Chapter Summaries

Pomona faced Nadia Vasika’s force as it advanced through the maze, while Voldemort explained that they needed Severus to get past the hidden arrows. Pomona left to find Felix, hoping his Obscurus could help them defend the maze and stop Nadia.

• Pomona saw Nadia Vasika leading Big-Headed Hairy Monsters and trolls into the maze, while Severus left in black smoke.
• Voldemort told Pomona that Saturn would not enter the maze’s depths and that Severus’s wandless Confundus Charm was needed to counter the hidden arrows.
• Voldemort explained that Nadia wanted to destroy the prison and escape, mistaking Sun Gold for a stone rather than an elf.
• Pomona questioned Voldemort about the prophecy and whether he had chosen Harry Potter because of it, but Voldemort did not answer.
• Pomona left to find Felix so they could use the power of his Obscurus.

Nadia Vasika recalled her childhood encounter with the underworld temple’s Messenger before leading an assault on the maze, where Galen and Enzo had died. Pomona found Felix in the maze and asked him to defend one side against the invading monsters, leaving him to prove whether he could control his power.

• As a ten-year-old, Nadia Vasika was questioned by the Messenger about becoming Paroldo’s next village chief and priestess of the underworld god.
• As an adult, Nadia learned that Galen and Enzo had died and ordered Big-Headed Hairy Monsters into the maze to test its defenses.
• Severus killed a fly in the greenhouse while Pomona prepared plants to defend against the monsters.
• Pomona found the frightened Felix and reassured him that she would help him learn to control his power.
• Pomona gave Felix seeds and potions and asked him to hold one side of the maze, telling him to signal with Lumos Maxima if he could not manage.

Pomona fought off the Big-Headed Hairy Monsters while searching for a way to overcome the maze’s defenses. Anna appeared to stop her from risking the magic circle, left her a golden flask, and vanished as an army of skeletons arrived outside the maze.

• Pomona defended the maze with Fireball, Venomous Tentacula, and other obstacles while Saturn drove away the monsters on Voldemort’s side.
• Pomona found that the maze blocked communication, Apparition, flight, and changes to its structure, and she considered borrowing power from Gaia to trigger an earthquake.
• Anna appeared and warned Pomona that an earthquake would destroy the magic circle, then identified herself as a Memory and offered a golden flask.
• Anna asked Pomona about the Order of Heaven and hinted at a choice between several paths, but refused to explain the one Pomona said she had omitted.
• Anna pointed out that Pomona’s friend had returned with an army; Pomona saw skeleton soldiers bearing fleur-de-lis shields, and the golden flask remained where Anna had vanished.

Nadia was chased into the maze, where Severus, Felix, and Voldemort confronted the dangers and discussed the secrets behind the maze, the Deathly Hallows, and Voldemort’s past. Voldemort led them toward the next level, withholding the final part of the Order of Heaven.

• Nadia fled her pursuers toward the maze while a black crossbow bolt tracked them, and a voice in her mind challenged her faith in the god of death.
• Nadia entered the magic circle, and Severus, Felix, and Voldemort landed after her; Severus revealed that he had bound the bolt with Light-and-Shadow Binding.
• Voldemort asked Severus to use the Confundus Charm on the bolts, and Severus redirected one to strike a Big-Headed Hairy Monster.
• Voldemort described finding records about the Deathly Hallows and told Severus that his mother had never known the value of the locket around her neck.
• Severus connected Mongines Hagrid, Salazar Slytherin’s father, and Voldemort’s knowledge, while Voldemort confirmed that Light-and-Shadow Binding was the spell he had used on Nagini.
• Voldemort named six parts of the Order of Heaven and led the group deeper into the maze, promising to reveal the missing one after they passed the next level.

Pomona reflected on Slytherin's legacy, Voldemort's history, and the people who had shaped her life while trapped in the labyrinth. When Severus left for the next level, she could not bring herself to speak to him, and she remained behind with Felix and Kreacher, unable to steady her thoughts.

• Pomona examined the golden flask of liquid Sun Gold and considered how the labyrinth's black gauze had trapped everyone inside.
• Pomona reflected on Slytherin's connection to the labyrinth, Tom Riddle's past, and the danger Voldemort might pose if he regained his body.
• Pomona thought about the Deathly Hallows, Grindelwald's manipulation, and the way ambition and extravagance could lead people into ruin.
• Pomona remembered Merope, Lily, Severus, and her own feelings, realizing that Lily's death had shaped the Severus she knew.
• Pomona grabbed Severus's cloak as he passed, but said nothing; Severus pulled the fabric free and went with Lyall Mayer and Voldemort toward the next level.
• Felix asked Pomona why she had not spoken to Severus, and she admitted she did not know what to say.

