Chapter Summaries

Pomona revisited memories of Dumbledore, Hermione, and the choices that shaped their lives, then woke in the Weasleys’ home with an emerald bracelet that eased her distress. She discovered she had forgotten to use a spell to disguise her face, leaving her unsettled about the dark age she still inhabited.

• Pomona remembered Hermione using the Time-Turner to save Sirius and Harry, and recalled Dumbledore giving her the decree that let House-elves serve wizarding families.
• Dumbledore asked Pomona to forgive his past words, and she asked him to try to have Neville assigned to Hufflepuff.
• Pomona grieved over Severus and the emerald bracelet, while Dumbledore urged her not to make the wrong choice and praised Hermione’s importance to Harry and Ron.
• Pomona joked that Hermione might become Minister for Magic and Ron could stay home to raise the children, making Dumbledore laugh.
• Pomona woke, found Dumbledore gone and the emerald necklace left behind, then put it on and felt her panic ease.
• Madam Sprout told Pomona she had forgotten the spell for her face, and Pomona realized she was still living in a dark age.

Snape restored Pomona with Narcissa’s emerald bracelet and, while she slept at Malfoy Manor, reflected on his past and imagined a new life there. He ordered a greenhouse built for her and the child she carried, while a red-eyed raven arrived at the manor.

• Narcissa used her emerald bracelet to help Snape restore warmth and color to Pomona, and Snape wondered whether her sister had cursed her.
• After Narcissa left, Snape lay beside Pomona and confessed his regrets, his desire for Dumbledore’s hidden knowledge, and his doubts about returning as headmaster.
• Snape noticed Pomona’s pregnancy, recoiled from it, and reflected on his guilt over killing Dumbledore and his father.
• Snape decided to use Malfoy Manor as a new beginning and vowed to make Kingsley suffer while claiming to stand for justice.
• Snape ordered Robby to clean the manor and build a greenhouse for Pomona, and Robby covered her and wished the child health and a long life.
• A powerful red-eyed raven landed on the balcony after Robby vanished.

At Hogwarts during the Triwizard Tournament, Severus Snape confronted Lucius Malfoy over his failure to protect his family and urged him to give Draco the position of family head. Their argument erupted into a duel, leaving Draco caught between his two fathers as Snape warned him that their enemies threatened them all.

• At the Sorting, first-year Severus Snape sat in Slytherin’s seat reserved for a distinguished pure-blood, and Lucius Malfoy welcomed him.
• At Hogwarts during the Triwizard Tournament, Lucius stared at Karkaroff’s Dark Mark and spoke with Snape about his shame and family troubles.
• Snape recalled how Pomona had taught him to fight and told Lucius to hand the family leadership to Draco, with Narcissa’s help.
• Lucius refused and drew his wand, and Snape fought him with powerful air spells while Narcissa pulled Draco out of danger.
• Snape called Draco back and told him to pick up his wand if he wanted to save his father, warning that their enemies intended to wipe them out.

Snape recognized his growing attraction to Pomona Sprout and struck a deal with Lucius Malfoy: Snape would help him win Narcissa back, and Lucius would help Snape. The story then shifted to Snape’s memories of dueling and a mysterious Hufflepuff girl who had taught him magic.

• Pomona explained wand compatibility through plant grafting, while Snape found himself distracted by her beauty.
• At Malfoy Manor, Lucius made advances toward Pomona, and Snape insisted she was taken by him.
• Lucius offered to help Snape in exchange for help winning Narcissa back, and Snape accepted.
• Lucius provoked Snape about his attraction and his Muggle heritage, so Snape stunned him and returned to the ballroom.
• Snape recalled his elegant dueling lessons under Voldemort and the Order of the Phoenix’s later victory over him.
• In a memory, a Hufflepuff girl taught young Snape to test spells against living targets and gave him a biscuit, but kept her identity secret.

Snape’s memories of his hatred, loyalties, and entanglements surfaced as he fought Lucius and tried to force Draco to protect the Malfoy family. Bella urged Narcissa to remove her bracelet and help kill a pregnant woman, claiming the woman’s death would also kill Snape through their life-binding contract.

• Young Snape challenged Regulus Black after Regulus insulted him, then left home after arguing with the woman who had raised him.
• Snape recalled his hatred of Sirius Black and his growing dependence on the woman he had once mentored.
• During the fight at Malfoy Manor, Snape urged Draco to activate the family’s defensive magic and demanded that he become head of the Malfoy family.
• Draco turned away from the fight to activate the defensive magic, while Narcissa stayed behind and listened to Bella’s plan.
• Bella told Narcissa that Snape had bound his life to a pregnant woman’s and urged her to remove her bracelet and help kill her.
• Narcissa finally walked toward the guest room as Bella waited in the darkness.

