Recaps

At Hogwarts, Dumbledore introduced the dueling competition and praised Remus Lupin for publicly declaring that a werewolf could be a Night Watchman. Sirius announced the rules and gave Ravenclaw prefect Meg Erin a pair of enchanted insoles as the first magical item.

• Douglas prepared a viewing platform and seating while the students gathered on the Quidditch Pitch.
• Dumbledore projected his image into the night sky, joked with the students, and praised Lupin's bravery.
• Dumbledore yielded the next speech to Fudge, but Sirius interrupted to announce the competition rules.
• Douglas guided the embarrassed Fudge back to his seat as Sirius explained that three teams of three Hogwarts students would each face one Auror.
• Sirius handed Meg Erin enchanted insoles and told her that her next teammate would use them after her.

Dumbledore opened the Hogwarts dueling competition with a speech praising the students and warning the Aurors not to underestimate them. The first match began with three students launching a coordinated surprise attack on Garrick, who answered with a Fire Serpent spell.

• Dumbledore praised the Air-Treading Insoles, recalled the Aurors’ Hogwarts misadventures, and told the students the competition was about understanding opponents rather than proving strength.
• Dumbledore inspired the crowd, warned the Aurors that students might use Immobilizing Flash Grenades, and magically stamped the Hogwarts Crest onto the nine sixth-year competitors.
• Sirius Black introduced himself as referee and equipment sponsor, then announced Alicia Spinnet, Meg Erin, Valentine Webb, and Garrick as the first competitors.
• Alicia, Meg, and Valentine attacked Garrick together with Impedimenta, Expelliarmus, and Double Gravity before he could begin the formal dueling procedure.
• Garrick raised a Shield Charm and counterattacked with three Fire Serpents as Sirius excitedly narrated the opening exchange.

Valentin, Meg Erin, and Alicia used coordinated spells and new magical equipment to defeat Auror Garrick in the Octagonal Arena. Hogwarts won the first match, leaving Garrick bewildered as the students thanked him.

• Valentin chewed a Bay Leaf and spat at the Fire Serpent, extinguishing it, then used a Levitation Charm to throw Garrick off balance.
• Meg Erin used Air-Treading Insoles to take the fight into the air, while Garrick's curved Earth Wall blocked both her attack and Alicia's Tracking Handcuffs.
• Garrick Apparated across the arena, and Sirius explained that the Octagonal Arena allowed Apparition and that the students communicated through Tactical Communication Earrings.
• Garrick's Stunning Spell triggered Meg's Badge Shield, and Alicia and Valentin caught her before launching another attack.
• Valentin turned pastries into sunglasses, and the three students cast the Douglas Sun Spell before trapping the blinded Garrick in a Transfiguration Net.
• Sirius announced Hogwarts's victory, and Alicia, Meg, and Valentin hugged Garrick and thanked him.

Sirius Black refereed a duel in which Cassius Warrington and the other student champions defeated Auror Mindy with magical gadgets, while officials watched Remus Lupin endure the full moon safely after taking the New Wolfsbane Potion. The next morning, the Daily Prophet published a glowing account portraying Cornelius Fudge as a champion of werewolf rights, prompting Hagrid to call him shameless.

• Sirius Black introduced the duel between Cassius Warrington, Tom Cruise, Maerqian Xiu, and Auror Mindy.
• Mindy attacked swiftly and broke the students’ shields, but the three champions trapped and bound her with magical gadgets.
• As moonlight fell on Lupin, Scrimgeour kept his wand trained on him while Douglas and Dumbledore discussed the potion trial and werewolf rights.
• Lupin remained calm under the full moon, and the students later joked with him during their morning run.
• The Daily Prophet reported that Fudge had spent twelve hours with Lupin and praised him as a leader in the werewolf rights movement.
• Hagrid slammed his hand on the staff table and called the newspaper’s portrayal shameless.

