Summer letters reveal that Sirius escapes his arranged marriage when Narcissa makes an unbreakable vow to marry Lucius Malfoy instead, throwing the Black family into chaos. While his friends enjoy their holidays, Remus faces isolation at St. Edmund's but finds purpose in advancing his studies with help from Madam Pomfrey's improved care. Desperate to repay his friends' generosity and lacking any money, Remus makes a fateful decision when skinhead Craig Newman recruits him for a burglary, marking the beginning of his brief criminal career.