Chapter Summaries

Hermione, Harry, and Ron decided to use Polyjuice Potion to investigate Malfoy without involving Darren, and planned to ask Lockhart for access to its recipe. Meanwhile, Darren discovered his Death's Invisibility Cloak was missing and caught Lezi sneaking into his bed after taking it.

• Hermione convinced Harry and Ron that Malfoy was their likely suspect but warned them not to report him to the professors because Dumbledore might question Darren again.
• Hermione proposed sneaking into Slytherin's Common Room disguised with Polyjuice Potion, and Harry and Ron agreed to help.
• The trio decided to ask Lockhart to sign out the Polyjuice Potion recipe from the Restricted Section rather than involve Darren.
• Darren searched his dormitory, found his Death's Invisibility Cloak missing, and lay in bed pretending to sleep so he could catch the thief.
• Darren heard Lezi open the cabinet and crawl into his arms, realizing the creature had taken the cloak.

Darren learned that Lezi had lent his Invisibility Cloak to a woman, so he replaced the cat with a convincing system-made copy. He watched the Slytherin and Gryffindor teams prepare for a Quidditch match, expecting Harry to be injured.

• Darren used Paternal Points to learn that Lezi was a real cat and had lent his Invisibility Cloak to a woman.
• Darren spent ten thousand Paternal Points to replace Lezi with a simulated cat that swallowed the original.
• Darren noticed Harry and his friends keeping a secret, and suspected they were making Polyjuice Potion to question Malfoy.
• Darren watched the Slytherin team arrive on Nimbus 2001s while most of the Gryffindor team used old brooms.
• Flint taunted Darren and vowed to defeat Gryffindor, while Darren urged him to win fairly.
• Harry waved nervously to Darren before the match, unaware that Dobby's planned attack might leave him in the Hospital Wing.

Harry was injured during the Quidditch match and Lockhart removed the bones from his broken arm, while Darren accepted Flint’s threat and went alone to meet a group of Slytherins by the Black Lake. Darren obtained a Fake Card and faced the gathered students, uncertain whether they meant to kill him or merely punish him.

• A Quaffle broke Harry’s arm during the rain-soaked match, and Lockhart accidentally removed the bones from it.
• Flint threatened to use a secret about Harry to kill him and demanded that Darren meet him at the Black Lake after midnight.
• Darren accepted the system’s mission, pretended to fear for Harry, and agreed to go alone.
• Darren left a note and sneaked out of the castle after midnight, avoiding Filch’s office.
• Darren found more than a dozen Slytherin students waiting by the Black Lake and received a Fake Card from the system.

Darren discovered that the Slytherin students had lured him into a confrontation with a sixteen-year-old Voldemort, who demanded his submission. Darren refused and overwhelmed the students with spells, leaving Voldemort stunned as Flint and the others begged for help.

• Darren realized the Slytherins had used Harry Potter to lure him out and saw one of them summon sixteen-year-old Voldemort from a black Diary.
• Voldemort offered to spare Darren if he submitted, but Darren refused and drew his wand.
• Voldemort ordered the Slytherin students to capture Darren, and they attacked him with spells.
• Darren struck down the attackers and showed no mercy to the students who had stayed back.
• Voldemort questioned whether Darren was the supposedly foolish student his followers had described, while the fallen Slytherins pleaded for rescue and Flint nearly went to his knees.

Darren faced Tom Riddle and Flint after defeating the other Slytherin students. Flint used Harry Potter’s secret to lure Darren closer, and Tom Riddle reached for Darren, believing he was about to take possession of his body.

• Tom Riddle planned to possess Darren and use his identity as Harry Potter’s younger brother to seize power.
• Flint threatened to reveal or destroy Harry Potter’s secret unless Darren came closer, and Darren lowered his wand and agreed.
• Flint disarmed Darren, but Darren secretly kept another wand thanks to his Unlosable Wand aura.
• Darren walked toward Flint and Tom Riddle, who placed his hand on Darren’s head and prepared to possess him.

