Recaps

With Voldemort trapped in hiding by the Aurors, Douglas Holmes, Dumbledore, Sirius Black, and Dobby prepared memory-based films at Hogwarts. Dumbledore announced that the remaining final examinations were canceled and replaced by a staggered examination system, leaving Harry to suspect the new plan would be even more drawn out.

• Voldemort demanded water from Wormtail and learned that Aurors still watched the exits from Knockturn Alley.
• Douglas, Dumbledore, and Sirius watched Sirius's film work, while Douglas discussed his film about Bill and Charlie and Dobby shared his film about gaining freedom.
• Douglas told Dumbledore that his memories of the Order of the Phoenix would become the foundation of their films.
• Dumbledore announced in the Great Hall that the remaining final examinations were canceled, then introduced the Hogwarts staggered final examination system.
• Harry noticed Douglas raise his goblet and suspected the new examination system would take even longer than the old one.

Students across the four houses reacted to the new exam system, while Douglas inspected the newly established Hogwarts Academic Affairs Office. The chapter left the office ready for use, with a magical map tracking students throughout the Castle.

• Gryffindor students complained that the exam system would disrupt their holiday plans, while Fred Weasley and George joked about it before being reminded they would not have to take the test.
• Pansy Parkinson framed the exams as a chance for Slytherin to excel, and an older student silenced a worried second-year boy.
• Valentine Webb reassured Hufflepuff students and proposed study groups and holiday revision notes to help them prepare.
• Ravenclaw students discussed the exam system, and they concluded that Professor Holmes was responsible for devising it.
• Douglas entered the new office beside the Defense Against Dark Magic office and examined its magical desk, hourglass, and student-tracking map.

Douglas explained why Sirius had been chosen to lead Hogwarts’s new Academic Affairs Office and advised him to prepare for its trial run without revealing his role to the students. In a flash-forward, Snape challenged Sirius’s appointment, and Douglas proposed hiring graduates from every House to ensure fair representation.

• Douglas visited Sirius in his lavish new office and explained that Dumbledore’s reforms would use the Academic Affairs Office to improve Hogwarts and redirect House rivalries.
• Douglas said Sirius’s loyalty, family influence, and donation made him the right director, then urged him to consult the Heads of House, recruit graduating students, and keep his identity secret during the trial run.
• Sirius imagined Snape objecting to his appointment before Dumbledore and the professors.
• Snape called Sirius unqualified, and Sirius nearly drew his wand before Dumbledore, Douglas, McGonagall, Flitwick, and Sprout separated them with a Shield Charm.
• Douglas suggested Snape recommend Slytherin graduates for the office, while McGonagall said she would accept Sirius’s appointment if he treated every student fairly.

Douglas tried to recruit Sirius and Snape to the Academic Affairs Office, persuading both to accept roles despite their objections. Snape appeared to consider Douglas’s argument for Slytherin representation, while Douglas reflected that his Gryffindor friends had taught him their sneaky ways.

• Sirius objected to working with Slytherins, but Douglas told him to treat Harry as a problem student and cooperate with the houses; Sirius reluctantly agreed to be fair to Slytherins but refused to call Snape by his title.
• Douglas visited Snape, who shut the door to his private storeroom and accused Douglas of taking ingredients as a student; Douglas insisted he had paid for them.
• Douglas told Snape the Academic Affairs Office was already approved and argued that Slytherin needed a representative to protect its students and keep Sirius in check.
• Snape criticized Douglas for picking up Gryffindor habits, and Douglas privately wondered whether his friends had corrupted his innocent Hufflepuff ways.

Douglas gave Snape a disc of Muggle pharmaceutical manufacturing footage and a booklet about the recording technology, and Snape showed interest despite his dismissive remarks. As O.W.L. and N.E.W.T. exams approached, Hogwarts students anxiously revised and practiced the Patronus Charm, which they found improved their studying.

• Douglas gave Snape a disc showing Muggle pharmaceutical manufacturing and a booklet explaining the recording technology developed by Dumbledore's Magical Research Group.
• Snape handed Douglas his notebook and told him that Muggle pharmaceutical research went deeper than Improved Medicinal Cuisine.
• After Douglas left, Snape examined the disc and booklet, then returned to his Potions research.
• As exams approached, fifth- and seventh-year students worried about their O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s while revising throughout Hogwarts.
• Students blamed memory gaps on the previous year's Dementors and practiced the Patronus Charm Professor Holmes had taught them, finding it helped them study.

