Chapter Summaries

Pomona and Severus investigated a magically frozen room on the fourth floor and found a stone radiating intense cold. Elsewhere, Georgiana and her companions discovered an ornate aquarium whose owner may once have used it as a private refuge.

• Charlie told Pomona that Bill was failing as prefect and that Percy’s influence had helped make the first-years unruly.
• Pomona returned to the castle with Ruse, then went to find Severus and learned from Paul that a room on the fourth floor had frozen over.
• Pomona found Severus and Filch guarding the icy door, and Severus entered the frozen room with her.
• Georgiana and her companions inspected an elaborate aquarium and heard Hunt’s rumor that its owner had used it to be alone.
• Severus used magic to remove a stone from a cabinet and declared that it carried powerful dark magic, so Filch sealed off the floor.

Pomona and the other professors investigated the strange stone and the growing cold and despair at Hogwarts while Dumbledore was away. Ruse warned Pomona and Severus that the atmosphere resembled Azkaban and proposed cancelling Quidditch matches to avoid attracting Dementors.

• Minerva, Pomona, and Severus examined the stone in the greenhouse but found no clear explanation for its chilling effect.
• Pomona found the greenhouse warm again the next day, and Flitwick later found only a lingering aura of dark magic on the stone.
• Pomona patrolled the cold, shadowy castle and heard faint rustling before returning to her office.
• Georgiana explored the abandoned castle and reflected on Voldemort's possible Horcrux and the Wizarding World's refusal to believe Harry.
• Ruse told Pomona and Severus that Hogwarts's atmosphere felt like Azkaban and suggested cancelling Quidditch matches because excited crowds could attract Dementors.

Ruse warned Flitwick, Pomona, and Severus that enchanted stones might turn Hogwarts into a Dementor breeding ground, though they had no proof. After the meeting, Pomona and Severus argued over patrols and detention, and a silvery-white stag Patronus startled Pomona into leaving him.

• Ruse told Flitwick that an outside Dark magic object might be transforming Hogwarts stones into a means of breeding Dementors, and Pomona agreed with his concern.
• Ruse suggested that Hogwarts itself might be calling for help, while the group admitted they had no clues or witnesses to confirm the theory.
• Ruse asked how well students had learned Expecto Patronum, and Severus asked to see Ruse's Patronus, but Ruse refused to reveal it.
• Severus offered to help Pomona patrol if she sent the Amortentia-brewing girls to him for detention, and Pomona questioned whether he could protect himself with a Patronus.
• Severus embraced Pomona and told her to listen to his soul, but a silvery-white stag appeared and Pomona shoved him away before leaving the classroom.

Pomona and Sen Bakar investigated a spreading infection at Hogwarts and linked Isidora’s magic to the Dementors, while Georgiana’s group discovered a recently used Vanishing Cabinet near a fish tank that might belong to the Gaunt family. Pomona discussed the danger with Severus, who urged her to speak honestly about what she wanted, as Dumbledore remained absent.

• Pomona visited Sen Bakar, who showed her that the Hogwarts castle on his sand table had turned golden with blue spots, and they agreed they needed to find the cause of the infection.
• Pomona connected Isidora’s magic to the Dementors and decided they would have to visit Isidora’s home to learn more.
• Severus took over as a substitute teacher alongside Bill while Ruse and Flitwick studied Hogwarts’s magical arrays.
• Hunt found a recently used Vanishing Cabinet, and Georgiana ordered everyone away after suspecting the nearby sea serpents were connected to the Gaunt family.
• Pomona told Severus the infection must be contained, and he brought her lunch and suggested summoning Apulia Moore to ask about the Daedalian Key.
• Severus urged Pomona to express her opinions honestly instead of putting others first, while she wondered when Dumbledore would return.

Albus returned to Hogwarts as the school’s strange incidents and rumors continued, while Georgiana investigated the Vanishing Cabinet. The chapter ended with Pomona finding Ben Cooper frozen in the restricted fourth-floor corridor, with Tonks and Tulip under observation and the cause still unknown.

