Chapter Summaries

Brian met Neville Longbottom’s grandmother and discovered that Neville’s parents, Alice and Frank, were long-term patients at St. Mungo’s after being tortured into insanity. After Alice gave Neville a sweet wrapper without recognizing him, Brian returned to investigate Gilderoy Lockhart’s unusual test results, wondering whether he could help the Longbottoms.

• Brian met Augusta Longbottom at St. Mungo’s and learned she and Neville were visiting Neville’s parents before Hogwarts began.
• Augusta introduced Brian to Neville and Alice, then explained that Alice and Frank had been tortured into insanity by You-Know-Who’s followers.
• Neville protested that he was not ashamed of his parents, while Alice failed to recognize him and gave him a Drooble’s Best Blowing Gum wrapper.
• Augusta explained that Alice’s memory was severely damaged, and Brian wondered whether the Cruciatus Curse had affected her soul or memory.
• Madam Strout summoned Brian back to the examination room because Gilderoy Lockhart’s results were unusual and the Director wanted his account.
• Brian told Neville he would see him at school and privately considered whether he might help Neville’s parents.

Brian proposed combining spells and potions to treat soul damage, and Director Bonham connected him with Severus Snape, who had pursued a similar idea. After learning that Neville and his friends had heard about the Longbottoms, Brian resolved to seek a way to heal Neville’s parents and prepared to discuss it with Dumbledore.

• Brian underwent an examination at St. Mungo’s, then suggested preserving a healing spell’s effects in a potion to treat soul damage.
• Director Bonham said spells could not yet be put into potions and told Brian that Severus Snape had proposed a similar idea.
• Brian decided to visit Snape but realized he did not know where Snape lived, so he went to ask Dumbledore for his address.
• Brian learned that the Longbottoms had passed Dumbledore after he left, and Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Sirius appeared shaken after hearing what had happened to them.
• Brian reflected on Neville’s need for his parents’ love and decided to use Gilderoy Lockhart’s periods of lucidity to seek his help in an attempt to heal the Longbottoms.
• Brian apologized for interrupting Dumbledore and said he had several things he wanted to discuss.

Brian traveled to Spinner's End to visit Snape and encountered Louisa and Dickens trying to rob him with a scam. After Louisa's Legilimency backfired and Brian calmed her, Snape appeared and silently questioned Brian's presence.

• Brian followed the polluted river through Cokeworth to Spinner's End, where he planned to visit Snape.
• Louisa and Dickens blocked Brian's path and tried to rob him by selling cheap jewelry under false pretenses.
• Louisa used her Legilimency on Brian, but he reversed the connection and saw her memories of their hardship and scams.
• Brian cast a Calming Charm on Louisa, vanished Dickens's stick, and gave Louisa restorative chocolate.
• Snape appeared beneath a streetlamp as an enormous bat and raised an eyebrow at Brian.

Brian sought Snape’s cooperation on a potion research project and sent him memories of his work through Legilimency. Snape treated Louisa and demanded that Brian prove his spell-potion technique before agreeing to help.

• Snape cast a Sleeping Spell on Dickens and Louisa, then used Legilimency to probe Brian.
• Brian fed Snape memories of his recent work, including his attempts to incorporate spells into potions.
• Brian noticed Snape’s magical mark on Louisa and questioned why Snape had secretly helped her and Dickens.
• Snape gave Louisa a Mind-Healing Potion and refused to cooperate until Brian demonstrated his technique in person.
• Brian pointed to his memories of Doxy Repellent reacting strangely to an incorporated Cheering Charm as evidence of his experiments.

Brian successfully demonstrated that charms could be incorporated into potions and began cooperating with Snape, who proved the importance of matching a potion to its recipient. At St. Mungo’s, Brian gave Lockhart a potion intended to strengthen his fractured soul and prolong his primary consciousness.

• Brian refined his Doxy Repellent after six failures, then tested his seventh batch on Doxies and confirmed that the charm made them dance before paralysis.
• Snape questioned Brian’s memory and brought two children, including Louisa, to the protected basement where they lived under his quiet watch.
• Brian demonstrated charm-infused potions to Snape, whose Doxies fought after drinking repellent and whose Doxy died after taking a Hiccuping Charm potion.
• Snape warned Brian that potion-recipient incompatibility could be fatal and invoked Neville Longbottom’s parents, prompting Brian to accept their partnership.
• Lockhart awoke at St. Mungo’s choking on the taste of raw meat, then drank a burning potion Brian said would extend the time his primary consciousness remained present.