Douglas saw Barty Crouch and Ludo Bagman visiting Hogwarts for a meeting with Dumbledore, then asked Sirius about Crouch’s son, Barty Crouch Jr., and assigned him a task involving senior Ministry officials. Sirius doubted Crouch could be a Death Eater, leaving Douglas’s suspicions unresolved.

• Douglas encountered Barty Crouch and Ludo Bagman outside Hogwarts, where they were discussing the Demon-Suppression Tower before their appointment with Dumbledore.
• Ludo enthusiastically greeted Douglas, while Crouch hurried him along and made clear they had urgent official business.
• Douglas remembered that Tom still had a helper to identify and recalled that Crouch had personally sent his Death Eater son, Barty Crouch Jr., to Azkaban.
• Douglas visited Sirius and asked what he knew about Barty Crouch Jr.; Sirius said he remembered little about him.
• Douglas gave Sirius a task involving senior Ministry officials, and Sirius asked whether Douglas suspected Crouch of being a Death Eater.
• Sirius argued that such a suspicion was nearly impossible because Crouch had been famous for his actions against the Death Eaters.

Sirius Black was appointed Hogwarts’ first director of the Academic Affairs Office and announced rules for student discipline. He began by reading out past violations and point deductions, leaving Harry stunned when Sirius named him for insulting Snape.

• Dumbledore announced that Hogwarts was establishing an Academic Affairs Office to coordinate assessments, inter-house cooperation, and student affairs.
• Dumbledore introduced Sirius Black as the office’s first director, and Sirius promised clear reasons for point deductions, weekly complaint hearings, and consequences for night wandering.
• Sirius read from a parchment listing students who had broken rules and the points deducted from them.
• Sirius named Harry Potter for verbally insulting the Slytherin Head of House, leaving Harry dumbstruck as the hall stared at him.

Sirius announced disciplinary rulings and a new process for recording house-point changes before publishing the staggered exam lists. He then used the Anti-Fighting Bell to restrain the students and direct those without exams to the Quidditch Pitch, while Douglas revealed he had made it.

• Sirius read out proven violations, including Harry's and Draco Malfoy's, and announced that staff could no longer award or deduct points without a prefect's recorded form and Academic Affairs review.
• After dinner, Harry hurried to Douglas's office, and the next Monday Sirius assigned odd-numbered students to take their exams now and even-numbered students next term.
• Sirius rang a silver bell that restrained the students and made them turn toward him, while the professors and some students managed to break free.
• Sirius ordered students without exams to go to the Quidditch Pitch, and Douglas told Snape he had made the Anti-Fighting Bell after Snape criticized its creator.

Sirius Black held a lively lecture on Hogwarts school rules, then turned it into a House competition using a giant game board. Meanwhile, Douglas told Griselda Marchbanks that students’ improved exam performance came from a challenging game created by the professors.

• Sirius Black welcomed the students to the Quidditch pitch and began a school-rules lecture, joking about his reputation and warning them about rule-breaking.
• Sirius discussed night wandering and other rules through entertaining stories, then gave the students a break after two hours.
• Sirius introduced a giant school-rules game board and explained that students from the four Houses would roll the Magic Dice to earn points for their Houses.
• At the N.E.W.T. examination venue, Griselda Marchbanks noted that students had developed distinctive ways of solving problems and asked Douglas about his latest method.
• Douglas told Griselda Marchbanks that professors had organized a Subject Challenge Game, where Seventh Years had cleared between two and six subjects in challenges harder than the exams.

Sirius’s lectures promoted Douglas’s school-rules game, while an examination change sent fifth- and seventh-years to the Chamber of Secrets assessment. Lupin then gave the promised Wizarding Psychology lecture, publicly revealing that he was a werewolf and leaving the students in turmoil.

• Sirius ended his lecture by assigning a report on school rules and announcing that Lupin would speak about Wizarding Psychology the next day.
• Lupin told Sirius that Douglas had been taken by the Wizarding Examinations Authority to inspect the Chamber of Secrets assessment, and Sirius said the lecture had gone well and would help launch Douglas’s game.
• Students discussed the school-rules game at lunch, and the Examination Authority moved the fifth- and seventh-year exams from Monday afternoon to Tuesday morning.
• The fifth- and seventh-year prefects told exam candidates to assemble at the Chamber of Secrets assessment, while other students gathered at the Quidditch Pitch for the lecture.
• Lupin introduced himself and spoke about belonging, sharing that his werewolf blood had once made him feel excluded.
• The audience panicked when Lupin’s casual revelation made his secret werewolf identity known to the students.

Remus Lupin publicly revealed that he was a werewolf and continued his lesson on confronting fear and vulnerability. Students debated his identity but stayed to listen, while Sirius defended Lupin with Hogwarts staff and student evaluations.

