Recaps

Brian heard rumors about the silver Giant Squid and learned that Fred and George Weasley had found materials for his requested goods. The chapter ended with Hagrid's owl bringing news that Norbert was about to hatch.

• Professor McGonagall traced the snowman prank to Cormac McLaggen, who earned points deductions and detention after boasting about his trap.
• Peeves repeatedly soaked Cormac with water balloons, while students discovered that the black trees by the Black Lake were stained with squid ink.
• Students speculated about the silver Giant Squid, and Percy Weasley discussed Patronuses with Penelope Clearwater before Fred and George interrupted them.
• Fred and George told Brian they had found materials for his requested goods and would likely finish the product over Christmas.
• Brian asked the twins to keep his Patronus secret, then received a letter from Hagrid saying Norbert was about to hatch.

Brian, Hagrid, and Professor Kettleburn witnessed Norbert hatch, and Brian’s Little Sapphire Dragon challenged the newborn dragon with a sword. Later, Brian joined Kettleburn on a Thestral-drawn flying sleigh patrol of the Forbidden Forest, while Norberta began imitating the Little Sapphire Dragon.

• Norbert hatched in Hagrid’s basement, and Hagrid renamed her Norberta after Professor Kettleburn identified her as female.
• Norberta bit Hagrid’s finger and nearly breathed fire at his beard, but the Little Sapphire Dragon scattered the sparks with his stone sword.
• The Little Sapphire Dragon mocked Norberta by chopping an eggshell fragment, and Brian used their touch-based telepathy to explain the gesture.
• Brian offered to patrol the Forbidden Forest, and Professor Kettleburn summoned a Thestral to pull them through the night sky in a sleigh.
• Brian and Kettleburn flew past the forest’s creatures, while Norberta tried to chop eggshell fragments with a fork.

Brian arranged remedial training for the Little Sapphire Dragon and began looking for a swordsmanship teacher for the Stone Soldier. Professor Sprout offered to train Brian’s little Whomping Willow in exchange for finding the Stone Soldier a teacher, and Professor McGonagall recognized the Stone Soldier as identical to a Hogwarts statue.

• Professor Kettleburn stayed at Hagrid’s Hut to teach the Little Sapphire Dragon to hunt, and Brian joined Hagrid and Kettleburn for a drunken celebration.
• The Stone Soldier asked Brian for remedial lessons after the Little Sapphire Dragon left, and Brian promised to find it a teacher.
• Brian asked Professor Sprout about the little Whomping Willow’s changing behavior, and she offered to borrow it to help train young Venomous Tentaculas in exchange for finding the Stone Soldier a teacher.
• Brian brought the little Whomping Willow and Stone Soldier to the staffroom, where Snape criticized the tree’s grip while struggling with a dark chocolate pudding.
• Professor McGonagall recognized the Stone Soldier as identical to the first stone statue in Hogwarts’s second-floor corridor.

Brian spent the afternoon with Professor McGonagall, arranging swordsmanship lessons for the Stone Soldier through her animated Wizard’s Chess set, then went to meet Professor Quirrell for meditation practice. The chapter left Brian encountering Quirrell carrying a new harp after missing their appointment.

• Professor Sprout took the Whomping Willow to the greenhouses, while Professor McGonagall agreed to teach the Stone Soldier swordsmanship through her Wizard’s Chess set.
• Snape revealed that ingredients, including knotgrass, had gone missing from his Storage Room, and Professor McGonagall suspected Gryffindor students might be responsible.
• Brian played six games of Wizard’s Chess against Professor McGonagall, winning two, losing three, and drawing one; the Stone Soldier also briefly joined a game and was assigned the white knight as his tutor.
• Brian went to the Defence Against Dark Magic Classroom for meditation practice with Professor Quirrell, but Quirrell was absent, so Brian practiced with the Training Dummies instead.
• After visiting the kitchens and gathering food for Norberta, Brian met Professor Quirrell in the entrance hall carrying a new harp and reassured him about forgetting their appointment.

Brian visited Hagrid and discovered the instruments he had collected for Norberta, who had grown rapidly and appeared to regard the Little Sapphire Dragon as her mother. Hagrid later revealed that his lullaby could lull Fluffy to sleep, and admitted that Fluffy fell asleep whenever he heard any music.

