Recaps

Douglas expected Peter Pettigrew to seek out Voldemort, while Hogwarts searched for the escaped rat and learned that Black had been framed. Professor Trelawney delivered a prophecy about Voldemort’s return, and the Aurors eventually traced Peter’s escape route before McGonagall destroyed it.

• Percy asked everyone to keep Lupin’s werewolf identity secret, while Harry and the others defended Lupin and demanded their rewards.
• Douglas explained to Dumbledore that he hoped Peter would escape and seek Voldemort, and revealed that Peter believed Voldemort was gone for good.
• McGonagall told the students that Peter Pettigrew had framed Black and warned them that Peter was dangerous.
• Trelawney delivered a prophecy that Voldemort’s servant had escaped and would help his master rise again, then did not remember saying it.
• After Aurors failed to find Peter, McGonagall followed Douglas’s note to the passage beneath the Whomping Willow and found rat footprints in the Shrieking Shack.
• McGonagall destroyed the Shrieking Shack and the passage to prevent anyone from using the route into Hogwarts again.

The Ministry cleared Sirius’s name and exposed Peter, while Snape came to discuss Trelawney’s prophecy with Dumbledore. Douglas sent Harry’s friends away, then revealed that Sirius was the stray dog Harry had befriended, leaving Harry to ask why Douglas had made them investigate Sirius.

• The Ministry issued a special edition clearing Sirius, identifying Peter as a wanted illegal Animagus, and prompting Mrs. Weasley to recognize Scabbers and clear rats from the Burrow.
• Snape told Dumbledore that Trelawney had made a genuine prophecy, and Dumbledore sent Douglas away to preserve his promise of secrecy.
• Lupin said that he and Sirius believed Douglas had deliberately let Peter escape and suspected he had worse plans for him.
• Douglas sent the Charon Detective Agency members away when they came to ask for rewards, keeping Harry behind.
• Douglas revealed that Sirius was the dog Harry had fed and played with, and Harry asked why Douglas had made them investigate Sirius despite knowing he was innocent.

Harry met Remus Lupin and Sirius Black at Douglas’s office, where Lupin gave him a multifunctional pocket watch and Douglas pointed him toward the Detective Club’s rewards. Sirius gave Harry a Christmas present, and Harry embraced him gratefully.

• Douglas introduced Remus Lupin as Harry’s parents’ close friend, and Harry called him Uncle Remus.
• Lupin gave Harry a pocket watch with several magical functions and promised to provide an instruction manual.
• Douglas reminded Harry about his summer test papers and told him to take the Detective Club’s rewards from a box.
• Harry told Douglas about his bet with Draco Malfoy, and Wangcai looked for Galleons when it heard about the debt.
• Sirius arrived and reunited with Harry, who recognized him as Padfoot and Sirius Black.
• Sirius gave Harry a Christmas present, and Harry thanked him and hugged him.

Harry reunited with Sirius and celebrated with him at Douglas's home, where Douglas revealed that the fireplace was a secret Floo passage. To protect the secret, Douglas insisted Harry learn Occlumency, and Harry agreed after learning Snape was skilled in Legilimency.

• Douglas played a recording of "A Window to the Past," prompting Sirius, Lupin, and Harry to reflect on their past before Dobby's tears broke the mood.
• Douglas explained that he had remade the radio and said the music drew inspiration from Orpheus; Harry considered it as a gift for Hermione.
• During the celebration, Sirius offered Harry a place at the Black family's home, but Harry said he was happy living with Douglas and asked whether he could see Sirius at school.
• Harry's question revealed that Sirius and Lupin had used a secret Floo passage, so Douglas told Harry it connected Hogwarts to his home in Surrey.
• Douglas gave Harry the choice of risking memory erasure or learning Occlumency, and Harry chose to learn it after Douglas mentioned Snape's Legilimency skills.

Harry learned how to guard against Snape’s Legilimency, while Snape punished the students who had been waiting for him. Harry arranged for Sirius to attend a Detective Club awards ceremony and discovered that Sirius, James, Lupin, and Peter had created the Marauder’s Map.

• Douglas advised Harry to avoid eye contact with Snape to make Legilimency harder, and Harry recalled Snape acting strangely around his eyes.
• Snape deducted ten House Points from each student gathered in the corridor and insulted them for failing to catch Peter; Neville realized Gryffindor students had made up most of the group and worried about punishment from Professor McGonagall.
• Harry asked Sirius to tour Hogwarts with him, but Douglas refused to authorize it and suggested Harry invite Sirius to a Detective Club awards ceremony instead; Sirius agreed to attend under restrictions.
• Harry invited Lupin and Douglas to the ceremony, but Douglas declined.
• Harry asked Sirius about the Marauder’s Map, and Sirius explained that he, James, Lupin, and Peter had created it and taken their nicknames from their Animagus forms.

