Chapter Summaries

Harry worried about the stormy Quidditch match after seeing a black dog, but Darren charmed his glasses so he could see through the rain. The match continued as Darren anticipated the Obscurus would soon appear and frighten Harry.

• Harry woke early for the match, saw a black dog outside the castle, and feared it was a bad omen.
• Harry traded taunts with Malfoy before heading onto the rain-soaked pitch to play Hufflepuff.
• Darren watched from the stands while Harry struggled to see the Golden Snitch through the rain.
• Darren waterproofed Harry’s glasses, and Harry returned to the match.
• Half an hour after Darren went back to the stands, he expected the Obscurus to appear and frighten Harry.

After Obscuruses appeared during the Quidditch match, Darren saved Harry with a powerful Patronus and pretended to be overcome with worry. He was sent to the Hospital Wing for overusing his magic, where Snape arrived furious.

• The Obscuruses appeared, and Harry fell from his broom as Darren used up his magic trying to save him.
• Darren cast Expecto Patronum, and a massive silver-white Azure Dragon Patronus drove the Obscuruses away from Harry.
• Darren embraced Harry and begged the professors to save him, earning Paternal Points as the professors took both brothers to the Hospital Wing.
• Madam Pomfrey found Harry had only fainted from fright and discovered that Darren had overdrawn his magic and injured his hands.
• Darren said he would accept becoming a Squib if Harry was safe, and Snape angrily confronted him.

After Darren saved Harry from the Obscurus, both brothers recovered in the Hospital Wing, and Harry woke worried about Darren. Harry also learned Gryffindor had lost the Quidditch match and his Nimbus 2000 had been destroyed.

• Snape gave Madam Pomfrey potions for Harry and Darren, and she made them drink them while warning Darren not to overdraw his magic again.
• While unconscious, Harry heard voices recalling how Darren had caught him and driven away the Obscurus with his Patronus.
• Harry woke and learned Darren had also passed out after overusing his magic, but Alicia explained that he was not at risk of becoming a Squib.
• Alicia told Harry that Gryffindor had lost the match, and Wood encouraged the team that they still had a chance to win the Quidditch Cup.
• Harry discovered that his Nimbus 2000 had been smashed against the Whomping Willow and spent the next two days visiting Darren, who remained asleep while he recovered.

Harry realized that their mother had loved Darren, while Darren recovered and returned to Hogwarts. Darren defended Harry by beating Malfoy and was assigned detention in Snape’s office, leaving Harry trying to take the punishment in his place.

• Harry remembered their mother's voice asking someone to spare him and wanted to tell Darren that she had loved him.
• Ginny visited Darren's bedside, mourned his kindness, and left after snapping at Harry.
• Darren woke, rejoiced to see Harry, and later returned to the castle after several days in the hospital wing.
• After Malfoy repeatedly mocked Harry for falling off his broom, Darren beat him during Potions class.
• Snape ordered Malfoy to receive punishment from Filch and assigned Darren detention in his office.
• Harry offered to serve Darren's detention instead, but Snape cut him off.

Harry learned that Lupin had returned to teaching and asked him to teach the Patronus Charm, while Lupin reassured him about the Obscuruses and the Quidditch match. Before the final Hogsmeade trip, Fred and George gave Harry a mysterious piece of parchment as an early Christmas present.

• Snape kicked Harry's cauldron, blamed Harry for tripping him, and took twenty points from Gryffindor.
• Harry, Ron, and Darren went to Defense Against the Dark Arts, where Lupin had returned and taught a lesson on Hinkypunks.
• Darren asked Lupin about his health, and Lupin told him to visit after class because he knew what had happened and thought Darren had done well.
• Harry asked Lupin to teach him the Patronus Charm, and Lupin agreed once he found another Boggart.
• Dumbledore confined the Obscuruses to the entrance, and Harry planned to ask Lupin about practicing the Patronus Charm during the final Hogsmeade trip.
• Fred and George stopped Harry and gave him a piece of parchment they had originally meant for Darren.

Harry used the Marauder’s Map and an Invisibility Cloak to sneak through a secret passage to Hogsmeade, where he found Darren, Hermione, and Ron at Honeydukes. Darren welcomed Harry, who hid how he had left Hogwarts and tried to avoid Hermione’s suspicion.

