Recaps

After Harry escaped Voldemort, the Dark Lord spared the Death Eaters from punishment and questioned them about the strange magic that had let Harry hold him at bay. None of them knew what had happened, and Voldemort turned his attention to Dismask, still wary of him and the organization behind him.

• The Death Eaters watched as Voldemort reappeared, while Lucius Malfoy remained covered in magically transformed hair.
• Dismask explained that he had not intervened because Voldemort would have wanted to fight Harry alone, and Voldemort praised him as an important ally.
• Voldemort rebuked the Death Eaters for interfering, and they apologized without voicing their doubts about his ability to defeat Harry.
• Voldemort did not punish the Death Eaters and asked whether anyone understood how Harry had matched his magic, but no one could explain it.
• Voldemort regarded Dismask and remained suspicious of him and the organization that had helped him.

Harry told the gathered wizards that Voldemort and Peter were alive and had killed Horton and Weir Hallen. Moody exposed Umbridge’s suspicious behavior, and when she tried to flee as black smoke, Dumbledore stopped her.

• Harry insisted that Voldemort and Peter had returned and said they had killed Horton and Nagudinnaf’s headmaster, Weir Hallen.
• Umbridge called Harry a liar and tried to seize him, but Moody’s spell burned her hand.
• Moody questioned Umbridge’s calm reaction to Voldemort’s name and spotted a flask in her bag.
• When Umbridge reached for the flask, she transformed into black smoke and shot upward to escape.
• Dumbledore raised his hand and trapped the black smoke against an invisible barrier.

Harry and the Hogwarts staff captured Barty Crouch Jr., who revealed how his father had smuggled him out of Azkaban years earlier. He explained that he escaped his father's control at the Quidditch World Cup, leaving his next actions uncertain.

• Moody urged Bagman to end the tournament business, while Dumbledore brought Harry and the immobilized Barty Crouch Jr. into the castle.
• Sirius and Lupin secured Barty Crouch Jr. in a restrained chair, and Dumbledore questioned him about his supposed death in Azkaban.
• Barty Crouch Jr. revealed that his father had used Polyjuice Potion to exchange him with his dying mother and secretly free him from Azkaban.
• Barty Crouch Jr. said his father had controlled him with the Imperius Curse until he developed resistance to it.
• At the Quidditch World Cup, Barty Crouch Jr. used an Invisibility Cloak and Winky's confusion to escape her watch.

Barty Crouch Jr. revealed how he manipulated the Triwizard Tournament to help Harry reach the Magic Cup, then learned that Voldemort had returned. He described killing and controlling his father, while Dumbledore and the others recognized Dismask as the blond-haired man involved in Voldemort’s resurrection.

• Harry realized Barty Crouch Jr. was describing Dismask, and learned that Crouch and Peter had abandoned their plan to impersonate Moody and instead impersonated Umbridge.
• Barty Crouch Jr. explained how he had planted clues and removed obstacles throughout the Triwizard Tournament to help Harry and the other Hogwarts champions succeed.
• Barty Crouch Jr. revealed that he had added Portkey magic to the Magic Cup and asked Harry whether Voldemort had returned to life.
• Harry recounted Voldemort’s resurrection, and Dumbledore recognized that the ritual had been modified to use hair from an ally.
• Dumbledore and the others identified the blond-haired man as Dismask, and Barty Crouch Jr. described how he had secretly influenced and eventually used the Imperius Curse on his father.

Dumbledore explained that Harry and Voldemort’s brother wands, both made with feathers from Fawkes, had caused the echoes of the dead to appear. The discussion left Sirius disappointed about whether Peter had truly returned to life, and McGonagall and Sprout arrived in a fury.

• Harry asked Dumbledore about the golden thread that had appeared between the wands.
• Dumbledore revealed that Harry and Voldemort’s wands both contained feathers from Fawkes and explained how brother wands could produce echoes of people their owners had killed.
• Dumbledore said the figures in Harry’s memory were not truly resurrected souls, leaving Sirius to question what had happened to Peter.
• Dumbledore said Voldemort had never died and had only regained a body capable of moving after remaining alive in a degraded state.
• McGonagall and Sprout hurried into the room, and Harry saw that McGonagall was furious.

