Chapter Summaries

Hufflepuff students feasted on Dobby’s fiery hot pot and Cedric gained confidence for the tournament, while Karkaroff warned Viktor Krum to avoid Douglas Holmes. The next morning, Durmstrang students watched Hogwarts’ runners and noticed a disciplined group carrying longswords.

• Dobby served the Hufflepuffs a fiery hot pot that he said would give them courage to face a fire dragon.
• A seventh-year boy tried the meat, felt powerful, and inspired the Hufflepuffs to join the feast.
• Cedric ate the hot pot, felt his tournament anxieties fade, and led the common room in a toast to Hufflepuff.
• Karkaroff told Viktor Krum that he had to win the tournament and warned him to stay away from Douglas Holmes.
• The next morning, Durmstrang students watched Hogwarts students run beside the Black Lake and noticed a disciplined group carrying longswords on their backs.

Neville led Hogwarts students in sword training beside the lake, drawing the attention of Durmstrang. After Karkaroff proposed a friendly exhibition match, Neville accepted Ivanov’s challenge, leaving the two schools poised for a duel.

• Neville demonstrated sword techniques to the Hogwarts students while Durmstrang students watched and Polyakov mocked their training.
• Krum rebuked Polyakov and recognized the discipline and strength behind the students’ practice.
• Ivanov challenged the Hogwarts students to prove themselves with magic, and Neville defended the value of both sword and wand.
• Karkaroff recognized Professor Holmes’s influence, then proposed a friendly exhibition match to Lupin and the students.
• Lupin left the decision to Neville, who accepted the challenge and bowed to Karkaroff.
• Karkaroff assigned Ivanov to fight Neville and warned them to keep the match friendly.

Neville faced Ivanov in a public swordsmanship and magic duel, using a wand fitted into his practice sword and a weapon-based spell to redirect a water attack. The duel took a dangerous turn when Ivanov struck Neville with an ancient sound-wave incantation.

• Karkaroff questioned Lupin about Neville's medicine, but Lupin deflected his probe about the New Wolfsbane Potion.
• Neville fitted his wand into the hilt of his practice sword as students gathered to watch the duel with Ivanov.
• Neville dodged Ivanov's opening spells and parried the rest with his sword.
• Neville used Part the Clouds to See the Sun to redirect Ivanov's water dragon into the ground without getting wet.
• Douglas explained that Neville's close-combat spell redirected force, while Fake Moody studied Neville's sword and Karkaroff questioned Lupin about Douglas's background.
• Ivanov cast an ancient sound-wave incantation that made Neville stagger as his hearing rang and the world spun.

Neville defeated Ivanov in a duel by using the combat technique Professor Douglas had taught him, earning the respect of students from several schools. Gryffindor celebrated his victory, and Fred and George staged a mock coronation as he returned to the common room.

• Neville sensed Ivanov's wand movement with his other senses, then disarmed him with a perfectly timed Expelliarmus and held his practice sword at Ivanov's throat.
• Ivanov retrieved his wand and left in humiliation, while Krum praised Neville's combat instincts and Fleur watched him with new scrutiny.
• Harry, Ron, Hermione, and the Gryffindors congratulated Neville, and Lupin told him Professor Holmes would be proud.
• Students at breakfast celebrated Neville's victory, while Harry reflected that Neville's confidence had awakened.
• Fred and George blocked Neville at the Gryffindor common room entrance and theatrically demanded his sword so they could crown him.

Neville’s victory sparked a celebration that grew into a proposal for inter-school dueling matches to prepare for the Triwizard Tournament. Cedric planned to seek official approval for supervised exchanges, while Harry recognized Cedric’s tactics as strikingly similar to Holmes’s.

• Ron pushed Neville forward, and Fred and George raised his practice sword as the students cheered him as King Neville Longbottom.
• Hufflepuffs brought food to the celebration, where Hannah Abbott and Ernie Macmillan praised Professor Holmes’s Dragon Blood Hot Pot.
• Anthony Goldstein proposed that Hogwarts students challenge Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students to learn their magical techniques for Cedric.
• Hermione warned that the duels could expose Hogwarts’s own tactics, but Cedric argued that the exchanges would benefit all three schools.
• Cedric proposed applying to the Academic Affairs Office for a supervised dueling platform in the Great Hall, with matches every evening.
• Harry watched Cedric organize the plan and thought he resembled Holmes.

