Chapter Summaries

Pomona began the holiday by checking on the students staying at Hogwarts and considering whether the Goblet of Fire could power the Quidditch maze. Elsewhere, Georgiana questioned the consequences of her actions and wondered when her dream would end.

• Pomona reflected on the comet that struck Jupiter, the fake Wit-Sharpening Potion, and the troubles that had followed the students.
• Pomona left Sybill and joined Severus and Flitwick, who discussed the Goblet of Fire’s possible origins as an alchemical tool.
• Pomona visited the students’ campsite, where Megan Jones arranged supplies and asked the others to bring Pomona Butterbeer.
• Pomona warned the students returning from Hogsmeade not to get drunk and reminded them to sign the Ministry’s confidentiality agreement.
• Pomona looked over the exposed Quidditch Pitch framework and wondered whether the Goblet of Fire could power the maze.
• Georgiana recalled her plan involving a suspicious scrap of paper and the magical array, removed her Fire Opal Ring, and wondered when her dream would end.

Pomona prepared the maze task with the Hogwarts staff while reflecting on the Goblet of Fire’s role in Harry’s selection and Voldemort’s resurrection. She rejected Hathor’s instructions and left the lounge wearing the Fire Opal Ring, bidding farewell to Leon.

• Albus asked Barty Crouch to consider Pomona’s proposal to place the trophy in the maze, and Crouch warned the children that their signed secrecy agreements barred them from competing in the tournament.
• Crouch activated the agreements, lifting the Trace’s restrictions on the children’s magic, and Pomona assigned them to prepare the maze entrance and keep outsiders off the grounds.
• After the Dark Mark appeared at the Quidditch World Cup, Crouch agreed to Pomona’s plan, and Albus placed a flame from the Goblet of Fire inside the trophy to power the maze.
• Georgiana wondered how the Goblet of Fire had judged Harry Potter worthy of being a champion and considered its connection to Grindelwald’s blue fire and Voldemort’s resurrection.
• Pomona decided not to follow Hathor’s instructions or bring her residence into this world, put on the Fire Opal Ring, and said farewell to Leon.

Pomona cooked chicken pie, reflected on time and her relationships with Minerva and Snape, then prepared British food while thinking through Horcruxes and her search for an Arabic book. She decided where to look next and began preparing money for the journey.

• Pomona made chicken pie, but Minerva criticized its richness, and Snape noticed that she had used less butter.
• Pomona asked Minerva whether she had returned the Time-Turner to the Ministry of Magic, but Minerva left without answering.
• Pomona ate pie by the Black Lake with Snape and reflected on his devotion to dark magic and on people’s choices.
• Pomona considered how Basilisk venom affected the soul fragment in Tom Riddle’s diary and concluded that she needed more information about Horcruxes.
• Pomona decided to search a library likely to contain the book she wanted and began preparing travel funds.

Pomona and Flitwick prepared to resist Lucius Malfoy’s plans for the Christmas festivities, while Georgiana met with Trevithick to discuss his workshop and the Black Lantern Society. The meeting ended with Trevithick’s lawyer making a strange entrance and offering to explain himself.

• Pomona watched the night sky, then showed Flitwick the maze being built on the Quidditch Pitch.
• Flitwick used magic to make rain over the field and asked Pomona to help stop the Ministry from taking over the Great Hall for the Christmas party.
• Pomona agreed to help Flitwick oppose Lucius Malfoy’s plans, and they called the coming meeting a battle.
• Trevithick discussed improvements to his steam engine with Georgiana and said the Black Lantern Society had formed an army that included miners.
• Trevithick denied that his mine employed conscripted workers, and his lawyer entered, kissed Georgiana’s hand, and offered to explain himself.

Pomona, Snape, and Flitwick investigated the lingering magic at the lake where Harry had cast his Patronus, while Pomona struggled with her feelings and questioned Snape about the spell. The chapter ended with a separate account of solicitor Jim Follett’s past and Georgiana’s skepticism, as concern arose over whether Padma could handle the unfolding situation.

• Albus sent Pomona, Flitwick, and Snape to investigate the cold lake where Harry’s Patronus had driven off the Dementors and protected Sirius.
• Flitwick drew luminous silver material from the lake, and Snape identified it as a happy memory Harry had used to cast his Patronus.
• Pomona reflected on her appearance and feelings for Snape, then challenged him about whether Death Eaters could cast a Patronus and whether his own had changed.
• Flitwick took up a position across the lake where Harry had stood, and Pomona asked whether Harry had ever said what memory he used.
• The narration recounted how Jim Follett fled to Belgium after killing an earl’s son and later joined Trevithick’s business.
• Jim told Georgiana a story of his love for the countess, but she remained skeptical and worried that Padma might not manage the situation.

