Recaps

Isaac considered how to pass Professor McGonagall’s restrictive Transfiguration challenge and went to Dumbledore’s office to look for something useful. The chapter left him searching the office while Cornelius Fudge faced mounting pressure from the Gringotts goblins.

• Isaac concluded that he would need to create Transfiguration chess pieces or overturn the chessboard to pass Professor McGonagall’s challenge.
• Isaac sent the Honey Badger Squad to practice Transfiguration and went to Dumbledore’s office for help.
• Isaac reflected that the professors’ different challenge rules reflected their personalities, and that McGonagall’s strictness came from knowing how students exploited loopholes.
• Isaac considered how the Gringotts goblins had forced Fudge and Dumbledore into a renewed alliance and left Fudge with no safe way out.
• Isaac ignored Fudge’s predicament and looked for something useful that Dumbledore might have left in his office.

Isaac studied Dumbledore’s notes on Piertotum Locomotor and learned how to make chess pieces move, though he could not command Hogwarts’s statues without being recognized as deputy headmaster. Meanwhile, the Honey Badger Squad trained to create giant chess pieces, and Harry’s friends practiced for Quidditch as Harry honed his flying.

• Isaac found Piertotum Locomotor and Dumbledore’s notebook on composite spells waiting on the Headmaster’s desk.
• Isaac studied the spell and learned that only Hogwarts’s recognized headmaster and deputy headmaster could command every statue and armored knight in the castle.
• Isaac used the headmasters’ annotations to learn how to make chess pieces move and fight independently, then left with Dumbledore’s notes.
• The Honey Badger Squad trained Ernie and Justin under Hawthorne’s guidance as the students prepared to create giant chess pieces.
• Harry brought Ron, Hermione, and Neville to the spell challenge each evening and practiced flying on his Nimbus 2000 to catch a key.

Slytherin and Ravenclaw completed challenges in the fourth-floor secret chamber, with Slytherin earning sixty points and Ravenclaw forty. Ravenclaw resented finishing behind Slytherin, while Hufflepuff’s Honey Badger Squad continued to draw attention for its formidable lineup.

• Slytherin’s older students cleared two challenges before Professor Flitwick’s spell challenge stopped them, earning sixty House points.
• Ravenclaw’s older students cleared the Fantastic Beasts and Herbology challenges, earning forty points and placing behind Slytherin.
• Ravenclaw students learned that Isaac Waldore, Cedric Diggory, Gabriel Truman, and Barnaby Hawthorne made up Hufflepuff’s Honey Badger Squad.
• Ravenclaw students reasoned that Hufflepuff and Gryffindor had understandable advantages, but they could not accept finishing behind Slytherin.
• Hufflepuff’s team settled on tackling the fourth-floor secret chamber during the first half of the night, after curfew.

Isaac and the Honey Badger Squad set out to clear the Chamber of Secrets checkpoints, but found Marcus Flint and Slytherin students occupying the corridor to block Hufflepuff. Isaac subdued three older Slytherins and confronted Draco Malfoy, leaving the conflict unresolved.

• Isaac rallied the confident Honey Badger Squad and led them toward the Chamber of Secrets after they cast Disillusionment Charms.
• Isaac discovered Marcus Flint and a group of Slytherins had taken over the corridor to stop Hufflepuff from earning more points.
• Gabriel confronted Flint, who claimed Slytherin had requisitioned the corridor.
• Isaac recognized three Slytherins, cast spells that suspended them upside down and petrified them, then approached Draco Malfoy.

Isaac warned Draco Malfoy that associating with Marcus Flint and trying to take over Slytherin’s Chamber of Secrets challenge could bring consequences for his family and house. Draco accepted the advice and left, while Isaac led the Honey Badger Squad into the Chamber and began the Transfiguration challenge.