Darren defeated Tom Riddle, used the Fake Card to rewrite the aftermath and his memories, and staged himself as a badly injured hero. The chapter left Harry awake in the hospital wing, remembering the night’s strange events.

• Darren revealed that Tom Riddle’s soul attack had failed, erased some of Tom’s memories, and used the Fake Card to change what had happened.
• Darren revived six survivors, returned Tom’s Diary to Ginny’s dormitory, and gave the survivors false memories blaming Death Eaters for the deaths and destruction.
• Darren fabricated his own injuries and a heroic account of the battle, then concealed the scene and lay down to wait for help.
• Harry woke in the hospital wing with his arm regrown and saw Colin still petrified beside his bed.
• Harry recalled that Dobby had confessed to sealing Platform Nine and Three-Quarters and causing the bewitched Quaffle incident.

Harry searched for Darren after learning Colin had been petrified, but Darren was nowhere to be found. A note saying Darren had gone to clear his head offered little reassurance when more than a dozen Slytherin students also disappeared, and Harry, Hermione, and Ron sneaked out to investigate.

• Harry rushed to find Darren, then met Hermione and Ron in the girls' bathroom and told them about Dobby.
• Hermione and Ron said they had been making Polyjuice Potion to catch the culprit and agreed to look for Darren.
• Snape found Darren's neatly folded bedding and a note saying he had gone somewhere to clear his head.
• Darren failed to appear at lunch, and more than a dozen Slytherin students, including Flint, were also missing.
• The professors ordered students to stay in their common rooms while they searched Hogwarts, and Harry worried that Darren had been abducted.
• Harry, Hermione, and Ron used the Invisibility Cloak to sneak toward the professors' offices for news.

Harry, Hermione, and Ron followed the professors to the Black Lake after Professor McGonagall discovered something unusual there. The professors found a concealed spatial location, but Darren’s fate remained unknown.

• Snape accused Harry of causing Darren’s disappearance and demanded that Dumbledore interrogate him with Veritaserum.
• Professor McGonagall arrived in cat form and summoned Dumbledore to the Black Lake, prompting him and Snape to hurry there.
• Harry, Hermione, and Ron followed the professors to the lake, where they found them examining an invisible, concealed location.
• Lockhart explained that the site might lead to a distorted space or time, and McGonagall said it had been hidden with Confundus and Invisibility spells.

Harry and the professors found Darren and the Slytherin students bloodied, and Professor McGonagall rushed Darren to St. Mungo's. Dumbledore prepared to question the surviving students, with Harry insisting on joining him and Lucius's arrival causing further conflict.

• Dumbledore revealed the bloody aftermath, and Harry found Darren badly injured while Snape gave him several potions.
• Professor McGonagall carried Darren to St. Mungo's, and Professor Flitwick reported that nine of the fifteen Slytherin students were dead.
• Madam Pomfrey offered potions to revive the survivors, and Dumbledore planned to question them before the Ministry of Magic arrived.
• Harry demanded to learn what had happened to his brother, and Dumbledore agreed to let him come despite Snape's objections.
• Lucius arrived to accuse Dumbledore of failing to protect the students, and Dumbledore silenced him before leading everyone to the Headmaster's Office.

At Dumbledore’s office, a Slytherin student testified that Flint had lured Darren to the Black Lake so Death Eaters could use him to capture Harry. The account revealed Darren had protected the students and fought back before a spell made the Death Eaters disappear, leaving the Ministry’s investigation ahead.

• Dumbledore questioned the students, and one Slytherin explained that Flint planned to use Darren to lure Harry to Death Eaters.
• Harry angrily threatened the students when he heard they had targeted Darren because of him, and Snape mocked him before Dumbledore stopped the argument.
• The witness said Death Eaters had ambushed Darren at the Black Lake, used the Imperius Curse on him, and killed Si Lun when the students refused to attack Darren.
• The witness described Darren shielding the students, enduring torture, and fighting back after they were forced to choose who would live.
• The Death Eaters disappeared after Darren cast a large-scale spell, and Darren injured some of the students when they tried to take him away.
• Snape called for the Slytherin students to be expelled, but Dumbledore said they first had to deal with the Ministry of Magic.

