Chapter Summaries

Harry left Hogwarts for the summer after declining Hermione and the Weasley twins’ invitations, then returned to a surprisingly affectionate Dursley household. Seeing how Dudley and Aunt Petunia had changed, Harry wondered whether his resemblance to his mother had altered the way people treated him.

• Hermione invited Harry to spend the summer with her, and Ron, George, and Fred also invited her to the Weasleys’ home, but Harry declined because she had things to take care of.
• Voldemort taunted Harry through the snake bracelet, and Harry’s attempt to silence him triggered the contract magic’s backlash.
• Harry left Hogwarts and returned to 4 Privet Drive, where Aunt Petunia welcomed her with a hug.
• Dudley apologized for knocking over Harry’s suitcase and showed off the martial arts training he had started to protect her.
• Aunt Petunia explained that she enrolled Dudley in classes after Harry wrote that she had been attacked, while Vernon and Petunia celebrated Harry’s return.
• Harry reflected on the Dursleys’ changed treatment and wondered whether resembling her mother had spared her the hostility she remembered.

Harry returned to Hogwarts after an unusually comfortable holiday and reunited with Hermione and Ron, whose sister Ginny was starting school. She unexpectedly met Lucius and Draco Malfoy, and after seeing Dobby, agreed to consider visiting Malfoy Manor during the next holiday.

• Harry returned to Hogwarts and happily reunited with Hermione in their dormitory.
• Harry and Hermione met Ron in the common room, and Ron told them Ginny was starting school.
• Harry saw Lucius and Draco Malfoy outside Dumbledore’s office, where Draco greeted her with barely concealed excitement.
• Lucius thanked Harry for looking after Draco and invited her to Malfoy Manor during the next holiday.
• After seeing Dobby silently plead with her, Harry said she would think about Lucius’s invitation.

Harry visited Dumbledore and noticed his reaction to the Mirror of Erised, then took Tom Riddle's Diary from Ginny and identified it as Voldemort's Horcrux. The chapter ended with Dumbledore alone before the mirror, showing an expression Harry could not understand.

• Dumbledore asked Harry about her holidays and how she was adjusting to being a girl, while Harry threw Voldemort to Fawkes when he mocked her.
• Harry noticed the Mirror of Erised, and Dumbledore warned her that what it showed was only a fantasy.
• Ron brought Ginny to find Harry, and Ginny gave Harry Tom Riddle's Diary after it had appeared in her schoolbag.
• Harry returned to Dumbledore's office and told him the diary was Voldemort's Horcrux.
• Dumbledore took the diary and sent Harry away, then stood tearfully before the Mirror of Erised.

Dumbledore investigated Tom Riddle’s diary and died with it in his arms, leaving Harry devastated when she learned what had happened. Harry woke in the Hospital Wing with Ron beside her, grieving that Dumbledore had died smiling.

• Dumbledore told Snape that Harry had given him Tom Riddle’s diary and that Ginny Weasley had possessed it, and Snape promised to investigate.
• Dumbledore wrote in the diary, which flared with golden light before the office fell empty and its writing vanished.
• Harry attended Gilderoy Lockhart’s Defence Against the Dark Arts class with Hermione and Ron, while Draco privately agreed with Harry’s view of Lockhart.
• Neville rushed Harry and Ron to a corridor, where they found Dumbledore dead beside the diary as McGonagall, Madam Pomfrey, and Snape stood nearby.
• Voldemort told Harry through her bracelet that Dumbledore’s obsession had killed him, and Harry fainted.
• Harry woke in the Hospital Wing with Ron holding her hand and realized Dumbledore was dead.

After Dumbledore’s death, Harry struggled with guilt while Snape offered comfort but kept Dumbledore’s fixation secret. At Dumbledore’s funeral, Grindelwald arrived, mourned him, and killed himself, leaving Harry and Voldemort puzzled by their relationship.

• Snape questioned Harry about what she had said to Dumbledore, comforted her, and refused to explain what Dumbledore had been fixated on.
• Harry blamed herself for the deaths around her until Voldemort insisted they would have died whether or not she existed.
• A week later, Ron told Harry that Grindelwald had escaped from Nurmengard, and she realized the Wizarding World now faced two generations of Dark Lords.
• Grindelwald appeared at Dumbledore’s funeral, touched his cheek, laughed, and killed himself with a spell to his temple.
• Harry found an old photograph of Grindelwald and Dumbledore together, while Voldemort and Harry wondered why Grindelwald had died beside him.