Douglas explained his plan to organize werewolves through potion access, Ministry registration, and the Werewolf Mutual Aid Society, while Lupin challenged its risks and militarized structure. Sirius reported that the Ministry had bought magical equipment, and Lupin realized Douglas’s broader strategy was already gaining influence.

• Lupin recognized that Douglas’s potion sales plan could draw Britain’s werewolves into a community, but warned that extremists such as Fenrir Greyback could exploit it.
• Douglas presented a Ministry-backed registration system that would give werewolves potion trials, regular examinations, legal work permits, and a path to lawful citizenship.
• Douglas described the society’s group training and tactical exercises as healthcare and self-defense, while Lupin pointed out that the plan resembled a paramilitary organization.
• Sirius announced that Scrimgeour had signed an order for communication earrings, badge shields, and immobilizing flash grenades, securing more than ten thousand Galleons in net profit.
• Sirius said Fudge’s attitude had changed after the previous night’s events and the Daily Prophet’s favorable coverage, and Lupin concluded that the developments had been part of Douglas’s plan.

Douglas and Dumbledore agreed to invite foreign Ministries of Magic to Hogwarts and launch an International Werewolf Relief Foundation, while an invitation from Italy offered a chance to begin the plan abroad. The chapter ended with Scrimgeour warning Douglas that Fenrir Greyback had returned to Britain and was preparing retaliation against Lupin, and Douglas asking why that concerned him.

• Dumbledore told Douglas, Sirius, and Lupin that several foreign Ministries wanted to inspect Hogwarts's improved Wolfsbane Potion, and Douglas agreed to invite them all.
• Douglas proposed an International Werewolf Relief Foundation to establish shelters and treatment centers across Europe, while Sirius pointed out it could also create a werewolf intelligence network and force.
• Dumbledore decided to invite representatives to Hogwarts the following month, and Sirius raised the possibility of selling their magical items internationally, which Douglas deferred.
• Lupin gave Douglas an invitation from the Italian Ministry of Magic to help with its werewolf problem, and Douglas considered going to Italy to begin their relief plan.
• Professor McGonagall summoned Douglas to the Headmaster's Office, where Fudge and Scrimgeour told him Greyback had returned from Austria and was preparing to retaliate against Lupin.
• Douglas asked Scrimgeour what Greyback's threat had to do with him.

Douglas confronted Fudge and Scrimgeour over the Ministry’s inability to handle Fenrir Greyback’s threat and their plan to send Douglas and Remus to Italy. He offered to help only if the Ministry publicly backed the New Wolfsbane Potion and werewolf registration, with funding and staff to support them.

• Scrimgeour warned Douglas that Greyback planned revenge against Remus and claimed the Aurors were too busy preparing for the Quidditch World Cup to respond.
• Douglas challenged Fudge and Scrimgeour’s assumptions and realized they wanted him to take Remus to Italy as bait for Greyback.
• Fudge and Scrimgeour proposed using Douglas and Remus to address Italy’s werewolf problem while keeping Greyback away from Britain during the tournament.
• Douglas said he might accept their proposal if the Ministry publicly supported the New Wolfsbane Potion and implemented werewolf registration with sufficient funding and manpower.
• Scrimgeour accused Douglas of using Ministry resources for personal profit, but Douglas refused to negotiate further unless the Ministry met his conditions.

Students discussed the Ministry’s new Werewolf Friends Plan, while Hermione gave Harry, Ron, and Neville exam notes and detailed summer study plans. Harry, Ron, and Neville faced a summer of Hermione’s weekly study checks.

• Students read the Daily Prophet’s report on the Ministry’s Werewolf Friends Plan and questioned its motives and policies.
• Hermione greeted Harry, Ron, and Neville in the Gryffindor Common Room with exam notes she had prepared overnight.
• Hermione handed each of them review notes and told them she had made detailed summer study plans.
• Hermione assigned Harry work in Transfiguration and Charms and ordered Ron to review History of Magic and Potions, with weekly progress checks.
• Ron despaired that his summer holidays were ruined and predicted that Mrs. Weasley would approve of Hermione’s plan.