Harry announced that Sirius Black and Lupin would attend the Charon Detective Agency awards ceremony, while Hermione limited attendance to agency members. On Christmas morning, Ron received an amulet from Bill and a tiny owl from Sirius, while Harry found test papers among his presents.

• Harry told the Great Hall that Sirius Black and Lupin would attend the agency’s awards ceremony the next morning.
• Hermione announced that only Charon Detective Agency members at school could attend and said the agency would recruit again after Christmas.
• Douglas decorated the tower outside Hogwarts with red lanterns after students’ ideas for a giant Christmas tree were rejected.
• Ron received an amulet from Bill that worked like Harry’s, while Harry unwrapped a set of extracurricular test questions from Douglas.
• Ron found a tiny owl and pieced together Sirius’s note explaining that Pigwidgeon was his new pet to replace the rat he had lost.

Harry received Sirius’s invitation and a Christmas report card before Sirius took him to Douglas’s London home, where Lupin and Douglas prepared to bring him somewhere by a tested passage. The chapter ended with Harry confused as they headed for the cupboard beneath the stairs.

• Ron showed off Sirius’s Christmas gift, a tiny owl that Ginny named Juvie Quong, and the owl responded to the name.
• Harry learned that Hermione had received Muggle exam papers and that the professors’ Chamber of Secrets challenge would involve students who placed first in each subject.
• Harry read his report card and went to Douglas’s office, where Sirius told him that Remus and Doug were waiting in London.
• Douglas sent Dobby to help Harry change, then told Sirius and Lupin that the passage was safe and that Apparition would put too much pressure on Harry.
• Sirius and Douglas bickered while Lupin recalled James and Lily, easing the group’s grief before they left.
• Douglas headed for the cupboard under the stairs, and Sirius told Harry they were not using the front door.

Harry, Sirius, and Lupin entered Douglas’s magical storeroom, where Harry encountered a dark barrier powered by Devil’s Whisper. The visit ended with Douglas assigning Harry a lengthy reflection and everyone debating his poor school marks.

• Douglas’s storeroom door opened through a secret rhythmic mechanism, and Dobby encouraged Harry to enter its darkness without fear.
• Harry heard whispers in the dark before a hand pulled him into a vast stone chamber, where Douglas explained that the barrier used Devil’s Whisper to affect intruders.
• Lupin recognized the ancient magic, while Sirius explained that the spell drew on negative emotions and worked best in silence.
• Douglas teased Harry for nearly listening to the whispers and assigned him a reflection of at least ten inches.
• Sirius first defended Harry, then agreed with Douglas that Harry’s marks lagged behind Draco Malfoy’s and Hermione’s, while Dobby claimed his own learning ability surpassed Harry’s.

Douglas, Sirius, Lupin, Harry, and Dobby used a magical teleportation array to travel to Godric's Hollow. Harry learned it was his birthplace and the place where his parents died, then followed Douglas toward the village, searching its snowy houses for his former home.

• Douglas led the group to a teleportation array, and Dobby entered coordinates for Godric's Hollow while the others touched its surface.
• The array transported them without discomfort to a snowy village, where Sirius and Lupin grew emotional at the sight.
• Douglas told Harry they were in Godric's Hollow, and Lupin explained that it was also Harry's birthplace.
• Harry realized his parents had died there and imagined the life he might have had if Voldemort had not attacked.
• Douglas set off toward the village center, and Harry searched each house for any sign of his family's former home.

Harry, Sirius, Lupin, Douglas, and Dobby visited the memorial and graves of Harry’s parents in Godric’s Hollow. As the others mourned, Douglas considered using the Resurrection Stone but kept it hidden because it could only offer a false reunion.

• Dobby explained that house-elves could not appear before Muggles in Godric’s Hollow, and Sirius and Lupin reminisced about the village.
• Douglas led the group to the memorial, which transformed into a statue of James and Lily Potter with baby Harry; Sirius and Lupin wept as Harry looked at it.
• Douglas guided them to the Potter family gravestone, where Harry read the inscription and cried.
• Douglas conjured a wreath, Sirius knelt and mourned, Lupin offered gin, and Dobby left a cake for James and Lily.
• Douglas considered using the Resurrection Stone, then recalled that it could not truly bring the dead back and had kept it secret.

