Chapter Summaries

Severus searched Luxembourg Garden for the next Rose Line clue and found Innocence Fountain, whose myth and sculptures suggested that wine could replace the blood flowing through it. Gong Saiyi identified the fountain, and the chapter ended with Severus proposing to fill its channel with wine.

• Severus followed the map into the eastern part of Luxembourg Garden, where he found a neglected water channel and a group of sculptures.
• Gong Saiyi identified the sculpture as Innocence Fountain and explained the story of the Cyclops, the sea nymph, and the shepherd.
• Severus connected the Cyclops’s closed eye to the story of Odysseus blinding a Cyclops with a red-hot stake.
• Severus concluded that the Cyclops represented blind love and suggested filling the fountain with wine rather than blood.
• Severus recognized Innocence Fountain as modeled on the Medici Fountain and linked it to the Paris Opera House entrance to the Wizarding World.

Alessandro decided to search beneath Saint-Sulpice Fountain for the holy relic and set off with Haji and Felix, while Severus investigated Napoleon’s Imperial Catechism at the National Library of France. The chapter ended with Madam Pince suggesting that Severus could still see Marie Antoinette there one last time.

• Alessandro dismissed Gianluca’s doubts about searching beneath Saint-Sulpice Fountain and said he would find Monica before she went somewhere dangerous with a soccer player.
• Haji advised Alessandro to accept life’s flaws, and Felix returned Alessandro’s backpack and said he no longer had to come along.
• A swarm of bees flew at Felix, Alessandro, and Haji, and the three ran toward Carrousel Bridge.
• Severus returned to the National Library of France, where Madam Pince showed him Napoleon’s Imperial Catechism and condemned its effort to restore the divine right of kings.
• Madam Pince told Severus that Marie Antoinette was at the National Library of France and that he might still see her one last time.

Severus reflected on Marie Antoinette’s final portrait and the economic hardships and grain speculation that had contributed to France’s crisis. Meanwhile, Felix, Alessandro, Haji, and Mrs Norris reached Place Saint-Sulpice and began searching for clues.

• Severus studied David’s sketch of Marie Antoinette and considered the contrast between her appearance and France’s financial troubles.
• Severus discussed how grain speculation and high food prices had worsened hardship for ordinary people.
• Severus thanked Marie Antoinette’s sketch and turned toward the National Library of France’s oval hall.
• Felix, Alessandro, Haji, and Mrs Norris ran to Place Saint-Sulpice, where Felix struggled to catch his breath.
• Alessandro decided to search the parking lot, while Haji urged the group to investigate the fountain first.
• Alessandro went to look inside the church east of the fountain.

Severus visited the Richelieu Library and sought help identifying a figure beneath its dome. At Saint-Sulpice, Alessandro searched for clues about the Rose Line and cardinalhood, but left empty-handed after a priest chased him out.

• Severus passed Marie Antoinette’s portrait and told it he could not save her before asking a library staff member a question.
• Alessandro found the Rose Line in Saint-Sulpice and reflected on Victor Hugo’s relationships and the characters of Notre-Dame de Paris.
• Gianluca told Alessandro to check the altar for an oval bronze plaque that sunlight supposedly reached on the equinoxes.
• Alessandro reported that an eastern statue held a quill and faced the church, and Gianluca identified it as Bishop Fénelon.
• A priest confronted Alessandro while he searched the altar, so Alessandro ran out of the church.

Severus toured the Richelieu Library’s restricted areas while Alessandro and Haji investigated clues around the Saint-Sulpice Fountain. Alessandro identified the fountain’s four bishops by their dioceses and left to consider whether the nearby former seminary held the next clue.

• Aiger showed Severus the library’s central repository and explained its old pneumatic book-delivery system, while Severus eyed it before following her toward the Deep Blue Gallery.
• Alessandro, Felix, and Haji failed to find a clue in the fountain’s sculptures, and Alessandro hurried off after Monica called him.
• Haji recognized a former refugee camp as a seminary, prompting Alessandro to ask Gianluca about the building and the fountain’s bishops.
• Alessandro and Gianluca matched the bishops’ inscriptions to Clermont, Nîmes, Meaux, and Cambrai, and Alessandro asked Gianluca to investigate what made Clermont special.
• Haji said he would inspect the former seminary after tending to Felix, and told Alessandro to think the clues over.