• Albus returned to Hogwarts, restricted the fourth floor, and Snape resumed teaching Potions while Ruse continued teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts.
• Students’ detention, Valentine’s Day preparations, and rumors about a Ravenclaw girl and Myrtle unsettled life at the school.
• Georgiana asked Bleak to enter the Vanishing Cabinet, but he refused, so she left him waiting in the basement.
• Nearly Headless Nick summoned Pomona to the Hospital Wing, where she found Ben Cooper frozen and Tonks and Tulip unharmed.
• Bill said he had found the three students in the restricted area after receiving a note telling them to go there, and Tonks and Tulip said Ben was already frozen when they arrived.

Minerva and Pomona told Dumbledore that Ben Cooper had been attacked and found carrying a self-burning note, while Tonks was assigned detention and training. At the abandoned castle, Georgiana considered the links between magical objects and Goblin metals, then asked Richard to decide what happiness meant to him.

• Minerva told Dumbledore that Ben Cooper had been attacked and had lost his memory, and the note found on him burned to ashes when Dumbledore touched it.
• Minerva reported that two Hufflepuff students had been injured, and Dumbledore ordered Tonks to begin detention with Minerva the next day.
• Georgiana watched French Ministry of Magic staff search the abandoned castle and reconsidered how Goblin silver and iron might relate to the frog and the Vanishing Cabinet.
• Richard offered Georgiana a drink, and she told him he should not be at the castle but kept her concerns to herself.
• Georgiana asked Richard what happiness meant to him and then went to search for a quiet place alone.

Liz practiced Hugr with Artemis while Pomona and others remained uncertain about Ben's whereabouts. Georgiana reflected on Isidora's ambitions, her own growing independence, and the complicated nature of love before falling asleep in an abandoned castle room.

• Liz practiced sharing Artemis's sight and flight, but their closeness made her risk losing herself.
• Barnaby told Pomona that he and Ben had taken turns keeping Paul company, leaving Ben as the only one who knew his whereabouts.
• Snape suggested using Veritaserum on Ben, but Pomona rejected the idea.
• Georgiana entered an empty room, lit its fireplace, and studied the paintings before recalling how Severus had given her Isidora's writings.
• Georgiana reflected on Isidora's mission, her own desire to reject protection, and the changing perspectives involved in love.
• Georgiana grew sleepy and sensed a large black dog hiding beneath the sofa as she drifted off.

Pomona asked Severus to help Emily Taylor find an internship so she would leave Hogwarts, and told him Ben Cooper had a Time-Turner. Elsewhere, Georgiana reflected on her differences with Isidora before Saint-Hilaire proposed that she become Regent of Spain.

• Pomona asked Severus to find an internship for Emily Taylor, explaining that Emily had been mocking students.
• Pomona offered to tell Severus that Ben Cooper had a Time-Turner, and Severus agreed to help her.
• Georgiana concluded that she and Isidora were fundamentally different and did not share the same view of suffering.
• Saint-Hilaire visited Georgiana and asked whether she wanted to become the Regent of Spain.

Pomona watched a Quidditch match while considering Isidora’s father, the missing key, and whether a Time-Turner could help. Elsewhere, Georgiana learned that she might be driven from Paris, and Saint-Hilaire urged her to go to Spain while promising to keep searching for her books.

• Pomona reflected on Isidora’s father’s depression and considered whether a Time-Turner could reveal how the missing key had been lost.
• Pomona watched Gryffindor play Ravenclaw, with Lucius Malfoy seated beside Snape and Apulia Moore cheering from the front row.
• Saint-Hilaire explained to Georgiana that going to Spain could give her access to the Spanish king’s library, while he continued searching for her books.
• Georgiana asked why she was being treated that way, and Saint-Hilaire compared her situation with Madame du Barry’s efforts against the Duke of Choiseul.
• Georgiana transformed a rabbit specimen into a crystal goblet, offered Saint-Hilaire water, and watched him drink it.

Pomona reflected on appearances, entanglement, and the danger of being useful while preparing a letter to advocate for the Hubble Space Telescope. Georgiana, troubled by Bonaparte’s plans in Spain, left her room to seek someone who could help her understand them.

• Pomona realized the Weird Sisters’ supposed Amortentia gift was actually a cursed doll, and she hoped Lucius Malfoy’s influence would keep Émilie away from her.
• Sinistra urged Pomona to write a serious letter about launching the Hubble Space Telescope, and Pomona reluctantly began drafting it.
• Pomona considered how people became caught in others’ schemes and how destroying one’s usefulness could be the only way to keep it from an enemy.
• Georgiana questioned why Bonaparte was going to Spain while the Inquisition remained there.
• Georgiana left the room where she had been thinking and went to seek help finding a direction.