Cornelius Fudge arrived at Hogwarts to investigate the attack and clashed with Dumbledore over what had happened. After a Slytherin student blamed Darren, Fudge took the surviving students away and arranged for Darren to be brought before a Ministry hearing once he woke up.

• Fudge entered Dumbledore's office and demanded an explanation for the attack, while Dumbledore presented the injured students as witnesses.
• Lucius Malfoy appeared and told Fudge he knew little about the situation, leaving Dumbledore to explain it.
• Fudge questioned the Slytherin students about who caused the attack, and one blamed Darren for letting the attackers escape.
• Harry, Ron, and Hermione defended Darren, and Fudge suggested that someone had targeted Harry's brother to control the Chosen One.
• Fudge took the surviving students away and declared that the Ministry would handle Darren's case and bring him before a hearing after he woke up.

Darren woke at St. Mungo’s and faced an interrogation by Nymphadora Tonks before a court hearing. He blamed himself for the Death Eater attack and asked to see his classmates, leaving Tonks distressed by his apparent grief.

• Harry wanted to confront Fudge, but Hermione and Ron held him back after Fudge left Darren’s treatment to Dumbledore.
• Dumbledore suspended classes and ordered Flitwick to escort Harry and the others, while Snape insulted Harry and threatened to expel him.
• Darren woke on the third day at St. Mungo’s, recovered from his injuries, and learned that a court hearing was scheduled for the next day.
• Nymphadora Tonks questioned Darren about the attack, and he claimed he had let the Death Eaters leave because he was too weak to stop them.
• Darren praised Tonks’s ability, asked to see his classmates, and appeared to blame himself for their deaths, prompting Tonks to leave the ward in distress.

Alec and Tonks questioned Darren, who took the blame for what happened rather than accusing the students who had led him to the Death Eaters. The next morning, Tonks and Alec brought him to the Ministry of Magic for his court hearing, where he received a visitor badge marking him as under trial.

• Tonks recorded Darren's account, and Alec was surprised that he had not mentioned the students or the torture.
• Alec decided not to question Darren further and sent the account to Fudge by owl.
• Tonks brought Darren food and a joke book, mistaking his bored expression for grief.
• Tonks and Alec Apparated with Darren to central London and entered the Ministry through a telephone booth.
• Tonks gave the Ministry Darren's name and purpose, then pinned his under-trial badge to his collar.

Darren arrived at the Ministry of Magic with Tonks for his hearing and used a tearful confession to draw sympathy from Mr. Weasley. Alec hurried them toward the courtroom, and Darren reached the Security Department for the required wand inspection.

• Tonks guided Darren through the Ministry's telephone booth and showed him the grand entrance hall.
• Mr. Weasley told Darren that Molly was distraught and urged him to maintain that he had done nothing wrong.
• Darren pretended to blame himself for the deaths, moving Mr. Weasley and earning Paternal Points.
• Alec interrupted their conversation and pushed Tonks and Darren to hurry to the courtroom before Fudge learned what was happening.
• Darren followed Tonks to the Security Department and placed his wand on the inspection device.

Darren entered the Wizengamot hearing expecting to make Fudge and the other Slytherin students answer for their actions. Dumbledore arrived with the six students and challenged the one-sided proceedings, then conjured himself a seat beside Darren.

• Darren confirmed to Fudge that he still believed the incident had been caused by him, while acting frightened and earning Paternal Points.
• Fudge brought Darren into the Court of Law and seated him alone in the center of the hall as the trial began.
• Darren waited for the other Slytherin students, planning to use fabricated memories and Remembralls against them.
• Fudge began the proceedings before Dumbledore arrived with six students and objected that Darren was being tried alone.
• Dumbledore challenged Fudge for failing to provide him a seat as a Wizengamot member, then conjured a chair beside Darren.

Dumbledore reconsidered Darren’s distress and proposed using Veritaserum to uncover what the students had hidden about the Death Eaters and the attack at Hogwarts. The students’ panicked objections strengthened Dumbledore’s suspicions, but the interrogation remained unresolved.

