Chapter Summaries

On the Hogwarts Express, Silvan and his friends reacted to Snape’s unexpected presence and his plan to tutor Harry in Apparition. The train reached snowy Hogsmeade, where the students saw Professor Sprout aboard as well and wondered why the professors had traveled with them.

• Ron demanded to know why Snape was on the Hogwarts Express, while Silvan wondered why Snape had agreed to teach him Apparition.
• Harry sat stunned after Snape assigned him private tutoring on Monday evening, and Hermione warned him and Ron to rewrite their Potions essay because Snape had caught them copying.
• Silvan tore up his own essay and the compartment fell quiet as the students rushed to finish their homework.
• The train arrived at snow-covered Hogsmeade Station, and the students crowded off toward Hogwarts.
• Silvan, Harry, Ron, and Hermione noticed Professor Sprout had also been aboard, and Ron guessed she had been sent to protect them.

After returning to Hogwarts, Harry grew worried that Hagrid’s urgent message to Dumbledore concerned Sirius. His fear kept him awake and distracted, and the chapter ended with him struggling to make his way to breakfast.

• Silvan, Harry, Ron, and the others returned to Hogwarts and began dinner in the Great Hall.
• Hagrid burst into the Great Hall, spoke urgently to Dumbledore, and Dumbledore left before the feast ended.
• Harry worried that Hagrid’s message meant something had happened to Sirius, while Ron and Silvan tried to reassure him.
• Harry struggled to concentrate on his Potions homework and stayed up all night finishing it.
• The next morning, Hermione told Silvan that Harry had been asleep at a common-room table, and Harry hurried to wash when the noise woke him.
• Harry remained distracted on the way to breakfast, repeatedly taking the wrong staircase and slowing the journey.

After Lupin informed Harry that Sirius had been found alive, Silvan was summoned to meet Minister for Magic Fudge in Dumbledore’s office about the events in the swamp. Silvan dreaded confronting Fudge, who he expected to deny Voldemort’s return, but Snape sent him to the meeting before he could avoid it.

• Harry received Lupin’s letter saying Sirius had been found alive and needed treatment at St Mungo’s.
• Harry ate breakfast with Ron, Hermione, and Silvan before heading to Snape’s Potions class.
• Colin told Silvan that Fudge was waiting in Dumbledore’s office and that Dumbledore had excused him from Potions.
• Silvan considered eating a Knockout Flower Candy to avoid the meeting, but Snape arrived and ordered him to go to the headmaster’s office.
• Silvan handed his homework to Snape and reluctantly climbed the stairs to meet Fudge and Dumbledore.

Silvan arrived at Dumbledore’s office during Fudge’s argument over Dumbledore’s claim that Voldemort had returned. When Fudge accused Dumbledore of using an Unforgivable Curse, Silvan said that he had killed the two Death Eaters and fought Voldemort himself, leaving the room stunned and Fudge unconvinced.

• Silvan entered Dumbledore’s office as Dumbledore told Fudge that he had seen Voldemort return after Bellatrix Lestrange abducted Silvan.
• Fudge rejected Dumbledore’s account and accused him of killing two people in the swamp with Avada Kedavra.
• McGonagall and Sprout defended Dumbledore, while Umbridge asked Silvan to explain what had happened.
• Silvan said he had killed the two Death Eaters with Avada Kedavra, fought Voldemort, and been sent away by Fawkes after Dumbledore arrived.
• Fudge dismissed Silvan as a deranged child, but Dumbledore believed him because the magical traces at the swamp supported his account.

Fudge tried to take Dumbledore and Silvan to the Ministry of Magic for questioning over the deaths of two Death Eaters, but Scrimgeour backed Dumbledore’s proposal to inspect their wands with Prior Incantato. Silvan’s enormous stash of wands stalled the inspection, and he revealed that he had hoped to use the incident as an excuse to persuade his grandfather to let him accept a shop in Paris Moonlight Alley.

• Umbridge urged the Aurors to arrest Silvan after he admitted responsibility, but Dawlish waited for Fudge’s order.
• Fudge demanded that Dumbledore and Silvan go to the Ministry of Magic, while Dumbledore pointed out that other wizards had been present.
• Scrimgeour refused to take them in, citing the regulations, and Dumbledore suggested using Prior Incantato to check their wands.
• Scrimgeour began inspecting Silvan’s wand, but Umbridge insisted that all his wands be checked.
• Silvan handed Scrimgeour a Mokeskin Pouch containing at least a hundred wands, prompting Scrimgeour to abandon the prospect of checking them all.
• Silvan told Dumbledore that Madame Maxime had offered him a shop in Paris Moonlight Alley and that he had hoped the incident would help persuade his grandfather.

