Chapter Summaries

Harry celebrated his birthday at Douglas's house, where he met Dobby and Wangcai and spent the day working on homework under Douglas's supervision. After Dobby prepared to take Harry back to the Dursleys by Apparition, Douglas reflected on the success of his new rune-based anti-Apparition wards.

• Dobby welcomed Harry to Douglas's house and celebrated his freedom and Harry's birthday with a feast.
• Douglas asked Harry about his homework, and Harry admitted he had not started his Defense Against Dark Magic assignment.
• Dobby introduced Harry to Wangcai, who snatched a Galleon from Harry and proudly showed it to Douglas.
• Harry and Dobby worked on their assignments while Harry talked about life with the Dursleys, and Harry finished his first essay around midnight.
• Douglas told Harry that Dobby would take him back to the Dursleys by Apparition and directed him to a book explaining the magic.
• Douglas tested his new rune-based wards, which restricted house-elf Apparition and allowed only Douglas and Dobby to Apparate within the house.

After Dobby brought Harry back to the Dursleys, he captured a black dog on patrol, and Douglas recognized it as Sirius Black. Douglas revealed that he knew about the traitor Sirius sought, then restrained him and urged him to rest before pursuing revenge.

• Harry returned to the Dursleys with Dobby, and Vernon locked him in his room while demanding that he keep quiet around Marge.
• Dobby patrolled Magnolia Crescent and caught a black dog with an Immortal-Binding Rope.
• Douglas recognized the dog as Sirius Black and revealed himself as Harry Potter's cousin and Hogwarts's Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.
• Sirius transformed into a man and demanded to know how Douglas knew about the traitor.
• Douglas restrained Sirius and told him to recover before taking revenge, and Sirius calmed down rather than risk dying before finding the traitor.

Douglas restrained Sirius Black from rushing off to kill Peter Pettigrew and persuaded him to stay alive and help clear his name so he could protect Harry. Sirius finally asked to hear Douglas's plan, then guessed Douglas had been a Slytherin before Douglas revealed he was a Hufflepuff.

• Douglas gave Sirius a photograph of Harry and Ron, but Sirius became fixated on Peter Pettigrew and rushed for the door to seek revenge.
• Douglas bound Sirius, had Dobby feed him, and explained how he had discovered Peter disguised as a rat and identified him with the Marauder's Map.
• Sirius laughed when Douglas described using Peter to practice magic and erase his memories, then asked what Douglas wanted him to do.
• Douglas told Sirius about Harry's unhappy childhood and urged him to capture Peter, clear his name, and protect Harry from Voldemort.
• Sirius reconsidered and asked Douglas for his plan, then asked whether he had graduated from Slytherin before Douglas showed him the Hufflepuff crest.

Harry spent the summer visiting Douglas with Hermione, while Sirius secretly stayed with Douglas in dog form and watched over him. As the new school year approached, Douglas sent Harry and Hermione to Diagon Alley with Dobby and prepared to explain Sirius’s presence to Dumbledore, who arrived and demanded an explanation.

• Harry met the black dog Padfoot at Douglas’s house and noticed its tearful, unusually familiar attention toward him.
• Sirius spent the days watching Harry do homework as a dog and the nights researching with Douglas as a man.
• Hermione visited with her parents, learned how Douglas was related to Harry, and joined Harry in spending the remaining holidays at Douglas’s house.
• Douglas gave Dobby pet food for Ron’s rat, Scabbers, and entrusted him with the draft of Throne of Magic to deliver to Slane.
• Douglas sent Harry and Hermione to Diagon Alley with Dobby while he stayed home with Sirius and waited for Dumbledore.
• Dumbledore arrived at Douglas’s house, saw Sirius, and demanded a perfect explanation.

Douglas and Sirius explained how they uncovered Peter Pettigrew’s betrayal, and Douglas persuaded Dumbledore to let the students investigate Sirius’s case as part of a broader effort to encourage truth-seeking. Dumbledore revealed he had arranged for Remus Lupin to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts, but Douglas proposed making him supervisor of the Magic Practice Study Room first and suspected Dumbledore had another reason for bringing Lupin to Hogwarts.

• Douglas apologized to Dumbledore for using memory magic and Legilimency as a student, while he and Sirius explained how they had identified Peter Pettigrew as the traitor.
• Douglas rejected Dumbledore’s suggestion to capture Peter immediately, and Sirius said he wanted Peter to live in fear for another year.
• Douglas told Dumbledore that he planned to use Sirius’s case to teach students to seek the truth and help change the Wizarding World.
• Dumbledore asked Douglas whether he expected another war, then revealed he had already arranged for Remus Lupin to take the Defense Against the Dark Arts post if Douglas could not.
• Douglas proposed appointing Lupin as supervising professor of the Magic Practice Study Room, and Dumbledore agreed.
• Douglas suspected Dumbledore had brought Lupin back to Hogwarts specifically to deal with Sirius.

