Chapter Summaries

William stopped Astoria from trying to bribe him to quit selling on the train, then broke up a fight between Ron, Harry, and Malfoy’s group. He explained the Triwizard Tournament to Harry and Ron, and the chapter ended with William imagining how he might reform Hogwarts.

• Astoria offered William her pocket money if he stopped selling things on the train, but William refused and learned Daphne had gone to buy from him.
• William found Hermione holding Ron, Harry, Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle suspended after a fight over Ron’s dress robes, then released them and sent Malfoy’s group away.
• Ron argued with Hermione for restraining him and complained that Harry had been kept in the dark about the Triwizard Tournament.
• William explained that Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang would each choose a Champion to compete in three magical tasks.
• William told Harry and Ron where Durmstrang was and privately imagined taking over Hogwarts and improving its education.

William arrived at Hogwarts in a torrential storm, where Hagrid reported that seven Blast-Ended Skrewts had been born and Peeves attacked the students with water bombs. The feast began under a stormy enchanted ceiling, but Professor Sprout learned that the flooding Black Lake had destroyed her greenhouse and its plants.

• William joked with Harry, Ron, Anne, and others about Hogwarts' teaching before leaving the train at Hogsmeade Station in heavy rain.
• Hagrid told William that Blast-Ended Skrewts had produced seven offspring in one litter.
• The Thestrals hesitated to pull William, Hermione, and Anne's carriage after sensing the Abraxan hidden in William's Safety Watch.
• William stopped Peeves's water bomb and sent him shooting into the air as Ron and Harry collided with Malfoy.
• At the feast, Snape told Sprout that the rising Black Lake had flooded her greenhouse and destroyed her plants.

As Hogwarts began the new school year amid a disastrous storm, William watched the first-years get sorted and learned that Merpeople had overturned their boats while searching for wizard husbands. Dumbledore introduced the scarred Mad-Eye Moody as the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, then announced that Hogwarts would host the Triwizard Tournament, leaving the students excited by the chance to win glory and a thousand Galleons.

• Professor Snape salvaged magical plants while Professor Sprout left to save her own, and William wished he could help gather the herbs.
• Professor McGonagall brought the first-years into the Great Hall, where the Sorting Hat sang and Orla Quirke told William she had grown up hearing stories about him.
• Orla Quirke explained that Merpeople had overturned boats because they wanted to find wizards to marry after losing their jobs in Hogsmeade.
• Mad-Eye Moody arrived in the Great Hall, and Dumbledore introduced him as Hogwarts' new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.
• Dumbledore announced that the Triwizard Tournament would return to Hogwarts and that its winner would receive one thousand Galleons.

Students learned that an age limit and the other schools’ objections would keep William out of the Triwizard Tournament, while the new Ravenclaws were welcomed to their common room. William left the first-years inspired and prepared to report to Dumbledore afterward.

• Harry and Ron grew excited about entering the Triwizard Tournament until Hermione reminded them that Hogwarts would choose only one Champion, making William the obvious contender.
• Dumbledore announced that only students aged seventeen or older could enter, and explained that the other headmasters had insisted William not compete because he was too strong.
• Dumbledore promised to prevent underage students from fooling the judges, then began the feast as students continued debating the tournament.
• William and Cho led the new Ravenclaws to their common room, where Orla Quirke answered the Eagle Knocker’s riddle with “The wind.”
• William welcomed the first-years beneath Ravenclaw’s statue with a speech urging them to create, share, and protect knowledge, and the students applauded.

Dumbledore and Moody discussed Voldemort’s return and the need to prepare students for danger, while William reported what he had learned about the World Cup attack and Little Tom’s movements. Dumbledore hinted that William could enter the Triwizard Tournament despite the age restriction, and the chapter ended with Dumbledore remembering a lost summer from a century earlier.

• Moody urged Dumbledore to let him teach students the Unforgivable Curses and other Dark Magic, and Dumbledore agreed that the students needed to face real danger.
• William nearly struck Moody with his sword when Moody opened the Headmaster’s Office door, then met with Dumbledore and recounted the Quidditch World Cup attack.
• Dumbledore and William discussed the attack, the possibility that Arya had arranged it to distract attention, and Little Tom’s apparent interest in the site of Wool’s Orphanage.
• Dumbledore suggested that William could enter the Triwizard Tournament despite the underage restriction, saying that cheating had always been part of the tournament tradition.
• After William left, Dumbledore remembered the summer a century earlier when Hogwarts had proposed holding the Triwizard Tournament.

William and Hermione discussed Dumbledore’s plan to search for another Horcrux and use the Triwizard Tournament to train students, while keeping their plans secret. The fifth-year O.W.L.s workload began with exhausting lessons, and Professor McGonagall’s Transfiguration class ended with Elena Scalanna in tears.