Fudge rejected Dumbledore’s proposals for preparing against Voldemort’s return, and the two men ended their discussion in anger. Silvan explained that he could move Ollivanders Wand Shop to France to pressure Fudge, while Scrimgeour continued examining wands and repeatedly dropped one.

• Dumbledore proposed freeing Azkaban from Dementors, seeking support from giants, and monitoring former suspected Death Eaters, but Fudge rejected every suggestion.
• Dumbledore accused Fudge of letting his attachment to office cloud his judgment, and Fudge shouted that Voldemort could never return.
• Fudge left Hogwarts with Umbridge, while Dumbledore asked McGonagall to contact Hagrid and Madame Maxime and sent Sprout to speak with Snape.
• Silvan told Dumbledore that Madame Maxime had offered him a wand shop in France and said he could publicly blame Fudge for his move after graduating.
• Dumbledore warned that Silvan could lose his chance to return to Britain and damage Ollivander’s reputation, but Silvan said he did not care and asked Dumbledore to preserve their conversation as evidence.
• Scrimgeour dropped a wand twice during his examination, and Silvan cautioned him not to break it.

Scrimgeour left Dumbledore’s office after Silvan suggested that Fudge could be forced from office, and Dumbledore told Silvan that Sirius had been rescued and was recovering. Dumbledore then revealed his suspicion that Voldemort had once transferred his consciousness into Sirius’s body, leaving Silvan to wonder when it had happened.

• Scrimgeour examined Silvan’s wands, concluded they were unused, and left without inspecting Dumbledore’s wand.
• Silvan told Dumbledore that Scrimgeour would report their conversation to Fudge and argued that Voldemort’s return could soon make Fudge’s position irrelevant.
• Dumbledore told Silvan that Remus had found Sirius at the Lestrange ancestral home and taken him to St Mungo’s, where he was out of danger.
• Silvan asked how Bellatrix had impersonated Sirius without Polyjuice Potion, and Dumbledore guessed that the person Silvan had seen was the real Sirius under Voldemort’s control.
• Dumbledore said Voldemort had once used magic to transfer his consciousness into another person, prompting Silvan to wonder whether Voldemort had posed as Sirius during the previous school year.
• Hagrid and Snape arrived for a private meeting with Dumbledore, and Silvan left the office wondering when Voldemort had occupied Sirius’s body.

Silvan learned that Hagrid and Olympe Maxime were being sent to seek the giants’ friendship, then told Harry, Ron, and Hermione that Fudge was denying Voldemort’s return. The students were left confronting the Ministry’s refusal to act and Dumbledore’s limited authority.

• Silvan waited outside Dumbledore’s office and encountered Hagrid, who accidentally revealed that he was going to pick up Olympe Maxime before insisting the mission was secret.
• Silvan concluded that Dumbledore had sent Hagrid and Maxime to persuade the giants to remain neutral, though he doubted the effort would succeed.
• Silvan returned to the Potions classroom and told Harry, Ron, and Hermione that Fudge had refused to believe Voldemort had returned.
• Hermione ruined her potion in shock, while Harry and Ron struggled to accept that Fudge would conceal the danger to protect his position.
• Silvan explained that Dumbledore could oppose Fudge but had little official power beyond organizing the Order of the Phoenix in his own name.

Harry learned that Sirius was recovering at St Mungo's, while Hogwarts faced uncertainty over the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor. Harry attended his first private Occlumency lesson with Snape and returned warning Silvan that Snape had used the session to settle personal scores.

• Silvan told Harry that Sirius had been injured by Death Eaters but was recovering at St Mungo's Hospital.
• Harry, Hermione, and the others discussed who might replace Sirius as Defence Against the Dark Arts professor.
• Snape and Hagrid remained absent, and Ginny told the group that Professor Grubbly-Plank had replaced Hagrid in Care of Magical Creatures.
• Colin reminded Harry that Snape expected him for private tutoring, and Harry went to Snape's office for his session.
• Fred and George showed off their Headless Hats in the common room while Silvan studied books about Apparition.
• Harry returned from Snape's tutoring, called the lesson awful, and warned Silvan to fight back if Snape used a spell on him.