Narcissa visited the sleeping Pomona Sprout and spoke with her through an unexplained ability to hear her thoughts. After reflecting on her marriage, Draco’s safety, and the bracelet protecting him, Narcissa chose not to undo its clasp and left Pomona resting in bed.

• Narcissa reflected on her unhappy marriage to Lucius and her determination to protect Draco, whose survival mattered more to her than anything.
• Narcissa approached Pomona and heard her thoughts, learning that Pomona believed Narcissa’s gift was listening.
• Narcissa explained that removing Pomona’s bracelet could lift the Unbreakable Vow protecting Draco, but hesitated to undo its clasp.
• Narcissa spoke with Pomona about their lovers, loyalty, and the pain of wanting love from men who belonged to someone else.
• Narcissa decided to trust her judgment about Severus, kissed Pomona on the forehead, and stayed beside her.

Pomona visited Narcissa and discussed her unusual gift, Severus, and the future while Narcissa prepared for Draco’s return to society. Their conversation left Pomona grieving over the apparent loss of her unborn daughter’s gift and reflecting on Lily’s abandoned power.

• Snape confronted Pomona about visiting Sirius’s bedroom and opening the Hufflepuff common room for him, then left after the others laughed.
• Narcissa saw Draco off to a Greengrass gathering and urged him to make a good impression as he returned to society.
• Pomona thanked Narcissa for the bracelet, and Narcissa explained that Severus’s nightly visits had brought Lucius home every day.
• Narcissa told Pomona that Draco would work at St Mungo’s researching treatment for the Cruciatus Curse and that Severus remained with the Order of the Phoenix and the Ministry’s efforts against werewolves.
• Pomona and Narcissa discussed marriage and children, and Narcissa reassured Pomona that there would be more children in the future.
• Pomona cried over her premonition that her unborn daughter’s gift had disappeared and recalled that Lily had surrendered her immense power for Harry Potter.

Pomona and Severus discussed their relationship, his past with Harry, and the mystery of Voldemort’s vanished body. They ended by speculating that Lily’s protective magic and Harry’s scar came from a shared-life bond, then went to inspect themselves for similar runes.

• Pomona hung crystal wind chimes for protection, and Severus asked her to forgive him about the child and let him into her room that night.
• Pomona teased Severus about temptation and challenged his suspicions concerning Cedric’s death and the Polyjuice Potion.
• Severus complained about Harry’s Occlumency lessons, his failure to save him in the boathouse, and the name Albus Severus Potter.
• Severus revealed that Wormtail’s wand had belonged to Tom Riddle during his school years, while Tom’s body had never been found.
• Pomona and Severus theorized that Lily’s ward, a shared-life bond, and the rune-like mark on Harry’s forehead explained Voldemort’s rebounding curse.
• Severus proposed examining whether they had similar inscriptions, and Pomona called him a pervert as they returned to the bedroom.

Pomona recovered from her pregnancy loss and continued her secret relationship with Severus Snape, who remained hidden from the Ministry and other factions. After Ministry officials were announced at Malfoy Manor, Snape arranged to meet Pomona at Westminster and take her to meet someone.

• Pomona lost the child after the Cruciatus Curse and a curse endangered her life, and she later recovered enough to walk.
• Narcissa explained that a contract required proof, unlike a spoken vow, while Harry's vanished scar raised questions about whether a contract had become invalid.
• Severus believed someone had tampered with his potion materials to frame him, so he stayed hidden rather than return to the Ministry or the Order of the Phoenix.
• Pomona and Severus were together at Malfoy Manor when Robby warned them that Ministry officials would arrive in fifteen minutes.
• Severus left after telling Pomona to meet him at Westminster at eleven, where he would take her to meet someone.

Pomona posed as a Malfoy family guest to help Narcissa defy the Aurors searching Malfoy Manor, then joined her in playing dress-up. As Narcissa chose an outfit for Pomona’s date with Severus, Pomona was left grieving over her empty stomach and wondering about the future of her family.

• Pomona confronted Dean Thomas at Malfoy Manor and claimed she was a guest of the family.
• Pomona and Narcissa used a shopping trip as a pretext to leave the Aurors waiting, then laughed together in Narcissa’s bedroom.
• Pomona asked Narcissa whether she still discriminated against Muggles and urged her to visit her sister Andromeda.
• Narcissa helped Pomona choose a formal outfit for her eleven o’clock date with Severus.
• Narcissa said she hoped Miss Greengrass would carry on the family, and Pomona touched her flat stomach and felt desolate.