• Fred showed Harry the Marauder’s Map and told him how to activate and close it.
• Harry put on the Invisibility Cloak and used the map to find a secret passage beneath the one-eyed witch statue.
• Harry followed a shop worker out of the passage and slipped through the crowd at Honeydukes.
• Harry saw Ron urging Darren to buy a grotesque candy shaped like a bloody finger, but Darren refused because he thought it would scare Harry.
• Harry removed the Invisibility Cloak and surprised Darren, then vaguely claimed a professor had allowed him to visit.
• Darren happily offered to take Harry to eat, while Hermione looked suspicious of Harry’s explanation.

Darren, Harry, Ron, and Hermione warmed up at the Three Broomsticks, where Hermione helped hide Harry from the professors. As McGonagall, Flitwick, Hagrid, and Fudge discussed Sirius Black, Harry realized the professors might stay for a while.

• The group left Honeydukes and went to the Three Broomsticks to escape the cold.
• Ron brought Butterbeer for everyone, but Hermione had him get lemon juice for Darren because she feared he might drink too much.
• Hermione spotted the professors arriving and pulled a Christmas tree into place to conceal the group.
• Darren covered for Harry with the Invisibility Cloak, and Harry felt guilty for having lied to him.
• McGonagall, Flitwick, Hagrid, and Fudge ordered drinks, while Madam Rosmerta complained that searches for Sirius Black had frightened away her customers.

Fudge and the professors accused Sirius Black of betraying James and Lily Potter, causing their deaths and abandoning Darren to the Death Eaters. Darren wanted to find Sirius, but Harry made him promise not to go after him alone.

• Fudge told Madam Rosmerta that Sirius had betrayed James by failing to save Darren from the Death Eaters.
• Fudge explained that James had chosen Sirius as Secret Keeper, and the Potters were killed a week later.
• Darren blamed Sirius for his parents’ deaths and wanted to find him.
• Harry feared Sirius would deceive and endanger Darren, so he made Darren promise not to search for Sirius alone.
• Darren promised Harry he would not go looking for Sirius on his own.

Harry and Darren went to Hagrid’s hut to confront him about what he knew, but found him grieving over a verdict concerning Buckbeak. Hagrid was cleared of wrongdoing, though the Ministry agreed to support Lucius Malfoy’s lawsuit against Buckbeak and ordered the Hippogriff kept chained until judgment.

• Harry suspected that Malfoy, Mr. Weasley, and Hagrid knew why Sirius had been accused, then hurried with Darren, Hermione, and Ron to question Hagrid.
• Hagrid broke down in grief and said he could not kill anyone, while Darren pretended to share his despair and Harry vowed to send Sirius to the Obscurus.
• Darren spotted an official letter on Hagrid’s table, and Harry read that Hagrid had committed no violations.
• The letter said the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures would hear Lucius Malfoy’s lawsuit against Buckbeak and required the Hippogriff to remain chained until judgment.

Darren pretended to search for a lawyer to defend Buckbeak while Harry and the others refused to let him become Malfoy's lackey again. When Lucius hired every suitable lawyer, Darren concealed his relief and left Buckbeak's fate uncertain.

• Darren promised Hagrid he would try to make Malfoy withdraw the lawsuit, but Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Hagrid made him swear he would not become Malfoy's lackey again.
• Hermione searched for past successful cases with Harry and Ron while Darren pretended to study legal materials in his dormitory.
• After more than a week, Darren presented a list of potential defense lawyers, but Peeves reported that Lucius had hired them all as family lawyers.
• Darren acted distraught over failing to secure a lawyer, then suggested he could become Malfoy's lackey to help Buckbeak.
• Harry threatened to find Black and have him kill Harry if Darren went back to Malfoy, and Darren promised not to go.

On Christmas Day, Darren received more than three hundred thousand Galleons in gifts from people who had heard he had separated from the Potter family. He returned Lucius’s property and Harry’s Firebolt shares, accepted Rookwood’s gift, and donated money to help the Longbottoms while arranging for others to believe many people had contributed.

