Chapter Summaries

Harry and his friends visited Hogsmeade as Voldemort’s confirmed return affected local businesses, and Harry met Mundungus Fletcher at the Three Broomsticks. Mundungus sought more paid work from Harry, who appreciated his useful information network despite disliking his unreliability.

• Qiu thought about how Hogwarts students might wish to exchange their Heads of House, but accepted that it was impossible.
• Harry and the others arrived in Hogsmeade after the snow eased and saw how Voldemort’s return had affected the village.
• Harry and his friends encountered Tonks chatting with Mundungus Fletcher at the Three Broomsticks.
• Ron greeted Mundungus and joked that he had finally taken a bath.
• Mundungus asked Harry for more work, and Harry recognized that paying him could make tedious tasks easier.
• Tonks teased Mundungus for cleaning himself up to impress Harry, whose girlfriend Qiu cared about his appearance.

Harry and his friends left Hogsmeade after discussing Tonks and Remus Lupin’s wedding and waiting in vain for Mundungus Fletcher. On the way back, Harry sensed that Katie was under the Imperius Curse and hurried over to confront the situation.

• Tonks said that her wedding to Remus Lupin was planned for the Easter holidays, while Qiu worried about her upcoming N.E.W.T.s.
• Harry and his friends left the Three Broomsticks before Mundungus Fletcher returned, and Tonks suspected he had gone drinking at the Leaky Cauldron.
• After visiting Honeydukes and Zonkos Joke Shop, Harry and his friends encountered Katie and another girl on the way back.
• Harry sensed two soul fluctuations in Katie and told Qiu, Ron, and Lavender that Katie was under the Imperius Curse.
• Harry hurried toward Katie as she angrily warned the other girl not to touch the parcel she was holding.

Harry stopped Katie from carrying a cursed necklace into the Castle, sealed it, and brought it to Professor McGonagall. Katie could not remember how she got it, and Harry identified the necklace as one he had seen at Borgin and Burkes.

• Harry used magic to remove the necklace from Katie and found a powerful jinx on it.
• Harry resealed the necklace with ancient magic and carried it to the Castle without touching it.
• Professor McGonagall examined the necklace and warned that its jinx could kill a Muggle and endanger a wizard.
• Katie told Professor McGonagall that she remembered being in Honeydukes and then going to the washroom, but not acquiring the parcel.
• Harry said Katie had been under the Imperius Curse and revealed that he had seen the necklace at Borgin and Burkes.

Harry and his friends investigated the buyer of the Hand of Glory, but Mundungus Fletcher’s report offered no useful lead, so they continued watching Draco. Harry grew tired of the surveillance and began to share some good news with the group.

• Harry read Mundungus Fletcher’s letter, which said the Hand of Glory had been sold but the owner did not know who bought it, and that nothing else had been sold with it.
• Harry and his friends agreed to keep watching Draco, while Cedric planned to practice sensing magic.
• Harry and his friends observed Draco behaving relatively well, though he began clashing and fighting with other students.
• Ron wondered whether they had misjudged Draco, but Hermione insisted he was trying to make them lower their guard.
• Harry called off the discussion about Draco and said he had good news, as Fred and George had been exploring ideas for new Muggle-inspired snacks.

Harry and his friends drank the Enchanted Body potion he had brewed, though Ginny delayed drinking hers because she feared getting a foul-tasting bottle. Harry explained that the potion’s effects would emerge over time, and he planned for them to take another batch in three weeks.

• Ron and Harry drank early batches of the Enchanted Body potion and grimaced at their terrible taste.
• Ginny hesitated to drink her potion, and Lavender guessed she was worried it would taste awful.
• Ron asked whether the potion would make him more handsome, then questioned whether it had increased his magic.
• Harry explained that the potion gradually increased magic, resistance to magic, and bodily toughness, with its effects becoming clear after two weeks and stabilizing after another week.
• Qiu worried that taking another batch in three weeks would be too soon, but Harry said his brewing technique had improved and he could make it in time.