• A Daily Prophet reporter questioned Sirius Black about Lupin's werewolf identity and whether the revelation was a publicity stunt.
• Sirius showed the reporter Lupin's work evaluation, which recorded the respect of Hogwarts students and professors.
• Students argued about Lupin, as members of the Charon Detective Agency insisted they had known he was a werewolf for months.
• Lupin watched students question, fear, and defend him, then continued his lecture after noticing Dumbledore in the audience.
• Lupin described the self-doubt and prejudice he had faced and urged students to accept vulnerability and draw strength from the Four Houses.

Remus Lupin described Professor Douglas Holmes’s improved Wolfsbane Potion and how it helped him retain his humanity during full moons. As Lupin explained the potion’s ingredients and effects, a reporter questioned whether it could truly prevent transformations.

• Lupin finished his first lecture by sharing a message about fear and offering students a chance to talk with him, then announced that it was a full moon.
• When a Daily Prophet reporter asked about Lupin’s werewolf condition, Lupin said he would remain there until midnight to demonstrate the truth.
• Lupin began his second lecture by introducing five new Wolfsbane Potion formulas created by Douglas Holmes and explaining their ingredients and supposed benefits.
• Lupin told the students that after six months of taking the potion, he had spent a full-moon night without transforming and had felt his humanity remain in control.
• A reporter asked Lupin whether the new Wolfsbane Potion could stop transformations despite lycanthropy having no known cure.

Lupin spoke to Hogwarts students about accepting werewolf nature and praised Douglas’s New Wolfsbane Potion before joining them for lunch. Meanwhile, students complained about the Examination Authority’s new exams, and Fudge received an unexpected letter from Dumbledore.

• Lupin credited Douglas’s treatment philosophy and the New Wolfsbane Potion with helping him accept his werewolf nature, then urged other werewolves to seek healing.
• The audience applauded Lupin and agreed that he should join them for lunch, while Sirius summoned Dobby and Hogwarts house-elves to prepare food on the Quidditch Pitch.
• A reporter and photographer hurried to publish news of Lupin’s speech as an owl flew from the Headmaster’s Office toward London.
• Fifth-year students complained that the Examination Authority had introduced randomized, individually generated papers and immediate marking, while Hermione and Harry wondered why many students were absent from lunch.
• Fudge received a letter bearing Hogwarts’s seal and went to his office, suspecting Dumbledore’s unexpected message concerned something serious.

Fudge learned that Remus Lupin had publicly revealed he was a werewolf and that Dumbledore wanted him to witness Douglas Holmes’s improved Wolfsbane Potion at Hogwarts that night. He summoned senior Ministry officials to discuss the situation, while Amelia Bones began to suspect Dumbledore’s announcement was connected to her own invitation to Hogwarts.

• Fudge read Dumbledore’s letter about Lupin’s public disclosure and angrily accused Dumbledore of maneuvering against him.
• Fudge continued reading and learned that Douglas Holmes had improved the Wolfsbane Potion, which Dumbledore claimed could eliminate werewolf toxins.
• Fudge decided he had to attend Hogwarts and sent for Amelia Bones, Rufus Scrimgeour, and the leader of the Werewolf Capture Unit.
• Fudge told Scrimgeour that Lupin had violated their agreement, then claimed to Amelia that he had kept Lupin’s identity secret after learning it during Peter Pettigrew’s capture.
• Amelia questioned why Dumbledore had revealed Lupin’s identity and wondered whether it related to her invitation to Hogwarts the next morning.

Fudge and the Ministry officials prepared to intervene over Lupin’s public revelation and the rumored Wolfsbane Potion, then traveled to Hogwarts. Dumbledore defended the timing as a lesson for students, while Fudge accused him of bypassing the Ministry and Dumbledore challenged how long they had gone without writing.

• Bones warned Fudge that Lupin’s identity and the potion could cause panic, while Scrimgeour doubted the potion’s authenticity and suspected a Dumbledore scheme.
• Fudge ordered Bones to prepare a public statement, told Scrimgeour to bring Aurors to Hogwarts, and directed the Werewolf Capture Unit to stand by.
• Fudge and Scrimgeour arrived at Hogwarts with Aurors and headed toward the Quidditch Pitch, where Lupin and the students were playing.
• Fudge angrily confronted Dumbledore about revealing the news during exams, and Dumbledore explained that he wanted students to learn to stay calm in the face of danger.
• Fudge insisted that the Ministry controlled such matters, then softened his tone and asked why Dumbledore had not consulted him; Dumbledore asked how long they had gone without exchanging letters.

