Chapter Summaries

The chapter described how Prohibition created a lucrative illegal alcohol trade, including de Latour’s sacramental wine business. Pomona then emerged from the changing area with an unexplained bite and, reminded of a dream involving Snape, walked toward him.

• Mrs. Binns and her wealthy friends evaded Prohibition, while New York police largely ignored underground bars.
• Rum runners grew more powerful than enforcement efforts, and local wine merchants profited from Prohibition’s legal exceptions.
• de Latour supplied huge quantities of wine to priests and rabbis, exploiting the sacramental-use exemption.
• Pomona asked Minerva about an unexplained bite, and Minerva suggested that Poppy examine it.
• Pomona remembered a dream of Snape by the water, spotted him speaking with Kettleburn, and walked toward him.

Pomona discovered that a Puffskein had entered her room and accidentally exposed it to insecticide, then exchanged teasing, intimate moments with Severus while they cleaned each other’s ears. She ended by taking the recovered Puffskein to the Hospital Wing.

• Pomona trapped a Puffskein that burst from her wardrobe and left her insecticide-filled bedroom with it.
• Severus assured Pomona that the Puffskein had not inhaled enough insecticide to be poisoned, and she comforted it as it recovered.
• Pomona and Severus argued playfully about keeping pets before he inspected her ears and she cleaned his.
• Severus cleaned Pomona’s ears while discussing turtles, rain, and Rita Skeeter, but she stopped him from finishing the other ear.
• Pomona found the Puffskein hiding in a corner, and Severus teased her about owning a copy of Hamlet before leaving.
• Pomona took the Puffskein to the Hospital Wing.

Pomona reflected on Poppy’s account of Credence, Grindelwald, and Albus, and on how water might connect infinite worlds. She took a Dreamless Sleep Potion and went to bed, still unsure whether her own perceptions could be trusted.

• Poppy told Pomona that Credence had confessed to killing Henry Shaw and explained her view that Grindelwald had controlled Albus through a shared delusion.
• Poppy said Credence’s girlfriend Nagini had tried to stop him from following Grindelwald, and compared their choices to the white and black swans in Swan Lake.
• Bruno reasoned that water could connect infinite worlds, while Pomona considered the limits of magic and the deaths caused by the destruction in New York.
• Pomona scratched her ear, wondered whether she was hallucinating or caught in folie à deux, and drank Poppy’s Dreamless Sleep Potion before going to bed.

Pomona dreamed of a baby rescued from a shipwreck, whose life unfolded through hardship, war, and a drunken woman who reminded her of herself. She questioned the dream and Isidora’s escape from pain before diving back underwater toward Slytherin.

• Pomona swam through visions of shipwreck victims and watched a woman save a baby by placing him in a suitcase before sinking.
• Pomona saw the rescued boy grow up as a sailor, lose the captain who raised him, marry a beautiful woman, and fight in a snowy battlefield.
• Pomona observed a drunken woman and recalled the history of Prohibition, international liquor smuggling, and Herbert Hoover’s ties to Belgium.
• Pomona connected the woman to herself and thought about Isidora escaping pain through meaningful pursuits.
• Pomona remembered leaving the castle bedroom because of the insecticide smell, then wondered why she was dreaming despite taking Dreamless Sleep Potion.

Pomona prepared the Hogwarts start-of-term feast while reflecting on bullying, social power, and whether Slytherin House should be abolished. She left the kitchen to find Minerva and ask why a letter had still not arrived.

• Pomona recalled William the Conqueror's battlefield fall and Richard III's fatal horseshoe mishap.
• Pomona prepared mango, coconut, and Shrivelfig ice cream for the start-of-term feast.
• Pomona considered how bullying affected Émilie Taylor, Dudley, James, and Slytherin students, and wondered whether the school should abolish Slytherin House.
• Pomona hoped her Hufflepuff students would learn to fight back and left the kitchen to find Minerva about a delayed letter.

After struggling with her anger and fears about Harry, Pomona found comfort in the Fat Friar and regained her composure. Outside her office, Paul demanded to know whether she wanted revenge, and Peeves made matters worse by offering to help get rid of him.