Pomona learned that Lucius Malfoy had arranged a court-clerk internship for Miss Taylor, prompting Minerva to warn her not to trust him. In the Mirror World, Georgiana reflected on dangerous experiments and political betrayals before meeting Fargeon, who offered his help.

• Pomona and Sinistra discussed the Hubble Space Telescope’s indefinite delay and Sinistra’s plan to visit Australia.
• Minerva told Pomona that Lucius Malfoy had arranged for Miss Taylor to take someone else’s internship as a court clerk.
• Minerva warned Pomona that she trusted her but not Malfoy, then left the staff table.
• Georgiana returned to the empty hall in the Mirror World and considered the risks of experimentation and the value of patience in political struggles.
• Fargeon appeared and told Georgiana that he thought she needed him, and they exchanged greetings.

Pomona helped Severus prepare Cheering Potion, and he gave her a protective necklace made with Salamander blood. Meanwhile, Georgiana reflected on the political pressures surrounding Louisiana and old Versailles mysteries, leaving her focused on the vanished 1987a and the fate of a mysterious general.

• Pomona brought Severus food and helped him bottle Cheering Potion in the Potions classroom.
• Severus gave Pomona a Salamander-blood necklace that could ward off negative emotions.
• Severus told Pomona that Lucius had deliberately arranged for Émilie and Amata to clash, and Pomona asked him to persuade Lucius to assign Émilie elsewhere.
• Severus said he could try to speak to Lucius but suggested Pomona would need to offer him something in return.
• Georgiana considered the political split over selling Louisiana and the pressure caused by her failure to write to Bonaparte.
• Georgiana recalled Versailles legends about vanished documents and turned her attention to the mystery of 1987a’s disappearance and the general who had returned to France.

Severus tried to obtain unicorn blood with Pomona in the Forbidden Forest, but Liz Turt interrupted them and he offered to help with her insomnia in exchange for assistance. In Paris, Georgiana heard a tale about a cave-dwelling god and wondered whether Isidora’s device could imprison Dementors.

• Severus persuaded Pomona to accompany him into the Forbidden Forest to seek unicorn blood for a powerful antidote and to help negotiate with Lucius Malfoy.
• Severus urged Pomona to approach a unicorn foal, but she refused, and their tense exchange was interrupted by Liz Turt.
• Severus asked Liz to help him and offered to solve her sleeping problem in return.
• Fargeon told Georgiana a maid’s story about her brother escaping a cave-dwelling god with raw flour, and said the maid later disappeared without a trace.
• Georgiana connected the story to Dementors and considered using Isidora’s device to imprison them.

Pomona reflected on Leeds’s dangerous spirit wandering and the missing wand of Gellert Grindelwald while life at Hogwarts continued. Later, she reunited with Severus in his repaired storeroom, and they danced together before he carried her into the house.

• After Leeds forgot her spirit wandering and Snape’s sleeping potion, Bathilda Bagshot told Dumbledore that Gellert Grindelwald’s wand had vanished from her home, and Albus discovered it had been missing for years.
• The Unlucky Knight demanded Emily Taylor’s internship opportunity, and Emily left the common room and used the internship as a reason to stay away from school.
• Severus finished repairing his private storeroom, where Pomona joined him and asked why he did not keep Felix Felicis.
• Pomona asked Severus to dance, and they danced in the spring sunlight outside his storeroom.
• Severus asked whether Pomona remembered what happened by the Serpentine Beast window, then swept her into his arms and carried her into the main house.

Pomona helped Charlie handle Gold Necklace and explained that the Hippogriff might need an incentive to fly, then witnessed Ministry officials confront Dumbledore and Hagrid about a supposedly dangerous creature. Later, she reflected on Occam’s Razor at home and scolded her partner about dressing after a bath.

• Pomona restrained Gold Necklace with pumpkin vines when it attacked Charlie, and Hagrid coached Charlie through the Hippogriff’s greeting.
• Pomona explained Occam’s Razor and suggested Charlie try enticing Gold Necklace to fly with food, perhaps fish.
• Dumbledore, Fudge, and Umbridge arrived at Hagrid’s pumpkin patch to investigate a threatening creature, while Pomona and Charlie hid nearby.
• Pomona left Charlie to return to the castle and went deeper into the Forbidden Forest to visit Grubbly-Plank.
• At home, Pomona read about Occam’s Razor, remembered William Blake’s Red Dragon, and told her partner to put on his clothes after bathing.

