Recaps

Hogwarts celebrated Christmas with enchanted gifts, house activities, and a feast as Harry shared some of his news with Ron and Hermione. After Harry mentioned Professor Holmes was away with Professor Lupin and Headmaster Dumbledore, the ghosts prepared to join the feast, including Peeves, who planned to bring Douglas’s stinky tofu brine.

• The Weasley Twins tried to study the enchanted icicles, triggering a Laughing Charm they could not break, and Percy explained its protection against forced cracking.
• Ravenclaw students offered a question-answering eagle that dispensed presents, while Hufflepuffs turned their table into a communal kitchen.
• Harry returned to Hogwarts, ate Ginny’s chili dessert, and told Ron and Hermione some of what had happened, while keeping some details secret.
• Hermione found it interesting that Sirius’s home was hidden among Muggle buildings in London.
• Harry told Nearly Headless Nick that Professor Holmes was away with Professor Lupin and Headmaster Dumbledore, and Nick soon left.
• The Hogwarts ghosts prepared performances for the Christmas feast, while Peeves wrapped gifts and bottled Douglas’s stinky tofu brine; George and Fred asked the house-elves for a Holmes Pagoda cake.

Douglas, Dumbledore, Sirius, and Kreacher explored Voldemort’s island and recovered Regulus Black’s body from the lake. They buried Regulus in the cavern and honored him with a memorial describing his attempt to destroy Voldemort’s Horcrux.

• Douglas found that magic could not reach the potion in the basin and used the Magic Radar to examine the island’s enchantments.
• Douglas and Dumbledore concluded that Voldemort’s potion weakened anyone who reached the island and that Regulus had bypassed the defenses using house-elf magic.
• Kreacher and Sirius emerged from the lake carrying Regulus’s body, and Sirius cleaned his younger brother while Dumbledore covered him with a Slytherin flag.
• Douglas placed Regulus’s remains in a stone coffin and suggested burying him in the cavern, and Sirius agreed.
• Douglas sealed Regulus’s coffin into the rock wall, and he, Sirius, Lupin, and Dumbledore protected the resting place with magic.
• Douglas carved a bust of Regulus Black and inscribed a tribute to his attempt to destroy Voldemort’s Horcrux.

After Christmas, Hogwarts resumed classes and dealt with exam results, new training, and Sirius’s visits to help Harry learn Occlumency. The first group of seventh-years entered the Chamber of Secrets and were greeted by an unexpectedly cheerful Moaning Myrtle.

• Sirius ordered Kreacher to return to the Black family home and keep their business secret, while Lupin accompanied Sirius on a walk.
• Douglas and Dumbledore returned to Hogwarts, where the ghosts fled when Douglas entered the Great Hall; Snape mocked Douglas after Sirius failed to return.
• Students returned from the holidays and heard about Peter, while Neville received goblin-made swords from Augusta Longbottom and other students reacted to their Christmas rewards and exam results.
• Douglas gave Harry a large stack of books to study for Occlumency, and Sirius continued visiting Hogwarts to watch Harry practice.
• Sirius followed Harry to Quidditch practice as a big black dog, while Percy and Penelope led twelve seventh-years into the Chamber of Secrets.
• Moaning Myrtle greeted the seventh-years as their guide to the Hogwarts Mystery Practice Base, surprising them with her cheerful manner.

Percy, Penelope, and the other students listened to Moaning Myrtle explain the Chamber of Secrets challenge and its seven subject-based passages. After debating whether to take an oath, they gathered beneath their house founders’ statues and repeated Myrtle’s rules for a safe and fair adventure, leaving ready to begin the challenges.

• Percy and the students placated Moaning Myrtle, who recounted Hogwarts’s founding, Slytherin’s departure, and her own death and mistreatment.
• Moaning Myrtle announced that the students would face seven passages based on core subjects and asked them to help her enter the Chamber of Secrets and slay the basilisk.
• Moaning Myrtle instructed the students to stand beneath their house founders’ statues and swear an oath, making them wary of possible magical consequences.
• Percy reassured the students that Dumbledore would not harm them, and Penelope urged them to proceed so students in later years would not have to face the challenge alone.
• Percy and Penelope led the students to their statues, and Moaning Myrtle recited an oath requiring them to protect the challenge, act fairly, follow her instructions, and enjoy the adventure.

The students began a timed, subject-based exam challenge at the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets while the professors reviewed Douglas’s proposed stages. Meanwhile, Malfoy taunted Neville into agreeing to a duel at the Quidditch Pitch.

