the role.
• Harry received birthday letters and gifts, including the Mirror of Erised from Dumbledore, and decided he did not want to keep it.
• Dumbledore returned to the mirror and saw only the photographs on the wall, feeling sorrow and relief as he let it go.
• Harry used Magical Express Delivery to send the mirror to Snape, whose address he had learned from Hermione.
• Snape opened the package and became absorbed in a memory of himself and Lily as children, lying beneath a willow tree.

Dumbledore took Harry to the Ministry of Magic for a hearing over Harry’s use of magic in the Muggle world. Harry admitted fault, promised not to repeat it, and paid a twenty-Galleon deposit, bringing the hearing to a quick end.

• Dumbledore collected Harry from the hotel, and Harry teased him about possibly finding love.
• Dumbledore took Harry to the Ministry of Magic by bus and Underground, then entered through a red telephone box.
• Harry and Dumbledore crossed the Ministry without surrendering their wands and rode an elevator to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.
• Amelia Bones held Harry’s hearing in her office, where Fudge also arrived with an obscured woman.
• Harry admitted using magic, promised not to use it around Muggles again, and paid a twenty-Galleon security deposit.

After Harry left the Ministry with Dumbledore, he prepared for his second year by reopening the Leaky Cauldron and arranging to shop in Diagon Alley with Hermione. Their shopping trip ended with Harry spotting Ron’s family and slowing down as he anticipated Lucius’s arrival.

• Harry mocked Umbridge at the Ministry before leaving with Dumbledore, then called her a granny as they departed.
• Harry reopened the Leaky Cauldron with Muggle staff bound by magical contracts, and he received Hogwarts’s second-year book list featuring Gilderoy Lockhart’s books.
• Hermione invited Harry to shop in Diagon Alley, where she was astonished by the newly expanded, Muggle-influenced Leaky Cauldron.
• Harry and Hermione enjoyed cream buns and Harry withdrew enough Galleons from Gringotts to cover his school expenses.
• Harry spotted Ron’s red-haired family leaving a junk shop and slowed down, expecting Lucius to appear soon.

Harry and Hermione visited Flourish and Blotts, where Harry watched the Weasleys clash with Lucius Malfoy and discovered Ginny had an old book he wanted. He traded her a set of new schoolbooks for it, then noticed she was close to tears.

• Harry teased Hermione about Quidditch until she realized he was joking and ran off in embarrassment.
• At Flourish and Blotts, Harry saw Lucius Malfoy leave after fighting with Weasley, and he warned Hermione that Gilderoy Lockhart was a fraud.
• Harry greeted Ron and spoke with the Weasleys, then spotted old books Ginny was carrying.
• Harry claimed the books belonged to an obscure spell inventor called Wozkid and offered to buy Ginny new books in exchange for them.
• Harry replaced Ginny's old books with new ones and noticed that she had reddened eyes and looked ready to cry.

Harry and Hermione visited Flourish and Blotts, where Harry kept Tom Riddle’s diary and exposed Gilderoy Lockhart as a fraud. He convinced Hermione that Divination had revealed Lockhart’s crimes, leaving her eager to study it.

• Harry dismissed Hermione’s concerns about the discarded books and showed her the old black diary, but said he would explain it later.
• Harry and Hermione bought their books while Lockhart held a crowded signing, and Harry avoided meeting him.
• Lockhart announced that he would become Hogwarts’ new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, and Hermione questioned why Harry disliked him.
• Harry told Hermione that Lockhart had stolen other wizards’ adventures and erased their memories with powerful Memory Charms.
• Harry claimed he had divined Lockhart’s secret, and Hermione believed him and wanted to learn Divination.

Harry explained Horcruxes to Hermione and teased her into thinking Voldemort’s soul was in the diary, then admitted the diary was a real Horcrux. They tried burning it without success, and Harry challenged the fear surrounding Voldemort’s name.

