Recaps

Harry and Herman collected two dangerous statues from the Black family vault, then shopped for Hogwarts supplies while Aurors secretly followed them. After Harry obtained a wand and they entered Flourish and Blotts, a crash and cries of “There’s a monster!” abruptly interrupted their shopping.

• Harry and Herman carried the statues out of the vault after Harry warned that using magic on them could activate them.
• Herman noticed the statue absorbing his magic and heating up, but it showed no further changes in the trolley.
• Harry and Herman bought robes and school supplies, then Harry obtained a wand from Ollivander’s that was the twin of Voldemort’s.
• Harry led Herman to Flourish and Blotts while Aurors watched the shop’s entrances; she secretly removed an object from the trolley.
• As Herman paid for the books, a loud crash sounded and people cried that there was a monster.

Harry caused Persephone’s gargoyle statue to grow and wreck Flourish and Blotts, using the chaos to evade the Aurors and meet Sirius Black in Knockturn Alley. Sirius greeted her there and asked whether Herman was her boyfriend.

• Persephone’s gargoyle statue grew as it fought back against spells, smashing through Flourish and Blotts while the shop assistants and Aurors tried to stop it.
• Harry showed Herman that the monster was the statue and urged him to leave money for repairs before they escaped through the broken wall.
• Harry led Herman into Knockturn Alley and used blue Fiendfyre to discourage the wizards watching them.
• Harry met Sirius Black, who said the Aurors were occupied with the statue, then teased her by asking if Herman was her little boyfriend.

Sirius, Harry, and Herman returned to Borgin and Burkes, where Sirius captured and interrogated Borgin about Dark wizards and creatures smuggled into the country. Afterward, Sirius offered Harry and Herman gifts from the shop, and Herman asked Borgin what a bloodstained deck of cards did.

• Herman pretended he and Harry were a couple to reassure Sirius that he would keep their meeting secret, and Sirius apologized for involving him in the Ministry's investigation.
• Sirius led Harry and Herman back to Borgin and Burkes, where Harry tripped Borgin with a spell and Sirius hoisted him upside down.
• Sirius questioned Borgin about Dark wizards and dark creatures who had recently entered the country, and Borgin screamed before giving him information.
• Sirius thanked Borgin, then offered to buy Harry and Herman gifts from the shop; Harry chose the Hand of Glory.
• Herman chose a deck of playing cards stained with black blood and politely asked Borgin what it did.

Herman bought cursed playing cards from Borgin and Burkes before Sirius escorted him to Kramer Goblin Supplies Shop to exchange Muggle money. While Herman went inside, Sirius told Harry that vampires and werewolves were gathering in Britain, apparently without any connection to Voldemort.

• Borgin claimed the playing cards cursed their owners, but Sirius explained they were an alchemical trick; Herman bought them anyway.
• Harry picked up Persephone's returning gargoyle, and Sirius decided the Aurors would soon find them, so he prepared to leave.
• Herman asked Sirius to escort him to Kramer Goblin Supplies Shop to exchange Muggle money for Galleons, and Sirius agreed.
• Sirius led Herman and Harry to the unusually small shop, where Herman went inside alone.
• Harry confronted Sirius about why he had called her over, and Sirius revealed that dark creatures were gathering in Britain.
• Sirius said Borgin's information came from a reliable source, since his business partner was a vampire, surprising Harry.

Herman entered the Kramer Goblin Supplies Shop to exchange pounds for Galleons and discovered that its goblins were trading stocks. He left the goblin tempted by his cash and agreeing to offer him a better exchange rate than Gringotts.

• Sirius told Harry that Caractacus Burke had become a vampire and said the vampires’ plans were unlikely to involve Voldemort.
• Herman searched the empty shop for an attendant and found a door leading to an office where a goblin was trading stocks over the phone.
• The goblin challenged Herman, who said he had come from Gringotts to exchange money for Galleons.
• Herman showed the goblin a thick stack of pounds and pretended to leave, prompting it to offer four pounds fifty per Galleon.