• Darren and Harry were left with no clear way to help Hagrid, so they searched books for precedents that might help Buckbeak.
• Hermione and Ron stayed at Hogwarts over Christmas because they feared Harry and Darren would sneak out to search for Black.
• Darren opened his Christmas gifts and found that most donors had sent Galleons; Lucius had also sent him a property in Godric’s Hollow.
• Darren returned Lucius’s property and Harry’s five percent of the Firebolt shares, but accepted Rookwood’s thirty thousand Galleons and sent her a reply.
• Darren gave Peeves thirty thousand Galleons and instructed him to use another twenty thousand from Darren’s Gringotts account for the Longbottoms’ medical expenses.
• Darren used an Influence Expansion Card and arranged for the donation to appear as though he had spent much of his own money to help the Longbottoms.

Darren attended Hogwarts’s Christmas party, where Dumbledore confronted him about donating fifty thousand Galleons to the Longbottoms. Darren explained that he still had money from Rookwood and his Christmas gifts, though he claimed Peeves had taken the Galleons from those gifts.

• Harry asked Darren why he had refused the Galleons Harry offered him, and Darren said he had enough money for his needs.
• At the Christmas party, Filch tearfully thanked Darren for helping him become a wizard.
• Dumbledore revealed that he had learned Darren donated fifty thousand Galleons to the Longbottoms after withdrawing all the money from his vault.
• Dumbledore said Gringotts had contacted him out of concern that Darren had been scammed, and explained that Peeves had told him about Darren’s decision.
• Darren told Dumbledore that Rookwood had given him thirty thousand Galleons in profits and claimed he still had money from Christmas gifts that Peeves had taken.

Darren explained that he had donated his Galleons to help the Longbottoms because they deserved care after protecting so many people. Dumbledore felt ashamed and promised to speak with Fudge, then urged Harry to pay more attention to Darren.

• Darren reassured Dumbledore that he had enough money and had given his Galleons to support the Longbottoms.
• Dumbledore praised Darren's kindness and said he would speak with Fudge about the Longbottoms' medical expenses.
• Dumbledore revealed that Augusta had told him Darren had donated to the Longbottoms before and had wanted to thank him.
• Darren said he hoped the Longbottoms would never learn of his donations so they would not feel indebted to him.
• Dumbledore gave Darren ice cream, then told Harry to pay more attention to Darren.

Dumbledore and Harry worried that Darren had been saving money and neglecting himself, while Darren privately knew their assumptions were wrong. At the Christmas feast, Trelawney predicted that the first person to rise would die, and Darren stood up to protect everyone; afterward, Hermione alerted McGonagall that Harry had received an anonymous Firebolt.

• Dumbledore told Harry that Darren had stopped buying new robes, cakes, and Muggle books, and Harry felt guilty for not noticing.
• Darren acted as though he rarely treated himself, earning a string of Paternal Points as the others pitied him.
• Professor Trelawney predicted that the first person to rise from the meal would die, and Darren stood up, offering to be the one who died if the omen was true.
• Hermione challenged Trelawney’s prediction and said she would drop Divination, while McGonagall reminded Harry, Hermione, and Ron that Darren had once landed in the Hospital Wing after drinking.
• Darren received a new set of Muggle comics from a Christmas cracker, while Harry and Ron collected gifts and Hermione stayed behind.
• Hermione told McGonagall that Harry had received a Firebolt from an unknown sender, and McGonagall took the news seriously.

Harry grew anxious about losing his place on the Quidditch team because he still could not cast the Patronus Charm, so Darren found him a Boggart and took him to Lupin for practice. Harry struggled with the spell and spoke about hearing his parents’ voices, while Darren reassured him and explained that protecting Harry had helped him cast his own Patronus.

• Harry became angry with Hermione after she handed his Firebolt over to the professors for examination.
• Harry worried that Wood would replace him on the Quidditch team if he could not learn the Patronus Charm before the next match.
• Darren used the system to produce a Boggart, and Harry thanked him for finding one.
• Harry brought Darren to Lupin’s office, where Lupin began teaching him the Patronus Charm.
• Harry said he sometimes wanted to keep listening to his parents’ voices, and Darren begged him to stay alive.
• Harry asked how Darren had learned the spell, and Darren said he had cast it naturally when he wanted to protect Harry from the Obscurus.

Harry learned that a powerful desire to protect someone could summon a Patronus and successfully produced one while thinking of Darren. Darren and Harry later headed to the Gryffindor Common Room, where they found Neville crying because he had lost the passwords written on a piece of paper.