• Isaac questioned Draco Malfoy’s association with Marcus Flint and explained that the Flint family needed to avoid reckless behavior.
• Draco admitted that he had wanted to try the fourth-floor Chamber of Secrets challenge, and Isaac warned him that taking it over could unite Gryffindor and Ravenclaw against Slytherin.
• Draco thanked Isaac and returned with Goyle and Crabbe.
• Isaac opened the Chamber of Secrets, and the Honey Badger Squad entered while Flint remained helplessly suspended from the ceiling.
• Isaac led the squad through the first three challenges, and Cedric organized the team to enlarge and Transfigure the chess pieces.

Isaac and the Honey Badger Squad animated their Wizard’s Chess pieces, and Ernie led them to victory in Professor McGonagall’s challenge. They entered Snape’s Potions challenge, where Isaac found a bottle of potion labeled only “Drink it.”

• Isaac used a customized Piertotum Locomotor spell to connect the Honey Badger Squad’s conjured pieces to the chessboard.
• Ernie brought out his family’s highest-difficulty solo Wizard’s Chess set and took command of the match.
• The Honey Badger Squad’s pieces crushed the opposing king, opening the door to the next challenge.
• Isaac and the others entered Snape’s empty Potions challenge room and found animal ingredients, a cauldron, and an unknown potion.
• Isaac picked up the potion bottle and read its command: “Drink it.”

The Honey Badger Squad identified Snape’s trial as a potion challenge, but no one could recognize the vial’s contents. Justin drank it to help the team, collapsed into an unwakeable sleep, and Isaac discovered an unfamiliar recipe that might reveal how to proceed.

• Isaac explained that the trial required someone to drink the potion, but the older students could not identify it.
• Isaac suggested giving the potion to a Slytherin student, while the others worried about risking the Three-Headed Dog.
• Justin volunteered, thanked the Honey Badger Squad for helping him, and drank the potion.
• Justin complained about the potion’s awful taste, became dizzy, and collapsed; Ernie caught him.
• Hawthorne found Justin breathing steadily but impossible to wake, and Isaac dismissed the idea that an Awakening Potion would solve the trial.
• Isaac showed the team a newly appeared recipe, which Gabriel and Hawthorne said they had never seen before.

The Honey Badger Squad reconstructed Snape’s potion recipe, brewed a successful batch, and used it to wake Justin. They then entered the final challenge, where Isaac recognized the lone mirror as the Mirror of Erised.

• Walter identified the missing herbs in the potion recipe, and Isaac retrieved them from his stored supplies.
• Walter led the Honey Badger Squad through three failed attempts before working out the brewing procedure for a final batch.
• Ernie Macmillan gave the successful potion to Justin, who woke after a few seconds.
• Snape awarded the squad fifty points, and the door to the final challenge opened.
• Isaac led the Honey Badger Squad into an empty room, where they found the Mirror of Erised.

Isaac looked into the Mirror of Erised and saw himself addressing a crowd at Buckingham Palace, revealing that his deepest desire was grander than he expected. He rejected the temptation to use prophecy to learn whether it would come true, then explained the mirror to the Honey Badger Squad and let them take turns looking into it.

• Isaac read the Mirror of Erised’s inscription and looked into it to discover his deepest desire.
• The mirror showed Isaac speaking to a huge crowd outside Buckingham Palace, and Isaac recoiled in shock at the scene.
• Isaac resisted using prophecy to learn whether his desire came true and reflected on how Dark Lords could become slaves to dark magic or fate.
• Cedric and Gabriel supported Isaac, and Isaac reassured the Honey Badger Squad that the mirror was not dangerous and showed only illusory desires.
• Gabriel looked into the mirror and drooled, then persuaded the other little badgers to look as well.

After the Honey Badger Squad completed the Mirror of Erised challenge, Isaac obtained and discarded the Sorcerer's Stone, which Vinda Rosier secretly recovered. She planned to take it to Nurmengard so Grindelwald could use it to open his prison.

• Dumbledore congratulated the Honey Badger Squad but awarded them no points, and Isaac led them out of the Mirror of Erised room.
• Isaac retrieved the Sorcerer's Stone from the mirror and tossed it toward a corner before leaving with the other young badgers.
• Vinda Rosier emerged from hiding and picked up the Sorcerer's Stone, which Isaac had tossed to her.
• Vinda decided to request leave and deliver the stone to Nurmengard, where Grindelwald's followers awaited their former leader.

