Recaps

Brian learned that the Ministry would pay fifty Galleons for each Happiness Mirror, celebrated by sharing a strange wizarding feast with Moody, Burbage, and Tonks, and delivered transformed frogs to Hermione. He began keeping a diary about his studies and Hermione’s questions, ending as the holiday drew to a close and he prepared to return to Hogwarts.

• Moody told Brian that the Ministry could pay fifty Galleons per Happiness Mirror, and Brian treated Burbage and Moody to the restaurant’s secret dish.
• Moody discussed the danger surrounding the waiter’s mother, a member of the Order of the Phoenix, and Brian asked whether Voldemort was dead.
• Tonks joined Brian, Burbage, and Moody, and they tried a giant pizza topped with magically transformed frogs.
• Brian gave Hermione a box of frogs and praised her ability to recognize the effects of Transfiguration.
• Brian decided to keep a diary, recorded his Transfiguration practice and a call from Hermione about House-elves, and wrote that he was sad the holiday was ending.

At Hogwarts’s opening feast, Dumbledore introduced Alastor Moody as the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, while Brian arrived late after his Little Sapphire Dragon and Stone Soldier chased Peeves through the castle. Brian’s dramatic entrance won the students’ admiration, and his colleagues began arranging turns to borrow his companions to deter Peeves.

• Fred and George joked that their Prophecy Machine predicted Alastor Moody would become the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, and Dumbledore then announced Moody’s appointment.
• Peeves burst into the Great Hall fleeing the Little Sapphire Dragon and Stone Soldier, with Brian arriving behind them and stopping his companions.
• Brian apologized for being late, and the students cheered him for chasing Peeves as he took his place at the staff table.
• Brian checked that Moody’s flask held liquor rather than potion and agreed to visit Hagrid and Norberta for drinks.
• Professor McGonagall borrowed the Stone Soldier, and Professor Burbage proposed drawing lots to decide which colleagues could borrow Brian’s companions next.

Brian revised his Muggle Studies plans to make the course more engaging, negotiated limits on Peeves’s pranks, and received a letter from Mr. Ollivander suggesting his wand was incomplete. The chapter ended with Fred Weasley and George Weasley delivering jars of Fanged Fruit to Brian.

• Brian realized his Muggle Studies syllabus needed to focus more on cultivating students’ interest, and he planned a lesson involving a Muggle supermarket and borrowed Fang from Hagrid.
• Peeves intensified his pranks, but Brian warned the students about the danger of confronting him and arranged negotiations with Professor McGonagall, Professor Flitwick, and Dumbledore.
• Brian and Peeves signed agreements restricting dangerous pranks, while Peeves secured permission to keep his weekly swim in the first-floor boys' bathroom.
• Mr. Ollivander wrote to Brian that his wand might be an incomplete wand core and offered to make a casing, so Brian arranged to visit Diagon Alley.
• Fred Weasley and George Weasley arrived at Brian’s door with jars of Fanged Fruit.

Brian resisted opening the Fanged Fruit jars and taught a Muggle Studies lesson about pets, focusing on dogs and their uses. He began connecting dogs to Professor Moody’s magical eye, leaving the class curious about the explanation.

• Brian fed honey to the Fanged Fruit, stored them away, and chose to prepare for his lesson rather than explore their memories.
• Four wandmakers sent Brian offers to make a casing for his wand, and he recognized them as the unsolicited letters Ollivander had warned him about.
• Brian discussed Hogwarts’ lack of lesson bells with Professor McGonagall, who explained that bells would disturb the portraits and staircases.
• Fred Weasley and George Weasley arrived five minutes late to Muggle Studies with unfinished snowmen as their excuse, and Brian let them take their seats.
• Brian quizzed the class on Muggle pets and explained that dogs served purposes including companionship, profit, work, and protection.
• Brian asked whether the students had seen Professor Moody’s magical eye, and Fred Weasley and George Weasley described its ability to rotate around Moody’s head.

Brian taught his first Hogwarts Muggle Studies lesson by explaining guide dogs and having students design outfits for a clay model of Fang. After class, he discussed the Weasley twins’ Regret Potion and joined Professor Burbage for a ketchup-heavy lunch, where she wondered who had caused a normally reliable house-elf to make a mistake.

• Brian explained how Muggles train guide dogs to help blind people and described the lengthy work involved in preparing a dog for the role.
• Brian had students design pet clothes for a clay Fang, and Fred received paw-print marks after Fang rejected his restrictive outfit.
• Brian awarded Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw five points each and warned the students about Peeves’s ketchup-filled tomato balls.
• Fred and George asked Brian when he would try their Regret Potion, and Brian tried unsuccessfully to repair their cracked snowman with Reparo.
• At lunch, Brian drank tomato pumpkin juice with Professor Burbage, who asked him to guess who had caused a house-elf to add ketchup to the food; Brian glanced at the dejected Hermione.

