Chapter Summaries

Pomona hosted a celebratory Christmas dinner for Hermione’s return to work, where talk of pure-bloods and the Elder Wand led her to confront Hermione about watching Severus die. Hermione asked Severus to teach her Occlumency, and he said he would consider it, leaving her as his fellow prisoner.

• Pomona served Hermione, Severus, and Draco a Christmas-like dinner to celebrate Hermione’s return to work.
• Pomona defended Draco’s abilities and challenged Hermione’s assumptions about pure-bloods, while Draco mocked the Weasleys.
• Pomona explained how wand allegiance worked and praised Draco for earning the Elder Wand’s recognition.
• Severus pointed out that Arthur had survived Nagini’s attack while he had died, and Pomona asked Hermione whether she had been at the boathouse and why she had not saved him.
• Hermione admitted she had been there and asked Severus to teach her Occlumency; he said he would consider it.
• The dinner ended in silence, and Pomona privately hoped she could stay colorful despite being Severus’s fellow prisoner.

Pomona reflected on her complicated bond with Severus and the choices he had made before the story returned to the pair spending a quiet winter evening together. Their reunion, Severus’s covert interference with the Department of Mysteries plot, and their intimacy left the chapter focused on their relationship as Draco and Hermione remained nearby.

• Pomona recalled how she had followed the wounded Severus, questioned his loyalties and morality, and feared the consequences of their Unbreakable Vow.
• Pomona and Severus sat together by the fire while Draco and Hermione stayed in the study, and they teased each other about Lily and Pomona’s feelings for him.
• Pomona guessed that Severus had sent Devil’s Snare to Bode to alert the Aurors, and Severus confirmed that the strengthened security had complicated Lucius’s plans.
• Severus admitted that he had used Emmeline Vance to draw the Aurors away, and Pomona criticized him while praising his care for Lupin.
• Pomona told Severus that Draco was staying the night, but Severus ignored the suggestion to speak with his godson and kissed her instead.

Pomona confronted Severus Snape about his past use of Confundus Charms and challenged his harsh views of Sirius and the Weasleys. After they discussed a possible hidden connection between Grindelwald, the Elder Wand, and someone from Lily’s letter, Pomona and Severus reconciled and affirmed that their intimacy had been consensual.

• Pomona accused Severus of using Confundus Charms on her at Christmas and during the second task, then punched him when he fell silent.
• Hermione left with a House-elf to visit the Abbotts in Godric’s Hollow, while Severus discussed Draco’s wand, Astoria’s business, and an attack on Diagon Alley with Draco.
• Severus told Pomona that Lily’s letter suggested Grindelwald might have left Nurmengard, and Draco questioned whether the Grindelwald killed by the Dark Lord had truly owned the Elder Wand.
• Severus and Draco criticized Harry Potter and Ron Weasley for past rule-breaking, and Severus rebuked Pomona for excusing their mistakes and indulging Sirius.
• Pomona apologized to Severus and hugged him, then told him she had willingly been with him and that his Confundus Charm had not influenced her; Severus relaxed and accepted her affection.

Severus trained Draco in fighting in darkness while Pomona reflected on her incurable curse and her determination to save Severus from the fate she feared for him. The chapter ended with Pomona watching the duel and lamenting how unfair fate had been to them both.

• Draco darkened the common room with the Hand of Glory, and Severus lit it with Bluebell Flames before attacking him with spells.
• Draco dodged Severus's hexes and avoided a pit, while Pomona repeatedly warned them not to damage the house.
• Severus told Draco to strengthen his basic defenses and asked whether he remembered how the Dark Lord had died.
• Pomona considered her curse, Severus's possible death, and her desire to learn Lily's protective spell and save him from hell.
• Pomona watched Severus and Draco duel among the blue flames and sighed over their cruel fates.

Pomona pieced together how Voldemort had survived and escaped Hogwarts, then left Severus and Draco to continue practicing while she went to bathe. Draco faced the choice of giving up the Elder Wand and finding a new one, while Pomona chose to spend time with Severus rather than cling to regrets.

• Pomona reasoned that Wormtail had safeguarded Voldemort's wand and helped restore him, while Pyrites had carried away Voldemort's corpse and the Resurrection Stone ring.
• Pomona concluded that Voldemort had escaped Hogwarts by possessing an Acromantula and that Severus had developed a potion to give him a temporary body.
• Pomona recalled that Sirius's Tracking Charm could expose any disguise and that Death Eaters had stolen books from the Black family library.
• Pomona told Draco not to imitate Severus's Apparition and advised him to use the wand's lingering loyalty or buy a new one.
• Severus told Draco he was no longer the Elder Wand's master and urged him to choose a new wand, while Pomona left with Severus to bathe.

