Chapter Summaries

Harry received a flood of unfamiliar letters and discovered that The Quibbler had published his account of Voldemort’s return. Hermione eagerly read the article while Luna praised the issue.

• Harry and Ron went to the Great Hall for breakfast and waited for letters and the Daily Prophet.
• An unfamiliar owl delivered Harry a letter, followed by more owls that brought him a total of nineteen letters from unknown senders.
• Hermione received the Daily Prophet, then noticed a rolled-up publication among the deliveries.
• Harry and Hermione unrolled the latest issue of The Quibbler and saw Harry on its cover beneath a headline about Voldemort’s return through ritual magic.
• Luna appeared behind them and called the issue wonderful as Hermione began reading the article.

Hermione’s plan to make Umbridge’s ban on The Quibbler spur students to read Harry’s article succeeded, angering Umbridge and the Malfoy and Goyle families. After a low-key Quidditch practice, Harry and his friends ran toward a commotion in the Entrance Hall, where nearly a hundred students had gathered.

• Hermione arranged for Umbridge to ban The Quibbler, prompting most students to secretly read Harry’s article and tell him they believed him.
• Umbridge failed to find the magazines because students had enchanted them to look like textbooks or blank notebooks, while Draco and Goyle resented the article’s accusations against their fathers.
• Sirius and Lupin sent Harry a letter praising his interview and search for Horcruxes, and professors restored the points Umbridge had taken from him.
• Harry, Qiu, Hermione, Ron, and Lavender crossed the Courtyard Corridor after Quidditch practice and heard a woman shrieking nearby.
• Harry and his friends ran to the Entrance Hall, where nearly a hundred students had gathered around the commotion.

After Umbridge dismissed Trelawney, Dumbledore appointed the centaur Firenze to teach Divination, but Umbridge and the Ministry blocked his appointment. They supplied Professor Gageon instead, whose lessons impressed students, while Harry and Ron wondered why the name sounded familiar.

• Umbridge dismissed Trelawney, but Dumbledore made clear that only he could expel her from Hogwarts.
• Dumbledore brought in Firenze as the new Divination professor, but Umbridge said the school governors opposed a nonhuman professor and blocked the appointment.
• Umbridge introduced Professor Gageon, who passed Dumbledore's vetting and began teaching Divination.
• Winona Wollstone and other students praised Professor Gageon's classes, making Harry consider sitting in on a lesson.
• Harry and Ron thought Professor Gageon's name sounded familiar, while Hermione and Qiu said they had never heard it before.

Harry learned that Gladys Gageon, the new Divination professor, was the beautiful Lockhart admirer he and Ron had met at St. Mungo’s. After dinner, Harry went to investigate the Forbidden Forest, where he suspected something had changed since Hagrid returned from his trip.

• Ron recognized Professor Gageon from St. Mungo’s and told Harry she was the new Divination professor.
• Harry suspected Umbridge had arranged for Gageon to replace Trelawney and decided he would not sit in on her lessons until after his O.W.L.s.
• Harry told Qiu he planned to explore the Forbidden Forest, and she reminded him to be careful.
• After dark, Harry used his Invisibility Cloak to leave the Castle for the Forbidden Forest and asked Hermione to alert him if an urgent problem arose.

In the Forbidden Forest, Harry encountered a Bird-Shaped Man-Eater and tried to escape without alerting Umbridge to his nighttime visit. He used the Lightwing Charm to flee, but the creature caught up and knocked him into a tree, leaving him astonished that it could track him while he was invisible and concealed.

• Harry recognized the Bird-Shaped Man-Eater as a dangerous creature he admired but did not want to meet in the wild.
• Harry chose to flee rather than fight, fearing the commotion would alert Umbridge and reveal that he had entered the Forbidden Forest.
• Harry used the Lightwing Charm to fly away, but the Bird-Shaped Man-Eater rapidly caught up with him.
• Harry dodged the creature as it flew past, but its tail whipped him into a large tree.
• Harry wondered how the creature had located him despite his invisibility and concealment charms.