• Moaning Myrtle directed the students to activate floor tiles, revealing exam stations that required scores above ninety to unlock the next stage.
• The students chose subjects and began answering timed questions as Moaning Myrtle watched over them.
• Douglas proposed combining Herbology, Care of Magical Creatures, and Potions into stages whose rewards tested students’ knowledge and ingredient choices.
• Professor Sprout and Hagrid embraced adding edible ingredients to their stages, while Snape objected to using his cauldrons for cooking.
• Malfoy mocked Neville’s sword practice, and after their classmates egged them on, they agreed to duel at the Quidditch Pitch.

Neville challenged Draco Malfoy to a duel after Draco mocked the swordsmanship Professor Holmes had taught him. The chapter ended as Neville summoned his silver sword and prepared to face Draco’s conjured giant snake with his wand in his left hand.

• Harry recognized Draco among the younger students approaching Gryffindor’s Quidditch practice and warned Wood that Slytherins had arrived.
• Neville told Wood he wanted to duel Draco, and Harry confronted Draco over their past agreement before learning that Draco had disparaged Neville’s swordsmanship.
• Draco claimed he was defending Professor Holmes, while Neville insisted on fighting him alone; the Weasley twins mocked Draco by praising Gryffindor’s skill with both wand and sword.
• The students formed a circle around Neville and Draco, and Draco summoned a giant snake from his Slytherin Dragon Ball.
• Neville summoned his silver sword, readied his wand in his left hand, and cast a speed spell on his feet as the Gryffindors cheered.

Neville defeated Draco's summoned Dragon Pearl Snake with his sword, but Draco attacked him afterward, and the two began dueling with wands. Neville ultimately lost the magical duel, while Fred and George continued their irreverent commentary.

• Fred and George commentated as Neville fought Draco's Dragon Pearl Snake, distracting Neville with their dramatic narration.
• Neville focused his attacks near the snake's head, eventually making it burst into mist and drop its Dragon Pearl.
• Draco fired a spell at Neville, who dodged, then hurried to retrieve the Dragon Pearl and check that it was unharmed.
• Neville put away his sword and faced Draco with his wand, while Harry's fellow students stopped him from intervening.
• Neville and Draco exchanged spells, and Neville fell after Draco attacked with magic.
• Fred and George declared Neville an excellent Gryffindor despite his loss, joking that the Sword of Gryffindor was only used against Muggles.

Gryffindor celebrated Neville’s sword fight with Draco, while Hufflepuff held a snake banquet and Slytherin dealt with Draco’s disgrace. After the duel brought points losses and punishments, Neville’s growing confidence led him to found the Swiftwind Sword Club.

• Gryffindor students cheered Neville for using the Sword of Gryffindor against Draco’s giant snake, while Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny discussed the duel and the challenges older students had attempted.
• Young Hufflepuffs went to the Forbidden Forest for snakes and turned their find into an all-snake banquet.
• Slytherin older students took Draco away for training, and Professor McGonagall later deducted thirty House points from Neville and Draco and assigned them two weeks of work cleaning the Hogwarts Pasture and helping Professor Sprout.
• Neville welcomed the punishment because he wanted to learn about fertilizer, while Draco resented being made to write a post-battle account and Snape criticized his reliance on a magical item during Potions Class.
• Neville grew more confident in swordsmanship and founded the Swiftwind Sword Club with Douglas’s permission, teaching interested students and using a badge Hermione designed.

As Easter approached, Harry read out Douglas’s proposal for a Detective Club trip to Godric’s Hollow to honor the heroes who had fought Voldemort. After public pressure and Sirius’s donation secured Ministry approval, the visit was set to include Auror speakers, while Rufus Scrimgeour planned to use it to hunt Peter Pettigrew.

• With O.W.L. and N.E.W.T. exams approaching, fifth- and seventh-year students faced extra challenge training, and some seventh-years joined the Swiftwind Sword Club.
• At Douglas’s suggestion, Harry invited the Detective Club and Swiftwind Sword Club members on a practical learning trip to Godric’s Hollow and read out his cousin’s prepared proposal.
• Douglas publicized the Ministry’s reluctance to approve the visit, prompting a flood of letters supporting it and criticism of the Ministry and escaped Death Eaters.
• Sirius donated Galleons to cover the event’s official costs, and Fudge approved the trip and arranged for Aurors to speak at the memorial.
• Rufus Scrimgeour secretly assigned Aurors to try to capture the fugitive Peter Pettigrew during the visit.

After the Easter exams, Douglas showed Dumbledore and the Heads of House his new teleportation array, the Secret Realm Gate, inside the Demon-Suppression Tower. The group emerged beside a seaside rock face, and Douglas left them wondering how the rings and gate protected Hogwarts from intruders.