After the Honey Badger Squad cleared the challenge, Hogwarts’s Houses competed fiercely for points, while Flint sought revenge on Isaac by targeting Cedric and Harry. Examination week began, and Isaac noticed that Dumbledore’s air had changed.

• Hufflepuff gained 100 House points after the Honey Badger Squad cleared the challenge, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione discussed whether to visit the Chamber of Secrets.
• Snape retrieved the humiliated Flint, then began deducting points from students in every House during Potions class.
• Gryffindor and Ravenclaw joined forces in the limited-time challenge, pushing Slytherin into last place.
• Flint tried to foul Cedric and Harry during Quidditch, but Cedric avoided him and Harry outflew him on his Nimbus 2000.
• Hogwarts students sat their exams, and Isaac noticed that Dumbledore’s air had changed.

At the House Cup feast, Dumbledore announced Hufflepuff’s overwhelming victory, then told Isaac that Cornelius Fudge had helped him regain his will to fight. Dumbledore left Isaac with the sense that his mission extended beyond keeping Gellert and Tom in check.

• Dumbledore announced the House Cup standings, and Hufflepuff won with 762 points.
• Students celebrated Hufflepuff’s victory while prominent families’ children began seeking chances to invite Isaac over the holidays.
• After the feast, Dumbledore met Isaac in the Headmaster’s Office and recounted his recent conversations with Cornelius Fudge.
• Isaac learned that Dumbledore’s renewed determination stemmed from realizing he had a larger mission, possibly involving the Goblins at Gringotts.

Dumbledore explained that he would help Cornelius Fudge handle the Goblins at the Ministry and asked Isaac to find Hogwarts’s next Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. Isaac resisted being given the responsibility, but Dumbledore insisted he needed to think like a headmaster.

• Dumbledore concluded that the Goblins might pose a serious threat to the weakened British Wizarding World and agreed to help Fudge confront them.
• Dumbledore told Isaac that he would spend the upcoming break as a senior adviser at the Ministry of Magic and have little time for Hogwarts.
• Dumbledore revealed that Professor Rosier had resigned, leaving Hogwarts in need of a new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.
• Isaac objected that hiring a professor was the headmaster’s job and suggested Professor McGonagall could handle it.
• Dumbledore told Isaac he was no longer a first-year child and said McGonagall’s break would be busy as well.

Isaac agreed to search for a reliable Defense Against the Dark Arts professor for Hogwarts during the holidays. He ruled out hiring Lockhart and considered asking Grindelwald for a candidate if necessary.

• Isaac reflected on Hogwarts’ history of unsuitable Defense Against the Dark Arts professors, including Lockhart, Lupin, Barty Crouch Jr., and Umbridge.
• Isaac considered how Umbridge’s teaching left students, especially those facing O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s, to seek practical lessons through Dumbledore’s Army.
• Isaac recognized that Lockhart had real skill in Memory Magic and could support students’ independent study, despite being a fraud and a poor teacher.
• Isaac promised Dumbledore he would look for candidates for the Defense Against the Dark Arts position during the holidays.
• Isaac decided Lockhart would not be allowed into Hogwarts and considered asking Grindelwald to provide a professor instead.

Isaac reflected on his wariness of Grindelwald and Fawkes’s usefulness before the Hogwarts students received their final exam results. Isaac finished first, Hermione came second, and Hawthorne stayed at Hogwarts as assistant gamekeeper.

• Isaac considered Grindelwald’s capable Acolytes and remained wary of him despite feeling he had repaid his debt by giving him the Sorcerer’s Stone.
• After Dumbledore left the Headmaster’s Office, Isaac and Fawkes were reunited, and Isaac considered the phoenix’s abilities and why he did not need to stay beside Dumbledore.
• The first-year exam results placed Isaac first and Hermione second, while Ernie Macmillan and Justin Finch-Fletchley ranked near the top among Hufflepuffs.
• The Honey Badger Squad performed well, and Hawthorne received credit for helping students succeed in practical and written lessons.
• Hawthorne applied to Professor McGonagall to remain at Hogwarts as assistant gamekeeper, and she approved his application with pay equal to a professor’s assistant.

