Chapter Summaries

Georgiana examined a ruined room in the Milanese castle and proposed restoring it, but Alessandro declined to lend against her Diamond for that purpose. He then revealed that he had come to discuss financing Leonardo da Vinci-inspired traffic tunnels and underground utilities, leaving Georgiana startled by his offer.

• Georgiana showed Alessandro Leonardo da Vinci's manuscript and argued that the room had once used a hidden shaft to circulate cooling air.
• Georgiana asked Alessandro to appraise her Diamond so she could mortgage it to restore the room, but he refused to lend for that project.
• Alessandro said he was interested in Leonardo da Vinci's ideas and suggested that a new painter could replace the ruined murals.
• Georgiana questioned why Alessandro had come, and he explained that he wanted to discuss Leonardo da Vinci's proposed traffic tunnels and underground lighting and utility networks.
• Alessandro offered to provide sixty percent of her Diamond's value for investment loans, and Georgiana told him to stop sounding like a banker.

Georgiana considered Milan’s traffic and infrastructure problems, then turned to plans for safer pedestrian routes. She also reflected on charity, Jacob’s hopes, and Leo’s situation, and the chapter ended with her asking Simon to discuss building pedestrian overpasses.

• Georgiana considered how Milan’s crowded streets and historic buildings made traffic safety difficult, and imagined traffic signals and underground pedestrian passages.
• Georgiana concluded that Alessandro would not lend her money, even if Napoleon were involved, and recalled how charitable relief in Rome had once depended on bankers’ donations.
• Georgiana thought about Jacob’s dreams and pure heart, then reflected on Leo’s reluctance to return to the orphanage and her plan to find him a better environment.
• Georgiana summoned Simon and suggested building pedestrian overpasses before attempting underground tunnels.
• Simon said overpasses would not solve the root problem, and Georgiana asked him to sit down and discuss it with her.

Georgiana reflected on law, public rights, and the sacrifices demanded by powerful men as she waited in the fortress. Bougainville challenged her view of herself and told her about a girl who had lived in a tree for two years to protect a forest.

• An eagle arrived at the fortress and drank the water Georgiana conjured for it.
• Georgiana recalled Bonaparte's warning not to accept the italians' demands and called herself a plaything, but Bougainville disagreed.
• Georgiana told Bougainville that an Italian inventor had come to Milan to patent an underwater marine propeller.
• Georgiana described Leonardo da Vinci's vision of demolishing city walls to improve development and traffic.
• Bougainville asked Georgiana whether she was stubborn and told her about a girl who had lived atop a redwood tree for two years to stop the forest from being cut down.
• Bougainville escorted Georgiana to dinner and said they would keep watch that night; she asked to meet the girl, making him laugh.

Georgiana discussed aerial-vessel designs and Napoleon’s abandoned balloon corps before hearing about Julia, who had lived in a tree for two years to protect the ancient cedar Luna and the forest. The chapter left Julia still refusing to come down, while Georgiana looked out over the dark city and considered stargazing.

• Georgiana considered the aerial vessel’s design and weaknesses, including its flammable gas envelope and vulnerable engine, and recalled Napoleon’s failed balloon experiments.
• Georgiana and Simon moved on from aerial vessels and the stalled subway discussion to sugar preservation before Simon attended the dinner party.
• Bougainville told Georgiana that fifteen-year-old Julia had stayed in the cedar Luna for two years and refused to leave unless officials promised to protect the tree and forest.
• Catherina asked whether Julia had come down, and Bougainville said she still did not trust the village leaders and mayors.
• Georgiana saw Arthur Young and Alessandro at the banquet, then went to the window and noticed the unlit city and the Moon’s last-quarter phase.

Pomona challenged Snape over his harsh treatment of a student, but he defended his standards by arguing that the student’s future work as an Auror would demand more than pity. Later, Georgiana attended Milan’s Easter Vigil, where Dermide helped light the great candle, and she reflected on darkness, sacred groves, and the Golden Bough.

• Pomona interrupted Snape as he reprimanded a student for a Potions mistake and sent the student out so she could speak with him.
• Pomona questioned Snape’s effect on students’ employment prospects, but he insisted that leniency could leave an incapable student unprepared for the dangers of Auror work.
• Grando told Georgiana that he had found a sculpture of Medusa’s head by Leonardo da Vinci, while she remained preoccupied with a wizard who could not forget his first love.
• Georgiana walked through the crowded, dark streets to Milan Cathedral for the Easter Vigil and watched Dermide take part in the ceremony.
• The High Elder lit the great candle with Dermide’s help, showed it to the crowd, and then lit the candles of the worshippers, including Georgiana’s.
• Georgiana followed the others into the church and considered how Virgil might have known the way out of hell through the secret of the Golden Bough.

