Chapter Summaries

Wizards in Diagon Alley discussed Sirius Black's escape, the threat to Harry Potter, and the Ministry's decision to send Dementors to Hogwarts. Rumors about Harry's past, his scar, and a death omen left the queue fearful for his fate.

• An old wizard and other people in the queue read the Daily Prophet's report that Sirius Black had escaped Azkaban.
• A gray-haired wizard recalled Black's friendship with James Potter, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew, and the group condemned Black for betraying the Potters.
• The wizards discussed Black's escape and his rumored plan to kill Harry Potter, while explaining that the Ministry had placed Dementors around Hogwarts.
• A young witch wondered why Harry had reacted so strongly to a Dementor, and the queue speculated about his parents' deaths and his scar.
• A middle-aged witch said Professor Trelawney had seen the Grim in Harry's teacup, and the queue fell silent over whether Harry would survive the year.

Students and professors at Hogwarts worried about Sirius Black’s escape and the Dementors, while Harry questioned whether Black really intended to kill him. Harry suggested Black might not have come to Hogwarts to kill him at all.

• Seamus, Hannah Abbott, Ron, and Hermione received letters from their families asking whether they wanted to leave Hogwarts, but Hermione and Ron said they would stay.
• Ravenclaw and Slytherin students discussed Sirius Black’s escape, the danger to Harry, and whether the Dementors belonged at Hogwarts.
• Professor McGonagall assured Professor Flitwick that she would not let anything happen to Harry, while Professor Trelawney said she had seen the Grim in Harry’s fate.
• Snape watched the grounds and quietly said Black’s name.
• Harry showed Ron and Hermione a photograph of Azkaban and wondered why Black had not killed him earlier if that was truly his goal.
• Harry suggested that Black might not have come to kill him, leaving Ron and Hermione silent.

Dumbledore retrieved a confiscated blank parchment from Filch and activated it, revealing a map that tracked everyone inside Hogwarts. As he searched for Sirius Black, he found Peter Pettigrew’s name beside Ronald Weasley’s in the Gryffindor boys’ dormitory and froze in shock.

• Dumbledore visited Filch’s office and asked him to find an old, blank student-made map.
• Filch searched his confiscated parchments and handed Dumbledore the folded map he wanted.
• Dumbledore activated the parchment with the Elder Wand and saw Hogwarts, its secret passages, and the names of everyone inside.
• Dumbledore searched the map for Sirius Black but could not find him anywhere in the castle.
• Dumbledore spotted Peter Pettigrew’s name beside Ronald Weasley’s dot and stood motionless in shock.

Peter planted Crookshanks’s hairs in Ron’s bed to make his disappearance look like the cat had killed Scabbers, then fled Hogwarts because the Marauder’s Map could reveal his real name. He reached a spot near the Forbidden Forest, but a sharp whistle from the castle interrupted his escape.

• Peter hid Crookshanks’s hairs around Ron’s bed to make people blame the cat if Scabbers vanished.
• Peter saw the book about the Marauder’s Map and feared it would expose his identity by displaying his real name.
• Peter slipped out of the Gryffindor dormitory and crossed Hogwarts, avoiding a sleeping portrait.
• Peter escaped through a loose stone in the castle wall and headed toward the Forbidden Forest.
• Peter stopped beneath a stone beside the path, planning to live in hiding, when a sharp whistle sounded from Hogwarts Castle.

Peter hid as a rat near the Forbidden Forest while Dumbledore searched for the person whose name had appeared beside Ron’s on the Marauder’s Map. Dumbledore discovered Ron’s rat Scabbers was missing and learned it had been missing a toe and had belonged to Percy for years.

• Peter spotted Dumbledore hovering over the grounds and tried to act like an ordinary rat.
• Dumbledore recalled seeing Peter Pettigrew’s name nearly overlap Ron Weasley’s on the Marauder’s Map and went to check Ron’s identity.
• Dumbledore gently probed Ron’s mind and found no sign that he was an impostor.
• Ron noticed Scabbers was missing and blamed Hermione’s cat, Crookshanks, after finding rat and cat hairs on his bed.
• Dumbledore asked about Scabbers’s missing toe, and Ron explained Percy had given him the rat after keeping it for years.

