Chapter Summaries

Pomona reflected on lions, temptation, and the difference between appearances and reality while admiring The Beatles and their influence. She considered how beauty and desire could obscure the truth, then turned toward a nearby shop.

• Pomona recalled The Chronicles of Narnia and compared Aslan’s qualities with the symbolism of Leo and the Nemean Lion.
• Pomona considered Merope’s choices, Tom Riddle’s rejection of his ruined appearance, and the danger of using a child to bind a man.
• Pomona admired statues of The Beatles and recalled how Brian Epstein had dressed the young band in suits and Beatle boots.
• Pomona reflected on sensory illusions in The Matrix and imagined an alternate world in which the Agamemnon’s soldiers had never reached Ireland.
• Pomona compared the Greeks’ stated aim of rescuing Helen with the possibility that they had used her as a pretext to invade Troy.
• Pomona looked at her handmade Italian leather shoes and turned toward a nearby shop.

Harry dreamed that Sirius urged him to help Hermione and confronted him with guilt over Snape’s death, before a Mermaid gave him a clue hidden in a Golden Egg. At St Mungo’s, Harry learned that Professor Snape was alive, and Hermione revealed that Professor Sprout might know who the Obscurial had parasitized.

• Harry followed Sirius through a dream in which Sirius explained that Hermione felt like a parasite in the Weasleys’ home and needed Harry’s help.
• Harry relived Snape’s death and was accused of failing to save him, then encountered a Mermaid who gave him a Golden Egg containing the next clue.
• Harry awoke at St Mungo’s beside Hermione and the unconscious Ron, offered to help Hermione notify Molly and Arthur, and found a gift addressed to Draco Malfoy.
• Harry learned that Professor Sprout was Snape’s godmother and that Hermione suspected Sprout knew who the Obscurial had parasitized.

Harry visited Ron at St Mungo’s, warned Arthur that Voldemort had used Death Swamp as a death camp, and returned home before heading back to the Ministry for another operation. Ginny challenged Harry’s habit of handling everything alone and offered to join him, while their teasing ended with Harry waking James and fleeing Ginny’s complaints.

• Harry brought Draco Malfoy’s Easter egg to St Mungo’s and left it at reception for him.
• Harry reassured Molly and Arthur that Ron was stable, then told Arthur that Death Swamp might contain missing Muggles and asked him to arrange an investigation.
• Harry asked Arthur to look after Ron and Hermione, then left for home to change before returning to the Ministry.
• Harry told Ginny there would be another operation that night, and Ginny urged him not to face the pressure alone and offered to accompany him.
• Harry joked with Ginny about James having younger siblings, then sang loudly enough to wake James and hurried away as Ginny complained.

Pomona spent the day with Severus in Liverpool as rumors of Voldemort’s return and a possible Werewolf attack unsettled the wizarding world. After realizing her chocolates might reveal Draco’s location, she stayed behind at Anfield while Severus went to deal with the danger.

• Pomona listened to Beatles music in a record shop until Severus found her and took her away, leaving Felix at home because the night’s events were unsuitable for children.
• Pomona and Severus visited Anfield Stadium, where Severus showed her Rita Skeeter’s article claiming Harry had attacked Ron and suggesting Voldemort might be returning.
• Severus told Pomona that rumors were spreading internationally, the Ministry dismissed the Werewolf threat, and Galvin had gone quiet after Arthur Weasley’s suspension.
• Pomona admitted she had given Draco chocolates bearing their production address and a message identifying him as her godson, potentially exposing his location.
• Severus ordered Pomona to stay at Anfield and Apparated away.

Pomona investigated a flashing Sneakoscope during the Liverpool-Everton match and followed a suspicious figure through Anfield’s old stands. A werewolf howl drew her attention, and she returned to consider the stadium’s dangerous layout as the werewolves’ attack loomed.

• Pomona watched the tense Liverpool-Everton match at Anfield while talking with Emma, a stadium cleaner.
• When Pomona’s Sneakoscope flashed, she searched the area and spotted a figure darting through a tunnel.
• Pomona followed the figure through the cramped old stands, but a wolf howl from Stanley Park distracted her and the figure disappeared.
• Pomona returned to the stands and considered how the packed crowds, narrow exits, and open pitch could leave spectators vulnerable to werewolves.
• Pomona reflected that the werewolves’ leader was driving them toward failure and that their cause was doomed to lose.

