Chapter Summaries

Pomona avoided the attention surrounding the Triwizard Tournament while considering the risks of creating a new body with the Philosopher’s Stone. She ended the chapter asking Severus whether such a body would be a person or a homunculus, and he left without answering directly.

• Charlie told Hagrid that Percy had said he could stay until the third task, while Snape warned that Fudge would replace Crouch and require unrelated people to leave Hogwarts.
• Snape told Pomona to stay inside the castle and avoid Ludo Bagman, and she fell asleep after he left.
• The Weasley twins started a school betting pool, so Pomona went to the underground city to seek an undisturbed place to think.
• Snape told Pomona that Dumbledore wanted to withdraw from the tournament, and Pomona reflected on the dangers of pregnancy and the story of Tom Marvolo Riddle.
• Snape urged Pomona to have someone cover her Herbology lessons, then helped her dress before she asked whether the Philosopher’s Stone could create a person with a new body.
• Snape said he would go first and strode out of Pomona’s office.

Pomona recruited Jennifer Dukan to care for Hogwarts' nursery and studied the Fireseed Bush and Cassino's notes. She realized that the Moody she had met was Barty Crouch Jr. in disguise, then answered an impatient call from the old bat about a missing stirring rod.

• Pomona met Jennifer Dukan, learned she had attended Wampus Cat Academy without graduating, and hired her to care for Hogwarts' nursery.
• Pomona examined the Fireseed Bush and considered how to apply Cassino's notes to the Triwizard Cup.
• Moody discussed bees and the cramped Hufflepuff common room with Pomona before leaving the greenhouse.
• Pomona connected Moody's altered voice to the volubilis electuary and recognized that he was Barty Crouch Jr.
• The old bat shouted for his stirring rod, and Pomona went to his private laboratory.

Pomona and Severus negotiated plans for a shed and argued about dog sledding before Severus asked whether their life together was real. Meanwhile, Georgiana learned about Louis Grouchy’s military career and noticed Alice had returned.

• Pomona fetched Severus’s missing stirring rod and suggested building a shed for their tools.
• Severus agreed to the shed but postponed it until spring and refused to negotiate about dog sledding.
• Severus asked Pomona whether their life together was real, and she reassured him before leaving the laboratory.
• Ledrell told Georgiana about Louis Grouchy’s failed attempt to enter École Polytechnique and his rise through the army.
• A maid told Georgiana that Alice had returned, and Georgiana saw her sitting beside her mother.

Pomona dealt with Greta’s and Cedric’s requests to bring guests to the third task, then learned that Snape had become responsible for school security and Percy had received a Ministry appointment. As she reflected on the maze and the ashes of the Battle of Hogwarts, she recalled leaving the ruins with Snape and wondered whether to keep accepting fate or fight it.

• Greta Karkaroff argued with Pomona over being barred from visiting Hogwarts before the third task, then finally left.
• Snape told Pomona that Percy Weasley had been appointed the Minister for Magic’s junior assistant, with authority to represent Fudge at Hogwarts.
• Cedric asked whether his parents could bring friends to the third task, and Snape initially refused before allowing Cedric’s parents to attend.
• Snape revealed that Dumbledore had appointed him in charge of school security and ate with Pomona in her office.
• Pomona reflected on how the Fireseed Bush maze had been built and controlled, and on Percy’s later reprimand for failing to identify Barty Crouch Jr.
• Pomona remembered walking through the ruins after the Battle of Hogwarts with Snape, passing her Herbology post to Neville, and questioning whether to accept fate or resist it.

Pomona visited Hagrid’s cave to study a giant Fireseed Bush, then spoke with Flitwick about the nature of Patronuses, Fiendfyre, and Harry’s vision of a white stag. The chapter left her pondering whether Harry’s apparently dreamlike experiences had been real as Georgiana continued toward the Doxy’s cries.

• Hagrid showed Pomona a twenty-foot Fireseed Bush growing in a cave and explained that the cave’s water seemed to make plants grow larger.
• Pomona collected some of the cave water for experiments and returned toward the castle after Hagrid left to feed the Beauxbatons horses.
• Pomona found Flitwick by the Black Lake and asked whether he had discovered any new leads in the murder investigation.
• Pomona and Flitwick debated whether the beings attached to Fiendfyre and Patronuses were spirits or products of imagination, and discussed the white stag Harry had seen.
• Pomona remembered Harry fainting before he and Hermione used the Time-Turner to save Sirius and Buckbeak, and wondered whether those events could really have been a dream.
• Georgiana came back to herself and continued running toward the Doxy’s cries.

