Recaps

At the Yule Ball, Harry and Qiu discussed the powerful blond man who wanted to meet Harry, while Harry remained unsure whether to approach him or seek help. Harry also watched the other guests and ended the chapter excitedly noticing Sirius arriving with Professor Babbling.

• After dancing with Xilieikesi, Harry returned to Qiu, and she asked whether Xilieikesi knew something about the blond man watching them.
• Harry told Qiu the man had asked to speak with him, and he worried the meeting might be connected to the Wooden Box and the deity.
• Qiu declined another Durmstrang boy's invitation to dance, while Ron and Lavender returned from the dance floor and Ron asked whether Xilieikesi wanted clues about the Second Task.
• Harry explained that he and his friends had been unable to open the Golden Egg and planned to stay at Hogwarts over Christmas to investigate it.
• Sirius entered the Great Hall beside Professor Babbling, and Harry eagerly wondered whether they would dance together.

During the Christmas holidays, Harry and his friends spent time in the Library, where they noticed Krum seeking out Hermione and learned more about how Durmstrang kept its location secret. The chapter left Ron delighted by Krum’s promised souvenirs, while the Second Task still had no leads.

• Ron told Harry that Krum seemed to like Hermione, and the group discussed how often Krum came to read with her.
• Ron asked Krum for souvenirs, and Krum promised to give him a national team uniform.
• Harry and Ron questioned Krum about Durmstrang, but Krum said he did not know its exact location.
• Krum explained that Durmstrang brought students directly to the school through magical means, and that only its headmaster knew where it was.

Hermione, Harry, and Ron read a Daily Prophet story claiming Hermione had turned all four Triwizard Champions’ heads, though Hermione cared more about how good she looked in its photograph. Their amusement faded when they found another report later in the paper.

• Hermione complained that the Daily Prophet’s front-page story about her and the Champions was unreliable.
• Harry and Ron objected to being described as infatuated with Hermione, while Ron enjoyed the praise Rita Skeeter gave him for the First Task.
• Hermione admitted the article was nonsense but was pleased that the photograph showed her looking beautiful.
• Harry, Ron, and Hermione found another report farther back in the newspaper and became unhappy.

Harry, Ron, and their friends failed to open the Golden Eggs containing the Second Task’s clues, while Ginny’s jealousy over Harry’s devotion to Cho deepened. The chapter left Ginny resisting Black Ginny’s schemes as she continued to hope Harry might love her.

• Harry, Ron, and their friends tried spells and other methods to open the Golden Eggs, but neither egg was damaged or opened.
• Harry and Ron decided not to ask the professors for help until they understood the Second Task, and Dean revealed that their friends wanted to help the Champions themselves.
• Ginny’s hopes for Harry faded as she saw him remain devoted to Cho and keep his distance from other girls.
• Ginny rejected Black Ginny’s suggestion to jinx Cho and stopped communicating with her for a week.

Mafalda suggested that the Golden Egg might need to be kept in fire for a long time, like a Dragon egg hatching, and Ginny brought the idea to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. They left Harry’s egg in the Common Room fireplace as the chapter ended, while Ron asked Hermione about Krum and teased her about the newspapers’ claims.

• Ginny told Mafalda about the Golden Egg, and Mafalda suggested burning it for longer because Dragon eggs needed sustained heat to hatch.
• Ginny realized she had only tried burning the egg for a few minutes and hurried to tell Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
• Harry tossed his Golden Egg into the Common Room fireplace, and the group went about their business while it heated.
• Ron asked Hermione whether Krum had made progress, and Hermione said she barely knew him.
• Ron pointed out that the papers claimed Krum was in love with Hermione, and Hermione asked whether Ron was in love with her too.

Harry and his friends opened the golden egg and found a motionless golden dragon statue instead of a written clue. Hermione suspected the dragon’s unfamiliar appearance was the clue, and Harry suggested asking Hagrid, leaving them with a reason to visit him.

• Harry roasted the golden egg, cooled it with Aguamenti, and removed a small golden dragon statue from inside.
• Harry, Ron, and Seamus examined the statue but could not discover what it meant.
• Hermione suggested that the dragon’s unfamiliar appearance might be the clue.
• Harry proposed asking Hagrid about the dragon, and Hermione recognized that the visit could also let them check how he was doing.

Harry and Ron visited Hagrid to ask about their Golden Eggs, but kept the solution secret because Hagrid was close to Madame Maxime. Hagrid identified their hatched dragons and Hermione shared what she knew about the rare breeds, leaving Harry wondering how that information would help with the Second Task.