Harry and Qiu investigated an unseen attacker in the Hogwarts stair gallery, but Harry could not identify who had struck his shield. They considered whether Draco could be responsible or if someone else was involved, then studied ancient magic before returning to their Common Rooms.

• Harry detected an attack on his Maxim Shield in the dark gallery, but his magic found no one there.
• Harry and Qiu wondered whether Draco had secretly mastered the Confundus Charm or whether another person was involved.
• Harry and Qiu studied basic books on ancient magic in the Room of Requirement for an hour.
• Harry escorted Qiu to the Ravenclaw Common Room and returned to find Hermione reading and Ron playing Exploding Snap.

Ginny searched for the student who had disturbed her concealed barrier but found no one and returned to the Gryffindor Common Room. There, she found Harry, Ron, and other boys comparing Wizard Cards, including several rare ones she recognized.

• Ginny sensed someone disturbing her barrier magic, but the person escaped before she reached the corridor.
• Black Ginny reasoned that the intruder was probably a student who had used a Confundus Charm to hide their movements.
• Ginny searched nearby corridors for the intruder but returned to the Gryffindor Common Room when curfew approached.
• Ginny saw Harry, Ron, and several boys comparing their Wizard Card collections.
• Ginny recalled that she had once collected more than three hundred cards and knew which ones were rarest.

After Potions class, Harry discovered that Neville’s borrowed textbook belonged to the Half-Blood Prince and contained expert potion revisions and an unusual version of Levicorpus. Harry recognized it as the spell’s original form and borrowed the book to study it.

• Neville showed Harry the battered Potions textbook marked as the property of the Half-Blood Prince.
• Harry examined the book’s potion corrections and found that they were sound, including an optimized recipe for the Draught of Living Death.
• Harry found a detailed entry for Levicorpus and recognized it as the original version of the spell he had learned from Sirius.
• Harry asked Neville to lend him the textbook, and Neville agreed before leaving for his other commitments.

Harry and Ron found the Half-Blood Prince’s difficult Elixir of Life instructions in their Potions textbook and failed to identify the unknown wizard, while Hermione suggested asking Sirius. As Christmas approached, Harry remained wary of Draco, who had watched Gryffindor’s easy Quidditch victory over Slytherin without leaving the stands.

• Harry and Ron read the Half-Blood Prince’s Elixir of Life instructions and wondered who had written them.
• Hermione said she had never heard of the Half-Blood Prince and suggested that Harry and Ron ask Sirius about the spells in the book.
• Harry and Ron postponed asking Sirius because the Order of the Phoenix was busy and Christmas was near.
• Hermione looked troubled when Harry and Ron discussed going home for Christmas, since her parents no longer remembered her.
• Gryffindor defeated Slytherin easily in their second Quidditch match, and Harry noticed Draco watching from the stands throughout the game.

Hogwarts prepared a school-wide Christmas ball, and Harry and the others discussed Hagrid’s plans and Hermione’s lack of a partner. As the ball began, Luna Lovegood arrived alone, while Hermione had yet to appear.

• Harry and the others learned that Hagrid was staying at Hogwarts to care for Norberta and Grawp and to see Madame Maxime.
• Dumbledore agreed to hold a school-wide ball before the students left for Christmas, giving them only five days to find partners.
• Cormac McLaggen invited Hermione, but she turned him down and worried that she had no partner because Jacob was away in Finland.
• Mr. Weasley agreed that Jacob could spend Christmas at Weasley Manor, but he could not return in time for the ball.
• Harry entered the Great Hall with Qiu, and Luna Lovegood became the first girl he saw arrive alone.

Harry overheard Draco talking with an unknown accomplice, who escaped invisibly through the classroom’s front door. After defeating Draco and Pansy, Harry returned to the Christmas feast and told Qiu and the others about the accomplice; the mystery would have to wait until after the holidays.

