Chapter Summaries

Harry woke in the Chamber of Secrets Sanctuary beside an unconscious Ron and learned that Ron was trapped in Limbo between life and death. Tom Riddle said Harry had been summoned to help complete a sacrificial rite, then revealed that Ron had made him choose Harry.

• Harry dreamed of a red-haired woman pleading for a baby's life, then woke with his scar burning in an unfamiliar chamber.
• Harry found Ron lying motionless and tried to revive him before Tom Riddle told him Ron was in Limbo, speaking with Death.
• Tom Riddle explained that Ron might return or die depending on what Harry did next.
• Tom Riddle identified the chamber as the Chamber of Secrets Sanctuary and said he needed Harry's help with a sacrificial rite.
• Harry refused to cooperate, but Tom Riddle revealed that Ron Weasley had made him choose Harry.

Riddle explained how he had used Ron’s diary and soul to carry out the attacks at Hogwarts, then demanded Harry enter a magical pact. When Harry refused unless Ron was spared, Riddle made a bloodied snake burst from Ron’s chest, leaving Harry horrified and helpless.

• Harry realized Ron had carried him from his dormitory, and Riddle confirmed Ron had willingly confided in him through the diary.
• Riddle revealed that he had absorbed Ron’s life and used their magical connection to attack Filch, Colin, Eloise, and others according to Ron’s buried wishes.
• Riddle told Harry he had discovered something that made him abandon Ron temporarily, but he had continued absorbing Ron’s soul and acting on his wishes.
• Riddle demanded that Harry willingly make a magical pact, while threatening to kill Ron if Harry refused.
• Harry offered to help if Riddle released Ron, but Riddle rejected the offer and made a bloodied snake burst from Ron’s chest.

Riddle used the Basilisks hidden inside Ron and five other victims to absorb their life force and become physical, then prepared to sacrifice Harry to free himself from the diary. Fawkes brought Harry the Sorting Hat and the Sword of Gryffindor, and Harry raised the sword to pierce the diary as Riddle watched.

• Harry tried to help Ron during his convulsions, and a young Basilisk emerged from Ron's chest and brought Harry's wand to Riddle.
• Riddle explained that he had put Basilisks inside Ron and five other victims, and threatened their lives to make Harry cooperate.
• Riddle drained the six Basilisks' life force and soul power, transforming from a soul into a physical form.
• Riddle bound Harry to him with a ritual and revealed that Harry was meant to be the sacrifice that would release his soul from the diary.
• Fawkes arrived with the Sorting Hat, which produced the Sword of Gryffindor, and dropped the diary into Harry's lap.
• Harry seized the sword and raised it to pierce the diary while Riddle watched, expecting his rebirth.

Harry destroyed Riddle's diary, but Riddle survived by using ancient protective magic that took the damage meant for him and apparently destroyed Harry's soul. William entered the Chamber of Secrets and learned how Riddle returned to life before Riddle demanded to know where Ravenclaw's Bronze Ring was.

• Riddle revealed that he was Voldemort's past and that Harry had been chosen as his sacrifice.
• Harry stabbed the diary with the Sword of Gryffindor, and Riddle's body vanished as ink poured from the book.
• A smoky figure of Riddle appeared and thanked Harry for freeing him from the diary.
• William entered the Chamber of Secrets and found Harry and Ron unconscious, with Fawkes guarding them and Riddle waiting nearby.
• Riddle explained that Harry had destroyed the diary and taken the harm upon himself through ancient protective magic, though Harry had not died as expected.
• Riddle asked William where Ravenclaw's Bronze Ring was.

William confronted Tom Riddle in the hidden sanctuary inside Slytherin’s statue, where Riddle revealed that Slytherin had left records about the Founders, Death, and the Deathly Hallows. Riddle trapped William outside Hogwarts’s time-loop reach and demanded the Ravenclaw Ring, but William refused and prepared to fight him.

• Riddle probed William about the Ravenclaw Ring, but William denied knowing anything about it.
• Riddle explained that he had discovered the hidden sanctuary after finding the Basilisk dead, and claimed Slytherin had left records guarded by a succession of Basilisks.
• Riddle said he intended to become the true Voldemort and demanded William’s ring, one of the Deathly Hallows.
• William briefly revealed the ring, but Riddle explained that the chamber’s location and protections prevented William from using its time-loop power or escaping before midnight.
• William put the ring away and threatened to kill Riddle unless he handed over Slytherin’s notes.