• William explained to Hermione that Dumbledore had revealed news of a fourth Horcrux and hinted they could recruit students for the Triwizard Tournament.
• Cho, Cedric, Fred, and George joined William, and the twins asked him to help develop Skiving Snackboxes for stressed fifth-years.
• Professor Binns warned the class about O.W.L.s and claimed Gellert Grindelwald became a Dark Lord after failing History of Magic, then took ten points from Slytherin when Alan Harris snored.
• Professor McGonagall emphasized the importance of O.W.L.s, taught the Vanishing Spell, and William made his practice snail disappear while Cho failed to vanish hers.
• Professor McGonagall called on Elena Scalanna to explain a key point, and Elena began crying after she could not answer.

Neville’s well-intentioned warning to Snape was followed by cauldron explosions, earning him detention and putting Snape in a foul mood. During a lesson on the Draught of Peace, William helped Cho and Marietta while secretly taking Snargaluff pods from the storeroom, and Snape discovered afterward that the herbs were gone.

• Neville warned Snape that cauldrons could explode, then melted three cauldrons and caused two explosions in Potions class.
• Snape punished Neville with detention gutting horned toads by hand, then warned his students about their O.W.L.s and future eligibility for his advanced Potions class.
• While students collected ingredients for the Draught of Peace, William, Cho, and Marietta took Snargaluff pods from the storeroom, emptying a shelf.
• William finished his potion, secretly corrected Cho’s failing brew, and froze Marietta’s cauldron before it could explode; Snape deducted points from William and assigned Marietta remedial lessons.
• After class, Snape discovered that the herbs he had gathered were missing and angrily wondered who had stolen them.

Rumors spread that Moody had beaten Snape, but Snape stayed quiet after Sprout condemned whoever had pulled up her surviving herbs. In his first Defence Against Dark Magic lesson, Moody warned Ravenclaw and Slytherin that the world was dangerous and taught them about the Imperius Curse, leaving them resolved to prepare for a war even in peacetime.

• Students blamed Moody for Snape's furious outburst, while Sprout scolded the class over herbs someone had pulled from the flooded greenhouses.
• Ravenclaw students saw Moody waiting outside many teachers' classrooms and speculated that he was searching for a Death Eater at Hogwarts.
• Moody told Ravenclaw and Slytherin that their lessons on lesser dark creatures would not prepare them for dangers such as Death Eaters, and he cited the Dark Mark incident at the Quidditch World Cup.
• Moody demonstrated the Imperius Curse on a spider and warned students that they might not be able to resist it.
• Moody said he had come to prepare them for their first war in peacetime, and William joked to Cho that the Unforgivable Curses would be tested in Azkaban.

William watched Moody teach the fifth-years the Unforgivable Curses and saw Hagrid introduce his revolting, dangerous Blast-Ended Skrewts in Care of Magical Creatures. After Hermione urged him to stop the creatures before they grew, William learned that Hagrid had bred them from Fire Crabs and a Manticore in the Forbidden Forest.

• Moody demonstrated the Unforgivable Curses to the fifth-years, teaching material far beyond their ordinary school curriculum.
• Hermione asked William to help eliminate the Blast-Ended Skrewts before they grew dangerous, and suggested asking Fire Kiss where Hagrid had hidden the Manticore.
• William, Cho, and Eloise recoiled when Hagrid showed the class boxes of slimy Blast-Ended Skrewts and asked the students to feed them.
• McLaggen burned his hand when a Blast-Ended Skrewt's tail exploded, and Hagrid warned him not to eat their droppings.
• William quietly asked Hagrid where the Manticore was, and Hagrid revealed that she was resting in a Forbidden Forest cave after breeding with sixty Fire Crabs and producing seven offspring.

William and Hermione continued their private bet over whether to eliminate the Blast-Ended Skrewts, while Anne and the others joined them and made predictions about the Triwizard Tournament. The scene ended with Hermione catching Anne after Anne predicted that Hermione would lose all her hair to a fire dragon.

• Hermione described Blast-Ended Skrewts to make William feel sick, but he used Occlumency and refused to surrender their bet.
• Anne sat between William and Hermione with Bobocha, then began practicing Divination with Luna and Ginny nearby.
• Anne predicted that the Triwizard Tournament would involve a fire dragon and bring disaster to Durmstrang, then revised her prediction after Hermione questioned it.
• Ginny shared predictions that repeatedly gave Ron misfortune and Harry good luck, while Luna predicted encounters with magical creatures.
• Anne wrote that Hermione would have her hair burned off by a fire dragon, tried to change the prediction to William, and Hermione caught her by the ponytail.

