Chapter Summaries

After a grotesque nightmare about a face-stealing creature, Pomona found comfort in breakfast and prepared to visit the University of Padua disguised as a student. She reflected on the danger and symbolism surrounding the labyrinth, then resolved to avoid acting like a professor for the day.

• Pomona dreamed of a creature drinking a man's blood and wearing his peeled face, which looked exactly like hers.
• Pomona woke trembling, broke down on the stairs, and told Astoria she had suffered a nightmare.
• Astoria helped Pomona to the dining room, where Pomona ate pancakes with double cream and learned that Severus and Draco were training in combat.
• Pomona sorted through her summer clothes and planned to disguise herself as a Muggle student at the University of Padua.
• Pomona studied her notes on antimony and the labyrinth, complained that Albus had given Harry the Sorcerer's Stone, and changed into Muggle clothes.

Pomona wandered through the university in disguise while reflecting on her strange dreams, the mysterious coins, and the dangers of passion and misplaced trust. She concluded that Mongines Hagrid was a bastard for designing the maze, though she did not know what had made him that way.

• Pomona dodged students in the university corridor and recalled how different life felt when she was disguised as a student rather than acting as a teacher.
• Pomona wondered whether her dreams had begun after Voldemort possessed her body and sent her into the maze, and considered whether Apollo's killing of the crow had accelerated events.
• Pomona reviewed the likely metals and meanings of Regulus and Algol while trying to identify the remaining coins and understand the Order of Heaven.
• Pomona connected the symbols of the other coins to stories about love, power, and deception, and considered how passion and sweet words could deprive young women of judgment.
• Pomona judged Mongines Hagrid a bastard for creating the maze and regretted having once pitied him.

Pomona visited the University of Padua Museum and discussed a lecture on heroes, mythology, and human nature with Severus. Their conversation turned to their dangerous theories and Severus’s desire for immortality, and the chapter left them kissing in the museum.

• Pomona explored the University of Padua Museum and learned that Galileo’s telescopes and body relics were displayed in Florence.
• Severus found Pomona, and she described a lecture arguing that heroes, gods, and human nature should be reconsidered.
• Pomona challenged the idea that curiosity-driven adventurers were true heroes and discussed Prometheus, Zeus, and Pandora with Severus.
• Pomona identified antimony as another element and connected it to the wildness of nature.
• Severus warned Pomona against risking their lives over speculation and said he wanted immortality.
• Pomona urged Severus to keep a clear head, but he kissed her, and she kissed him back.

Pomona reconsidered her assumptions about Centaurs, fate, and what made someone good while spending time with Severus in Padua. Severus gave her a replica Deluminator and proposed that they live together somewhere secluded once everything was over, and Pomona kissed him despite the onlookers.

• Pomona reflected on Firenze's intervention in the Forbidden Forest and on how Centaurs viewed humans and their own society.
• Pomona reconsidered Albus's claim that Centaurs could alter the stars and wondered whether changing stars could alter people's fates.
• Severus gave Pomona natural vanilla ice cream, teased her with a chemistry joke, and discussed what he would ask God about loneliness and pain.
• Severus said his Cheering Potion patent would let them afford a farmhouse in Turin and gave Pomona a replica Deluminator for lighting her painting case.
• Pomona asked Severus to try to be a good person, while Severus insisted that Harry Potter must fulfill his destiny and defeat Voldemort.
• Severus proposed that he and Pomona live somewhere secluded after everything was over, and Pomona kissed him despite the curious onlookers.

Pomona and Severus visited Padua’s Astronomy Tower and reflected on Galileo, the spread of knowledge, mortality, and the loneliness of Voldemort and Albus Dumbledore. They left still trading insults, while Pomona privately recognized that both powerful wizards had been mortal men.

• Pomona and Severus replenished their energy in the sun and went to the Astronomy Tower in Padua.
• Pomona thought about Albus Dumbledore’s death, Severus’s role in it, and the burden of being judged a murderer.
• Pomona reflected on printing, public opinion, the material nature of life, and Voldemort’s experiment to bind a soul to a body.
• Severus asked whether a white wizard would go to hell, and Pomona said Voldemort had been lonely and walking toward darkness.
• Pomona and Severus argued over jokes and insults before Severus commented that Muggles still fought over who invented movable-type printing.
• Pomona silently compared Voldemort and Albus as mortal wizards, then recalled a lesson featuring a werewolf version of the Vitruvian Man.