Dumbledore deduced that Scabbers was Peter Pettigrew and suspected Peter had hidden because the truth about Sirius Black's capture was different from what the Wizarding World believed. He searched for Peter at the Forbidden Forest and offered him safety, but Peter stayed hidden and Dumbledore threatened to use stronger search magic.

• Dumbledore connected the long-lived, maimed rat with Peter Pettigrew and concluded that Peter had fled after learning the Marauder's Map could expose him.
• Dumbledore questioned why Peter would hide if he were truly a hero, and suspected there was more to the events involving Sirius Black.
• Dumbledore flew outside Hogwarts and searched the grounds, while Peter hid in the grass at the edge of the Forbidden Forest.
• Dumbledore used Sonorus to call Peter by name and promised he could leave Hogwarts safely and live without fear of Black.
• Peter heard Dumbledore but stayed disguised as an ordinary rat, convinced Dumbledore was lying.
• Dumbledore warned Peter that he would use more thorough search magic if Peter did not come out.

Dumbledore searched the grounds for Peter Pettigrew but could not distinguish him from the ordinary animals around the Forbidden Forest. After Dumbledore returned to Hogwarts, Peter emerged from hiding and hesitated before fleeing into the woods, wondering whether Dumbledore had truly left.

• Dumbledore admitted to himself that he had no reliable way to locate Peter while he was transformed into a rat.
• Dumbledore used Revelio to search the grass, but the spell found nothing because Peter had transformed too long ago.
• Dumbledore gave up and walked back toward Hogwarts Castle.
• Peter waited beneath a rock until Dumbledore's footsteps faded, then crawled out and considered escaping into the Forbidden Forest.
• Peter paused before running into the woods and wondered whether Dumbledore had really left.

Peter suspected Dumbledore was still watching him, so he pretended to search for food beneath a rock. Meanwhile, Richard Henry’s harsh review of the first half of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban sparked an uproar in Britain.

• Peter reasoned that Dumbledore might be bluffing and hiding nearby rather than giving up the search.
• Peter forced himself to remain beneath the rock and behave like an ordinary rat while staying alert.
• The first half of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban sold out its initial print run of eight hundred thousand copies in three days, prompting the publisher to print another million.
• Richard Henry published a Times article criticizing the book’s exposition, character conflicts, emotional scenes, magical set pieces, and suspense.
• Richard Henry said he hoped the second half would restore the appeal of the first two books, but warned that Allen Vane might have lost his talent.
• The article caused an uproar among British literary circles and readers.

Literary critics and editors debated whether the first eleven chapters of Allen Vane’s third Harry Potter book showed declining ability or were laying groundwork for later developments. The argument ended with Charles urging critics to wait for the book and time to deliver a fuller judgment.

• Philip Handsworth and Margaret Thorne agreed with Richard Henry’s criticism that the third book’s opening chapters were weaker and suggested Allen Vane’s success shielded him from editorial scrutiny.
• Harold Larkin argued that eleven chapters were not enough evidence to claim Allen Vane had run out of talent, and he pointed to the book’s unresolved mysteries.
• James Carter defended the changes in perspective and the realistic quarrels between Ron and Hermione, praised the Dementors, and said he would wait for the second half before judging.
• Two literary editors discussed the opening chapters’ trade-offs, agreeing that some flaws existed while arguing that ideas such as the Boggart and Knight Bus showed Allen Vane had not lost his ability.
• Charles told a colleague that Richard Henry had judged too hastily, since the first half was meant to lay groundwork, and recalled the Times Literary Supplement’s call to wait and see what endured.

Readers across Britain debated whether the first half of the third Harry Potter book showed a decline in quality, while Allen awaited the settlement for its release. The system rewarded Allen with a limited James Potter character card, which granted James’s peak strength for five minutes.