Pomona and Severus talked in the bath about his past, the curse, and the children she had protected during the battle at Hogwarts. She shared her theory about what creature the Dark Lord possessed after his defeat, then drifted into unsettling thoughts about death and forbidden magic.

• Pomona wondered whether the cauldron Severus used for the resurrection potion had been the magical Luck Pot from a fairy tale.
• Severus explained that he had acted coldly toward Harry because he had been terrified of dying alone.
• Pomona said she had to protect the Hufflepuff children, and Severus agreed to help look after them.
• Pomona theorized that Pyrites might have been the living creature the Dark Lord possessed after Lily's death.
• Severus urged Pomona to stop overthinking and focus on what she could feel, while she reflected on Dumbledore, death, and forbidden magic.

Pomona realized that Voldemort’s final Horcrux was probably his wand and suspected its influence was causing her to hear strange voices. She and Severus planned to separate for safety, while reaffirming their commitment to protecting Draco and each other.

• Pomona reasoned that Voldemort had made his final Horcrux from his yew-and-phoenix-feather wand, which Peter Pettigrew had used to torture her.
• Pomona told Severus that she feared the wand might control her as Tom’s diary had controlled Ginny, and proposed that she and Hermione move to Osmanthus Street while Severus stayed with Draco.
• Severus said Draco had chosen frail Astoria over Pansy and urged Pomona to respect his choice; Pomona called it a dead end, and Severus said Draco still had hope.
• Pomona asked about Scorpius’s middle name and suggested a Titan associated with the sun, then noticed the crown tattoo above Severus’s Dark Mark.
• Severus told Pomona that she could summon him when needed and that the pain of the tattoo reminded him he was alive and needed.

Pomona weighed the danger of involving Harry Potter in an Acromantula extermination and decided to visit him herself rather than lure him into a deadly trap. She set out through the snow, leaving her plan for persuading him unresolved.

• Pomona read that Accionites had caused the London blackout and worried about the exhausted Minister Kingsley.
• Pomona and Severus discussed a planned Acromantula extermination, and she suggested Harry might join if Ron Weasley did.
• Pomona recognized that recruiting Harry would put his life at risk and resolved not to deceive him as Dumbledore had.
• Pomona drank Polyjuice Potion, sent Honey to fetch Hermione, and told Severus she was going to visit Harry Potter.
• Pomona encouraged herself and trudged through the snow toward Hannah Abbott's home.

Pomona reflected on her tangled feelings about Sirius and Severus before recalling a dangerous flight from her past and a confusing vision of intimacy with Severus. In the snowy village, she confronted Hermione, accused her of failing to save Snape, and set out to persuade Harry to become Hogwarts’s Defense Against the Dark Arts professor while threatening to hurt Ron if Hermione stood in her way.

• Pomona recalled how Lily married James, considered Sirius a possible rival for her affections, and blamed Severus for failing to prevent Harry’s reckless choices.
• Pomona remembered fleeing through a storm on a Thestral while owls shielded her from Death Eater spells, then found herself in a disorienting scene with Severus urging her to abandon her mission.
• Pomona reflected that difficult choices and moral compromises shaped wizarding lives, and she looked toward the monument to James, Lily, and Harry in the village square.
• Hermione approached Pomona and said they had a problem concerning Professor Snape, but Pomona accused her of letting grief prevent her from saving him.
• Pomona told Hermione she wanted Harry to become Hogwarts’s Defense Against the Dark Arts professor and argued that he needed advice rather than a choice of his own.
• Pomona ignored Hermione’s challenge and walked toward Harry’s house, threatening to target Ron if Hermione opposed her.

Pomona and Hermione argued over old betrayals as Hermione shared clues from Lily’s letter and the Order of the Phoenix’s past. They began to suspect Sirius had been hunting traitors, while other former Order members might have been involved in his death, and Pomona looked for a safe home for Harry and Ginny.

• Pomona defended Snape and challenged Hermione’s belief that Sirius and Wormtail had betrayed the Potters, while Hermione described the Aurors’ investigation into the McKinnon murders.
• Hermione and Pomona reasoned that Sirius had not lived in his Black family room after running away, and Hermione proposed returning to the Black family home to investigate Lily’s letter.
• Pomona revealed that Dumbledore and Grindelwald had been lovers, and Hermione recounted the attack by Nagini at Bathilda Bagshot’s house and her doubts about how easily Neville killed the snake.
• Pomona concluded that Sirius may have been tasked with finding traitors in the Order, and Hermione said Sirius had trusted Snape’s warning that Harry was at the Ministry.
• Pomona warned Hermione to beware former Order members who could enter Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place, then asked whether the Longbottom home could shelter Harry and Ginny.

