Recaps

Harry discovered that Qiu was unwell because of her menstrual period and tried to care for her by sending hot drinks back to her dormitory. After an evening Quidditch practice, new Chaser Romilda told Harry that she believed in him.

• Harry found Hermione and Ron in the Library but learned that Qiu had returned to her dormitory because she was feeling unwell.
• Hermione hinted that September ninth was an important date for Harry, while Lavender laughed and neither explained the joke.
• Harry checked on Qiu at lunch, and Marietta told him to take extra care of her and bring her a hot drink.
• Angelina explained menstruation to Harry and Ron, and Harry later sent hot drinks to Qiu through Marietta.
• Harry joined a short Gryffindor Quidditch practice, where Romilda told him that she believed in him.

Ron received a letter from Percy that appeared to urge him to side with Umbridge and the Ministry, but Ron decoded it as a warning about monitored correspondence and Umbridge’s growing authority. Harry and the others learned that Percy was secretly trying to help them prepare.

• Percy wrote Ron a letter congratulating him on becoming a prefect and advising him to keep his distance from Harry and cooperate with Umbridge.
• Hermione and Neville became angry at Percy’s apparent support for the Ministry, while Harry and Ron remained calm.
• Harry told Hermione that the letter contained a hidden message, and Ron explained that Percy had used a code taught by Fred and George.
• Ron decoded Percy’s warning that the family’s letters were being monitored and that a house-elf should carry urgent information.
• Percy revealed that Sturgis had apparently tried to break into the Department of Mysteries and that Umbridge had received special Ministry authority to interfere at Hogwarts.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione read that the Ministry had appointed Umbridge Hogwarts High Inquisitor, giving her authority to assess and dismiss professors. Harry suspected Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix were occupied with important business, then went to speak with Qiu.

• Harry and Ron went to the Great Hall early to find out how the Ministry planned to interfere with Hogwarts.
• Hermione read that Umbridge had been appointed High Inquisitor and could judge professors' qualifications and forbid them from teaching.
• Hermione said the Ministry intended to use Umbridge to keep Dumbledore in check, while Harry suggested Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix were busy with something important.
• Harry noticed Qiu, left Ron and Hermione, and asked whether she was still feeling unwell.
• Qiu objected to Harry calling her “darling” because she found it too sappy.

Harry and his friends discussed Umbridge’s first classroom inspection and guessed which lessons she might observe. Umbridge skipped Ancient Runes, where Harry and the other four students struggled through a demanding lesson as Professor Babbling explained the high bar for her Advanced Class.

• Fred and George told Harry and the others that Umbridge had silently observed Professor Flitwick’s seventh-year Charms lesson and questioned Alicia afterward.
• Harry and his friends speculated that Umbridge might inspect Ancient Runes or Divination, and Harry apologized after offending Lavender by criticizing Professor Trelawney.
• Harry and Hermione attended Ancient Runes without seeing Umbridge, and the five remaining students found the lesson exceptionally difficult.
• Professor Babbling told the students that the term’s workload would remain intense and that students needed an E on their Ordinary Wizarding Levels to enter her Advanced Class.

Harry discovered that he had been mysteriously compelled to write the ancient sorcery term “Star Sea,” which connected to a deity he feared. At the library, Ron and Lavender told him Umbridge had challenged Professor Trelawney in class, prompting Harry to recall a prophecy Trelawney had made years earlier.

• Qiu explained that “Star Sea” appeared in prayers for ancient sorcery and questioned how Harry had copied it perfectly in place of “extreme cold.”
• Harry realized that seeing the term had drawn him into writing it and recalled a connection to the Lord of the Deep Space Star Sea.
• Harry found Ron and Lavender in the library, where Lavender was upset about Umbridge’s confrontation with Professor Trelawney during Divination.
• Ron and Lavender explained that Trelawney had refused Umbridge’s demand for a prophecy and had defended the Inner Eye as something that could not be opened on command.
• Harry recalled that Trelawney descended from the great seer Kardashian Trelawney and remembered her earlier prophecy that a servant imprisoned for twelve years would escape and rejoin the Dark Lord.

Harry agreed to keep attending Defense Against the Dark Arts despite having learned nothing from it, and he and his friends remained uncertain about the Department of Mysteries and Neville’s parents’ notes. Umbridge tightly controlled the lesson while avoiding Hermione and Harry, wary of provoking them or Sirius Black.

• Hermione and Ron persuaded Harry not to skip Defense Against the Dark Arts, warning that Umbridge could use his absence against him.
• Harry, Hermione, and Ron asked Neville about the Department of Mysteries, but he could not confirm what he had seen in his parents’ notes.
• Umbridge waited in the classroom and focused on the fifth-year Gryffindors, especially Harry and Hermione, while worrying about Sirius Black and Ministry orders.
• Umbridge made the students read and memorize the textbook, but avoided questioning Hermione and ignored Harry’s mocking looks.