Severus visited the Richelieu Library with Aiger and offered his Declaration of Independence manuscript for examination. After Aiger left with the manuscript, Severus used his wand to reveal the hall’s secrets.

• Severus and Aiger stood above the empty Oval Hall and discussed the library’s collection and architecture.
• Aiger offered to take Severus up to the bronze plaques, but Severus chose to look around by himself.
• Severus handed Aiger the Declaration of Independence manuscript for examination, and she left with it.
• Severus took out his wand and murmured, “Reveal your secrets,” causing white smoke to spread through the hall.

Gianluca explained the histories of Fénelon, Massillon, and Fléchier while Alessandro, Haji, and Felix tried to interpret clues on a statue and nearby landmarks. Gianluca ended the call saying he would keep investigating, leaving Alessandro and Haji waiting for further instructions.

• Gianluca explained Fénelon's conflict with Bossuet and the Church, including Madame Guyon's imprisonment and unknown child.
• Alessandro asked why the statue's pedestal spelled cambray with a y, and Gianluca suggested it might be a grammatical error before speculating that the child could have been Lacombe's.
• Gianluca described Massillon's preaching, charity, and work at court, then connected a city hall and notary office to French marriage customs.
• Gianluca recounted Fléchier's career and discussed the failed plan to divide the Archbishopric of Nîmes and the merger of Clermont and Montferrand.
• Gianluca said the north connected to the east and the west to the south, then hung up to continue investigating.
• Haji asked whether they should wait for orders, and Alessandro took Felix's offered can of soda.

Severus and Gong Saiyi investigated clues in the Richelieu Library, where a ticket tucked into a copy of The Man Who Laughs suggested a connection to the Manticore. Meanwhile, Mrs Norris led Alessandro and the others toward the Old Seminary as Monica waited near an abandoned observatory.

• Severus found a circus ticket marked with a Manticore inside The Man Who Laughs in the Richelieu Library and recalled a ghost asking, “Did you hear the sound of destruction?”
• Gong Saiyi Apparated into the library, and Severus asked him about the English edition he had found among the French books.
• Alessandro and the others failed to persuade Mrs Norris to search for treasure, so they called Filch, whose voice prompted her to approach the phone.
• Alessandro called Monica and learned that she was waiting at a café beside a park, across from an abandoned observatory.
• Mrs Norris suddenly trotted away, and Alessandro, Filch, and the others followed her toward the Old Seminary.

Severus and Gong Saiyi investigated the coded markings in a copy of The Man Who Laughs and identified a book by Chevreul as their next clue. After finding a place to get the equations solved, they Apparated away together.

• Severus found advanced calculus equations and a string of coded characters in the margins of the book, but could not solve them or contact Gianluca.
• Gong Saiyi returned with a copy of The Laws of Contrast of Colour by Michel Eugène Chevreul and a diary of Victor Hugo, identifying Chevreul as their next clue.
• Gong Saiyi showed Severus a copied commemorative coin and said he knew a place where they could find someone to solve the equations.
• Severus said he wanted a peaceful life and that he was already married, but Gong Saiyi grabbed his arm and Apparated with him.

Alessandro, Felix, and Haji followed Mrs Norris through the Paris sewers while Severus and Gong Saiyi investigated an equation connected to Claude-Louis Navier at the Louvre. The chapter left Severus asking about Navier’s relationship with Michel Eugène Chevreul as Linbaode offered to join their discussion.

• Mrs Norris led Alessandro, Felix, and Haji into the sewers near Saint-Sulpice Church, where Felix told them water dragons lived beneath Paris.
• At the Louvre café, a young laboratory worker identified the equation in Severus’s copy of The Man Who Laughs as the Navier-Stokes equation.
• Gong Saiyi introduced the young man as a laboratory friend and Jean-Nicolas Linbaode as a Sorbonne history professor.
• Severus asked whether Claude-Louis Navier was connected to a box and what link he had to Michel Eugène Chevreul.
• Linbaode asked to join the discussion, and Gong Saiyi left the decision to Severus.