Douglas proposed a voluntary morning running and reading class, while Dumbledore warned that the plan depended on Douglas returning to Hogwarts because Dementors would be stationed around the school. After Sirius left, Dumbledore revealed that he had found clues about Voldemort and offered to show Douglas Bob Ogden’s memory if he returned to Hogwarts.

• Douglas suggested that he and Remus supervise morning exercise and study sessions, and Dumbledore said the plan required Douglas to resume teaching at Hogwarts because Dementors would be stationed nearby.
• Sirius defended Remus and asked Dumbledore to provide him with Wolfsbane Potion, while Douglas said he would speak to Remus about his plan himself.
• Dumbledore asked Douglas about their discussions of Voldemort, but Douglas objected to Sirius hearing certain information, so Dumbledore withheld it and Sirius left in his Animagus form.
• Dumbledore told Douglas that he had followed clues from the article and obtained a memory from Bob Ogden, offering to let Douglas view it in the Headmaster’s Office Pensieve if he returned to school.

Douglas accompanied Dumbledore to the ruins of the Gaunt Shack, where he used his modified lightning spell to reveal hidden Dark Magic and subdue the snakes guarding the place. He captured hundreds of snakes and claimed he planned to release them into the Forbidden Forest.

• Douglas told Dumbledore about his Pensieve and described his failed attempt to brew a soup from memories.
• Dumbledore said he had not brought Bob Ogden’s memories and invited Douglas to investigate a location with him.
• Douglas and Dumbledore Apparated near Little Hangleton and made their way through snake-filled woods toward the Gaunt Shack.
• Douglas cast his modified Lightning-Fall Spell across the shack’s courtyard, stunning the snakes and destroying magic that concealed traces of Dark Magic.
• Douglas caught the unconscious snakes in an enchanted cage and told Dumbledore he intended to release them into the Forbidden Forest.

Douglas and Dumbledore searched the Gaunt Shack for signs of Voldemort’s hidden Ring, and Douglas’s Magic Detection Radar located a concealed chamber. After Douglas blasted open its entrance, they prepared to investigate what lay inside.

• Douglas and Dumbledore searched the remaining traces of Dark Magic, but Douglas’s radar detected a hidden entrance beneath the ground.
• Douglas identified a stone Runespoor mechanism, and he and Dumbledore suspected Voldemort had hidden something there.
• Douglas warned that the mechanism’s complex design might require more than the Parseltongue they had recorded.
• After Dumbledore invited him to try his own solution, Douglas cast Divine Firmament True Thunder and blasted open the chamber entrance.
• Dumbledore recognized the chamber’s design as another imitation of Slytherin, while Douglas took out his radar and mentioned collecting antiques.

Douglas and Dumbledore breached the dark protections around a hidden site, where Dumbledore retrieved an object in Douglas’s anti-magic stone box. Over a meal, Douglas identified the object as the Resurrection Stone and revealed that he already knew Dumbledore possessed the Elder Wand, leaving Dumbledore surprised by his knowledge.

• Douglas used the Magic Radar to locate dark magic beneath them, then disabled the protective traps with a Dark Magic Annihilation Bomb.
• Douglas gave Dumbledore an Anti-Magic Stone Box and warned him to place the target inside without touching it.
• Dumbledore returned with the closed stone box, and Douglas checked that he was unharmed before asking what he had found.
• Dumbledore asked Douglas whether he knew the Tale of the Three Brothers, and Douglas identified the Deathly Hallows and their owners.
• Douglas explained that he recognized Dumbledore’s Elder Wand because it was made of elder wood, leaving Dumbledore awkwardly surprised.

Douglas and Dumbledore discussed the Deathly Hallows, death, and what it meant to be its master, sharing food and a toast. After they packed up, Douglas kept the stone box while Dumbledore reflected on his own temptation to use the ring to bring back loved ones.

• Dumbledore asked Douglas what he thought of the Deathly Hallows and whether gathering them could make someone the master of death.
• Douglas argued that the Hallows could not grant immortality and that mastering death meant accepting it calmly when life ended.
• Douglas recited a poem about people who live on through sacrifice, and Dumbledore connected it to those who resisted Tom and condemned the pursuit of immortality.
• Douglas and Dumbledore finished eating without discussing what they had found, and Douglas put the stone box in his pocket.
• Dumbledore considered how the ring might have tempted him to bring back his loved ones and suspected Douglas knew more about Ariana and the ring's danger.