Herman tried to exchange seventeen thousand pounds with Kramer for Galleons, but Kramer lacked the full amount and offered shop goods to make up the difference. Herman began choosing goblin-made items, including a sword and shield, and left the shop still selecting his payment.

• Kramer explained that he had moved his shop to Knockturn Alley after an earlier Ministry of Magic sting operation and counted Herman's pounds.
• Kramer admitted he only had a thousand Galleons, so Herman took back the pounds and prepared to leave.
• Kramer stopped Herman and offered goods from his shop to cover the rest of the payment, and Herman agreed to browse.
• Kramer introduced a replica of the Sword of Gryffindor, which Herman identified as the Sword of Kramer and added to his chosen items.
• Kramer demonstrated the Shield of Kramer blocking a spell automatically, and Herman picked it up as another item toward the payment.

Herman browsed Kramer's magical goods and negotiated a discounted price for an enchanted suitcase with a spacious interior. After praising goblin craftsmanship, he asked to buy a textbook on goblin alchemy, but Kramer refused to share the secrets.

• Herman rejected Kramer's armor and tent, then asked for a magical item large enough to hold his luggage.
• Kramer showed Herman an enchanted metal suitcase with a room-sized interior and a secure locking spell.
• Herman bluffed about returning items, prompting Kramer to lower the suitcase's price to 2,200 Galleons, or 9,900 pounds.
• Herman praised goblin craftsmanship and asked Kramer for a textbook on goblin alchemy.
• Kramer refused, saying goblin techniques were ancestral secrets that must not be taught to wizards.

Herman traded pounds for a goblin sword, shield, magical suitcase, and book, then spent the days before school shopping and preparing. At the Leaky Cauldron, he overheard that Quirrell had returned from Durmstrang to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts and was introduced to him as a new Hogwarts student.

• Herman persuaded Kramer to lease him the goblin goods and Alchemy Materials Science until Herman's death, and they signed a contract.
• Herman left Knockturn Alley with his suitcase; Sirius departed, and Harry returned to Diagon Alley by public fireplace.
• Herman spent the remaining days shopping in Diagon Alley and London and exchanging study letters with Hugo.
• At breakfast in the Leaky Cauldron, Herman overheard Old Tom ask Quirrell about his visit to Durmstrang and learned Quirrell would teach Defense Against the Dark Arts.
• Old Tom introduced Herman to Quirrell as a new student, and Quirrell turned to look at him.

Herman avoided traveling with Quirrell and went ahead to King's Cross Station, where he found the entrance to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. Harry startled him there, and the chapter left them discussing the danger and power of Muggle firearms.

• Herman listened to Quirrell and wondered whether Voldemort was hiding with him and whether the Philosopher's Stone plot had changed.
• Hannah invited Herman to travel with her, Old Tom, and Quirrell, but Herman made an excuse and left for King's Cross Station alone.
• Herman found the concealed entrance between platforms nine and ten and hesitated to run through the wall.
• Harry sneaked up behind Herman, pretended to arrest him, and startled him into drawing a pistol.
• Harry asked Herman about the pistol's power and said she would need to study Muggle firearms.

Herman and Harry boarded the Hogwarts Express, where Fred and George left their shy sister Ron Weasley in their compartment. Herman made room for Ron and introduced himself and Harry, while Harry nearly hexed him for squeezing them together.

• Herman told Harry that a break-in at Gringotts had drawn the Aurors away, then remembered his grudge against her.
• Harry and Herman passed through the wall to Platform 9¾ and boarded the Hogwarts Express, leaving room for only themselves and their luggage.
• As the train departed, Harry watched a large black dog outside the window before two red-haired twins opened the compartment door.
• Fred and George left their sister Ron Weasley in the compartment despite Harry and Herman saying there were no spare seats.
• Herman made space for Ron, then moved Harry's luggage and sat beside her, nearly prompting Harry to draw her wand.
• Herman introduced himself and Harry to Ron, who said she was a first-year too.