The chapter recounted the hardships Victor Hugo witnessed during the siege of Paris and discussed the Paris Botanical Garden, Georges Cuvier, and the animals killed there for food. Gong Saiyi and Severus then split up to search the garden and fossil museum for clues, leaving their investigation ongoing.

• Victor Hugo's diary described the siege of Paris, its famine and bombardments, and the deaths and illnesses among those around him.
• The chapter explained how the Paris Botanical Garden's animals were killed for food and outlined Georges Cuvier's scientific work and ideas.
• Gong Saiyi asked Severus about the green box and chose to investigate the botanical garden's greenhouse.
• Severus went toward the red fossil museum and told Gong Saiyi to contact him if she found anything.

Severus investigated reports from 1870 Paris, connecting Victor Hugo’s strange observations to a possible magical cover-up and considering whether solar activity could disrupt the group’s communications. He left the Lamarck Building after reflecting on Grindelwald and the mission ahead.

• Victor Hugo recorded a bright light signal, an empty coffin procession, and northern lights over Paris during the siege.
• Severus reasoned that the aurora might have resulted from solar activity or a concealed magical event, which could disable Muggle communications and Gianluca’s remote support.
• Severus considered whether Grindelwald’s parents had left him investigative materials about the Deathly Hallows and whether the group could spare him wasted effort.
• Severus entered the Lamarck Building, saw a whale skeleton suspended in the lobby, asked the dead Grindelwald if he had seen one, and then walked away.

Severus searched Albus’s preserved office and uncovered a hidden green wall bearing a monster’s face. He recognized the design as the “Green Box” and summoned Leroy, while Gong Saiyi was still making his way through the “jungle.”

• Severus examined the office bookcases and used his wand to slide them apart.
• Severus found a green-painted wall marked with a pale drawing of a horned monster.
• Severus called Leroy through the communication crystal and said he had found the “Green Box.”
• Severus noticed that the monster resembled the horned faces on the cup at Saint-Sulpice Fountain.

Gong Saiyi and Severus uncovered a hidden fluorescent scorpion and a coded message on the wall in Cuvier's office. After Gianluca identified clues in the message, Severus connected them to freedom and Socrates's death, leaving the code's meaning unresolved.

• Gong Saiyi gave Severus a caramel apple tart and coffee, then showed him the ultraviolet lamp he had borrowed.
• Gong Saiyi and Severus cut away the wallpaper and used ultraviolet light to reveal a fluorescent scorpion and the inscription “Chiaroscuro 160.82.45.”
• Severus called Gianluca, who explained that chiaroscuro meant light and darkness and identified a clue as the computer color code for sienna.
• Gong Saiyi noted that the code suggested sixteen cities, while Severus connected nearby Florence, George Washington, and Athens to different ideas of freedom and asked how Socrates died.

Severus and Gong Saiyi investigated the arrow and square revealed under ultraviolet light while the chapter explored color, prophecy, and the histories connected to the oval hall. Gianluca struggled to process the information, and Severus blasted open the area marked by the square.

• The chapter connected the oval hall’s sixteen cities and scales to Egyptian judgment, ancient history, and the symbolism of color.
• It recounted Siena’s religious appeal to the Virgin Mary, victory over Florence, and eventual decline under changing rulers.
• The chapter questioned whether Grindelwald’s followers could have prevented the destruction foretold by prophecy and raised the possibility of other prophetic wizards.
• Severus asked Gianluca whether he believed in prophecy, and Gianluca said he needed time to think before hanging up.
• Gong Saiyi pointed out an arrow under ultraviolet light and asked what it meant, and Severus blasted open the area enclosed by the square.

Severus and Gong Saiyi explored an Egyptian site, found a statue concealing red grease, and debated whether it might be connected to the Philosopher's Stone and a recurring magical trap. Severus explained that his work had caused the death of a witch who protected Napoleon, leaving Gong Saiyi troubled by the risks of unrest and wizard involvement in Muggle affairs.

