Chapter Summaries

Snape encountered Ginny Weasley in the Forbidden Forest and discovered her attack as she struck at him with a black blade of light. On the Quidditch pitch, Professor Sprout and Professor Flitwick fought the monster, which escaped their spells and continued attacking.

• Snape found Ginny Weasley hiding in the Forbidden Forest and ordered her to return to the Castle with him.
• Ginny followed Snape, then turned and slashed at him with a silent black blade of light.
• Professor Sprout escaped the monster's tail spear with a Leaf Substitute and retreated from its renewed attack.
• Professor Flitwick lifted the monster with a Levitation Charm, but it broke free with its flaming wings and charged at him.
• Professor Flitwick blasted the monster back to the ground with Stupefy, then dodged its green flames and sent a golden wave-shaped blade at it.

Professor Babbling painted the battle at the Quidditch pitch while Lockhart appeared as a ghost and defended his choice not to intervene. In the Forbidden Forest, Black Ginny mocked the disarmed Snape as he confronted the vast difference between her strength and what he expected of a first-year student.

• Professor Babbling sketched the battle in a series of unfinished canvases from the Astronomy Tower.
• Lockhart appeared before Professor Babbling as a translucent apparition and said he would not risk facing the monster.
• Professor Babbling replied that fighting the offspring of an evil god was not part of her job either.
• Black Ginny taunted Snape after severing his right arm during their encounter in the Forbidden Forest.
• Snape realized he had underestimated Black Ginny’s magical strength and reflected on how magical power developed with age.

Snape fought Black Ginny with wandless Sectumsempra, but froze when she changed her face and killed him with Avada Kedavra. At the Quidditch Pitch, Harry and Neville watched the monster recover from the metal construct’s attacks and grow faster as the three Heads of House tired.

• Snape repeatedly cast wandless Sectumsempra, and Black Ginny dodged the invisible cutting spells while returning fire with her black wave blade.
• Snape dodged Black Ginny’s attacks despite struggling to balance without his right arm, then paused when her appearance changed.
• Black Ginny smiled and struck Snape with Avada Kedavra, killing him.
• Harry and Neville watched the monster regenerate after the metal war construct tore it apart and gradually grow faster and stronger.
• Harry wondered how the monster could keep fighting with such stamina while the three Heads of House grew fatigued.

Black Ginny struck Snape with a weakened Killing Curse after he discovered their secret, leaving him alive but with catastrophic damage to his soul. Hagrid found Snape unconscious, while the chapter then introduced Bathsheba Babbling and explained how Hogwarts’ teaching staff had once been organized.

• Ginny protested after Black Ginny used Avada Kedavra on Snape, but Black Ginny insisted they had no choice.
• Ginny’s interference weakened the curse, and Snape survived because his Occlumency training helped protect his soul.
• Black Ginny told Ginny that Snape would probably never wake up, then fled as Hagrid approached.
• Hagrid found Snape unconscious with one arm severed and turned deathly pale.
• The chapter introduced Bathsheba Babbling and described how Hogwarts had employed many teachers before the wizarding wars.

Professor Babbling used a powerful spell to immobilize the monster and revealed that an anchor inside it connected it to the Evil God. Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick began cutting the creature apart to find the anchor while Professor Sprout stayed with the exhausted Babbling.

• Professor Babbling struck the monster with a dark red spell that gradually slowed it until it became completely motionless.
• Harry and Neville watched in astonishment as Babbling's magic subdued the creature, but noticed that the effort left her pale and sweating.
• Professor Babbling told Professor McGonagall that an anchor inside the monster connected it to the Evil God and had to be removed to stop its regeneration.
• Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick used blades to dismember the immobilized monster, while Professor Sprout remained beside Babbling.
• The three Heads of House recognized that Babbling's unfamiliar spell was witchcraft, also known as Ancient Magic.

Harry woke in the Hospital Wing after fainting when he used Magic Perception to glimpse the phantom behind Professor Babbling. Madam Pomfrey told him that every Hogwarts student had been brought to the Hospital Wing after a major incident.

• Harry fainted after briefly seeing a vast, eye-like phantom behind Professor Babbling.
• Harry woke in a Hospital Wing expanded to hold over a hundred unconscious boys, including Neville.
• Harry struggled to sit up, drank water, and asked Madam Pomfrey what had happened.
• Madam Pomfrey said every student at Hogwarts had come to the Hospital Wing and described the incident as the biggest she had experienced.
• Harry recalled seeing Professor McGonagall restraining the Monster before he foolishly used Magic Perception on Professor Babbling again.
• Harry slapped himself to stop his curiosity, and Madam Pomfrey remarked on his unusual behavior.

Harry discovered that the black notebook made his scar hurt when he approached it, and Dumbledore asked him to extract and share his memory of facing Quirrell and Voldemort. The professors prepared to examine the memory with a Pensieve, leaving the reason for Snape’s absence unexplained.