Harry and the Aurors tried to contain a werewolf attack at Anfield as the Snow Wolves turned the stadium into a battleground. Severus and Pomona confronted Krum Crouch in the control room, where the fight continued while Pomona searched for the switch to restore the lights.

• Harry sealed stadium entrances as werewolves attacked, while Blaise Zabini and his men killed several of them near the shops.
• The lights went out, and Galvin directed spectators onto the pitch as Aurors and police used slides and silver bullets to protect them.
• Krum Crouch announced that his werewolves were attacking, and the violence spread beyond the stadium into nearby streets.
• Severus reached the control room with Pomona and confronted Krum, who rejected his offer to make the pack obey the law.
• Pomona accidentally started the Liverpool team anthem, and she searched the control panel for the lighting switch as Severus fought Krum.

Harry struggled with the helplessness of the werewolf attack at Anfield before rescuing a Muggle mother and her son, while Severus negotiated with Krum and Pomona. The werewolves withdrew, and Severus revealed that he had survived Nagini’s bite with a potion, raising the question of who had saved him.

• Harry hid in a deserted shop, found a Muggle mother and her son, and drove off an attacking werewolf with Sectumsempra.
• Harry gave the mother a silver pistol and escorted her and her child out of hiding.
• Severus and Pomona offered Krum information and Wolfsbane Juice in exchange for cooperation, while Pomona spoke of continuing Dumbledore’s Werewolf Rehabilitation Program.
• Hermione released a sphere of light with the Deluminator, and Krum stopped the werewolves’ attack before leading them out of the stadium.
• Pomona asked Severus why he had taken so long, and he showed her a potion that had treated Nagini’s bite and asked who had saved him.

After the Werewolves attacked Anfield Stadium, Harry put Hermione in charge of the cleanup and went to help defend the city. Elsewhere, Joseph woke from a dream about a plot to kill Halzer and prayed as he awaited a plane out of Montenegro.

• Harry returned to the stadium, thanked Hermione for coming, and asked her to lead the cleanup as director of the House-elf Resettlement Committee.
• Harry told Galvin he was an Auror and agreed to join Dean Thomas's group in setting up barricades against the Werewolves in the city.
• Harry spotted Blaise Zabini and his companions drinking and boasting about killing Werewolves, then searched the stadium as Liverpool's anthem played.
• Joseph heard a whisper and saw a vision of two men discussing a plot to poison Halzer, but he woke to find himself alone in his room.
• Joseph prayed and reflected on the political schemes surrounding Bavaria's nobles while hoping to leave Montenegro soon.

Pomona and Severus discussed how to save Severus from Nagini’s bite, the ingredients needed for their plans, and the war between humans and werewolves. After Severus brought her a golden drink, Pomona connected a maze sculpture and the story of Corvus to a master’s punishment, leaving her wondering what terrible mistake the servant had made.

• Pomona asked whether Severus’s potion could save his past self, and Severus said he would teach her to brew it after they obtained Sun Gold and made a Time-Turner.
• Severus explained that Nicolas Flamel had tested him by having him guard the Sorcerer’s Stone, to see whether he would succumb to temptation or give it to the Dark Lord.
• Pomona and Severus discussed Krum Crouch’s possible betrayal of the werewolves in exchange for Wolfsbane Juice and the danger he would face if discovered.
• Severus questioned Pomona about the stranger who had explained the lake monster bird, and she recalled that he had mentioned The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl.
• Severus brought Pomona two glasses of golden wine and invented a story about Hades, Tartarus, and Tantalus as they discussed the maze sculptures and Corvus’s punishment.
• Pomona connected Corvus’s inability to drink from Crater with a master punishing a servant, and she wondered what mistake had earned him such hatred.

Harry visited Ron in St Mungo’s, learned that a Runespoor egg had helped treat him, and discovered that former Unspeakable Saul Croaker was missing. Meanwhile, Joseph left Father Stein to investigate Alex Brown’s origins, and Severus confronted Voldemort over his gift to Pomona, leaving her bewildered by their struggle over her.

• Harry found Ron unconscious in St Mungo’s, where Molly told him that Ron had taken medicine made with a Runespoor egg and was expected to wake soon.
• Harry searched St Mungo’s for Draco Malfoy but could not find him, then noticed that former Unspeakable Saul Croaker was listed among the missing.
• Arthur Weasley told Harry that Croaker had been friends with Roderick Bode, an Order of the Phoenix informant, while dismissing Croaker’s disappearance as possible research work.
• Joseph asked Father Stein about Alex Brown’s origins and said he would continue investigating the woman he believed was in Venice before boarding a helicopter.
• Pomona received a book titled Saturnia from Voldemort, but Severus attacked the raven carrying him and accused him of possessing it, prompting Voldemort to threaten him over the Time-Turner.