Harry visited the ruins of his childhood home with Sirius, Lupin, Douglas, and Dobby, and learned that the house had been preserved as a memorial. After Harry entered the grounds, Aurors Kingsley Shacklebolt and Tonks arrived in response to an alarm, and Harry asked how Tonks knew Douglas.

• Harry recognized the ruined house as his former home and said he would restore it after Douglas suggested that its owner should do so.
• When Harry touched the gate, a memorial sign appeared, and Douglas and the others drew their wands after he spotted a concealed spell shoot into the sky.
• Kingsley Shacklebolt and Tonks Apparated to the gate, where Douglas recognized them from their earlier Hogwarts operation.
• Tonks explained that the Aurors had set an alarm to respond if anyone entered the yard, then apologized when she realized Harry was there.
• Harry asked Tonks what relationship she had with Douglas.

Douglas helped Harry reclaim the Potter home, explaining that Harry could spend time there despite the requirement to stay with the Dursley family during summer holidays. The chapter left Harry clearing the overgrown yard while Dobby watched without helping.

• Tonks introduced herself to Harry, and Sirius learned that she was Andromeda Tonks's daughter and asked her to pass along his regards.
• Sirius explained that Andromeda was his cousin and that they had both been disowned by the Black family.
• Douglas scolded Harry for prying into Sirius's past, then told him he could make the abandoned property into the Potter home.
• Harry eagerly began pulling weeds, and Douglas reminded him to use the Weeding Charm he had left at Holmes Orchard.
• Sirius and Lupin explained that the Ministry would not detect Harry's magic with adult wizards nearby, while Douglas left Dobby to watch Harry without helping.
• Dobby set up a chair, tea, and a book beside the yard, leaving Harry to do the work himself.

Harry reflected on restoring the ruined Potter home, and Sirius recounted the Potter family's history and wealth. Douglas proposed protecting the house with the Fidelius Charm and making Sirius its Secret Keeper, leaving Sirius eager to help Harry repair it.

• Harry sat in the overgrown yard and resolved to restore the Potter home to its former warmth.
• Sirius told Harry about the Potter family's history, including Linfred's potions, Henry Potter's support for Muggles, and Fleamont's invention of Sleekeazy's Hair Potion.
• Douglas joked that Harry would need to study Potions to restore the family's glory, and Sirius encouraged him by recalling Lily's talent.
• Douglas proposed casting the Fidelius Charm over the home and appointing Sirius as Secret Keeper.
• Douglas suggested Sirius bring Harry to the house during summer holidays to repair it, and Sirius looked to Harry, hoping to make up for his past regret.

Harry chose Sirius as the Secret Keeper for the Potter home, and the group used the Fidelius Charm to hide it. They then traveled to Grimmauld Place, where Sirius revealed the heavily protected Black family home to Harry.

• Harry named Sirius as the Potter home's Secret Keeper, and Douglas warned Sirius to stay alive and protect himself.
• Sirius cast the Fidelius Charm on the Potter home while Douglas watched its magic; Harry began to forget what they were doing there.
• Bathilda Bagshot came out to investigate the spell, and Lupin explained that she had been close to Lily and had attended Harry's first birthday tea.
• Douglas's Teleportation Array made Harry vomit, so Douglas gave him an experimental pill that quickly eased his nausea.
• Sirius led Harry, Douglas, and Lupin to Grimmauld Place, where the hidden Black family home appeared between numbers eleven and thirteen.
• Sirius explained that only people with Black family blood could see the house unless a Black family member led someone to it.

Sirius brought Douglas, Lupin, Harry, and Dobby into the Black Ancestral Home, where they encountered his hostile mother’s portrait and the house-elf Kreacher. The chapter ended after Douglas silenced the screaming portraits with a spell.

• Sirius opened the entrance door and led everyone inside, while Douglas cast protective spells and a detection spell.
• Dobby lit the entrance hall lamps, and Douglas found no sign of life apart from magical traps.
• Mrs. Black’s portrait began screaming, and Sirius explained that she had died while he was in Azkaban.
• Kreacher appeared carrying a dead rat, insulted Sirius’s guests, and moved aside when Sirius ordered him to.
• Sirius tried to remove his mother’s portrait, but Douglas cast a soundproofing spell that silenced it and the other portraits.