Pomona reflected on the Patronus Charm and Harry’s strength before Snape took to the sky as black smoke to search from above. Elsewhere, Georgiana watched the timber train creep forward and began to doubt her investment.

• Pomona considered how a Patronus formed through a reciprocal bond and why Harry’s powerful Patronus had proved his ability.
• Flitwick asked whether anyone had found anything, and Snape suggested searching from above.
• Snape transformed into black smoke and flew into the sky, astonishing Flitwick and Pomona.
• Black smoke poured from the Jet Devil’s chimney as George urged the slow locomotive hauling timber forward.
• Georgiana heard onlookers mock the train’s pace and wondered whether investing in the operation had been a mistake.

Flitwick, Pomona, and Snape discussed souls and the possible origins and changing forms of Patronuses before Dumbledore’s Phoenix summoned them back. Pomona then recalled her daughter’s death and her own suffering, and wondered whether she should warn Margarita about Fuli Te.

• Flitwick told Pomona that animal souls became sprites after death, while human souls could resist an unfamiliar soul occupying their bodies.
• Pomona suggested Patronuses might grow or be inherited after learning that Harry and James Potter both had stag Patronuses; Flitwick mentioned twin brothers with matching Patronuses.
• Snape proposed that water might explain the power of Harry’s Patronus, and Flitwick collected its silvery substance to examine in Dumbledore’s Pensieve.
• A silver Phoenix delivered Dumbledore’s message that the guests had left, and Pomona wondered if summoners could choose their Patronuses.
• Pomona recalled that Peter Pettigrew had tortured her with the Cruciatus Curse and that she had later awakened in St Mungo’s, while her daughter was gone.
• Pomona saw Fuli Te chatting with Margarita and wondered whether to warn Margarita that he had left her to deal with their troubles alone.

Pomona discussed the Unicorn and Basilisk with Grubbly-Plank, then assigned Neville a mission to bring Occamies from Scamander for breeding stock. She continued preparing the maze and considered the boundary between humans and beasts, as well as the danger of love being used as a weapon.

• Pomona asked Grubbly-Plank whether animals that ate the buried Unicorn would suffer Quirrell’s curse, and Grubbly-Plank explained that the Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets had likely been female.
• Pomona suggested adding bird-related lessons, but Grubbly-Plank said no existing birds posed a threat to humans.
• Pomona freed Neville from a hedge cage and told him to bring Occamies from Scamander so Hogwarts could exchange breeding stock.
• Pomona inspected the enlarged Quidditch Pitch and raised a stone platform in the maze’s center, planning for its future use in the Triwizard Tournament.
• Pomona reflected on Veela, Nagini, and whether they were beasts or humans, then considered how Grindelwald and Dumbledore could use love as a weapon.

Pomona organized the maze work and spent the evening in the greenhouse studying souls and waiting for an epiphyllum to bloom. After someone fled from the greenhouse, she noticed the timing of the full moon, Ghost Festival, and Quidditch World Cup final, then recalled Remus’s painful testimony at Malfoy Manor.

• Pomona divided the maze into sections, assigned the children their tasks, and sent them to survey the grounds.
• Pomona set up a quiet workspace in the greenhouse, where she read about the soul and reflected on the light she had seen in Sirius’s soul and the changes caused by lycanthropy.
• Pomona heard someone approach the greenhouse, but the person fled before she could catch them.
• Pomona sent invitations to watch the epiphyllum bloom and noticed the full moon and Ghost Festival fell on August 21, the day before the Quidditch World Cup final.
• Pomona remembered that the ball had been held at Malfoy Manor and that Remus had suffered while giving anonymous testimony.

Pomona pursued Snape after learning he was meeting Damocles Belby, the inventor of Wolfsbane Potion, and asked Albus whether Remus could avoid testifying in person. Albus offered to help if Pomona received a visiting Hogwarts governor, while the chapter ended with Pomona reflecting on hidden madness, desire, and the loss of innocence.

• Pomona questioned Snape about his meeting with the Potions Association president, and he confirmed that he had to go.
• Pomona learned that Remus had to testify in person and asked Albus whether there was another way.
• Albus offered to help Pomona if she assisted with receiving Greta Kachilov, who planned to increase her investment in education.
• Georgiana called Margaret away from a lawyer so they could return to the castle and receive the guests.