William and Riddle battled in the Chamber of Secrets, where William gained the upper hand despite Riddle's Inferi and powerful shield. After Harry helped Riddle attack him, William freed himself and challenged Riddle to kill Harry, prompting another Killing Curse.

• Riddle attacked William with Dark Magic, but William deflected it away from the sleeping Harry and Ron.
• Riddle summoned Inferi knights riding Thestrals, and William used Fawkes's flames to destroy one before countering Riddle's water magic.
• William used two wands to repeatedly strike Riddle's silver shield with water until droplets pierced it and wounded his left shoulder.
• Harry pinned William and tried to take his wands, but William threw him aside; Fawkes swallowed Riddle's Killing Curse and fell, while William pinned a small Basilisk to the wall with a silver sword.
• Riddle threatened to kill Harry unless William gave him the ring, but William told him to kill Harry, and Riddle fired another Killing Curse.

Riddle’s Killing Curse rebounded from Harry, killing his body, but his soul escaped and possessed Lockhart. Trapped in the Chamber of Secrets, William watched Riddle flee, while Riddle later recruited Wormtail for a journey to gain greater power.

• Riddle’s Killing Curse struck Harry and rebounded, killing Riddle’s body and tearing a fragment from his soul.
• Riddle reappeared as a shadow, threatened William, and escaped through a wall, leaving William locked inside the Chamber of Secrets Sanctuary.
• Riddle possessed Lockhart and met Wormtail, who had transformed from a rat into Peter Pettigrew.
• Riddle told Wormtail he planned to leave the United Kingdom and follow Slytherin’s guidance to become more powerful than Voldemort and Dumbledore.
• Riddle invited Wormtail to join him and urged him to choose whom he would serve.

Riddle persuaded Peter Pettigrew to swear loyalty and ordered him to remain at Hogwarts before later finding Voldemort and spying on him. Riddle planned to travel to the United States to recover something belonging to Slytherin.

• Riddle told Peter that he was different from Voldemort and promised to trust and protect him.
• Riddle persuaded Peter to pass through a ring of black flames and make an Unbreakable Vow of loyalty.
• Riddle asked Peter to stay behind at Hogwarts and later find Voldemort, help him return to life, and report on him.
• Riddle promised to give Peter false memories so Voldemort would not discover his allegiance.
• Riddle told Peter he was going to the United States to reclaim something of Slytherin's.

Harry dreamed of two mysterious babies, then woke in the Chamber of Secrets beside an injured Ron while William explained that Tom Riddle had escaped after his curse rebounded. Trapped in the Chamber with no way out except for a Parseltongue speaker, they waited for Dumbledore’s help as William teased the newly reborn Fawkes.

• Harry dreamed that he found a dead red-skinned baby beneath a station seat, then saw another child appear in a flash of green light.
• Harry woke and found Ron badly weakened but alive, while William explained that Fawkes had saved him.
• Harry told William that Tom Riddle was Voldemort; William said Riddle had tried to kill Harry, but the curse rebounded and gave Harry a second scar.
• William told Harry that Riddle had escaped with most of his power gone, and Harry described his dream about the two babies.
• William explained that they were trapped in the Chamber of Secrets until someone who spoke Parseltongue opened it, then joked about using Fawkes as an endless food supply.

William explained Parseltongue to Harry, who realized he could speak it, then used Harry's ability to communicate with a captured juvenile Basilisk. They left the Chamber of Secrets with Ron, while William failed to pry the emeralds from its entrance.

• Harry told William that a python had spoken to him at the zoo, and William identified Harry as a Parselmouth.
• William explained that Harry's Parseltongue seemed to activate unconsciously and said his distant ancestry might include Slytherin or the Gaunts.
• Harry translated the Basilisk's pleas for food and Potions, and William threatened it into accepting him as its new master.
• William confined the Basilisk in a box, took Fawkes and Ron, and left the Chamber with Harry.
• Harry opened the Chamber's door by speaking Parseltongue, and William failed to remove the emeralds set in its carved snakes.

Dumbledore explained that Voldemort had used Horcruxes to survive, and he and William considered how many existed and where they might be. They left the office facing the possibility that the two versions of Tom Riddle could sustain each other as nesting-doll Horcruxes.