Brian visited Ollivander’s shop to find that Ollivander had failed to make a casing for his wand, then watched the wandmaker set off for Germany to consult Gregorovitch. At the Leaky Cauldron, Brian recognized the disguised Wraith as the Ice Cream Shop assistant and spotted James Potter in a photograph in his suitcase.

• Brian found Ollivander’s shop wrecked by failed experiments, and Ollivander explained that he had broken six designs and caused eleven explosions while trying to make a wand casing.
• Brian suggested Ollivander contact his old friends, prompting Ollivander to suspect Gregorovitch might have succeeded and rush off to Germany.
• Brian tried Tom’s Gamp Vintage Social Wine, then watched Wraith fail the pub’s drinking challenge and earn free drinks and ten Galleons.
• Brian recognized Wraith as the former assistant at Mr. Fosco’s Ice Cream Shop, and Wraith said Fosco had closed the shop and left him a week’s wages.
• Brian saw a photograph in Wraith’s suitcase and asked whether the young man pictured was James Potter.

Brian met Remus Lupin, learned of his concern for Harry, and confirmed Lupin’s identity with Professor McGonagall before asking about Transfiguration. Back at the Castle, Brian discovered Book had eaten his Fanged Fruit sweets and refused Book’s offer of more ancient magic, though Book taught him the magic of “Memory.”

• Brian recognized Wraith as an old friend of James Potter after discussing Hagrid and the Marauders with him.
• Brian told Wraith, who revealed that his real name was Remus Lupin, about Harry’s life and offered to answer future questions by letter.
• Brian confirmed with Professor McGonagall that Remus Lupin had been a Gryffindor prefect, then asked her how magic conjured seasonings and liquor.
• Brian discovered that Book had stolen and eaten his Fanged Fruit sweets, healed Book’s swollen cover, and refused to lose control for more ancient magic.
• Book accepted Brian’s reasons and taught him the magic of “Memory.”

Brian completed the first stage of studying the ancient Memory magic and learned to conjure a whisker from a memory, though the conjured whiskers vanished when he lost focus. He visited Dumbledore to share his discovery and met Nicolas Flamel, who thanked him for protecting the Philosopher’s Stone and gave him two gold bars.

• Brian finally illuminated the first page of the Memory magic book by imagining a dragon breathing affectionate smoke, then read instructions to make something from a memory appear in reality.
• Brian tried to conjure a tulip but failed, then successfully produced one of Dumbledore’s beard whiskers and discovered he could make two before they vanished when his attention wandered.
• Brian brought mead to Dumbledore’s office, where he encountered Nicolas Flamel, whose hair smelled delicious because of a shampoo he had developed.
• Dumbledore introduced Brian to Nicolas Flamel as the ancient-magic user who had helped protect the Philosopher’s Stone, and Flamel thanked Brian on behalf of himself and his wife.
• Nicolas Flamel gave Brian two gold bars, and Brian offered to demonstrate his newly learned ancient magic.

Brian demonstrated a new ancient magic that turned memories into temporary physical objects, then prepared to study it with a Pensieve and a Memory Potion. Snape offered him an enhanced potion for twenty Galleons.

• Brian showed Dumbledore and Nicolas Flamel that his memory magic could recreate objects, including a beard based on a false memory, though the creations vanished when his attention wandered.
• Nicolas Flamel explained that his ancient magic knowledge was much weaker than Brian’s, shared the story of a broken mirror from his courtship with Perenelle, and revealed that his gold bars were Wakefulness Gold Bars.
• Brian drank a Wakefulness Gold Bar, learned its effects lasted a month and could be ended by drinking three liters of milk, and received Dumbledore’s Pensieve to help study his memories.
• Brian went to Snape’s office to buy a Memory Potion, and Snape offered him an enhanced bottle for twenty Galleons.

Brian sold Snape potions, then helped Hermione understand why the House-elves resisted her campaign and reconcile with them. The next morning, Moody told Brian his instincts warned that a strange force was watching Hogwarts, and Brian wondered what threat might be approaching.