Rufus Scrimgeour brought Aurors to Hogwarts to investigate Remus Lupin and Douglas’s improved Wolfsbane Potion, while Lupin reassured him and explained the potion. Sirius Black then showed Scrimgeour a collection of modern magical devices, leaving him stunned.

• Scrimgeour positioned Aurors around the Quidditch Pitch, and Lupin told the students he was an old friend rather than an arresting officer.
• Scrimgeour questioned Lupin about revealing that he was a werewolf and challenged whether Douglas’s improved Wolfsbane Potion existed.
• Lupin showed Scrimgeour five differently colored potions and explained Douglas’s theory behind them.
• Sirius offered Scrimgeour magical gadgets, including a Dark Magic Detection Radar, an Apparition Positioning Tracker, and a shield-generating ring.
• Sirius told Scrimgeour that times had changed and reflected on how wizards neglected modern magical inventions while Muggles advanced their technology.

Sirius demonstrated a collection of magical devices to Scrimgeour and tried to sell them to the Aurors. Scrimgeour questioned the legality and price of the items, then wondered why Sirius could not offer a larger discount despite having made them.

• Sirius explained the restraints, shields, nets, grenades, and communication earrings he had created, along with their uses and prices.
• Sirius offered Scrimgeour a two-percent discount on the entire collection and threatened to sell to a German connection instead.
• Scrimgeour warned Sirius that keeping dangerous magical items at Hogwarts could constitute an offense.
• Sirius said he would ask Amelia Bones about the law when she visited the next day.
• Scrimgeour complained about securing Auror funding and questioned why Sirius could not authorize a better discount on his own creations.

Sirius pitched his magical devices to Rufus Scrimgeour, whose disdain for Dumbledore’s resistance fighters sparked a tense argument over how the Death Eaters should have been fought. Sirius ended by mocking the Aurors’ effectiveness and pressing Scrimgeour to consider how the devices could help them.

• Sirius refused to reveal his suppliers and tried to keep Scrimgeour from negotiating directly with Douglas, hoping to sell the Ministry the devices at a large markup.
• Scrimgeour questioned whether the devices would work against Dark Wizards and criticized Sirius and Dumbledore’s followers for resisting Voldemort without killing Death Eaters.
• Sirius restrained his anger, reflecting on his willingness to kill in the future to protect Harry and the children if Voldemort returned.
• Sirius cited an Auror who had been badly injured by a German Dark Wizard and argued that one of his badges might have helped the Auror capture the attacker.
• Sirius tossed his hair aside and made his sales pitch with a mocking look, while Scrimgeour watched him.

Sirius negotiated with Scrimgeour over magical devices for the Aurors, using the chance to test them against Hogwarts students and hinting at the approaching Quidditch World Cup. He then abruptly welcomed Scrimgeour and the Aurors as guests of Hogwarts, leaving Scrimgeour wary and confused about Sirius’s intentions.

• Sirius mocked Scrimgeour over the Ministry’s bounty on him and suggested the Aurors use the handcuffs to track Peter Pettigrew.
• Sirius asked why Barty Crouch had lost the Minister for Magic position, and Scrimgeour said Crouch’s son had been a Death Eater.
• Scrimgeour questioned the devices’ price and asked to take samples for testing before signing a long-term procurement contract.
• Sirius proposed a friendly match between Aurors and students to test the devices, and suggested mass production could begin around the time of the Quidditch World Cup.
• Sirius introduced himself as the first office director of the Hogwarts Academic Affairs Office and formally welcomed Scrimgeour and the Aurors to Hogwarts.
• Scrimgeour stepped back and asked Sirius what he was playing at.

Sirius arranged a friendly duel between the Aurors and Hogwarts students, presenting it as a chance to showcase the Aurors and inspire future recruits. Scrimgeour addressed the students and led the Aurors in their oath, whose swan-song effect stirred an ominous foreboding in him.

• Sirius persuaded Scrimgeour to hold a friendly match between the Aurors and Hogwarts students before the operation that night.
• Sirius introduced the Aurors to the students, joking about their past failures and irritating Scrimgeour.
• Scrimgeour addressed the students, describing the Aurors as the Ministry’s blade against dangers in the shadows.
• The Aurors recited their oath of enlistment across the Quidditch Pitch.
• Scrimgeour sensed the oath’s swan-song effect and felt an ominous warning.

Sirius, Lupin, and Scrimgeour announced an Auror demonstration and a special duel between Aurors and a student team at the Quidditch Pitch. Students rushed to support their peers, while Dumbledore and Fudge arrived and Fudge grew suspicious of Dumbledore.