• Readers in Cambridge and London argued over Henry’s criticism of the third book’s first eleven chapters, with some defending its pacing and new ideas.
• Allen complained to the system about releasing the book in halves, then asked the black diary whether publishing half an article was reprehensible; it refused to answer.
• The system announced that the release response settlement for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Part One) was complete and offered Allen rewards.
• Allen received a limited James Potter character card with two uses, each granting James’s peak strength for five minutes.
• Allen read James’s profile, considered his abilities and role in the third book, and looked forward to the remaining rewards.

Allen examined the first-person-only Pensieve he had received and questioned whether reliving his own memories would be useful. He entered a memory of the Battle of Hogwarts and discovered that it let him experience his past sensations and thoughts with startling clarity.

• Allen read the System's explanation that the Pensieve let him relive his memories from his own perspective, including his thoughts and senses.
• Allen questioned the Pensieve's usefulness because it limited him to what he had seen and thought at the time.
• Allen summoned the Pensieve, extracted a memory of the Battle of Hogwarts, and entered it.
• Allen relived his arrival at Hogwarts as Death Eaters aimed their wands at him, experiencing his sensations and panicked thoughts again.

Allen discovered that the Pensieve let him relive the spellcasting insights he had gained through Quirrell's character card, and repeated visits improved his understanding despite straining him. He then started his third draw from the limited Prisoner of Azkaban prize pool, watching the wheel spin past familiar names.

• Allen relived Quirrell's memories in the Pensieve, including casting the Composite Spell over the Black Lake.
• Allen realized that revisiting the memories could let him learn from the peak spellcasting abilities of character cards.
• Allen returned to the Pensieve and studied the casting of Stupefy, Protego, and the Composite Spell, gaining deeper understanding but feeling dizzy.
• Allen praised the Pensieve reward to the system and chose to use his third limited-pool draw.
• The wheel began spinning, displaying names including Albus Dumbledore, Minerva McGonagall, Severus Snape, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew.

Allen drew Rubeus Hagrid's Magical Creature Affinity and then used the Pensieve to study spells, while Harry, Ron, and Hermione settled into a calmer routine at Hogwarts. The trio left Hagrid's Flobberworm lesson, with Ron and Harry neglecting their worms as Hermione fed hers carefully.

• Allen received Rubeus Hagrid's Magical Creature Affinity, which made magical creatures naturally trust him and helped him understand their needs.
• Allen focused on the Pensieve and plunged in again to study the Levitation Charm and the Blasting Curse.
• Ron stopped arguing with Hermione about Crookshanks after Dumbledore privately warned him that Scabbers was not what he seemed.
• Crookshanks began roaming freely in the Gryffindor Common Room while Ron avoided discussing Scabbers.
• Harry, Ron, and Hermione returned from Hagrid's Flobberworm lesson, where Harry and Ron neglected their worms and Hermione fed hers diligently.

Harry and Ron discovered their Magic Cards were missing and returned to the grounds at night with Hermione to retrieve them. As they prepared to head back, a vast tide of Dementors appeared and surged toward the Forbidden Forest.

• Ron and Harry searched the common room for their missing card decks, with Hermione helping them.
• Harry remembered that they had played cards during Care of Magical Creatures and likely left them by the crooked tree.
• Harry, Ron, and Hermione used Harry's Invisibility Cloak to sneak outside and found both decks in the grass.
• As the three prepared to return to the castle, countless Dementors emerged and swept across the grounds toward the Forbidden Forest.

Peter Pettigrew struggled to survive in the Forbidden Forest while centaurs and other creatures hunted for him on Dumbledore’s orders. As Peter roasted a rat, Sirius Black appeared in the form of a black dog, leaving Peter terrified.

• Peter roasted and ate a rat while hiding in the Forbidden Forest.
• Peter recalled fleeing Hogwarts and learning that Dumbledore had prompted the forest creatures to find him and drive him back onto the grounds.
• Peter remained trapped between the Hogwarts grounds and the dangerous depths of the forest, unable to travel safely in human form.
• Sirius Black appeared as a black dog, and Peter recognized him from their past and froze in terror.