• Brian sold Snape two bottles of Enhanced Memory Potion, teased him about Moody, and left before Snape's cauldron could explode.
• Brian found Hermione in the kitchens, where the House-elves asked him to stop her from visiting them so often.
• Brian deducted ten Gryffindor points for Hermione's nighttime rule-breaking, then helped her realize that centuries of wizard influence outweighed her brief efforts to persuade the House-elves.
• Hermione apologized to the House-elves, who welcomed her back, and Brian returned to the kitchen for milk and an apple pie.
• Brian encountered Moody patrolling Hogwarts, and Moody said he felt a strange force was watching the school.

Brian discovered that Professor Moody was under a curse and used Ancient Magic to remove it, but the curse quickly returned. Moody then cast a powerful curse-breaking spell, which also failed to stop the mist from reappearing.

• Moody decided that he had been cursed and prepared to use a goblin-made Curse Detector that appeared to require his blood.
• Brian stopped Moody from stabbing himself and offered to examine the curse with a spell Voldemort had taught him.
• Brian and Moody went to Moody’s office, where Brian used his magic to see a pale black mist surrounding Moody.
• Brian erased the mist with Ancient Magic, but it soon reappeared around Moody.
• Moody cast a powerful curse-breaking spell that dispersed much of the mist, but the curse returned again.

Brian, Moody, and Dumbledore discovered that Voldemort’s prophetic curse on Moody was tied to Hogwarts’s employment magic and could be disrupted by repeatedly destroying and renewing Moody’s contract. The curse faded each time the contract burned, but Moody insisted they still had one last step to take against Voldemort.

• Brian and Moody sought Dumbledore’s help after ordinary methods failed to remove the curse.
• Dumbledore explained that the prophetic curse took effect when its target or enough powerful observers believed it existed, and Moody said Brian had not caused it.
• Fawkes sang an ancient phoenix song that briefly shrank the curse, but it surged back after the song ended.
• Brian suggested using daily employment contracts to reset the curse, and Dumbledore tested the idea by destroying Moody’s contract and having him sign a new one.
• The curse vanished when the contract burned and returned when Moody signed the blank one, revealing its connection to Hogwarts’s personnel magic.
• Dumbledore praised Brian’s Muggle-minded solution, while Moody said they still needed one final step before the matter was settled.

Brian helped Professor Moody destroy Voldemort’s curse on a letter, then watched Book devour the face on Moody’s Curse Detector. He experimented with merging memories in a Pensieve, nearly suffocated when a bizarre false memory affected his real breathing, and ended the night seeing Hagrid’s Hut engulfed in flames.

• Professor Moody destroyed the curse on the envelope, and the House-elves joked with Brian and Dumbledore about serving mammoth meat.
• Brian questioned Book about its ability to eat things, then let it swallow the face on the Curse Detector, leaving the instrument ordinary and attractive.
• Brian merged memories in the Pensieve and entered a surreal false memory in which he became a slice of bread eaten by a House-elf’s eye.
• Brian nearly suffocated after the false memory affected his breathing, so he recorded a warning about merging incompatible memories and reduced his practice to once a day.
• Brian practiced Memory Magic until he could conjure half of Dumbledore’s beard sticky with mead, then saw Hagrid’s Hut burning from his window.

Norberta set Hagrid's Hut on fire after Hagrid brought her upstairs, and Dumbledore put Hagrid and Brian on probation while arranging for the dragon to go to the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary. Harry and Ron arrived with a letter, and Norberta lunged at Ron before Hagrid calmed her down.

• Brian arrived at Hagrid's burning hut and saved Hagrid's beard from the flames.
• Hagrid explained that Norberta had been upset over losing her teddy bear, so he brought her out of the fireproof basement and she accidentally set the hut ablaze.
• Dumbledore arrived, placed Hagrid on probation, and issued Brian a probation notice as well.
• Hagrid agreed to contact the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary to arrange Norberta's departure, while Dumbledore promised to visit the rebuilt hut.
• Harry and Ron emerged from under the Invisibility Cloak to deliver a letter, and Norberta lunged at Ron before Hagrid restrained her.

Brian learned that Charlie’s message had been delayed by a Bowtruckle’s tampering, leaving little time before Norberta’s scheduled departure. He used memory magic and Ancient Sealing Magic to bring part of Norberta’s vanished teddy bear into reality, revealing a breakthrough in his research.

• Ron realized Norberta had been fixated on the scent of Scabbers and apologized to the dragon, while Hagrid tearfully prepared for her departure.
• Brian read Charlie’s letter and discovered that a Bowtruckle had altered the timing, leaving less than an hour before the planned meeting.
• Hagrid lamented that Norberta would leave without her teddy bear, and Brian considered using memory magic to recreate it.
• Brian manifested a memory of the teddy bear and sealed it with Ancient Sealing Magic, but the effort caused an explosion that threw him backward.
• Brian found fragments of the teddy bear on the snow and realized he had successfully turned part of a memory into reality.