After Harry described Snape’s vindictive teaching, Silvan went to Snape’s office for a private Apparition lesson. Snape demonstrated the spell and told Silvan to practice, then hinted that he had a more effective teaching method.

• Harry told Silvan and the others how Snape had used his position to settle personal grudges, and Hermione reminded Harry to record his postponed homework.
• The following evening, Silvan went to Snape’s office, where Snape warned him about the dangers of Apparition and led him to the Great Hall.
• Snape explained that Silvan could practice only that night because Apparition was normally prohibited at Hogwarts, and that underage wizards were forbidden from learning it.
• Snape demonstrated Apparition, then told Silvan that mastering it required control of his magic, a clear destination, and the will to block distractions.
• When Silvan asked about preparations and dizziness, Snape said he had a better method and urged him to practice.

Silvan practiced Apparition with Snape in the Great Hall, repeatedly Splinching before finally managing a short, successful jump. He returned to the common room late at night and told Harry and Hermione about the training.

• Snape made Silvan practice Apparition repeatedly, using an improved healing potion to reattach parts whenever he Splinched.
• Silvan successfully Apparated about two feet without Splinching, and Snape told him his fear of Splinching had helped him succeed.
• Silvan ended practice, left the Great Hall, and Filch tried to catch him before a portrait explained that he had been serving detention.
• Silvan returned to the common room, where Harry, Hermione, and another friend had waited for him.
• Silvan told Harry and Hermione that Snape had trained him to Apparate in the Great Hall after Dumbledore lifted its restrictions.

The Daily Prophet published an article portraying Albus Dumbledore as a power-hungry conspirator, prompting outrage among Harry, Hermione, and Ron. Silvan dismissed the article as poorly written propaganda, while Hermione and Harry explained its flaws to Gryffindor first-years.

• Hermione and Ron angrily reacted to a Daily Prophet article attacking Dumbledore, and Harry blamed Fudge for it.
• Silvan mocked the article's claims and said its lack of logic would make most readers reject it.
• Students in the Great Hall dismissed the article, while Luna defended her father's paper, The Quibbler.
• Hermione explained the article's flaws and the Daily Prophet's status to Gryffindor first-years, with Harry helping her.

Dolores Umbridge replaced Sirius as the fifth-years’ Defence Against the Dark Arts professor and used her first lesson to deliver a Ministry speech instead of teaching. The students left worried that their new professor would be worse than the previous ones.

• Silvan, Harry, Ron, and Hermione discussed Fudge’s conflict with Dumbledore and worried that reading textbooks would not prepare them for their O.W.L.s.
• Hermione suggested that the students find a professor to teach them, but Dolores Umbridge arrived before they could act on the idea.
• Professor McGonagall announced that Umbridge was taking over Sirius’s post, and Umbridge insisted she had been appointed by the Ministry.
• Umbridge gave a long speech about the Ministry’s approach to education while McGonagall grew increasingly impatient.
• Umbridge spent the rest of the lesson teaching the class how to greet her and answer roll call, and Ron called her the worst Defence Against the Dark Arts professor they had ever had.

Harry, Silvan, and their classmates challenged Umbridge’s theory-only Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons and her claim that the Ministry would protect them from Death Eaters. Umbridge punished Harry with a Gryffindor point deduction and detention, while the class was left confronting her refusal to teach practical defense.

• Harry and Hermione questioned the value of Wilbert Slinkhard’s Defensive Magical Theory, and Silvan and Harry dismissed the book as useless.
• Umbridge rebuked Harry for speaking without standing and demanded that he address her as Professor Umbridge.
• Harry asked why the book did not teach defensive spells, and Umbridge said students should leave Death Eaters to the Ministry and Aurors.
• Ron and Dean challenged Umbridge’s claim that students could simply seek help, while Silvan argued they would need to protect themselves outside Hogwarts.
• Harry pointed out that the Ministry had not caught any of the escaped Death Eaters, so Umbridge took ten points from Gryffindor and assigned him detention.

Harry worried that Umbridge's detention would keep him from Gryffindor's rescheduled Quidditch match, and Silvan suggested getting Fred and George to help ensure Umbridge was absent from her office. The twins promised to handle it, telling Harry to go to detention as usual and hurry to the pitch if he could not get into the office.