• Hermione stopped Ron from revealing how they had opened the Golden Eggs, and Hagrid understood why they were being cautious.
• Ron explained that he was reluctant to talk freely with Bill because Bill had grown close to Fleur Delacour.
• Hagrid examined the little dragons and identified Ron's as a Tuareg Sand-Breathing Dragon, while he guessed Harry's was a Blue Thornback Dragon.
• Hermione described the two rare dragon breeds, and Hagrid praised her knowledge while noting it was mostly theoretical.
• Harry asked how knowing the dragons' breeds would help them with the Second Task.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione brought the little dragons to life and discovered runes hidden on one dragon’s belly. The runic phrase was too advanced for them to decipher, so Hermione suggested asking Professor McGonagall for help.

• Harry, Ron, and Hermione placed the little dragons in jars of water and sand, and both dragons came alive and changed color.
• Harry and Ron played with the dragons before noticing that the scales on one dragon’s belly looked unusual.
• Harry and Hermione recognized patterns on the dragon’s belly as runes, while Ron left the deciphering to them.
• Hermione copied the runes, but she and Harry could not determine the phrase’s pronunciation or meaning.
• Hermione suggested asking Professor McGonagall for advice because the runes used advanced vocabulary.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione brought the runes from the Sand-Breathing Dragon to Professor McGonagall, who helped them decipher the clue. Harry triggered the dragon and received another parchment, leaving the group with three unusual runic spells to interpret.

• Harry, Ron, and Hermione asked Professor McGonagall and the other professors for help understanding the runes they had copied from the little dragon.
• Professor McGonagall identified the runes as the names of the two little dragons and taught Harry and Hermione how to understand and pronounce them.
• Harry recited the phrase to his Sand-Breathing Dragon, which opened its mouth and spat out a roll of parchment.
• Harry and Ron found three more runic phrases on the parchment and handed it to Professor McGonagall.
• Professor McGonagall recognized the phrases as three specialized spells and invited Harry and Hermione to work out their general meaning.

Harry and Ron enjoyed the Christmas holidays after deciphering the Second Task clue, then returned to Hogwarts as the task approached. Harry learned that Slughorn favored several champions and discovered that a new professor had taken over Care of Magical Creatures.

• Harry and Ron remained confident that they had solved the Second Task clue, while Hermione agreed that its obscure layers would have challenged even advanced students.
• Harry enjoyed the rest of the holidays with Cho Chang, and students returning to Hogwarts eagerly asked him and Ron about their preparations.
• Slughorn discussed the Second Task with his fifth-year students and said he had confidence in Harry and Ron, while showing particular interest in Krum, Xilieikesi, and Corvinus.
• Harry and his classmates discovered during Care of Magical Creatures that an elderly, short-haired witch had replaced their professor.

Professor Grubbly-Plank taught the fourth years about a unicorn, while Harry worried about Hagrid’s absence. Draco taunted Harry and Ron with news that Hagrid might be sacked, leaving them to face the possibility that their friend would lose his teaching position.

• Professor Grubbly-Plank showed the fourth years a unicorn, and the girls got to stroke it while the boys watched from a distance.
• Harry decided to visit Hagrid after class because he was worried about why Hagrid had been replaced.
• Draco mocked Harry and Ron over Hagrid’s absence and claimed the Board of Governors would sack him.
• Harry, Ron, and other students reacted unhappily to Draco’s taunt, while Hermione ignored his jabs about the newspaper article.

Hagrid explained that he would continue teaching Care of Magical Creatures alongside Professor Grubbly-Plank, as the subject would expand and become compulsory for younger students next year. After Harry and his friends complained about Hagrid's failure to tell them, they returned to the castle and found Cedric waiting for them.

• Hagrid explained that Care of Magical Creatures would become Magical Creature Care and Research, with Professor Grubbly-Plank joining him and younger students taking two compulsory lessons a week.
• Harry, Ron, and their friends complained that Hagrid had made them worry by forgetting to explain the changes, and Hagrid apologized.
• Hermione grumbled that the confusion had distracted her from the previous lesson and kept her from petting the unicorn.
• Harry and his friends spotted Cedric waiting outside the Great Hall, and Ron teased him about waiting for his pen pal.
• Cedric blushed and said he was waiting for Harry and the others, not Qianqian.

Harry and Ron had given Cedric the first layer of the Golden Egg's clue, while the Champions from other schools worked to solve the remaining stages. On the morning of the Second Task, Harry and Ron felt nervous despite their preparation as rare sunshine brightened Hogwarts.

• Harry and Ron told Cedric how to solve the first layer of the Golden Egg's secret.
• Harry observed that Ilvermorny and Durmstrang seemed to have deciphered the next clue, while the other schools' progress remained uncertain.
• Harry noticed Julianne Sirtute and the Durmstrang students looking nervous ahead of the task, while Krum was absent with a cold.
• Harry and Ron spent the days before the Second Task practicing the three spells they had learned from the clue.
• Saturday arrived with unusually clear weather, and Harry and Ron felt nervous as the competition approached.