After Fudge rejected Harry’s account of Voldemort’s return and dismissed Dumbledore’s proposals, Dumbledore sought help from trusted Ministry contacts. Arthur Weasley arrived with Molly and Amos Diggory as Dumbledore prepared to tell Amos the truth.

• Harry asked whether showing Fudge his memories could convince him, but Dumbledore explained that memories could be altered and were not reliable evidence.
• Fudge left after refusing to believe Harry and Dumbledore, leaving Harry’s thousand-Galleon prize money behind.
• Dumbledore feared Fudge would reject his proposals to reduce the Dementors’ control of Azkaban and improve relations with the giants.
• Moody suggested that Arthur Weasley could still be trusted at the Ministry, and Arthur arrived with Molly and Amos Diggory.
• Dumbledore told Amos that what he was about to hear might be difficult to believe, but was true.

Daphne took Sirius, Lupin, Harry, and Hermione with Kreacher to the seaside cave where Voldemort had hidden a Horcrux. The group arrived at the site, while the story revealed Regulus's fate and the secret Kreacher had been ordered to keep.

• Daphne asked Kreacher to take her and the others to a place he remembered, and he agreed.
• Kreacher Apparated Daphne, Sirius, Lupin, Harry, and Hermione together to a rocky reef out at sea.
• The group recognized the dark cliffside as the place where Voldemort had hidden a Horcrux.
• Daphne's memories revealed that Regulus had replaced the Horcrux, entrusted it to Kreacher, and died after drinking the poison guarding it.
• Regulus had ordered Kreacher not to tell his family what happened, so Sirius could not recover his brother's body for burial.

Daphne and her companions entered the cave where Voldemort had hidden a Horcrux, while the chapter explained the flaws in Voldemort’s knowledge and the Horcruxes he had created. Daphne exposed the concealed entrance, leaving the group ready to continue inside.

• The chapter explained that Voldemort’s fragmented soul destabilized his emotions and that he had made six Horcruxes, while the fragment in Harry had been accidental.
• Daphne planned to recover Voldemort’s stolen body after mastering the Tower Chapters and teaching them to Harry, Neville, and the others.
• Daphne, Harry, Sirius, Lupin, and Kreacher followed the rocks to the cave and found the concealed stone wall.
• Daphne used a silver rune pattern to reveal the outline of the hidden doorway, but the light faded before the group could enter.

Daphne, Harry, Hermione, Sirius, and Lupin opened Voldemort’s hidden cave entrance using the blood of a magical fish. Inside, they discovered a vast underground lake, and Harry explained how Voldemort could have sustained the magic that expanded the cavern.

• Kreacher explained that the cave wall opened only when enough blood was spread across it, and Daphne proposed using a fish instead of their own blood.
• Daphne smeared ordinary fish blood on the wall, but it failed; magical fish blood revealed and opened an archway.
• Lupin led the group through the passage with Sirius guarding the rear, and they emerged into a cavern containing an enormous black lake.
• Daphne cast a spell that lit the cavern, but the lake’s far end remained out of sight.
• Lupin questioned how Voldemort had maintained the cavern’s space-expanding magic, and Harry explained that the Tower Chapters described drawing power from nature to sustain seals.

Harry, Hermione, Sirius, Lupin, and Daphne saw a giant three-headed snake break through the ice on the lake and suspected it was an Inferius Runespoor created by Voldemort. With a dangerous creature lurking beneath the water, they searched for a way to proceed, but Daphne could not find the boat Kreacher had mentioned.

• Harry and the others watched a huge, three-headed snake smash through the lake ice.
• Lupin explained that a Runespoor could grow unusually large if a Parseltongue prevented its heads from fighting.
• Harry said he could no longer speak Parseltongue, and Daphne reasoned that the snake was likely an Inferius Runespoor.
• Hermione asked what they should do while the lake surface settled over the creature below.
• Daphne searched for the boat Kreacher had mentioned but could not find it.