• Brian reassured Professor Quirrell after discussing Snape's stolen potion ingredients, then arranged their next lesson.
• At Hagrid's Hut, Brian learned that Hagrid had gathered instruments for Norberta and made Harry a handmade bone flute for Christmas.
• Professor Kettleburn showed Brian the expanded basement, where Norberta had grown to more than twice her previous size and slept with the Little Sapphire Dragon on her head.
• Brian realized through telepathy that Norberta considered the Little Sapphire Dragon her mother, and the young dragon stayed beside her as a parent.
• Hagrid sang a lullaby that made Brian and Professor Kettleburn drowsy, then admitted Fluffy became sleepy whenever he heard music.

After Hagrid accidentally revealed that Fluffy was at Hogwarts, Brian rushed to the Third Floor Corridor to check on the Philosopher’s Stone. He bypassed the protections and reached a mysterious man wearing Quirrell’s clothes.

• Professor Kettleburn recalled that Hagrid had once mentioned Fluffy at the Hog’s Head, prompting Hagrid to panic and run off to find Dumbledore.
• Brian followed Hagrid to the Third Floor Corridor, where he found Fluffy guarding the Trapdoor and discovered that a harp had been playing music to keep the dog asleep.
• Brian used a harmonica to lull Fluffy, passed the Devil’s Snare, erased the enchanted door blocking the winged keys, and made the white chess king disappear to clear his path.
• Brian found a troll cut in half, solved Snape’s potion riddle, and drank the smallest bottle to pass through the black flames.
• In the room beyond, Brian confronted a man wearing Quirrell’s turban and clothes, but with a different face.

Brian confronted the impostor Quirrell and discovered Voldemort was living on the back of his head. Brian attacked Voldemort with his erasure magic, but Voldemort escaped, leaving Brian disturbed by the force that had taken control of him as a magical storm struck Hogwarts.

• Brian questioned the impostor Quirrell, who revealed that the real Quirrell was nearly dead and declared himself Voldemort's most faithful servant.
• The impostor Quirrell knelt to answer Voldemort, then removed his turban and revealed Voldemort's face on the back of his head.
• Brian resisted an overpowering urge to kill Voldemort, then used his erasure magic to destroy most of Voldemort's face and reduce him to a small head.
• Voldemort escaped as black snakes, while the impostor Quirrell's Killing Curse failed and Brian stunned him.
• Brian realized he had lost control of himself and questioned the force that had compelled him to attack Voldemort.
• A violent magical storm suddenly swept through Hogwarts Castle.

Brian learned that Dumbledore had staged the obstacles around the Philosopher’s Stone to confront Voldemort, who escaped despite Dumbledore’s attack. Dumbledore sent Brian to rescue the real Quirrell, whom Brian found imprisoned and treated before Quirrell woke and asked who he was.

• Brian and Dumbledore repaired the damaged Hogwarts corridor and Prefects’ Bathroom after Voldemort escaped.
• Dumbledore admitted he had arranged the obstacles and told Brian that he had been smiling while trying to kill Voldemort.
• McGonagall, Snape, Filch, Sprout, Burbage, Hagrid, and Flitwick arrived, and Dumbledore sent the staff to rest and asked Hagrid to move Fluffy to the Forbidden Forest.
• Dumbledore told Brian that the real Quirrell was trapped in a cupboard in his office and said he would handle the impostor.
• Brian found Quirrell bound and unconscious inside an expanded cupboard, freed him, and used healing magic.
• Quirrell woke and politely asked Brian who he was.

Brian brought the amnesiac genuine Quirrell to Dumbledore, where Snape interrogated the impostor Quirrell with Veritaserum. The impostor revealed how Voldemort replaced the genuine Quirrell, and Dumbledore ended the questioning by asking whether a person who had lost all his memories should be held responsible for his past crimes.