Umbridge punished Ron with a detention that left bloody words marked on his hand, and his friends worried over him when he returned to the Common Room. Harry later agreed to avoid provoking Umbridge, while Hermione read the Daily Prophet.

• Umbridge gave Ron detention for failing to answer her question and dismissed Harry's criticism of Professor Quirrell.
• Ron returned to the Common Room pale, and Harry found the words "I must not defy my professor" marked on his hand.
• Hermione tried a spell to ease Ron's pain, but it did not work, and Ron reassured his worried friends.
• Angelina asked whether Ron's punishment would affect Quidditch training and warned Harry not to provoke Umbridge.
• After Angelina left, Harry sat with Hermione, who was reading the Daily Prophet.

Sirius told Harry and Hermione that the Order had been searching for Voldemort’s Horcruxes and explained how they were made. He left them wondering how many Horcruxes Voldemort had created and what splitting his soul had done to him.

• Harry noticed Sirius looked exhausted and asked whether he had been busy.
• Sirius said the Order had made progress searching for Horcruxes and decided to tell Harry and Hermione about their work.
• Sirius explained that a Horcrux had kept Voldemort alive after the Killing Curse rebounded.
• Sirius described Horcruxes as objects containing soul fragments created through murder and dangerous ritual magic.
• Harry and Hermione asked whether Voldemort had made one or two Horcruxes, and Sirius’s explanation suggested the matter was more complicated.

Harry and Hermione considered asking the aloof Grey Lady about Ravenclaw’s diadem, but had not found a way to approach her. In Transfiguration, Professor McGonagall returned the students’ essays and began a lesson on vanishing mice while Umbridge observed.

• Harry recalled that Sirius hoped the Grey Lady might know where Ravenclaw’s diadem was, but he and Hermione had no way to approach her.
• Harry, Ron, and Hermione attended Transfiguration, where they saw Umbridge in the classroom and Professor McGonagall ignored her.
• Parvati handed back the essays, and Harry and Ron found theirs covered in red corrections despite receiving passing grades.
• Professor McGonagall criticized the class’s written work and had Lavender distribute mice for the day’s Vanishing Spell practice.
• Professor McGonagall told Dean Thomas to stop tormenting his mouse.

After class, Harry and the other students overheard Professor McGonagall challenge Umbridge’s inspection of her teaching and research. Umbridge left without a response, but she appeared again in Harry’s Care and Study of Magical Creatures lesson that afternoon.

• Harry and Ron stayed behind after class and found Hermione, other Gryffindors, and several Ravenclaws listening at the classroom door.
• Umbridge questioned Professor McGonagall about balancing teaching with Transfiguration research.
• Professor McGonagall cited Hogwarts’ Transfiguration exam results and criticized Umbridge for not doing her homework.
• Umbridge said the inspection results would arrive within ten days, then hurried out as Professor McGonagall sent the eavesdropping students to their next lessons.
• Harry saw Umbridge again in Care and Study of Magical Creatures that afternoon.

Hermione proposed that Harry and Ron take action against Umbridge’s ineffective Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons. She suggested they practice defensive magic themselves, even dark magic, though Harry and Ron reacted awkwardly because Hermione had no experience with it.

• Hermione returned to the Common Room after finishing her homework and said they could not go on as they were.
• Harry and Ron discussed Quidditch with Lavender, who judged Gryffindor and Ravenclaw stronger than the other teams.
• Hermione complained that Umbridge’s Defense Against the Dark Arts homework was useless and warned that students’ magical abilities would suffer.
• Ron suggested poisoning Umbridge, but Hermione dismissed the idea and explained that the Ministry would protect her.
• Hermione proposed that they practice Defense Against the Dark Arts themselves, including dark magic.

Harry and Hermione considered how to put Hermione’s suggestion into action while Hogwarts saw detentions, Quidditch changes, and several letters arrive for Hermione. Sirius warned Harry away from the Grey Lady and Horcruxes, but Harry had already tried to contact the ghost through Qiu and learned she refused to speak with anyone.

• Harry encouraged Ron to try Hermione’s suggestion, and Hermione said she would organize it, then grew difficult to find over the next two weeks.
• Umbridge gave Fred and George two days of detention, and their marked hands worried Angelina about the Quidditch team.
• Mafalda Weasley joined the Slytherin Quidditch team as Draco Malfoy’s reserve Seeker and played in a practice match against Ravenclaw.
• Hermione received letters from Jacob Corvinus, Krum, and an anonymous Hogwarts admirer, while Harry searched the Library for books about practical magic.
• Sirius sent an apologetic letter telling Harry and his friends not to seek the Grey Lady, but Harry had already asked Qiu to introduce them, and she said the ghost would not speak to anyone.