Pomona reflected on journeys, fate, doors, and the Veil while cooking dinner with a grim Snape, who returned home carrying documents. In Milan Cathedral, Georgiana attended a vigil and considered the consequences of Leta’s death and the conflicts ahead, ending with a thought about the underworld queen’s pomegranate.

• Pomona read about Minos, the Elder Wand, and fate before putting out her soup pot and cleaning the stove with magic.
• Snape returned home in a dark mood, left a stack of documents in his room, and washed his hands without explaining where he had been.
• Pomona served dinner and talked to Snape about The Lord of the Rings while he listened quietly.
• At a vigil in Milan Cathedral, Georgiana reflected on doors, birth, and the Veil as Grando discussed Egypt’s scarcity of wood.
• Georgiana considered Leta Lestrange’s death in Paris, Grindelwald’s plans, and the uncertain future involving Aurors, Goblins, and Werewolves.
• After a baptism and the start of Communion, Georgiana thought of the pomegranate that kept the queen of the underworld there and wondered whether she should find a biscuit.

Pomona reflected on Robinson, Saruman, and the choices made in The Lord of the Rings while speaking with Snape, then awakened from a memory in Milan and confronted her grief over his presumed death. The chapter ended with her extracting a memory to preserve it.

• Pomona read The Lord of the Rings and considered Arwen’s choice between mortal life and Elven immortality, as well as the damage Saruman caused by creating Uruk-hai.
• Snape returned and discussed Robinson’s defiance and survival with Pomona, who compared his choices with Saruman’s.
• Pomona argued that darkness could offer freedom and said the Ringwraiths had been seduced by greed; she accidentally called Snape “Leon” before realizing she was in Milan.
• Pomona recalled Gandalf losing his way in the mines of Morea and remembered Snape asking whether Harry Potter should have survived after the war.
• Pomona struggled with the belief that Snape was still alive, then drew a silvery strand of memory from her head and searched for a container for it.

Pomona reflected on the One Ring, its temptation, and the danger of deciding who deserved to live, while Severus urged her out of bed. Georgiana then studied her own reflection and memories, chose to give herself time to heal, and discovered Bonaparte’s Easter gift: a model of a rotating observatory.

• Pomona felt the One Ring’s temptation and hoped Severus would wear it, while he called her lazy and ordered her to get up.
• Georgiana saw Lady Galadriel’s regal likeness in a silver basin and discussed the memory with Zabini, refusing to explain what she planned to do with the dungeon.
• Georgiana decided she needed time to heal before helping others and asked her maids to help her wash and dress.
• Georgiana examined an Easter egg and found a mechanical model of a rotating observatory inside.
• Georgiana read Bonaparte’s Easter greeting and realized she would need to choose a gift for him in return.

Pomona read about Shelob before Snape asked her to collect contraband Lobalug venom, and she went swimming after he left. In Milan, Georgiana received a miniature observatory and questioned Bougainville about the young people he believed she planned to send away; their breakfast conversation ended with his mention of corn and leprosy.

• Pomona read about Shelob and the Acromantulas, then Snape gave her a jar and told her to collect Lobalug venom for an insecticide he claimed Ollivander had requested.
• Pomona decided to verify Snape's story, but after he teased her about being Robinson's Friday, she took off her robes and jumped into the Black Lake.
• Georgiana received a miniature rotating observatory designed by Dominic Arago, and Bougainville explained how Arago had built a platform to turn with his telescope.
• Georgiana asked Bougainville what he had misunderstood about her, and he asked what she intended to do with the young people.
• Georgiana invited Bougainville to breakfast and discussed sending the young people to Brazil, but Bougainville said it was too far for first-time travelers.
• Bougainville asked for corn polenta and brought up Arthur Young and leprosy.

Pomona and Snape discussed Robinson’s struggle to survive alone, while Georgiana considered how niacin deficiency caused pellagra and connected the story to her efforts to address disease and conflict. After declining to reveal General Murat’s port of arrival, Georgiana prepared notes on extracting substances from tobacco and summoned Zabini.

• Pomona read about Robinson’s island life, questioned Snape about visiting London for books, and later complained that her lamb chop was tough.
• Robinson killed a mother goat and her kid, raised sheep, and panicked when he found a human footprint, destroying his home and crops to hide his presence.
• Bougainville explained the link between corn-based diets and pellagra, and Georgiana discussed niacin, tobacco, and stories involving Saruman and Gondor.
• Bougainville asked Georgiana where General Murat would arrive, but she said she did not know and refused to give him any information.
• Georgiana studied the Adriatic map, wrote down a method for preparing tobacco products, and rang for Zabini.