Pomona treated Stewart Ackerley with Severus's antidote candy and tried to add fireseed ash and cave water to the Goblet of Fire, but Albus stopped her and summoned her to his office that night. The chapter then reflected on Voldemort's Horcruxes, the Triwizard maze, and the Weasley twins before Duport played a lively cello piece.

• Pomona helped Poppy Pomfrey persuade Stewart Ackerley to eat Severus's antidote candy after a Doxy bite.
• Fred and George questioned Pomona about her movements, and Severus appeared to confront them.
• Pomona attempted to pour fireseed ash and cave water into the Goblet of Fire, but Albus told her to stop and come to his office that night.
• Pomona's Polyjuice Potion began wearing off, and Severus pulled her into a broom closet, where she kissed him instead of answering his question.
• Pomona considered the maze's lingering enchantment, Voldemort's Horcruxes, Peter Pettigrew's silver hand, and the Weasley twins' plans for their shop.
• Duport played a cheerful cello tune that left the audience smiling and bouncing along.

Pomona reflected on Taubert Weigel’s injury and her strained relationship with Severus while exhausting herself with nighttime experiments on a spell and antidotes. She remained unable to sleep, haunted by memories of Severus and anxious about her age and the life she might have had.

• Pomona questioned the injured Taubert Weigel about his fall, noticed his mother’s necklace, and learned from Severus that Weigel’s parents had apparently been Animagi.
• Severus cruelly asked Pomona whether she was his girlfriend, and they did not speak for a week afterward.
• Pomona continued testing a powerful spell in remote locations and considered using Billywig stingers to make plants float.
• Pomona thought through Wideye Potion brewing and the challenges of treating compound poisonings.
• After spotting a black hair on her pillow, Pomona remembered Severus, lamented her age, and reflected on Harry Potter’s feats.

Pomona learned more about vampires and Romania before returning to Hogwarts, where she found Severus waiting with Chester Davis. After Severus demanded an answer about their relationship within three days, Pomona took a Calming Draught and fell asleep in the greenhouse preparation room.

• Pomona studied vampire legends and Romania, including Dumbledore's assignment for her to research vampires.
• Pomona saw Cedric and his friends practicing for the third task and learned that Harry was training separately in the Transfiguration classroom.
• Severus summoned Pomona to Greenhouse One, where Chester Davis asked why a broad-spectrum antidote could not cure Doxy venom.
• Pomona explained that the antidotes worked in different ways, then teased Severus about being knocked unconscious by a Unicorn as a child.
• Severus told Pomona she had three days to give him an answer, and Pomona returned to her office, drank a Calming Draught, and went to sleep.

In autumn 1989, Pomona visited the first-years’ flying lesson while Hogwarts students managed the aftermath of a Doxy attack. She watched a dispute over the Quidditch courtyard, then left, troubled by her fading memories.

• Pomona disguised herself as a Hufflepuff student and went to watch Madam Hooch teach Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff first-years to fly.
• Pomona encountered Jennifer disguised as Professor Sprout and learned she had come to reserve the courtyard for Quidditch practice.
• Andre Aigu helped the first-years tidy the field, then challenged players from the other Houses when they arrived.
• Pomona overheard Taubert Vigel boast that he would fly like an eagle and wondered when to expose his illegal Animagus secret.
• Pomona left the courtyard after the players argued over it, then struggled to remember why the place had once agitated her.

Pomona learned more about the secret circumstances surrounding Ivan Rosier’s death and told Dumbledore that Rosier had helped kill Severus’s pet. After Dumbledore asked her to question Ollivander about Harry’s wand, Pomona found a recipe for an Animagus Potion and began planning a hidden study with Severus, but then lost the book.

• Kingsley challenged Moody’s account of Ivan Rosier’s death, and Amelia moved on to the next case before Dumbledore took Pomona back to his office.
• Pomona told Dumbledore that Ivan Rosier had participated in killing Severus’s Prickleback, and Dumbledore asked her to question Ollivander about Harry’s wand.
• Pomona found a recipe for an Animagus Potion among Cassino’s materials and considered hiding the book beneath the greenhouse.
• Severus joined Pomona, teased her about the potion, and said he had missed her before she stopped his advances and made him help sort books.
• Pomona and Severus discussed Moody’s smell and the possibility that Harry’s scar was connected to a dark curse, then Pomona discovered the potion book was missing.

Pomona reflected on werewolves, potion-making, and her suspicions about Ivan Rosier while preparing a secret study beneath the greenhouse. After furnishing it, she realized she had not protected the wooden room from termites and began redoing her work alone.