• Harry used a probing spell to eavesdrop on Draco and heard him question someone about what they knew, before the spell was broken.
• Draco and Pansy confronted Harry, while an invisible person escaped through the classroom’s front door.
• Harry tried to enter the classroom but Pansy stopped him, and he warned Draco that he was watching him.
• Harry returned to the Great Hall, told Qiu about Draco’s accomplice, and later saw Draco return to the feast.
• Harry told the others what he had discovered, and Ron noted that Malfoy was not among the six students staying at Hogwarts.

On Christmas at Weasley Manor, an urgent Ministry letter sent Mr. Weasley and Mr. Diggory rushing away after they learned Voldemort had caused a major incident at Canary Wharf. Harry and the other young wizards tried to work out what Voldemort had done, but they had no answers by the time they left off.

• Bill arrived through the fireplace with an urgent letter from the Ministry of Magic.
• Mr. Weasley and Mr. Diggory read that Voldemort had caused a major incident at Canary Wharf and left for the Ministry.
• Hermione recognized that the incident had occurred in a crowded Muggle area and warned it could attract widespread attention.
• Harry questioned why the incident would be so serious, recalling that the Ministry had once concealed the destruction caused by an Obscurus in New York.

Harry protected Mrs. Weasley, Bill, and Pheobe from three attacking Death Eaters with Grindelwald’s Fireshield Charm. Ron then used two new enchanted glass balls to create giant flame puppets, leaving the attackers alarmed.

• Harry Apparated beside Mrs. Weasley and shielded her, Bill, and Pheobe from the Death Eaters with blue flames.
• Harry sent fire dragons at the three attackers, knocking two from the air and forcing the third to retreat.
• Ron emerged from the fireplace and, seeing Harry had protected his family, threw two enchanted glass balls into the burning Burrow.
• The glass balls absorbed the nearby flames and formed two enormous golden-red flame puppets, shocking the Death Eaters.

Harry and Ron used the Saladin Lamp Demons’ Spirit-Burning Fire to pressure Dolohov and the other Death Eaters, forcing Dolohov to call for Amycus Carrow’s help. After escaping the flames, Dolohov began casting a powerful spell he had only recently mastered.

• Harry and Ron attacked and defended in tandem as the Saladin Lamp Demons’ Spirit-Burning Fire forced the Death Eaters to dodge.
• Dolohov recognized the danger too late and shouted for Amycus Carrow to help him counter the flames.
• Amycus Carrow used a Fire-Control Charm, but the Saladin Lamp Demons overpowered it and sent the flames toward the Death Eaters.
• Dolohov used the brief delay to escape the flames’ influence with Apparition and conjured enormous green wings of fire.
• Dolohov told Harry and Ron they were stronger than he had expected and began casting a powerful spell that was new to him.

Harry intervened to protect Ron and Ginny from the Death Eaters, but the ensuing magical blast destroyed The Burrow’s fireplace before anyone could escape through it. The chapter revealed that Bill’s wound resisted spells and potions, leaving Harry to investigate the cause.

• Harry flew out of the protective fire ring, blocked the Killing Curses, and summoned a Patronus lion to destroy the thundercloud and stop the lightning.
• Dolohov detonated the magic in his curses, and Harry and Ron protected themselves and Ginny from the resulting shock wave.
• The blast collapsed the remaining walls of The Burrow and shattered its fireplace before anyone inside could emerge.
• Harry recalled finding Pheobe unable to stop Bill’s bleeding, even with healing spells and Restorative Potion.

Harry returned to the fight at the Burrow and quickly turned the battle against the Death Eaters, overwhelming Antonin Dolohov with powerful spells. Dolohov retreated, wounded and astonished that Harry knew Voldemort’s Black Spirit Death Blade and could match his magic.

