Chapter Summaries

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.

Douglas learned that the Ashen Claw Tribe was under attack by the Church’s werewolf hunters and suspected the Church’s Adam Project was connected to missing tribe members. Marco asked Douglas for guidance and offered the tribe’s Heart of Moonstone, leaving the project’s full nature unexplained.

• Douglas questioned Lorenzo and Isabella about the Ashen Claw Tribe, its plight, and the Ministry’s position on his secret invitation.
• Isabella explained that the Order of Saint Benedict Werewolf Hunters had attacked the tribe after suspecting it of researching resistance to the Genetic Silencing Curse.
• Lorenzo revealed that Minister Massimo Alberti knew Douglas was in Italy but was maintaining strategic ambiguity, and Douglas inferred that the Adam Project was his real opponent.
• Lorenzo gave Douglas a secret letter from Marco, who described the tribe’s isolation, missing members, and a suspected Church experimental site tied to the Adam Project.
• Marco asked Douglas for wisdom to help the tribe survive and offered its Heart of Moonstone in gratitude.
• Isabella and Lupin reacted to the relic and the Adam Project, while Lupin noticed that the others withheld what they knew.

Douglas questioned Lorenzo about the Church’s Adam Project and learned it might involve human experimentation and a transformation ritual targeting werewolves and other magical beings. After locating the Ashen Claw Tribe and a suspected experimental site, Douglas requested intelligence and support before deciding whether to go.

• Douglas pressed Lorenzo for information about the Adam Project and the Ashen Claw Tribe’s location, while Lupin angrily asked what the project was.
• Lorenzo and Isabella explained that the Church’s Adam Project appeared to involve a ritual based on Ancient Magic and religious symbols, and that a cardinal had previously directed Dark Magic research as part of it.
• Lorenzo marked the Ashen Claw Tribe’s hideout in abandoned Roman mines and a suspected experimental site guarded by unknown, possibly nonhuman creatures.
• Douglas asked Lorenzo for detailed intelligence on the tribe, the experimental site, a safe route, and unofficial Ministry assistance; Lorenzo agreed and described the tribe’s feud with the Crimson Nobles Vampires Council.

Douglas, Lupin, Isabella, and Lorenzo prepared to travel into the Apennine Mountains to investigate the Church’s experiments, but Minister Alberti summoned them before they could leave. The group followed the suspicious Piero to meet him, with Lupin facing Piero’s open prejudice against werewolves.

• Isabella offered to plan a route through the Apennine Mountains, and Lupin agreed to accompany Douglas and help stop the Church’s experiments.
• Douglas asked Lorenzo whether Minister Alberti would tolerate him causing trouble for the Church, then instructed Isabella to prepare a map and Lorenzo to gather intelligence before their planned departure.
• A magical alarm sounded, and Piero arrived to summon Lorenzo, Douglas, and Lupin to meet Minister Alberti.
• Lorenzo warned Douglas that Piero was the minister’s confidant, while Isabella noted Piero’s prejudice against werewolves.
• Piero scrutinized Lupin with suspicion and disgust, then led the group to the minister as Douglas teased Lupin about becoming a celebrity.

Douglas and Lupin met Italian Minister of Magic Massimo Alberti to ask how the Ministry would respond to the Ashen Claw Tribe and the Church’s activities in the Apennine Mountains. Alberti offered no official support, but implied they could investigate privately and that the Ministry might act if they brought back conclusive evidence.

• Piero led Douglas, Lupin, and their companion through the Ministry and showed suspicion toward Lupin as they passed a plaque honoring werewolf-control legislation.
• Massimo Alberti welcomed Douglas and Lupin, questioned whether Lupin’s cure was a blessing or a source of uncertainty, and said he knew of their purpose.
• Douglas challenged Alberti over the Werewolf Segregation Act and the Church’s influence, while Alberti defended the law and described the Ministry’s uneasy coexistence with the Church.
• Alberti suggested the Ministry would treat their trip as a private expedition and might act if they uncovered evidence of serious wrongdoing, but would neither approve nor oppose their actions.
• Douglas asked whether the Ministry would investigate the Church or prosecute werewolves first if the Ashen Claw Tribe resisted; Alberti said the Ministry would act on evidence and noted that its reports focused on werewolf movements.

Master Antonio Vivaldi offered Douglas support for his journey to the Apennine Mountains, including maps, supplies, and a letter to the Ashen Claw Tribe. As Douglas and Lupin prepared to leave, Piero announced that Minister Alberti was sending an elite team to accompany them.

• Minister Alberti introduced Master Antonio Vivaldi, who had learned of Douglas’s journey from Professor Sprout.
• Antonio gave Douglas mountain herb maps, Beast-repelling Incense, Antidotes, and a letter for Marco of the Ashen Claw Tribe.
• Antonio condemned the Church’s treatment of werewolves and offered Douglas and Lupin further help through the Mountain Pact.
• Minister Alberti watched Antonio’s support complicate the situation and considered putting his own arrangements in motion.
• After Antonio warned Douglas and Lupin about the mountains, Piero said Minister Alberti had ordered him to lead an elite team providing security for their expedition.