Pomona fought Nadia in the maze while trying to clear threats away from Severus. She defeated Nadia for the moment, but Felix arrived as the two women continued insulting each other.

• Pomona entered an illusion of Sirius and watched Severus kill him before leading her away to a secluded home.
• Pomona broke through the maze wall, used vines to build an iron Giant, and crushed the strange bronze birds.
• Nadia attacked Pomona’s iron Giant, taunted her, and caused it to topple.
• Pomona tried to ensnare Nadia, but Nadia dodged and blew a silent whistle that drew the Obscurial toward her.
• Felix intervened, and Pomona and Nadia traded insults while he stared at them.

Severus Snape and Voldemort faced an ambush of transforming raven sculptures while Lyall Mayer hid behind a rock. They fought together against the arrows, but once the shared threat was gone, their old conflict remained unresolved.

• Snape realized that he could not rely on Voldemort or Lyall Mayer to protect him in the maze.
• Snape used Confundus Charms to turn the hidden arrows against the raven sculptures, while Voldemort bound the sculptures with Light-and-Shadow Binding.
• Lyall Mayer fled to hide behind a rock as the arrows targeted the challengers' hearts.
• Snape dodged the incoming bolts and felt exhilarated by the danger as he and Voldemort held out against the attack.
• Snape recognized that the arrow assault would likely end, leaving him and Voldemort to face their former conflict again.

Pomona and Nadia stopped fighting when Xenophilius warned them that Aurors were on their way, and they argued over how to divide the treasure. As Felix went to check the maze entrance, Pomona wondered why Xenophilius had become involved and thought about how she preferred ordinary teaching to dangerous schemes.

• Pomona’s battle with Nadia wrecked the maze, while the Siren’s song and visions of art distracted Pomona during the fight.
• Xenophilius Lovegood arrived and warned Nadia that the International Confederation of Wizards had asked Italian Aurors to come.
• Nadia proposed cooperation and demanded seventy percent of the treasure, but Pomona rejected her terms.
• Nadia threatened to destroy the treasure, and Pomona asked whether Xenophilius was involved before he denied kidnapping Daoji.
• Nadia urged them to stop talking, and Pomona sent Felix to check whether anyone had emerged from the maze’s fifth level.
• Pomona reflected that Xenophilius may have acted foolishly because Luna would soon marry Rolf, and she wished she could leave dangerous schemes to others.

Pomona, Severus, and Voldemort debated how to negotiate with the women outside and how to pass the sixth level, which seemed designed to summon lightning. They planned to crown the swan statue with a lightning rod, but Voldemort ended the chapter staring blankly as Pomona sensed danger ahead.

• Pomona, Severus, and Voldemort argued over refusing to share the maze’s benefits with the women outside, while Voldemort said he would honor his promise only if they pledged loyalty to him.
• Voldemort explained that the swan statue represented Zeus and his lightning, and Pomona proposed directing the strikes onto it to open the seventh-level maze.
• Severus warned that rainwater could conduct lightning to them, so Voldemort proposed making a crown for the swan statue as a lightning rod.
• Pomona worried that the maze might conceal the Hecatoncheires and Cerberus, while Severus pointed out that the fifth feather might be silver like Benjamin Franklin’s key.
• Voldemort withdrew into thought, staring blankly like Lyall Mayer, as Pomona voiced a deep sense of foreboding.

Pomona and the others reached the sixth level of the maze, where they investigated the swan statue and its connection to the constellations. Lyall Meyer revealed that he was the Messenger who had granted the Peverell brothers their wishes, leaving the group facing his identity and purpose.

• The group arrived at the sixth maze level and found a swan statue, while Nadia explained that the next door led to the temple on Sage's Mountain.
• Severus questioned Pomona about Gemini's metal, and Pomona worried that her mistaken memories had led them to the wrong constellation clues.
• Pomona examined the enormous crystal swan as Voldemort tested its feathers with Lumos, but the attempt did nothing.
• Voldemort recognized that Lyall Meyer was not himself and confronted him about the rotten smell and his past possession of another body.
• Lyall revealed that he had granted the Peverell brothers the Elder Wand, Resurrection Stone, and Invisibility Cloak, then identified himself as the Messenger.
• Xenophilius asked whether Lyall was Death, and Lyall clarified that he was a divine messenger as Nadia moved in front of him.

