Chapter Summaries

Harry attacked Voldemort with a series of unarmed blows, but Voldemort restrained him with magic and recounted how Lily's sacrifice protected Harry and rebounded Voldemort's curse. Voldemort began explaining his death to the gathered Death Eaters.

• Harry tried to punch Voldemort and kick him, but neither blow hurt him.
• Voldemort mocked Harry and described how James Potter had tried to fight him without a wand before Voldemort killed him.
• Voldemort magically immobilized Harry and addressed Dismask and the Death Eaters about Harry being called his nemesis.
• Voldemort removed Harry's headband, exposed his scar, and explained that Lily's sacrifice had once prevented him from touching Harry.
• Voldemort said Lily's sacrifice had rebounded his curse and that his own magic had killed him, while Peter Pettigrew stirred silently.

Voldemort explained how the Meditation Technique and Dismask’s help strengthened him and enabled his rebirth through an improved ritual. He revealed that he had chosen Harry Potter’s blood so Lily’s protection would flow through him, leaving Harry to face the implications of having unknowingly helped Voldemort.

• Voldemort said Wormtail had learned the Meditation Technique by spying on Ron and passed it to him, helping strengthen his soul.
• Harry realized that the spell he had taught Ron, Hermione, and Neville had indirectly benefited Voldemort, but he did not blame Ron.
• Voldemort explained that he had sought to regain his body and that Dismask supplied materials and improved the ritual with deity power.
• Voldemort described the ritual’s three catalysts: his servant’s hand, his father’s bone, and the blood of his enemy.
• Voldemort revealed that he had used Harry’s blood to make Lily’s protection flow through him.

Voldemort tortured Harry with the Cruciatus Curse, then freed him and challenged him to a duel to prove his superiority. Harry answered Voldemort’s demand for dueling etiquette by pointing out that Voldemort was not wearing trousers.

• Voldemort hit Harry with a supercharged Cruciatus Curse, leaving him twitching on the ground and unable to maintain his Occlumency.
• Dismask watched the Death Eaters and wondered how Harry could possibly escape Voldemort and his followers.
• Voldemort declared that Harry’s past escapes had been luck and announced he would kill him in a fair duel.
• Voldemort removed the magic restricting Harry, and the Death Eaters formed a circle around the two of them.
• Voldemort asked Harry to bow as dueling etiquette required, and Harry pointed out that Voldemort was not wearing trousers.

Harry Potter’s Disarming Charm collided with Voldemort’s Killing Curse, unexpectedly linking their wands with golden light. The two were lifted into the air and enclosed in a vast golden cage as Voldemort tried to break the connection.

• Voldemort cast Avada Kedavra at Harry, who instinctively answered with the Disarming Charm.
• The spells vanished, and a golden thread connected Harry’s wand to Voldemort’s.
• A mysterious force lifted Harry and Voldemort above the open ground while the Death Eaters watched in confusion.
• The golden thread broke into strands that formed a huge spherical cage around Harry and Voldemort.
• Voldemort ordered the Death Eaters not to move and struggled to break the strands linking their wands.

Harry broke the magical connection with Voldemort and ran for the Triwizard Tournament trophy while the spirits of his parents and Voldemort’s other victims held Voldemort back. Harry blocked attacks from the Death Eaters but met Lucius Malfoy in his path.

• Bertha Jorkins, Lily Potter, James Potter, and other figures emerged from Voldemort’s wand, and James urged Harry to escape through the Portkey trophy.
• Harry broke the golden connection and escaped as the spirits surrounded Voldemort and restrained him.
• Harry ran for the trophy and tried to summon it, but its anti-magic protections prevented the spell from working.
• Harry blocked two Stunning Spells with the Maxim Shield and continued toward the trophy.
• Lucius Malfoy blocked Harry’s way, and Harry attacked him with a Sword Beam Charm.

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.