Pomona reconsidered why Severus had let Harry pursue Sirius and how reckless choices could bring terrible consequences. Hermione then told her about Ludo Bagman’s gambling debts and how Albert Runcorn and Dolores Umbridge had used the fallout to gain influence at the Ministry and with the Goblins.

• Pomona reasoned that Severus had allowed Harry to act freely because stopping him might have driven him into an even greater disaster, and she chose to focus on the family she still had.
• Pomona recalled how Umbridge protected Hermione during the Ministry infiltration and later returned to power by adapting to changing circumstances.
• Hermione explained that Ludo Bagman’s gambling and cheating had left debts that Fred and George pursued and had damaged the Order’s effort to win Goblin support.
• Pomona learned that Albert Runcorn had settled Bagman’s debts and swayed the Goblins toward the Death Eaters, while he and Dolores Umbridge rose in the Ministry.
• Hermione said the scandal had involved Fred and George using Aging Potion to manipulate the Triwizard Tournament, and Pomona laughed in shock at what she had forgotten.

Pomona and Hermione discussed Severus’s freedom, Sirius’s expensive Firebolt, and the different lives Severus and Sirius had pursued as they walked toward the Potter home. At the gate, they considered James’s failures and Harry’s worsening wound, while Pomona kept Severus’s past from Harry.

• Pomona reflected that Severus had embraced freedom and lived happily after breaking away from his self-imposed constraints.
• Hermione and Pomona pieced together how Bagman’s debts and Sirius’s need for a broom had led to the Irish team’s purchase of seven costly Firebolts.
• Pomona told Hermione that Sirius valued friendship and loyalty, while Severus now focused on caring for Draco, Pomona, and the people he liked.
• Pomona said Harry could not learn Sirius’s story because he had already forgiven Severus, and she shared Chocolate Frogs with Hermione as they walked through the snow.
• At the Potter family gate, Pomona criticized James for failing to protect his family and said Harry’s wound from Nagini had not responded to Hermione’s treatment.
• Pomona blamed James’s arrogance for the tragedy at Godric’s Hollow but stayed silent when Hermione asked what Severus had done wrong.

Pomona visited Harry and Ginny Potter’s home in 2005, where memories of Lily and the past left her shaken. After meeting Teddy Lupin and catching up with the family, Pomona urged Harry to get a cat as a pet, leaving him bewildered.

• Pomona recalled her work erasing Muggles’ memories after Harry’s move and remembered encountering Severus Snape at Hogwarts.
• Hermione brought Pomona to Harry and Ginny’s home, where Pomona briefly lost herself in memories of Lily before Hermione brought her back to the present.
• Pomona spoke with Ginny about Harry’s work, the Christmas prison break, and their family, then met Teddy Lupin and gave him chocolate.
• Ginny explained that Harry had rebuilt the house and that she sometimes heard a woman singing there, which Harry thought was Lily.
• Harry came downstairs and spoke with Pomona about Neville and her marriage, then Pomona and Hermione urged him to get a cat instead of a dog.

Pomona urged Harry to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts and help Neville deal with the Acromantulas threatening Hogwarts, warning that the school’s safety mattered especially for Teddy’s future. Harry agreed to protect the children, while Pomona pressed Ginny to move her family somewhere safer.

• Pomona joked with Ginny, Hermione, Harry, and Teddy about Tonks, old romances, and the story of Titanic during breakfast.
• Pomona told Harry that Hogwarts might face a review and asked him to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts for half a year; Harry listened as she explained Lupin’s Ministry work and the need to promote Expecto Patronum.
• Pomona asked Harry to help Neville exterminate the Acromantulas threatening the Forbidden Forest, and Harry agreed.
• Pomona reminded Harry that Teddy might have few safe schools if Hogwarts could not continue operating, then urged Harry to protect the students by patrolling the castle.
• Pomona warned Ginny that The Burrow was no longer safe and suggested that she and her parents move; Ginny eyed Pomona warily as the breakfast table fell silent.

After breakfast, Pomona and Hermione argued about Harry, the centaurs, and their plans for a spider-extermination operation before Severus took Pomona away from the street. They discussed Lily and the past, then planned a London date, though Pomona ended the chapter storming out after Severus teased her about her outfit.

• Pomona warned Hermione about Luna Lovegood and Grindelwald, discussed Hermione’s work with the centaurs and House-elves, and suggested she bring Winky along.
• Pomona and Hermione talked about Remus, Sirius, and the incident in which James saved Severus from a werewolf attack.
• Severus appeared, told Hermione to go to work, and Apparated with Pomona to a warm room.
• Pomona lamented that Lily had not invited her to the wedding, and Severus explained that Lily had feared Pomona and Sirius would become the wedding’s focus.
• Severus invited Pomona to see a film in London and explained that he was waiting for Kingsley to decide whether werewolves could be executed.
• Pomona asked Severus for a Polyjuice Potion antidote, then stormed out after he teased her about her previous outfit.

