Chapter Summaries

Lucius Malfoy proposed that the Wizengamot subject Marauders Power Company products to an independent security review and suspend its Ministry cooperation, warning that the system threatened wizarding privacy and freedom. Sirius Black countered by presenting a report of intercepted attacks, leaving the court listening as the clerk began naming targets.

• Lucius Malfoy warned the Wizengamot that the company’s defense system could expose private information and undermine wizarding traditions.
• Lucius formally proposed a national-security review of Marauders Power Company products and a halt to its Ministry cooperation.
• Several pure-blood representatives, including Old Nott and Parkinson, applauded Lucius’s proposal.
• The Chief Warlock invited Sirius Black to respond, and Sirius mocked Lucius for fearing scrutiny.
• Sirius gave the clerk a report detailing attacks intercepted at Amelia Bones’s home and Mr. Ogden’s manor.

Sirius defeated Lucius Malfoy’s attempt to scrutinize Marauders Company’s security by revealing intercepted attacks and evidence of lethal poison trafficking. The Wizengamot rejected Lucius’s proposal, and Sirius left after announcing a fifty-thousand-Galleon donation to St Mungo’s.

• The clerk read out intercepted attacks on Wizengamot members’ homes, including an attempted infiltration of Malfoy Manor, leaving Lucius furious and the hall stunned.
• Lucius accused Marauders Company of staging the attacks, so Sirius presented a Memory Crystal showing Aurors finding lethal poisons in a warehouse linked to a collateral branch of the Greengrass family.
• Sirius announced that he would donate fifty thousand Galleons to St Mungo’s to establish the Dark Magic Defense Injury Research Fund.
• The Chief Wizard asked whether anyone seconded Lucius’s proposal, and, after no one spoke, rejected it and adjourned court.
• Sirius smiled at Lucius and left the courtroom beneath the assembled members’ gazes.

Wormtail, desperate to escape Voldemort’s threat, remembered a secret rat passage into Hogwarts and planned to steal a rare potion ingredient from Snape’s storeroom. As he prepared to act, the plan felt strangely familiar, as though he had been preparing for it for years.

• Wormtail feared Voldemort would kill him if he failed to find the rare potion ingredient, while Nagini waited hungrily nearby.
• Wormtail realized the usual black-market routes were closed because Aurors and the Marauders Power Company's detectors had tightened control over Dark Magic supplies.
• Wormtail remembered a hidden passage he had dug from an abandoned dungeon near Hogsmeade to a storage room beside Snape’s office, with a rat hole leading into Snape’s private storeroom.
• Wormtail decided to enter Hogwarts in his Animagus form on a night when security was weak, then steal the ingredient while Snape was away teaching.
• Wormtail felt an uncanny familiarity with his detailed plan, as if he had been preparing to carry it out for years.

Wormtail retrieved the Space Gem from beneath the Shrieking Shack and used a hidden tunnel to reach Hogwarts, driven by fear of Voldemort and a determination to complete his master's task. He hid behind old cauldrons in the storeroom and waited for daybreak.

• Wormtail left Hogsmeade in rat form and reached the Shrieking Shack, where memories of James, Sirius, and Lupin surfaced.
• He found a hidden passage beneath a loose floorboard and discovered the Space Gem, though he could not remember why he had carried it through the tunnel before.
• Wormtail took the gem in his mouth and waited until three in the morning, worrying that the Marauder's Map might reveal Barty and that the mission might be a trap.
• He followed the familiar tunnel to a concealed crack in Hogwarts's storeroom and hid behind old cauldrons until daybreak.

Douglas caught Wormtail trying to break into Snape’s storeroom, discovered Voldemort’s plan for the Third Task, and secretly altered the resurrection ingredients before erasing Wormtail’s memories. At Malfoy Manor, Lucius returned to the gathered pure-blood leaders with a proposal to regain the initiative.

• Wormtail checked that Snape had left for class and entered the secret passage to Snape’s storeroom, where Douglas’s trap knocked him unconscious.
• Douglas used Legilimency on Wormtail and learned that Barty Crouch Jr. planned to use a Portkey to send Harry Potter away when the Third Task began.
• Douglas put the prepared ingredients into Wormtail’s Space Gem, altered them, and used Obliviate to make Wormtail believe the break-in had gone smoothly.
• Wormtail returned to Voldemort carrying the altered ingredients, while Douglas told him to give Riddle his regards.
• At Malfoy Manor, Old Nott, the Parkinson family head, and other pure-blood representatives discussed their losses and the Marauders Power Company’s influence.
• Lucius Malfoy arrived and proposed a way for the pure-blood families to regain the initiative.