Peter fled from Sirius Black through the Forbidden Forest, then fought him while trying to provoke him into human form so the Dementors would find him. Black transformed anyway, drawing the Dementors toward the forest as Harry, Ron, and Hermione watched them converge.

• Peter panicked and ran into the Forbidden Forest with the black dog chasing him.
• Peter realized Black likely had no wand and tried to use the threat of Dementors and centaurs to keep him in dog form.
• Peter fought the black dog with a wooden stick, injuring both of them as he tried to make Black transform.
• Black changed into human form, revealing his gaunt appearance and furious gray eyes.
• Dementors sensed Black and rushed toward the Forbidden Forest, where Harry, Ron, and Hermione witnessed their arrival.

After learning from Dumbledore that Peter Pettigrew was alive, Fudge and Amelia Bones convened an emergency Wizengamot session to address the evidence and the consequences for Sirius Black’s trial. The Wizengamot summoned Dumbledore to explain the matter, and the summons was delivered to Hogwarts.

• Fudge received Dumbledore’s letter saying the Marauder’s Map showed Peter Pettigrew in the Gryffindor boys’ dormitory beside Ronald Weasley.
• Fudge contacted Amelia Bones, who agreed the case could undermine the Wizengamot’s verdict in Black’s trial and urged immediate action.
• Amelia convened an emergency closed-door Wizengamot session, where Fudge presented Dumbledore’s letter and explained the map’s evidence.
• Amelia proposed summoning Dumbledore to explain Peter’s presence and the evidence before the Wizengamot.
• The Wizengamot issued an emergency summons to Dumbledore, which was delivered to Hogwarts that afternoon.

Dumbledore received a binding Wizengamot summons and left Hogwarts, entrusting McGonagall with the Marauder's Map. When a mass of Dementors gathered at the Forbidden Forest, Allen received an emergency quest and teleported to Hogwarts to stop them.

• Dumbledore told McGonagall that the Wizengamot had summoned him to testify about Peter Pettigrew and left her the Marauder's Map to monitor the castle.
• Dumbledore departed through the Floo Network, and McGonagall and Flitwick arranged patrols and ordered students to stay in their common rooms.
• McGonagall saw Dementors gathering over the Forbidden Forest, and Filch reported that they were streaming into it.
• McGonagall ordered Flitwick to contact the Ministry and Dumbledore, then hurried toward Gryffindor Tower.
• Allen received a non-refusable emergency quest to control the Dementor riot, took his wand, and teleported away.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione fled into the Forbidden Forest as a mass of Dementors advanced, while Black chased Peter through another part of the woods. Peter headed for the Hogwarts lawns, hoping the Dementors would stop Black, and reached the forest’s edge.

• Hermione urged Harry and Ron to run, and the three escaped into the Forbidden Forest as Dementors followed them.
• Harry, Hermione, and Ron ran deeper into the woods but could not shake the pursuing Dementors.
• Black transformed from a dog into a man, and Peter turned into a rat and fled from him.
• Peter raced east through the forest, believing the Dementors near Hogwarts would keep Black from following him.
• Exhausted, Peter smelled grass and recognized that the forest’s edge and the Hogwarts lawns were close.

Sirius Black subdued Peter Pettigrew in the Forbidden Forest and tried to explain himself to Harry, but Dementors arrived before he could do so. After Harry failed to cast a Patronus, he refused to give Black his wand, saying he did not trust him.

• Sirius Black fought Peter Pettigrew and pinned him down, intending to take him back to Hogwarts and reveal the truth about James and Lily’s deaths.
• Harry, Hermione, and Ron emerged from the bushes and recognized Black, then pointed their wands at him.
• Dementors entered the Forbidden Forest and split up, with several moving toward Harry and his friends.
• Harry tried to cast Expecto Patronum but produced only a faint light that quickly vanished.
• Black asked Harry to lend him his wand, but Harry refused because he did not trust him.