Brian made Lockhart sign a magical contract to confess his crimes, give away his fortune, and face Azkaban, then tried a potion on the Longbottoms to awaken the hidden parts of their souls. The potion unexpectedly helped Frank and Alice regain consciousness, and Frank urged Neville to summon his grandmother and Brian before the brief clarity faded.

• Brian showed Lockhart his medical certificate and forced him to sign a contract promising public confession, philanthropy, and eventual imprisonment in Azkaban.
• Brian visited the Longbottoms with a special soothing draught made with Dumbledore’s celebration spell, while Mrs. Longbottom tested and gave it to Frank and Alice.
• Frank and Alice fell into unusually peaceful sleep, and Mrs. Longbottom eagerly ordered ten crates of the draught from Brian.
• Neville sang his parents their childhood lullaby, and Alice woke and recognized him as her baby.
• Frank woke with Alice, called Neville by name, and told him to bring Gran and Professor Brian before his consciousness faded.

Frank Longbottom briefly regained lucidity and warned his family and Brian that Voldemort had hidden a Horcrux in a golden cup entrusted to Bellatrix Lestrange. Brian stabilized Frank’s soul and explained that Alice might also recover, while Snape learned the potion would need further adjustments.

• Mrs. Longbottom entered the ward and found Frank lucid, whereupon he warned that Voldemort had made a Horcrux and that Bellatrix had guarded a golden cup containing it.
• Frank explained that he had retained part of his consciousness because he had been too afraid to complete the spell that would erase it, and he thanked Neville, Mrs. Longbottom, and Brian before his soul began to fade.
• Brian gave Frank potions to stabilize his soul and explained that Alice’s scattered memories might be reassembled so she could regain her personality and consciousness.
• Frank asked Neville whether he would help Alice if she woke without remembering him, and Neville promised to tell her about their lives; Frank then lost consciousness again.
• Mrs. Longbottom asked Neville what Brian liked so the family could repay his help, while Snape learned that Brian’s successful potions required adding two more spells and revising the herbal mixture.

Brian told Snape that Voldemort might have made multiple Horcruxes, then went to Dumbledore to discuss the possibility and the Golden Cup. Dumbledore revealed a possible second Horcrux: a glittering diadem bearing Ravenclaw’s emblem.

• Brian told Snape that Voldemort might possess more than one Horcrux, but Snape dismissed the possibility because he did not know the murder ritual protected a soul fragment.
• Brian left Snape to consult Dumbledore about Horcruxes and the Golden Cup.
• Brian found Remus Lupin signing his contract to become Hogwarts’s Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, and congratulated him.
• Lupin thanked Dumbledore for the position and Wolfsbane Potion, then left to collect his teaching materials.
• Brian told Dumbledore what Frank had said about the Golden Cup and asked whether Voldemort might have several Horcruxes.
• Dumbledore took a Ravenclaw diadem from his drawer, suggesting it was another Horcrux.

Snape brewed and stored a lethal poison while preparing for the possibility of another wizarding war. At the Burrow, Harry and Ron relaxed before school, plotted a prank on Malfoy, and were called in for dinner.

• Snape salvaged a failed potion with unusual ingredients and bottled a harmless-looking poison that could kill with one sip.
• Snape planned his next brewing session and considered how to embarrass Harry when school resumed.
• Ron showed Harry Fred and George's Spicy Sneezing Candy, and they discussed using it against Malfoy and his friends.
• Harry and Ron recalled Neville and resolved to defend him if anyone bullied him at school.
• Hermione called Harry and Ron in for dinner, and Ron returned distracted after noticing Hermione's new hairstyle.
• Harry reflected that he and Ron had finished their homework and spent their break eating and playing, as Molly had encouraged.

Brian wondered whether Harry Potter was one of Voldemort’s Horcruxes, given Harry’s Parseltongue and scar, and asked Dumbledore what he believed. Dumbledore said his view was similar to Brian’s and offered to explain his recent research, leaving the question unresolved.

• Dumbledore explained that Bingo’s diary entries led him to find Ravenclaw’s Diadem in the Room of Requirement, where Voldemort had left it without safeguards.
• Brian connected Harry’s Parseltongue, scar, and Snape’s feelings for him to the possibility that Voldemort had made Harry a Horcrux.
• Brian told Dumbledore that his magical intuition gave him no desire to kill Harry and argued that Harry need not die even if he contained Voldemort’s soul.
• Dumbledore admitted he had considered whether Harry was a Horcrux but denied that he had designed the Philosopher’s Stone trials to prepare Harry for death.
• Dumbledore said his current view resembled Brian’s and offered to share the results of his recent research.