Harry urged Hermione to set aside her worries about Ron and help investigate the disappearance of Unspeakable Saul Croaker, while Pomona and Severus confronted Voldemort, who possessed a raven. The chapter ended with Pomona inviting Voldemort downstairs for tea instead of letting Severus attack him.

• Harry told Hermione that Ron had eaten a Runespoor egg and might recover, then warned that Molly blamed Hermione for Arthur’s suspension.
• Harry suspected the Death Eaters had kidnapped Saul Croaker and asked Hermione to find a loyal House-elf to gather intelligence.
• Harry pressed Hermione to focus on her work and warned that werewolves might act again during the full moon.
• The narration described how Narcissa had been kept unaware of Lucius Malfoy’s secret life and how Death Eaters used fear and power to control others.
• Severus kept his wand trained on Voldemort’s raven, but Pomona stopped them from fighting and pointed out that Voldemort needed their help.
• Pomona invited Severus and Voldemort to come downstairs for tea and cake.

Pomona left Voldemort and Severus together while she went shopping, and Harry struggled with his fading ability to cast a Patronus and his need to choose his own path. Ginny encouraged him to spend time with her and James, and Harry left the study with her.

• Voldemort and Severus criticized Pomona’s tea set, and she announced she would buy dragon-bone porcelain cups before leaving them with Kreacher.
• Pomona tried to draw Voldemort and Severus into conversation about the full moon and Quidditch, but they focused instead on Severus’s past and his work against Dark wizards in Paroldo.
• Ginny found Harry drinking alone after he visited Hermione and challenged him about imitating Severus and neglecting his family.
• Ginny asked Harry about the Half-Blood Prince’s book, Draco’s injury, and why Harry could not cast Expecto Patronum; Harry denied losing the ability.
• Harry told Ginny he needed to find his own direction after finishing the path Albus had designed for him, and then took her hand to join her and James.

Pomona took Felix and his mother, Fiona, to Diagon Alley to show Fiona that magic was real. She left with Felix still resisting schoolbooks and with Fiona’s difficult circumstances weighing on her.

• Pomona met Felix and Fiona outside the apartment building after Felix brought his mother to meet his employer.
• Pomona invited Fiona shopping and Apparated with her and Felix to Charing Cross Road.
• Pomona led Fiona into Diagon Alley, where Fiona saw wizards and realized that magic was real.
• Pomona remembered Felix’s homework and tried to take him to Flourish and Blotts to buy textbooks, but he resisted.
• Fiona explained that her husband was in prison and that she supported herself and Felix by working at a laundry.
• Pomona abandoned the book-shopping plan and led Fiona onward to look for a shop selling porcelain.

Pomona took Fiona and Felix shopping for fine china and reflected on the cost of keeping up appearances. When a shopkeeper recognized Slytherin's Locket and guessed how she had acquired it, Pomona stunned him so the group could choose china without interference.

• Pomona explained to Fiona and Felix why people spent money on fine china and appearances, then chatted with them about life and caterpillars.
• The shopkeeper led Pomona to a storeroom of china once owned by pure-blood families.
• Pomona asked whether the old china had been obtained legally, and the shopkeeper pointed out Slytherin's Locket around her neck.
• The shopkeeper identified the locket as one bought by the Black family and guessed that Pomona had purchased it from Mundungus Fletcher.
• Pomona stunned the shopkeeper and told Fiona and Felix to choose whichever pieces they liked, promising to erase his memory.

Pomona encountered a guarded six-year-old girl outside Twilfitt and Tattings, whose guardian was Euphemia Rowle and whose Augurey supposedly foretold her future. After discussing the girl’s unusual magic and her distrust of others, Pomona collapsed, seeing memories of Riddle, Ginny, Harry, and the diary.

• Fiona stopped feeling guilty about Pomona’s supposed robbery after hearing how Borgin and Burkes had profited from Merope’s desperation.
• Pomona noticed a silver-blue-haired girl sitting alone outside Twilfitt and Tattings and learned she was waiting for her guardian, Euphemia Rowle.
• The girl revealed that Rowle had taken her in for money and used an Augurey to frighten her, but she refused Pomona’s offer of help.
• Pomona spoke with the girl about birds, Parseltongue, and the girl’s ability to speak with animals, then learned that she was six years old.
• Pomona left without learning the girl’s name, then collapsed as memories of Riddle, Ginny, Harry, and the diary surfaced.