Douglas questioned Dumbledore about Voldemort’s resurrection potion and the Riddle family murders, then suggested Voldemort had framed Morfin Gaunt and altered his memories. Dumbledore reconsidered the evidence as Douglas urged him to investigate whether Voldemort had killed multiple victims to make his Horcruxes.

• Douglas asked whether Tom Riddle’s father had been buried in the village, since his bone was an ingredient in a resurrection potion.
• Douglas and Dumbledore walked toward the Riddle House while discussing the missing locket and the mystery of who had written an article about the Gaunt family.
• Dumbledore explained that Morfin Gaunt had confessed to killing the Riddle family and was convicted after his wand and detailed memories implicated him.
• Douglas questioned why the Ministry had accepted Morfin’s guilt so readily and asked whether Voldemort had committed the murders and framed him.
• Douglas proposed that Morfin’s memories might have been altered and urged Dumbledore to investigate Voldemort’s other possible murders and use his method for handling modified memories.

Douglas and Dumbledore investigated the Riddle House, and Dumbledore recalled evidence linking Tom to the Gaunt Shack and Morfin's arrest. Douglas searched the house with his Magic Radar and left a permanent magical message for Tom, while Dumbledore wondered how Tom would react if he returned.

• Dumbledore remembered Morfin saying that Tom would kill him over a lost ring, and recalled seeing Tom wear the ring, prompting him to investigate Morfin and the locket's whereabouts.
• Douglas and Dumbledore reached the dilapidated Riddle House, where Douglas hypnotized its elderly gardener into leaving and compensated him for losing his job.
• Douglas explained that his Magic Radar could detect nearby sources of magic, including invisible wizards and Fantastic Beasts.
• Douglas used his Graffiti Charm to write a message welcoming Tom back to the Riddle family across the house's ground floor.
• Dumbledore recognized Douglas's message and imagined that it would infuriate Tom if he returned.

Douglas and Dumbledore left a message on the Riddle family grave, then Douglas told Harry that Sirius Black was his godfather. Harry struggled to believe the revelation as Sirius tried to comfort him.

• Douglas and Dumbledore found the Riddle family grave, where Douglas wrote a message about the ritual and Dumbledore added the epitaph from James Potter and Lily Potter's grave.
• Douglas returned home and heard Harry describe how the Weasleys had worried over his safety and warned him to stay close to Douglas.
• Douglas explained that the Ministry had asked him to protect Harry and keep watch for Sirius Black, then asked Harry what he knew about Black.
• Douglas told Harry that Sirius was his godfather, leaving Harry stunned and insisting that his parents' friend could not have been Voldemort's accomplice.
• Sirius caught Harry's trouser leg in his teeth as Harry grew agitated and questioned Douglas's revelation.

Douglas tasked Harry with organizing students from all Four Houses to investigate Sirius's imprisonment, while keeping key details from him. Before Harry returned to Hogwarts, Douglas signed his Hogsmeade permission form and gave him a protective token, leaving Harry curious about the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.

• Douglas explained Sirius's history to Harry and challenged him to uncover the truth by bringing students from all Four Houses together to investigate.
• Harry eagerly accepted the mission, and Sirius complained that Douglas had pampered Pettigrew with special pet food instead of poisoning him.
• Harry spent the following days studying and planning how to recruit students, then arrived at Douglas's house worried because the Dursleys had refused to sign his Hogsmeade permission form.
• Douglas signed Harry's permission form as his maternal cousin and gave him a wooden token that would protect him in a crisis.
• Harry promised to continue the investigation at school and asked about the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, but Douglas told him he would find out there.

Harry boarded the Hogwarts Express with the Weasleys and told Ron and Hermione that Douglas had revealed Sirius Black was his godfather and had tasked him with organizing students to investigate Black’s case. The friends began considering how to uncover the truth as the train left for Hogwarts.

• Dobby left Harry at King's Cross, where Mr. Weasley escorted him through the barrier to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters and reunited him with the Weasley family.
• Aboard the Hogwarts Express, Harry told Mr. and Mrs. Weasley that Douglas had already explained Sirius Black’s escape and his past as Harry’s godfather.
• After the adults left the train, Harry asked Ron and Hermione to speak privately, and they found Professor Lupin asleep in a compartment.
• Harry told Ron and Hermione that Douglas wanted him to organize students to investigate the details of Sirius Black’s case, regardless of the conclusion they reached.
• Hermione wondered whether Black had been wrongly accused, while Ron asked what reward Douglas might give Harry; Harry and Ron noted that they were still three years from their OWLs.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione traveled on the Hogwarts Express, discussed their pets and Professor Holmes, and traded insults with Draco Malfoy. Malfoy learned that Holmes was Harry’s maternal cousin, then left after bringing up a Prophet competition to guess the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.