The group crossed the frozen lake and found a stone basin filled with glowing green liquid. After Hermione discovered that the basin refilled itself, Lupin suspected Voldemort had designed it to force anyone who reached it to drink.

• Hermione froze the lake, and the group crossed the ice without incident until they reached a rocky island.
• The group found an emerald-green liquid in a stone basin at the island's center.
• Lupin and Sirius failed to penetrate the liquid's surface with their wand and Sword Beam Charm, and Harry's spells also had no effect.
• Hermione used a small cup to scoop up the liquid, but the basin refilled itself whenever she poured it away.
• Lupin concluded that Voldemort had designed the basin to make whoever reached it drink, and Kreacher spoke up.

Daphne and the others retrieved the locket from the cave by outsmarting the potion’s magic. The locket revealed Regulus Black’s message, confirming he had stolen the real Horcrux, while Sirius and Kreacher grieved over Regulus’s sacrifice.

• Daphne and the others discovered that the potion could not be poured away or transferred between multiple cups.
• Daphne suggested feeding the potion to an Inferius, then used Transfiguration to reshape a cup and scoop all the potion out at once.
• Sirius retrieved the locket from the basin, and Lupin detected traces of a Transfiguration Spell on it.
• Lupin used Aparecium to reveal the locket’s true appearance, and Sirius recognized it as a family trinket like the pendant he carried.
• Lupin unfolded Regulus’s note, which said that Regulus had stolen the real Horcrux and intended to destroy it.
• Harry, Hermione, and Lupin silently sighed as Sirius’s eyes reddened and Kreacher sobbed.

After Voldemort returned, Harry found that most Hogwarts students believed him, while the Ministry of Magic denied the danger and wizards began disappearing. Harry stayed at Privet Drive under Dumbledore’s orders, waiting for Mr. Weasley or Sirius to collect him.

• Ron and the other Gryffindors worried after Harry told them Voldemort had returned, and Dumbledore confirmed it at the end-of-term feast.
• Harry noticed that Slytherin students reacted to the news with complicated expressions rather than open fear or surprise.
• Harry returned to Privet Drive and learned that he could visit Weasley Manor only near the end of the holidays.
• Harry kept in touch with Ron and the others by telephone, while he and Qiu remained unable to meet.
• The Ministry of Magic dismissed reports of missing wizards and denied Voldemort’s return as Harry waited at Privet Drive for Mr. Weasley or Sirius.

Harry and Dudley were confronted by a hostile wizard who trapped them inside a powerful Confundus Charm and demanded to know where Horton and Lord Weir Hallen had gone. The wizard’s question left Harry realizing that the man was looking for someone other than Voldemort.

• Harry recognized that the ordinary-looking wizard approaching him was dangerous, though he could not remember where he had seen him.
• Harry told Dudley to leave, but the wizard prevented him from escaping with a high-level Confundus Charm.
• Harry realized the charm confused all their senses and that he could not break it or carry out his plan to escape.
• Harry warned the wizard that attacking a Muggle violated Ministry of Magic law, but the man dismissed the law.
• The wizard demanded that Harry reveal where Horton and Lord Weir Hallen had gone, and Harry recognized the names.

Harry confronted Dikin over the deaths of Weir Hallen and Horton, then fought him to prevent him from examining Harry’s memories. The fight continued as Harry cut through Dikin’s conjured vines with a Sword Beam.

• Harry hid his connection to Meng Sies’s death and told Dikin that Voldemort’s followers had killed Horton and Dismask had killed Weir Hallen.
• Dikin refused to believe Harry and demanded to examine his memories.
• Harry and Dikin exchanged spells, with Harry dodging Dikin’s Disarming Charm and firing a Stunning Spell that Dikin deflected.
• Dikin conjured vines to attack Harry, but Harry cut them all down with a golden Sword Beam.