Harry tried to understand Voldemort’s new questions about love, then began her third year at Hogwarts after Dementors attacked her on the train. She suspected Sirius had escaped early to find her and remained determined to get his signature.

• Harry asked Voldemort what he was plotting, and he wondered why Grindelwald had killed himself and why he had lost.
• Harry told Voldemort that he had lost because he did not understand love, leaving him confused by the idea.
• Harry spent a peaceful school year after the native Dark Lord’s diary and his chance to return had been destroyed.
• Dementors attacked Harry on the train, and a professor saved her before Hermione and Ron brought her to the Hospital Wing.
• Madam Pomfrey treated Harry’s weakness, while Harry reflected that she had not asked Aunt Petunia to sign her Hogsmeade form because she wanted Sirius’s signature.
• Harry wondered whether Sirius had escaped Azkaban early to see her and fell asleep in the Hospital Wing.

Harry and Draco rode Buckbeak together during Hagrid’s first Care of Magical Creatures lesson, then Hermione defended Harry and her parents when Pansy insulted them. The chapter ended with Pansy fleeing and Draco deciding he was fortunate never to have insulted Hermione.

• Harry volunteered to ride Buckbeak, but Draco stepped in and Hagrid suggested they ride together.
• Harry and Draco climbed onto Buckbeak, who flew them over the students and the outer wall of Hogwarts Castle.
• After class, Pansy blocked Harry’s path and insulted Hermione and Harry’s parents.
• Hermione slapped Pansy and fiercely rebuked her until Pansy fled.
• Draco watched Hermione walk away with Harry and Ron and silently congratulated himself for never insulting her.

Pansy left the Slytherin common room after Draco healed her cheek, while Harry, Ron, and Hermione went to Lupin’s Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson. Harry’s Boggart showed her a future in which everyone died and she was left alone, before her spell turned it into a black cat.

• Pansy stormed out of the Slytherin girls’ dormitory after Hermione slapped her, but Draco healed her swollen cheek and she abandoned her plan to seek revenge.
• Ron questioned how Hermione could attend so many clashing classes, and Hermione teased him about his burned Potions notes.
• Professor Lupin introduced the class to Boggarts and opened the wardrobe for Harry’s turn.
• Harry’s Boggart engulfed her in darkness and showed her parents, friends, teachers, and Voldemort dying, leaving her alone as the Chosen One.
• Harry cast Riddikulus, turning the darkness into a fat black cat with golden eyes.

Draco decided to pursue Harry and left her white roses and a love note at breakfast. When he approached to ask whether she liked his present, Harry stunned him in front of the Great Hall.

• Draco asked Goyle and Crabbe how to tell Harry he liked her, then decided to give her a present before confessing.
• Cho Chang told Harry she had liked her for three years and wished Harry were gay, leaving Harry confused.
• Hermione suggested that sexuality could change, while George and Fred showed Harry the decorated seat and gift Draco had prepared.
• Ron read Draco's love note aloud, and the Great Hall fell silent as Draco approached Harry.
• Harry cast Stupefy on Draco and said her hand had slipped.

After Draco Malfoy’s public attempt to court Harry Potter ended in humiliation, Snape warned him to stay away from her. Draco received a mocking letter from Lucius but remained determined to pursue Harry with an extravagant Hogsmeade-week plan.

• Harry knocked Draco unconscious after his embarrassing public courtship attempt, and Snape deducted ten points from Slytherin for damaging the house’s image.
• Draco disappeared from Hogwarts’ social scene, while Snape repeatedly stopped him from approaching Harry in Potions class.
• Harry overheard Snape tell Draco that he was unsuitable for her and demand that he stop pursuing her so ostentatiously.
• Draco read Lucius’s letter mocking his poor courtship, then insisted to Goyle and Crabbe that Malfoys never gave up.
• Draco opened a chest of expensive gifts and declared that he would show Harry a proper Malfoy-style courtship during Hogsmeade week.