Neville presented a summer training plan for the Swiftwind Sword Club, while Harry proposed restoring his family home in Godric’s Hollow with help from the Charon Detective Agency. Sirius welcomed four students as Hogwarts Academic Affairs Office assistants and read their heads of house’s recommendations.

• Neville showed Hermione his Swiftwind Sword Club training plan, and she suggested adding exercises suited to Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws.
• Harry proposed inviting the Charon Detective Agency members to help restore his parents’ damaged house in Godric’s Hollow, pending approval from Sirius and Professor Holmes.
• Ron and Neville offered to help Harry, and Hermione suggested researching magical building repairs in the library.
• Sirius welcomed Jack Williams, Emily Winston, Augustine Jones, and Victoria Green as the first Hogwarts Academic Affairs Office assistants.
• Sirius read the four students’ recommendations and remarked on Snape’s brief endorsement of Victoria Green.

Sirius introduced the four students to the Academic Affairs Office and gave them an aptitude assessment before assigning practical work. The chapter ended with Jack, Emily, and Augustine receiving their first tasks, while Victoria’s assignment was not shown.

• Sirius explained that the Academic Affairs Office coordinated school departments and handled work left to it by prefects, the headmaster, and Madam Hooch.
• Sirius gave Victoria, Jack, Emily, and Augustine a written assessment about Hogwarts rules and student management.
• After reviewing their answers, Sirius used the student edition of the Hogwarts Marauder's Map to assign four practical tasks.
• Sirius sent Jack to coordinate the End-of-Term Feast menu with the house-elves and revise the kitchen rules.
• Sirius tasked Emily with consulting Madam Pince and devising a way to detect food brought into the library.
• Sirius assigned Augustine to organize students' conduct records and send them to their parents with grades or preparation letters.

Sirius assigned Victoria the task of persuading Snape to lend students for brewing the New Wolfsbane Potion, then summoned Harry and pretended his recent harsh treatment was meant to prove the Academic Affairs Office’s impartiality. Harry recognized the act as an imitation of Professor Holmes’s tricks, leaving Sirius’s attempt to fool him exposed.

• Sirius gave Victoria the task of convincing Snape to let students help Professor Holmes brew the New Wolfsbane Potion.
• Harry went to the third floor intending to speak with Douglas, but Sirius spotted him and called him into the Academic Affairs Office.
• Jack William and Victoria passed Harry as he hid near the office, and Sirius summoned him before he could reach Douglas.
• Sirius told Harry that he had been strict with him to prevent accusations of favoritism and to demonstrate that school rules applied equally to everyone.
• Harry saw through Sirius’s performance and told him he had picked up Professor Holmes’s bad habits.

Harry and Sirius joked about Sirius's attempt to imitate Douglas's strict style before Harry asked to restore his family's old house in Godric's Hollow over the summer. Sirius agreed to supervise the Charon Detective Agency members and help keep the Ministry from detecting the work, while he and Harry decided to maintain their act at school.

• Harry teased Sirius for copying Douglas's exaggerated disciplinary style, and Sirius admitted that Harry had seen through his act.
• Harry told Sirius he wanted to repair the old family house in Godric's Hollow and invite the Charon Detective Agency members to help over the summer.
• Sirius offered to arrange school approval for summer club gatherings, cover travel expenses, and serve as the adult wizard accompanying Harry's group.
• Sirius promised to find a way to block the Ministry of Magic's detection of the house restoration.
• Harry and Sirius agreed to keep up their act at school, with Harry promising to cause Sirius less trouble.

Students debated The Quibbler’s mocking claims that Minister Fudge’s werewolf policies hid plans for a secret army, while growing uneasy about the Ministry’s recent actions. Luna’s final remark suggested that the article’s absurd conspiracy might not be entirely baseless.