Lucius proposed infiltrating the Marauders Power Company to exploit its technology and divide the pure-blood families. Wormtail brought Voldemort the ingredients for his resurrection potion, but Voldemort still needed Harry Potter’s blood and planned to wait for the Triwizard Tournament’s Third Task, even as Aurors surrounded their hideout.

• Lucius urged the pure-blood aristocrats to approach the Marauders Power Company under the pretense of buying its system, while secretly seeking technical knowledge and sowing divisions among their rivals.
• Wormtail brought Voldemort a gem containing potion ingredients stolen from Hogwarts, including Bicorn horn, Erumpent venom, dragon blood crystals, and Inferi Grass rhizomes.
• Voldemort said the resurrection ritual still required Harry Potter’s blood and planned to capture him during the Third Task, trusting Barty’s plan.
• Voldemort punished Wormtail for doubting the plan, then ordered him to prepare a cauldron as Wormtail warned that Aurors were everywhere outside.

Voldemort decided to abandon his basement hideout and avoid relying on the pure-blood families while preparing for his resurrection. He chose a deserted coastal cliff near London as a new hiding place, while privately considering a fallback plan involving the soul stored in a Horcrux.

• Voldemort agreed that Barty Crouch had been right to warn against reckless action and praised Wormtail for gathering materials.
• Voldemort said their current hideout was no longer safe because of the Knockturn Alley failure, the Greengrass family’s exposure, and the Aurors’ search.
• Wormtail read a Daily Prophet report that Lucius Malfoy and other pure-blood family heads were publicly challenging the Marauders Power Company’s defense system.
• Voldemort rejected Wormtail’s suggestion to seek the Malfoy family’s help, saying he would not rely on them for his resurrection ritual.
• Voldemort chose a deserted stretch of coastline near London as a new hiding place and considered a fallback involving the soul stored in a Horcrux.

Voldemort ordered Wormtail to find a way to travel without magic, and Wormtail devised a plan to hide aboard a freight train and cargo ship. That night, they reached a freight platform, where Wormtail began searching for a concealed carriage.

• Voldemort told Wormtail that they had to use Muggle methods because his condition prevented him from Apparating.
• Wormtail proposed hiding in freight trains and cargo ships to reach London, and Voldemort accepted the plan.
• Voldemort threatened Wormtail with Nagini if anything went wrong and ordered him to prepare their escape that night.
• Wormtail brought Voldemort, disguised as an old woman carrying an infant, to a freight platform and found a train bound for a coastal port.
• Voldemort ordered Wormtail not to use magic as Wormtail hurried toward a freight carriage loaded with timber and cement.

Wormtail carried the weakened Voldemort by freight train and cargo ship to the Thames Estuary, where they hid in an abandoned warehouse. After evading a search by Aurors, Voldemort vowed to make them pay when he returned to life.

• Wormtail hid with Voldemort in a freight car as they traveled by train, and Voldemort declared that he would never give up and would return.
• Three days later, Wormtail brought Voldemort ashore at the River Thames Estuary and found shelter in an abandoned warehouse.
• Wormtail turned into a rat and hid with the bundle when two Aurors entered the warehouse to search for him.
• After the Aurors left, Voldemort reminded Wormtail of their danger and vowed to make the Aurors beg for death when he returned to life.

Voldemort and Wormtail settled into an abandoned mountain cottage so Voldemort could stabilize his fragile body and prepare for resurrection. As Wormtail began brewing potions under strict orders, Voldemort started a protective Magic Array and waited to learn whether Barty would succeed or he would need to use his backup plan.

• Wormtail brought Voldemort to an abandoned cottage, where Voldemort decided they would hide and brew potions.
• Voldemort ordered Wormtail to follow his recipes exactly, avoid using magic outside the cottage, and never expose their location.
• Voldemort explained that he would perform a resurrection ritual with Potter's blood if Barty succeeded, but said he trusted only himself and had a backup plan.
• Voldemort began drawing protective runes while Wormtail prepared the potion ingredients and lit the fire.
• Wormtail added the first ingredients to the cauldron, beginning the potion as Voldemort waited for the day he could take revenge.