• Brian escorted the amnesiac genuine Quirrell to Dumbledore's office, where Snape was waiting with Veritaserum and the bound impostor Quirrell.
• The genuine Quirrell tried to protect the impostor, and Brian explained his memory loss before Dumbledore began the interrogation.
• Under Veritaserum, the impostor confessed to being a wanted Dark Wizard and described his fanatical loyalty to Voldemort.
• The impostor revealed that Voldemort had first possessed the genuine Quirrell, then abandoned him for the impostor, who used Polyjuice Potion to infiltrate Hogwarts and planned to kill the genuine Quirrell after stealing the Philosopher's Stone.
• The genuine Quirrell learned that the impostor had erased his memories and poisoned him, while Brian admitted sealing Quirrell's magic and said he had later lifted the seal.
• Dumbledore asked whether someone who had lost all his memories should be held responsible for his past crimes.

Brian and Dumbledore discussed Quirrell’s responsibility despite his lost memories, and Dumbledore decided Quirrell would remain at Hogwarts temporarily before facing a final judgment. Brian then traded stories with Dumbledore, who identified the symbol behind Brian’s ritual as the Deathly Hallows and began explaining Peeves’s origins, leaving Brian wondering if his children could deal with him.

• Brian argued that Quirrell remained responsible for his actions because other people remembered them, and Snape and Dumbledore agreed that Quirrell meant to accept responsibility.
• Dumbledore ruled that Quirrell would stay at Hogwarts until after Christmas, when he would be sent to face the consequences of his actions, and Snape took both versions of Quirrell away.
• Brian and Dumbledore exchanged stories, and Brian described the ritual that had given minds to his children.
• Dumbledore recognized Brian’s ritual symbol as the Deathly Hallows and explained the legend of becoming the master of Death.
• Dumbledore said Peeves embodied students’ desire to play pranks, and Brian asked whether his children could deal with Peeves.

Brian and Dumbledore prepared to use the dormant Basilisk as bait for Voldemort, with Brian using Ancient Erasure Magic to remove its murderous desires. They opened the Chamber of Secrets and found the Basilisk hidden inside Slytherin’s statue.

• Brian told Dumbledore that he objected to controlling Harry’s life, and Dumbledore said he would speak to Harry when the time was right.
• Dumbledore proposed using the Basilisk to lure Voldemort, and Brian agreed after learning the Basilisk was hibernating and Harry would not be involved.
• Brian used Ancient Erasure Magic to disable the Chamber’s many mechanisms, allowing the stone door to open without Parseltongue.
• Brian and Dumbledore entered the Chamber with a silenced rooster as a precaution and discovered the Basilisk was inside Slytherin’s statue.
• Brian made the statue vanish, revealing the coiled Basilisk and dropping it onto the floor.

The students debated the explosion and Gryffindor’s lost points while Percy defended his House and Fred and George retaliated against Slytherin mockery. In the staffroom, Dumbledore revealed a proposed pay increase tied to Brian taking on Muggle Studies, then began a meeting about staffing changes.

• A Slytherin student announced that Gryffindor had lost fifty points, and students across the Great Hall connected the penalty to the previous night’s explosion.
• Percy Weasley insisted Gryffindor students had stayed in their common room, while Slytherin students mocked his family and Fred and George secretly hexed them.
• A Hufflepuff girl learned from her Gryffindor friend that Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley had lost points after Professor McGonagall caught them leaving their common room.
• Professor McGonagall told Professor Sprout and Professor Flitwick that she had taken twenty points from each of the three students and had considered assigning them detention over Christmas.
• Brian arrived in the staffroom exhausted after successfully making the Basilisk blind, toothless, and pacifistic, and declined to reveal details of the previous night.
• Dumbledore proposed doubling Brian’s salary if he took on some Muggle Studies teaching, and Professor Burbage said she had proposed the arrangement before Dumbledore opened a meeting on staffing changes.

Students reacted to Snape taking over Defence Against Dark Magic until Christmas, while Harry, Ron, and Hermione planned to question Hagrid about Quirrell's injury. Brian learned that Alastor Moody would teach the subject afterward and expected Moody to be far more intimidating than Snape.