• A Gryffindor student showed students The Quibbler’s headline accusing Fudge of building a werewolf army.
• Students read the article’s claims about werewolf militarization and joked about Fudge, Umbridge, and the Ministry’s motives.
• A Gryffindor girl noted that the Ministry’s recent benefits, reorganizations, and Gringotts loans seemed suspicious, quieting the crowd.
• Ast fled after a Ravenclaw girl scolded him for caring more about homework than the danger of a werewolf army.
• A Slytherin student dismissed the article as nonsense and left, and Luna remarked that great conspiracies often sounded like nonsense at first.

Harry secured Sirius's support for the students’ summer restoration trip to Godric’s Hollow, while Hermione began organizing the work. The chapter ended with Douglas waking at home to Charlie Weasley’s elaborate Golden Snitch alarm clock.

• Luna speculated that Minister Fudge was controlled by Crumple-Horned Snorkacks and warned that the werewolf friends plan might conceal a sinister purpose.
• Harry returned to the Gryffindor Common Room and told Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Neville that Sirius had approved the Godric’s Hollow trip, would accompany them, and would cover its expenses.
• Neville hinted that George and Fred had done something the previous night, but refused to reveal what he had seen.
• Hermione asked Harry about safety preparations and funding, then gave him a preliminary plan for restoring buildings damaged by dark magic.
• Ginny proposed a Charon Detective Agency meeting, while Hermione assigned Harry and Ron to supervise preparations before the students boarded the train.
• Douglas woke in Surrey to the Golden Snitch alarm clock Charlie Weasley had made for him.

Douglas discussed plans for a magical-item workshop with Dobby, then returned Bill Weasley's call and explained that he intended to deal with Fenrir Greyback in Italy. He left Bill reassured that he had a plan, though its details were not ready.

• Douglas told Dobby to use the familiar names for breakfast foods and asked him to choose a suitable workshop with Lupin and the werewolves.
• Dobby reminded Douglas to return Bill Weasley's call, and Douglas answered when Bill called again at nine.
• Bill offered to return from Egypt with Charlie to help Douglas hunt Fenrir Greyback.
• Douglas declined their offer, saying he planned to travel to Italy with Lupin at the Italian Ministry of Magic's invitation.
• Douglas told Bill he hoped to lure Greyback to Italy and prepare a surprise that might settle the problem once and for all.

Douglas reassured Bill that he would handle the mission in Italy alone, then promised to visit Bill in Egypt afterward. Back at Hogwarts, Sirius and Lupin revealed that Sirius wanted students to help brew Douglas’s Improved Wolfsbane Potion, and Lupin ended by teasing Douglas about Snape’s opinion of his intelligence.

• Douglas told Bill not to come to Italy, explaining that extra help could make it harder to catch Greyback by surprise, and said he would ask for support if needed.
• Douglas and Bill agreed that Douglas would visit him in Egypt after dealing with Italy, where Bill had found a new ruin and was preparing dragon-blood wine.
• Douglas returned to his Hogwarts office and found Sirius and Lupin waiting there; Lupin told him Sirius had been making use of his managerial role.
• Sirius proposed recruiting Hogwarts Potions students to help brew the Improved Wolfsbane Potion, but Douglas guessed that the students wanted Snape’s permission first.
• Lupin asked whether Snape had kept Douglas out of his advanced class because he thought Douglas had no brains.

Douglas learned that Sirius had sent Victoria to ask Snape for advanced Potions students in Douglas’s name, then agreed to speak with Snape. Sirius also asked whether Douglas could block the Ministry’s Trace so Harry could repair the house in Godric’s Hollow, leaving Douglas worried about how the work might affect Sirius.