Bagman explained that the Second Task would test cooperation as champions crossed the Black Lake by boat, stopping at five islands to find equipment and clues before bringing task items to the castle dock. He announced that Beauxbatons and Hogwarts, tied for first place, would be the first pairs to start.

• Harry and Ron saw seven two-person boats waiting at the dock and realized the champions might have to row.
• Krum and the champions from Nagudinnaf, Nanyang Magic School, and Castelobruxo appeared confident about rowing, while several champions from other schools felt less prepared.
• Bagman explained that the task involved crossing the lake, visiting five Small Reef Islands, finding equipment and clues, and bringing task items to the castle dock.
• Shen Yalan asked what the equipment and task items were, but Bagman said the champions would have to discover that themselves.
• Bagman announced that pairs would start three minutes apart according to their schools' combined scores, with Beauxbatons and Hogwarts tied for first and scheduled to leave first.

Harry and Ron struggled to row across the Black Lake until Ron realized they could use magic, and they enchanted their boat to speed ahead. Meanwhile, the second wave of champions set off as Bagman commentated from the Hogwarts shore.

• Harry and Ron grew tired from rowing and worried they could not keep up their pace across the lake.
• Ron noticed that Bagman had not forbidden magic, and Harry agreed they could use spells to propel their boat.
• Harry cast a Levitation Charm on the boat, and Ron released a Shockwave behind it to drive them forward.
• Krum and Stuart, and Yi Qianqian and Lei Kaiming, set off in the second wave while Bagman praised their rowing on the Viewing Screens.

Harry and Ron used magic to speed their boat across the Black Lake and reached a floating island with locked chests. Unable to open one, they hauled it aboard and continued with their lead intact.

• Harry and Ron used their wands to propel their boat past the other teams and around a cliff.
• Harry and Ron found a floating island with seven chests marked with dragon pictures and chose one bearing a Blue Thornback Dragon.
• Harry tried Alohomora, the Light Saber Charm, and fire, but none opened or damaged the chest.
• Ron urged Harry not to waste time, so Harry and Ron carried the heavy chest onto their boat and prepared to keep moving.

Harry and Ron opened the magical chest by speaking the Blue Thornback Dragon’s name in Ancient Runes, then discarded it to lighten their boat. As Nanyang Magic School closed in and the other teams raced toward the floating island, Hogwarts remained in the lead.

• Ron noticed that Nanyang Magic School’s boat was gaining speed, while Harry said their Champions had likely figured out how to propel their boat with magic.
• Ron suggested the dragon design might be the key to the chest, and Harry spoke the Blue Thornback Dragon’s name in Ancient Runes to open it.
• Harry emptied the chest and threw it into the lake, making the Hogwarts boat lighter and faster.
• Carlos Blanco and Qin Gardner of Castelobruxo set off as the Ilvermorny team waited, while Corvinus rowed alone and began closing on Beauxbatons.
• Bagman reported that Durmstrang had overtaken Beauxbatons and reached the first floating island, where Krum struggled to open the chest.
• Bagman announced that Harry was the first to open a chest, then joked that the discarded chest might hit the Giant Squid.

Harry and Ron left Yi Qianqian and Lei Kaiming to recover their sunken chest after stealing its contents. Yi Qianqian worked out how the chest might be opened, and Lei Kaiming retrieved it, while the Durmstrang champions arrived and learned what Harry had done.

• Harry and Ron sped toward the next floating island after taking the contents of Yi Qianqian and Lei Kaiming's chest.
• Yi Qianqian guessed that speaking the dragon's true name in Ancient Runes might open the chest, and Lei Kaiming used a bubble-like spell to dive into the Black Lake.
• Lei Kaiming found the chest, but his attempt to open it with Ancient Runes failed, so he used the clue spells to lighten it and carried it back up.
• Julianne Sirtute and Krum arrived at the island and found Yi Qianqian alone beside the empty chest.
• Yi Qianqian told the Durmstrang champions how Harry had taken the chest's contents but kept quiet about their own discoveries.

Nagudinnaf, Beauxbatons, and Castelobruxo began using magic to speed their boats, prompting Nanyang Magic School to do the same. At the second Floating Island, Sturt concealed that the chests had been pushed into the water, hoping to delay her rivals.

• Horton and Shen Yalan used a current-making spell to propel Nagudinnaf past Castelobruxo and Beauxbatons.
• Beauxbatons and Castelobruxo used magic to accelerate their boats, though neither caught Nagudinnaf.
• Lei Kaiming and Yi Qianqian left the second Floating Island, and Nanyang Magic School suddenly sped away with magic.
• Meng and the others found Sturt alone beside an open chest, while Krum and Jacob were still approaching.
• Sturt claimed the chest had been open when she arrived, concealing that the magical chests were underwater.

