Chapter Summaries

Pomona prepared for the graduation banquet while reflecting on Severus’s thanks for inviting him to the cinema and reading a review of The Matrix. The review led her into thoughts about memory, perception, trust, and history, while Severus stayed in the storeroom and warned her not to make faces.

• Elena struggled to control her broom during her make-up flying exam, while Pomona wondered how Remus had been doing.
• Severus thanked Pomona for not pressuring him, explaining that he had accepted her invitation to the cinema rather than simply agreeing to watch a film.
• Pomona read a review of The Matrix and considered how people perceived the world, how memories could be altered, and how those factors affected trust and testimony.
• Pomona’s thoughts turned to medieval Germany, the Church, and the question of how rulers might have acted if they treated others like family.
• Pomona complained that the film sounded interesting and called Neo stubborn, and Severus warned her from the storeroom not to make faces.

Pomona and Severus spent a day together in Muggle London, sharing a kiss and watching Braveheart despite Severus using magic to get them into the cinema. During the film, Pomona reflected on whether Severus was real and felt his heart beating beneath her hand.

• Pomona and Severus bought a white rose and left the flower shop together.
• Severus kissed Pomona in a park, and they ate at a restaurant before heading to the cinema.
• Pomona bought one ticket for Braveheart, but Severus Confunded the attendant and entered without paying.
• Severus and Pomona took seats that belonged to other people, who left when they noticed him.
• While watching the film, Pomona questioned whether Severus was real, then felt his heart beating when she touched his chest.

Pomona watched Bill negotiate with Slytherin students, then discussed punishment, justice, and Igor Karkaroff with Severus. At the cinema, she and Severus watched Neo's interrogation in The Matrix, and the chapter ended as Neo's phone rang.

• Pomona hid while Bill traded questions with three Slytherins, then continued to the dungeons after they parted peacefully.
• Pomona brought herbs to Severus and discussed Percival Dumbledore's punishment, the limits of state authority, and whether Severus should seek revenge on Igor Karkaroff.
• Pomona and Severus watched Neo get captured and interrogated in The Matrix, while Pomona compared the agents' surveillance to Umbridge's control at Hogwarts.
• After an audience member insulted the film, Severus glared at him and Pomona cast Muffliato so she and Severus could talk privately.
• Neo woke in his apartment, and his phone rang as the chapter ended.

Pomona and Severus discussed medieval legal records before watching Trinity’s actions in the Matrix and debating whether her fight against the system justified killing police officers. As Neo trained to master the Matrix, Pomona questioned the moral cost of destroying a false but sustaining world.

• Pomona found an escaped leech beside Severus’s Confundus Potion, and he explained that older leeches produced a stronger effect.
• Pomona told Severus about Edward II and the Knights Templar, prompting him to connect the historical records to the Avignon Captivity and the Hundred Years’ War.
• Pomona took Severus’s hand and returned with him to the classroom, where she found unfamiliar tea waiting on the desk.
• Pomona considered the limits of self-defense and the moral conflict between Trinity, the police, and the Matrix while watching the film with Severus.
• Neo continued training in the Matrix, and Pomona questioned whether he was truly mastering destruction.

The chapter described the Inquisition’s methods and Spain’s social pressures before turning to Cypher’s choice to betray Morpheus and return to the Matrix. It left Cypher convinced that the comfortable illusion of steak and privilege was preferable to the bleak real world.

• The chapter explained how the Inquisition interrogated, tortured, and punished suspected heretics, while Pope Sixtus IV urged Ferdinand to reform it.
• The chapter described how unemployed Spanish commoners sought status through education and church careers, sometimes holding grudges against those who had taken opportunities from them.
• The chapter compared the Inquisition with Salem’s secular witch trials and Britain’s Habeas Corpus protections.
• Cypher betrayed Morpheus and the others so he could return to the Matrix and live comfortably.
• Cypher rejected the real world as a hopeless nightmare and decided that steak and privilege were worth choosing ignorance.

Pomona wrestled with the limits of Habeas Corpus, the Ministry’s laws, and magical surveillance while feeling powerless to intervene in the matters around her. She left her office and wandered Hogwarts, where she watched a film about surveillance and considered how little she could explain or change.