• The Hogwarts notices announced that Quirrell had lost his memory in a magical experiment, Snape would teach Defence Against Dark Magic until Christmas, and Brian would become Muggle Studies professor afterward.
• Snape took over the fourth-years' Defence Against Dark Magic lesson, assigned a new fifteen-inch essay, and warned that he would see them again in Potions that afternoon.
• Hermione urged Harry and Ron to ask Hagrid what he knew about the noise in the Third Floor Corridor and Quirrell's injury.
• Harry, Ron, and Hermione thanked Neville for stopping them the previous night, then let him believe they were going to eat while they headed off to investigate.
• Students repeatedly visited Brian in the library to congratulate him and ask who would replace Snape, and Brian recalled that Dumbledore had appointed Alastor Moody for the second half of the school year.

Brian dealt with Peeves’s pranks and visited the Hospital Wing, where he learned Ron and Neville had suffered strange potion-related changes. When a Ravenclaw girl arrived missing her nose, Brian realized the Compass Owl had taken it and hurried back to his room to check its trophy shelf.

• Brian warned students about Peeves’s slippery stair and later found Peeves hiding inside a suit of armor, where he confronted him and drove him off.
• Brian visited the Hospital Wing and discovered Ron’s arm had turned green after a young dragon bite while Neville’s arm had turned yellow after drinking a potion Peeves recommended.
• Madam Pomfrey treated Ron and Neville with toxin-extracting tubes as Brian urged Ron to thank her for helping him.
• Professor Flitwick brought in a Ravenclaw girl whose face had been damaged by a home remedy, and Madam Pomfrey reattached her eyes and eyebrows with magical adhesive.
• The Ravenclaw girl said a white, ball-shaped owl had taken her nose, and Brian rushed to check whether the Compass Owl had put it on its trophy shelf.

After Lisa Turpin recovered from losing her nose, Brian discovered that his Compass Owl had brought back a transformed hedgehog and returned it to Professor McGonagall. Hagrid and Professor Kettleburn then took Brian to see Fluffy, while Brian learned that his Little Sapphire Dragon had become strong enough to pull Norberta away from Ron.

• Madam Pomfrey treated Lisa Turpin's damaged nostril, and Brian agreed that the Compass Owl would serve as her portable stuffed toy for the day.
• Brian found a hedgehog transformed into a pincushion among the Compass Owl's stolen treasures and returned it to Professor McGonagall, who decided the responsible student would receive detention and a letter home.
• Hagrid and Professor Kettleburn told Brian that Fluffy had arrived from Greece to guard something important, and Brian reminded them to leave someone to care for Norberta.
• Hagrid explained that Norberta had bitten Ron, but Brian's Little Sapphire Dragon had pulled her away and shown unexpected strength.
• Brian went to check on Norberta while Hagrid and Professor Kettleburn headed to see Fluffy, then agreed to join them for medicinal liquor afterward.

Brian discovered that the Little Sapphire Dragon had grown stronger through intensive training under Professor Kettleburn, while Norberta had also grown rapidly and was hungry. The next morning, Brian helped Hagrid bring a fir tree to Hogwarts and planned to visit Professor Sprout’s greenhouse, while Harry and Hermione continued trying to persuade Hagrid to send Norberta away sooner.

• Brian found the Little Sapphire Dragon training with crates of brandy and Land Whales, and healed his sprained shoulder after the dragon leapt onto him.
• The Little Sapphire Dragon showed Brian its swordsmanship and helped open a bottle for hungry Norberta, while Brian polished its stone sword and warned it not to threaten good people or dragons.
• Hagrid brought Professor Kettleburn back after Fluffy took the professor’s wooden limbs, and Brian helped remove the extra prosthetics after Kettleburn got drunk and tried to offer Fluffy his head.
• Brian helped Hagrid steady a fir tree with his magic as they carried it toward the Great Hall, then agreed to visit Professor Sprout’s greenhouse.
• Harry and Hermione hinted that Ron’s injuries and Norberta’s rapid growth made it dangerous to keep the dragon, but Hagrid insisted he would keep Norberta for two more months.

Brian visited Professor Sprout’s Second Greenhouse and spoke with the Poet Trumpet Grass, which described its unrequited love for the Whomping Willow sapling. As Brian entered the next room, green hair began growing from his head, and the Poet Trumpet Grass immediately fell in love with him.