• Sirius admitted he had sent Victoria to sound out Snape about lending sixth- and seventh-year students to Douglas.
• Douglas accepted Sirius’s explanation and said he would speak with Snape, while teasing Sirius to warn him before his next scheme.
• Sirius asked Douglas for something that could block the Ministry of Magic’s Trace while Harry and the Charon Detective Agency repaired the old house over the summer.
• Sirius acknowledged that the house in Godric’s Hollow still held residual Dark Magic but said Harry wanted to repair it himself.
• Douglas asked whether Sirius could handle returning to the house, and Sirius earnestly said he could.

Remus Lupin visited Marcus Belby's Howlmoon Inn, where the werewolves hoped to learn about the Ministry's new plans for them. Marcus distrusted the Ministry's promises and accused Lupin of making fools of the werewolves, leaving the others wary of him.

• Lupin entered the Howlmoon Inn and reunited with Marcus Belby, who checked that nobody had followed him.
• Lupin greeted Nightshade, Crescent, and Frostclaw and offered to buy them Butterbeer.
• Marcus gave the three werewolves drinks and sent them to rest, then questioned Lupin about the reports in the Daily Prophet and The Quibbler.
• Marcus condemned the Ministry's promises and past policies, while Nightshade, Crescent, and Frostclaw grew suspicious of Lupin.

Lupin explained that Mr. Holmes planned to supply werewolves with the new Wolfsbane Potion through a company that avoided the Ministry’s registration process. He outlined paid training and future work opportunities, leaving the wary werewolves to consider a path toward independence.

• Lupin said werewolves could apply through the Ministry or trust Mr. Holmes’s alternative plan, and Marcus admitted that Holmes’s Hufflepuff identity was why he believed the potion was genuine.
• Lupin described a company that would deliver the potion and help werewolves avoid the Ministry’s registration process, prompting Crescent to accuse him of setting a trap.
• Lupin argued that prejudice would persist even if the potion ended painful transformations, so werewolves needed their own channels and support.
• Lupin presented the Silvermane Academy Werewolf Training Program, promising three months of paid instruction in magical theory, materials, device-making, and communication.
• Lupin said graduates could take respectable jobs inside or outside the company instead of surviving through dangerous scavenging and menial labor.

Remus Lupin pitched the werewolf company’s training and referral programs to Marcus, Nightshade, Crescent, and Frostclaw, then traveled with Douglas to Italy. At Heathrow, Douglas helped Lupin navigate Muggle airport procedures and get through security with his wand disguised as a massage wand.

• Remus Lupin urged Marcus, Nightshade, Crescent, and Frostclaw to join the company or sell potions through its referral program to help other werewolves.
• Douglas found Lupin brooding over a cold beer and encouraged him to trust the people he had chosen to work with.
• Douglas took Lupin to Heathrow Airport for a discreet trip to Italy and used a self-service kiosk to print their boarding passes.
• A metal detector beeped at Lupin’s wand, and Douglas claimed it was a handmade massage wand for Lupin’s elderly Italian granny.
• The security officer let Lupin and Douglas through, and Douglas told Lupin to learn to manage in the Muggle world without magic.

Douglas and Lupin flew to Rome for business, with Douglas calmly guiding his nervous companion through Muggle air travel. At Fiumicino Airport, they met Isabella Rossi, who greeted Douglas with teasing reminders of his past and introduced herself to Lupin as an Italian Auror.

• Douglas and Lupin waited at the departure lounge, where Douglas joked about Muggles and admitted he had been too lazy to write.
• Lupin grew nervous during the flight, while Douglas reassured him and ate a meal prepared by Dobby.
• The plane landed at Rome's Fiumicino Airport, and Douglas collected their suitcases using airline tags he had attached.
• Douglas led Lupin through the arrivals hall to meet Isabella Rossi, who teased him about the floral shirt he had worn on an earlier visit to Rome.
• Isabella introduced herself to Lupin and complained that Douglas rarely received her letters.
• Douglas asked Isabella why she had come to meet them instead of Lorenzo Dino.