• Pomona considered whether Habeas Corpus could protect Severus and doubted that the Ministry of Magic would recognize a writ from King's Bench.
• She reflected on historical legal disputes, the credibility of witnesses, and the frustration of being unable to act.
• Pomona closed her book and left her office to wander through the school.
• She watched a film in which Neo encountered a blonde woman who turned out to be an agent, and thought about surveillance and privacy.
• Pomona compared the Trace on underage wizards with the Ministry’s refusal to believe Dementors could attack Harry and his cousin outside Azkaban.

Pomona learned that Paul wanted Barnaby and Cooper to keep pursuing their goals without feeling obligated to care for him. She then watched a film about Gideon’s fight for a fair trial and criticized the agents’ disregard for legal rights.

• Pomona stopped two students from chasing Paul after he ruined their notes, then spoke with him about leaving once Barnaby and Cooper graduated.
• Paul explained that he did not want to obstruct Barnaby and Cooper’s ambitions, and Pomona reflected on the difficulties they faced in completing school.
• The film recounted how Gideon was convicted without a lawyer, appealed to the Supreme Court, and won the right to legal counsel for indigent defendants.
• The film described the history and limits of Habeas Corpus, while Pomona complained that the agents on screen ignored people’s rights and Severus said they were putting on a performance.

Pomona found Snape troubled after Lucius Malfoy visited him and challenged his ideas about sacrifice, justice, and Dumbledore’s motives. She began to explain another choice through the film they were watching, but paused to watch Neo meet the Oracle.

• Gideon's lawyer exposed flaws in Cook's testimony, and Gideon was released after Cook's lie about his criminal record made his testimony inadmissible.
• Pomona saw Lucius Malfoy leave the dungeon and found Snape sitting gloomily in the Potions classroom.
• Pomona told Snape the new password to Dumbledore's office was Ginger Newt Biscuit and argued that Dumbledore enjoyed being around children.
• Snape asked whether sacrificing one person for many was right, and Pomona countered by asking whether people could sacrifice others to preserve themselves.
• Pomona and Snape discussed the lifeboat case, Grindelwald, Trinity, and the moral consequences of sacrificing people for collective survival.
• Pomona said the shipwrecked crew had another choice, then asked to finish watching Neo meet the Oracle.

Pomona reflected on the Joker’s rise, social inequality, luck, and the choices people made before questioning Severus about whether people could change and whether he felt she blamed him. The chapter ended with Severus asking what terrible crime had made her hate him.

• The Joker’s attempted suicide left him near death, while Thomas Wayne’s condemnation helped inspire masked attacks on the rich and made the Joker a political figure.
• The narration contrasted Batman’s careful reliance on police procedure with the unequal access to legal help and resources faced by poor people like Gideon.
• Pomona considered how luck and opportunity shaped lives, comparing Lily’s happiness with Severus’s choices and recalling James’s willingness to change for Lily.
• Pomona challenged Severus’s assumptions about sacrifice and asked whether people could change, citing her meeting with Paul.
• Severus asked whether Pomona blamed him, and she asked why he thought she did.

The chapter examined the legal and moral questions raised by the R v Dudley and Stephens case, linking public punishment and innocence to Bruce’s suffering and Arthur’s family hardship. It ended with Pomona asking Severus how he defined “innocent,” and Severus pausing to consider his answer.

• The chapter recounted how Dudley and Stephens had killed Parker while stranded at sea, and how public support and maritime custom initially protected them from arrest and punishment.
• The case reached Sir William Harcourt, whose insistence on prosecution helped prevent the supposed maritime custom from becoming an accepted legal precedent.
• The chapter connected the law’s punishment of the guilty and innocent to Bruce, who had suffered despite being innocent, and to Arthur’s mother, whose medicine was discontinued amid welfare cuts.
• Pomona questioned Severus about innocence and denied that her blame of him was based on him being a sinner.
• Severus challenged Pomona’s reasons, then fell silent to think about how he defined innocence.

Pomona and Snape discussed whether a child who drank seawater despite being warned could understand the consequences of his actions, after the chapter examined historical legal standards for insanity and criminal responsibility. Snape suggested the child’s ignorance and fearlessness explained his choice, leaving Pomona worried that Harry Potter might behave similarly.