Snape and Sirius learned that Draco was pursuing Harry, and McGonagall suggested a way for Sirius to protect her while watching Peter. The next morning, Harry discovered that Sirius had become her new head of house, leaving her uneasy about having her godfather as her professor.

• Snape asked McGonagall to send Draco home, then crushed a glass when she mentioned Draco’s confession to Harry.
• Sirius learned that Draco was courting Harry and angrily objected to the idea of her dating a Malfoy.
• Snape left Sirius worrying that Harry might attend the ball with Draco.
• Sirius told McGonagall that Peter had sneaked into Hogwarts, and she proposed a way for him to protect Harry while keeping watch.
• Ron announced that Professor Black would be the new head of house, and Harry saw Sirius arriving at Hogwarts with Hagrid.

Harry met Sirius Black in McGonagall’s office and calmly accepted his account of Peter Pettigrew’s betrayal. After Sirius signed her Hogsmeade permission form, he set off to ally with Snape against Draco’s pursuit of Harry.

• Harry reassured Ron that he was a good brother, and Neville interrupted them to say Black was looking for her.
• McGonagall introduced Harry to Sirius Black, who explained how Peter Pettigrew had betrayed him and evaded him for twelve years.
• Harry said she believed Sirius, surprising him and McGonagall.
• Harry asked Sirius to sign her Hogsmeade permission form, and he eagerly agreed and offered to take her shopping for sweets.
• After Harry left, Sirius hurried off to find Snape and form an alliance to keep Draco away from her.

Peter Pettigrew told Voldemort that Sirius Black and Snape were trying to protect Harry Potter from Draco Malfoy and other suitors, leaving Voldemort stunned by the news that his Basilisk had become Harry’s bracelet. Meanwhile, Draco struggled to approach Harry and planned an elaborate confession for Hogsmeade week.

• Peter Pettigrew reported that Sirius Black had reunited with Harry Potter and intended to stop Draco Malfoy from courting her with Snape’s help.
• Voldemort learned that the Basilisk he had sent Peter to watch was now Harry’s bracelet, and the revelation left him so shocked that his mirror went black.
• Peter returned to spying on the students without telling Voldemort that Ginny Weasley had slipped heart-marked homemade chocolates into Harry’s schoolbag.
• Draco complained that Professor Black and Snape repeatedly interfered with his attempts to speak to Harry, while Crabbe and Goyle insisted the incidents were coincidences.
• Draco decided to confess to Harry during Hogsmeade week and asked Crabbe and Goyle to arrange a romantic scene.
• Draco revealed that he had written seventeen confession speeches, including one comparing Harry’s eyes to the waters of the Black Lake.

Draco missed his chance to confess to Harry, while Ron and Hermione privately grappled with their feelings for her. That night, Harry dreamed of Voldemort and woke when the Basilisk Voldemort’s bracelet pinched her wrist.

• Fred and George told Ron that Draco had planned to confess to Harry, then teased Ron about his own feelings for her.
• Ron denied liking Harry, but Harry returned with Hermione and cheerfully called Ron a good mate.
• Hermione agreed with Harry that Ron was reliable while privately imagining marrying Harry and apologizing to Ron.
• Harry fell asleep hugging Ginny’s plush Niffler and dreamed that Voldemort threatened to use her for his resurrection.
• The Basilisk Voldemort pinched Harry’s wrist through her snake-shaped bracelet and claimed she had disturbed him in her sleep.

Harry celebrated Christmas at Hogwarts by giving thoughtful gifts to her friends and professors, while Snape received a sweater that moved him. Fred and George gave Harry the Marauder’s Map, which showed Dumbledore moving through the Slytherin dormitory as the chapter ended.

• Harry gave Hermione, Ron, Draco, and several professors Christmas presents, then left a knitted scarf at Dumbledore and Grindelwald’s shared grave.
• Sirius showed Snape his Dragonhide gloves from Harry, and Snape received and quietly admired the black sweater she had sent him.
• Harry, Hermione, Ginny, and Ron played chess in the Gryffindor common room, where Ginny secretly moved Ron’s knight while Hermione distracted Harry.
• Fred and George gave Harry the Marauder’s Map and explained that it revealed people’s locations and Hogwarts’ secret passages.
• The map showed a moving name labeled Albus Dumbledore in the Slytherin dormitory, but nobody noticed.