Dumbledore explained how Dementors’ collective consciousness could illuminate the links between Horcruxes and Voldemort’s soul, offering a possible way to remove the fragment inside Harry. Brian also realized the findings could improve his and Snape’s soul-repairing potion, and arrived at the Potions Lab as Snape made a breakthrough.

• Dumbledore told Brian that murder left Horcrux soul fragments in a half-living, half-dead state, and described how Dementors restored their souls through a collective consciousness.
• Brian understood that linking Voldemort’s Horcruxes with Harry through Magical Resonance might draw the soul fragment out of Harry.
• Brian suggested asking Bellatrix Lestrange about the Golden Cup, and Dumbledore agreed to handle the prisoner interview.
• Brian recalled that Frank Longbottom’s soul had been repaired because he retained a substantial primary consciousness, and realized the potion could gather memories in stages to reduce risks and memory loss.
• Brian reached the Potions Lab and heard Snape excitedly muttering over a new herbal formula.

Brian and Snape adjusted their soul-healing potion after the previous Beagle remained mostly incapacitated, then treated a third Beagle whose body rapidly shrank and regrew as his soul expelled its impurities. Their successful trial led to an unexpected physical transformation in Gilderoy Lockhart, who appeared as a blond, curly-haired baby.

• Brian and Snape concluded that soul impurities had blocked the second Beagle's recovery and added concentrated Sopophorous Bean Juice to their potion.
• Brian and Snape treated the third Beagle, who expelled white vapor through his nose and ears as his condition stabilized.
• The third Beagle shrank dramatically, then rapidly grew back into a larger, healthier-looking dog before falling asleep.
• Several days later, Brian explained the potion's effects to Madam Strout and Lockhart's Healer during the first clinical trial.
• Gilderoy Lockhart appeared as a blond, curly-haired baby and wailed on the hospital bed.

Neville woke to find his young mother, Alice, teasing him about his height, then discovered that his young father, Frank, had begun remembering his family. As Alice and Frank each questioned how they could have married one another, Neville was left caught between them while Trevor plotted to escape on the journey back to Hogwarts.

• Neville found Alice beside his bed, and she complained that he should stop calling her Mum because she was only a few years old.
• Alice told Neville that Frank had shouted during the night and then sat alone in the sitting room, so Neville hurried to check on him.
• Frank told Neville that he had remembered Augusta was his mother and asked whether he really was Neville’s father.
• Frank protested that he could not have married Alice, while Neville assured him that grown-up Alice matched his ideal of a partner.
• Alice overheard Frank and Neville, returned to Neville’s room, and wondered whether she would really marry Frank.
• Trevor decided he would try to escape through a hole in the train taking Neville to Hogwarts the next day.

Brian accompanied Hermione to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters and helped deal with a Muggle who had been affected by a magical mishap. As the Weasleys and Harry gathered to board the Hogwarts Express, Brian met Sirius and noticed Neville arriving with his family, while revealing that a Muggle friend’s niece named Lovegood was about to attend a remote boarding school.

• Brian used a spell to return a Bowtruckle to a trunk and cast a Calming Charm on a confused Muggle after the platform guard erased his memory.
• Hermione gave Brian a Bowtruckle-flavored chocolate from Ron, and Brian suspected the twins had tampered with it before deciding it tasted like mint.
• Percy complained about the crowded station while Arthur advised him to relax, and Molly reminded Ginny that her brothers should help her at Hogwarts.
• Ron called Harry over, prompting Fred and George to flee toward the barrier, while Ginny hurried off and Percy followed to look after her.
• Harry and Hermione went to find Ron as Brian greeted Sirius and spotted Neville with Mrs. Longbottom and the Longbottoms, who were still children.
• Brian told Sirius about his Muggle friend’s niece, whose surname was Lovegood, and complained that her father Xenophilius was an irresponsible oddball.

Brian smuggled Sirius aboard the Hogwarts Express in his black dog form and encountered the Longbottoms, whose memories had begun returning after their recovery. As the train prepared to leave, Brian ran into Dolores Umbridge, whom Sirius had reason to hate.

• Brian carried Sirius, disguised as a large black dog, through the barrier to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters and boarded the Hogwarts Express.
• Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville spoke with Frank and Alice Longbottom, who explained that their childlike bodies were temporary and hinted that a secret would soon be revealed.
• Brian greeted the Longbottoms, but Sirius stayed in his cage rather than reveal himself to them.
• Brian avoided a guarded entrance, boarded farther down the train, and walked toward the staff carriages with Sirius.
• Brian came face-to-face with Dolores Umbridge and hoped Sirius would control his anger at her.