• Professor Sprout told Brian that the Poet Trumpet Grass had repeatedly declared its love for the Whomping Willow sapling, which had rejected it each time.
• Brian entered the Second Greenhouse and found the Poet Trumpet Grass looking dejected among Professor Sprout’s unusual plants.
• Brian gave the grass Dragon Dung fertilizer and listened as it lamented its unrequited love and hoped to leave a good impression before the sapling was moved.
• The Poet Trumpet Grass explained that plants communicated in a language humans could not understand, and Professor Sprout called Brian into the next room.
• As Brian crossed the room’s chalk boundary, glossy green hair began growing from his head, and the Poet Trumpet Grass declared that it had fallen in love with him.

Brian visited Professor Sprout after an Age Line curse turned his hair green and made it grow, then removed the curse himself. He helped squeeze Bubotubers and chatted with Sprout until a knock at the door signaled that someone else had crossed the Age Line.

• Brian left the Poet Trumpet Grass and found Professor Sprout, where the little Whomping Willow braided his long green hair.
• Professor Sprout explained that an old Age Line had cursed Brian because it restricted people under seventeen or over a thousand years old.
• Brian used a curse-seeing spell and his eraser to remove the curse, restoring his hair to normal.
• Brian and Professor Sprout discussed his Patronus, the Poet Trumpet Grass, and the little Whomping Willow’s new knitting interests.
• Brian accepted five boxes of Almond Biscuits and helped Professor Sprout squeeze Bubotubers before a knock announced someone else had crossed the Age Line.

Professor McGonagall visited Professor Sprout’s greenhouse, where she discussed Transfiguration with Brian and encouraged him as he struggled to control his emotions and desires. The visit ended with Brian and the professors sampling Sprout’s magical plant food, which gave Brian a startlingly unpleasant sensation.

• Professor McGonagall arrived wearing a Montrose Magpies sweater and admired Sprout’s grafted Venomous Tentacula knitting a multicolored hat.
• McGonagall explained to Brian how Transfiguration differed from charms, and Brian said he wanted to practice controlling himself when powerful emotions took hold.
• Sprout and McGonagall reassured Brian, and Sprout offered him tea and a cookie as they chatted in the greenhouse.
• McGonagall corrected an article in Transfiguration Today while Brian practiced adding a leg to a chair, and Sprout harvested Crab Grass and a Bacon Hanging Basket.
• Sprout urged Brian and McGonagall to taste the plant-based crabmeat, and Brian’s mouth seemed to fill with crawling crabs as soon as he tried it.

After eating Professor Sprout’s Crab Grass, Brian discovered that it let him move only sideways at extraordinary speed, and helped her recognize the herb’s practical value. He raced back toward the library, accidentally knocked Fred and George over, and arranged to buy Fred a replacement wand before escaping up the stairs.

• Brian and Professor Sprout hallucinated after eating Crab Grass, then discovered that it made them move sideways at great speed; Brian healed Sprout after she crashed into a wall.
• Professor McGonagall praised Sprout’s discovery, and Sprout planned to gather data and seek funding for the herb.
• Brian raced toward the library through a portrait-lined route, alarming the portraits and knocking Fred and George off their feet while they waited under an Invisibility Cloak.
• Brian learned that the twins were waiting for someone they suspected of reporting their rule-breaking and offered to buy Fred a new wand and a shared work wand.
• Brian distracted Fred and George by pointing behind them, then scurried up the stairs before they could stop him.

Brian took Fred to Diagon Alley to have his broken wand repaired, where Mr. Ollivander examined Brian’s unusual wand and watched him cast a distinctive Avis. They ran into the Weasley family, and Brian spoke with Arthur about Muggle life before returning to Hogwarts with Fred.

• Brian brought Fred to Mr. Ollivander, who agreed to repair Fred’s broken wand by the day before Christmas Eve.
• Mr. Ollivander examined Brian’s wand but could not identify its materials or make it respond to his spells; Brian cast Avis and produced miniature phoenixes.
• Fred tried his newly chosen wand and summoned magpies, while Mr. Ollivander demonstrated a normal Avis with sparrows.
• Brian and Fred encountered Arthur, Molly, and Ginny Weasley in Diagon Alley, and Brian explained that Professor McGonagall knew about their trip.
• Arthur invited Brian to a café, where he enthusiastically questioned Brian about Muggles, engines, and aeroplanes while Fred and Ginny played wizard’s chess.
• Brian and Fred said goodbye to the Weasleys and headed back, with Brian reminding Fred that having family who cared enough to nag him was a blessing.