After Albus explained the connection between stars, elements, and giving, Pomona woke from a two-month unconsciousness in Padua, Italy, where Fiona cared for her. She learned what she had missed and noticed her locket had changed and a rare plant had appeared in the room.

• Pomona spoke with Albus in a vision, asked to see Severus, and stepped through a door to return to her body.
• Pomona woke on May twentieth in Doctor Malfoy's home in Padua, Italy, and learned she had been unconscious for two months.
• Fiona told Pomona that Mr. Smith was in Britain, Draco had married Linda, and Felix had received a Hazel wood wand with Mountain Troll heartstring.
• Pomona asked Honey for pen and paper, then noticed the Black Swan Locket around her neck and Scented Illusion Grass on a table.

While recovering at the Malfoy estate, Pomona caught up on recent news and reflected on the Hogwarts letter that had brought Severus into her life. Severus arrived after Draco alerted him, and he confronted Pomona about his past and the hatred and grief he still carried before she embraced him.

• Pomona reviewed two months of newspapers, noting increased Werewolf attacks, Kingsley's troubles, and the return of public fear surrounding Voldemort.
• Pomona looked at Severus's childhood Hogwarts acceptance letter and reflected on how their lives had continued together.
• Honey asked Pomona not to leave her and Robby behind for so long, and Pomona invited Honey to pick flowers with her.
• Severus arrived after Draco notified him and questioned Pomona about why she had not told him she had awakened.
• Severus argued that James and Sirius had pushed him toward the Death Eaters and admitted he was glad Sirius was dead because he could no longer speak ill of him to Pomona.
• Pomona embraced Severus despite the blood and sorrow she sensed on him, and he told her the children were watching.

Pomona and Severus grew intimate at Draco’s manor, but the encounter revealed that Severus was frightened by memories of persecution and humiliation. Pomona comforted him and considered how the fertile land around the manor might help Astoria build an independent livelihood.

• Pomona chose a heat-resistant ceramic set while thinking about harvest celebrations and her long-standing role in feeding Severus.
• Pomona and Severus became intimate on the sofa while The Beatles’ “When I’m Sixty-Four” played, and Pomona worried about being discovered by Draco.
• Severus trembled with fear, and Pomona soothed him by guiding him through an imagined forest and reassuring him that he was brave.
• Severus recalled the Half-Blood Wizard Registration Office and the humiliating werewolf trial, while Pomona reminded him that he was safe with her.
• Pomona thought that the manor’s fertile land could support an orchard and help Astoria become financially independent.

Pomona reflected on the risks Astoria faced in her marriage to Draco while she and Severus searched the Black family library for books connected to alchemy and Nadia’s experiments. Their discussion ended with Pomona insisting that their theories needed evidence and that experiments had to be conducted carefully.

• Pomona worried that Astoria might struggle with gossip and family pressures once she and Draco returned to ordinary life.
• After dinner, Draco and Astoria studied in the villa while Pomona and Severus entered the Black family’s secret library using the password “Hecate.”
• Severus taunted Gryffindors, kissed Pomona, and criticized Sirius, prompting Pomona to tell him not to speak ill of the dead.
• Pomona admitted that she had dreamed the note, and Severus questioned whether she and the Dark Lord had any evidence for their theories about the maze.
• Severus suggested looking for Nadia’s records of failed experiments, and Pomona rejected using Kreacher as a test subject while agreeing that any experiments needed a sound method.
• Pomona found an old pamphlet blaming the Black Death on dark magic and reflected on how speculation without evidence had helped condemn Sirius.

Pomona and Severus investigated alchemical clues and discussed the origins of Phoenixes, while Pomona reflected on how all humans were related to the stars. They left the Chamber of Secrets together, with Severus abandoning his book for the night.

• Pomona considered how iron and heavier elements formed in stars and how ancient alchemists encoded their experiments.
• Pomona and Severus examined the seven sacred metals and the clues Mongines Hagrid had left about the treasure.
• Pomona urged Severus to stop reading and rest, but he explained that he was studying Phoenixes and their apparent immortality.
• Pomona suggested a Phoenix might appear whenever the Dumbledore family needed one, and Severus asked where Fawkes had come from.
• Pomona said that people were all children of the stars, and Severus called her insane before leading her out of the Chamber of Secrets.