• Ron cursed Umbridge after class, and Harry explained that his detention conflicted with Gryffindor's match against Hufflepuff the next morning.
• Ron suggested challenging Slytherin's match change, but Harry said Snape had already persuaded Madam Hooch to accept it.
• Silvan explained that Umbridge feared his influence but could punish Harry, then suggested making sure no one was in her office during detention.
• Harry and his friends attended Charms, where Silvan and Hermione successfully redirected the Muggle-repelling mannequins and earned Gryffindor ten points.
• Harry asked Fred and George to get Umbridge out of her office, and the twins agreed while advising him to go to detention and then hurry to the Quidditch pitch if the office door would not open.

Gryffindor delayed its Quidditch match against Hufflepuff while Harry, Fred, and George were held up by Umbridge’s detention. Harry reached the pitch in time after McGonagall allowed him to play, though he would still have to make up the detention.

• In heavy snow, Ron, Hermione, and Silvan went to watch Gryffindor play Hufflepuff while Angelina worried that Harry, Fred, and George were missing.
• Angelina asked Madam Hooch to delay the match, and Cedric Diggory agreed to wait for Harry.
• Ron spotted Harry, Fred, and George arriving, and Silvan used Transfiguration to stop Ron from falling out of the stands.
• Harry, Fred, and George told McGonagall that Umbridge was absent when they went to her office for detention.
• McGonagall let Harry play in the match but told him he would have to make up the detention, and Harry hurried to the changing room.

Harry won the Quidditch match against Hufflepuff, and Gryffindor celebrated while Umbridge remained missing. Fred and George later revealed to Silvan that they had lured Umbridge into a secret passage, where she was trapped for two days.

• Harry caught the Golden Snitch on his Firebolt and won the match, then watched Cedric leave with Cho Chang.
• Fred and George brought Harry to the Gryffindor celebration, where the students celebrated their lead in the Quidditch Cup standings.
• Silvan asked Fred and George where Umbridge was, but they avoided explaining their scheme.
• Umbridge returned to Hogwarts after Filch found her trapped behind a wall in a secret passage.
• Fred and George told Silvan they had sent Umbridge an anonymous tip and a treasure map, and she had entered the passage without knowing the exit password.

After Umbridge returned from the Hospital Wing, she came back to Hogwarts with authority as its new High Inquisitor. Silvan argued that her power depended on the Ministry and that she was less clever than she appeared, leaving Hermione and Harry considering how to respond.

• Umbridge demanded that the professors identify the person who had trapped her, but they refused to accuse Harry without evidence.
• Umbridge left Hogwarts for two days, then returned with a Ministry decree appointing her the first High Inquisitor and granting her power to inspect the professors.
• Hermione read the notice and realized Fudge had given Umbridge authority to interfere with Hogwarts.
• Harry blamed himself for giving Umbridge an excuse, but Silvan said her interference had been her aim from the start.
• Silvan joked about sending Umbridge to the Slytherin Chamber of Secrets, then explained that she was not as capable as she seemed.
• Hermione began considering how to deal with Umbridge, while Harry glanced toward the Slytherin table and thought.

Umbridge used her authority as High Inquisitor to target Gryffindor’s Quidditch team and began inspecting other professors’ classes. Fred and George accepted her challenge, while the chapter ended with Umbridge questioning Lavender Brown about Professor Flitwick’s teaching.

• Umbridge issued Educational Decree Number Twenty-Five, disbanding student organizations and requiring her approval to re-form them.
• Umbridge rejected Angelina’s Gryffindor Quidditch applications twice until Fred and George left the team, after which Angelina’s revised roster was approved.
• Fred and George apologized to Angelina for their boasting and vowed to retaliate against Umbridge in their own way.
• Umbridge made Defence Against the Dark Arts more unpleasant by making students read theory and began observing other professors’ classes.
• During Professor Flitwick’s Charms class, Umbridge questioned Lavender Brown about her failed Colour-Changing Charm and asked whether the mistake reflected a problem with his teaching.

Umbridge’s inspections disrupted Hogwarts, and the professors responded by assigning more homework. Silvan arrived for his Apparition lesson expecting Snape but found Dumbledore, who began by asking about Silvan’s flying diary.

• Umbridge repeatedly interrupted Professor McGonagall during Transfiguration, and McGonagall warned her to stop.
• The professors increased homework to satisfy Umbridge, leaving Harry with essays to finish before his tutoring session.
• Silvan and Harry discovered their tutoring notes listed the same time in different locations, prompting them to wonder how Snape could teach both.
• Harry hurried to the dungeon classroom while Silvan went to the Great Hall, where he found Dumbledore waiting instead of Snape.
• Dumbledore offered to teach Silvan Apparition and asked him about his flying diary.