Harry, Herman, and Ron talked about Ron’s family and Hogwarts houses on the train, and Harry said she wanted to enter Slytherin to hunt down the relatives of people she blamed. Their conversation ended when someone opened the compartment door.

• Harry asked Ron how she was related to Arthur and Molly Weasley, then turned away and stopped talking.
• Herman eased the awkward moment by chatting with Ron, who described her large, happy family and her brothers.
• Ron worried about the Sorting Ceremony, and Herman joked that failing Hogwarts would send someone to Azkaban.
• Ron described the four houses, and Harry said she wanted Slytherin so she could beat its students and question them about their fugitive relatives.
• Herman wondered whether Sirius had planned for Harry to infiltrate Slytherin, and someone opened the compartment door.

Draco found Herman on the Hogwarts Express with a crystal ball, then Neville Longbottom arrived with Hugo and asked whether anyone had seen his missing toad. The chapter left Draco calling Neville’s loss wonderful, while Harry silently watched him.

• Draco used her crystal ball to find Herman and proudly showed it off, sparring with Harry over how useful it was.
• Ron praised the crystal ball, and Draco sat beside her to tell Ron about her presents while Herman enjoyed a brief respite from the arguing.
• Hugo arrived with Neville Longbottom and introduced him as the celebrated Son of the Champion.
• Neville politely asked whether anyone had seen his missing toad, and Draco exclaimed that his loss was wonderful.

Draco demonstrated that her crystal ball could locate Neville’s missing toad, but Harry spotted a swarm of bats following the Hogwarts Express and warned that they might be vampires. The group watched the bats gather outside as Harry suspected they were about to act.

• Draco showed off her crystal ball, and Neville used it to locate his missing toad in a corridor aboard the train.
• Draco and Hugo prepared to leave and search for the toad, but Harry told everyone not to move because something was wrong.
• Harry warned that the train might be surrounded by vampires, and Herman joined her at the window to investigate.
• The group saw large numbers of bats flying alongside the train, and Hugo explained that the swarm might come from one or two powerful vampires.
• Neville wondered whether the vampires planned to attack, and Harry said she thought they were about to act because their numbers had stopped increasing.

Herman and the others rushed to find a professor after spotting a possible vampire following the Hogwarts Express, but the train suddenly stopped before they reached the professor. Professor Quirrell told them to stay aboard while he went to investigate, and someone then shouted that there was something outside the window.

• Herman urged the group to find a conductor or professor, and Neville led them toward a compartment where he had seen an adult.
• The Hogwarts Express abruptly stopped with a loud boom and screech, throwing the running students into a tangled heap.
• Professor Quirrell appeared, and Neville told him that a vampire seemed to have followed the train outside the windows.
• Quirrell said he would go to the engine and find Professor Marlene, the professor on duty, while Neville stayed behind to keep order.
• Someone shouted that there was something outside a compartment window.

Vampires attacked the Hogwarts Express, but its defensive magic stopped their spells. The train then halted after a landslide buried the tracks, leaving Professor Marlene Queens to handle the crisis.

• Vampires emerged from the forest and attacked the train, but its protective magic dissolved their red spells.
• Harry warned Herman that the vampires could not get inside, then a loud boom shook the train.
• Percy told the students that a landslide had buried the tracks and that Professor Marlene Queens was dealing with it.
• George explained that Marlene taught alchemy and had helped him and Fred with their inventions.
• Marlene saw the mountainside collapse across the tracks and used her wand to bring the Hogwarts Express to an emergency stop.

Professor Marlene Queens confronted vampires who attacked the Hogwarts Express after a suspicious obstruction stopped it. Their leader, Gori, revealed they were seeking a student named in a prophecy from Grindelwald, and Marlene decided to wait for Dumbledore before discussing it further.

