Chapter Summaries

Georgiana considered Prussia’s political position and the risks surrounding the Fischer family’s bank as she prepared for a public appearance. When asked why Napoleon had not gone to the Netherlands, she said he needed to return for Christmas and reunite with his family.

• The chapter recounted John Heinrich Fischer’s family history and how he accumulated capital by trading paintings during the French Revolution.
• Georgiana weighed the political value of Prussia’s neutrality and its changing relations with France, Russia, and Britain.
• Georgiana trusted Bertin’s political judgment and reasoned that other people should take over the business opportunities left by the Fischer family.
• Bertin told Georgiana that people were asking why Napoleon had not gone to the Netherlands, despite reaching Antwerp.
• A female tailor asked Georgiana why the First Consul had not gone to the Netherlands, and Georgiana replied that he had to return for Christmas with his family.

Georgiana reflected on ambition, fate, and her relationship with Dominic while they discussed an antique bed warmer and the history of Frederick III. She admitted she had taken the wrong approach to getting revenge on her husband, but remained unsure what to do next.

• Georgiana recalled a pamphlet urging people to master their fate and considered how Pomona had changed during her years with Severus.
• A maid showed Georgiana a bronze bed warmer bearing Frederick III’s emblem, and Dominic explained its history and the emperor’s frugality.
• Georgiana and Dominic discussed Frederick III’s quarrelsome but lively marriage, and she challenged Dominic’s claim that their relationship could still be salvaged.
• Georgiana told Dominic that she had been naive and had used the wrong way to take revenge on her husband.
• Dominic asked what Georgiana wanted to do, and she replied that she did not know and asked whether he had any ideas.

Georgiana discussed flax, cotton, and Prussia’s supposed neutrality with Dominic, who challenged her own attempts to remain neutral about Bonaparte and her feelings. Dominic also confronted her about Bonaparte’s attention to Eugenie, leaving Georgiana reflecting on her own insincere performance.

• Frederick III bought only a cheap piece of cotton cloth after Florentine officials escorted him around the city, while Bonaparte gave Georgiana the Mughal Diamond to silence criticism of her jewelry.
• The chapter described how British policies shaped Ireland’s wool and linen industries, and how Prussia’s flax production might benefit if cotton prices rose.
• Georgiana asked Dominic whether he thought flax could replace cotton, and he answered that he did not before questioning why she had told him about seeking revenge on her husband.
• Dominic argued that Georgiana was trying to remain neutral like Prussia and urged her to cooperate with those who wanted to win.
• Dominic told Georgiana that Bonaparte had helped a Genoese woman named Eugenie without betraying her, but Georgiana reacted angrily.
• Georgiana recalled Grindelwald’s failed performance with the Qilin and recognized that her own smiles and behavior could seem equally false.

Pomona overheard Laura Schneider confront Severus and reflected on Voldemort, Horcruxes, and the consequences of altering time. Georgiana secured Dominic’s agreement to raise twenty-six million Francs using patent taxes as collateral.

• Pomona left Remus’s holding room to seek help and overheard Laura Schneider question Severus about his loyalty and the Sword of Gryffindor.
• Pomona learned that Laura had studied at Hogwarts, researched Time-Turners, and disappeared after Voldemort’s second fall.
• Pomona considered Albus’s suspicions about Voldemort’s Horcruxes and the time traveler whose malfunctioning Time-Turner caused twenty-five people to become unborn.
• Georgiana explained to Dominic how patent fees could support a loan, then asked him to raise twenty-six million Francs using patent taxes as collateral.
• Dominic agreed to the deal and shook Georgiana’s hand.

Georgiana reflected on the limits of wealth, magic, and compassion as she prepared for a formal appearance, feeling increasingly estranged from her former self. She hoped to escape her current life and return to Hogwarts, where she might still be welcomed.

• Georgiana considered how financial failures across European history shaped her proposal for a loan backed by patent taxes, while Dominic dismissed the idea.
• Georgiana recalled how Venice contained the Black Death through quarantine rather than letting pity override precautions.
• Bertin applied rouge and dressed Georgiana in a blue fox-fur cloak, but Georgiana still felt cold and unlike her former self.
• Georgiana left the sitting room, determined to break free of her cage and return to the happiness she had known as Pomona.
• Georgiana remembered falling in love with Hogwarts and hoped that someone there would still accept her return.