Sirius showed Harry and the others his bedroom, a Gryffindor-decorated room that reflected his rebellion against the Black family. Outside, Douglas questioned Kreacher about Regulus Black and an object Voldemort may have given him, leaving Kreacher trembling and in tears.

• Sirius led the group upstairs past the mounted house-elf heads and opened his bedroom with a Muggle key after explaining the magical protections on the lock.
• Sirius asked Dobby to clean the dusty room, then showed Harry its Gryffindor banners, Muggle motorcycle pictures, and a photograph of James, Sirius, Lupin, and Peter.
• Sirius awkwardly blocked Harry’s view of the bikini posters, and Harry recognized the photograph of his parents and their friends that Hagrid had once collected for him.
• Douglas asked Kreacher to take him to Regulus Black’s room, and Kreacher insulted him before Dobby defended Douglas.
• Douglas warned Kreacher not to use the insult again, then asked whether Regulus had received something from Voldemort; Kreacher broke down in tears and refused to answer while Lupin watched suspiciously.

Douglas brought Harry to the Black Ancestral Home and went straight to Regulus Black’s room, prompting Sirius to explain his dead younger brother’s ties to Voldemort. The chapter left Kreacher suspended and distraught, while Harry wondered how Regulus had died.

• Douglas introduced Harry to Kreacher, and Dobby praised Harry and Douglas as symbols of hope for House-elves.
• Kreacher recoiled from Dobby and tried to leave, but Douglas headed for a room Kreacher had watched and opened Regulus’s door.
• Kreacher insulted Douglas, so Douglas levitated him; Sirius then challenged Douglas for entering Regulus’s room.
• Sirius told Harry that Regulus had joined the Death Eaters and that their parents had supported Voldemort’s pure-blood ideas.
• Kreacher insisted Regulus had been a hero, and Harry asked whether Aurors had killed him.

Douglas discovered that Regulus’s locket was hidden in the Black family home and persuaded Kreacher to reveal its history and ask for help destroying it. The chapter ended with Douglas realizing Kreacher could not retrieve the locket while still under his spell.

• Sirius and Lupin questioned Douglas about what he was searching for, and Douglas asked to speak to Kreacher alone.
• Douglas took Kreacher into Regulus’s room and used his Magic Radar to locate a magical item nearby.
• Douglas told Kreacher he knew about the locket and asked him to hand it over, prompting Kreacher to explain Regulus’s cave mission and his failed attempts to destroy it.
• Douglas reassured Kreacher that he could help fulfill Regulus’s final wish, and Kreacher questioned whether Douglas could open and destroy the locket.
• Kreacher pointed out that Douglas had left him under a spell, so he could not fetch the locket.

Douglas arranged for Harry and Lupin to leave, then had Kreacher recount how Regulus sent him to Voldemort, who forced him to drink a potion in a cave. Kreacher had not yet explained how the locket returned to the Black home when he insisted he had not stolen it.

• Douglas sent Dobby to take Harry and Lupin to Hogsmeade and told Lupin to fetch Dumbledore.
• Kreacher returned with Slytherin's locket, but Douglas concealed Sirius and ordered him not to interfere while Kreacher spoke.
• Kreacher explained that Regulus joined Voldemort's organization and offered him to Voldemort as a House-elf.
• Kreacher described how Voldemort took him to a cave, made him drink a basin of potion, and left him stranded on an island.
• Sirius demanded to know how the locket returned and whether Voldemort had killed Regulus, but Douglas restrained him.
• After Dobby appeared, Kreacher resumed his account and insisted that he had not stolen the locket.

Kreacher revealed how Regulus Black stole Voldemort’s locket Horcrux and died, leaving Sirius to confront the meaning of his brother’s sacrifice. Douglas secured the locket and pressed Sirius and Kreacher to accept their lasting connection, while Sirius ordered Kreacher to keep the secret.

• Kreacher recounted how Regulus ordered him to switch Voldemort’s locket for a copy before drinking the potion and being dragged into the lake.
• Sirius questioned why Regulus had risked his life for the locket, and Douglas explained that it was a Horcrux containing part of Voldemort’s soul.
• Douglas sealed the locket in an Anti-Magic Stone Box, and Kreacher whimpered when he saw Douglas had not destroyed it.
• Douglas warned Kreacher that Regulus had died protecting the Horcrux, and Sirius ordered Kreacher never to reveal what had happened.
• Douglas told Sirius and Kreacher that they could not escape their bond, then reflected on Kreacher’s loyalty and his plans to have Hermione study house-elf psychology.