Pomona discussed Draco’s safety and her feelings with Severus while they sheltered at the villa. At the Burrow, Arthur gave Harry and Ron Sirius Black’s repaired flying motorbike, and the pair set off into the night to join the war.

• Pomona used a Ministry of Magic imitation Deluminator to turn off the streetlamps near the villa and discussed Draco’s book, his safety, and his responsibility for Astoria.
• Severus urged Pomona not to brood over her nightmare and told her they had shared dreams that could shape their reality.
• Arthur revealed that he had repaired Sirius Black’s flying motorbike and gave it to Harry and Ron for their war efforts.
• Harry recalled his childhood dream of riding a flying motorbike and wondered whether his life might be a dream, before Arthur gave him Ginny’s jacket.
• Harry rode the flying motorbike with Ron in the sidecar, and they flew into the night beneath the full moon.

Harry and Ron patrolled a London neighborhood, where Harry argued that Snape had been truthful and did not deserve to die before they rushed toward screams from a nearby bar. In a separate scene, Pomona feared her nightmare would come true, and Severus held her as she fell asleep.

• Harry and Ron arrived in London for their Auror patrol, and Harry recalled Sirius's death while handling the Resurrection Stone.
• A group of motorcyclists stopped to admire Sirius's bike, then left after Ron arrived with coffee.
• Harry told Ron he believed Snape's memories and regretted that they had not trusted him, but Ron insisted Snape could not be trusted.
• Harry and Ron heard screams from a nearby bar and ran toward them with their wands drawn.
• Remus challenged a young woman about her birdlike transformation, and Severus later asked Pomona why she had remembered Lupin while thinking about her nightmare.
• Pomona asked Severus to sleep beside her, and as he held her, she imagined how she might save him before a voice and beating wings drew her into a dream.

Tom Riddle explained the maze’s connection to the Peverell brothers and questioned Pomona about immortality, Horcruxes, and the Elder Wand. He left her with a bottle of elderflower wine, and she woke having forgotten the warning she had meant to give.

• Tom Riddle told Pomona that the Peverell brothers had been mercenaries who passed the maze’s trial and learned from Mongines Hagrid before making the Deathly Hallows.
• Tom explained that he had spent two months investigating the maze and said he could negotiate with its Basilisk, but they would have to face its other monsters themselves.
• Tom told Pomona that Nagini was immune to Avada Kedavra and that Harry Potter had sensed Horcruxes after being injured by Basilisk venom.
• Tom revealed that Wormtail had left his wand at Pomona’s house so Severus would realize Tom had arranged it, and said Harry’s holly-and-phoenix-feather wand had protected him from Tom.
• Tom gave Pomona a bottle of French elderflower wine; when she woke, she had forgotten the important warning she had meant to deliver.

Pomona reunited with Severus after half a month apart and wondered whether either of them could change. Their reunion turned into a private confrontation when Severus pulled her away from Draco and Astoria and dragged her back to the room.

• Pomona saw a negative pregnancy test, put it away, and noticed that a vast maze had replaced the orchard outside the villa.
• Pomona and Severus exchanged a silent look as he worked on the maze, and she reflected on their losses, children, and the possibility of change.
• Draco used a Growth Charm to cover the maze walls with rose vines, prompting Pomona to turn away from Severus at the window.
• Severus Apparated behind Pomona, teased her about imagining what lay beneath his clothes, and pressed her to admit what she had been thinking.
• Pomona resisted and pleaded with Severus to stop, but he seized her wrist and dragged her back to the room.

Pomona and Severus discussed the elements, alchemy, and the legend of tin buttons crumbling in the cold while trying to identify the metal connected to The Paradise. The chapter left them still unsure whether Sun Gold was real, and Pomona ended up accusing Severus of fooling her with a dinosaur joke.