The Champions realized the chest was underwater, and Krum retrieved it while Sturt used magic to speed their boat across the lake. At the second floating island, Meng Yuchen transformed into an orca and plunged into the water to retrieve the next chest.

• Julianne Sirtute cleaned and warmed Krum after he emerged with the chest, and he hurriedly dressed under the gazes of Gardner and Shen Yalan.
• Sturt used magic to propel her boat, explained the other teams were doing the same, and sped away with Krum.
• Corvinus admitted he was not capable of going underwater, and Meng Yuchen volunteered to retrieve the chest.
• Meng Yuchen leaped into the lake and transformed into an orca, astonishing the Champions from Castelobruxo and Nagudinnaf.

Harry and Ron reached the fifth floating island and identified the chests’ contents as parts for a pair of magic puppets, though a central bearing was still missing. Harry pushed the last chest into the lake before Lei Kaiming could stop him, leaving Nanyang Magic School behind as its champions retrieved it.

• Harry and Ron reached the fifth floating island, where Ron recognized the collected objects as parts for a pair of magic puppets shaped like an unusual dragon.
• Ron explained that they could not assemble the puppets because the central bearing was missing.
• Harry pushed the final chest into the lake just before Lei Kaiming could get within striking range.
• Lei Kaiming cursed Harry, while Yi Qianqian urged him to stop wasting time; Lei then entered the water to retrieve the chest.
• Spectators watched the setback, and the narration described how wizarding status depended on strength and family reputation.

Harry and Ron assembled the magical automaton while Nanyang Magic School’s champions struggled with the pieces. Ron’s skill impressed the spectators, who learned that he was already highly sought after as a Quidditch keeper.

• Professor McGonagall saw Lei Kaiming push the remaining box into the lake, and Principal Li Jinglong looked awkward as spectators laughed.
• Harry and Ron worked together to assemble the automaton, with Harry following Ron’s instructions.
• Ron quickly assembled a rough form while the Nanyang Magic School champions struggled to fit the pieces together.
• Spectators recognized Ron Weasley’s knowledge of magical automata and discussed recruiting him.
• Allen Xilieikesi explained that European Quidditch clubs were pursuing Ron as a keeper, and others recalled his flying in the First Task.

Harry and Ron completed their Magical Automaton, which transformed into a dragon suited for underwater travel and revealed an opening in its back. Meanwhile, Nagudinnaf's Champions could not finish their automaton because they lacked the parts from a box they could not open, and they were refused help by rival schools.

• Nagudinnaf's Champions discovered they could not open one box because Shen Yalan had failed to obtain the corresponding Golden Egg and learn the dragon's true name in Runes.
• Horton and Shen Yalan asked Corvinus and Jean Gardner to trade boxes, but both Champions refused.
• Harry followed Ron's instructions as they assembled their Magical Automaton, while Nanyang Magic School continued to struggle with its build.
• Harry and Ron finished the automaton, and Ron used a spell to transform it into a blue, underwater dragon.
• The dragon plunged into the water, surfaced with an opening in its back, and Harry climbed inside after Ron wondered if they were meant to enter.

Harry and Ron retrieved the golden Seashell from the Giant Squid and became the first team to finish the Second Task. As they waited at the finish, Ilvermorny’s Corvinus and Meng set off as the next team.

• The Giant Squid handed Harry and Ron a golden Seashell, which the Strange Dragon carried back to Harry.
• Harry and Ron reached the finish first and realized the spectators had watched everything they did on the screens.
• Harry asked the Tournament Committee if he could keep the Strange Dragon as a souvenir, but the committee refused.
• Ilvermorny became the second team to set off, with Corvinus rowing alone fast enough for Meng to relax.

Beauxbatons recovered from its slow start and finished its Magical Automaton in third place, while the other schools continued the task. Nagudinnaf remained stuck with missing parts, leaving their chances in the Tournament in doubt.

• Elizabeth Xilieikesi and Fleur Delacour assembled Beauxbatons’ Magical Automaton and entered it, earning Madame Maxime’s approval.
• Harry teased the Beauxbatons Champions about the Giant Squid, then flirted with Qiu while Hermione noticed Ron and Lavender sitting close together.
• Nanyang Magic School finished fourth, and the Beauxbatons Champions reached the Giant Squid, where Delacour screamed in fright.
• The Champions from Ilvermorny, Beauxbatons, and Nanyang Magic School reached the finish, and Krum and Sturt completed Durmstrang’s automaton next.
• Castelobruxo neared completion, but Nagudinnaf remained unable to open its box after missing parts and clues from the First Task.