• The chapter traced English legal standards for insanity through cases involving Hadfield, Bellingham, Oxford, and M'Naghten, including the creation of the M'Naghten Rule.
• M'Naghten was found not guilty by reason of insanity after he killed the Prime Minister’s secretary while believing he was being followed by ghosts.
• The chapter recounted how Dudley and Stephens were convicted and sentenced to hanging, then had their sentences commuted by the Queen and were imprisoned for six months.
• Pomona asked Snape why a child had drunk seawater after being warned not to.
• Snape suggested the child was ignorant of the world but fearless, and Pomona worried Harry Potter might act the same way.

Pomona and Snape debated whether Dumbledore, Percival, and others could be forgiven for sacrificing or harming people, while Pomona tried to keep Snape from rejecting the rules and leaving. The chapter ended with Snape calmer, though Pomona worried Malfoy might return to the school.

• The chapter recounted how Arthur’s mental illness led to his confinement in a psychiatric hospital and reviewed legal tests for insanity, while Parker watched adults decide his fate without consulting him.
• Pomona said she did not believe Percival was wrong to avenge his daughter, and Snape asked whether Ariana had been innocent and whether Dumbledore was a saint.
• Pomona challenged Snape to consider whether he wanted to become a sinner like Sirius Black and urged him to remember that scholars did not rely on luck.
• Snape said Dumbledore had simply chosen him, and Pomona praised his cleverness and Occlumency while trying to calm his resentment.
• Pomona soothed Snape, then worried that Malfoy, as a school governor, might return to the school.

Pomona reflected on the Joker, destructive impulses, and the choices that shaped people before confronting Dumbledore about Severus and his reasons for staying at Hogwarts. Dumbledore urged her to give Severus a chance, then defended his faith in education and personal choice, leaving Pomona shaken by the power roiling behind the office door.

• Pomona considered Arthur's illness, the Joker's delight in destruction, and how masked followers could return to ordinary lives after their revolt.
• Pomona found Dumbledore packing an Invisibility Cloak and told him about her encounter with Malfoy and her worries about Severus.
• Dumbledore said Severus had been given a reason to stay and urged Pomona to give him a chance, while Pomona argued that love and understanding mattered more than the greater good.
• Pomona asked whether Dumbledore had forgiven those who hurt his sister, and he replied that people could change through education and their choices.
• Pomona left the office in fear and sensed violent power throbbing behind the closed door.

Pomona reflected on Queen Victoria’s youth and the hardships women faced, then confronted her jealousy over Lily and grief for Harry’s losses. Snape arrived to tell her they would go to Durmstrang next term and pressed her about what Dumbledore had said to her.

• Alexandrina Victoria accepted William IV’s offer to establish her own household, but his worsening health ended the plan before she could leave her mother.
• Victoria became queen, and Parliament shifted responsibility for death sentences from the monarch to the Home Secretary.
• Pomona thought about Victorian expectations of women and admitted to herself that she was jealous of Lily and upset by the suffering Harry had endured.
• Pomona decided to seek comfort from Professor McGonagall, but Snape was waiting outside her door and said they would go to Durmstrang next term.
• Snape asked Pomona what she had told Dumbledore and why she had been crying, then entered her room and warned her not to tell Dumbledore everything or act like a child.

Severus planned to infiltrate the Secret Service during Buckingham Palace’s public opening and obtain a Habeas Corpus signed by Queen Victoria as protection. After discussing the plan with Pomona, he searched her office and opened a drawer she had tried to stop him from reaching.

• The chapter recounted Queen Victoria’s finances, her relationship with Prince Albert, and the disputes surrounding Albert’s influence and the royal household.
• Severus planned to sneak into the Secret Service during a jewelry exhibition at Buckingham Palace and approach Queen Victoria for a signed Habeas Corpus.
• Pomona questioned Severus about how he would enter the Secret Service, and he said they would discuss the details later.
• Pomona offered Severus iced watermelon juice, which he found too sweet, and they discussed the Queen’s delayed jewelry exhibition.
• Severus searched Pomona’s office for another drink, opened a drawer despite her warning, and discovered what was inside.

Pomona explained to Severus Snape how British secrecy laws could affect his chances of joining the Secret Service and advised him to prove his loyalty. Their tense conversation ended with Snape teasing her about the cosmetics in her drawer.