Harry discovered a sleeping Norwegian Ridgeback in the Forbidden Forest and concluded it was Norberta, Hagrid’s dragon, whose visits explained Hagrid’s injuries. After retreating from the dragon, he abandoned his plan to find the centaur settlement and headed back to the Castle.

• Harry recognized the sleeping Norwegian Ridgeback as likely Norberta, the dragon Hagrid had raised and visited in Romania.
• Harry concluded that Norberta had caused Hagrid’s bruises and singed hair, and suspected Dumbledore had helped Hagrid hide her behind a Sensory Barrier.
• Harry carefully backed away from the sleeping dragon and crossed out of the Sensory Barrier without waking her.
• Harry decided not to seek out the centaurs’ settlement and prepared to return to the Castle.

Harry followed a group of centaurs through the Forbidden Forest and discovered their hidden village, where moonlight revealed something unexpected in the central clearing. He left the clearing’s secret unexplained.

• Harry used a spell to find the direction of the Castle and flew toward it on his broomstick.
• After hearing hoofbeats, Harry renewed the Confundus Charm and followed a group of centaurs into the forest.
• Harry spotted more than a dozen centaurs carrying bows, arrows, and prey as they ran away from the Castle.
• The centaurs reached a village of stone and wooden houses arranged in three concentric circles around a clearing.
• Moonlight illuminated the village’s central clearing, and Harry realized it was not merely an empty space for preparing food.

Harry returned from the Forbidden Forest after witnessing centaurs fail to transform into Moonlight Silver Steeds, then told Hermione and Ron about his adventure. Hermione explained how Bird-Shaped Man-Eaters sensed wizards, and the story left the friends praising her knowledge in the Common Room.

• Harry saw the centaurs lose their silver coloring and realized their transformation had failed.
• Harry returned to the Castle after curfew without being caught and found Hermione and Ron waiting in the Common Room.
• Harry told Hermione and Ron about encountering a Bird-Shaped Man-Eater in the Forbidden Forest.
• Hermione explained that Bird-Shaped Man-Eaters were unusually sensitive to wizards and magic, so using a Confundus Charm made them detect Harry more clearly.
• Harry and Ron praised Hermione’s knowledge, pleasing her.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione discussed Hagrid’s secret giant and fire dragon, then Harry told them about the Centaur Tribe’s failed attempt to use moonlight and a statue to change two centaurs. Hermione connected the statue to a memory Cedric had received from Yi Qianqian.

• Hermione and Ron realized Hagrid had been caring for a giant and a fire dragon, and Harry wondered whether he needed financial help.
• Hermione said Sirius could help Hagrid if necessary and reminded Harry that Hagrid earned money from his Blast-Ended Skrewt venom project with Professor Slughorn.
• Harry told Ron and Hermione that the Centaur Tribe had used a statue to draw down moonlight and change two centaurs’ colors, but the attempt had failed.
• Hermione recalled that Cedric had mentioned a statue of Helga Hufflepuff and the merpeople at the bottom of the Black Lake, and Harry and Ron remembered Yi Qianqian had given Cedric the memory.

Harry spoke with Professor Gageon after she revealed that she knew he had possessed an object connected to a deity. Gageon said she was not on Umbridge’s side and began asking him about the deity and the Australian wizards seeking information about it.

• Harry sent Hermione, Lavender, and Ron to the library so he could speak privately with Professor Gageon.
• Gageon told Harry that she knew the statue was no longer in his possession and said she was not on Umbridge’s side.
• Gageon explained that divination could not easily reveal matters involving deities and praised Harry’s Occlumency.
• Gageon revealed that Australian wizards had sought Harry more than once and sacrificed wizard lives trying to learn about deities.
• Gageon said Harry had taken one of two objects connected to deities that had appeared about two years earlier, then asked him for the deity’s name and began a second question.