Pomona went shopping with Narcissa before heading to a meeting, where she was abducted by Death Eaters and Apparated to a cemetery. There, Severus revealed that their unnamed daughter was buried beside Lily, and Pomona chose the name Lily Snape but refused to see the child before burial.

• Pomona reflected on her freedom after retiring, her doubts about Dumbledore's trust, and her debt to Lily while shopping with Narcissa.
• Pomona left Narcissa and went alone toward an intelligence station near Westminster, where a Muggle vagrant and another follower made her wary.
• A black shadow seized Pomona and Apparated her away before she could defend herself.
• Pomona recognized Severus at a quiet cemetery and agreed to clean Lily's grave with him.
• Severus told Pomona that their unnamed daughter was buried there, and Pomona named her Lily Snape but refused to see her before burial.

Pomona reflected on Slytherin and Hufflepuff, then visited Lily and James Potter’s graves with Severus and vented her anger at James and Peter Pettigrew. After reconciling with Severus, she left with him, still mindful of the approaching anniversary of Lily and James’s deaths.

• Pomona explained that Slytherin protected those he considered family and described using Formless Divine Wind to discipline Grawp for the sake of the children he might endanger.
• Pomona and Severus found daisies at Lily and James Potter’s graves and wondered whether Petunia had brought them.
• Pomona and Severus discussed Lily’s relationship with her sister, the Death Eaters’ resentment of Lily, and James’s youthful attempts to attract girls with a Golden Snitch.
• Pomona insulted James for his arrogance and blamed him for trusting Peter Pettigrew as Secret-Keeper, while Severus restrained her from kicking James’s tombstone.
• Pomona kissed Severus and smeared lipstick across his mouth; Severus kissed her back until two Muggles walking their dog were startled.
• Pomona and Severus reminisced about the chaos of teaching at Hogwarts, then vanished together with two sharp pops.

Pomona urged Severus to help Hermione become Minister for Magic and proposed giving Theodore Nott a chance to research a Cruciatus Curse antidote. After Severus confessed his fear and guilt over using forbidden magic, Pomona comforted him, then broke down over her frustrations as a teacher and the death of Cedric.

• Pomona argued that Hermione should replace Shacklebolt as Minister for Magic and could restrain the men escalating conflict after the war.
• Pomona asked Severus to have Draco invite Theodore Nott to help research an antidote for the Cruciatus Curse.
• Severus admitted that he had been frightened when Pomona nearly died and asked whether she could forgive him for using forbidden magic; Pomona forgave him.
• Severus confessed that Draco had refused to learn to fight even when threatened, and Pomona explained that Draco had grown up differently from Severus.
• Severus asked why Pomona had noticed him and accused her of not treating him as special, prompting Pomona to cry over her burdens as a fair teacher and Hufflepuff's losses.

Pomona confronted Snape after he took her to a secluded manor and tried to keep her there, insisting that he needed to return to Hogwarts and face his unfinished responsibilities. Snape left after she challenged his control over her, while questions about his resurrection and their missing memories remained unanswered.

• Snape took Pomona to an isolated manor in a forest and proposed that they live there in seclusion.
• Pomona warned Snape that his Unbreakable Vow with Narcissa still endangered them and urged him to return and complete his mission.
• Snape accused Pomona of jealousy and trying to leave him, while Pomona rejected his threats and asserted her right to choose her own life.
• Pomona questioned Snape's belief that the Resurrection Stone had brought him back to life and asked him to help recover her missing memories.
• Snape grabbed Pomona by the throat when she said others could replace him, but she knocked his hand away and demanded respect.
• Snape left the room after their confrontation, and Pomona regretted becoming involved with her student.

Pomona dreamed of asking Flitwick how to levitate a struggling person, then woke to find Snape in her room using Legilimency and confronting her over the trouble her prank had caused him. As Snape’s anger gave way to an intimate confession about killing his Muggle father, he kissed and pinned her down.

• Pomona asked Flitwick whether Wingardium Leviosa could suspend a person, and he encouraged her to invent a spell for hanging someone upside down.
• Pomona woke from her dream to find Snape in her room, where he admitted he had used Legilimency on her.
• Snape accused Pomona’s prank of leaving him vulnerable to being blamed for Barty Crouch’s murder and threatened with Azkaban.
• Pomona reassured Snape that she had never thought he needed a woman’s protection and praised his actions to protect Hogwarts.
• Snape said he had killed his Muggle father, then kissed Pomona and pressed himself over her.