• Harry entered Dumbledore’s office with Professor McGonagall and found Dumbledore, Hagrid, Professor Flitwick, and Professor Sprout gathered around a black notebook.
• Harry asked about Professor Lockhart and Professor Snape, and Professor McGonagall said Lockhart was in the Hospital Wing before Dumbledore postponed discussion of Snape.
• Dumbledore asked Harry whether he recognized the notebook, and Harry found that his scar hurt more as he approached it.
• Dumbledore asked Harry to recall his encounter with Quirrell and Voldemort, and Professor Flitwick taught him the Memory Extraction spell.
• Dumbledore showed Harry how to use a Pensieve, and Harry began extracting his memory of the Mirror of Erised.

Dumbledore identified the black notebook as a Horcrux and asked Harry to reason out how it had reached Hogwarts and what it had done. Harry connected it to Voldemort’s youth and guessed that a confidant had smuggled it into the Castle to avoid a Ministry search.

• Dumbledore said the black notebook was likely a Horcrux, and he explained how Horcruxes were made and how they prevented their creators from dying outright.
• Dumbledore described the notebook as having been magically nurtured for years, giving it unusual power and possibly the ability to act on its own.
• Harry guessed that Voldemort had made the old-fashioned notebook when he was young and entrusted it to a confidant.
• Harry reasoned that the confidant had recently placed the notebook in the Castle, where it opened the Chamber of Secrets and released the basilisk before Professor Flitwick killed it.
• Harry said the confidant may have smuggled the notebook into the Castle during the first half of the year to keep it from being found in the Ministry of Magic’s search for prohibited items.

Harry learned that Dumbledore had known for years that a fragment of Voldemort's soul was attached to him, and that it would eventually be absorbed as Harry's soul grew stronger. Dumbledore agreed that the black Diary should be destroyed soon, explaining how it had gathered enough life force to summon a monster.

• Harry told Dumbledore he felt a fragment of Voldemort's soul inside his own soul.
• Dumbledore said he had discovered the fragment about ten years earlier while examining Harry after the attack on his parents.
• Dumbledore explained that Harry's soul could eventually absorb the fragment, perhaps by the time he was twenty or twenty-five.
• Harry urged Dumbledore to destroy the black Diary before it caused more trouble.
• Dumbledore said the Diary had likely used the life force of an entire colony of giant spiders to complete its ritual and summon the monster.

Harry collected basilisk venom from instructor Monet and returned to Dumbledore’s office, where he found Lucius Malfoy and Dobby. Harry realized Lucius had meant to smuggle Voldemort’s Horcrux into Hogwarts, but Dumbledore magically stopped him from speaking.

• Instructor Monet gave Harry a small amount of basilisk venom, and Harry hurried back to Dumbledore’s office.
• Harry heard Lucius Malfoy accusing Dumbledore of failing to protect Draco and found Lucius standing with Dobby.
• Harry recognized the black notebook as Voldemort’s Horcrux and connected Lucius’s plans with Dobby’s efforts to keep him away from Hogwarts.
• Harry tried to explain his deductions, but Dumbledore magically prevented him from speaking and winked at him.
• Lucius noticed Harry and looked at him with disgust.

Ginny freed herself from the Horcrux vessel’s control and became Black Ginny, while Harry destroyed the diary Horcrux with the Sword of Gryffindor. After Lucius Malfoy left with Dobby, Harry asked Dumbledore if he could borrow the ruined diary to return it to someone.

• Ginny convulsed in the girls’ ward, then recovered and realized she had escaped the Horcrux’s shackles as Black Ginny.
• Harry stabbed the diary with the Sword of Gryffindor, causing a soul-roar that agitated Voldemort’s fragment inside him and brought him intense pain.
• Harry stabbed the diary again until the soul-roar stopped, then confirmed the Horcrux was destroyed.
• Dumbledore praised Harry and warned Lucius Malfoy to discourage his circle from bringing Voldemort-related objects into Hogwarts.
• Lucius kicked Dobby and left the Headmaster’s Office, while Harry asked Dumbledore to let him borrow the diary so he could return it to someone.

Harry freed Dobby from Lucius Malfoy and hired him, though Dobby insisted on a very low wage and little time off. Harry then wondered whether Dumbledore had anticipated his plan to free Dobby.

• Harry watched Dobby blast Lucius Malfoy away and accepted Dobby's tearful thanks.
• Harry offered Dobby a paid job, but Dobby insisted on earning one Galleon a week with one day off a month.
• Harry and Dobby agreed on the terms, and Harry saw Dobby's new role as useful for handling business outside Hogwarts.
• Harry considered how Dumbledore had stopped him from revealing the notebook's secret and wondered whether Dumbledore had predicted his plan.

Harry visited Lockhart after being summoned and discovered that the professor was packing to leave Hogwarts. Lockhart revealed that a powerful, nearly unbreakable curse had caused a rare blood disease that was killing him.

• Harry entered Lockhart's cleared-out office and saw trunks packed for departure.
• Lockhart told Harry he was leaving after teaching for the year they had agreed upon.
• Lockhart showed Harry the bluish-purple blood vessels covering his arm.
• Lockhart explained that a powerful curse caused his blood disease and left him close to death.

