Chapter Summaries

Pomona visited Severus and told him that he had won the competition and that everything had gone smoothly, then left without seeing the imprisoned volunteer. Elsewhere, Georgiana reflected on money, trade, and policy before finding a quiet moment with Margarita as Christmas approached.

• Pomona spoke with Bartholomew Hayden at breakfast about Quidditch and his entomology classes at Beauxbatons.
• A House-elf delivered Severus’s note to Pomona, who hurried to meet him in a waiting room.
• Pomona and Severus discussed his brewing, Harry’s confidence, and whether people could recognize Hermione after time travel; she told him he had won and that everything had gone smoothly.
• Pomona asked to see the volunteer, but an Auror refused her request, and she wandered away thinking about the Time-Turners.
• Georgiana reflected on credit, trade, taxation, and the consequences of economic policies while Margarita rested against her.
• Georgiana asked Margarita what she wanted for Christmas, and the two sat together in silence.

At Slughorn’s reception, Pomona spoke with Bartholomew Hayden about Arif Sikander and Hogwarts’s past teachers, then evaded Hayden’s questions about Severus’s love life. In a parallel scene, Georgiana drafted a document donating Josephine’s roses to Luxembourg Elementary Learning, hoping to honor a promise while preserving her freedom.

• Pomona returned to the reception and sat with Bartholomew Hayden, who asked about Arif Sikander and his work as a substitute Muggle Studies teacher at Hogwarts.
• Pomona recalled Arif’s unusual ideas, the succession of Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers, and the different ways Hogwarts teachers had influenced their students.
• Pomona remembered Arif leaving Hogwarts after a year and becoming friends with Bartholomew while traveling around Europe.
• Bartholomew asked whether Severus was married and who he was dating, so Pomona avoided answering and went to the buffet.
• Georgiana reflected on slavery, guilt, and her promise, then drafted a document in Josephine’s name to donate the roses to Luxembourg Elementary Learning.

Severus completed the public brewing of Wolfsbane Juice, and Remus retained his intelligence after transforming, though Fudge used the demonstration to press him about Sirius Black. The conference broke apart amid Fudge’s push for werewolf controls, while Pomona later connected Severus’s remarks to entropy and population theory and wondered about Remus’s heart.

• Severus brewed Wolfsbane Juice before the conference, then an Auror gave it to Remus in a cage.
• Remus transformed near midnight and demonstrated that he could understand questions and respond with nods and shakes.
• Fudge questioned Remus about Sirius Black and accused him of harming or eating him, while Pomona protested.
• Remus lunged at the cage, and Fudge proposed future laws to manage werewolves as conference attendees began leaving.
• Pomona reflected on entropy, time reversal, and Malthus’s ideas, then wondered what Remus’s heart looked like.

Pomona, Severus, and Flitwick discussed the unusual cold near the lake during the time reversal and considered its connection to entropy, Harry’s actions, and the possibility that James Potter had faked his death. Pomona reflected on Tonks’s Patronus, Snape’s courage, and her own wish to face danger rather than rely on others, leaving her questioning why courage and wisdom could not coexist.

• Pomona recalled that the Polyjuice Potion had failed during Remus’s transformation and investigated whether Hogwarts’s time reversal or defensive magic had caused it.
• Pomona, Severus, and Flitwick examined why Centaurs had sensed colder air near the lake and discussed time-reversal symmetry and Maxwell’s Demon.
• Pomona reasoned that Harry had traveled through time hoping to see James Potter, then cast a corporeal Patronus after accepting that James would not appear.
• Pomona remembered that Tonks had practiced Expecto Patronum at lunchtime and later summoned a wild hare Patronus using a private memory.
• Pomona revisited memories of Snape protecting students from the Werewolf and resolved that she would face a transformed Remus herself rather than hide behind others.

Harry and Hermione’s time travel illustrated how the Time-Turner rewound events and how heat made time irreversible. Pomona and Snape discussed the previous day, Remus’s future, and a possible trip to London, while Pomona privately insisted their outing was not a date.

• Hermione’s Time-Turner sent her and Harry backward through the day, while their earlier selves continued through the events they had already experienced.
• Pomona lost track of Snape and Flitwick’s discussion, then considered Snape’s unexplained movements and his ties to Voldemort.
• Snape said he had not known about Fudge’s actions beforehand and promised to keep supplying Remus with potions.
• Pomona said she wanted to visit Remus, and Snape suggested they go after lunch.
• Snape invited Pomona to London, and she accepted before telling herself that the meal was only with a friend.
• The chapter ended with observations about figures appearing around Harry and Hermione in the film’s Hospital Wing scene.