Pomona argued with Minerva over serving red-wine soup at Hogwarts, then was pressed to return Borgin and Burkes's belongings before the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor arrived. Georgiana reflected on choosing adulthood and on Harry's burden in defeating Voldemort, leaving her thoughts in the cold winter air.

• Pomona served Minerva vegetable soup made with red wine, and they argued over whether students could be served alcohol at Hogwarts.
• Flitwick entered the kitchen, saw the argument, and immediately left.
• Minerva stormed out, and Pomona was asked when she would return Borgin and Burkes's things for the incoming Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.
• Georgiana ignored Richard Edgeworth as she recalled Rose's survival of the Titanic disaster and her own memories of Harry and Hogwarts.
• Georgiana reflected that she had left Hogwarts to grow up, and that adults should have borne the responsibility of resisting Voldemort instead of leaving it to Harry.

Pomona confronted Snape about secretly changing the color of the scarf she had knitted for him and decided not to give him a Christmas present. In Brussels, Georgiana considered Prussia’s economy and Europe’s cotton crisis before encountering the Duke and Duchess of Alba, unsure how to greet them.

• Pomona asked Snape why he was not wearing her green scarf, and he admitted he had worn it to a Quidditch match before storming out of the greenhouse.
• Pomona realized Snape had used a Color-Changing Charm on the scarf and decided not to give him a Christmas present.
• Georgiana attended a state banquet at the Royal Palace of Brussels and endured the cold while reflecting on Prussian industries and social institutions.
• Georgiana considered how the fire at Hope Bank’s London warehouse and cotton shortages had threatened workers, merchants, and factories.
• Georgiana encountered the Duke and Duchess of Alba, their adopted daughter, and Duke Arenberg, and wondered how to greet the Duchess given their shared Stuart name.

Snape and Pomona returned a set of enchanted eyes to Borgin and Burkes and searched for Tom Riddle’s Peverell-marked ring. At Hogwarts, Snape trapped the Boggart in the Room of Requirement, while Pomona reflected on Dumbledore’s absence and the Phoenix that had reappeared beside her in Paris.

• Snape returned three enchanted eyes to Borgin and Burkes, where they joined a fourth eye in the shop.
• Snape and Pomona examined the giant stone hand in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom; Snape left it behind and carried the Boggart-filled wardrobe to the Room of Requirement.
• Snape trapped the wardrobe within a defensive array and criticized Harry for drawing attention to himself by speaking Parseltongue.
• A small wooden box fell from a nearby pile of clutter, and Snape asked Borgin and Burkes for a ring bearing the Peverell mark.
• Pomona recalled that Tom Riddle had worn a black ring at school and considered whether it had been sold to Borgin and Burkes.
• Pomona remembered that the Phoenix had left Hogwarts after Albus’s death and had recently appeared beside her in Paris.

Pomona reflected on the safeguards Remus Lupin had used in his Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom and on the difficulty of creating defenses that ordinary students could safely operate. She also recalled Flamel’s fire-working and a mysterious bird from a dream, whose origin she could not remember.

• Pomona considered how Remus had trapped the Boggart with Dehoff’s alchemical wire while keeping students at a safe distance.
• She explained that the wire’s complex construction made it difficult for inexperienced students and workers to set up safely.
• Pomona compared the problem with her maze project and contrasted it with Nicolas Flamel’s ability to guide others in wielding Purifying Fire against Fiendfyre.
• She remembered dreaming of a small flame shaped like a flying bird and wondered whether it was a Phoenix.
• Pomona could not recall what had happened around the dream, as though someone had used Obliviate, but the bird’s silhouette remained in her memory.

Pomona reflected on flight, time, life, and survival while recalling Patricia Linnaeus’s hostility with the Hogwarts staff and considering the demands of caring for students. She left to make more Yule log cakes and planned to use mushroom decorations for a lesson and a chance to award points.

• Pomona recalled Harry’s natural talent for flying and considered why Lockhart’s spell had failed to kill the snake Draco Malfoy summoned.
• Pomona remembered how Patricia Linnaeus’s thefts, dueling methods, and indifference to Dark magic had alienated the Hogwarts teachers.
• Pomona considered how the Draught of Living Death, biological rhythms, and the need for food shaped the passage of time and the preservation of life.
• Pomona reflected that she had to feed Hogwarts’s many students and noted Neville’s success against his Boggart after believing her advice.
• Pomona returned to the kitchen to make Yule log cakes decorated with mushrooms, hoping students would identify them and earn points.