William and Hermione received a flood of fan mail at Hogwarts while Ron discovered that Peter had stolen his savings and saddled him with debts. The twins paid off Ron’s creditors, and Ron became their new human test subject.

• Anne and Hermione discussed Anne’s choice between Divination and Arithmancy as animals delivered a huge pile of letters to William and Hermione.
• Anne read letters from Beauxbatons students thanking William and Hermione, while William found Trene’s note about visiting Hogwarts and the Black Lake.
• Ron excitedly found a letter from Krum, then collected signatures from famous people after William and Hermione let him keep the mail they considered junk.
• Hermione asked when Phoebe would arrive, and Ron hurried away after insulting her name; Harry explained that Ron was fleeing the people he owed money.
• Harry revealed that Peter had stolen Ron’s savings and borrowed more than thirty Galleons in Ron’s name, while Ron had also borrowed money and spent his allowance at Akali's Mystery Shop.
• The twins paid off Ron’s creditors and made him their new human test subject.

Moody tested the students’ ability to resist the Imperius Curse, and William broke free almost immediately, then encouraged his classmates to strengthen their will by facing Hagrid’s Blast-Ended Skrewts. As Hermione’s truce offer failed and their bet continued, Hogwarts posted that the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang delegations would arrive on October 30 for the Triwizard Tournament.

• Moody cast the Imperius Curse on the students, who obeyed his commands until he released them.
• William resisted the curse, broke free faster each time Moody cast it, and left the class unimpressed by the final attempt.
• William told his classmates that a strong heart built willpower, prompting students to visit Hagrid’s Blast-Ended Skrewts.
• Hermione proposed a truce that would let her make a request of William, but William rejected it and she ignored him for the evening.
• Hogwarts posted a notice that the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang representatives would arrive on October 30 for the Triwizard Tournament.

As Hogwarts prepared for the arrival of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, William brought the Goblet of Fire to Dumbledore and explained Ludo Bagman’s debt to the twins. The Beauxbatons delegation arrived at Hogwarts in a lavish carriage pulled by Abraxans.

• Hogwarts staff and students prepared the castle for the visiting schools, while Fred and George discussed using an Ageing Potion to enter the Triwizard Tournament.
• Professor McGonagall rebuked Ron for boasting about his past adventures, then took William to meet Dumbledore, Ludo Bagman, and Barty Crouch.
• William handed the intact Goblet of Fire to Dumbledore and told Bagman that the Goblet had only been lent to him by the Venice Ministry of Magic.
• William told Hermione that Bagman owed Fred and George money after losing a bet and paying them with Leprechaun gold.
• The Beauxbatons delegation arrived as a giant powder-blue carriage pulled by twelve winged Abraxans flew toward Hogwarts.

Madame Maxime arrived at Hogwarts with the Beauxbatons students and confronted William about avoiding her and stealing her Abraxan, before thanking him for saving her students. Trene then arrived aboard Durmstrang’s ship and revealed that it had crashed into a giant octopus and sunk, leaving the fate of its passengers uncertain.

• Madame Maxime arrived at Hogwarts in a carriage that damaged the ancient marble floor, and she greeted Dumbledore with her Beauxbatons students.
• Maxime asked for William, embraced him, and questioned him about avoiding her and the stolen Abraxan; she also thanked him for saving Beauxbatons students at the Quidditch World Cup final.
• A ship rose from the Black Lake, and Trene emerged, surprising everyone by appearing to be Durmstrang’s headmistress.
• William asked Trene about a black ship, and she said it had raced her, hit a giant octopus, and sunk in the lake as Merpeople rushed toward it.
• William recalled Anne’s prophecy that Durmstrang’s students would die and its headmaster would be injured, and feared the school had been wiped out.

Durmstrang’s ship was salvaged after crashing into the giant octopus, but Merpeople damage claims and Karkaroff’s anger delayed the group’s arrival at Hogwarts. The guests gathered for the feast, where Dumbledore welcomed them and announced the Triwizard Tournament would begin at its end.

• Dumbledore negotiated with the Merpeople chief, who let the stranded Durmstrang wizards leave after demanding compensation for damaged homes.
• Karkaroff blamed Trene for his wrecked ship, but William and Maxime challenged him, and Dumbledore sent Snape to lead the visitors to change.
• Harry and Ron recognized Viktor Krum among the Durmstrang students, while Harry noticed the Beauxbatons students sitting at the Ravenclaw table.
• Gabrielle asked William about studying at Hogwarts, then slipped away toward the Gryffindor table to find Anne.
• Dumbledore welcomed the foreign students at the feast and said the Triwizard Tournament would officially begin at its end.