• Marlene sent a message to Hogwarts through the train's enchanted boiler and ordered Percy to tell the prefects to keep students safe.
• A vampire trying to enter the train was destroyed by Marlene's magical cubes, and Gori introduced himself as the head of the Slaed clan.
• Gori asked to board the train to find someone, but Marlene refused, and vampires around the train launched an attack.
• Marlene's cubes formed a net of light that repelled the vampires and injured those who attacked it.
• Gori explained that a prophecy warned that someone aboard the train might bring about the destruction of vampires and werewolves, and said Grindelwald had given it to them.
• Marlene agreed to wait for Dumbledore before discussing the prophecy further.

Gori and the other vampires attacked Marlene as she guarded the Hogwarts Express, overwhelming her defenses and pressing toward the train. Quirrell intervened by binding several vampires and took position beside Marlene to hold them off while she cleared the obstacles ahead.

• Gori sent a swarm of bats at Marlene, and their ash spread over her cube until its net of light failed.
• Marlene released mechanical birds that devoured the bats and burned the ash from the cube, but Gori’s piercing sound wave disabled the birds.
• The bats halted the cube again, and the vampires’ blood shadows overwhelmed Marlene’s magical attacks and neared the carriage door.
• Quirrell shot black ropes from the darkness, restrained several blood shadows, and forced the vampires to return to human form.
• Quirrell stepped off the train and agreed to help Marlene, then planted himself between her and the vampires as ropes emerged from his shadow.

Gori and the werewolves attacked the Hogwarts Express while vampires searched the students for the child in the prophecy. The vampires found Herman, and an eerie voice spoke to him inside his mind.

• Gori called the werewolves out of the woods and urged them to attack before Dumbledore could arrive.
• The werewolves transformed and charged Quirrell, while Gori's vampires began searching the train's windows for the child in the prophecy.
• The students panicked as vampires with bleeding eyes peered into their compartments, while Quirrell fought the attackers at the train entrance.
• Vampires gathered outside Herman's compartment, and the students assumed they were interested in Neville.
• Herman heard a voice in his mind say, "Found you," and realized the attackers had been searching for him.

The ancient vampire Gori attacked the train compartment and demanded that Herman come with him, calling him a child of prophecy. Herman surprised Gori with a handgun, but Gori healed his wounds by draining another vampire, leaving the fight unresolved.

• Gori appeared outside the train window and identified Herman as the boy who would end the vampires' and werewolves' bloodline curse.
• Gori pierced the window with a blood spear, while Harry and Neville failed to stop the living tendrils spreading through the cracks.
• After the window shattered, Neville stepped forward, but Gori ignored him and demanded that Herman come with him.
• Herman fired his handgun at Gori, shooting holes through the vampire's chest and startling everyone in the compartment.
• Gori drained a vampire behind him to heal his wounds and praised Herman's attack before reminding him that he was a vampire.

Herman tried to escape Gori with Harry and Draco, but Dumbledore arrived in time to stop the grenades and drive off the vampires. Gori insisted he only wanted to find a child, and Dumbledore challenged his claim to come onto Hogwarts grounds.

• Herman fired at Gori, threw grenades, and fled the compartment with Harry and Draco.
• Gori tried to smother the grenades with blood magic, unaware that they would explode.
• Dumbledore arrived with Fawkes and reversed the explosion, restoring the grenades before they could harm anyone.
• Fawkes's flames burned the ordinary vampires, forcing them to flee as bats, while Gori shielded himself with black mist.
• Gori told Dumbledore that the vampires only wanted to find a child, and Dumbledore questioned their right to interfere with Hogwarts.

Gori told Dumbledore that Grindelwald had prophesied the child who would end the vampire and werewolf bloodline curse was aboard the train. Dumbledore subdued Gori and confiscated Herman’s weapons, while Neville wondered if he was the prophesied child.