Cedric proposed supervised interschool duels to channel students’ growing enthusiasm for combat, and Sirius and Douglas enthusiastically developed the idea into a Mini Triwizard Tournament. Douglas began drafting plans for a safe arena and said the other schools’ opinions should be considered.

• Cedric visited Sirius and proposed holding public duels between the three schools in the Great Hall each evening.
• Sirius praised Cedric’s proposal as a Mini Triwizard Tournament and took him to consult Douglas.
• Douglas welcomed the idea as a chance to run controlled combat exercises and gather data on students’ fighting styles.
• Douglas chose the Octagonal Arena in Teaching Mode and said the other schools should be consulted about the venue.

Douglas turned Cedric’s idea into a three-school competition plan, but privately intended to use the matches to collect combat data. Sirius recognized Douglas’s scheme and left to keep watch, while Douglas continued studying his model and refused Dobby’s offer to help.

• Douglas proposed inviting Professor Flitwick and Professor McGonagall as judges and organizing daily matches with points and a prize for the winning school.
• Cedric left the office proud of having secured support for his proposal, and Sirius then questioned whether Douglas was under the Imperius Curse or an impostor.
• Douglas explained that he supported Cedric but admitted he also wanted to collect combat data on students from the three schools.
• Sirius called Douglas a bastard for treating people like pieces on a chessboard, then left to keep an eye on the plans and Harry.
• Douglas examined his model for analyzing underage wizards’ spell choices and combat effectiveness, and told Dobby not to secretly gather data for him.

During a sixth-year Defense Against Dark Magic lesson, Douglas used his vampire teaching assistant, Valerius, to demonstrate close-combat defense against overwhelming speed. Pheobe and Krum realized Hogwarts students trained against real dark creatures, leaving the visiting Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students under far greater pressure before the Triwizard Tournament.

• Douglas taught the students nonverbal spell sparring while Pheobe judged their magical power and Krum noticed their efficient combat movements.
• Douglas called in Valerius, who disarmed a Gryffindor student with a swift, wandless strike and demonstrated the danger of close combat.
• Valerius overwhelmed groups of students, bypassing their shields and spells and disarming them with ease.
• Pheobe recognized Valerius as a vampire, while Krum understood that Hogwarts students trained against real dark creatures.
• Valerius ended the session and left, while the Hogwarts students treated the exhausting exercise as routine.
• Pheobe and Krum exchanged worried looks as news of the lesson spread among the visiting students and intensified the pressure of the Triwizard Tournament.

Hagrid presented the Gourmet Blast-Ended Skrewts to Madame Maxime and the Beauxbatons delegation, impressing her with his calm handling of a dangerous incident. Madame Maxime examined a rune-covered eggshell and wondered about its resemblance to Ancient Celtic Binding Ancient Runes.

• Hagrid welcomed Madame Maxime, Pheobe, and the Beauxbatons students to his greenhouse lesson and introduced the Gourmet Blast-Ended Skrewts.
• Fleur Delacour questioned the ethics of creating a delicious and dangerous creature, leaving Hagrid flustered.
• A Blast-Ended Skrewt released a cloud of fragrant mist, and Hagrid quickly subdued it with Douglas's soothing rod before the students approached.
• Hagrid showed Madame Maxime the preserved eggshell, and she noted that its golden runes resembled Ancient Celtic Binding Ancient Runes.
• Hagrid called the markings bioadaptive runes and told Madame Maxime that Douglas was researching a portable habitat for the creatures.

Hagrid won Madame Maxime’s sincere admiration with his Blast-Ended Skrewts, while Douglas and Sirius used a new dueling tournament to keep the impostor Moody occupied and create an opening to find the real Alastor Moody. The tournament was announced at breakfast, prompting the students to erupt with excitement as Fred and George opened bets and advertised a dubious product.

• Madame Maxime praised Hagrid’s Blast-Ended Skrewts, and Hagrid was overwhelmed with happiness.
• Sirius told Douglas that the man posing as Moody had volunteered every third-year student and above for the tournament, and Douglas explained that the event would distract him while they searched for the real Alastor Moody.
• At breakfast, Dumbledore announced the first Three-School Friendly Dueling Exchange Tournament on behalf of Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang.
• Sirius said students in third year and above could enter Hogwarts’s four-day trials to choose fifteen competitors.
• Fred and George excitedly opened betting and promoted a Weasley product to the cheering students.