At the welcome feast, Phoebe reunited with Hermione and left Ron smitten, while Gabrielle threatened him for staring. Hagrid’s excitement at seeing Maxime led him to accidentally spill ale on Professor Flitwick and stab his hand with a fork.

• Professor McGonagall worried that Dumbledore might spring a surprise during the Triwizard Tournament as the professors sat uneasily at the feast.
• William praised Phoebe’s cooking, and Phoebe removed her scarf, drawing stares from the Ravenclaw boys.
• Ron became infatuated with Phoebe, but she ignored him and reunited with Hermione instead.
• Ron tried to speak to Phoebe, misremembered her name as “Phlegm,” and watched her sit beside William.
• Gabrielle warned Ron that she would poke his eyes out if he kept staring.
• Hagrid saw Maxime, then accidentally poured ale on Professor Flitwick and stabbed his hand with a fork.

Dumbledore explained how the Goblet of Fire would select Champions for the Triwizard Tournament and announced an Age Line to keep underage students out. William later encouraged Hermione to enter, assuring her that he would support her.

• Dumbledore introduced the Goblet of Fire, explained the tournament’s tasks and scoring, and said it would select one Champion from each school on Halloween.
• Dumbledore announced that an Age Line would prevent anyone under seventeen from reaching the Goblet, while Durmstrang students discussed their chances and Judy named Stark as Hogwarts’s strongest fighter.
• Fred and George teased Ron about testing whether an Ageing Potion could bypass the Age Line, and William warned Trene to be careful around Karkaroff.
• Hermione worked out that Anne wanted to borrow her Invisibility Cloak so Gabrielle could sneak into the Gryffindor dormitory, and William told Hermione that an Ageing Potion would not fool Dumbledore’s Age Line.
• William asked Hermione whether she wanted to become a Champion, praised her combat training, and assured her that he would help her face whatever happened at Hogwarts.

William planned to sell extra Triwizard Champion spots while keeping Harry out of the tournament, and recruited friends to approach students from the other schools. After Ron’s Ageing Potion failed to get him past the Age Line, Hermione realized William had revealed that he and his friends had been selling model answers.

• William decided Harry would not be a Champion and chose Hermione, Cho, and Cedric as possible candidates while planning to sell additional spots to students from the visiting schools.
• Cho declined William’s offer because she believed Hogwarts had only one Champion spot, but William told her there would be more than one.
• Fred and George persuaded Ron to drink an Ageing Potion and cross the Age Line, but the enchantment threw him back and made him grow old; Dumbledore sent him to the Hospital Wing.
• William announced that Champion spots would cost two thousand Galleons and assigned Cho, Cedric, Fred, George, Anne, and Gabrielle to approach students secretly.
• Hermione questioned William about the model-answer business, and William realized he had accidentally admitted their involvement.

Cho and Cedric sold Malfoy a cursed contract for a promised Champion spot, while William and Hermione arranged sales and auctions for Champion spots among Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students. The chapter left William planning to release extra Durmstrang spots secretly to draw attention away from his own group.

• Cho raised the price of a Champion spot for Malfoy to 3,500 Galleons, and Cedric pretended the deal was risky and that Marcus Flint was another interested buyer.
• Malfoy agreed to buy the spot, signed Hermione's cursed contract, and left believing he would pay after becoming a Champion.
• Cho and Cedric planned to approach Marcus Flint next, though they had not actually spoken to him yet.
• Hermione told William that three Beauxbatons students wanted to pool their money for one spot, and William approved the purchase with a discount.
• Hermione relayed George's request for more spots for Durmstrang, and William ordered seven to be auctioned to the highest bidders, with one or two more to be offered privately afterward.
• William explained that giving Durmstrang more Champions would make them a target and distract attention from his group.

William arranged Slytherin’s Champion spot for Malfoy and visited Hagrid, who confessed his love for Madame Maxime and reported that most of his Blast-Ended Skrewts had died. He later prepared the Hogwarts Champion list, added Ron, and cleared Hermione’s names from the Goblet of Fire, leaving the tournament’s final lineup uncertain.

• William told Cedric that Cho should have charged Malfoy 5,000 Galleons for the Slytherin Champion spot.
• Hagrid asked William and Hermione whether Madame Maxime would like his new suit and revealed that only about twenty Blast-Ended Skrewts remained after they killed one another.
• Hermione refused to preserve their original bet unless William agreed to two conditions.
• William reviewed the Champion list, learned Fred and George planned to compete for one spot, and agreed to add Ron after warning him that the tournament was dangerous.
• William sent Harry, Ron, and the others to draw a crowd outside, then used his wand to sweep the names Hermione held into the Goblet of Fire.