• Hermione remembered seeing Horcrux mentioned in a book, and Harry explained that a Horcrux held a fragment of its maker’s soul.
• Harry teased Hermione by suggesting the diary belonged to a famous dark wizard, and she became frightened before he admitted he had been joking about its owner.
• After Harry told Hermione the truth about the diary, she decided they should burn it.
• Hermione’s ordinary fire left the diary unharmed, while Harry worried that using magic to destroy it could trigger its protections or the Trace.
• Hermione asked about Voldemort, and Harry loudly insulted him to show that saying his name caused no immediate harm.
• Harry explained that Voldemort’s name became feared because a curse and the deaths of a few people had helped spread that fear.

Harry learned that Snape could brew a temporary Ageing Potion to destroy his Ministry Trace, then asked Dumbledore to borrow the Pensieve to uncover evidence about the Chamber of Secrets, Sirius Black, and Voldemort's return. Dumbledore was shocked when Harry revealed that Ron's rat was an Animagus and urged him to keep watch without alerting the culprit.

• Harry told Hermione that Voldemort's soul was hidden in the diary and wondered how he might bring smartphone technology to the past.
• After returning to Hogwarts, Harry asked Snape how to destroy his Trace, and Snape offered to brew a temporary Ageing Potion.
• Harry chose the temporary potion rather than Snape's permanent version and agreed to return in half an hour.
• Harry asked Dumbledore to lend him the Pensieve so he could find evidence about Hagrid's innocence, Sirius Black, and Voldemort's return.
• Harry warned Dumbledore to watch Ron's rat because it was an Animagus, and Dumbledore realized the rat could be tied to Black's wrongful conviction.

Harry used Snape’s Growth Potion to grow to about eighteen, then tested whether the change had removed his Trace by Apparating to London. The Ministry’s expected warning never arrived, and Harry celebrated his freedom before a mishap in the bath left him tearful.

• Dumbledore showed Harry how the Pensieve worked, then returned the memories to his own mind.
• Snape gave Harry the one-day Growth Potion, and Harry grew into a handsome young man while Snape reacted with anger at his face.
• Harry Apparated to London at night and stunned a homeless man who mistook him for a ghost.
• The next day, the homeless man found fifty pounds and decided that Harry had been an angel.
• Harry waited in a Muggle hotel for the Ministry’s owl, confirmed that his Trace had disappeared, and celebrated before calming himself with a bath.
• After bathing, Harry lay on the bed in tears because he had touched something by accident.

Harry traveled to 1992, coerced Steve Jobs into developing a camera phone, and left evidence of his time travel for the future. In 2019, he appeared on television to reveal the evidence and vanished, while the wizarding world laughed at how he had fooled the Muggles.

• Harry used the wizard bus to reach Pixar in California and secretly watched Steve Jobs before revealing himself.
• Harry silenced and bound Jobs, showed him memories of future phones in a Pensieve, and demanded a finished camera phone within ten months.
• Harry placed a spell on Jobs to keep him from revealing their meeting, and Jobs ordered his secretary to buy Sony and IBM stock.
• Harry appeared as a passerby in Hollywood films and took photographs to leave evidence of his visit to 1992.
• In 2019, Harry appeared on CCTV News, claimed he had traveled through time, and vanished after announcing that he had left evidence in 1992.
• Wizards laughed at the Muggles for being fooled by Minister Potter.

Harry returned to Hogwarts for the new term and shared a compartment with Hermione and Cho Chang. On the train, he met first-year Astoria Greengrass and persuaded her to call him her secret big brother.

• Harry watched Malfoy say goodbye to his parents at King's Cross and saw Malfoy hurry away after noticing him.
• Ron entered Harry's compartment, then fled when Hermione and Cho Chang arrived.
• A nervous first-year asked to sit with Harry, Hermione, and Cho, but quickly warmed to Harry when she recognized him from Draco's house.
• Harry learned the girl's name was Astoria Greengrass and convinced her that calling Draco her big brother might make her parents love her less.
• Astoria happily agreed to call Harry her secret big brother, while Hermione and Cho teased him with suspicious looks.