• Pomona explained the history of cooked food and discussed werewolf instincts, deer antler wine, and vinegar processing as she considered Neville’s vanished soaking antlers.
• Pomona recalled Ivan Rosier’s connection to Severus’s past and worried about students’ treatment of Harry and Neville.
• Pomona made dinner, remembered Harry and Hermione’s escape from Werewolf Lupin, and went to picnic near the greenhouse.
• Pomona whispered Voldemort’s name, felt ill, and returned to the greenhouse to work on a passage and secret basement.
• Pomona furnished the secret study as a treehouse, then realized termites could damage its wooden furniture and started redoing the work alone.

Pomona recovered from a hangover caused by French candy made with Two-Eared Grass Mead and told Severus she had succeeded in making the maze float. Their conversation turned to Felix Rosier’s plans, Hufflepuff, and Percy, leaving Pomona and Severus tense but unharmed after they briefly faced off with wands.

• Pomona studied toxicology and alchemy before giving up on Cassino’s book and turning to French materials Albus had shown her.
• Severus found Pomona in the secret study after she had spent days eating alcohol-laced candy, drenched her with Aguamenti, and took her to the castle for a hangover potion.
• Pomona explained that she had made the maze float by changing the Mountain-Moving Charm’s target to soil with particular characteristics and told Severus Albus had rewarded her with candy.
• Pomona asked whether Felix Rosier would follow his relatives toward the Dark Lord, and Severus said Felix planned to study dragons in Romania and seek a cure for Dragon Pox.
• Pomona challenged Severus about opportunity and Hufflepuff, then suggested Percy might resent Albus; Severus drew his wand, but Pomona lowered hers and left after thanking him for the potion.

Pomona tried to suppress her feelings for Severus, but Fred lifted her spirits with fireworks and a conversation about love and loss. She left the study thinking about Severus and went to check on the Mandrakes.

• Pomona drank a blue potion to calm her racing heart and worked at the underground study's workbench.
• Fred visited to look for something sweet, revealed he was brewing a potent Amortentia, and entertained Pomona with fireworks and a rose.
• Pomona discussed Wuthering Heights and wizarding fairy tales with Fred, then listened as he described his trip to Egypt.
• Fred told Pomona that Severus was lucky to have her, and Pomona reflected on why Severus had loved Lily and why she was drawn to clever boys.
• Pomona left to check on the Mandrakes, taking her pink dragonhide earmuffs.

Pomona considered how temperature and timing affected potions and food while playing chess with Madame Maxime, who revealed her concerns about Fleur and Dumbledore. Madame Maxime gave Pomona Dumbledore’s letter asking her to help with the maze, leaving Pomona wary of how the Beauxbatons headmistress would assist.

• Pomona reflected on Fawkes’s tail feathers and planned to ask Ollivander about Harry’s wand during the Triwizard Tournament’s final task.
• While playing chess, Pomona thought through how temperature affected ingredients, potions, and Neville’s wand affinity.
• Madame Maxime asked Pomona about Hogwarts and Fleur, then sent Audrey Dumont outside so they could speak privately.
• Madame Maxime told Pomona that Fleur had nightmares about failing to save Gabrielle Delacour and feared the third task could cost more lives.
• Madame Maxime showed Pomona a letter from Dumbledore asking her to assist with the maze and said she would help as needed.
• Pomona wondered whether Madame Maxime would favor Fleur, and Madame Maxime said she would visit often to help Pomona practice French.

Pomona reflected on how scent had drawn Madame Maxime to Hagrid, then helped Severus investigate stolen Polyjuice Potion ingredients and the letters sent after Barty Crouch’s death. In the dungeon, Madame Maxime’s voice urged Pomona toward Severus, but Albus’s reminder of Lily’s eyes made her flee.

• Pomona recalled how Madame Maxime had been attracted to Hagrid’s natural scent, and how his mention of being a half-giant had ended her interest in him.
• Pomona demanded help from Severus, who revealed that letters were still arriving for Percy Weasley after Barty Crouch’s death and that ingredients for Polyjuice Potion had been stolen.
• Severus asked Pomona to identify who had taken the ingredients, and said he planned to investigate with Kingsley at Greta’s gathering.
• Pomona thought of Bloody Baron and Draco before Severus confronted her with a small silver knife that could identify poison components.
• Madame Maxime’s voice urged Pomona to act, but Albus told young Severus that she had Lily’s eyes, and Pomona ran from the dungeon.

Pomona built a heated water system beneath the Quidditch Pitch to help prepare the maze’s Fireseed Bushes for its defenses, then sought dragon blood from Charlie. Bill insisted on consulting Dumbledore about how much blood was safe to take, and he and Pomona went to the headmaster’s office, where Bill presented Dumbledore with a gift.