Pomona learned that Umbridge had ordered the Dementors to attack Harry and heard Severus explain her ambition and background. As the Order faced the Ministry battle and Voldemort’s return, Pomona worried about Severus’s place among them and kissed him in the kitchen.

• Pomona decorated the Christmas tree while Severus told her that Umbridge had a Patronus and had ordered the Dementors to attack Harry.
• Severus described Umbridge’s ambition and past, then clashed with Sirius before leaving Grimmauld Place.
• A second Azkaban breakout occurred over Christmas, and Sirius stayed behind to protect the women and children.
• After the Battle of the Ministry, Fudge could no longer deny Voldemort’s return, and Pomona reflected on Dumbledore’s use of Snape’s snake-vanishing spell.
• Severus complained that Umbridge wanted the Chamber of Secrets’ secrets for her own advancement, while Pomona worried he might be making compromises for the Order.
• Pomona kissed Severus in the kitchen, and he ended the kiss before their simmering soup could burn.

Pomona and Severus discussed the Basilisk while working on a potion, then learned that Minerva planned to take someone to the Ministry and asked Severus to watch Harry. The story shifted to Georgiana at a state banquet, where she waited for a colonel to investigate a crowd shouting about a witch.

• Pomona tried to distract Severus from his potion, and he asked her to obtain Phoenix tears.
• Pomona and Severus shared lemon soda and discussed Crabbe and Goyle eating cake laced with sleeping draught.
• A cat-shaped Patronus delivered Minerva’s message that she would take someone to the Ministry and wanted Severus to watch Mr. Potter.
• Pomona and Severus discussed the next Defense Against the Dark Arts professor and hoped the coming term would go smoothly.
• The Duchess of La Rochefoucauld arrived with Alice, and Georgiana’s guardian Richard Edgeworth sent a colonel to investigate a crowd shouting about a witch.

Georgiana reflected on the religious and political history of the Low Countries and Europe, then discussed revolution, fear, and the future with Saint-Hilaire. She left to change clothes before meeting an archbishop.

• Georgiana recalled Cervantes, the Spanish empire, and the Dutch Revolt, including the conflicts over religion, taxes, and local authority.
• Georgiana remembered the witch panic and the upheavals in Brussels, then considered the treatment of children, revolution, and which rulers might be worth following.
• Georgiana laughed at her own fantasies, and Saint-Hilaire asked what amused her.
• Georgiana asked Saint-Hilaire whether he was afraid, and they joked about whether the unrest was a riot or a revolution.
• Georgiana said she had not slept and was tired, then went to change clothes before meeting an archbishop.

Pomona learned that Harry had given away much of his inheritance, while Sirius and Molly later discovered that Dumbledore had tried to overthrow the Ministry and been replaced as Hogwarts headmistress. In Brussels, Georgiana found an injured owl carrying a brief message from Parvati Patil and treated it while keeping the Thestral secret from a Dutch doctor.

• Pomona examined Harry's accounts and learned that he had donated his family inheritance to support the war and that the Hair Regrowth Potion Company had gone bankrupt.
• Dumbledore visited Grimmauld Place, demanded to know whether Harry or the Weasleys had shared anything, and left without explaining what had happened.
• Pomona, Sirius, and Molly learned from the newspaper that Dumbledore had formed an army at Hogwarts, that Umbridge had stopped his rebellion, and that she had replaced him as headmistress.
• Georgiana answered a woman's scream and found a bloodied dead owl in a room with the Thestral, then ordered the guards to leave.
• Georgiana revived the owl, read Parvati Patil's note saying she had arrived in London safely, and treated its wound as a Dutch doctor briefly visited.

Pomona stayed away from Hogwarts while Severus hinted that Albus had left to investigate something, and she reflected on time travel, fate, and her meddling in the witch hunt. In the palace, Georgiana met Louis Stanislas, who offered to tell her what was really happening.

• Pomona asked Severus about Hogwarts and Albus, and he told her not to return to the school while revealing that Albus was investigating something.
• Hermione’s Time-Turner and Harry’s attempts to change the past prompted reflections on the limits of time travel and the inevitability of fate.
• Pomona questioned whether her interference had worsened the witch hunt and considered her own hopes and choices.
• Georgiana entered the palace reception room expecting the Archbishop of Mechelen but found Father Grégoire speaking with Louis Stanislas.
• Louis Stanislas introduced himself to Georgiana and offered to explain what was really happening, and they traded friendly-sounding threats about beheading and burning.