Lockhart told Harry that his dying body would leave behind a soul more like Peeves than an ordinary ghost, then warned Harry that using his Second Sight could draw the gaze of terrifying powers. He showed Harry his ruined arm as proof, leaving Harry shaken by the danger he had not yet faced.

• Lockhart said his soul would likely persist after death and become something like Peeves, able to affect the material world.
• Harry asked why Lockhart had summoned him, and Lockhart warned him to stop using his Second Sight casually.
• Harry recalled being knocked unconscious after using Magic Perception on the Black Man and Professor Babbling.
• Lockhart explained that Bathsheda could control her power, but most wizards who wielded such forces lost themselves and attracted a more terrifying gaze.
• Lockhart showed Harry his grotesque arm and said it was the result of encountering that gaze.

Harry and his friends continued building their potions and joke-products business while Dobby handled production and deliveries. They attended Hagrid’s bizarre funeral for Aragog, where Ron’s fear of spiders made his relief hard to hide.

• Dobby refused wages above one Galleon a week but took over production and helped maintain equipment and move supplies between Hogwarts and Godric's Hollow.
• The twins’ joke products began selling rapidly at Zonko's, and they planned to establish their own distribution channels for future sales.
• Harry estimated that the business could greatly increase his assets over the coming years.
• Hagrid held a funeral for Aragog, and Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville attended despite finding the ceremony strange.
• Harry and his friends learned that Aragog’s body was not in the grave, while Ron struggled to conceal his relief at the spider’s death.

Harry and his friends left Hogwarts for the summer, while Dumbledore stayed behind and used a magical mirror of flames to speak with an elderly man who complained that Dumbledore had gone nearly a year without contacting him. The chapter ended with the two old men settling into their conversation.

• Harry and his friends boarded the train home, and the Twins joked that they would soon have enough money to reopen the manor.
• The Twins teased Percy about dating Penelope Clearwater after Ginny revealed the relationship.
• Dumbledore watched the train disappear from Hogwarts before lighting a fire in the castle tower.
• The flames in Dumbledore’s fireplace became a mirror showing an elderly man in a shabby room.
• The old man angrily confronted Dumbledore for not contacting him in almost a year, and Dumbledore apologized cheerfully.

Harry prepared to complete his Animagus transformation during a thunderstorm, with Dobby standing by to restrain him if anything went wrong. The chapter ended as Harry pointed his wand at his heart and began the transformation incantation.

• Harry delayed visiting Ron's home while the Weasley family traveled to Egypt and he worked on his own plans.
• Harry and Dobby crossed England to find a thunderstorm, with Dobby protecting them from the rain.
• Harry opened a series of magical boxes and retrieved the finished Animagus potion.
• Harry reminded Dobby to knock him unconscious if he transformed into a dangerous creature or lost control.
• Harry drank the potion's significance was left unstated, then pointed his wand at his heart and began the Animagus incantation.

Ron Weasley became separated from his family while exploring Cairo’s wizarding street, but neither he nor his parents worried because they believed he could find his way back. He wandered among Egypt’s temples and magical curiosities, ending the chapter watching male Paradise Birds hypnotize cobras.

• The Weasley family visited Egypt to see Bill while the Twins sought to expand their business into Africa.
• Ron became separated from his family in Cairo, and Mrs. Weasley checked her pocket watch before deciding he was shopping and would be fine.
• Ron spent his money on snacks and explored Cairo’s many shrines, temples, and sanctuaries.
• Ron watched two rare Paradise Birds hypnotize cobras, then wondered whether such creatures had inspired Muggle legends of angels.

Months after the Ministry battle, the British Wizarding World celebrated Dumbledore and the young fighters who helped defeat Voldemort’s forces. Harry Potter’s fame brought a flood of gossip, while Daphne Lestrange received praise but no scandalous coverage despite her affectionate closeness with girls at Hogwarts.

• Newspapers hailed Dumbledore as the savior of the British Wizarding World, while Aberforth Dumbledore dismissed the praise as nonsense.
• Harry Potter and Daphne Lestrange gained widespread acclaim for their roles in the battle at the Ministry.
• Newspapers published gossip about Harry’s popularity with girls and his past relationships, prompting embarrassment among those involved.
• The newspapers ignored Daphne’s close and affectionate relationships with girls, despite her friends’ reports of her behavior.

Harry returned to the Burrow for the new school year and reunited with the Weasleys and Hermione. Ron described his strange experience in Egypt, while Harry sensed a trace of worry beneath Mr. Weasley's happiness at his arrival.

• Harry rode the Knight Bus to the Burrow and greeted the waiting Weasleys and the Twins.
• Harry told the Twins his summer had gone well, and they discussed their improved magical quill.
• Mr. and Mrs. Weasley welcomed Harry warmly, and he sensed that Mr. Weasley was also anxious about something.
• Ron reunited with Harry and said Egypt had somehow left him much taller and had once sent him to a desert far from his family.
• Hermione hugged Harry and warned him that she would check his homework.