Percy asked Isaac for advice about his holiday internship at the Ministry of Magic, uncertain how to deal with Minister Fudge. Isaac warned him against blindly obeying Fudge and explained that Percy was expected to develop independence, leaving Percy still unsure what to do.

• Percy told Isaac that Minister Fudge had invited him to intern at the Ministry of Magic over the holidays.
• Percy asked whether he should obey every order Fudge gave him.
• Isaac warned Percy that blind obedience could make him either a yes-man or the scapegoat for Fudge’s dirty work.
• Isaac explained that Fudge wanted Percy to learn to stand on his own, but Percy remained confused about how to act.

Isaac taught Percy how to assess a Ministry position’s rank, authority, and financial control, then explained that Arthur Weasley was only one promotion away from a department head role. Percy realized his father was much closer to his own ambitions than he had thought, and Isaac decided to help Arthur show off to him.

• Isaac asked Percy about his long-term Ministry goals and taught him a formula for measuring a position’s power.
• Percy admitted he did not understand the authority carried by Arthur Weasley’s post as Head of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office.
• Isaac explained that Arthur could rise to Deputy Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement or become head of a weaker department.
• Percy was astonished to learn that Arthur was one step away from the department-head position Percy hoped to reach.
• Isaac reasoned that Arthur had intended to reveal his standing to Percy, then decided to help him complete that display.

Isaac explained to Percy how Arthur Weasley’s Ministry position could lead to a powerful promotion, prompting Percy to decide to speak with his father. At Professor McGonagall’s office, Isaac met Sirius Black, who had just been released from St Mungo’s and invited him to spend the holiday together.

• Isaac outlined the Ministry’s departments and explained that Arthur could advance to a Senior Assistant Minister by moving beyond the core departments.
• Percy resolved to have a proper conversation with Arthur about his position and the family’s circumstances.
• Isaac told Percy that the head of Arthur’s office could, under exceptional circumstances, qualify to run for Minister for Magic.
• Isaac entered Professor McGonagall’s office and found Sirius Black there, recently released from St Mungo’s.
• Sirius warmly embraced Isaac, invited him to spend the holiday at his home, and began thanking him while recalling his dead friend.

Isaac received Professor McGonagall’s permission to leave Hogwarts early with Sirius, who had come to take him home. Sirius also agreed to take Percy, but he was not ready to meet Harry yet, so Isaac left to tell his friends while Sirius waited.

• Sirius invited Isaac to go home with him before the Hogwarts Express departed, and Professor McGonagall approved.
• Isaac found Percy waiting outside McGonagall’s office and suggested that he leave school with them too.
• Sirius agreed to make room for Percy, who went to tell his younger brothers he would be leaving early.
• Isaac asked Sirius whether he wanted to see Harry, but Sirius said he needed more time to prepare.
• Isaac left to tell his friends in the Honey Badger Squad while Sirius stayed behind.

Isaac and Percy visited Sirius Black’s London home with him after the Ministry restored its Floo Network connection and cleaned the house. The visit left Sirius reminiscing about his past, and he discovered that Ministry employees had also stocked his pantry and liquor cabinet.

• Sirius told Isaac and Percy that the Ministry had reconnected his fireplace and cleaned his home as compensation.
• Isaac, Percy, and Sirius traveled through the Floo Network to Sirius’s house, where Isaac used Scourgify to remove soot from Sirius’s clothes.
• Isaac and Percy looked around the house, seeing Sirius’s old photographs, posters, and Order of the Phoenix materials preserved in place.
• Sirius explained how he had left the Black family home, lived with James’s family, and used his inheritance from Uncle Alphard to buy the house.
• Sirius found liquor and wizarding beverages in the living room and was pleasantly surprised that Ministry employees had restocked his supplies.