• Pomona reflected on Harry’s repression and the danger that it might turn him into an Obscurial, then stopped cooking and returned to her office.
• The Fat Friar spoke with Pomona about her anger and encouraged her to keep her compassion and optimism.
• Pomona thanked the Fat Friar and left her office feeling calmer, though her smile faded somewhat.
• Paul asked Pomona whether she wanted revenge, and she refused to tell him what she intended unless he made a contract with her.
• Peeves urged Pomona to make a contract with Paul, then offered to help get rid of him after Paul stormed away.

A Muggle Underground fire killed twenty-seven people and injured hundreds as Hogwarts prepared for the students’ arrival. At the Sorting, Elena Aiken rejected Hufflepuff, and Pomona left her future at Hogwarts to a student vote.

• The Daily Prophet reported that a fire at a crowded London Underground station had killed twenty-seven people and injured hundreds.
• Flitwick prepared Hogwarts’s protective magic while the professors welcomed students and awaited the Sorting.
• Elena Aiken challenged the Sorting Hat’s decision to place her in Hufflepuff, and Pomona proposed another path for her to learn magic while attending a Muggle school.
• Percy Weasley was sorted into Gryffindor, and Dumbledore warned students away from the Forbidden Forest before the feast began.
• Minerva brought Aiken to Pomona, who asked Isabella Sidney about her mother’s tutor and proposed that students vote on whether Hogwarts would accept Aiken.

Pomona argued with Albus over whether Elena Aiken should be allowed to join Hufflepuff, then wrestled with questions of compassion, justice, and temptation. After comforting Snape over Paul’s destructive behavior, she led Snape into an office and closed the door in the dark.

• Pomona told Albus she would accept Elena into Hufflepuff only if Elena still wanted to join and the House approved her, while Albus urged her to cancel the vote.
• Albus arranged for Elena to attend classes the next day and receive accommodations, and Pomona left his office reflecting on free will, forgiveness, and the consequences of wrongdoing.
• Snape met Pomona and urged her to obey Albus’s wishes about Elena, saying she could help Elena grow to like Hufflepuff.
• Pomona explained that Paul had painted the kitchen after Peeves told him to sign a contract and leave, and Snape promised to deal with him.
• Pomona embraced Snape, wondered whether he had fallen to sin, and led him into an office, closing the door without lighting it.

Pomona reflected on the Moorgate disaster and the Underground fire before seeking comfort from Severus, who asked her to use her gift to help him forget. She stayed with him through the night, and the chapter ended with her dreaming of a half-finished black wing tattoo.

• Pomona recalled how Mulciber had caused the 1975 Moorgate disaster with the Imperius Curse and earned Voldemort’s Dark Mark.
• Pomona and Severus mourned the Underground fire’s victims as they talked about the day’s events.
• Pomona told Severus she had an awful day, and he asked her to use her gift to help him forget what he had seen.
• Pomona cried as Severus comforted her, and they discussed compassion, justice, and her divided soul.
• Severus enlarged the sofa and stayed in Pomona’s home for the night, while Pomona slept and dreamed of a half-finished black wing tattoo.

Pomona reflected on Elena Aiken’s quiet adjustment to Hogwarts before Severus visited to discuss students, a possible Underground investment, and their feelings for each other. After an intense encounter, Severus proposed bringing Carter back to Hogwarts, while Pomona reaffirmed that she did not want to investigate her own past.

• Pomona considered Elena Aiken’s shyness and decided Ravenclaw could guide her better than Pomona could.
• Minerva told Pomona that the Dursleys were taking Harry Potter to visit his parents, but Pomona declined to go and gave Minerva permission slips to deliver.
• Severus questioned Pomona about her attention to students and Liz Turt’s Hugr lessons, then discussed Malfoy’s plan to seek information about making money from the Underground.
• Pomona warned Severus against joining the Underground venture, and the two shared an intimate, emotionally charged encounter.
• Severus suggested calling Carter back to Hogwarts so he could resume teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Pomona said she would help Severus focus on Potions.
• Severus asked whether Pomona wanted to learn about her past, but she refused and compared her uncertainty to Schrödinger’s cat before going to get his pudding.

Pomona and Severus discussed happiness, jealousy, and the difference between outward harmony and inner pain through paintings of Heaven and Hell. Their playful imitation of a painting brought a brief spark between them, and Pomona ended by wondering what creature could represent Voldemort’s restless pursuit of immortality.