Pomona escorted Greta Kachilov around Hogwarts, where Greta asked to see Sirius Black and criticized the Fat Lady's singing. Meanwhile, Georgiana considered relocating ancestral graves and tested Jim by asking him to draft an official decree, leaving him writing under a twenty-minute deadline.

• Pomona showed Greta Kachilov around Hogwarts, and Greta admired her portrait on the Grand Staircase.
• Greta asked to see Sirius Black, and Pomona led her toward the Gryffindor common room.
• Greta criticized the Fat Lady's singing and began singing to teach her.
• Georgiana reflected on palace rumors and planned to move ancestral remains to cemeteries outside the city center.
• Georgiana asked Jim to draft a sanitation decree and gave him twenty minutes to write it.

Pomona considered Severus’s chance to test his improved Wolfsbane Potion and Albus’s ideas about praise, ambition, and security. Meanwhile, Georgiana dictated reforms for Brussels to Jim, who agreed to deliver her proposals to the council.

• Albus told Severus that the Potions Association had agreed to compare his Wolfsbane Potion with the original, but Severus questioned the anonymous test subject and left without accepting the opportunity.
• Albus warned Pomona that Remus could die if aconite dosage was mishandled, then discussed how recognition and insecurity had shaped Severus and Barty Crouch Jr.
• Georgiana asked Jim to present her proposals to the Brussels Council, beginning with clean drinking water and alum treatment.
• Jim suggested testing the water treatment on prisoners, but Georgiana rejected the idea, and Jim apologized and wrote down her instructions in French.
• Georgiana proposed merit-based civil service examinations and moving church cemeteries outside the city, explaining that the reforms addressed sanitation and required enough civil servants.

Pomona tried to reassure Snape about the attacks on Dumbledore and urged him to understand Lupin’s difficulties while ensuring he stayed alive to testify. The story then shifted to Georgiana drafting reforms with Jim, who explained Bentham’s view that ineffective punishment caused needless suffering.

• Pomona read the Daily Prophet’s attack on Dumbledore’s appointment of a Werewolf teacher, while Minerva dismissed the danger of public opinion.
• Pomona visited Snape in the dungeon and asked whether he would accept Albus’s proposal; Snape complained that Lupin wanted more than free Wolfsbane Potion.
• Pomona praised Snape’s work and reminded him that Lupin had to stay alive to testify, then shared her cream of mushroom soup with him.
• Pomona reflected on gaslighting, her past relationship, and the choices that shaped her, while Georgiana reviewed six proposed civic reforms with Jim.
• Georgiana asked Jim about Bentham’s idea that ineffective punishment was doubly harmful, and Jim explained that punishment which failed to prevent crime only inflicted wasted suffering.

Pomona took Neville away from the camp and investigated Mundungus Fletcher in Hogsmeade, while Flitwick gave her an invitation to a party. The chapter then shifted to Georgiana, who discussed her plans with Jim before Bertin arranged for her to dress for an occasion.

• Pomona met Neville at the camp, brought him to the main tent, and set out to place him with Kettleburn in Hogsmeade.
• Pomona spotted Mundungus Fletcher entering the Hog's Head and saw Aberforth watching her from the window.
• Flitwick gave Pomona an invitation from Greta Kachilov and complained that Dumbledore had overlooked his music.
• Pomona noticed Kingsley, Alastor Moody, and Tonks in Hogsmeade and reflected on Sirius, Peter Pettigrew, and the history of Damocles Belby's potion formula.
• Georgiana discussed proposals and Voldemort's Horcruxes with Jim before Bertin sent him out and had Georgiana dressed in a silver gown.

Pomona spoke with Kettleburn about dragons and rumors of werewolves gathering in Britain, while Georgiana confronted Chaptal over her political proposals. After Chaptal rejected most of them, a Scourer described a vision in which his captain ordered men to attack a witch.

• Kettleburn told Pomona and Neville about the intelligent wind dragon Drague and rumors that werewolves across Europe were gathering in Britain.
• Pomona asked Kettleburn whether the werewolves might cause trouble at the Quidditch World Cup, and he said he planned to stay home.
• Georgiana considered Bertin's advice about judging others fairly, then went with Chaptal to discuss the proposals she had announced.
• Georgiana defended funding Fresnel's lighthouse lens work and challenged Chaptal over political interference, but he rejected her proposal except for water purification and delivery facilities.
• A Scourer told Georgiana that his captain had led him and others through a misty vision and ordered them to attack a woman he called a witch.