• Peeves proclaimed that there would be no compromise with Black, drawing curious students toward the Quidditch Pitch while Hermione urged Harry to let the Charon Detective Agency gather information.
• The teachers heard the declarations during the examinations; Snape mentioned rumors about an improved Wolfsbane Potion, and Douglas tried to redirect their attention to the candidates.
• Dumbledore and Fudge headed toward the pitch, and Fudge worried that Scrimgeour was taking an oath despite having been sent to deal with the werewolf.
• Lupin and Scrimgeour spoke to the students about facing danger and using their lessons to fight Dark Wizards, while Sirius added that they might instead become Dark Wizards.
• Sirius announced a special duel between Aurors and a student team, prompting students to rush to support President Longbottom and Vice President Weasley.
• The students ran into Dumbledore and Fudge, and Fudge became more convinced that Dumbledore had ulterior motives when they looked to Dumbledore first.

Sirius used magical insoles to walk through the air and summoned a giant dueling arena onto the Quidditch Pitch, declaring himself referee. As Fudge demanded an explanation, students began suspecting the duel would decide whether Lupin could remain at Hogwarts.

• Dumbledore encouraged the students to follow their curiosity and went with Fudge to investigate the commotion at the Quidditch Pitch.
• Sirius stepped into the air using enchanted insoles, then summoned a giant Octagonal Arena onto the pitch and declared a wizard's duel.
• Fudge demanded an explanation from Sirius and Scrimgeour, while Sirius asked the students to wait as the referee addressed the minister.
• Ron suggested the duel might decide whether Lupin could stay, prompting the students to rally around Lupin.
• Sirius descended in a spiral around Fudge and landed before him as Scrimgeour arrived at the minister's side.

Sirius defended an Auror demonstration at Hogwarts as a way to guide students and introduce them to the Aurors’ work, while Fudge tried to reassert his authority. His reflections on Regulus and education left Dumbledore convinced that Hogwarts needed to do more than teach magic.

• Fudge challenged Scrimgeour over the Aurors’ actions, while Sirius insisted Fudge address him by his official title as Hogwarts Academic Affairs Office director.
• Sirius explained that the friendly match would teach students about Auror work and help identify promising recruits.
• Sirius suggested that stronger outreach might have kept young people from being drawn into the Death Eaters, prompting Fudge to tell him that the past was over.
• Sirius remembered his regrets about Regulus and considered how he might guide students who were at risk of losing their way.
• Dumbledore reflected that Hogwarts needed to nurture students with new approaches to education, and Sirius concluded that the event would benefit the wizarding world.

Sirius, Scrimgeour, and Dumbledore persuaded Fudge to approve a Ministry visit to Hogwarts that would showcase new equipment and talent. A Daily Prophet extra revealed Remus Lupin’s werewolf condition and Douglas Holmes’s improved Wolfsbane Potion, prompting a stunned reaction at St Mungo’s.

• Sirius pitched a Hogwarts demonstration of new equipment to Fudge, while Scrimgeour and Dumbledore helped persuade the Minister to approve it.
• Fudge approved the event, which was presented as a Ministry inspection of Hogwarts’s future talent pool.
• The Daily Prophet published an extra edition reporting that Remus Lupin had revealed he was a werewolf and that Douglas Holmes had improved the Wolfsbane Potion.
• Augustus Pye rushed the newspaper to Hippocrates Smethwyck at St Mungo’s and told him Douglas Holmes had improved the potion.
• Smethwyck stopped writing and asked Augustus to repeat who Douglas Holmes was.

Douglas Holmes’s improved Wolfsbane Potion provoked anger and opportunistic dealing among werewolves and dark wizards, while Hogwarts officials supported his work over dinner. Flitwick suggested Dumbledore’s vitality might be connected to his fondness for sweets.

• Borgin Burke dismissed a shrunken head’s call to kill Holmes and said he wanted no trouble with the boy.
• A hooded figure sold werewolf materials to a cloaked wizard seeking Wolfsbane Potion, saying Holmes gave him reason to be grateful.
• Fenrir Greyback tore up the newspaper photograph of Remus Lupin and vowed to confront the traitor once the uproar passed.
• Douglas served dragon blood dumplings and health tea to Professor Marchbanks and other Hogwarts staff, who discussed criticism of his improved Wolfsbane Potion.
• Snape disparaged Douglas’s methods, but Sprout reminded him of his own youthful potion experiments, and Snape drank the health tea in silence.
• Flitwick praised Douglas’s theory about taste, emotions, and magic, then suggested Dumbledore’s fondness for sweets might explain his youthful vitality.