Chapter Summaries

Pomona asked Nearly Headless Nick where she could find forbidden books, and he directed her to a hidden room filled with old volumes. After retrieving a book about caring for the Whomping Willow, she heard an eerie, hissing whisper and fled.

• Pomona asked Nearly Headless Nick where Hogwarts kept old books, and he told her how to reveal a hidden door.
• Pomona entered the enormous book room and tried several Summoning Charms to find a book about plants.
• Pomona summoned How to Care for the Whomping Willow and split apart the book pile until it collapsed.
• Pomona picked up the handwritten papyrus book and found that its text was in English.
• Pomona heard an unintelligible, hissing whisper from somewhere in the room and ran away.

Pomona met Remus Lupin and followed him into the Gryffindor common room to wash the dust from her clothes. After noticing signs of Lupin’s secret and hearing his warning about the approaching full moon, she went into the bathroom.

• Pomona found Remus Lupin near the Gryffindor common room, pretended to be frightened by a spider, and asked to borrow the washroom.
• Lupin led Pomona through the Fat Lady’s portrait and into the Gryffindor boys’ dormitory, where she noticed the foul smell and Muggle swimsuit posters.
• Pomona heard someone say “Avada Kedavra” near the Astronomy Tower, then asked Lupin about Hogwarts’s name and smelled Ruixiang Wolfsbane on his breath.
• Lupin asked whether Pomona was pure-blood and warned her to stay in her dorm on the coming full moon, when monsters might roam.
• Pomona realized the full moon was three days away, wondered whether werewolves might appear in the Forbidden Forest, and entered the bathroom.

Pomona and Remus Lupin investigated the Whomping Willow and concluded that its hostile behavior might come from being planted in unsuitable clay soil. Pomona went to seek help from Hufflepuff’s acting Head of House, Wilhelmina, and found her treating an injured Centaur at the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

• Lupin demonstrated wandless magic and encouraged Pomona to trust her own abilities after she calmed the Whomping Willow with her hand.
• Pomona explained how her medicine had made the tree act like an ordinary plant, and Lupin suggested treating it like a potted plant by improving its environment.
• Pomona examined the soil around the Whomping Willow, found clay, and decided it needed new soil and regular watering.
• Lupin said wolfsbane seeds might be available in the Potions classroom, and Pomona pretended she did not know why he reacted tensely.
• Pomona found Wilhelmina and Hagrid treating a young Centaur’s injured hoof near the Forbidden Forest and was shocked by Wilhelmina’s unkempt appearance.

Pomona sought wolfsbane seeds from Wilhelmina but was turned away and witnessed the Centaurs threaten Lupin because they feared his werewolf nature. As Hagrid escorted them back to Hogwarts, Pomona inferred that Dumbledore had planted the Whomping Willow to test her and planned to hide a tunnel beneath it before Lupin’s transformation.

• Pomona asked Wilhelmina for wolfsbane seeds to change the soil around the Whomping Willow, but Wilhelmina sent her to Madam Pomfrey for the key to her father's office.
• Dolen and the other Centaurs tried to keep Lupin from returning to Hogwarts, but Wilhelmina intervened and Hagrid escorted Pomona and Lupin away.
• Hagrid warned Pomona and Lupin about the nighttime curfew and told them how Arthur Weasley had taken a whipping for Molly.
• Pomona realized that Lupin was a werewolf and that the full moon was only three days away.
• Pomona concluded that Dumbledore had planted the Whomping Willow as a test and planned to dig a concealed tunnel beneath it.

Pomona reflected on Dumbledore’s plans for Remus Lupin, the Whomping Willow, and her future at Hogwarts before asking Slughorn for help. After Slughorn left her alone in the corridor, she understood she had to choose and headed for the Hufflepuff basement.

• Pomona considered why Dumbledore had admitted Remus Lupin and planted the Whomping Willow, and resolved not to reveal Lupin’s secret.
• Pomona reasoned that the Whomping Willow was fighting an environment that restricted its growth and realized Dumbledore expected her to remain at Hogwarts as Herbology professor.
• Slughorn found Pomona in the corridor, and she told him McGonagall had offered her the Herbology position and asked him for help.
• Slughorn accused Pomona of being Dumbledore’s person, took two points from Hufflepuff, and went to investigate Lupin’s interrupted voice.
• Pomona accepted that she had to make a choice and walked toward the Hufflepuff basement.