• Dumbledore praised William, then admitted he had made a serious mistake by relying on the ring and overlooking Slytherin’s records in the Chamber of Secrets.
• William asked why Tom and Voldemort survived the Killing Curse, and Dumbledore showed him Secrets of the Darkest Art and explained how murder could split a soul to create a Horcrux.
• Dumbledore identified the diary as Voldemort’s Horcrux and reasoned that Lucius Malfoy had passed it to Ron to frame Arthur, likely without knowing what it was.
• William and Dumbledore concluded that Voldemort had probably made multiple Horcruxes, and Dumbledore said he was investigating their locations.
• Dumbledore said his former colleague Horace Slughorn might know how many Horcruxes Tom had made, since Tom had once consulted him about dark secrets.
• William questioned whether the surviving young Tom and Voldemort could act as each other’s Horcruxes even after the other Horcruxes were destroyed.

Dumbledore explained that young Tom and Voldemort had become Horcruxes for each other, but believed young Tom’s ambition to regain a complete soul could make him an enemy of Voldemort. He concluded that Tom would seek Slytherin’s wand at Ilvermorny and used his international contacts to warn the school and arrange for Newt to investigate.

• Dumbledore told William that young Tom and Voldemort were joined in a Horcrux symbiosis, and that Tom’s strength remained limited because he was only a fragment of a soul.
• Dumbledore reasoned that Tom wanted to find the other Horcruxes and restore a complete soul, so he might also want Voldemort dead.
• William and Dumbledore concluded that Tom would seek Slytherin’s wand, last traced to the Snakewood tree at Ilvermorny.
• Dumbledore contacted Eulalie Hicks, Ilvermorny’s headmaster, and warned him that Tom might target the tree.
• Dumbledore asked William to suggest a wizard to watch Tom in the United States, and William recommended Newt.
• In Paris, Newt sneezed, recalled Grindelwald’s past betrayal in the United States, and grumbled that he hated the country.

William told Dumbledore that Ronan had seen the Epsilon Star of Hydra brighten as Voldemort’s Horcrux returned to life, and they discussed what prophecies could reveal about the future. After William left, Dumbledore looked into the Mirror of Erised and saw himself with Grindelwald, then saw Grindelwald alone in old age.

• William told Dumbledore that Ronan had seen the Epsilon Star of Hydra grow brighter than the Heart of the Hydra on the night Voldemort’s Horcrux returned to life.
• Dumbledore explained that Centaurs’ prophecies described the broad fate of peoples, not individual events, and warned William against treating prophecies as fixed outcomes.
• William and Dumbledore discussed whether Tycho Dodonus’s prophecy described Grindelwald or Tom Riddle, and William argued that Riddle fit its references to a broken soul and Death.
• Dumbledore said the Deathly Hallows were bait for fools and that anyone seeking to conquer Death was certain to die.
• William left the Headmaster’s Office, and Dumbledore uncovered the Mirror of Erised and saw himself with Grindelwald before the vision changed to Grindelwald alone in old age.

After Dumbledore returned, Hogwarts celebrated its safety while the professors salvaged materials from the defeated beasts. Hagrid came back from Azkaban with his name cleared, and William began planning to exploit the Acromantulas in the Forbidden Forest.

• Dumbledore restored the bridge, and the students cheered as the school’s fear lifted after the beast horde’s attack.
• McGonagall, Sprout, and Snape salvaged beasts and materials, while Snape tried to earn Slytherin House Points and McGonagall forced him to rein himself in.
• Dumbledore announced that Lockhart had been sacked after he disappeared during the attack, and William suspected Tom had taken him.
• Hagrid returned from Azkaban with his name cleared, and William, Cedric, and Cho visited him as Fang celebrated his return.
• After hearing that Aragog had led the Acromantulas in the attack, William secretly devised a plan to eradicate them and profit from their valuable parts.
• Hagrid said he hoped to teach Care of Fantastic Beasts, then mourned the loss of Norbert, his unborn Norwegian Ridgeback.

Mrs. Norris’s kittens found new homes as Hogwarts students finished exams and the school year. On the train home, Hermione asked William to accompany her as a teacher if she became an exchange student, and he agreed.

• Mrs. Norris gave birth to seven kittens, and after two months six went to new owners at Hogwarts while one went to Nicolas’s manor.
• Students sat their final exams, and William finished top of his year as Ravenclaw retained the House Cup.
• William and his friends boarded the Hogwarts Express, where Malfoy argued with Harry about Dobby and Ron celebrated Scabbers’s return.
• Anne told Luna that her family would holiday in France with Hermione’s parents, while Cedric and Cho planned the group’s itinerary.
• Hermione told William she wanted to become an exchange student but feared being alone, and William promised to apply to teach at her chosen school.