Pomona took Neville to the Scamander home to retrieve her turtle and spent a peaceful visit with Tina while Newt was away. As they waited by the lake, Pomona reflected on education, political power, and the painful pasts that shaped Albus and Severus.

• Pomona Apparated with Neville to the Scamander home because he could not travel there on his own.
• Tina welcomed Pomona and Neville, and Pomona warned Neville to watch out for the household Nifflers.
• Pomona and Tina drank chilled pumpkin juice by the lake while Neville explored the animal enclosure.
• Tina said Newt was at an urgent Ministry meeting and warned Pomona that Hogwarts should activate its defensive wards.
• Pomona agreed to help Tina set up defensive magic after they finished their drinks, while Neville continued exploring alone.
• Pomona reflected on how political power could interfere with schools and distort the truth, and on how painful memories had changed Albus and Severus.

Pomona spent the summer with the Scamanders, avoided Sirius when he arrived, and discussed Herbology and potions with Neville and Newt. She returned to Hogwarts with Scamander’s Nifflers, while later reflections on Georgiana and Queenie turned to rumors, secrets, and difficult choices.

• Tina showed Pomona that Sirius Black had arrived at the Scamander home riding a Kelpie, and Pomona fled to avoid seeing him.
• Pomona discussed Deathvine Water, Herbology, and potions with Neville Longbottom and Newt Scamander, arguing that potions served people who lacked particular magical gifts.
• Pomona asked Newt to exchange Occamies to prevent inbreeding at Hogwarts, but he refused and offered her Nifflers instead.
• Pomona accepted Newt’s offer and brought the Nifflers back to Hogwarts, where they were kept out of the castle to prevent them from stealing students’ jewelry.
• Georgiana reflected on forgiveness, Queenie’s mind-reading gift, and the rumors surrounding Leta Lestrange and the Duchess of Alba’s adopted daughter.

Pomona discussed werewolf beliefs and taught Neville how Herbology and potions differed while the Ministry focused on the improved Wolfsbane Potion. At a ball, Alice saw Sirius Black approach and invite her to dance.

• Scamander told Pomona that the Ministry was testing the improved Wolfsbane Potion, whose nomination had drawn potion masters to observe it.
• Pomona explained to Neville how herbalism relied on plants and their care, while potions depended more on the wizard's technique.
• Pomona reflected on the overlap between Herbology and potion-making and on the significance of the number twenty-one.
• At the ball, Alice watched a Spanish noblewoman dance with the Duke of Arenberg's nephew and searched for her guardian, Richard Edgeworth.
• Sirius Black approached Alice and asked her to dance.

Pomona returned to Hogwarts with Neville and the Nifflers, spoke with Snape about his Wolfsbane Potion plans, and met Sirius Black outside the greenhouse. The story then shifted to Georgiana, who questioned a man resembling Sirius after he introduced himself as Lyra Bleak.

• Pomona and Neville returned to Hogwarts on a wind dragon, and Neville stepped into one of Hagrid's mousetraps before they delivered the Nifflers to him.
• Pomona gave Snape dragon cheese and discussed his Wolfsbane Potion, agreeing to clear time around the full moon and speak to Grubbly-Plank about using Fwoopers for the second task.
• After Snape left the greenhouse, Pomona saw a large black dog outside and recalled Sirius Black changing from dog to human while James and Remus watched.
• Georgiana questioned a man who resembled Sirius, and he identified himself as Lyra Bleak and thanked her for saving his life.

Pomona arranged for Hagrid to take the interns into the Forbidden Forest to clear spiderwebs with a fire spell, while trying to find a way to send Neville to the Scamander family. In a separate dreamlike scene, Georgiana danced with Leila Brick and questioned whether the blood she had seen was real.

• Pomona asked Hagrid to supervise the interns as they cleared spiderwebs and warned him to keep them safe from the spiders and fire.
• Pomona asked Hagrid about flying horses so Neville could travel to the Scamander family and retrieve the Occamy, and Hagrid offered to take him on his flying motorbike.
• Pomona told Hagrid that Madame Maxime had tamed Abraxans, prompting him to consider writing to her, and offered to help him with the letter.
• Pomona saw Neville keeping to the edge of the group and continued considering how to get him to the Scamander family.
• Georgiana saw figures resembling Cedric and Sirius Black in a ballroom and asked Leila Brick whether she had really saved her.
• Leila Brick reminded Georgiana of the pool of supposed blood and led her into a waltz as the other dancers formed a circle around them.