Harry looked after Astoria on the Hogwarts Express and gently helped her adjust to being away from her parents. After Astoria sent her mother a letter by owl, the train journey was nearly over.

• Astoria told Harry that older students had crowded her to the back of the train, and he introduced her to Hermione and Cho Chang.
• Harry questioned Astoria and realized she knew very little about Hogwarts or the wizarding world because her parents had sheltered her.
• Harry bought snacks for Astoria, and she fell asleep leaning against his arm while Hermione and Cho watched him care for her.
• When Astoria woke and missed her mother, Harry comforted her and suggested that she write home.
• Astoria wrote a short letter to her mother and sent it away with her owl, Xiao Wei.

Harry prepared Astoria for her first year at Hogwarts, and she was sorted into Gryffindor, where she joined him and Hermione at the feast. After dinner, Hermione took Astoria to the girls’ dormitory while Harry considered what to do during the coming school year.

• Harry explained Hogwarts, the Sorting Hat, and school life to Astoria before the train reached its destination.
• Harry brought Astoria to the first-year group, where Draco Malfoy said he had been asked to look after her but walked away after insulting Harry.
• Hagrid led the first-years to Hogwarts, and Dumbledore welcomed the students before the Sorting began.
• The Sorting Hat considered several Houses for Astoria before placing her in Gryffindor.
• Astoria sat beside Harry at the feast and greeted Hermione, while Dumbledore introduced Gilderoy Lockhart as the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.
• After dinner, Hermione escorted Astoria to the first-year girls’ dormitory, and Harry lay in bed thinking about the school year ahead.

Harry spent breakfast with Astoria, who revealed her close connection to Professor McGonagall, then began Potions class and watched Hermione expose Lockhart’s false claims about Whomping Willows. The chapter ended with Harry wondering why a Whomping Willow had been injured despite the events that caused it in the original story never happening.

• Astoria told Harry that her mother had asked her to call Professor McGonagall “Aunt Minerva” and that she had met her at her eleventh birthday party.
• Harry asked Astoria whether her family needed a son-in-law, and she said she wanted him to be hers.
• Hermione choked after hearing Harry’s question, and Harry used a spell to help her recover.
• Lockhart claimed he had encountered several Whomping Willows and helped Professor Sprout treat the injured tree.
• Hermione challenged Lockhart’s story with facts about Whomping Willows, and Professor Sprout awarded Gryffindor five points for Hermione’s Herbology knowledge.
• Harry transplanted a Screaming Mandrake and wondered why the Whomping Willow had been injured when the events from the original story had not occurred.

During Transfiguration, Ron damaged his wand, and Harry let Colin Creevey take a photograph with him. Harry later blasted Gilderoy Lockhart unconscious after Lockhart patronized him, but Lockhart still appeared to begin class as though nothing had happened.

• Ron panicked over the beetle-to-button assignment, damaged his wand, and Neville corrected his incantation.
• Colin Creevey asked Harry for a photograph and autograph, and Harry agreed to a picture after advising him to focus on his studies.
• Lockhart lectured Harry about fame and offered to act like a father to him, so Harry called him a pig and blasted him unconscious.
• Lockhart entered the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom smiling and presented his book to the students.

Harry’s Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson with Lockhart descended into chaos after Lockhart released Cornish Pixies, and Harry ended the rampage by directing them to throw Lockhart out the window. The next day, Harry became a Daily Prophet front-page story while Lockhart fumed over his own humiliation and Harry’s fame.

• Harry insulted Lockhart and discarded his exam paper, while Hermione handed in a blank paper of her own.
• Lockhart opened a cage of Cornish Pixies, which wrecked the classroom and lifted Neville onto the chandelier.
• Harry magically directed the pixies to throw Lockhart out the window, then subdued them and dismissed the class.
• Hogwarts students spread the story that the pixies had dumped Lockhart in dung near Hagrid’s Hut.
• Cho Chang showed Harry a Daily Prophet article featuring his photo and portraying him as a model wizard.
• Lockhart saw Harry on the newspaper’s front page, tore it up, and grew jealous of Harry’s fame.