Brian met Targaryen, the dragon researcher sent to collect Norberta, and found her eager to meet Hagrid because she was fascinated by nonhuman creatures. Hagrid emerged to say goodbye to Norberta, and Targaryen reassured him that the dragon would remember him.

• Brian carried Norberta's crate to the terrace, where Targaryen waited and eagerly asked to meet Hagrid.
• Brian warned Targaryen that Hagrid might not want to meet her, while Hagrid secretly followed them to the terrace.
• Hagrid emerged from hiding, and Targaryen lost interest when she discovered that being a half-giant did not make him look sufficiently nonhuman.
• Brian asked Targaryen not to mention Hagrid's half-giant heritage, and she agreed before meeting him.
• Hagrid asked whether Norberta would remember him, and Targaryen assured him that dragons remembered their early lives clearly.

Hagrid settled into his rebuilt hut, and Brian watched Harry win Gryffindor’s Quidditch match against Hufflepuff in under five minutes. A letter from Targaryen brought photos of Norberta and a Howler, whose message pointed Brian to tiny writing on the back of the photographs about Ron.

• Dumbledore visited Hagrid’s rebuilt hut and admired its improvements before seeing the gecko that had moved into the cellar.
• Brian watched Harry use a feint to evade Hufflepuff’s Seeker and catch the Golden Snitch, ending the match almost immediately.
• Brian caught and healed a burned owl carrying a letter from Miss Targaryen, then handed the letter to Hagrid.
• Hagrid and Brian saw photographs of Norberta and listened to a Howler containing Norberta’s roars and Targaryen’s request for samples and pictures of Fluffy.
• The Howler told them to read the tiny writing on the back of the photos, and Brian cast Engorgio to enlarge it.

Brian suspected that Ron’s rat, Scabbers, was an Animagus and wrote to Nicolas Flamel to ask about the old report. He gave his Muggle Studies students a test, handed out lucky Fennies, and received Flamel’s reply at the end of the chapter.

• Brian read a report linking dragons’ hostility to Animagi and suspected that Scabbers might be an Animagus, but Hagrid dismissed the idea.
• Brian sent Nicolas Flamel a letter asking about the report and tipped the snowy owl extra Sickles to deliver it quickly.
• Brian gave his Muggle Studies students a test and explained that unfamiliar terms could appear on exams; he awarded a Ravenclaw student five points for spotting an unfamiliar currency name.
• Angelina gave the Gryffindor Quidditch players Fennies as good-luck charms, and Harry asked her for three to give Ron, Hermione, and Hagrid.
• Brian marked the tests, decided the results justified assigning homework, and received a reply from Nicolas Flamel.

Brian used specially made Veritaserum to persuade Professor McGonagall to transform into a cat, then explained his investigation into a possibly unregistered Animagus and gained her support. The chapter ended with Ron playing with Fenny coins and putting Scabbers in his pocket.

• Brian asked Professor McGonagall to turn into a cat and secretly squeezed the Veritaserum bottle he had concealed.
• Professor McGonagall explained the requirements for becoming an Animagus and transformed into a cat while Brian observed the magic.
• After the potion took effect, Professor McGonagall noticed Brian had given her something and asked what was in the bottle.
• Brian apologized and shared his collected information about a possibly unregistered Animagus, emphasizing Ron and the others' help.
• Professor McGonagall agreed that the suspected Animagus could threaten Hogwarts' safety and supported Brian's investigation.
• Ron played with two Fenny coins, put Scabbers in his pocket, and bragged about being a lucky pet's owner.

Ron celebrated his birthday with Harry and Hermione, while Fred and George investigated the mysterious Peter Pettigrew appearing on the Marauder's Map. Outside Hagrid's Hut, Brian caught the twins spying on Harry, Ron, and Hermione and demanded to know what they were doing.

• Ron complained that Hermione had forgotten his birthday, and she apologized by offering to make revision timetables for him and Harry.
• Harry told Ron and Hermione that it was his first birthday party, and Ron and Hermione promised to help him attend parties in the future.
• Hermione led Harry and Ron toward the Hogwarts kitchens, where Fred and George spotted Peter Pettigrew's name beside Harry and Hermione's on the Marauder's Map.
• Peeves stole the Fenny coins from Harry, Ron, and Hermione, and Harry reassured Ron that Peeves was not targeting him personally.
• Brian hid near Hagrid's Hut and overheard Harry comforting Ron, then found Fred and George spying nearby and confronted them.