As Hogwarts students endured intense exams and international competition, teachers recognized that the pressure was improving their skills. After the May exams ended, Dumbledore announced that Ministries of Magic around the world had been invited to observe the Triwizard Tournament’s final task.

• Hermione urged Harry and Ron to keep studying as Hogwarts students and visiting Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students faced mounting academic pressure.
• Ron received notice of an extra practical Charms exam, and Snape set a surprise Potions test that required students to exchange cauldrons every ten minutes.
• Hermione corrected Ron’s potion, while a Durmstrang student praised Hogwarts’ harsh training as effective.
• McGonagall, Flitwick, and Sprout discussed improved student performance, and McGonagall credited Douglas’s understanding of students’ mindsets.
• After the May exams ended, Dumbledore announced that official delegations from Ministries of Magic worldwide would observe the Triwizard Tournament’s final task.

Douglas revealed that he had supplied Voldemort with resurrection ingredients so Voldemort would return on Douglas’s terms, then spent a weekend cooking for Bill Weasley and surveying Hogwarts. The chapter ended with Douglas asking the Weasley twins whether Bill could break the third task’s magical array, while an author’s question followed.

• Douglas told Dumbledore that Voldemort had ordered Barty Crouch Jr. to deliver Harry to him during the third task, and revealed that Douglas had given Wormtail the potion ingredients Voldemort needed for resurrection.
• Harry lost his dueling semifinal and the chance to compete in the post-tournament exhibition match, while Barty Crouch Jr. tried to comfort him.
• Douglas cooked for Bill Weasley, who visited his London home, and Bill described how Goblins viewed Douglas’s business as a way of changing rules and power.
• Douglas took Ron’s book during a tour of the Castle, puzzling Ron, Hermione, and Harry.
• Fred and George took bets on which student would break the third task’s magical array, and Douglas praised their enterprise before asking whether Bill could break it.

Bill, disguised as Professor Douglas Holmes, taught the students to stay focused under pressure as they prepared for the Triwizard Tournament maze. After a private meeting with Harry, Harry encountered Moody in the corridor and left without revealing what had been discussed.

• Bill, posing as Professor Holmes, explained that clear thinking under pressure mattered more than spell knowledge in the maze.
• Bill confused the classroom and set Golden Snitches loose for the students to catch with non-damaging spells; Hermione and Krum were among the few who succeeded.
• Bill dismissed the class and summoned Harry to his office.
• Harry left the office half an hour later, calm and unreadable, and met Moody waiting in the corridor.
• Moody warned Harry to survive by any means necessary, but Harry excused himself to return to Hermione and his homework.

Harry returned to the Gryffindor Common Room and told Ron and Hermione that Professor Holmes had only discussed his homework with him, concealing the real reason for their meeting. The three speculated about the Triwizard Tournament’s final task, which they expected to test both magical skill and judgment, and the chapter ended with a question about The Monster Book of Monsters.

• Harry joined Ron and Hermione, who were working on an essay about the Permanent Sticking Charm.
• Hermione asked whether Professor Holmes had discussed the final task with Harry, and Harry lied that Holmes had only criticized his Ancient Runes assignment.
• Hermione scolded Ron for mistranslating protective runes as goat runes in his homework.
• Harry considered how the Permanent Sticking Charm could surprise an opponent by sticking their wand to their hand.
• Harry and Hermione speculated that the final task would involve a maze and challenges such as a Boggart or an Echo Beast.

Harry and his friends discussed how to prepare for the Triwizard Tournament Maze, concluding that practical spells and mental resilience mattered more than memorizing monsters. Harry returned to his dormitory feeling worn out and unsettled.

• A fifth-year girl and a seventh-year student described the Maze’s shifting walls and Sphinx, and Hermione explained that the professors would test champions’ judgment under pressure.
• Harry recommended practicing practical spells for marking paths, lighting the way, signaling for help, and summoning a Patronus for courage.
• Neville suggested that getting lost among identical hedges might be the Maze’s real test, and Hermione agreed that mental preparation and practical spells were essential.
• Hermione said the Maze might also become the students’ final-exam venue, and Harry questioned why they were preparing for it.
• Harry left the Common Room, returned to the dormitory, shut the curtains, and lay awake feeling unsettled.