• Pomona reflected on the story of Job and on how Isabella Sidney’s mother treated her magic as an illness, while Isabella chose Hogwarts and kept her distance from home.
• Pomona told Severus about her thoughts on happiness and the paintings of Heaven’s Touch and Hell’s Touch, saying she still felt the Leviathan within her but preferred to look upward.
• Severus asked Pomona to raise her hand, and their fingertips nearly touched before she pulled away and took his unfinished pudding as revenge for his stealing her pumpkin soda.
• Pomona recalled Articia Black’s lost family happiness and asked Severus whether Voldemort would be happy if he became immortal.
• Severus said Voldemort would likely keep pursuing new goals, and Pomona wondered what creature could represent his endless ambition.

Pomona reflected on love, hardship, and her responsibility toward Severus before visiting Hagrid with him after discovering that his pumpkin soda contained vodka. She found Elena Aiken among the students and magical creatures, and Severus urged her to apologize for upsetting the girl.

• Pomona compared Raphael's Madonnas and two depictions of Flora, recalling Rembrandt's devotion to Saskia and thinking of Molly and Arthur.
• Pomona considered how hardship and war made strength necessary to protect happiness, and remembered how she had helped Severus before worrying about his later choices.
• Pomona recalled that Severus had discovered vodka in Hagrid's pumpkin soda and set it alight, so she and Severus went to visit Hagrid.
• Pomona and Severus found Hagrid with first-year students, Charlie, and magical creatures, including a Niffler.
• Severus told Pomona to apologize to Elena Aiken, and Pomona approached the girl while pretending she only wanted to ask Charlie about the Hippogriff and Niffler.

Pomona urged Severus to tutor Helena, an eleven-year-old who had witnessed her grandmother’s death, and challenged his reluctance to help her. Severus agreed to tutor her but remained wary of sending a Muggle-born student to the Potions Tournament at Durmstrang, while Pomona wondered where Isabella Sidney would intern.

• Pomona found the Tree Monkey Frogs gone and told Severus she had come to seek invisible fruit.
• Pomona told Severus that Helena could see Thestrals after witnessing her grandmother die, and explained that Helena wanted help healing her childhood trauma.
• Pomona suggested Helena enter the Potions Tournament and asked Severus to tutor her; he objected to sending a Muggle-born to Durmstrang but reluctantly agreed to tutor her.
• Pomona asked where Isabella Sidney planned to intern, and Severus said she would be at the Ministry of Magic without naming a department.
• Pomona worried that Émilie Taylor blamed her for losing an internship at the Daily Prophet, then headed back to question the students returning from Hogsmeade.

Pomona watched the Potters prepare to go into hiding and worried about Lily’s lingering attachment to Severus, then sought Minerva’s advice about Phoebe dating a pure-blood boy. She reflected on Albus’s thoughts about memory and love before deciding to call Leeds back, and someone knocked at her office door.

• James, Sirius, and the others packed for the Potters’ move into hiding while Pomona noticed Lily packing family photographs, including one of her and Severus as children.
• Pomona worried about what to tell Phoebe regarding her relationship with a Slytherin boy, while Minerva reported that Harry remained confused about the flowers left at a grave.
• Pomona asked Minerva whether she should interfere in Phoebe’s relationship, and Minerva advised her to respect the children’s privacy.
• Pomona recalled a passage about pigments and wondered if Albus had meant that pigments, memory, and love could escape death.
• Pomona muttered the names Barnaby Lee and Ben Cooper and decided she should call Leeds back, then someone knocked at her office door.

Pomona discussed dismantling the Astronomy Tower’s instrument with Albus Dumbledore, then danced with him as he questioned her feelings for Severus and spoke of Severus’s love for Lily. Later, Pomona encountered Severus on patrol, told him Harry was staying in the Muggle world and that she would no longer interfere in Phoebe and Gareth’s affairs, then returned to her room and secured it.

• Pomona argued that students could use Muggle equipment instead of replacing the Astronomy Tower’s instrument, while the Potions Tournament remained Britain’s more urgent concern.
• Pomona and Albus Dumbledore discussed Elena Aiken’s House placement and whether Severus had influenced Pomona, before Albus explained why she needed Polyjuice Potion and asked her to dance.
• Albus told Pomona that Severus loved Lily, prompting Pomona to reflect on the Odyssey and the idea of returning home.
• Pomona saw two students resembling young Severus and Lily in the corridor, then spoke with Severus, who said he believed Sirius had betrayed James.
• Pomona told Severus that Harry was staying in the Muggle world and that she would no longer interfere in Phoebe and Gareth’s affairs; Severus described a rose tree he had seen in the Mirror of Erised.
• Pomona returned to her room, set wards on the door, read before sleeping, and extinguished the candle after noticing its reflection in the mirror.