• Dumbledore summoned Douglas and the four Heads of House to discuss Douglas's new training secret realm, and the professors worried it would add to their workload.
• Douglas led the group to the Demon-Suppression Tower, where Dumbledore spotted spatial runes on its doors and Flitwick recognized similarities to the Diagon Alley entrance.
• Douglas activated the doorway by knocking to the rhythm of “Voldemort is Tom Riddle,” and six rings flew into the visitors' hands.
• Douglas and the professors wore their rings and passed through the illusory doorway, arriving at a seaside rock face with a ring-shaped recess for returning.
• Douglas explained that only people who had left traces in the secret realm could use the rings, and promised to explain other possible infiltration methods after they returned.

Douglas explained the traps guarding Voldemort’s hidden treasure cave and how the students would be transported to safety if they encountered him. The professors considered the risks and asked Professor Sprout to help secure the entrance, but Dumbledore redirected them to the purpose of their meeting.

• Douglas showed Snape and the other professors the submerged secret passage and explained its magical traps, including an anti-magic stone.
• Flitwick and McGonagall questioned why Voldemort would enter the passage and whether students would be expected to fight him.
• Douglas revealed that the cavern was Voldemort’s treasure cave and explained that Dragon-Severing Stones would hinder him while the students’ rings transported them back to Hogwarts.
• Douglas said sealing the entrance could provoke Voldemort to blast through the mountain, so the professors should leave him a way inside.
• Douglas asked Sprout to plant marine magical plants at the entrance to keep students from wandering out, and Dumbledore reminded them that this was not what they had come to discuss.

Dumbledore revealed that Regulus Black had died stealing a Horcrux from Voldemort, then unveiled statues honoring the Order of the Phoenix members and other victims killed in the war. The professors commemorated the fallen as Douglas inscribed runes on the cavern wall in their honor.

• Professor Flitwick, Professor Sprout, and Professor McGonagall remembered Regulus Black and his sacrifice, while Snape demanded to know what Dumbledore had hidden about Horcruxes.
• Dumbledore said Regulus had stolen a Horcrux at the cost of his life and assured the professors that it would be destroyed, though Snape questioned how many Horcruxes Voldemort had made.
• Dumbledore opened a phoenix-marked locket and released stone busts, then placed them in caves around Regulus's statue.
• Dumbledore named Marlene McKinnon, Edgar Bones, Benjy Fenwick, Fabian and Gideon Prewett, Caradoc Dearborn, Kados Meadows, Frank and Alice Longbottom, and James and Lily Potter among the fallen heroes.
• Douglas poured drinks, and Dumbledore raised a toast to the heroes who had died fighting Voldemort.
• Douglas chanted a spell, causing ancient runes honoring the fallen to appear across the cavern wall.

After the memorial, Douglas revealed that spitting at Tom Riddle’s statue opened the entrance to Slytherin’s hidden domain, prompting the professors to redesign it as a test for students. The chapter ended with Dumbledore agreeing to give the statue Voldemort’s personality and habits, while asking whether Douglas would spit to open the door first.

• Douglas explained that the kneeling statue represented sixteen-year-old Tom Riddle and that spitting at it opened the hidden domain.
• McGonagall, Sprout, Flitwick, Snape, and Dumbledore discussed replacing Douglas’s entrance mechanism with a challenge for students.
• Flitwick proposed making the statue match each visitor’s magical ability, while McGonagall and Sprout argued for a minimum magical-power threshold.
• Snape recommended that the statue use some of the sixteen-year-old Voldemort’s abilities, and the others accepted his suggestion.
• McGonagall assigned Snape to choose controlled dark magic, and Douglas asked Dumbledore to give the statue Voldemort’s personality and habits.
• Dumbledore agreed and asked whether Douglas would spit at the statue to open the door before they modified it.

Douglas and the professors transformed a statue into a magically powered guardian for the gate, while Snape gave it defensive dark spells and Douglas set its password. The story then shifted to Albania, where the wanted Peter Pettigrew tended a potion in a hidden cave as a strange snake watched.

• Professor McGonagall, Douglas, and Professor Dumbledore modified the statue, while Professor Flitwick added charms and Professor Sprout fitted it with magic-storing konjac plants.
• Douglas explained how the konjac plants would power the statue’s separate parts and make it stop functioning when those parts were damaged.
• Snape gave the statue defensive dark spells, and Douglas revealed that the password to open the gate was “Merope Gaunt.”
• The narration described Albania as a lawless refuge for fugitives, poachers, and smugglers beyond the reach of most wizarding authorities.
• Peter Pettigrew tended a potion in a hidden cave in the Albania Black Forest while a venomous snake watched him.