Fudge and Lucius Malfoy traveled to Azkaban, where Malfoy claimed he wanted to visit his sister-in-law Bellatrix and Sirius Black while secretly seeking access to gold in Gringotts. As they entered the prison, Fudge warned him about the Dementors’ deadly effects.

• Fudge and Lucius Malfoy arrived at Azkaban by carriage during a violent storm.
• Malfoy told Fudge that he was visiting Bellatrix because his wife Cissy was ill, and he criticized Dumbledore and Hagrid along the way.
• Fudge hinted that the Ministry needed money, and Malfoy reluctantly offered to donate Galleons.
• Fudge arranged for Malfoy to spend private time with Bellatrix, and Malfoy also asked to see Sirius Black.
• Fudge and Malfoy entered the prison and encountered Dementors dragging dead wizards’ bodies.
• Fudge warned Malfoy that no one could remain alive and healthy while Dementors fed on them.

Malfoy visited Bellatrix and Sirius in Azkaban, but Bellatrix rejected his offer to leave and Sirius only decided he wanted freedom after seeing the Weasley family in the Daily Prophet. Sirius escaped Azkaban in his Animagus form and swam toward what he thought was England, though he was actually headed for France.

• Malfoy brought food to Bellatrix, who attacked him, revealed that she ate prisoners, and refused his offer to arrange her release in exchange for her Gringotts gold.
• Malfoy found Sirius nearly catatonic, repeating that he had gotten James and Lily killed, and Fudge gave him a Daily Prophet to read.
• Sirius saw a photograph of the Weasley family with Peter Pettigrew and learned that the boy was at Hogwarts, renewing his resolve to escape for James and Lily's sake.
• Sirius dreamed of his old Hogwarts train compartment with the Marauders and Lily Evans.
• Sirius transformed into a black dog, slipped past a Dementor and through the prison bars, then swam into the sea toward the southwest, mistakenly believing he was heading for England.

William joined his family and Hermione on a sightseeing trip in Paris, where he secretly used magic to help Anne climb the Eiffel Tower. The outing ended with a letter revealing that Newt had been arrested by the French Ministry of Magic.

• Hermione woke William and hurried him to breakfast after using WALL-E the Bowtruckle to pick his hotel-room lock.
• William and the others left the Ritz Paris and drove to the Eiffel Tower, where he used a wand Cedric had made to help Anne climb the stairs.
• Hermione learned that William's wand would not trigger the British Ministry's underage magic detection and considered joining his combat training.
• An owl delivered a letter to William at the Eiffel Tower, and he and Hermione discovered that Newt had been arrested by the French Ministry of Magic.

William and Hermione went to the French Ministry of Magic to visit Newt Scamander, using William’s appointment as the United Kingdom Youth Representative of the Wizengamot and Dumbledore’s authorization to challenge the restrictions. The head of French Magical Law Enforcement rejected their claim to extradite Scamander, but William pressed for permission to hear his statement.

• William and Hermione entered the French Ministry of Magic and asked receptionist Costa to let them visit Newt Scamander.
• Hermione told Costa that William was the United Kingdom Youth Representative of the Wizengamot and argued that he could visit Scamander and seek his extradition.
• Cregan, the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement who had ordered Scamander’s arrest, explained that William’s representative title gave him no voting or extradition power.
• William presented Dumbledore’s authorization and claimed he was exercising the British Wizengamot’s rights in France.
• William asked Cregan to let him visit Scamander and hear his statement.

William used his Wizengamot authority to visit Newt in a French prison, where he learned Newt had been arrested after losing his suitcase. Newt warned that it contained unregistered Fantastic Beasts, including Norbert, and needed to be found before the French Ministry did.

• William explained that the International Confederation of Wizards' rules let him visit Newt, then went with Hermione to the French Ministry of Magic.
• Cregan allowed William and Hermione to proceed, and William invoked his Wizengamot badge to get Hermione admitted to Newt's cell.
• Newt told William he had found signs of Vinda Rosier's activity in Paris while preparing to travel to the United States.
• Newt explained that someone attacked him while he searched for the Mysterious Circus, and he woke to find his suitcase missing and himself arrested.
• Newt said the French Ministry was also searching for the suitcase and warned that its unregistered Fantastic Beasts could be killed if it was found by the authorities, including Hagrid's dragon Norbert.