Harry collected a specially ordered item in Hogsmeade, then led an R.B. meeting where students practiced the Patronus Charm and several produced corporeal Patronuses. The chapter left the group celebrating their progress as Hermione, Angelina, and Alicia revealed their Patronus forms.

• Harry kept Professor Gageon's problem from Hermione and went with Qiu to Hogsmeade the next morning.
• At the Hog's Head, Harry collected a shrunken pair of connected cabinets from the scruffy shopkeeper and paid him.
• Harry and Qiu returned to Hogwarts, where Hermione organized an R.B. meeting for Patronus practice.
• Hermione produced a corporeal Patronus in the form of a red-tailed hawk, surprising Harry, Ron, and the others.
• Angelina produced a snow leopard Patronus, while Alicia Spinnet produced a plump orange cat.

Harry brought two Dementors to a practice session so the young wizards could test their Patronus Charms. Fred faced one but could only produce weak luminous mist before Harry’s enchanted chain stopped the Dementor from reaching him.

• Harry transformed a small box into a cabinet and revealed that two Dementors were inside for Patronus practice.
• Fred volunteered to face the first Dementor, and Harry opened the cabinet while the others moved back.
• The Dementor’s presence overwhelmed Fred and the other young wizards with fear and despair.
• Harry used the Confusion Charm to rouse Fred, but Fred’s Patronus attempts produced only faint mist that could not repel the Dementor.
• A hidden enchanted chain stopped the Dementor just before it reached Fred, who retreated and admitted how formidable it was.
• Harry tapped his wand against the chain around the Dementor’s neck.

Harry and the others continued practicing Patronuses as the Easter holidays approached, while Hermione’s determination to protect Muggle-born families helped her summon a corporeal one. With Umbridge and most professors expected to leave Hogwarts, Hermione, Harry, and Ron planned to spend the break studying at Weasley Manor; at the final R.B. meeting, Fred and George failed to cast corporeal Patronuses.

• Hermione told Harry she wanted to become stronger to protect her parents and other wizards from Muggle families from Voldemort.
• Harry stayed away from Professor Gageon’s Divination lessons and focused on the heavy workload for the Ordinary Wizarding Levels.
• Harry, Hermione, Cedric, and Qiu speculated about statues connected to Slytherin and Ravenclaw after discussing the centaur sculpture.
• As Umbridge and several professors planned to leave Hogwarts for Easter, Hermione chose to go to Weasley Manor with Harry and Ron to supervise their studies.
• At the final R.B. meeting before the holidays, Fred and George failed to cast corporeal Patronuses, and Ron joked that they did not care enough about protecting their pranks.

Umbridge caught Harry and the R.B. members in the Room of Requirement and brought them before Fudge, Dumbledore, and a group of Ministry officials. Harry and the others claimed they had only stumbled upon the room, leaving Fudge surprised by their united denial.

• Umbridge entered the Room of Requirement and accused Harry and the gathered students of breaking the rules.
• Umbridge, Ministry employees, and Draco led the R.B. members to Dumbledore's office, where Fudge, Scrimgeour, and other officials were waiting.
• Umbridge told Fudge that Draco had discovered the room and that she had caught the students returning toward their Common Rooms.
• Harry realized Draco had been watching the group and had reported their gatherings to Umbridge.
• Harry denied organizing anything, and Ron, The Twins, and the other R.B. members backed his story that they had merely discovered the room.

Umbridge and Fudge discovered a parchment that named the students’ group “Dumbledore’s Army,” and demanded that Dumbledore explain it. Dumbledore appeared to accept responsibility while Harry was magically immobilized and unable to speak.