Georgiana met Father Stanislas, who presented a petition from district representatives and argued that the people hiding in the forest should not be forced to leave. She agreed to let them return, but remained wary of his motives and anticipated a difficult response from the police.

• Georgiana received Father Stanislas in her reception room, where he asked about her dress and explained that he had entered without an invitation.
• Stanislas gave Georgiana a petition opposing the beer tax and offering to take orphans into local homes.
• Stanislas warned Georgiana not to force the people in the forest to leave, and she agreed to his request.
• Georgiana told Stanislas to leave and await the Consulate's official reply, then challenged him with a remark about faith and Sir Bacon.
• Georgiana told Grégoire she had agreed because she wanted to persuade the exiles to return, while warning that the police would be closely watched.

Georgiana reflected on power, war, and the uncertain rules of her world while responding to the exiles’ protest and the arrival of Brussels officials. After Stanislas’s parting words revived her, she felt her heart race and wondered whether she had been poisoned.

• Georgiana considered how war and taxation had driven the people of Flanders to resist Spain and how force could make an enemy incapable of resistance.
• Georgiana reflected on how Umbridge and Albus used power to make others do things against their will, while Stanislas’s release helped calm the exiles outside the palace.
• The mayor of Brussels, council members, and knights arrived at the palace without any French officials.
• Georgiana questioned whether her world followed eternal recurrence and recalled the red dress and its journey through Venice and the home of a Spanish merchant.
• Georgiana felt her heart tighten and pound, wondered whether she had been poisoned, and thought about the dangers of using immense power.

Georgiana tried to restore public order and encourage Belgian industry while learning that rumors and political maneuvering threatened her position. After Patricia left Hogwarts, Georgiana received a scroll repeating an earlier false accusation and ordered Feilier’s memory erased after confirming that Champollion had revealed its contents.

• Georgiana defended her efforts to restore public order and discussed plans to encourage sugar production with the gathered officials and business leaders.
• Patricia gave Pomona the Marauder’s Map, discovered it had been replaced with a fake, and left Hogwarts.
• Georgiana learned that the Portrait Curse culprit remained uncaught and that the attacks had stopped after Patricia’s departure.
• Feilier brought Georgiana a scroll containing the same accusation as before, and Champollion’s father left after presenting it.
• Georgiana confirmed that Champollion had told Feilier what the scroll said, then had a French wizard erase Feilier’s memory and rewarded her for keeping a contract hidden.

Georgiana considered the history of witch hunts and the dangers of mistaking plausible stories for truth while examining two mysterious parchment scrolls. She warned Feilier that the Mirror World could deceive them, taught him a Latin phrase, and went looking for Mango.

• Georgiana reflected on Anna Steele’s illegal interrogation and how the Carolina Criminal Code limited witch trials and torture.
• Georgiana recounted how witchcraft accusations escalated across Europe and became entangled with dynastic and religious conflicts.
• Georgiana examined two parchment scrolls bearing a skull, a Deathly Hallows symbol, and a blue rose, which reminded her of a prophecy about a returning king of terror.
• Georgiana told Feilier that the Mirror World was an illusion and taught him the Latin sentence “Virus ariete fortior.”
• Georgiana left the drawing room to look for Mango.

Georgiana stopped Mary and Charlotte from tormenting Mango and warned them against judging others as evil. Guillaume Fabolt then revealed that Bonaparte had arranged for an arsenal to be moved, and led Georgiana and his family to see what had been prepared.

• Georgiana found Mary and Charlotte pulling feathers from Mango's tail, freed the bird, and told them not to torment it.
• Georgiana challenged Mary’s assumptions about wolves and the Beast of Gévaudan, asking whether it might have been a werewolf.
• Guillaume Fabolt agreed that the girls were too young to judge what was evil and told Georgiana about how crowds in Genoa had followed the Patriots to the arsenal.
• Fabolt explained that Bonaparte had arrived in Brussels earlier and arranged to move the arsenal from its old location.
• Fabolt invited Georgiana, Mrs. Fabolt, and Charlotte to walk with him, hinting that he would show them where the arsenal was now.