Peter Pettigrew awoke in Ron Weasley’s pocket, smugly reflecting on how he had survived by posing as a rat, until he was compelled to transform back into a human at Hagrid’s Hut. Brian protected the students and used Veritaserum to expose Peter as a murderer and confirm his identity, leaving Peter trapped and confessing.

• Peter mistook Ron’s call of “Scabbers” for a threat from his past, then reassured himself that his secret identity was safe and imagined one day killing Harry for the Dark Lord.
• A sudden compulsion to be honest made Peter leap from Ron’s pocket and transform from a rat into a man in Hagrid’s Hut.
• Ron, Harry, and Hermione recoiled as Peter demanded Ron’s wand, and Brian rushed in to shield the students.
• Under the effects of Brian’s Veritaserum, Peter admitted that he was a murderer who had killed more than a dozen Muggles and feared execution in Azkaban.
• Brian asked whether he was Peter Pettigrew, and Peter confirmed his identity despite trying to hold his mouth shut.

Brian interrogated Peter Pettigrew, who confessed to betraying Harry’s parents and framing Black. Harry attacked Peter in fury, and Brian let the spell strike before reviving Peter, then reassured Harry that no one had died.

• Brian sealed Peter’s magic and used Veritaserum to make him explain why he had killed Muggles.
• Peter confessed that he had killed the Muggles to frame Black and conceal his betrayal of Lily and James Potter.
• Harry learned that Peter had sold his parents’ whereabouts to Voldemort and charged into Hagrid’s Hut.
• Harry cast a Severing Charm at Peter, and Brian allowed it to cut Peter’s neck before healing him with ancient magic.
• Harry panicked after seeing Peter bleed, and Brian told him that he had brought Peter back to life and that no one had died.

After Peter Pettigrew was exposed, Harry chose not to kill him, and Dumbledore revealed that Sirius Black was Harry’s godfather and had been imprisoned in Azkaban. Brian sent a Patronus to summon Remus Lupin and went to Hagrid’s Hut, where a reporter had arrived investigating the smell of human blood.

• Hermione, Ron, Fred, and George waited outside the Headmaster’s Office and resolved to support Harry when he came out.
• Brian told the students that Harry was still upset, then reassured them that he would restore any points taken from Gryffindor for waiting past curfew.
• Dumbledore told Brian and Harry about the Marauders, the Fidelius Charm, and Harry’s godfather, Sirius Black, who was imprisoned in Azkaban for a crime Peter Pettigrew had committed.
• Brian sent a Giant Squid Patronus to invite Remus Lupin to Hogwarts, and Dumbledore explained Patronuses to Harry.
• Harry refused to kill Peter Pettigrew, and Dumbledore said they needed compelling evidence before contacting the Ministry about Black.
• Brian arrived at Hagrid’s Hut and found Hagrid with a reporter who was investigating the smell of human blood.

Brian confronted Rita Skeeter when she tried to interview Hagrid and expose his past, then diverted her attention from Harry by inventing a story about a Muggle schoolmate. Rita left toward Hogsmeade, unaware that a beetle had crawled onto Brian’s robes.

• Rita Skeeter used her enchanted quill to fabricate a story about Hagrid being a bloodthirsty half-giant, but Brian erased the writing and the blood she had spotted.
• Rita threatened to investigate Brian’s background, and Brian mocked her reporting before insisting she leave Hogwarts.
• Rita claimed Hagrid had agreed to an interview, but Hagrid denied it and left after Brian said Dumbledore needed him.
• When Rita overheard Hagrid mention Harry, Brian led her away and promised to tell her about him.
• Brian described a fictitious Muggle classmate named Harry Kate and made a pumpkin vanish to warn Rita off; after she left, a purplish beetle crawled onto his robes.

Tonks’s first solo patrol in Knockturn Alley turned into a confrontation with a werewolf pursued by Chet Brian’s giant squid Patronus. The Patronus captured Remus Lupin and summoned him to Hogwarts with news that Peter Pettigrew was alive, while Tonks was left guarding Lupin until dawn.

• Tonks chased a suspicious figure, but a disguised House-elf posing as an old woman burst apart and escaped after warning its master that an Auror was nearby.
• Tonks encountered a werewolf and summoned a silver rabbit Patronus as a giant squid Patronus pursued him through the alley.
• The squid Patronus blocked Tonks’s spell, then caught the werewolf and identified him as Remus Lupin.
• Chet Brian’s Patronus told Lupin that Peter Pettigrew had been found alive and asked him to come to Hogwarts immediately.
• Tonks concealed herself and Lupin, realizing she might have to guard him until dawn, while Brian wondered why his magic was still draining.