Pomona and Snape confronted a disease threatening the wand trees and worried about the Forbidden Forest’s future as Muggles cleared nearby woods. Georgiana offered Mateo a chance to develop a cure for Italian leprosy, while the chapter ended with an unseen voice whispering to Pomona.

• Pomona identified Yellow Dragon disease in the aphid-infested wand tree, and Snape explained that they needed to prevent the infection from spreading.
• Snape said they were spraying other trees with Potions and using Lobalug venom, while Pomona feared Muggles would soon reach the Forbidden Forest.
• Georgiana asked Zabini to give Mateo a job making a cure for Italian leprosy and handed him instructions that required tobacco.
• Zabini thanked Georgiana and left after she explained that the sick people at Rotten Water secretly fetched water at night.
• While resting in the sunlight, Pomona heard a voice whisper beside her ear, but she could not answer.

Robinson’s island animals and their effects on the ecosystem led into the arrival of Defense Against the Dark Arts professor Arsenius Gigg and a tense meeting with Snape. In another thread, Georgiana recalled why she had studied vampires and ordered Rabastan Lestrange to gather people for an expedition to Turin, leaving him wary of her plans and her sense of approaching conflict.

• Robinson tamed a ewe, kept a dog and cats, and watched the animals live or multiply on the island, while feral cats contributed to ecological damage.
• Arsenius Gigg arrived to investigate pests in the Forbidden Forest and teach Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Pomona agreed to visit the Longbottoms or send Minerva’s notices.
• Pomona reflected on Robinson’s dependence on ship supplies and on historical expeditions as Georgiana awoke from a nightmare and remembered why she had researched vampires.
• Georgiana told Rabastan she wanted to eradicate Dragon Pox and malaria, and she ordered him to find capable people for a journey to Turin.
• Georgiana said she needed to gather an army, revealed that their destination involved Siberia, and told Rabastan that those who stayed behind could clean the dungeon.
• After Rabastan left, Georgiana drank wine but still sensed the sound of war drums and an approaching monster.

Pomona brought Snape Butterbeer while he searched for the last ingredient Jigger had assigned him, and reflected on poisons, ambition, and recurring patterns through the ideas of Paracelsus and Robinson Crusoe. She left the Astronomy Tower hoping that observing the world might help her find a way back.

• Jigger sent Snape around London to buy Potions ingredients, and Snape told Pomona that Gillyweed was still missing.
• Pomona offered Snape Butterbeer and whisky, but he refused both and searched a mail-order catalogue.
• Pomona considered Paracelsus's theories of poison and medicine, along with the ambitions that drove figures such as Flitwick, Snape, and Voldemort.
• Pomona reflected on Robinson's repeated cycles of killing and on her own desire to escape, then decided she needed to learn how to observe.
• Pomona left the Astronomy Tower to go outside and clear her head.

Pomona visited St Mungo’s to see Frank and Alice Longbottom, but sold her fanged geraniums to the hospital instead. Georgiana investigated a melancholy hospital and a former forest site before turning back to prepare for Turin and the Ligurian Alps, reflecting on fear and the need to test whether she could still cast a Patronus.

• Pomona sold her fanged geraniums to St Mungo’s for Skele-Gro ingredients and carried cake to the Spell Damage ward to visit Frank and Alice Longbottom.
• Georgiana entered the Great Hospital in Milan, where frightened patients gathered around a bedridden man, but French soldiers escorted her out.
• Georgiana considered the history of Piossasco Castle and the forest around Luna, where logging had left Julia dependent on forgotten squirrel stores for food.
• Georgiana reflected on the Dudleys’ treatment of Harry and the fears connected to the Forbidden Forest and Harry’s Boggart.
• Georgiana returned toward the castle to prepare for Turin and the Ligurian Alps, wondering whether she could still cast Expecto Patronum.

Pomona visited Frank and Alice Longbottom at St Mungo’s and worried about Neville’s uncertain magical future, while resolving to help Severus escape Britain through the Potion-Making Championship. Georgiana returned from a visit to a leprosy ward and was thoroughly cleansed; as she cried beneath a mural of an elephant, she saw a mysterious vision of Lady Galadriel.