• The chapter explained how Mendeleev arranged the elements and reviewed isotopes, nuclear decay, and the origins of naturally occurring elements.
• It recounted how tin could crumble into gray powder in extreme cold and described legends linking tin buttons to Napoleon’s defeat in Russia.
• Severus told Pomona that the Dark Lord had ruled out tin as the metal leading to The Paradise, though six of the seven sacred metals had appeared.
• Pomona asked whether Mongines Hagrid had created Sun Gold, but Severus said he did not know and had thought Hagrid was only a legend.
• Pomona and Severus discussed the final door’s inscription and joked about dinosaurs before Pomona accused Severus of lying to her.

On Draco’s birthday, Pomona received a dagger from Severus and spoke with Voldemort, who tried to recruit her and discussed his past and ambitions. Voldemort left Slytherin’s Locket with her and ordered her to give it to Astoria, while Pomona hid it beside the dagger she had recovered from Dobby’s grave.

• Pomona remembered it was Draco’s birthday, and Severus gave her the dagger from Dobby’s grave to present as a gift from them both.
• Voldemort appeared in Pomona’s bedroom and discussed the wine, Dumbledore’s potion, and the choices and ambitions that shaped people.
• Voldemort tried to recruit Pomona, but she refused, saying joining the Death Eaters would mean betrayal.
• Pomona said she hoped Voldemort could become a wise Ravenclaw, and he questioned why she did not wish him to become a tolerant Hufflepuff.
• Voldemort left Slytherin’s Locket for Pomona and ordered her to give it to Astoria before disappearing with the crow.
• Pomona hid the locket in a velvet pouch and worried about how to wrap the dagger.

Pomona questioned Severus about the elderflower wine and Slytherin's Locket Tom had given her, suspecting Tom wanted something from her but believing he had not placed a deadly curse on the locket. Severus took the wine, and Pomona stayed with him for afternoon tea while they waited for Draco and the others to arrive for the birthday feast.

• Pomona set aside Tom's elderflower wine after Honey asked whether to serve it, recalling the suspicious circumstances around Hepzibah Smith's death and collection.
• Pomona summoned Severus to the garden and showed him the wine and Slytherin's Locket, explaining that Tom had asked her to give the locket to Astoria.
• Pomona told Severus that Tom had made her feel unusually important because he wanted something from her, but she doubted he had put a deadly curse on the locket.
• Severus said he would not drink anything Tom gave him, but would accept the wine from Pomona, and took the bottle from her.
• Pomona and Severus drank lemon tea and ate pastries as they waited for Draco and the others, and Pomona enjoyed tricking Severus into eating overly sweet cream puffs.

Pomona studied the maze’s sculptures and concluded that its third level represented Virgo and its fourth would involve illusions. Severus appeared at the concealed entrance and took her with him, leaving Draco and Fiona behind as they Apparated away.

• Pomona reflected on the maze’s artwork and the danger of curiosity, then reasoned that the trials were meant to restore instinct and bodily flexibility.
• Pomona identified the Persephone sculpture behind the hidden entrance and connected the third level to Virgo and the fourth to illusions.
• Pomona suspected the bronze birds could move and that illusions would make the next level difficult to pass.
• Severus emerged from the illusory entrance and told Pomona not to disturb Draco and Fiona.
• Pomona accused Severus of avoiding a meal with Draco and Fiona and questioned whether there was a new house; Severus told her to take his arm and Apparated away with her.

Pomona was held at Mulciber’s castle near Luino while Voldemort’s plans in Europe advanced toward Paroldo and Severus resumed his role as a spy. She vowed to save Severus and decided to study an antidote to Nagini’s venom, leaving the Time-Turner for later.

• Pomona reflected on Mulciber’s history and learned that his lakeside castle had been taken from a wealthy Muggle through the Imperius Curse, while Kreacher and other House-elves served the Death Eaters there.
• Pomona felt imprisoned in the castle and associated the islands on Lake Maggiore with Albus’s tomb.
• Pomona recognized that Severus had returned to spying as Edgar Smith while Voldemort shifted his operations to Europe and made contact with the Dementors.
• Pomona noted that the plan targeting Paroldo had reached its final stage and considered June 22 as a possible date for Voldemort to act.
• Pomona vowed to save Severus and resolved to learn an antidote for Nagini’s venom.

Pomona and Severus prepared for the ball, but Severus’s growing distress erupted into a magical outburst that brought Voldemort to their room. Voldemort knocked Severus unconscious and cursed Pomona before leaving, and she collapsed beside Severus.