• The chapter recounted Queen Victoria’s pregnancy, her proposed regency bill, and Prince Albert’s growing role in royal and political affairs.
• The chapter described rumors about Queen Victoria and Viscount Melbourne, which spread after a satirical cartoon called her “Mrs. Melbourne.”
• Pomona flusteredly shut her drawer after Snape saw her unused cosmetics, then sat with him as he poured wine into her glass.
• Pomona warned Snape that Rita Skeeter’s return and a recent secrecy-law controversy could make Secret Service recruitment more difficult.
• Pomona gave Snape a book about the legal duty of government security personnel to keep information confidential and urged him to demonstrate his loyalty.
• Snape asked whether Pomona had ever secretly used makeup, leaving her angry and embarrassed.

Pomona reflected on royal power, scandal, defamation law, and political secrets while considering Rita Skeeter’s influence and the danger of becoming someone’s weakness. She dismissed Skeeter as her arch enemy, then shared sweet House-elf wine with Severus.

• Pomona considered how historical queens used marriage, heirs, and royal authority to secure their positions, and how pregnancy could raise questions of regency.
• Pomona examined the legal limits on defamation and press censorship, comparing Muggle law with the challenges of suing Rita Skeeter in wizarding court.
• Pomona recalled that Severus had escaped interrogation under Albus Dumbledore’s protection and considered the rumors and political suspicions surrounding Dumbledore and Rita Skeeter’s reporting.
• Pomona thought about how people targeted the associates of seemingly flawless figures and decided to examine herself rather than meddle in others’ affairs.
• Severus asked what Pomona was thinking, and she called Rita Skeeter her arch enemy before asking him to refill her glass of sweet House-elf wine.

Pomona discussed luxury, poverty, history, and the judgment of Percival Dumbledore with Snape, who pressed her to say whether sacrificing one person for the majority was right. Their conversation ended in anger when she challenged him to stop dwelling on the past, and he left her room.

• Pomona reflected on royal fashion and privilege, the lives of poor workers, and how social conditions shaped the past.
• Snape asked Pomona why the court had ruled against Percival Dumbledore, and she argued that the ruling would not prevent Muggles from harming young witches and wizards.
• Pomona and Snape debated whether history taught people anything and whether it was right to sacrifice one person for the majority.
• Pomona told Snape that she disliked luxury because it excluded ordinary people, and he challenged her claim that he was still a boy.
• Pomona urged Snape to stop obsessing over Percival Dumbledore, and he left after slamming her door.

Pomona reflected on Victorian poverty, housing reform, and the limits of political power before connecting those ideas to Severus’s lonely childhood and her own troubled feelings about love. Unable to sleep after drinking tea following wine, she decided to go for a walk.

• The chapter described the Malfoy family's land dealings and the housing and sanitary reforms prompted by London's overcrowding and pollution.
• Queen Victoria's support for Palmerston's bill failed when Parliament rejected it, and Palmerston resigned before relations with France were restored.
• Pomona considered how poverty, housing costs, and workhouses trapped ordinary people despite the spread of affordable tea.
• Pomona recalled that Severus had wished only for quiet on his birthday and reflected on how love could make people fearful and possessive.
• Pomona lay down exhausted but, kept awake by tea after drinking wine, decided to go outside for a walk.

Pomona reflected on the Malfoys’ investments and Victorian housing and social history before hearing someone cry near Myrtle’s bathroom. A frightened Ravenclaw girl fled past her, and Pomona entered the abandoned bathroom to find out what was upsetting Myrtle.

• Pomona overheard students discussing the Bloody Mary game and recalled how the Malfoys had bought back land and expanded their real-estate holdings.
• Pomona considered Victorian housing, labor, charitable dwellings, and the social theories surrounding poverty and population.
• Pomona reflected on Prince Albert’s death, Queen Victoria’s mourning, and the changes that followed in Britain and Paris.
• Pomona heard crying near Myrtle’s bathroom and saw a panicked Ravenclaw girl run away after bumping into her.
• Pomona remembered the Ravenclaw girl who had died decades earlier and entered the abandoned bathroom to see what Myrtle was crying about.