• Harry’s Sneakoscope whistled, and Hermione silenced it as Ron explained it had been his gift to Harry.
• The trio discussed Professor Holmes’s Niffler, Wangcai, and black dog while the sleeping Lupin shuddered at the mention of the dog.
• Hermione’s Crookshanks jumped onto Ron, who showed Harry that Scabbers had grown healthy after eating Professor Holmes’s pet food.
• Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe, and Gregory Goyle mocked Harry and Ron, and Harry and Ron taunted Draco about Dobby working for Professor Holmes.
• Hermione revealed that Professor Holmes was Harry’s maternal cousin, shocking Draco, who then changed the subject after noticing Lupin.
• Draco mentioned the Daily Prophet’s 500-Galleon competition to guess the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, then left as Ron vowed to stand up to him.

The train stopped in darkness as Dementors boarded, and Harry’s Wooden Plaque captured one before Professor Lupin and students drove the others away. Harry’s silver Patronus also repelled a Dementor, and he learned that the plaque from his maternal cousin had protected him.

• The Hogwarts Express slowed to a stop, the lights went out, and students used Lumos to illuminate the corridor.
• Hermione and Ginny returned to Harry’s compartment as Professor Lupin woke and warned everyone to stay where they were.
• A Dementor entered the compartment, and a white light shot from Harry’s chest, bound it, and pulled it into his Wooden Plaque.
• Seventh-year students used special Lumos spells to drive the Dementors down the corridor, while Percy and Penelope identified them as guards of Azkaban.
• A Dementor was shoved into Harry’s compartment, and Harry’s silver bird Patronus knocked it back as other students cast Patronuses and chased the Dementors away.
• Harry showed the others his hot Wooden Plaque and explained that his maternal cousin had given it to protect him, while Lupin advised him to keep it somewhere else.

Lupin recognized Douglas Holmes as the author of novels he admired and hinted that Holmes knew the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. Meanwhile, Douglas created a secret passage between his home and Hogwarts, then hurried to the Great Hall as the Sorting Ceremony began.

• Lupin told Harry that he had read Professor Holmes's novels and said Holmes knew the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.
• Percy and Penelope quietly agreed to help Harry while avoiding open opposition to the Ministry of Magic.
• Douglas worked with Sirius and Dobby to design and inscribe a secret teleportation passage between his home and his Hogwarts office.
• Douglas tested the passage with Sirius and Dobby, and Sirius returned home through the fireplace.
• Douglas sent Dobby back to study, changed his clothes, and headed for the Great Hall.

At the Hogwarts feast, students welcomed Douglas back while Peeves fled from him, and Dumbledore announced that Dementors were staying at the school. He reassured students about the train incident and said Hogwarts would investigate the missing Dementor.

• Peeves set off Filibuster Fireworks at the Great Hall entrance and joined the feast under the Bloody Baron's supervision.
• Students noticed Professor Lupin and Snape's hostile stare, while the Sorting Hat sang a new line about remembering Defense Against the Dark Arts professors.
• Romilda Vane was sorted into Gryffindor, but the hall's attention shifted when Douglas arrived and students applauded.
• Peeves shouted that the ghost killer had returned, fired his last Filibuster Firework, and escaped through a wall as the other ghosts scattered.
• Dumbledore told the students that Dementors were staying at Hogwarts on Ministry business and reassured them about the train incident.
• Dumbledore said Hogwarts would investigate the missing Dementor and asked students who knew what happened to report to their Head of House.

At the Hogwarts feast, Dumbledore announced new Dementor security measures and welcomed Douglas Holmes, Remus Lupin, and Rubeus Hagrid to their school roles. When students realized they had neglected their Defense Against Dark Arts homework, Hermione and Percy helped them catch up while the Weasley twins prepared to sell answer sheets.

• Dumbledore ordered Dementors to guard every school entrance and urged students skilled in the Patronus Charm and a certain kind of Lumos to help protect others.
• Dumbledore welcomed Douglas Holmes back as Defense Against the Dark Arts professor and announced that Remus Lupin would supervise the supplementary classes.
• Dumbledore introduced Rubeus Hagrid as the new Care of Magical Creatures professor after his name was cleared, and Hagrid thanked Douglas.
• Students discovered that most had not done their Defense Against Dark Arts summer homework, so Hermione and Percy guided them through it.
• The Weasley twins hid in their dormitory with Gryffindor test papers and planned to compile and sell answers to their classmates.