• Ron and Ginny struggled against Dolohov and the Carrow siblings while Harry treated Bill’s injuries.
• Harry returned, destroyed Dolohov’s thundercloud with a Patronus, and attacked with a Sword Beam Charm.
• Harry struck Dolohov’s shoulder with the Black Spirit Death Blade, leaving him shocked that Harry knew Voldemort’s spell.
• Dolohov healed his wound and fought back, but found that Harry surpassed him in casting speed, spell power, and variety.

Harry learned that William Dorom and Laskoni Forsay, two powerful wizards who had rescued Dolohov, escaped using a Portkey. After Bill was taken to St. Mungo’s and the Burrow’s ruins were left behind, Harry and the other children returned to Weasley Manor while the adults investigated the Death Eaters’ attacks.

• Sirius and Lupin told Harry that William Dorom and Laskoni Forsay came from prominent Finnish and Polish wizarding families, had fled their homes, and were exceptionally powerful.
• Sirius wondered whether Dorom and Forsay had joined Voldemort, while Lupin suggested they might belong to an organization that had once tried to recruit him.
• Emmeline Vance examined Bill’s injuries, and Mrs. Weasley thanked Harry for saving Bill’s life.
• Mr. Diggory arranged a temporary fireplace connected to the Floo Network, and Bill was sent to St. Mungo’s Hospital.
• The adults sent Harry and the other children back to Weasley Manor, then left to investigate why the Death Eaters had caused two major disturbances in succession.
• Cedric asked Harry why Lupin and Sirius had prevented the children from going to the Burrow, and Harry defended their caution.

Harry and the others learned that Inyashadibasta had been breached and its prisoners freed, adding to the chaos caused by the Death Eaters. At Weasley Manor, they discovered that Snape had developed Sectumsempra, but they did not question whether he remained a Death Eater.

• The attackers breached Inyashadibasta, killed its guards, destroyed its magic puppets, and freed every prisoner.
• Harry and the others learned of the prison break and spent a quiet Christmas evening at Weasley Manor with Fleur Delacour’s family.
• Gabrielle Delacour cheerfully questioned Harry and Ron about their absent girlfriends.
• Sirius and Lupin said they had never heard of the Half-Blood Prince, but Sirius recognized Sectumsempra as a spell Snape had developed.
• Mrs. Weasley said Bill had also been struck by Sectumsempra, and Harry and the others concluded that Snape had used it.

Harry returned to Hogwarts after the holidays and learned that the Ministry of Magic was under pressure from suspected Imperius Curse attacks. Percy warned him and the others not to trust people too readily, leaving them worried about the danger inside the Ministry and beyond.

• Bill returned to the Burrow after recovering from his injuries, which the Blood Spirit Potion helped replenish his lost blood.
• Harry, Ron, and Hermione reunited with Percy, who looked exhausted from the Ministry's recent troubles.
• Percy warned Harry and the others to be wary even of people they knew, then revealed that the Imperius Curse was involved.
• Harry and the others suspected Death Eaters or the Northern Wizard Organization had used the curse to control people in the Ministry.
• Hermione noted that Jacob had been recalled to the Ministry, while Percy explained that he had returned to arrange temporary access to the Floo Powder network.

Harry returned to Hogwarts after the holidays, where Romilda Vane gave him homemade chocolates and a new round of Apparition classes was announced. Harry and Ron became eligible to attend the classes and take the test later in the term.

• Harry returned to the Common Room and accepted Romilda Vane’s homemade Christmas chocolates, then hid them under his bed.
• Hogwarts announced a second round of Apparition classes and tests for students who would turn seventeen by August 31.
• Hermione questioned the extra test, and Ron said he had heard that Scrimgeour had proposed it.
• Hermione reflected on her growing disappointment in the Ministry after its boasts about Voldemort’s defeat were followed by its failure to respond to his Christmas Eve attacks.
• Harry and Ron looked forward to the classes; Harry had already mastered Apparition, while Ron had not.