Pomona encountered Bruno’s trial records and reflected on the destruction of her former home and the loss of everything within it. Denon and the First Consul welcomed her into a new home, though she remained inwardly wounded as the crowd celebrated her.

• Pomona read Bruno’s trial records and ordered the remaining documents brought to her for safekeeping.
• Denon asked Pomona if she missed home, and she returned in a vision to her damaged former house, realizing she had nowhere to return to.
• Denon told Pomona to make the Louvre her home and led her away from the mirror into the palace.
• The First Consul welcomed Pomona before a cheering crowd and urged her to use imagination to overcome confinement.
• Pomona smiled and agreed with the First Consul while privately feeling that her heart had been pierced.

Georgiana reflected on grief, reproduction, and economic policy while preparing for an outing in an elaborate Greek-style outfit. She left her suite with Margarita and Matilda, wrapped in a fox-fur shawl against the North Sea cold.

• Georgiana considered how grief and suffering could persist when there was no cure or escape, and weighed the consequences of bringing children into an unhappy world.
• Georgiana connected cotton shortages and factory employment to blended fabrics, tariffs, and subsidies for French industry.
• Bertin brought Georgiana a selection of clothes, and Georgiana chose an Ancient Greek robe with a golden belt made from the Mughal Diamond.
• Georgiana objected that the outfit was too cold for the North Sea, so Bertin found her a blue fox fur shawl.
• Georgiana took a fan and left the suite with Margarita and Matilda.

Pomona asked Liz Turt to help monitor Barnaby and Ben Cooper, and Liz agreed to learn to share other animals’ Hugr. Meanwhile, Georgiana reviewed political and commercial matters before entering a meeting with Edgeworth, leaving the people inside waiting for her.

• Pomona offered Liz a winter job monitoring Barnaby and Ben Cooper and urged her to choose freely.
• Liz agreed to learn how to share other animals’ Hugr and left Pomona’s office.
• Pomona reflected on Nietzsche’s ideas and the rules of the four Hogwarts houses, feeling less willing to endure.
• Georgiana considered European trade, canals, and William Pitt the Younger while watching the snow.
• Edgeworth encouraged Georgiana before they entered the conference room together.

Pomona treated Elena Aiken and Charlie Weasley after Elena’s experimental potion blinded them, then Georgiana attended a formal signing ceremony tied to her grain system. Georgiana reflected on individual rights and the danger of collective power, uncertain whether her actions in the Mirror World had changed history.

• Pomona read about the Chernobyl evacuation and ignored a distant explosion until a student summoned her to the Hospital Wing.
• Pomona learned that Elena Aiken had turned her attempt to make a Lumos potion into a flashbang and that Charlie Weasley had also been blinded.
• Snape argued that Elena was too young for the Potions Tournament, but Pomona defended her talent and called the experiment an innovation.
• Georgiana attended a signing ceremony and considered the Ever-Normal Granary system, its costs, and the roads Napoleon planned to build along the Rhine.
• Georgiana recalled Severus's warnings about Nazi population farms and considered how collective demands could override individual rights.
• Georgiana questioned whether trapping Credence and saving Berlin had changed history, since she could not know what was right or what her actions had altered.

Charlie found a strange eye while chasing dragonflies and temporarily lost his sight. Pomona confronted Severus about his feelings for her, while Georgiana considered the political forces shaping the Holy Roman Empire and insisted she was not a monster.

• Charlie told Bill and Percy that putting on the eye had left him unable to see, though his vision was beginning to return.
• After leaving the Hospital Wing, Pomona was pulled by Severus into a bathroom stall, where he confessed he could not stop thinking about her.
• Pomona urged Severus to find a girlfriend and let go of Lily, but he rejected her suggestions and left after Myrtle caught them together.
• Paul called Pomona a monster and followed Severus away without answering how long he had been watching.
• Georgiana watched the gathering and weighed the political and economic pressures on the princes, then quietly told herself she was not a monster.