Dudley’s chokehold failed to subdue Dikin, who used a Fire-Making Spell to force him off before Harry knocked Dikin unconscious. Harry and Dudley bound Dikin and went to Mrs. Figg’s house to ask her to handle the situation.

• Dudley pinned Dikin with a chokehold, but Dikin’s magical protection kept him from being injured by the earlier throw.
• Dikin conjured flames on his body, startling Dudley into releasing him.
• Harry cut through the vines restraining him and struck Dikin with the Sword Beam Charm, knocking him unconscious.
• Harry took Dikin’s wand, bound him with vines, and left him behind while he and Dudley went to find Mrs. Figg.
• Harry and Dudley arrived at Mrs. Figg’s house and found her knitting beside her sleeping kittens.

Harry and Dudley encountered Dementors near their home, and Harry destroyed both with his lion Patronus. He picked up a finger-bone-like object dropped by one of them, resembling something he had found during his third year.

• Harry explained to Dudley that the strange man they had found had likely had his soul sucked out by a Dementor.
• Harry realized Dementors should not have been outside Azkaban and wondered why they had appeared nearby.
• Two Dementors flew toward Harry and Dudley, and Harry shielded Dudley before casting Expecto Patronum.
• Harry's lion Patronus destroyed both Dementors as they tried to flee.
• Harry picked up a cold, finger-bone-like object that had fallen from one of the Dementors.

Harry received notice that the Ministry had expelled him for using a Patronus in front of a Muggle and ordered him to attend a hearing. Suspecting the Ministry had arranged the Dementor attack to discredit him, he returned to his room, where Dobby delivered a letter from Arthur Weasley.

• A Ministry notice accused Harry of underage magic, expelled him from Hogwarts, and summoned him to a hearing on August twelfth.
• Harry suspected the Ministry had set him up by arranging the Dementor attack to undermine his claim that Voldemort had returned.
• Petunia let Harry return to his room and stopped Dudley from following him.
• Dobby appeared in Harry's room, and Harry reassured him that he was not angry about the elf startling him.
• Dobby gave Harry a letter from Arthur Weasley.

Harry learned that Dumbledore and Sirius would support him at his upcoming hearing and stayed at his aunt and uncle’s house for protection. On August eleventh, Dobby took him and his luggage to Weasley Manor with Moody.

• Harry called Qiu, who supported him and advised him to stay at his aunt's house, then hung up when he became cheeky.
• Hermione told Harry that Ron had already informed her about his situation, and she said Dumbledore would resolve the matter at the hearing.
• Kreacher delivered Sirius's letter promising that he and Dumbledore would attend the hearing, and Harry sent Sirius a reassuring reply.
• Harry remained on Privet Drive, where his mother's protection was strongest.
• Dobby and Moody checked Harry's room for surveillance magic, then Dobby transported Harry and his luggage to Weasley Manor.

Harry arrived at Sirius's house, which had become the Order of the Phoenix's headquarters, and reunited with Hermione and Ron. Worried about his upcoming hearing, he slept poorly, woke before six, and found several adults already up in the sitting room.

• Sirius explained that Grimmauld Place was sealed as the Order of the Phoenix's headquarters and that the group had to enter through a concealed Floo connection at Weasley Manor.
• Harry traveled through the fireplace to 12 Grimmauld Place, where Hermione hugged him and he greeted Hermione and Ron.
• Mrs. Weasley sent Harry and the others to bed, insisting that Harry needed to get up early for his hearing.
• Harry struggled to sleep because he was worried about the hearing, then woke before six and dressed in clothes Dobby had prepared.
• Harry found Sirius, Mr. Weasley, Mrs. Weasley, and several others waiting in the sitting room, and Mr. Weasley asked why he was awake so early.

Harry, Sirius, and Arthur Weasley traveled to the Ministry of Magic for Harry’s hearing, where they passed security checks and waited in Arthur’s office. On the way, Harry spotted Kingsley, who acted as though he barely knew Sirius or Arthur.