Harry struggled with the excitement surrounding a student dueling tournament, torn between wanting a quiet school year and hoping Cho Chang might admire him. At the wand-weighing ceremony, Cedric used Professor Holmes’s warning about Rita Skeeter’s secret to stop her from portraying him as a forgotten hero.

• Ron urged Harry to enter the dueling tournament so he could fight Malfoy, while Hermione stressed its dangers and the chance to learn from visiting schools.
• Harry watched Cho Chang smile toward the Gryffindor table and felt his resolve to avoid attention waver.
• Rita Skeeter cornered Cedric at the wand-weighing ceremony and tried to frame him as a forgotten hero overshadowed by the tournament.
• Cedric presented Rita with Professor Holmes’s lemon-scented insecticide and revealed that Holmes knew her secret, warning her against embellishing the story.
• Rita changed her article to praise Cedric as the pride of Hogwarts and a model of Hufflepuff spirit.
• Dumbledore interrupted the exchange and invited Ollivander to begin the wand-weighing ceremony.

At the wand-weighing ceremony, Dumbledore and Barty Crouch exchanged a guarded conversation before Crouch gave him a subtle nod. In Slytherin’s duel tournament, Draco Malfoy defeated Blaise Zabini in the semifinals and advanced to face sixth-year prefect Cassius Warrington.

• Ollivander inspected Pheobe’s, Krum’s, and Cedric’s wands during the ceremony.
• Dumbledore asked Crouch about Percy Weasley, and Crouch said Percy had been sent to Italy over trouble involving Professor Holmes.
• Crouch and Dumbledore met each other’s eyes during the group photograph, and Crouch gave a nearly imperceptible nod.
• Cassius Warrington announced that Slytherin’s Dragon Pearl holders would compete for allegiance, with Dragon Pearls forbidden during matches.
• Draco swept through earlier duels, then used a Portable Swamp and Reducto to defeat Blaise in the semifinals.
• Draco advanced to the final against Warrington, despite being exhausted.

Warrington defeated Draco and gathered six Dragon Pearls, appearing to become Slytherin’s new king, but the Seventh Years revealed the ceremony was a farce involving missing and possibly fake pearls. Warrington was left humiliated as the older students laughed at him.

• Warrington easily disarmed Draco after neutralizing his spells and took the Dragon Pearls held by the other years.
• Warrington noticed the first-year Dragon Pearl was missing and demanded that its holder step forward.
• A Seventh Year suggested Professor Holmes had not handed out the first-years’ pearl, then explained that some Dragon Pearls were fake and the set could not be completed in time.
• The Seventh Years said they had avoided the competition because Slytherin’s strength came from within and Professor Holmes used games to teach lessons about expectations and Mirage.
• The Seventh Years laughed at Warrington, who stood surrounded by six Dragon Pearls, feeling like a king made into a joke.

The Hogwarts houses held selection duels while Douglas studied the students’ tactics and reactions. Harry overcame his fear of attention and signed up for the tournament to choose Hogwarts’s fifteen representatives, and Hermione gave him her analysis of potential opponents.

• Gryffindor turned its duels into a noisy betting spectacle, where Ron won several matches before a seventh-year girl defeated him.
• Hermione recorded the students’ strengths and weaknesses while Harry watched from the shadows, afraid of becoming the center of attention.
• Ravenclaw students fought with careful strategies, while Hufflepuff students relied on endurance and defensive magic.
• Douglas reviewed the tournament reports and told Sirius to watch how the Durmstrang students reacted to unexpected combat situations.
• Draco taunted Harry at the Great Hall noticeboard, but Harry ignored him and signed up for the tournament.
• Ron cheered, Hermione handed Harry her opponent-analysis notebook, and Fred and George rushed off to change their betting odds.

Moody manipulated Draco into challenging Harry, then watched Harry’s reaction as part of a plan to test him. Moody also recalled discovering a hidden portal in an oak near Hagrid’s pumpkin patch and decided to keep the secret base as a potential trump card.

• Moody insulted Draco about his father, his defeat in the King Game, and his cowardice, provoking him to confront Harry.
• Draco charged toward Harry and shouted that he would prove he was better than him.
• The Gryffindors cheered as Ron lifted Harry above the crowd, while Moody watched and said Harry had taken the bait.
• Moody drank from his flask and remembered observing two armored figures enter a portal in an oak near Hagrid’s pumpkin patch.
• Moody’s Magical Eye struck a powerful Anti-Surveillance Jinx when he tried to peer through the portal, so he chose to keep the secret base hidden.