Draco misread Harry’s rejection note as shyness, while Albus and Gellert shared a private Christmas Eve in the castle. After Harry reunited Sirius with the Weasleys, she told Ron and Hermione that Peter Pettigrew had betrayed her parents, then accepted Ginny’s invitation to Diagon Alley.

• Draco admired the sweets Harry had sent him and decided her note telling him to leave her alone meant she was shy.
• Albus and Gellert watched Draco from the west tower, discussed Voldemort’s Horcruxes, and left together under a privacy charm.
• Cho told Harry that students had seen two magical young ghosts, and golden-dusted footprints appeared in the snow near Filch.
• Harry brought Sirius to the Weasley home, where Molly recognized him and chased him with a rolling pin.
• Harry explained to Ron and Hermione that Peter Pettigrew had betrayed her parents and escaped by faking his death.
• Ginny invited Harry to Diagon Alley, and Harry accepted.

Harry decided to destroy Voldemort by trading her life for his, while she, Ron, and Hermione exposed Scabbers as Peter Pettigrew. Peter escaped to Voldemort, who rejected his warning and vowed to deal with Harry himself.

• Harry resolved to take Voldemort down with her after receiving Draco's invitation to the Malfoy home.
• Peter Pettigrew escaped his cage after the Weasley household left, intending to report to Voldemort.
• Harry, Ron, and Hermione revealed themselves and watched Peter transform from Scabbers into a man.
• Harry told Ron that Peter had betrayed her parents and faked his death by cutting off a finger.
• Harry declined to follow Peter, saying Voldemort would come to her, while Hermione and Ron promised to stay with her.
• Voldemort ordered Peter to leave and said he would deal with Harry himself, despite Peter's warning that he had no body.

Voldemort sought Harry Potter’s blood to restore his body and was stunned by a dark wizard’s obsessive collection of Harry merchandise. After Wormtail obtained the blood, Voldemort completed the resurrection ritual and vowed to kill Harry himself.

• Voldemort possessed a Death Eater and arranged a bounty for Harry Potter’s blood.
• A collector showed Voldemort an obsessive assortment of Harry memorabilia and offered blood collected when she had been injured.
• The Death Eater bought the vial of Harry’s blood, and Voldemort praised him despite his disgust at the other merchandise.
• Wormtail secretly carried the blood to help Voldemort return to life and avoided the Weasley family along the way.
• On the last day of Harry’s Christmas holiday, Voldemort used the ritual to regain his body and vowed to kill Harry.

During Muggle Studies, Professor Burbage proposed a Muggle Life Experience Week, and Pansy grew furious when she learned Draco had signed up. After her dormmates confronted her about her outbursts and left, Pansy blamed Harry and vowed revenge.

• An unknown voice asked Professor Burbage about the witch trials, and she acknowledged the harm Muggles had done while urging students to see them as branches of the same tree.
• Draco asked how Muggles could have persecuted witches if they were like wizards, and Burbage decided to apply for a Muggle Life Experience Week.
• Pansy mocked the idea of spending time with Muggles, then learned that Draco had signed up for one of the fifty available places.
• Pansy smashed a glass and screamed about Harry, prompting Daphne Greengrass and Millicent Bulstrode to tell her they could no longer tolerate her behavior.
• Daphne and the other girls left, and Pansy trashed the dormitory before blaming Harry and promising she would not let her get away with it.

Students and professors prepared for Muggle Life Experience Week in London, where magic would be prohibited. As Harry helped Ginny choose suitable clothes, Draco planned to pursue Harry during the trip, while Pansy looked for a way to join them.

• Hermione and Ginny celebrated the London event, and Harry agreed to help Ginny choose Muggle clothes after handing Ron a guide to Muggle electrical appliances.
• Harry and Hermione rejected Ginny’s unusual outfits and began helping her select clothes for the trip.
• Fred and George promoted their Weasley Non-Magical Survival Kit to students in the Gryffindor common room.
• Snape questioned Sirius’s place among the accompanying professors, then packed the Christmas sweater Harry had given him.
• Draco boasted to Crabbe and Goyle that he would win Harry over during the week, while the two planned to try Muggle food and drinks.
• Pansy watched Draco’s preparations and decided she had to find a way to join the trip.