Douglas, Lupin, and Isabella traveled through Rome to the concealed entrance of Italy’s magical headquarters on Capitoline Hill. Douglas learned that the Church had blocked his Apparition/Disapparition permit, and the group left the antique shop through a hidden passage.

• Isabella subtly lightened Douglas and Lupin’s trunks and guided them through the airport without attracting attention.
• Isabella took Douglas and Lupin by taxi to an antique shop at the foot of Capitoline Hill, which Douglas identified as the route to Italy’s magical headquarters.
• Douglas asked about his Apparition/Disapparition permit, and an old man revealed that the Church had refused to approve it because of Douglas’s previous incident with a cardinal.
• Isabella said Lorenzo had argued Douglas’s case and insisted that Douglas follow their arrangements before leading them to a tapestry concealing a passage.
• Douglas and Lupin entered the passage after bidding farewell to Mr. Bianchi, who warned Douglas not to repeat what happened last time.

Douglas, Lupin, and Isabella entered the hidden Italian Ministry of Magic beneath Rome, where Isabella described its defenses and its long conflict with the Church. The chapter ended with Douglas asking whom they would meet, while the Ministry’s hostility toward the Church and Douglas’s unwelcome status there remained clear.

• Douglas, Lupin, and Isabella walked through an ancient Roman passage protected by runes and magical wards as Isabella explained that the defenses were meant to keep out Church spies.
• Douglas described how the former sewer system had been transformed into a hidden headquarters, and Isabella recalled that he had collapsed part of the passage on an earlier visit.
• The three emerged into the Italian Ministry of Magic, where Isabella introduced the underground complex as the Ministry’s central hub and first line of defense against the Church.
• Isabella explained the Ministry’s memory wards and visual deception, while Douglas recounted how the Church’s investigation group had once been misled by them.
• Isabella told Lupin that the Church sought to place religious authority over magic, and she defended the wizarding world’s independence.
• Douglas asked whom they would meet, as the chapter noted that the Church had listed him among its most unwelcome wizards after the incident with the cardinal.

Douglas, Lupin, and Isabella met with Lorenzo Dino at the Italian Ministry of Magic to discuss the werewolf situation. As Lorenzo described the harsh laws and persecution facing Italian werewolves, Lupin was visibly shaken, while Douglas considered how social prejudice remained even after the Wolfsbane Potion could remove the toxin.

• Isabella led Douglas and Lupin through the Ministry and described the pressures Lorenzo faced in his work with the Church.
• Lorenzo greeted Douglas and Lupin, then took them to a conference room to discuss werewolves.
• Lorenzo showed them a map of Italy and explained that the Werewolf Segregation Act restricted werewolves and required registered members to report to the Ministry each month.
• Lupin grew pale and angry as Lorenzo described werewolves being stigmatized, used as scapegoats, and detained for resisting.
• Douglas watched Lupin and considered how to address the social harm that remained after the New Wolfsbane Potion removed werewolf toxin.

Lorenzo explained that Italy tolerated dangerous Grade C Wolfsbane Potion because the Ministry relied on the Church’s cooperation, while Lupin struggled to contain his anger. Lorenzo revealed that the Ministry’s invitation to Douglas Holmes and Lupin was a cover for a secret request from an isolated werewolf tribe in the Apennine Mountains.

• Lorenzo said Grade C Wolfsbane Potion caused severe side effects and insanity, while Grade A potion was too expensive for most werewolves.
• Douglas questioned why the Ministry continued supplying the harmful potion, and Isabella explained that it was a compromise to secure the Church’s cooperation in other matters.
• Lorenzo said publicizing the potion’s risks could strengthen the Church’s claims that werewolves were cursed and that the potion was evil.
• Lupin suppressed his anger and decided to trust Douglas, while recognizing that their trip to Rome was more dangerous and complex than he had expected.
• Lorenzo disclosed that a secretive werewolf tribe in the Apennine Mountains had used illegal intermediaries to request Douglas Holmes’s help, and that the official Ministry invitation was merely a cover.