Pomona reflected on Severus’s rivalries and the secret love between Dumbledore and Grindelwald while walking with Severus through Hyde Park. Their debate about love, survival, and self-sacrifice ended with a passionate kiss.

• Severus considered Kingsley Shacklebolt his new opponent after losing Sirius, while reflecting on his own place in history.
• Pomona went with Severus to Hyde Park, where she recalled that Dumbledore and Grindelwald had been lovers and regretted telling Hermione their secret.
• Pomona and Severus argued over whether Rose loved Jack or relied on him to survive the Titanic disaster.
• Severus asked whether Pomona would let him take a lifeboat if he wanted to live, and she said she would rather sink than accept him surviving like a coward.
• Severus claimed he had given Pomona freedom like Jack had given Rose, then kissed her, and Pomona returned the kiss.

Pomona and Severus discussed their pasts, the dangers of wizarding and Muggle power, and the lives shaped by love and sacrifice during a walk through London. As they rode together in a carriage, they spoke about their wedding and Pomona’s wish to become human, which Severus answered by proposing they seek the Sorcerer’s Stone.

• Pomona and Severus saw the London Eye and declined a ride on the sightseeing carriage.
• Severus pulled Pomona into a carriage and kissed her as they rode through London.
• Pomona asked why Severus had blown up the rosebushes, and he said Karkaroff’s constant attention had irritated him.
• Severus cried over Dumbledore’s sacrifice, and Pomona comforted him while they discussed his Unbreakable Vow and their wedding guests.
• Pomona said she wanted to invite Fleur Delacour and Bill Weasley and spoke of her wish to become human.
• Severus suggested they make the Sorcerer’s Stone together, but Pomona refused and warned him not to return them to darkness.

Pomona tried to stop Severus from creating a Sorcerer's Stone and destroying the world, while confronting his desperation to save her from her curse. After Severus threatened to kill Narcissa Malfoy to break his vow, Pomona comforted him and asked him to take her home.

• Pomona reflected on the threat of atomic weapons and feared that Severus might pursue immortality by creating a Sorcerer's Stone and become a new Dark Lord.
• In a carriage, Pomona urged Severus not to cross the line that could make them like Grindelwald and Dumbledore, but he continued to press her about their feelings and the past.
• Severus drew his wand and gave Pomona a choice between her own death and Narcissa Malfoy's, hoping Narcissa's death would invalidate his vow.
• Pomona warned that Narcissa might be the only person able to protect her and reminded Severus that he would lose a true friend; he broke down crying.
• Pomona comforted Severus, suggested searching the Black family's books for clues to her curse, and asked him to take her home.
• At one in the afternoon, Severus Apparated with Pomona, who resolved to spend the end of the world with him.

Pomona and Severus discussed pure-blood marriage, family history, and the possible survival of Corvus Lestrange V, while confronting their past choices and their relationship. Severus burned Bellatrix's portrait from the Black family tapestry and conjured a clumsy swan before leaving Pomona behind.

• Pomona explained how marrying Sirius as a Lestrange could have helped avoid several future disasters, and Severus dismissed her idea as an impossible dream.
• Pomona speculated that Corvus Lestrange V might have survived the shipwreck and been raised by another family, while Severus questioned her knowledge of the Lestranges and threatened to use Teddy against Andromeda.
• Pomona admitted that she had known Lily and the Kama family through memories of summers spent at Tom's house, and she defended choosing Severus over Sirius.
• Severus said Pomona belonged to him and contrasted her situation with the Kama family's old scandal, then asked her why she had chosen him.
• Severus burned Bellatrix's face off the Black family tapestry and conjured a clumsy swan before leaving the room.

Pomona reconsidered whether she might descend from Corvus Lestrange and reflected on how emotion and fate had shaped the people around her. She comforted Severus over his curse and challenged his judgment of Sirius, but he left her questioning why Jack had boarded the Titanic.

• Pomona theorized that the real Corvus Lestrange might have survived the shipwreck and that Credence had been set up to die in his place.
• Pomona connected Sirius's estrangement from his family and his time in hiding to the Black family’s history and Severus's role as a double agent.
• Pomona found Severus curled up by the stairs and sat with him as he showed her the scar left by his Unbreakable Vow.
• Pomona told Severus that he might break the curse by ceasing to love people, then admitted that he had freed her to be herself.
• Severus argued that Sirius had failed to take risks and adapt, and Pomona asked why Severus had not warned him.
• Severus called Pomona an idiot and asked why Jack had needed to board the Titanic, leaving her unable to answer.