Douglas and Dumbledore examined Slytherin’s Locket and learned the story of how Regulus stole it from Voldemort. The group prepared to recover Regulus’s remains, while Sirius struggled to understand his brother’s sacrifice.

• Douglas asked Kreacher to take them to the entrance of the cave’s magical defenses so they could recover Regulus’s remains safely.
• Dumbledore examined Slytherin’s Locket and gave Douglas a mithril plate to help destroy it.
• Douglas explained that Regulus had discovered Voldemort’s secret and stolen the Locket, prompting Lupin to comfort Sirius.
• Dumbledore called Regulus a hero, while Sirius mourned that his brother had died protecting a family he considered rotten.
• Kreacher asked Dumbledore whether the Locket could be destroyed and whether he would help bring Regulus home, and Dumbledore told him to trust Douglas.

Douglas brought Dumbledore, Sirius, Lupin, Dobby, and Kreacher to Voldemort’s cave, pitching it as a practical training site for Hogwarts students and requesting materials to build a Teleportation Array. They arrived at the cavern, where Douglas began measuring the area while Kreacher kept the secret entrance to himself.

• Douglas sent Dobby and Kreacher ahead to learn the route, then arranged for them to transport Sirius and Lupin while giving Dobby strength pills.
• Douglas told Dumbledore that he wanted to use Voldemort’s cave as a training site so Hogwarts students would learn not to fear Dark Wizards.
• Douglas asked Dumbledore for materials to build a Teleportation Array, and Dumbledore agreed to help while demanding a middleman’s fee.
• Dumbledore and Douglas joined Sirius and Lupin in the cavern, where Lupin observed that a damp passage led toward the sea rather than to a secret chamber.
• Douglas instructed Dobby to measure the cavern platform and watched Kreacher, who stayed silent about the secret entrance and how to open it.

Dumbledore’s group opened Voldemort’s hidden entrance and entered a vast, dark lake cavern where a green light glimmered in the distance. After Kreacher revealed that Voldemort had taken him across the lake by boat, Dumbledore turned to Douglas and demanded an explanation.

• Dumbledore pointed out the concealed entrance, and Douglas used the Magic Radar to identify the magic protecting it.
• Douglas transformed Voldemort’s blood-sacrifice ward into a mechanism opened by spitting on a statue of Voldemort at sixteen, then revealed the archway.
• Dumbledore entered the darkness first, but Douglas and the others followed before he gave his signal; Dumbledore caught Dobby before he could rush into the lake.
• Sirius questioned Kreacher, who trembled and pointed out a boat used by Voldemort to take him to the lake’s center.
• Dumbledore recognized the situation and asked Douglas for an explanation.

Douglas denied having visited Voldemort’s hidden cave, while Dumbledore found the boat leading across the lake. Douglas proposed using a Muggle speedboat to gather the Inferi, and Sirius prepared to drive it.

• Douglas dismissed the idea that he had copied Voldemort’s obstacles and argued that Hogwarts needed more modern, innovative teaching.
• Dumbledore questioned Douglas about whether he had ever visited the cave, then led the group onward and found a hidden chain and boat.
• Dumbledore explained that Voldemort’s boat carried only one wizard at a time and would keep the lake’s creatures from attacking.
• Douglas brought out a Muggle speedboat and suggested gathering the Inferi together so they could be destroyed or sealed away.
• Douglas picked Kreacher to stir up the Inferi, but Kreacher refused, so Sirius volunteered to drive the speedboat and asked Douglas for its key.

Douglas used a voice-controlled speedboat to draw the Inferi together, then helped trap and destroy them with Dobby, Dumbledore, Sirius, and Lupin. The Soul-Subduing Stele suppressed the remaining Inferi, revealing a stone island at the lake’s center as the group waited for the current to fade so they could search for Regulus’s remains.

• Douglas ordered Kreacher to drive the speedboat, then used its preset route to lure the Inferi toward the group.
• Dobby set up a Magic Array underwater while Douglas gathered storm clouds and the others prepared their spells.
• Dobby trapped the Inferi with the array, Douglas and Dumbledore attacked them with lightning and fire, and Sirius and Lupin froze the lake.
• Douglas released the Soul-Subduing Stele, which drew the Inferi into the lake and suppressed them with arcs of electricity.
• Kreacher was shocked when he touched the water, and Dobby gave him a pill while recording his condition.
• Douglas explained the stele’s purpose, and the group saw a stone slab and basin on an island at the lake’s center.