• Dumbledore asked Pomona to keep an eye on Neville, whose name had not appeared in the Book of Acceptance, while Harry’s had appeared long ago.
• Pomona visited Frank and Alice Longbottom at St Mungo’s, reflected on their condition, and later spoke with Ivy Brinton, who supplied the hospital with Murtlap products.
• Pomona decided that Severus needed to use the international Potion-Making Championship as a chance to leave Britain after Karkaroff had identified him as a Death Eater in court.
• Georgiana returned to her residence after visiting a leprosy ward, where Margarita and the maids washed her and burned her clothes.
• Georgiana cried beneath the Elephant Loggia mural and reflected on the dangers of moving too quickly to explain Italian leprosy to others.
• Georgiana saw Lady Galadriel in the grass, smiling and signaling for her to keep a secret.

Pomona drank with Sirius and told Snape why Lily’s bridesmaid expectations had upset her, while Georgiana reflected on compassion, ordinary life, and helping people after the High Elder sprinkled her with holy water. The chapter ended with Georgiana dismissing the High Elder’s encouragement and wanting peace or another cocktail.

• Pomona drank Mojitos with Sirius at The Duke and discussed Lily’s bridesmaid dispute with Petunia.
• Snape joined Pomona, listened to her drunken explanation, and took her out of the bar when she asked for a drink containing a jellyfish.
• The High Elder hurried to Sforza Castle and sprinkled Georgiana with holy water after Polina feared for her.
• Georgiana told the High Elder she wanted to be like Sam from The Lord of the Rings and live an ordinary life between occasional journeys.
• The High Elder urged Georgiana to remember her compassion and told her about the Zablin People, but she wanted peace and another cocktail.

Pomona drank with Snape, stopped him from returning to Spinner's End, and prepared to stay at his home overnight. Meanwhile, Georgiana reflected on love and lost chances before an underground blast sent her to investigate the ruins.

• Snape listened as Pomona discussed pregnancy and Neville, then brought wine so they could drink safely at home.
• Pomona got drunk with Snape, grabbed his robe when he tried to leave for Spinner's End, and asked him to stay and finish the wine.
• Snape agreed to prepare a room for Pomona, while she realized she had no change of clothes after bathing.
• Georgiana smashed up her room and reflected on Sam, Charles, and the difference between success and happiness.
• Polina told Georgiana that the sappers had blasted a huge rock underground, and Georgiana went to see what they were doing.

After the Death Eaters’ operation, Pomona returned to Snape and learned that a disturbing photograph had him worried about her. Meanwhile, Georgiana discovered an underground altar and pocketed a black crystal before Italian officials arrived.

• Frank refilled Sirius’s Firewhisky while Pomona discussed the crime scene and Sirius worried about Regulus.
• Pomona returned to Snape, who showed her a photograph of a skeleton with enormous butterfly wings and warned that Muggles might treat Veela as specimens.
• Georgiana rescued unconscious French people from a gas-filled passage and found an underground Roman altar holding a golden branch and a black crystal.
• Georgiana took the black crystal from the altar and claimed she had seen nothing when Zabini and a group of Italians arrived.

After waking from a drunken night, Pomona found Snape’s button and suppressed a frightening fragment of memory. At the observatory, Georgiana explained the ancient altar’s meaning to Zabini while concealing the Snake Stone she had taken from it.

• Pomona woke with a hangover and ate breakfast while Snape helped their upstairs neighbor carry out rubbish.
• Pomona found a button from Snape’s clothes and heard an echo of a memory involving a beast, Gandalf, and a Balrog before putting the button back.
• Georgiana hid the Snake Stone when she sensed someone approaching, then Zabini arrived to ask about the underground altar.
• Georgiana explained how the Golden Bough and the King of the Woods related to the underworld, Roman customs, and the right to challenge a ruler.
• Georgiana told Zabini she had taken nothing from the altar, then hid the Snake Stone inside the Trembling Flower.

Georgiana reflected on breaking cycles of fear and uncertain futures while considering how small choices could change history. She wrote a recipe for jellyfish, deciding to act despite not knowing whether her effort would help anyone.

• Georgiana considered how the King of the Forest could welcome runaway slaves as brothers instead of perpetuating a cycle of violence.
• Georgiana reflected on James, Sirius, Wormtail, and how different choices around Voldemort's prophecy might have changed events.
• Georgiana thought about niacin deficiency, forgotten victims of history, and Harry's choice to forgive Wormtail.
• Georgiana considered whether the Snake Stone could purify corruption and thought about using Snape's ring in Paris.
• Georgiana picked up her quill and began writing a jellyfish recipe, accepting that she could not know how much it might change the world.