Harry regretted agreeing to Douglas’s substitute plan, which left him safely in London doing Hogwarts homework while someone else impersonated him at school. Bill arrived and helped him tailor his essays to Snape’s demand for precision and McGonagall’s preference for clear logic.

• Harry complained that Douglas’s exciting mission had turned into a pile of essays in his London study.
• Dobby offered Harry five drinks, and Harry chose plain water.
• Harry recalled that Douglas had placed him in London while a trained wizard used Polyjuice Potion to take his place at Hogwarts.
• Bill arrived through the fireplace and revised Harry’s Potions essay to sound more decisive for Snape.
• Bill outlined a logical structure for Harry’s Transfiguration essay and explained how to write for different professors.

Bill told Harry about Douglas’s unconventional Hogwarts pranks and the spell theory that inspired Bill’s curse-breaking career. He explained that Harry had to remain away from Hogwarts as cover for Douglas’s secret plan, leaving Harry to see his homework as part of the war effort.

• Bill recalled how Douglas used a spell to generate a convincing Potions essay from a nonexistent mathematical model, earning Snape’s approval before the deception was discovered.
• Bill explained that Douglas viewed spells and runes as a kind of grammar, and said his ideas shaped Bill’s work as a Curse-Breaker.
• Harry realized Douglas had developed his abilities through a distinctive way of thinking rather than being born powerful.
• Bill described how he used Polyjuice Potion and Occlumency to impersonate Douglas, then admitted the deception was exhausting.
• Bill told Harry that staying away from Hogwarts helped conceal Douglas’s plan and protect Harry, and that even Dumbledore had been kept uninformed.
• Harry understood that his presence away from Hogwarts and his continued homework helped the operation and the war.

After Bill left, Harry missed Ron and Hermione but returned to his essay, seeing his work as part of a hidden war. As the Triwizard Tournament’s international gathering began at Hogwarts, foreign officials examined Sirius Black’s company’s protective technology, while the visiting headmasters reacted to the event and Karkaroff eyed it suspiciously.

• Bill left Harry to prepare for his Defense Against Dark Magic class, and Harry resumed writing his Transfiguration essay while thinking of Ron and Hermione.
• Ministry officials from Germany and France discussed the Marauders Power Company’s protective amulets and the improved success of British Auror operations.
• Sirius welcomed a French Ministry official and led him into the reception tent, hinting that modern methods could address the dangers facing wizards.
• Madame Maxime told Dumbledore that the gathering exceeded her expectations, and Dumbledore noted that Pheobe had gained a deeper understanding of power after the first task.
• Karkaroff paced uneasily and dismissed the gathering as a scheme to sell scrap metal.

Douglas prepared for the Triwizard Tournament’s final task, while Bill secretly coordinated with Sirius and watched over Harry. At the Quidditch Pitch, Sirius and Dumbledore announced that the task would open the first World Magic Expo, as the disguised participants signaled that their plan had begun.

• Douglas told Dumbledore that everything was ready, while Bill quietly spoke with Sirius and agreed to keep an eye on Harry.
• Sirius and Bill discussed Douglas’s absence and the need to ensure Bill was sent away from Hogwarts without interference.
• Guests gathered at the Quidditch Pitch, where Dumbledore introduced the final task and invited ministry officials and school headmasters to join him.
• Sirius announced that the Triwizard Tournament’s final task would open the first World Magic Expo, and Dumbledore described its vision for international cooperation.
• Watching from the crowd, Bill exchanged a brief look with the disguised Harry, and both understood that their plan had begun.

Mad-Eye Moody lured Harry away from the Third Task with a story about a Swedish Ministry official stranded in the Forbidden Forest, using their walk to lecture him on Auror vigilance. He brought Harry to a secluded corner of the Quidditch Pitch and handed him a silver hip flask, leaving its purpose unexplained.

• Moody approached Harry behind the Gryffindor stands and ordered him to help rescue a Swedish Ministry official supposedly stranded in the Forbidden Forest.
• Harry agreed to go with Moody, who led him slowly around the Quidditch Pitch while telling him to keep his wand ready and question everyone, including Moody himself.
• Moody taught Harry to watch a wizard's hands for signs of spellcasting or lying, rather than relying on their eyes.
• Moody and Harry reached a secluded path near the Forbidden Forest, where Moody checked that no one was watching and handed Harry a silver hip flask.
• Harry asked Moody what the flask was.