• Umbridge argued that the group’s gathering violated a decree, and Draco presented her with a parchment he had found in the Room of Requirement.
• Umbridge and Fudge read the parchment and recognized the name “Dumbledore’s Army,” prompting Fudge to confront Dumbledore.
• Harry realized Hermione had once written the name as an alternative to “Defense Association,” and that the parchment had remained in the Room of Requirement.
• Harry tried to intervene, but Dumbledore immobilized him before he could speak.
• Dumbledore admitted that he had been found out and gave Harry a slight smile.

Dumbledore confronted Fudge and the Ministry officials, who tried to arrest him at Hogwarts. He defeated nearly all of them and left Scrimgeour immobilized but conscious.

• Scrimgeour warned Dumbledore that resisting the Ministry would make him its enemy, and Dumbledore replied that Fudge already considered him one.
• Dawlish reached for his wand, but Dumbledore noticed and warned him not to attempt an arrest.
• Dumbledore told McGonagall and the R.B. members that Hogwarts needed them and insisted he would face the Ministry alone.
• Fudge ordered the officials to attack, and Fawkes filled the room with flashes of silver light and clouds of dust.
• When the dust cleared, Fudge and nearly twenty Ministry officials lay unconscious, while Scrimgeour remained conscious but rigid against the wall.

After Dumbledore left Hogwarts, Umbridge became Headmaster, but she could not enter the sealed Headmaster's Office. As students mocked her, Draco confronted Harry, Ron, and Hermione and revealed that he had joined the Inquisitorial Squad.

• News of Umbridge replacing Dumbledore spread through Hogwarts, while members of R.B. circulated the story of how Dumbledore had driven off Fudge and the Ministry officials.
• Umbridge left the students unpunished but placed a painting near the Room of Requirement to prevent R.B. from meeting there.
• Umbridge found that the Floo connection and the stone guardian blocked her from entering the Headmaster's Office, so she labeled the door of her former office instead.
• Justin Finch-Fletchley, Dean Thomas, and Ron mocked Umbridge, while Hermione criticized her until Draco threatened to deduct house points.
• Draco told Hermione that members of the Inquisitorial Squad could take points from prefects, and Harry asked what the squad was.

Harry watched Fred and George deal with Graham Montague by trapping him in a broken Vanishing Cabinet, while Hermione feared the twins had gone too far. The twins revealed they were already planning to leave Hogwarts and hinted that their first phase would soon begin.

• Harry learned that the broken Vanishing Cabinet transported people to unknown places and that previous users had vanished for days or longer.
• Fred and George dismissed Hermione's concern about the danger of sending Graham away, saying he would not return soon.
• The twins explained that they planned to leave Hogwarts and were staying only to do something for Dumbledore.
• George checked his watch and said their first phase was about to begin, then Fred told the others to go to the Great Hall before the twins slipped into a crowd of students.

Harry recognized that Umbridge had drugged his pumpkin juice with an altered truth potion, but trusted that it would not affect him and drank it anyway. When Umbridge questioned him about Dumbledore’s whereabouts, Harry pretended the potion had taken effect and said he did not know who she meant.

• Harry saw Umbridge secretly tamper with his pumpkin juice and identified the potion by its smell.
• Harry decided to trust Snape’s Potions expertise and drank half the juice, though the potion had no effect on him.
• Umbridge believed the potion was working and asked Harry where Dumbledore had gone.
• Harry feigned ignorance, and Umbridge angrily pressed him to reveal Dumbledore’s whereabouts.

Harry left Umbridge behind as the Weasley twins’ fireworks transformed the sky above Hogwarts into enormous images of Umbridge and a toad. Qiu showed him the prank cards the twins had scattered across the grounds.

• Umbridge threatened Harry and hurried out after the room shook, then ran toward another loud bang in the corridor.
• Harry ran to the Great Hall and followed the other students outside when he heard more explosions.
• Harry saw six giant fireworks depicting Umbridge wriggling before transforming into a pink-and-green toad.
• Qiu checked that Harry was safe and led him outside, where he spotted two figures on broomsticks scattering items.
• Qiu handed Harry a card advertising Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes and its prank products.