• Dumbledore mistook Darren’s expression for fear, then realized he had overlooked how deeply the events might have affected him.
• Fudge tried to begin Darren’s interrogation, but Dumbledore objected and suggested using Veritaserum.
• Dumbledore listed unanswered questions about the Death Eaters, their entry into Hogwarts, and Flint’s contact with them.
• The students protested against Veritaserum and offered to tell what they knew, making Dumbledore more certain they were concealing information.

At Darren Potter’s hearing, Fudge questioned him about meeting the Death Eaters by the Black Lake, while Dumbledore proposed using Veritaserum. Darren admitted that he had deliberately let the Death Eaters go, shocking Fudge, who then asked how he had done it.

• Dumbledore proposed giving Darren Veritaserum, but Fudge deferred the decision and began questioning the students.
• Fudge asked Darren whether he had suspected trouble and whether he had seen the Death Eaters without capturing them; Darren answered yes to both.
• When Conte accused Darren of deliberately letting the Death Eaters escape, Darren used the system to create an edited Remembrall projection and accepted the cost of 3,000 Paternal Points.
• Darren told Fudge that he had deliberately let the Death Eaters go, leaving Fudge shocked and eager to hear how he had done it.

At the hearing, Darren used a deliberately absurd confession and his apparent distress to make the witnesses suspect that Fudge had pressured him. Fudge tried to get Darren to retract his words, but Darren wanted the Minister to beg him to tell the truth.

• Darren accepted a system task and stammered that he had used a large-scale Apparition spell to send the Death Eaters away.
• Darren looked fearfully at Fudge, prompting the onlookers to suspect the Minister had forced him to speak.
• Darren received Umbridge's Illusion, which made Umbridge interpret his actions as instructed by Fudge.
• Fudge realized Darren's confession could ruin the Ministry's reputation and tried to persuade him to take it back.
• Darren insisted that he had deliberately let the Death Eaters go and said he was a criminal, earning Paternal Points.
• Fudge warned Darren that admitting guilt would destroy his reputation, while Darren waited for him to beg for the truth.

Darren Potter accepted the charges in court while seeming to hint that Fudge had threatened him, turning the Wizengamot against the Minister. Fudge adjourned the hearing until tomorrow, but reporters and parents confronted Dumbledore outside the courtroom about Darren’s alleged torture.

• Darren Potter appeared guilt-ridden as he accepted the charges and seemed to imply that Fudge had threatened someone.
• The Wizengamot members interpreted Darren’s words as evidence that Fudge was bullying him and looked to Dumbledore, who appeared furious.
• Fudge proposed using Veritaserum, but the other students reminded him that he had promised not to use it.
• Fudge questioned Conte, who insisted his accusation against Darren was true and asked why Fudge refused to believe Darren.
• Fudge declared Darren unfit to testify and adjourned the trial until the next day, while Dumbledore agreed to take Darren away for counseling.
• Reporters and wizarding parents surrounded the Ministry, and a reporter asked Dumbledore about claims that Darren had been tortured for over two hours.

Darren used the Paternal System’s task to stage a suicidal outburst in response to Rita Skeeter’s accusations, and a deflected Reducto badly wounded her. Dumbledore took Darren back to Hogwarts, leaving Harry with Arthur Weasley and promising to remove the spell holding Darren in place.

• Reporters confronted Dumbledore and Fudge about Fudge’s interrogation of Darren, while Rita Skeeter accused Darren of causing his classmates’ deaths.
• The Paternal System assigned Darren a task to blame himself, point his wand at his chest, and cast Reducto; completing it would grant him a fabricated history that could make an imagined historical segment real.
• Darren accepted the task, pretended to be overwhelmed with guilt, and cast Reducto at himself as Rita Skeeter questioned him.
• Dumbledore blocked Darren’s spell, but it bounced toward Rita Skeeter and left a deep wound across her face and neck.
• Dumbledore restrained Darren and Apparated with him to Hogwarts, telling Arthur Weasley to send Harry back through the Floo Network.