Sirius and Isaac explained to Percy that the Weasley family was envied by pure-blood families for having seven children, as many old wizarding lines struggled to produce heirs. Percy also learned that his father had written the Muggle Protection Act and could draft laws, leaving him to reconsider how little he knew about Arthur’s influence.

• Sirius asked Percy whether Arthur still worked at the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office and learned that he headed it.
• Sirius told Percy that pure-blood families envied the Weasleys because they had seven children while many had only one or two.
• Isaac explained that wizarding families were increasingly threatened by declining pure-blood numbers and the scarcity of heirs.
• Sirius told Percy that Arthur had written the Muggle Protection Act and had authority to draft laws.
• Sirius explained that Arthur could tailor legal provisions to target someone, since nobody could withstand a full Ministry investigation.

Isaac advised Percy to avoid the Minister’s Office and his father’s department if he wanted to advance independently at the Ministry of Magic. He suggested the Office of Oddities, leaving Percy to consider a post in an office that dealt harshly with Werewolves and other marginalized groups.

• Isaac told Percy that he had support and connections at the Ministry of Magic, then asked whether he still wanted to intern in the Minister’s Office.
• Percy rejected the Minister’s Office and questioned whether he should work in his father’s Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office.
• Isaac agreed that Percy should avoid his father’s office if he wanted to surpass him rather than follow the same career path.
• Isaac suggested the Office of Oddities under the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, and Sirius Black recognized that Percy would deal with Werewolves.
• The chapter explained that the Office of Oddities handled Vampires, Goblins, and Werewolves, while Ministry policies registered, restricted, and persecuted Werewolves.

Isaac explained how Umbridge rose through the Ministry by using her proposed Anti-Werewolf Act to win Cornelius Fudge’s favor, then asked Percy to consider what kind of path he wanted to follow. Percy was left weighing whether Umbridge’s shortcut was one he wanted for himself.

• Isaac told Percy that Umbridge could be the key to advancing at the Ministry, and Percy eagerly decided he would go after her.
• Isaac explained Umbridge’s early work in the Improper Use of Magic Office and asked Percy how he would increase the office’s power.
• Isaac described how Umbridge used the Anti-Werewolf Act to signal loyalty to Fudge and his pure-blood supporters, worsening werewolves’ circumstances despite the bill never passing.
• Percy recognized that Umbridge had gained Fudge’s attention by pushing the bill, then considered whether he wanted to follow her example.

Percy reconsidered his political future and realized that improving Werewolves’ lives could help Minister Fudge keep Goblins from gaining powerful allies. Isaac praised Percy’s insight and encouraged him to discuss his Ministry career with Mr. Weasley.

• Percy recognized that Umbridge’s political approach was a dead end and questioned tying his future to one minister.
• Percy considered Fudge’s efforts to contain Goblins and recalled that Werewolves had allied with Goblins in past rebellions.
• Percy decided to propose better opportunities and living conditions for Werewolves to reduce the chance of another alliance against Wizards.
• Isaac applauded Percy, praised his potential at the Ministry, and urged him to discuss his career with Mr. Weasley.

Sirius told Isaac he wanted to join the Ministry of Magic to improve conditions for Remus Lupin, and Isaac agreed he had the background and experience to succeed there. When Sirius asked to work at the Office of Oddities, Isaac refused and sensed that Sirius was acting strangely.

• After Percy went to rest, Isaac noticed Sirius's eager expression and realized he wanted to join the Ministry of Magic.
• Sirius explained that he hoped to help Lupin and believed Percy’s internship would not be enough once Percy returned to Hogwarts.
• Isaac said Sirius had the family resources, connections, and wartime reputation to thrive at the Ministry.
• Sirius eagerly asked whether Isaac supported him joining the Office of Oddities, intending to push its staff to do more for Werewolves.
• Isaac said Percy could work there but Sirius could not, then remarked that something about Sirius was twelve out of ten wrong.