Umbridge tried to recruit Brian into her Ministry-backed reforms at Hogwarts, offering him money and influence in exchange for supporting her. Brian questioned her plan, and their conversation ended in chaos when Neville's toad Trevor leapt onto Umbridge's face.

• Sirius fell asleep in his cage, and Brian moved it to an empty compartment before joining Umbridge.
• Umbridge told Brian she had been appointed Hogwarts High Inquisitor and temporary deputy headmistress, and offered him a Ministry title and six hundred Galleons a month to support her reforms.
• Umbridge said she wanted Hogwarts students to focus on theory and written exams rather than practical magic, while threatening to remove professors of subjects she considered unnecessary.
• Brian challenged the idea of eliminating practical lessons and stopped Umbridge from going after the student shouting in the corridor.
• Umbridge opened the compartment door and found Neville holding Trevor; Trevor leapt onto her face and clung to her while Brian used a Stabilizing Charm to keep her from falling.

Brian discovered that Trevor’s potion-tainted mucus had put Umbridge into a hallucination, then reassured Neville and left to get chocolate while Umbridge slept. Meanwhile, two hired supervisors prepared to guide Dementors toward the Hogwarts Express, and one revealed that his daughter was aboard and planned to limit the danger to the students.

• Trevor’s mucus caused Umbridge to hallucinate, and Brian examined her, rescued Trevor, and assured Neville that Umbridge would recover after sleeping.
• Neville explained that Trevor had fallen into a potion cauldron by accident and admitted he had been careless, so Brian encouraged him to improve Trevor’s care and think about whether to keep him.
• Neville left the compartment, and Brian found Neville’s wand, then went to buy chocolate to keep Umbridge quiet and asleep.
• Two cloaked figures discussed their role in supervising the Dementors Umbridge had hired to attack the Hogwarts Express, and the wizard admitted his twelve-year-old daughter was aboard.
• The wizard said he would send the Dementors toward the train’s staff and Umbridge, keeping them from entering the student compartments, and asked the witch not to stop him.

On the Hogwarts Express, Ginny Weasley and Luna Lovegood bonded over Ginny’s romantic worries before Luna sensed a dangerous presence outside their compartment. In another carriage, Hermione showed Ron and Harry a real spell to turn rats yellow, while Ron noticed a dark figure outside the train.

• Ginny Weasley spoke with Luna Lovegood, who guessed that Ginny was troubled by romance but mistakenly thought Ginny liked one of her brothers.
• Luna warned Ginny not to reveal the name of the person she liked because Nargles might carry it to him, and Ginny felt calmer after talking with her.
• Luna knocked Ginny down and warned that something dangerous was approaching as the train slowed, the compartment grew cold and dark, and a black face appeared at the window.
• Hermione showed Harry and Ron a rat and explained that she had learned a real spell to turn rats yellow, but Ron reacted miserably.
• Ron told Harry and Hermione that Dementors, Boggarts, and rats were among the things he hated, then spotted a dark figure outside the train.

A witch betrayed and killed a wizard while arranging for Dementors to attack the Hogwarts Express, where Harry, Hermione, and Ron faced one in their compartment. Brian rescued them, but a hidden assailant then cast the Killing Curse at him.

• The witch mocked the dead wizard, revealed her plan to return to the Dark Lord with Harry Potter's blood, and led a Dementor toward the train's rear compartments.
• A Dementor attacked Ron, forcing him to relive painful memories; Harry tried to repel it with the Patronus Charm while Hermione pulled Ron away and broke her wand.
• Harry's Patronus weakened, but Brian's powerful silver mist and tentacles restrained the Dementor and dragged it out of the compartment.
• Brian gave Ron chocolate and reassured Harry and Hermione, then wondered how a Dementor had reached the train's protected route.
• An unseen attacker shouted "Avada Kedavra!" and green light flashed above Brian.

A witch’s Killing Curse rebounded and killed her while she ambushed Professor Brian on the Hogwarts Express, and Brian suspected more attackers were aboard. Sirius Black woke to find a Dementor threatening Umbridge and drove it off, only for the Giant Squid Patronus to capture it outside the train.

• A witch attacked Professor Brian with Avada Kedavra, but he reflected the curse and killed her, while Hermione and Harry reacted in shock.
• Brian secured the witch’s body and questioned students, then learned from an oddly dressed girl that another Dementor had headed toward the front of the train.
• Sirius Black woke in his cage, sensed a Dementor nearby, transformed into a human, and summoned a Patronus.
• Sirius found a Dementor about to Kiss Umbridge and used his Patronus to knock it away from her.
• The Dementor fled through a window, but the Giant Squid Patronus caught and wrapped it outside the train.