Pomona and the others confronted Voldemort and Lyall over the Resurrection Stone, the maze, and a contract required of anyone seeking its treasures. As Nadia shielded Lyall from Voldemort, Pomona realized Lily had learned a spell connected to Grindelwald that could reflect the Killing Curse, and she grasped how Voldemort had used the Resurrection Stone’s secret to create his diary Horcrux.

• Lyall and Voldemort argued over the Resurrection Stone, Voldemort’s Horcruxes, and Lyall’s role in building the maze.
• Voldemort deduced that Lyall had used a servant to expose the maze and that Lyall could not retrieve its treasures himself.
• Lyall presented Nadia with a contract for anyone attempting to open the maze, and Voldemort used Wingardium Leviosa to lift the parchment.
• Nadia raised a defensive ward around herself and Lyall as Voldemort threatened them, and Pomona warned that the spell could reflect magic.
• Pomona traced Lily’s knowledge of the reflective spell to Bathilda Bagshot’s connection with Grindelwald and realized Voldemort had used the Resurrection Stone’s secret to materialize the soul fragment in his diary.

Voldemort and the others examined Monogenes Caecilius Hagrid’s agreement, which required secrecy, forbade profiting from what they learned, and demanded care for his descendants. As Voldemort considered whether to sign, Pomona and Lyall discussed the maze’s clues and the chapter ended with Voldemort still weighing the contract.

• Voldemort finished reading Monogenes Caecilius Hagrid’s Greek contract, and Pomona questioned what its restrictions meant in practice.
• Severus warned that the agreement’s final condition could force Voldemort to care for Rubeus Hagrid for the rest of his life.
• Lyall explained that blood would not bind someone like Voldemort and advised him not to trick Monogenes Caecilius Hagrid.
• Pomona listed the metals associated with several constellations, and Lyall noted that the seven-level maze still had one clue missing.
• Voldemort asked how to sign the agreement, while Pomona waited as he considered its consequences.

Pomona realized Voldemort needed to sign a contract using the curse that had marked Harry, and he signed with dark smoke from his wand. The contract opened the way to the maze’s seventh level, where Pomona and Severus followed a glowing path toward a distant temple.

• Pomona interpreted her vision as a hint that Harry’s scar connected Voldemort to the contract, and Severus suggested Voldemort use his old spell to sign it.
• Voldemort pressed his wand to the parchment, and dark smoke formed his signature; the golden contract then appeared on the crystal swan and projected onto the gate.
• Lyall warned that anyone entering the seventh level would have to obey the contract, while Voldemort and Xenophilius hurried through the gate and Pomona told Nadia to protect Felix.
• Pomona and Severus passed through the stone door and found themselves in darkness, with glowing lines marking a path toward a distant temple.
• Pomona discovered that phosphorus along the path ignited and that liquor beyond it caught fire, so she concluded they could not leave the marked route; Severus led her onward to find a safe place.

Pomona and Severus ate and talked while navigating the dangerous seventh-level maze, where their conversation about Voldemort’s connection to Harry turned to their own relationship. Severus admitted he no longer wanted a divorce, and the two continued toward the next section of Malfoy Manor together.

• Pomona reflected that Voldemort’s connection to Harry was not simply based on fear, and that Voldemort had manipulated Harry into going to the Ministry.
• While eating in the maze, Pomona told Severus why she believed the final constellation was Lynx, and they discussed humanity’s loneliness.
• Severus asked Pomona why she had not corrected someone who called her “Miss,” then said he no longer wanted a divorce; Pomona said she did not know whether she wanted to leave him.
• Xenophilius saw Pomona and Severus in the maze and ran away, prompting Pomona to wonder whether he sought ancient knowledge or wanted to resurrect his wife.
• Severus pretended his wound was worse than it was, and Pomona realized he had tricked her as they continued along the winding maze.
• At the entrance to the seventh section of Malfoy Manor, Snape waved his wand and passed through the railing.

Pomona and Severus reached a Phoenix statue whose tears collected in a pool, where they debated whether it concealed another trial and how to test it safely. They remained unsure what the temple required and whether the Dark Lord had passed through this route.