Wormtail searched Albania for Voldemort and found him hiding in the Black Forest, sustained by snakes and possessing Nagini. Wormtail surrendered himself to his old master, who took over another snake and stared at him.

• Wormtail settled in Albania and used local rats to search for Voldemort while hiding in a wizard-run tavern.
• Wormtail overheard wizards discussing disappearances near a grotto where venomous snakes had been found.
• Wormtail tracked the snake droppings into the Black Forest and discovered Nagini among a nest of ordinary snakes.
• Voldemort spoke to Wormtail from a cloud of black mist and recalled Wormtail’s past service.
• Wormtail knelt and offered Voldemort everything, and Voldemort possessed another snake beside Nagini.

Voldemort recounted how Lily Potter’s Sacrificial Protection destroyed his body and how he survived by possessing snakes before meeting Quirinus Quirrell. He welcomed Wormtail’s arrival and asked him for help, but a voice in the cave interrupted his account.

• Voldemort reassured Wormtail that Lily Potter’s spell, not Wormtail’s actions, had caused his downfall.
• Wormtail described his escape from Hogwarts, his search for Voldemort, and his plan to capture Harry Potter.
• Wormtail told Voldemort about Douglas Holmes, prompting Voldemort to comment on the Defense Against the Dark Arts position’s curse being broken.
• Voldemort explained how he survived by possessing snakes, met Nagini in Albania, and later failed to regain power through Quirinus Quirrell.
• Voldemort asked Wormtail to help him, then a harsh voice interrupted and threatened Wormtail with eternal sleep.

Wormtail completed the potion that transformed a stolen baby into a monstrous body for Voldemort, who possessed it and took Wormtail’s wand. Voldemort then revealed that he knew Wormtail regretted serving him and tortured him with the Cruciatus Curse.

• Wormtail finished brewing the potion with snake corpses and lowered the sleeping baby into the cauldron.
• The potion transformed the baby into a shriveled, skeletal creature, and Wormtail lifted him out as Nagini approached.
• Voldemort entered the creature’s body and told Wormtail that this was only the first step toward resurrection.
• Voldemort took Wormtail’s wand and praised his work before casting the Cruciatus Curse on him.
• Voldemort said he had seen Wormtail’s disgust and mocked his potion-making and intelligence while Wormtail writhed in pain.

Voldemort forced Wormtail to care for him, then grew drowsy after Wormtail accidentally gave him milk containing a calming potion. After waking, Voldemort supplied Wormtail with a wand and demanded that they share the food he had cooked.

• Voldemort tormented Wormtail, then told him his harsh treatment was for Wormtail’s own good and ordered him to feed him.
• Wormtail gave Voldemort milk laced with a calming potion, so Voldemort cursed him and then fell asleep while Nagini guarded him.
• Wormtail went into the forest to find meat, returned to the cave, and admitted he could not cook without a wand.
• Voldemort woke and had Nagini retrieve a wand for Wormtail, then ordered him to prepare food.
• After the food was cooked, Voldemort told Wormtail to eat first, then asked for the rest of Wormtail’s bowl.

Voldemort pressured Wormtail into accompanying him as they set out to gather information and return toward the United Kingdom. Meanwhile, Douglas showed the Heads of House the Demon-Suppression Tower’s anti-intruder safeguards, leaving them to consider his Hogwarts student declaration and badge system.

• Voldemort threatened Wormtail until he agreed to accompany him, then ordered him to gather information while Nagini guarded them nearby.
• Douglas and the other Heads of House finished surveying the cavern and used their rings to return to a stone chamber where anti-magic stone suppressed their magic.
• Douglas demonstrated the Anti-Thief Shower, explaining that it stripped spells and disguises and triggered an alarm if someone blocked it.
• Douglas explained that the apparent exit was a spatial entrance leading to a hidden realm and that the tower walls were difficult to destroy.
• Douglas revealed that opening the door required wearing a specially authenticated Hogwarts badge, performing movements, and reciting the Hogwarts Young Wizard Declaration.

Douglas led Dumbledore and the four heads of house through a ritual that opened the Demon-Suppression Tower’s exit, then joined Lupin and Dumbledore for breakfast. Harry and Ron arrived at King’s Cross for the Easter trip to Godric’s Hollow and spotted Sirius waiting by a Hogwarts coach.