Barty Crouch Jr. answered Voldemort’s summons, was punished for the failed Goblet of Fire plan, and received orders to kill his father. He returned to Hogwarts resolved to carry out the Dark Lord’s next mission.

• The Dark Mark summoned Barty Crouch Jr. from Hogwarts, and he left after inventing an excuse for Dumbledore.
• Barty Crouch Jr. found Voldemort and Wormtail in a basement and knelt before his master.
• Voldemort cursed Barty Crouch Jr. for disappointing him, but Barty endured the pain with fanatical devotion.
• Barty Crouch Jr. told Voldemort that his father might suspect him, and Voldemort ordered him to dispose of his father.
• Barty Crouch Jr. and Wormtail planned to ambush the Crouch Residence, then Barty returned to Hogwarts determined to kill his father.

Douglas and Dumbledore visited Barty Crouch in his hidden study, where his enchanted double reported on Ministry affairs. The chapter recounted how Crouch defeated his son and Wormtail during their break-in, then ordered his son to leave the United Kingdom and never return.

• Douglas and Dumbledore entered Silvermane Academy through the Forbidden Forest and reached Barty Crouch’s concealed study.
• Crouch’s Two-Way Mirror double reported that Umbridge had proposed investigating the Werewolf Mutual Aid Society, and he had postponed the motion.
• Barty Crouch Jr. and Wormtail broke into the Crouch residence but triggered its defenses.
• Crouch fought off Barty Crouch Jr. and bound Wormtail, then disarmed his son.
• Crouch told Barty Crouch Jr. to leave the United Kingdom and never return while his father was alive.

Dumbledore revealed that he had impersonated Old Crouch to deceive Barty Crouch Jr. and Wormtail into fleeing toward Albania, while Douglas, Percy, and the real Crouch watched. Later, Dumbledore and Douglas explained that the Three-School Dueling Tournament would keep Voldemort focused on Harry and draw the attention of Moody’s magical eye away from places it should not see.

• Dumbledore transformed back from Old Crouch after Barty Crouch Jr. and Wormtail fled, and Douglas and Percy revealed the immobilized real Crouch.
• Percy freed Crouch, who collapsed and angrily accused Dumbledore of letting his son escape and plotting to exploit the crisis.
• Dumbledore told Crouch that Bertha Jorkins had been found in Albania and was receiving treatment after the damage caused by Crouch’s Obliviate.
• Crouch questioned whether making Harry a target for the tournament put him in danger, and Douglas replied that students needed to face the adult world's deceit and malice.
• Dumbledore explained that the tournament would create a major distraction and draw Moody’s eye away from places it should not be watching.

Douglas received Charlie’s letter and joined him at the Forbidden Forest, where Romanian dragon trainers had brought three dragons to Hogwarts. The Hungarian Horntail recognized Douglas, and he prepared to feed it a piece of meat.

• Hagrid brought Douglas a letter from Charlie and hurried away after Douglas teased him about Madame Maxime.
• Douglas read Charlie’s message and went to the edge of the Forbidden Forest, where Charlie greeted him warmly.
• Charlie led Douglas into the reserve and showed him three chained dragons: a Hungarian Horntail, a Swedish Short-Snout, and a Common Welsh Green.
• The Hungarian Horntail quieted when it saw Douglas, who called it Old Black and took out a piece of dark red meat.

Douglas used rare Flameheart Crystal-Scaled Beast meat and a soothing spell to calm the three dragons in the reserve, including the Hungarian Horntail Old Black. Old Black finished the meal and sheltered Douglas with its wing, leaving the handlers amazed.

• Charlie recognized the meat Douglas had brought as Flameheart Crystal-Scaled Beast meat and warned him that Ministry rules forbade giving the dragons unauthorized food.
• Douglas tossed pieces of meat to the Wales Green Dragon and Swedish Short-Snout, calming them at once.
• Douglas fed Old Black and used his self-created Ingredient Massage Charm to soothe the Hungarian Horntail.
• The three dragons settled down to eat, and Old Black extended a wing to protect Douglas.
• The dragon handlers marveled at Douglas's rare meat, and Charlie told them not to judge Douglas by normal standards.