• Pomona and Severus found a huge Phoenix statue with tears dripping into a pool and read the Latin inscription, “The art of water and fire.”
• Severus cast “Reveal Your Secrets” at the clear water, but the spell revealed nothing, and he considered whether the Dark Lord had taken another path.
• Severus told Pomona that Tom had recreated features of a Pensieve and mastered the secret of materializing souls as a teenager.
• Pomona studied her cheat sheet about nonmetals and wondered whether the pool contained acid or required an experiment.
• Pomona and Severus discussed Phoenix rebirth, the burdensome path to godhood, and the vanity behind some people’s ambitions, but they did not solve the trial.

Pomona and Severus tested whether Fawkes’s tears could safely wash away the Dark Mark, then jumped into the pool and relived memories of Hogwarts. Pomona realized Severus had never killed Albus Dumbledore; gravity had caused his death, leaving the truth behind the Elder Wand’s choice.

• Severus tested the pool’s water with a fish and test strips, then submerged his Dark Mark and found the water harmless, though the mark remained.
• Pomona and Severus jumped into the pool together after joking about who might see them.
• Pomona heard the Mermaids’ song and saw visions of Hogwarts, Dementors, the Dark Mark, and Dumbledore’s death.
• Pomona realized Severus had not killed Dumbledore and that Dumbledore had died from the fall, which explained why the Elder Wand had chosen Draco Malfoy.

Pomona and Severus reached the temple with Tom Riddle, where they learned more about the maze’s strange healing substances and the fate of those who drank from a goblet. At the temple entrance, Tom committed to an answer for the final trial while Severus prepared coins, and Pomona spotted an orange glow inside the darkness.

• Severus collected water from the phoenix-tear pool and explained that it healed his wounds, while Pomona discovered that her Invisibility Cloak had been torn.
• Pomona showed Severus the bottle Anna had given her, and he warned that it felt scorching hot to him and might be useful for trapping something.
• Pomona, Severus, and Tom Riddle reached the temple, where Tom said the goblet’s liquid resembled unicorn blood and revealed that he had not drunk it.
• Lyall Mayer explained that he had used the faces of people who drank from the goblet to replace his own ruined face, while Nadia appeared beside him.
• Xenophilius rejoined the group, and Tom identified the final constellation as Lynx while Severus named its nebula NGC 2419.
• Tom chose his answer and Lyall instructed them to throw their prepared coins into the pool in order; Pomona noticed an orange glow inside the temple.

Pomona and Xenophilius Lovegood discovered that a Devil was trying to escape from the temple and that Anna’s bottle was meant to contain it. Xenophilius said Pomona was the only one who could handle the bottle, leaving her to figure out how to trap the Devil.

• Pomona met Xenophilius Lovegood and heard that a Phoenix’s tears had healed his wounds while a black eagle had given him a bronze curved blade.
• Xenophilius told Pomona the Grimm fairy tale of a young man who released a monster from a bottle and received a healing cloth in return.
• Xenophilius warned Pomona that the monster was imprisoned in the temple and had deliberately let them enter in an attempt to escape.
• Pomona showed Xenophilius the small bottle Anna had given her, and he identified its material as the substance used to build New Jerusalem.
• Xenophilius told Pomona that only she could hold the bottle without being burned and that she had to use it to trap the Devil, but he did not know how.

Voldemort and the others entered the golden temple with Lyall Mayer, who revealed that its guards were artificial humans created by the Master. Lyall offered to help Voldemort obtain what he wanted in exchange for a new body, and Voldemort agreed to consider the bargain after his own goal was fulfilled.

• Voldemort placed the final gold coin into the wishing well, and blue roses bloomed beside the temple steps.
• Lyall invited the group into the temple and warned them that they could take only what belonged to them.
• Lyall showed them golden homunculi and explained that the Master had created artificial humans with metal souls.
• Lyall said he had disabled the temple guards because he needed a new body, and Voldemort promised he would get one after Voldemort obtained what he wanted.

Pomona and Severus explored the House of Gatherings, where each visitor could choose a treasure vault prepared to fulfill their desires. Pomona found Sun Gold in her chosen vault, and the eager magical substance demanded to be released in exchange for granting a wish.

• Lyall explained that the twelve treasure vaults prepared treasures according to each visitor’s instincts and desires.
• Pomona reflected on forgiveness, being needed, and the hardships and choices of Severus, Lily, and others while Voldemort considered the vaults.
• Pomona and Xenophilius discussed Draco’s punishment for bullying a Hufflepuff first-year, and Pomona decided to apologize to Hannah.
• Voldemort chose a treasure vault and went inside; Pomona then asked Severus to accompany her into one of the remaining vaults.
• Pomona and Severus entered their chosen vault and found Sun Gold trapped in a magical array, offering to grant a wish if they released it.