Pomona planned to rescue the Whomping Willow by replacing its depleted soil and arranging a safe place for Remus Lupin to transform. After Hagrid and Lupin left to gather supplies, Pomona turned to Pete and asked him to summon his friends.

• Pomona explained to Lupin and Hagrid that the Whomping Willow needed its soil replaced from below and that they had to collect materials for fertilizer.
• Hagrid agreed to gather charcoal ash, stones, fruit peels, and eggshells, while Lupin went with him to meet Pomona at the Whomping Willow.
• Pomona realized she could not dig a tunnel into the Centaurs' territory and worried about finding a safe transformation site for Lupin outside Hogsmeade.
• Pete found Pomona in Professor Grubbly-Plank's office, where she complained about Professor Dumbledore and Professor Slughorn taking points from her.
• Pomona asked Pete to gather all his friends so they could help her repot a plant.

Pomona helped the Hufflepuffs investigate the Whomping Willow’s roots while considering the danger Dorian Grubbly-Plank faced in Papua New Guinea. Wilhelmina arrived, warned Pomona about her Veela heritage, and dismissed her from the next morning’s lesson, leaving Pomona unsettled.

• Pomona worried that Dorian Grubbly-Plank might have been killed by a Lethifold while trying to study one in Papua New Guinea.
• The Hufflepuffs, Lupin, and Hagrid’s Dugbogs dug beneath the Whomping Willow until the tree appeared more comfortable.
• Pomona told Lupin she would prune the Whomping Willow and considered her ability to sense what plants lacked through her hair.
• Wilhelmina arrived and told Pomona that her father had neglected her after falling under her Veela mother’s enchantment.
• Wilhelmina warned Pomona to stay away from boys, threatened to send her to the Forbidden Forest if she seemed dangerous, and excused her from the first lesson.

Pomona struggled with doubts about her nature and the pressure surrounding her future at Hogwarts, then followed a strange hissing sound to the neglected greenhouse. She found a sickly Mandrake and realized the greenhouse needed her care.

• Pomona woke late, ate the food left by an unknown person, and worried about Wilhelmina’s claim that her mother had bewitched her father.
• Pomona reflected on her Veela instincts, Remus Lupin’s werewolf nature, and the political pressure surrounding Hogwarts and her possible future as a professor.
• Pomona heard a man’s voice and felt a presence behind her, but a House-elf named Honey appeared and explained that Professor Grubbly-Plank had sent it to wake her.
• Pomona skipped visiting Defense Against the Dark Arts and headed toward the greenhouse after hearing a snake-like hiss in the corridor.
• Pomona entered the rundown greenhouse, pulled up a weak, malnourished Mandrake, and decided the plants needed attention.

Pomona witnessed Death Eaters teaching Avery and Mulciber to torture a House-elf with the Cruciatus Curse. She distracted them with a spell that set off a chorus of Mandrakes, then carried the injured elf toward the hospital wing.

• Pomona hid in the greenhouse and saw two adult wizards bring Avery, Mulciber, and a House-elf inside.
• Evan demonstrated the Cruciatus Curse and urged Avery and Mulciber to practice it on the elf.
• Pomona realized the adults were Death Eaters and decided she had to intervene.
• Pomona cast Diffindo, accidentally broke a table, and caused more than a dozen Mandrakes to cry out.
• The Death Eaters fled, and Pomona carried the badly injured House-elf toward the hospital wing.

Pomona concealed that a Slytherin student had used an Unforgivable Curse on the House-elf Robby, while the professors considered the possibility that an outsider had entered Hogwarts. She left the infirmary to check on the Whomping Willow and warned Lily to be cautious around Slytherin.

• Pomona Pomfrey alerted Professor McGonagall after identifying the curse on Robby, and Professor Flitwick and Slughorn joined them in the infirmary.
• Pomona claimed an outsider might have attacked Robby and linked the concern to a young centaur attacked by a werewolf near the Forbidden Forest.
• Professor McGonagall told Pomona to go to class, and Pomona left to check on the Whomping Willow.
• Slughorn caught up with Pomona and asked whether she had seen who attacked Robby, but she denied seeing anything and disappeared into the crowd.
• Pomona warned Lily Evans to avoid getting too close to Slytherin, and Lily defended her friendship with Severus Snape.
• Pomona declined to join Lupin, James Potter, Sirius Black, and Pete, and continued toward the Whomping Willow.