Pomona and Severus left the greenhouse to travel to London, where they planned to visit Whitehall and Remus. After Severus received Albus's congratulations on his nomination, he agreed to join Pomona for afternoon tea before they Apparated away from Hogwarts.

• Pomona chose a little black dress and met Severus at the greenhouse entrance.
• Fawkes delivered a letter, and Severus read Albus's congratulations on his successful nomination.
• Pomona and Severus left the greenhouse, discussing Remus's exposed identity and the complaints about him teaching at Hogwarts.
• Severus suggested a restaurant in London, and Pomona asked him to join her for afternoon tea before visiting Remus.
• Severus put an arm around Pomona's waist and Apparated with her from the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

Severus and Pomona met Auror Galvin for lunch after celebrating the passage of a test, and their conversation turned to Harry Potter and the danger surrounding the upcoming Quidditch World Cup. The chapter ended with Severus pulling Pomona close as they left the restaurant, after Galvin hinted that someone beside Severus could explain what was happening.

• Severus and Pomona went to a former Buckingham Palace staff restaurant, where Galvin invited them to join his table.
• Severus told Galvin they were celebrating because the test had been passed and said he planned to visit the Ministry to prevent accidents involving the volunteer.
• Galvin asked about Harry Potter, and Severus said Harry had gone to the Weasley home for the summer.
• Galvin said the Weasleys had bought Quidditch World Cup tickets and warned Severus to avoid the event, while Severus pressed him about the danger.
• Galvin suggested that someone beside Severus knew more, but both men denied understanding the other's meaning.
• As Severus and Pomona left, he drew her close when the teacups and a mirror trembled with a faint rumble.

Pomona took Severus to an Order of the Phoenix safe house to celebrate his appointment, where they shared food and discussed the need for refuge and understanding. The chapter then shifted to Georgiana’s reflections on the Mirror World, time-reversal symmetry, and the unresolved force behind the Lakeside Incident, noting that the laboratory’s success had been moved to an earlier date.

• Pomona changed out of her dress, led Severus to an old Order of the Phoenix safe house, and showed him the view of Buckingham Palace and Downing Street.
• Pomona bought kebabs and sparkling wine, and she and Severus celebrated his appointment in the safe house.
• Severus asked Pomona about marriage, and Pomona told him that people needed refuge and someone who understood them.
• Severus shut the safe house door, and they spent the rest of the day discussing time-reversal symmetry breaking.
• Georgiana considered how the Mirror Spell might relate to particle-antiparticle transformation and reflected on the dangers of holding onto one’s judgment in turbulent times.
• Georgiana wondered where Credence’s destructive power had gone and noted that the laboratory’s success in 1998 had been moved earlier.

Pomona returned from London troubled by seeing Remus endure the effects of the Wolfsbane Potion, and Albus revealed Severus’s secret bargain and an invitation for him to study alchemy in Cairo. She promised to keep the secret, then comforted Albus as he spoke of love, promises, and his past with Grindelwald.

• Pomona reflected on London’s history, contrasting its grand redevelopment and cultural landmarks with the poverty and displacement suffered by East End residents.
• After returning to Hogwarts, Pomona told Albus that Remus had taken the Wolfsbane Potion and suffered through its effects while remaining conscious.
• Albus gave Pomona an invitation for Severus to become a visiting scholar at Cairo’s alchemy center and revealed that Severus had once made a bargain to protect Lily.
• Albus asked Pomona to keep Severus’s past and bargain secret, and she agreed.
• Pomona asked Albus about his Blood Pact with Grindelwald, and Albus said they had made it to avoid hurting each other.
• Pomona embraced Albus, who hoped she could be happy and offered to help her prepare for the ball.

Pomona weighed whether to give Severus Albus’s letter offering him freedom and a year in Egypt, while reflecting on alchemy, power, and the choices that could change the world. She ultimately kept the letter, leaving Severus’s departure undecided.

• Pomona examined Albus’s letter and considered the arrangements he had made for Alastor Moody and Bartholomew Hayden to take over at Hogwarts.
• Firenze discussed crowns and alchemy with Pomona, asking what could purify the Philosopher’s Stone and what troubled her.
• Pomona considered giving Severus the letter so he could leave for Egypt, but she ultimately did not give it to him.
• Georgiana read a Daily Prophet report about a fire at a Hope family warehouse as Pomona reflected on Jacob, the Qilin, Voldemort, and the power of hope.
• Pomona recalled Harry’s time travel, Hermione’s Time-Turner, Theodore Nott, and the dangers of seeking to change the world, then accepted that she sometimes wanted to make the wrong choice.