Harry, Qiu, Ron, Lavender, Hermione, and Neville went to the Hog’s Head for the first meeting of a group planned to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts. They waited for the invited students to arrive, while the group settled in with Butterbeer.

• Harry and his friends walked to Hogsmeade, where Hermione reminded them that they had come to organize Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons.
• Hermione explained that she had invited trustworthy students to meet at the Hog’s Head at half past ten.
• The group arrived early, and Ron grew anxious when the pub was still empty.
• Harry ordered Butterbeer for the six of them, and they found the drinks surprisingly good despite the pub’s grimy appearance.
• Qiu and Lavender poured their Butterbeer into their own cups, and Qiu offered Harry a spare one.

Harry addressed the students gathered for their secret Defense Against the Dark Arts group, urging them to learn together because Umbridge’s lessons were useless. When he declared that Voldemort had returned, Zacharias Smith challenged him, but Cedric Diggory firmly backed Harry.

• Harry greeted the students and explained that he and Ron would help guide their shared study and practice.
• Harry said Voldemort had returned, and the gathered students reacted with quiet gasps.
• Zacharias Smith questioned whether Harry’s claim could be trusted because they had not witnessed the events themselves.
• Cedric Diggory declared that he believed Harry and told anyone who thought Harry was lying to leave.

Harry convinced the gathered students that Voldemort had returned and began planning practical Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons. The group agreed to learn the Patronus Charm, and Hermione began arranging their meeting schedule.

• Zacharias questioned whether Harry's displayed memories were real, but Harry challenged anyone who doubted him to leave, and the students said they believed him.
• Harry asked Hermione to organize their practice sessions, and she proposed planning where and how often they would train.
• Susan Bones asked Harry to teach them the Patronus Charm, and Harry agreed while warning that mastering it would be difficult.
• Cedric offered to help teach, and Hermione moved the group on to deciding how often they should meet.

Harry and the others debated where to practice Defense Against the Dark Arts without Umbridge finding out, while Hermione prepared a register to keep the group secret. Harry suspected the parchment carried contract magic, and Black Ginny recognized Hermione’s unusual skill.

• Qiu, Cedric, and the others ruled out the library and ordinary classrooms, while the twins proposed the Forbidden Forest and the group rejected several other locations.
• Ron mentioned the Chamber of Secrets, prompting Harry to consider the Room of Requirement as a possible practice space, though he kept the idea to himself.
• Hermione made a parchment register for members to promise not to reveal the group, and Harry felt a strange tremor in his mental world after signing.
• Zacharias Smith hesitated before signing, then added his name after the other students stared at him.
• Black Ginny identified Hermione’s register as contract magic and remarked on the fifth-year witch’s talent.

Harry and Cho encountered Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson in Hogsmeade, where Draco provoked Harry into a fight. Harry defeated Draco with ease and left with Cho, unaware that someone had watched from a window in the Hog's Head.

• Harry and Cho strolled through Hogsmeade and ran into Draco and Pansy.
• Draco mocked Harry about his detention, but Harry warned him to stay out of his way.
• Draco drew his wand and cast a Dark Magic spell at Harry, who grabbed and shattered it.
• Harry threw Draco to the ground with a Shoulder Throw and left with Cho after dismissing Pansy's threat to report him.
• A guest room window on the second floor of the Hog's Head faced the street where Harry and Draco had fought.

Harry and the others planned to use the Room of Requirement for their magic practice sessions, with Harry teaching the Patronus Charm first. Their plans were taking shape when Harry, Ron, and the Gryffindor Quidditch players found a new notice on the Common Room noticeboard.

• Harry and the others chose the Room of Requirement and agreed Harry would open it while Hermione coordinated practice times with the Quidditch captains.
• Harry suggested teaching the Patronus Charm at their first session, pleasing Hermione and giving Ron a chance to learn it too.
• Harry, Ron, and the Gryffindor Quidditch players returned from morning training and found several people gathered around the Common Room noticeboard.
• Ron asked what the news was, but Katie Bell said she had not noticed anything posted earlier that morning.

Harry and the others discovered that Umbridge’s new decree also threatened Hogwarts clubs and Quidditch teams. Angelina warned them to avoid further punishment so the Gryffindor team could get approved, and the chapter left them entering Potions as Draco and his friends noticed them.

• Harry and Ron found no evidence that anyone who signed their parchment had informed on them.
• Angelina told Harry and the others that Umbridge’s decree restricted Quidditch teams as well as other groups.
• Angelina warned them not to get punished again because the Gryffindor team might otherwise not be approved.
• Harry and the others hurried to Potions, where Professor Slughorn was unexpectedly absent from the classroom.
• Draco and his friends spotted Harry and the others as they entered Potions.