Pomona tried to understand Snape’s anger while they stayed together in continental Europe, and used tears and affection to persuade him to let her see Lily and Eileen. Snape agreed they would leave that afternoon, while Pomona went to explore the wine cellar.

• Pomona questioned Snape about the past and asked to write Narcissa, but Snape assigned her detention and refused to answer her questions.
• Pomona asked to see Lily and cried that she had been too weak to protect her; Snape said he had already taken care of the visit.
• Pomona asked Snape to comfort her and suggested they visit Eileen, and Snape hugged her and said he should have protected her.
• Pomona argued with Snape about his rivalry with Dumbledore, Sirius, and his Unbreakable Vow involving the Black family.
• Snape told Pomona they would leave that afternoon and asked to be left alone, so she headed to the basement to look for wine for Narcissa.

Pomona reflected on Severus Snape’s history of bullying, his ruthlessness, and her own attraction to the formidable man he had become. In the Junker cellar, she accepted her partiality and considered which champagne Narcissa Malfoy would like.

• Pomona recalled Snape’s school torment, his conflicts with the Marauders, and how he pursued revenge while she planned to train him to fight.
• Pomona remembered using a two-way mirror with Snape to watch for the Basilisk, and how Snape brewed a potion to save Filch after he was Petrified.
• Pomona thought about Mrs Norris’s distrust of Snape and contrasted the bullied boy she once protected with the dangerous Potions professor she now desired.
• Pomona explored the gloomy Junker wine cellar and reflected on her preference for a villainous identity over a kindness that went unappreciated.
• Pomona spoke to the cellar’s wine, acknowledged she had no intention of returning what she found, and considered champagne for Narcissa Malfoy.

Pomona and Severus attended dinner at Malfoy Manor, where Pomona persuaded Narcissa and Lucius to organize a charity gala for war orphans and atonement. After leaving the tense gathering, Pomona and Severus discussed the past and the Sorcerer's Stone before Severus led her into the dark garden to show her a gift.

• Pomona proposed that Narcissa and Lucius host a charity gala and establish support for war orphans, including Theodore Nott and Neville Longbottom.
• Narcissa persuaded Lucius to organize the gala and invite old friends, while Snape declined to attend.
• Pomona and Severus left the tense dining room and walked through Malfoy Manor's protected garden.
• Pomona told Severus she had placed the Sorcerer's Stone in Lily's vault because she trusted her to keep it safe.
• Severus kissed Pomona, said he had a gift for her, and led her into the darkness with her eyes closed.

Pomona and Severus visited a greenhouse built on the former Werewolf gathering grounds, where Severus explained that Basilisk Aragon had driven the Werewolves away. He gave Pomona a Slytherin snake ring, and they ended by admitting they missed Dumbledore.

• Pomona sensed death and misery near the greenhouse, but Severus persuaded her to open her eyes and see it.
• Severus asked Pomona for a hair to study her Veela ancestry, and she agreed in exchange for mousse cake.
• Severus revealed that he had summoned Aragon, the largest Basilisk, to drive the Werewolves from the Forbidden Forest.
• Pomona praised the greenhouse and kissed Severus, who said he wanted to study her hair.
• Severus gave Pomona a snake-shaped Slytherin ring, and Pomona remembered Sirius and James protecting her.
• Pomona asked whether Severus missed Dumbledore, and they admitted they both did.

Pomona recalled how she had befriended a lonely Slytherin boy to gather intelligence, and Severus confronted her about her motives while they were together. After teasing and arguing about their past and the Christmas Ball, Pomona asked Severus to arrange a meeting with Hermione so she could intervene in Hermione’s relationship with Ron.

• Pomona remembered offering food and companionship to a lonely Slytherin first-year in exchange for his protection, while secretly hoping to learn intelligence.
• Severus accused Pomona of lying and using him for information, and she admitted she had wanted to capture his attention and be the only woman in his thoughts.
• Pomona and Severus argued about his jealousy, her absence from the Christmas Ball, and his failed attempts to invite her.
• Severus said Hermione had erased her parents’ memories and might have relied on Ron; Pomona eagerly asked him to arrange a meeting with Hermione.
• Pomona refused to tell Severus how much she had overheard about Neville Longbottom, then teased him about breaking a lock spell and asked him to request more House-elves.