Pomona considered the Philosopher’s Stone, desire, marriage, and the rules people lived by while swimming through the Black Lake toward the castle. After returning by a secret passage, she glimpsed a black shadow and wondered whether Severus’s unusual magic let him bypass Hogwarts’s rules, then went to bed.

• Firenze recalled rescuing Harry from the creature drinking a Unicorn’s blood and explained that he had sensed danger in the stars.
• Pomona reflected on the Philosopher’s Stone’s separation of Quirrell and Voldemort and on the relationship between desire, love, and marriage.
• Pomona swam across the Black Lake toward the Slytherin common room but could not see into Severus’s quarters because the Potions classroom was enclosed by walls.
• Pomona left the lake, used a secret passage back into the castle, and thought she saw a black shadow near the Grand Staircase.
• Pomona connected the shadow to Severus’s ability to move through Hogwarts using strange magic, then returned to her bedroom and slept.

Pomona dreamed of confronting Dumbledore about his love for Grindelwald, the Blood Pact, and the Mirror of Erised, then awoke in the arms of a close companion. She left the dream unsettled but chose to stay beside him and sleep longer.

• Pomona watched Dumbledore and Aberforth face Grindelwald in a mirror as their wands clashed despite the Blood Pact.
• Pomona recalled Lily’s protection of Harry and questioned why Ariana’s blood ties had not protected her brothers.
• Pomona saw Lily and baby Harry in a mirror shard while Dumbledore discussed Harry’s headaches and the Mirror of Erised.
• Pomona challenged Dumbledore about the mirror’s visions and learned that he and Grindelwald had made their Blood Pact over the Deathly Hallows.
• Pomona awoke from her dream beside a man who kissed her temple and invited her to sleep longer, and she curled into his arms.

Pomona visited Janice’s perfume launch and encountered a mysterious man who offered her a scent connected to Hathor and spoke about Cleopatra, Caesar, and Antony. He called her Princess and promised they would meet again before she returned to the unchanged alleys of the Wizarding World.

• Pomona entered the Leaky Cauldron and watched Janice appear at the launch of her new perfume.
• A mysterious man in a jay-green and gold coat offered Pomona a silver vial of perfume and explained its connection to Hathor.
• Pomona questioned the man about Hathor, Isis, and whether Caesar had loved Cleopatra.
• The man claimed he was already dead, and Pomona found herself in a grand theater where they discussed Cleopatra, Caesar, and Antony.
• Pomona told the man she liked One-Day Lover because Antony’s love for Cleopatra was real, and he said he liked it too.
• The man called Pomona Princess and promised they would meet again before she returned to the Wizarding World’s unchanged alleys.

Pomona brought food to the Order of the Phoenix safe house, where Severus confronted her and took her to the Buckingham Palace staff cafeteria. There, he proposed that they exchange confidences over tea as they had in Sybill's class.

• Pomona arrived at the safe house with food and found Severus watching the streets from a window.
• Pomona and Severus ate the rancid pasties, and Severus pressed her to explain herself.
• Severus insisted they leave, grabbed Pomona's hand, and Apparated with her to the Buckingham Palace staff cafeteria.
• Severus ordered tea to rinse his mouth and suggested that he and Pomona exchange confidences as they had in Sybill's class.
• Severus called himself a compassionate and understanding friend, drank his tea, and asked Pomona to play along.

Severus and Pomona arranged help for his celebration banquet, including a bartender, and visited a secret cocktail bar in a London hotel. They secured the bartender’s tentative agreement for the gathering at Malfoy Manor, while Severus’s intimate behavior with Pomona left their relationship uncertain.

• Severus met Cody at breakfast and arranged for him to help with the banquet and the Malfoy family’s Quidditch World Cup tent.
• Severus persuaded Pomona to accompany him to a hotel to book a cocktail bartender, using concern about his injured leg to hurry her along.
• Severus revealed a hidden sixth floor in the hotel and went to its cocktail bar, where a frightened waiter ran to fetch the boss.
• Pomona told the boss she worked for Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix, and said she wanted to infiltrate the former Death Eaters’ gathering.
• The boss agreed to find a bartender for the Malfoy Manor gathering, and Severus hurried Pomona into the elevator and pressed her into a corner as it descended.