Pomona spent the day with Pete, who warned her about the danger of confronting Slytherin, then endured Divination and lunch with her roommates. She wondered whether Cassandra Trelawney’s hundred-year prophecy to Dumbledore was about to come true.

• Pete and Pomona discussed the Whomping Willow, and Pete invited her to sneak out to Hogsmeade with him sometime.
• Pete warned Pomona that Slytherin was radical and dangerous, but defended Hufflepuff’s response to Bellatrix Black attacking one of their girls.
• Pomona fell asleep in Patricia Trelawney’s Divination class, and Omar Treusi photographed her before Susan recovered the picture.
• Pomona ate lunch with her roommates, learned that Jane had attended her cousin Bill’s christening, and offered to help them get out of Potions homework if they helped her with the greenhouse.
• Susan told the girls that Cassandra Trelawney had given Dumbledore a prophecy sphere about a secret to be revealed a hundred years later, prompting Pomona to wonder if it was about to come true.

Pomona sought Hagrid’s help with digging a tunnel and finding a place for dangerous magical creatures, then discovered he was secretly raising Soft-clawed Crayfish. Their supposed taste gave her an idea, though what she planned to do remained unclear.

• Susan said her brother would send Pomona a broom, while Mary admitted she might leave school if the unrest worsened.
• Pomona asked Hagrid to have Dugbogs dig a tunnel to Hogsmeade and learned Newt Scamander’s vacant cottage might suit her plans if Dumbledore approved.
• Hagrid let slip that he had once raised Acromantulas, making Pomona suspect his hidden activities could put him in danger.
• Pomona warned Hagrid that he could be sent to Azkaban and discovered a crate containing Soft-clawed Crayfish he was raising for food.
• Hagrid said Soft-clawed Crayfish tasted like lobster, and Pomona laughed as a new idea occurred to her.

Pomona asked Angie why Nancy Puatier had left Hogwarts and learned that Bellatrix Black had trapped and humiliated her before spreading a damaging rumor. Pomona and Angie agreed that Hufflepuff girls would retaliate against Slytherin themselves, with Angie taking the Soft-clawed Crayfish and telling Pomona to keep their plan secret.

• Pomona found Angie and asked why Nancy Puatier had dropped out, then proposed using Soft-clawed Crayfish to disrupt Slytherin.
• Angie explained that Bellatrix Black had lured Nancy to the second floor, locked her in a toilet stall overnight, and spread a story about her during the winter holiday.
• Pomona learned that the humiliation had left Nancy too frightened and disgraced to continue at Hogwarts, and Angie said Hufflepuff could not let the insult go unanswered.
• Angie took the cage and told Pomona that the older Hufflepuff girls would handle the retaliation while Pomona pretended she knew nothing.

Pomona planned to profit from tensions between Slytherin and Hufflepuff, acquire a Kneazle, and eventually leave Hogwarts to travel with a husband. Lily and Snape confronted her about the House-elf’s injury, but Pomona denied seeing who caused it and headed to the greenhouse, delighted by another stroke of good fortune.

• Pomona considered magical creature regulations and decided to learn the Severing Charm so she could protect herself.
• Pomona planned to sell antidotes amid growing conflict between Slytherin and Hufflepuff and imagined becoming wealthy.
• Pomona decided to seek permission to keep a Kneazle and eventually choose a strong, trustworthy husband before leaving Hogwarts.
• Snape insulted Pomona, and Lily defended her while asking about the House-elf sent to the hospital wing.
• Pomona denied seeing who injured the House-elf and pointed out that Snape had an alibi because he had been with Lily.
• Pomona announced that she was going to the greenhouse and wondered whether she had drunk Felix Felicis because good things kept happening.

Pomona and Lily bonded while clearing weeds in the greenhouse, where Lily’s Muggle radio and dancing briefly lifted Pomona’s spirits before a strange voice from the broken radio frightened her. Snape returned from Care of Magical Creatures, interrupting the mysterious voices Pomona continued to hear.

• Pomona praised Lily’s ability to turn an ordinary daisy magical and encouraged her to ask older wizards about her gift.
• Lily found a radio in the storeroom, played The Beatles, and persuaded Pomona to dance with her in the greenhouse.
• A despairing voice interrupted their dancing, and Pomona destroyed the radio with Diffindo after hearing it speak again.
• Pomona heard a woman and a man speaking through the radio, with the man identifying himself as Severus.
• Snape returned and complained that a Unicorn had defecated in front of everyone.