Harry caught Professor Babbling after class to ask about accidentally writing Star Sea instead of Extreme Cold in a Runes lesson. She took him to a quiet classroom and demonstrated both rune phrases, leaving the cause of Harry’s mistake unresolved.

• Harry stopped Professor Babbling after several failed attempts and described how he had written Star Sea instead of Extreme Cold without realizing it.
• Professor Babbling reacted with puzzlement and gravity, then led Harry to a seldom-used classroom overlooking the Black Lake.
• Professor Babbling wrote Extreme Cold and Star Sea on the blackboard, and each rune phrase produced its own magical effect.
• Harry observed that Babbling could make runes manifest effects simply by writing them, a feat he had not seen from other Hogwarts professors.

Harry learned that Umbridge had failed Professor Trelawney’s assessment and was withholding Quidditch practice approval from Gryffindor while allowing the other houses to play. The chapter ended with Qiu confirming that Gryffindor alone was being targeted, prompting Harry to consider learning curses from Sirius.

• Ron told Harry that Professor Trelawney had failed Umbridge’s assessment and might lose her teaching position, upsetting Lavender.
• Harry and his friends spent Defense Against the Dark Arts class reading the textbook without confronting Umbridge.
• Angelina told Harry and Ron that Gryffindor’s Quidditch team had not received permission to practice, despite their good behavior.
• Harry checked with Qiu and learned that Ravenclaw had received approval, while he suspected the other houses had too.
• Qiu confirmed that Hufflepuff had also passed Umbridge’s assessment, and Harry said he wanted to learn curses from Sirius.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione learned that Mundungus Fletcher had secretly watched them at the Hog's Head and discussed whether to form a Dark Magic Defense group despite Umbridge's rules. Sirius and Moody supported the plan, and the group still needed to find a suitable place to meet.

• Sirius explained that Mundungus Fletcher had disguised himself to watch Harry in Hogsmeade because of the Death Eaters, and that he was banned from the Hog's Head.
• Sirius passed along Mrs. Weasley's warning that Ron would be punished if he was expelled or failed his Ordinary Wizarding Levels.
• Sirius said he and Moody supported the defense group, lifting Hermione's spirits.
• Sirius argued that Dumbledore and McGonagall would not let them be expelled easily and that restricted learning could be worse than expulsion.
• Sirius suggested the Shrieking Shack as a meeting place, but Hermione rejected it because the group was too large and getting there would be difficult.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione realized Umbridge had discovered their attempt to contact Sirius and suspected that she was monitoring Hogwarts fireplaces to restrict communication with the outside world. The next day, Hermione worried about their secret Defense Against the Dark Arts group, while Harry remained eager to teach his friends.

• Umbridge's hand appeared through the fireplace where Harry, Ron, and Hermione had been speaking with Sirius, and the three fled.
• Harry and Ron suspected that Umbridge and the Ministry were monitoring Hogwarts fireplaces, possibly to watch Dumbledore and cut off outside communication.
• The next day, the students agreed that Umbridge was monitoring the fireplaces, which deepened their dislike of her.
• During Charms, Hermione worried that their secret Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons could get them expelled, while Harry reassured her and said he looked forward to teaching.

Harry struggled with mounting schoolwork, Quidditch, Umbridge’s restrictions, and renewed visions connected to Voldemort. Meanwhile, Hermione adapted Sirius’s punishment-countering spell into a parchment-based messaging system, which Harry and Ron tested successfully.

• Harry dreamed of watching Voldemort and wondered whether Voldemort was deliberately letting him see his actions.
• Hermione, Qiu, and the others urged Harry to keep using Occlumency, while Ron suggested the visions might help them predict Voldemort’s plans.
• The twins studied Sirius’s spell to avoid Umbridge’s punishment, while Hermione worked to adapt it for sending messages.
• Hermione tested her modified spell, which transferred signers’ names between parchments and made later writing appear on their hands.
• Harry and Ron tried the spell and found that its faint, stinging sensation was bearable.

Harry explained the Patronus Charm to the students gathered in the Room of Requirement, preparing to teach them how to cast it. He left them eager to begin practicing, while Ginny privately swooned over him.

• Harry closed the Room of Requirement’s door and explained that Umbridge could not find the hidden room.
• Harry began the lesson by explaining the Patronus Charm to the students, including Colin and Dennis.
• Harry described the charm’s protective qualities, its need for positive emotions, and its ancient origins.
• Qiu blushed as Harry spoke, and Marietta teased her; Harry noticed their exchange and became more energized.
• Ginny admired Harry intensely, while Black Ginny ignored her and doubted her own ability to learn the charm.