Pomona reflected on loneliness, trust, and the danger of Severus returning to his former associates as she and Severus posed as a couple during a secret mission. After leaving the hotel elevator together, she resolved to keep their relationship within the bounds of friendship.

• Pomona considered how trust could turn Sherlock Holmes from a detective into a suspect and recalled that a serial killer’s victims had been linked to Death Eater activity.
• Pomona remembered Albus’s warning that Severus needed to belong to a group and hoped he would stop associating with his old friends and doing unforgivable things.
• Severus spoke to Pomona about a secret passage from the Hall of Hieroglyphs to the Slytherin common room and asked whether she knew what Albus had meant.
• Severus told Pomona that the Dark Lord had taught him to dance and that Bellatrix had been his dance partner; Pomona said Albus had taught her.
• When the elevator opened, Severus took Pomona’s hand and led her through the crowd, maintaining their appearance as a couple.
• Pomona decided not to act on her exciting thoughts about Severus, believing that crossing the boundary between friends could leave no way back.

Severus took Pomona to the London Postal Centre to send invitations through the Floo Network, where she fell into a vision and confronted Hathor. Pomona woke in her Hogwarts bed at dawn, left to work out how she had entered the dream and how to escape it.

• Severus used magic to avoid paying a Muggle taxi driver and led Pomona to a hidden Floo dispatch room.
• Severus sent the party invitations through the Floo while Pomona handed them to him.
• Pomona’s surroundings dissolved into a vision where Hathor showed her Hatshepsut’s rituals and the destruction that followed her fall.
• Hathor questioned Pomona about forgiving Severus and warned her that she could not bring back the dead.
• Hathor told Pomona to understand how she had entered the world her teacher created so she could find a way out.
• Pomona woke in her bed at Hogwarts as dawn broke.

Pomona and Flitwick discussed Hogwarts’s plans for the new term and Malfoy’s attempt to disrupt the opening feast and Sorting Ceremony. Pomona then went to the library with a new idea for a spell that might make a small maze float.

• Pomona read about Isis and asked Flitwick to help her learn Ancient Greek, citing her questions about Basilisks and Hermes alchemy.
• Flitwick asked Pomona about welcoming their foreign visitors, then complained that Malfoy intended to ruin the opening feast and Sorting Ceremony.
• Pomona suggested celebrating the opening of St Mungo’s Herbology Alchemy Room, but Flitwick doubted it would distract Malfoy.
• Pomona recalled the election in Bhutan and Grindelwald’s confrontation with Dumbledore, then chose not to tell Flitwick what she remembered.
• Pomona told Flitwick she was going to the library and planned to try an old spell that could make a mountain—and perhaps a tiny maze—float.

Pomona reflected on mirrors, desire, petrification, and the unexplained moment when the Blood Pact shattered, while discussing the Mirror of Erised with Flitwick. The chapter left Albus and Grindelwald dueling in the Mirror World in Bhutan.

• Pomona recalled giving Albus woolen socks after misunderstanding what he saw in the Mirror of Erised.
• Colinwater and Hermione investigated the castle monster using a mirror and were petrified by the Basilisk, then recovered with Mandrake draught.
• Pomona considered how reflected gaze could freeze victims and how illusions could distort a person’s perception of reality.
• Pomona remembered the sudden shattering of the Blood Pact and wondered what had happened between Albus, Grindelwald, Aberforth, and Santos.
• Albus joined Minerva for breakfast while Pomona went to speak with him.
• In Bhutan, Grindelwald and Albus dueled in the Mirror World.

Albus urged Pomona and Flitwick to rethink their teaching and discussed Hogwarts's plans for the Triwizard Tournament. Pomona defended her choices and left with Severus, while Albus questioned whether she still believed in fairness and justice.

• Albus discussed Slughorn's conduct, teaching methods, and the strengths of students with Pomona and Flitwick as they walked through the school.
• Albus explained that Beauxbatons and Durmstrang would arrange their own accommodation, and Flitwick questioned how their students would fit into Hogwarts's courses.
• Albus asked Pomona about the maze, and she said she would research a charm to make it float rather than expect trees to move and remain rational.
• Pomona told Albus that adults must take responsibility for their own choices and that he could not bear everyone's burdens as Headmaster.
• Severus arrived to accompany Pomona, and she reminded Albus that she had promised to go with him before leaving after Albus challenged her belief in fairness and justice.