Pomona negotiated with Snape and Lily to brew antidote for a possible Slytherin-Hufflepuff conflict, while her argument with Snape turned to the legacy of Grindelwald’s war. The chapter ended with Lily accidentally destroying Snape’s finished Pixie Palsy Potion before it could be used in the greenhouse.

• Pomona proposed selling antidote, and Snape agreed to brew a cauldron a day if she supplied the ingredients and split the profits with him and Lily.
• Pomona warned Snape and Lily that Slytherin and Hufflepuff might soon go to war, prompting Lily to object to poisoning anyone.
• Pomona and Snape argued over Slytherin’s past allegiance to Grindelwald and the suffering left by the war.
• Snape left for the library after telling Pomona to improve the greenhouse, leaving his finished potion for her and Lily to use.
• Lily cast Glacius on the hot cauldron, shattering it and spilling all the potion.

On the way to Ancient Runes, Pomona warned Lily about prejudice and violence between the Houses and urged her to learn defensive magic and choose whether she wanted to remain in the wizarding world. The chapter left Lily facing the harsh realities of wizarding society as Pomona continued up the slope.

• Pomona and Lily discussed cooking, Lily’s old friends, and the distance between the Houses as they climbed toward class.
• Pomona explained that Death Eaters and Slytherin students had tortured a House-elf, and warned Lily about the danger posed by Slytherins.
• Pomona told Lily that Nancy Puatier had been targeted because she was Muggle-born and reminded her that a Ravenclaw girl had died at the dock.
• Pomona warned Lily to avoid James Potter and Sirius Black and said Hufflepuff girls planned to prank Slytherin with effects that could include disfigurement, bad luck, and disease.
• Pomona urged Lily to learn defensive spells, keep the plan secret, and consider whether she wanted to stay in the wizarding world.

During Ancient Runes, Pomona learned about the Fidelius Charm and Unbreakable Vows, which made her reconsider Madam Sprout’s history and the blood oath between him and Grindelwald. She tried to work out how to warn him, but fell asleep in class and woke to find a small wingless Dragon drawn on her desk.

• Sinistra taught the class about runes, the Fidelius Charm, and the rules and dangers of an Unbreakable Vow.
• Pomona reconsidered Madam Sprout’s isolation, her husband Henry’s death, and her knowledge of Grindelwald.
• Pomona connected the lesson on Unbreakable Vows to the blood oath he had said he made with Grindelwald and grew anxious about warning him.
• Pomona scribbled on her desk while thinking, then fell asleep during class.
• Mary woke Pomona after class, and Pomona saw that she had drawn a small Dragon without wings.

Pomona remembered Henry warning her to use his mysterious device only as a last resort, then learned that an Auror had been called to Hogwarts because a werewolf had injured a centaur foal. A strange voice led her through visions of a pregnant woman and a man discussing Harry and Neville, leaving Pomona fleeing the corridor in fear.

• Pomona recalled Henry explaining that his date-marked device required a strong desire and should only be used when life left no other choice.
• McGonagall introduced Auror Longbottom, and Pomona told him that two adults had entered Hogwarts and one was named Evan.
• McGonagall asked Pomona to attend an eight o’clock meeting about a werewolf that had attacked a centaur foal, and Pomona wondered whether it was Fenrir.
• Pomona heard a mysterious man speaking to her and told him it was September 2nd, 1971, and that Remus would transform in two days.
• Pomona overheard a vision of a pregnant woman refusing to have her child and a man claiming the child was his while discussing Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom.
• The man ordered Pomona to protect the chosen boy, and she ran through the corridor trying to escape.

Pomona questioned Hogwarts’ House-elves about Robby’s attack and learned that a student had threatened them with clothes to make them obey. She also discovered that Hogwarts kept a Basilisk and that merpeople carried the students’ boats, leaving her determined to resign once she had trained a replacement Herbology professor.

• Pomona questioned the worried House-elves about why Robby had gone to the greenhouses.
• Spark revealed that a Hogwarts student had threatened to give the elves clothes unless they followed orders.
• Pomona told the elves they could refuse extra work unless the Head of House and headmaster approved it.
• Pomona asked whether Hogwarts had a Basilisk, and an older elf confirmed it lived in the castle and ate mice.
• Pomona learned that the merpeople carried the boats across the Black Lake and that the elves gave them food scraps.
• Pomona decided she would leave Hogwarts after training a replacement Herbology professor.