• Lupin explained that a desire to protect someone could awaken a Patronus, and Harry cast one while remembering Darren’s past sacrifices for him.
• Lupin told Harry and Darren that the Ministry had authorized Obscuruses to use the Dementor’s Kiss on Sirius if they found him.
• Professor McGonagall returned Harry’s Firebolt after testing it, and Darren encouraged Harry to apologize to Hermione for doubting her concern.
• Harry and Darren met Ron, who said Hermione was in the Gryffindor Common Room, and then found Neville crying outside its entrance.
• Neville said Sir Cadogan kept changing the password and that he had lost the paper where he had written them; the password was Caput Draconis.

Darren helped Harry and Hermione reconcile briefly, but Ron’s missing rat drove a wedge between Ron and Hermione. During Gryffindor’s Quidditch match against Ravenclaw, Slytherin students disguised themselves as Obscuruses to frighten Harry, and Darren attacked them after exposing their prank.

• Darren brought Harry to Hermione, and Harry apologized for doubting her concern about the Firebolt.
• Ron found bloodied bedding and ginger cat fur and accused Crookshanks of eating Scabbers, worsening his feud with Hermione.
• Hermione left for the library to study with Darren while she and Ron remained in a cold war.
• At Gryffindor’s match against Ravenclaw, Darren saw Cho Chang blow him a kiss as he cheered for Harry.
• Crabbe, Goyle, Malfoy, and other Slytherin students disguised themselves as Obscuruses to scare Harry, but Darren and Harry drove them down with their Patronuses.
• Darren learned who the disguised students were and beat Crabbe, Goyle, and Malfoy with his bare hands.

Darren defended Harry from Malfoy and the other Slytherins, injuring his fist on Malfoy’s protective charm. Snape punished the bullies but awarded Slytherin enough points to offset the losses, and the Gryffindors celebrated Darren in their common room.

• Harry announced that he was no longer afraid of the Obscurus, then hurried to find Darren after hearing him cry out in pain.
• Darren explained that his fist hurt because he had struck Malfoy’s protective charm, then threatened the bullies with lost points and detention while admitting he had been wrong to hit them impulsively.
• Snape deducted fifty points from each of Malfoy and the other Slytherins and sent them to detention.
• Snape awarded Slytherin four sets of fifty points for Darren’s actions, offsetting the deductions.
• Fred and George carried Darren to the Gryffindor Common Room, where the students celebrated him and girls came over to toast him.

After Darren pretended to pass out at a Gryffindor celebration, Professor McGonagall let him sleep in Harry’s dormitory, where Sirius Black broke in and was seen beside Darren’s bed. Black escaped again, prompting Hogwarts staff to tighten security and replace Sir Cadogan with the Fat Lady.

• Darren pretended to be drunk, and Professor McGonagall took him to Harry’s dormitory to sleep.
• Ron woke Darren by shouting that he had seen Sirius Black beside Darren’s bed with a knife.
• Sir Cadogan admitted that he had let Black into Gryffindor Tower because Black knew the passwords, which Neville had written down and scattered.
• Darren recounted what happened to Professor McGonagall and fell asleep; he later woke in his own dormitory and learned Black had escaped.
• Mr. Filch sealed gaps around Hogwarts, Professor Flitwick showed guards Black’s photograph, and the staff dismissed Sir Cadogan and brought back the Fat Lady.

After Black attacked Darren and Ron, Darren comforted a guilt-ridden Neville and gained Black's favorability. As Hogwarts stayed on high alert, Hagrid invited Darren, Harry, and Ron to his hut and asked Darren for his account of the attack.

• Ron retold how Black had slashed Darren's bed, while wondering why Black had not killed either of them.
• Harry suggested Black had fled to avoid attracting professors and planned to find Voldemort afterward.
• Professor McGonagall punished Neville by banning him from Hogsmeade and withholding the Gryffindor password, leaving Darren to escort him inside at night.
• Darren told Neville that Black was at fault and that he and Harry were to blame for putting others in danger, completing the system task and gaining twenty favorability points from Black.
• Hagrid invited Darren, Harry, and Ron to his hut, then asked Darren why he had never heard the attack from his perspective.