After Snape's fake poisoning warning gave Hogwarts students a second, unofficial Christmas Eve, Brian spent the holidays celebrating with students and professors, exchanging gifts with his magical companions, and joining the Christmas feast. The chapter ended with Brian greeting the professors at the feast and hoping his presents had arrived safely.

• Snape reassured a Ravenclaw prefect that his poisoning threat had been an effective lesson, while students left Hogwarts for the real Christmas Eve.
• Brian collected the Stone Soldier, the Little Sapphire Dragon, and the little Whomping Willow, then exchanged Christmas gifts with his magical companions and opened presents from Hogwarts staff and students.
• Brian gave the students Honeydukes candy, and the Weasley twins played their guessing game until Angelina identified Fred and George by striking Fred's arm.
• Brian visited the Hogwarts Kitchens, sampled a badly made lemon pudding, and joined the professors and students at the Christmas feast.

Brian celebrated Christmas at Hogwarts, gave his colleagues Happiness Mirrors, and prepared to return to his Muggle home. After arriving at a nearby pub, he discovered that the Weird Sisters were performing under their wizarding names and recognized the band members as people he knew from the Muggle world.

• Brian gave Hogwarts staff Happiness Mirrors made with ancient magic, and Dumbledore invited him to supply more for Ministry employees who needed help casting the Patronus Charm.
• Professor Trelawney drunkenly prophesied fear and misfortune connected to someone swimming, while the Hogwarts staff and students continued their Christmas festivities.
• Brian received parenting books from Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, packed his belongings, and learned that a student had broken into the Restricted Section the previous night.
• Brian traveled by Floo Powder to a pub hosting a Weird Sisters imitation contest and joined the audience in voting for a band.
• Donaghan Tremlett and Myron Wagtail revealed that the second-place band was the real Weird Sisters, then began a lively performance.
• Brian recognized the band's lead singer and bassist as Muggle acquaintances and prepared to settle a score.

Brian reunited with Myron Wagtail and Donaghan Tremlett, revealed that he was a Hogwarts professor, and returned to his Muggle home for Christmas. There he encountered Hermione and her parents, visited the Granger home, and heard Mr. Granger worry that Hermione had grown more distant from her Muggle family.

• Brian stopped Myron Wagtail during the Weird Sisters' performance and revealed that he knew him as Mike Charles.
• Backstage, Brian told Myron Wagtail and Donaghan Tremlett that he was a wizard and a Hogwarts professor, and accepted an invitation to join a future band tour.
• Brian returned home, opened his friends' Christmas gifts, and took care of his magical companions before going to the convenience store for food.
• Brian met Hermione and the Grangers at the supermarket, introduced himself as a Hogwarts librarian and Muggle Studies professor, and accepted their invitation to visit.
• At the Granger home, Mr. Granger asked Brian about magic for straightening Hermione's teeth and shared his concern that she talked to her parents less since learning about magic.

Brian visited Hermione at the Grangers’ home, where he told her about the house-elves’ working conditions and urged her to speak with them before trying to help. Later, Brian attended an Edinburgh Christmas gathering with Professor Burbage, where he encountered Tonks and Alastor Moody.

• Brian discussed Hogwarts house-elves with Hermione, who became angry after learning that they worked without pay and could be mistreated.
• Brian told Hermione about a girl who freed an elf by giving him clothes, leading the elf to choose death rather than the freedom imposed on him.
• Hermione decided to speak with the house-elves in the Hogwarts Kitchen, and Brian agreed to help her find books about them.
• Brian attended an Edinburgh Christmas gathering with Professor Burbage and bought a painting of Hogwarts as Muggles saw it.
• Brian entered a wizard gathering and saw Tonks trying to change her hair color and Alastor Moody interrogating a waiter about poisoned pasta.