Pomona and Grubbly-Plank considered who had exposed Spark’s secret, while Pomona later reflected on Severus’s dependence on her and his devotion to Lily. The chapter left Pomona writing to Director Thugut with doubts about whether Severus loved her or merely used her.

• Pomona suspected Severus might have informed on them, while Grubbly-Plank suggested Émilie could have discovered Spark’s secret by accident.
• Pomona changed the subject and discussed Leeds with Grubbly-Plank.
• Pomona read about astronomy, prophecy, and how people distinguished observable facts from supernatural claims.
• Severus asked Pomona to obtain more Graphorn powder, and she considered how easily he could get rare ingredients through her.
• Pomona wondered whether Severus loved her or used her, then set aside her book and wrote to Director Thugut.

Severus asked Pomona to press for Lucius Malfoy’s historical material to be added to the History of Magic curriculum, while Pomona reflected on Spain’s Church, economy, and Inquisition as she cooked. The chapter ended with Pomona and the scarred Potions master sharing a candlelit dinner and preparing to drink wine together.

• Severus showed Pomona Lucius Malfoy’s material and told her to ask whether it could be added to History of Magic in exchange for its return to its rightful owner.
• Pomona told Severus that Hagrid had taken Spark away, and Severus accepted that the animal was safe.
• Pomona cooked salad and pizza while thinking about Spain’s Inquisition, economy, and the Ministry of Magic’s sources of income.
• Pomona brought dinner to the Potions master and found that he had lit candles and arranged the dining room.
• The Potions master kissed Pomona gently, offered her wine, and went to fetch it as she decided to get wineglasses.

Pomona brought Snape the matured Mandrake infected with Dancing Acid, then spent the evening drinking unusual wine with him. Snape hinted that the wine was connected to how Voldemort met Quirrell in Albania, leaving Pomona curious and too tipsy to think clearly.

• Pomona overheard Snape assign a Ravenclaw boy Thursday detentions until the end of term.
• Pomona brought Snape the matured Dancing Acid-infected Mandrake and told him to cover his ears.
• Pomona reflected on Spain's economic crises and the differences between Snape and Malfoy.
• Pomona drank unusual wine with Snape at an abandoned house.
• Snape asked how Voldemort had met Quirrell in Albania, and Pomona wondered what the question had to do with the wine.

Pomona worried that Voldemort might have survived and tried to comfort Severus, whose fears and memories stirred during a discussion of war and famine. The chapter ended with the two turning to Wizard’s Chess after Severus said he wanted to stop thinking about blood and war.

• Pomona noticed Gryffindor and Slytherin nearly tied for House points, and Severus walked away after she compared Slytherin to a snake that must become a Dragon.
• Pomona considered Voldemort’s possible return, the Dark Mark, and the danger posed by the Goblins, then suggested that she and Severus investigate Albania.
• Severus asked whether Pomona was afraid, and she admitted she was before he embraced her and reassured her.
• Pomona reflected on war, famine, and economic upheaval, then experienced a disturbing vision of Severus, Nagini, and a bloodstained silver coin.
• Severus told Pomona that Draco wanted to become a professional Quidditch player rather than inherit the family business, and Pomona suggested flying or playing Wizard’s Chess.
• Severus said he wanted to stop thinking about blood and war, so Pomona summoned a chess set and began arranging the pieces.

Severus prepared a broad-spectrum antidote for the Centaurs and questioned Pomona about her past visits to Lupin and the Shrieking Shack. After Pomona asked him about delayed poisons, they played chess and ended the night together, with Severus taking Sleeping Potion before bed.

• Severus treated an infected Mandrake in ice water and said the antidote was for neighbors who might suffer spider bites.
• Severus asked Pomona about the Whomping Willow, her visits to the Shrieking Shack, and whether she was an Animagus, then warned her that Barnaby's uncle was hunting people like Lupin.
• Pomona asked Severus about poisons that took years to work and recounted Simonetta's story; Severus asked whom she wanted to poison and then requested to see her other successes.
• Severus beat Pomona at chess, and she refused to put the scattered pieces away.
• Severus held Pomona as they sat quietly, then took Sleeping Potion and fell asleep before Pomona tried to rest.