• Pomona laid canals from a water house beneath the Quidditch Pitch and covered the field with turf, leaving the Fireseed Bushes’ defenses unresolved.
• Pomona visited Charlie at the dragon nest and asked him to fill an Extension-Charmed flask with dragon blood for Madame Maxime’s maze defenses.
• Bill stopped Charlie from handing over the blood until he could ask Dumbledore how much the dragons could spare before returning to Romania.
• On the way back to the castle, Pomona asked Bill to inspect the Mirror of Erised with her, suspecting that the Philosopher’s Stone had been hidden inside it.
• Pomona and Bill went to Dumbledore’s office, where Bill gave him a gold lotus-shaped bracelet made from a cubit used to measure the Nile’s floods.

Pomona prepared enchanted candles while the maze was concealed by an unexpected fog, then reflected on the past as Bill returned to Hogwarts and spoke with her about Fleur and Harry. The chapter left Pomona awake in the Room of Requirement, unsettled by what sounded like Bellatrix’s laugh but seeking comfort in Severus’s embrace.

• The maze filled with thick fog, and Albus allowed Ludo Bagman to enter while keeping watch over the situation.
• Pomona began making Hogwarts Great Hall candles and recalled the history of candle-making and the connections formed after the Triwizard Tournament.
• After Severus returned to the Room of Requirement, Pomona lay awake beside him and imagined the Firebird dancing in the darkness.
• Bill told Pomona that Fleur had stunned her dragon during the first task and extinguished the fire on her dress with Aguamenti.
• Pomona and Bill passed Edessa Skanderberg’s portrait, where Andre Egwu was asking the former headmistress about Muggle history.
• A gust shut the hidden bookshelf door, and Pomona heard what might have been Bellatrix’s laugh before drawing closer to Severus for comfort.

Pomona researched an old potion book, discovered Vidimus Tantum and a recipe she hoped could help the Fireseed Bush, then sought rare ingredients in Snape’s private stores. Snape intercepted her and left with Kingsley for a party, while Pomona reflected on dreams, flight, and whether Taubert should be allowed to leave.

• Pomona found the dream-viewing potion Vidimus Tantum and remembered seeing a vision of a family life with Severus in the Mirror of Erised.
• Pomona identified the ingredients she needed for the potion and headed to the Potions classroom to check Snape’s stores for Acromantula venom and Riverseed.
• Fred and George warned Pomona that Snape was in a worse mood than usual and had taken points from Hufflepuff because Cedric was grinning.
• Fred picked up Pomona’s book and saw the dangerous Dark potion Hiatus Mortis before Pomona took it back and warned the twins not to read it.
• Snape caught Pomona seeking ingredients, while Kingsley waited for him outside; Snape told Pomona he was going to a party with Kingsley and left for his office.
• Pomona left the dungeon, thinking about Taubert’s desire to fly and deciding it might be better to let him go.

Pomona and Neville tried brewing a potion, but it exploded and Kingsley intervened. He questioned Pomona about Barty Crouch Jr. and told her to pay closer attention to the students, then revealed that Voldemort’s followers had pursued the Elixir of Life; Pomona began wondering whether Stephanie Smith was a vampire and what she wanted from Severus.

• Severus suspected that Dumbledore and Nicolas Flamel might be the same person because both were associated with phoenixes, while Lily dismissed his theory.
• Pomona and Neville brewed a potion in the greenhouse, but adding sal ammoniac caused an explosion that Kingsley stopped with a shield.
• Kingsley told Pomona that the Muggle Prime Minister was visiting Germany to discuss an agreement ending border checks and sharing criminal records.
• Kingsley questioned Pomona about Barty Crouch and his son, and she said she had barely known Barty Crouch Jr.; Neville suggested that people sometimes joined their attackers to avoid being hurt.
• Kingsley warned Pomona to watch the students more closely and said Voldemort had invented an Elixir of Life that prolonged youth and lifespan.
• Pomona learned that Stephanie Smith had stayed with Kingsley and Severus at the party, then suspected Stephanie might be a vampire with a particular interest in Severus.

Pomona sought help from Albus Dumbledore to fix a potion that had failed when she added bat’s blood, and together they discovered the recipe’s ingredients had been mistranslated. After Albus shared his regrets about choosing to stay with his family instead of leaving with Gellert, Pomona left determined to take a chance on her own desires and visit someone under cover of darkness.

• Pomona asked Madame Maxime about the potion recipe, and Madame Maxime identified its sal ammoniac as Dorema ammoniacum resin but could not explain the bat’s blood.
• Pomona went to Albus Dumbledore, who suggested Honeydukes’ Bat’s Blood Soup and helped her brew the potion successfully using it and the resin.
• Albus told Pomona that Ariana had loved the soup and recalled choosing to stay with his family rather than leave with Gellert, a decision he still regretted.
• Pomona left Dumbledore’s office reflecting on his regrets, changed into her new dress, put on the Invisibility Cloak, and went to kick open the old bat’s door.