Chapter Summaries

Draco and the other students left for Scandinavia aboard the Malfoys’ private plane, while Georgiana learned that Schinderhannes planned to challenge Napoleon and fled before she could discover his location. Radetzky escaped into the lake, leaving Georgiana to consider the risk that pursuing the gang across the Rhine could lead to war.

• Draco led the students through London City Airport and boarded the Malfoys’ plane for their dangerous trip to Scandinavia.
• Pomona watched the jet take off, then heard Radetzky offer information about Schinderhannes, a gang leader whose real name was Johannes Bückler.
• Radetzky told Georgiana that Schinderhannes intended to challenge Napoleon and that his companion wanted their son to inherit the gang’s power.
• Georgiana used the threat of Legilimency to make Radetzky reveal that he and his accomplices planned to flee to Brazil.
• Radetzky refused to give Schinderhannes’s location, jumped through the window into the lake, and escaped as guards gathered outside.
• Georgiana asked for Lorban and worried that French gendarmes crossing the Rhine to pursue Schinderhannes could trigger a war.

Pomona met Ollivander at the Three Broomsticks and left with him to discuss wandmaking, after briefly mistaking another drinker for Antony Dolohov. Meanwhile, Georgiana considered Schinderhannes’s ambitions and the political risks around him before Lorban outlined his plans and arranged meetings for her the next day.

• Pomona ran into Ollivander at the Three Broomsticks, where he showed her wand wood gathered from treated wand trees.
• A man who resembled Antony Dolohov suggested that Pomona and Ollivander make wands, then stayed behind as they left for Hogwarts.
• Georgiana reflected on Wallachia’s history and concluded that Schinderhannes’s dream of becoming a ruler was unlikely to succeed.
• Lorban ordered a letter sent to Count Cicognara with Schinderhannes’s real name, predicting that he would eventually enlist in Austria’s army.
• Georgiana asked Lorban about governing Slovenia and learned that offices might be sold, though their existence could later be revoked.
• Lorban told Georgiana that two women wanted to meet her the next day, and she went back to sleep after asking Bougainville about General Ney.

Ollivander discussed the condition and origins of Pomona’s and Dumbledore’s wands, while Georgiana left her room and encountered General Ney at Lake Como. Ney delivered Napoleon’s horse Coco to her and asked why she had not mobilized the troops in Switzerland, leaving Georgiana to consider how to answer without seeming like a spy.

• Ollivander examined Pomona’s beech wand but advised her to seek its original maker, and Dumbledore suggested they learn wandmaking themselves.
• Ollivander explained that a hawthorn wand paired with unicorn hair could suit healing magic as well as curses, and he lamented that extraordinary power might be needed to revive dying trees.
• Georgiana cast a Disillusionment Charm and wandered alone through the garden by Lake Como after the previous night’s chaos tightened security.
• Ney arrived on a white horse, greeted Georgiana, and said matters in Switzerland were settled and his pregnant wife awaited him in Paris.
• Ney gave Georgiana Coco on Napoleon’s behalf, warned her not to wear the clothes Napoleon had given her, and asked why she had not mobilized the troops in Switzerland.

Georgiana reflected on Ney’s marriage and Zurich’s peaceful occupation before giving him a scroll intended for Paris and discussing neutrality and military strategy. She left the conversation walking beside Ney, looking up at branches that seemed to whisper about things she could not understand.

• French troops entered Zurich through three gates before dawn, and the armed peasants did not fight them.
• Ney entered Zurich after its occupation, arranged for troops to respond to riots, cancelled the request for reinforcements from Italy, and Reding’s guerrillas laid down their weapons.
• Georgiana recalled Ney’s wedding to Miss Auguié and worried that his young wife might not be prepared for the dangers and hardships of a soldier’s life.
• Georgiana summoned a scroll from the model observatory and gave it to Ney to take back to Paris.
• Georgiana questioned Ney about neutrality and whether Murat could keep charging without Swiss reinforcements, and Ney said the French had only wanted to gauge Switzerland’s attitude.
• Ney led his horse beside Georgiana along the lake as she watched the branches sway overhead.

Georgiana discussed the Swiss army mutiny and Napoleon’s plans with Ney, then returned to Villa Melzi and considered how to profit from military supplies. She found herself stifled by the polished company of two French noblewomen and ended the chapter with an idea after seeing coco.

• Ney explained that a rumor about a transfer to France had sparked a mutiny in the Bern barracks, which French troops subdued without further obstacles.
• Georgiana asked Ney what would happen if she mobilized the people of Switzerland, and they discussed the army, Austria, Bavaria, and the Rhine.
• Georgiana shared intelligence she had heard from Radetzky with Ney and reflected on how little she understood of the political game.
• At Villa Melzi, Georgiana met Countess Bolter and Marquise Crussol over breakfast and felt stifled by their carefully managed conversation.
• After Bougainville joined Ney on the villa tour, Georgiana considered canned food as a military supply and saw coco, which gave her an idea.

Georgiana returned to Milan after General Ney gave her a note to approach Devri about obtaining a Swiss private guard, and she prepared to deal with Saint-Cyr and military supply contracts. On the carriage journey, a conversation about women’s lives abroad led the Marchioness of Crussol to ask what Georgiana liked about Napoleon, and Georgiana said she thought he was a good person.

• Georgiana rode with her companions to a fishing town by Lake Como, bought fresh fish and roses, and returned to Villa Melzi.
• General Ney decided to return to France and gave Georgiana a signed note that could help her seek a private guard from Devri.
• After Ney left, Georgiana returned to Milan with Bougainville and Lorban to collect Polina and speak with Saint-Cyr about military supply contracts.
• Madame Bolter described an unhappy married woman’s life in Estonia, prompting Mary to argue that marrying a man from one’s own country was better.
• The Marchioness of Crussol asked what Georgiana liked about the First Consul, and Georgiana replied that she thought he was a good person.

Georgiana returned to Milan with Polina and discussed the Rome Supply Delegation’s efforts to secure food amid wartime shortages. She went to bed at the Oriental Villa, leaving her forgotten thought about Chaptal for the next day.

• Pomona’s fish stew and Draco’s return from Durmstrang led to Lucius striking him and forbidding him from playing Quidditch.
• The history of Russia’s conquest of Estonia recalled a young Estonian nobleman whose life might have gone differently if he had stayed in Vienna.
• Georgiana arrived at the Oriental Villa with Polina and asked where Alessandro was; Polina said he remained at Sforza Castle.
• Georgiana considered how wartime supply contracts and loans could help the Rome Supply Delegation address Italy’s shortages and prevent grain merchants from monopolizing deliveries.
• Georgiana remembered Chaptal’s role in the matter, set the thought aside, and fell asleep.