• Pomona and Severus dressed for the ball and spoke about being alive as they looked at each other in the mirror.
• Severus kissed Pomona and forced her to face the mirror, insisting that it was real and not one of his hallucinations.
• The mirror shattered under Severus’s magical pressure, and the castle shook as he rejected Pomona’s attempt to comfort him.
• Voldemort arrived as a red-eyed raven, struck Severus with a spell, and left him unconscious.
• Pomona argued with Voldemort about love, and he cursed her lower abdomen before departing.
• Pomona collapsed beside the sleeping Severus and closed her eyes.

Pomona and Severus prepared to enter the maze, but Severus ended their relationship and left. Pomona accepted that she would have to bring him back, then went with Tom to meet someone waiting for them.

• Pomona dressed for the coming adventure while Severus discussed Theodore Nott and the dangers of the maze.
• Pomona asked Severus to kiss her, but he said their relationship was over and blocked her curse with Protego.
• Severus told Pomona he regretted getting involved with her and would not return, then walked away.
• Pomona told Tom she had no choice but to bring Severus back, and Tom said someone was waiting for them.

Pomona and the others reached the maze beneath a black veil and opened its gate by approaching it with Lyall Meyer’s ring. As Parseltongue echoed from within, they entered the maze, leaving Lyall frightened and Pomona and Severus still at odds.

• Pomona, Voldemort, Lyall Meyer, Yang Felix, Kreacher, and Severus reached the maze by a hidden tunnel Lyall had spent thirty years digging.
• Pomona saw that a black veil covered the maze and followed Voldemort and the others toward its entrance.
• Lyall Meyer approached the gate wearing the ring, revealing a blue metal rose on its surface.
• Voldemort had Lyall scrape off a piece of the rose, then heated and cooled it until it formed a bismuth crystal.
• The maze gates opened, the black veil rose, and Parseltongue grew louder as the group entered.
• Pomona traded barbed remarks with Severus, who walked ahead after she asked how he had destroyed the Black family's Room of Requirement.

Pomona’s group crossed the maze’s second level, where Voldemort persuaded the Basilisk Saturn to let them pass. A siren-song illusion and a venomous attack nearly killed Pomona, but Severus forced her to drink an antidote and confronted her about drunkenly saying she wanted a divorce; as the group fled, he pulled her along.

• Pomona warned the group that they could still leave, but they continued into the maze’s damp second level.
• Voldemort spoke Parseltongue with Saturn, Hagrid’s Basilisk, and secured his cooperation in guarding the second and third levels.
• The group flew beneath the magic circle and encountered an illusion of Pomona’s friends and a flock of bronze birds that struck her with a poisonous feather.
• Severus gave Pomona an antidote and challenged her about telling a Muggle woman she wanted a divorce; Pomona remembered saying it while drunk in Venice.
• Fred’s magical fireworks disrupted the siren song, and Voldemort ordered everyone to run as Severus grabbed Pomona’s wrist and pulled her after the group.

In the maze, Severus explained that he had deduced Lucius was at the Ministry and alerted Phineas Black, then argued with Pomona about trust and their marriage. Their confrontation ended when screams sounded nearby, and they prepared to ambush whoever was approaching.

• Severus explained that Harry’s cryptic message and Lucius’s missing Father’s Day letter had led him to infer Lucius was at the Ministry, and that he had informed Phineas Black.
• Pomona and Severus used Foxweed to block pursuers, then argued about Sirius Black, Harry, and the trust between them.
• Severus demanded that Pomona trust him and said they should separate if she could not; Pomona had not answered when screams rang out.
• Pomona and Severus drew their wands and prepared to ambush the approaching people.

Pomona and Severus ambushed two intruders in the maze, then argued over trust and control while dealing with a captive who could not speak English. They noticed a mass of tiny footprints flooding into the maze, leaving them to face a new threat.

• Pomona used the Marauder's Map and Devil's Snare to help Severus ambush two people in the maze.
• Severus burned away the vines to question one captive, but discovered the man did not speak English.
• Pomona challenged Severus over his desire for control and warned him that she would not surrender her freedom or trust blindly.
• Severus noticed a new move on the map, and Pomona saw countless tiny footprints surging into the maze through its entrance.