• Arthur Weasley excitedly announced each Underground stop as he took Harry and Sirius to Whitehall.
• Harry found the Ministry’s telephone-box entrance, and the trio received visitor badges before being carried into the Ministry.
• A Ministry wizard scanned Harry and Sirius, inspected their wands, and recorded their details.
• Arthur led Harry and Sirius through the chaotic Ministry workplaces to his office to wait for the hearing.
• Harry saw Kingsley, but Sirius stopped him from greeting him as Kingsley kept his distance from Sirius and Arthur.

Harry and Sirius appeared before the Wizengamot, where Fudge tried to begin a trial over Harry using a Patronus in front of Muggles. Sirius objected that Harry had been summoned for a hearing, and the proceedings began with Percy recording the case.

• Harry recognized the gathered wizards as the Wizengamot and wondered why Dumbledore was absent.
• Fudge, Amelia Bones, and Dolores Umbridge appeared as the presiding officials, and Fudge announced the trial.
• Sirius objected that Harry's notice had called for a hearing and cited the Wizengamot Charter of Rights.
• Percy Weasley read the charges and the laws governing Harry's case, then identified Fudge, Bones, and Umbridge as the prosecution.

Harry faced a Ministry hearing over using magic to conjure a Patronus outside Hogwarts, while Fudge tried to establish his guilt through leading questions. After Harry demonstrated his corporeal lion Patronus, he revealed that two Dementors had been present, leaving the Wizengamot stunned.

• Fudge questioned Harry about using magic in front of a Muggle, repeatedly interrupting his explanation until Harry objected that the hearing was not a trial.
• Amelia Bones asked Harry whether his Patronus had a definite form, and Harry demonstrated a silver lion before the Wizengamot.
• Umbridge argued that a visible Patronus made the violation worse, while Amelia let Harry continue explaining his actions.
• Harry said that he had cast the Patronus because two Dementors had been there, and the hearing fell silent.

Harry challenged Fudge and Umbridge’s claim that Dementors could not have attacked him in Little Whinging, arguing that the Ministry could not prove it controlled them completely. The hearing remained unresolved as Fudge rejected Harry’s offer to undergo interrogation, and Amelia grew interested in Harry’s powerful Occlumency.

• Sirius questioned Fudge’s claim that Dementors could not enter Little Whinging without being sent there, and Harry got Fudge to insist that the Ministry controlled every Dementor’s movements.
• Harry cited the Quidditch match where over thirty Dementors attacked him and Cedric Diggory, then challenged Umbridge’s claim that the Ministry could control Dementors completely.
• Umbridge redirected the hearing to Harry’s use of magic, and Dumbledore cited the law permitting underage magic to protect lives while Sirius argued that Harry had used the Patronus Charm against Dementors.
• Harry offered to undergo Veritaserum or other interrogation magic, but Fudge claimed Harry’s Occlumency would make those methods ineffective.
• Amelia became interested in Harry’s advanced Occlumency, wondering how a student who had not yet taken his Ordinary Wizarding Levels could have such a high level of skill.

Harry was declared innocent at his hearing and returned to 12 Grimmauld Place with Sirius, where his friends celebrated his safe return. Sirius and Moody suspected Lucius Malfoy was influencing Fudge to prepare the way for his master.

• Harry won the hearing after the majority voted that he was innocent.
• Harry and Sirius met Mr. Weasley, who left for Serbia and asked them to tell Molly he might not return that night.
• Harry mocked Lucius Malfoy at the Ministry, and Sirius threatened to shave off Lucius’s hair if he spoke against Harry again.
• Moody waited for Harry and Sirius, and Sirius Apparated them back to 12 Grimmauld Place.
• Ron, Hermione, and Ginny welcomed Harry home, and he recounted the hearing while eating Kreacher’s feast.
• Sirius told the group he had seen Lucius at the Ministry, and Moody and Sirius suspected Lucius was trying to influence Fudge on behalf of his master.