• Douglas arranged the Hogwarts staff into poses and had them recite a declaration, which caused a Hogwarts Crest to appear as a set of double doors.
• Douglas warned that only people wearing a Hogwarts Crest could touch the doors, then left Snape and the others to follow him out of the tower.
• Snape refused to attend the holiday gathering after seeing Lupin, while McGonagall and Flitwick returned to rest and Douglas agreed to breakfast with Dumbledore.
• Students speculated that Holmes had kept Dumbledore and the heads of house trapped in the tower overnight, and George and Fred regretted missing the scene.
• Harry and Ron emerged from Platform Nine and Three-Quarters at a festive, crowded King’s Cross and saw Sirius beside a Hogwarts coach.

Harry’s outing to the Heroes’ Memorial began with students singing a revised Hogwarts song in front of Muggles, prompting attention from both Muggles and Ministry officials. Sirius questioned George and Fred about the song’s purpose, and they worried about whether their actions would affect their father’s job.

• Percy asked Hermione to gather the outing participants, and Harry returned to lead them toward Sirius.
• George, Fred, and Lee Jordan sang a revised song about Hogwarts, drawing curious reactions from Muggles and other students.
• Percy told Penelope that the song did not violate the International Statute of Secrecy because the Muggles did not believe the singers were real wizards.
• Sirius directed Harry to get the students onto the bus and pulled George and Fred aside to question them about the song.
• George and Fred explained that Professor Holmes had secretly told them to sing for Muggles and observe their reactions, then asked whether Ministry employees might cause trouble for their father.

Sirius introduced himself as the students’ guide as their magically expanded bus began a tour of London, mixing scripted explanations with irreverent comments about Professor Holmes. After a short drive through the city, the bus reached its first stop, where Professor Holmes was waiting to check their homework.

• Sirius boarded the bus and introduced Mr. Claude as the Ministry employee driving it.
• Sirius read the tour’s guidelines and descriptions of London landmarks, adding candid asides that amused the students.
• The students watched London’s streets and shops pass by and found Muggle life more interesting than they had expected.
• After a little over ten minutes, the bus arrived at its first stop, where Professor Holmes stood beside a small square to check their homework.

Douglas led Hogwarts students on a visit to University College London and explained why learning about the Muggle world could help them after graduation. The visit brought him face-to-face with his former roommate Carlyle, who praised his pharmacy talent and invited him to dinner and to consider returning to postgraduate study.

• Douglas and Sirius brought Harry and the young wizards to University College London, where Douglas explained the value of Muggle education and knowledge.
• Sirius asked Douglas about his university past, and Douglas told the students he had studied at the University of London School of Pharmacy.
• Douglas recognized Carlyle, his former roommate, who said Douglas’s pharmacy ideas had helped him earn a postgraduate recommendation.
• Carlyle learned that Douglas was teaching at a secondary school and urged him to return to pharmacy, then gave Douglas his number and invited him to dinner.

Douglas brought the Hogwarts students into a lecture hall where he suppressed their magic and demonstrated Muggle technology, then taught them how electrical and magical energy could interfere with each other. He left the students considering whether electricity could be used to detect magic.

• Douglas moved the students into a lecture hall after realizing their concentrated magic was disrupting nearby electrical equipment.
• Percy and Penelope felt their magic weaken as they approached the platform, while Douglas instructed the students to sit and behave as representatives of Hogwarts and the Wizarding World.
• Douglas showed the students a surveillance camera and projector recording them, shocking those unfamiliar with Muggle technology.
• Elaine and Hermione explained that magic and electrical energy interfered with each other, and Douglas challenged the class to consider how strong electrical energy might affect magic.
• Fred proposed using electricity to detect magical traces, and George suggested adapting the device to find magical traps and selling it to the Ministry of Magic.

Douglas taught his students about Muggle technology and the history of the Muggle world, confronting them with how far it had advanced and how it affected the magical world. He assigned essays and urged them to compare Muggle and magical history, leaving Percy Weasley thoughtful and the students shaken by what they had seen.

• Douglas praised Fred and George's idea about electricity and magic, then asked them to write a voluntary essay on their interaction and applications.
• Justin Finch-Fletchley compared ceiling surveillance equipment with the Memory Charm, while Fred and George worried that surveillance could expose their rule-breaking and the Marauder's Map.
• Douglas showed the class a documentary tracing Muggle history from early civilization through industrialization, modern warfare, and the Apollo moon landing.
• Douglas explained that Muggle technological progress had changed the world and harmed magical ecosystems, then assigned an essay on its impact on the magical world.
• Douglas recommended that students compare Muggle and magical history on a shared timeline, and Percy Weasley listened with a deep frown.