• Severus and Gong Saiyi found an Egyptian-style statue of Bes inside a niche, and Gong Saiyi identified it as a god associated with weddings, music, and dance.
• Gong Saiyi used clamps to lift the statue, revealing a box filled with red grease, and Severus asked him to take some of it.
• Severus suspected that removing the grease would lead someone to replace it with another stolen treasure, preserving a magical trap for a future victim.
• Severus told Gong Saiyi that his work had caused the death of a witch who had protected Napoleon from a British captain's cannon in 1801.
• Severus argued that the Statute of Secrecy had to be upheld because Muggles could threaten wizards, while Gong Saiyi worried that the French Revolution's unrest would continue.

Severus and Gong Saiyi tested a mysterious red grease and discussed its possible use as a lure for vultures, then examined a statue of Bes for hidden sheet music. They continued searching the area, while Severus connected the investigation to music and planetary harmony.

• Severus tested the red grease and identified it as dragon blood.
• Severus burned a sample of the ointment, and Gong Saiyi wondered whether it could fuel the fire Grindelwald had ignited at Père Lachaise Cemetery.
• Severus suggested the ointment might resemble incense used to attract vultures during sky burials.
• Severus told Gong Saiyi that the Manticore could speak and that they had discussed music.
• Severus turned to the statue of Bes and suggested they keep looking for hidden sheet music.

Snape went to Dumbledore’s office over Hagrid’s complaint about Buckbeak and was sent to return a book to Harun al-Rashid. He found the manticore reading in the library and spoke with him about magical creatures, human nature, and finding a safe place to live.

• Snape argued with Dumbledore about Hagrid, Buckbeak, and Neville’s missed Potions lessons, while Dumbledore urged him to reconsider his stubbornness.
• Dumbledore gave Snape a book to return to Harun al-Rashid and told him he could find Rashid in the library.
• Snape found Rashid, a manticore, reading after hours near the Restricted Section and returned the book, The Essex County Flying Snake Chronicle.
• Rashid discussed an Occamy mistaken for a dragon, the differences between Indian and British dragons, and why he preferred a comfortable life and reading to hunting.
• Snape sat with Rashid, then later spoke with Gong Saiyi about a humanist saying and Kepler’s laws.

Severus and Gong Saiyi searched for clues in Cuvier’s office, abandoned their astronomical calculations, and found a stained copy of The Decameron that connected to the red grease. The discovery drove Severus into anger and grief over Pomona, while Gong Saiyi challenged his intentions and his past.

• Severus and Gong Saiyi drew geometric figures and formulas on a blackboard but concluded that the statue of Bes had misled them.
• They found two dusty books behind the blackboard: one about edible plants and fungi, and a French copy of The Decameron.
• Gong Saiyi noticed red staining on the page about Siena that resembled the red grease they had taken from a box.
• Severus asked whether Gong Saiyi planned to stop him like the Dark Magic Alliance, then said he wanted to kill the person who had wronged him.
• Gong Saiyi reminded Severus that his target was already dead and asked whether he still meant to save Pomona or accept the terms to bring Lily Potter back.
• Gong Saiyi suggested Pomona might prefer anyone to Severus and mentioned that she had buried Albus Dumbledore, leaving Severus trembling and furious.

Severus and Gong Saiyi followed the mirror’s directions to a church near Les Invalides, where Gong Saiyi theorized that their location represented the Moon. As they approached the church, Severus reflected on Saint Ambrose and the conflict over the worship of Victory.

• Severus and Gong Saiyi arrived at a former site near Place du Châtelet and examined its surroundings, including the illuminated Eiffel Tower and Les Invalides.
• Gong Saiyi proposed that their location represented the Moon because it was nearer to Les Invalides than Champ de Mars was.
• Severus considered the story of Friar Rinaldo and the history of Saint Ambrose, who had opposed the restoration of the statue of Victory to the Roman Senate.
• Severus asked whether the place represented the moon goddess or Victory, then suggested that he and Gong Saiyi enter the church.
• Severus pushed Gong Saiyi toward the church near the fountain.