• Gori explained that Grindelwald had foretold the prophesied child would be on the train, and Dumbledore said the prophecy could be reliable.
• Herman, Harry, and Draco waited in the corridor after Herman’s grenade failed to explode, then saw Dumbledore and Fawkes overpowering Gori with light.
• Dumbledore confiscated Herman’s grenades, pistol, and magazines, then turned back to question Gori about the prophecy.
• Neville told Dumbledore what Gori had said and tentatively guessed that he might be the child Gori was seeking.

Herman survived a vampire ambush, but the young wizards mistakenly believed Neville was the vampires’ target and Child of Prophecy. As Dumbledore restored the compartment and the train continued toward Hogwarts, Herman resolved to take the dangers of the changing magical world seriously.

• The young wizards blamed the vampire ambush on a plot against Neville, while Herman realized the vampires had actually come for him.
• Gori recognized the misunderstanding and stayed silent so he could secretly approach the real Child of Prophecy later.
• Dumbledore reassured the students that prophecies could be misunderstood, then used magic to repair the compartment.
• Herman reflected on how unprepared he had been and resolved to study dark creatures and become stronger.
• George and Fred teased Neville about being the vampires’ Bell Ringer, and Hugo explained why vampires might need someone to wake them.

Harry explained that ancient vampires relied on blood servants, and Neville suspected the vampire’s “bell-ringer” meant a death knell. The group’s fear eased when the trolley witch brought sweets, and Hugo and the twins became absorbed in Chocolate Frog cards.

• Harry explained that pure ancient vampires trusted controlled blood servants rather than wizards, and Hugo described their strength, long lives, and loyalty.
• Ron asked what the vampire meant by “bell-ringer,” and Neville guessed it referred to a death knell that claimed lives and souls.
• Herman silently panicked at the thought that he had been tied to dark villains and given the dangerous title of “bell-ringer.”
• Fred broke the tension by joking that he and George would collect vampire fangs if Neville ever rang their death knell.
• The trolley witch offered magical sweets sent by Dumbledore, and George, Hugo, and the others chose treats while Herman pocketed a Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Bean.
• Hugo drew a Godric Gryffindor card, while George drew another Slytherin card and placed it beside Fred’s Gryffindor card, prompting the portraits to fight again.

As the students prepared to arrive at Hogwarts, Fred and George fooled Hugo and Neville with a fake story about trolls being part of the Sorting Ceremony, while Draco explained that the Sorting Hat did the sorting. After Professor Malin cleared a landslide from the tracks, Harry kicked Herman out of the compartment over his earlier accidental touch, and he taunted her from behind the closed door.

• Fred and George told Hugo and Neville that students had to fight a troll to be sorted, but Draco corrected them and said they only had to put on the Sorting Hat.
• Draco urged Herman to ask the Sorting Hat to place him in Slytherin, then left with the others as the compartment emptied.
• Ron complained that George and the others had previously tricked her with a story about giant spiders, and Harry's attempted comfort made her more upset.
• A flash and explosion shook the train, and Percy announced that Professor Malin had cleared a landslide blocking the tracks.
• Harry ordered Herman out while she changed, threatening him with Diffindo; Herman teased her about their similarity, escaped, and braced the compartment door against her.

Quirrell fought off vampires and werewolves attacking the Hogwarts Express, but Gori used the distraction to search the train for their target. The transformed werewolves broke free and revealed a new ability that let them destroy Quirrell’s conjured ropes.

• Quirrell repelled the vampires with fire and bound the attackers in ropes, then discovered Gori had vanished.
• The werewolf leader revealed that Gori had used the attack on the carriage door as a feint while vampires searched the train for their target.
• The werewolf leader and the others transformed fully and broke free of Quirrell’s bindings.
• Quirrell escaped the leader’s leap and tried to hold him back with ropes, but the ropes crumbled to ash on contact.
• The werewolf leader explained that werewolves retained magic after transforming, leaving Quirrell shocked by an ability his books had not mentioned.