Chapter Summaries

Zhang Tao explained the Witch-Demon Society, ancient gods, and his reasons for helping Severus, while warning that he lacked the strength to oppose a fallen god. Severus revealed a new prophecy predicting the Dark Lord’s return, and Zhang Tao asked him to sit down and explain how he had obtained it.

• Zhang Tao explained that demons and angels had specific duties and that understanding their names and nature was necessary to confront them.
• Zhang Tao described the Witch-Demon Society’s worship of forgotten gods and said he might need to seek someone more powerful to deal with a fallen god.
• Zhang Tao told Severus that he planned to return home and hoped Severus would remember their help if their countries ever needed one another.
• Severus discussed the Battle of Hogwarts and said the Dark Lord would have won if Harry Potter had not returned to life.
• Severus told Zhang Tao about a new prophecy from Trelawney and a divination board, and Zhang Tao invited him to explain the story.

The chapter digressed through historical examples of political power, witchcraft, and social hierarchy while arguing that Eastern wizards would not obey the International Statute of Secrecy. It left the speaker insisting that young people should trust science rather than witchcraft and divination.

• The speaker compared Dumbledore and other elders’ appeals for trust with the way leaders gained blind faith from vulnerable people.
• The speaker recounted Wu Zetian’s fears of witchcraft and the political and religious history surrounding the Bright Hall and imperial ceremonies.
• The speaker discussed how powerful clans and social hierarchies shaped people’s fates, citing Xu Shu, Kong Rong, and American elites.
• The speaker linked folk healing and divination to unreliable amateur practice and argued that witchcraft bans could prevent people from being harmed.
• The speaker declared that Eastern wizards would not follow the International Statute of Secrecy and urged young people to believe in science.

Zhang Tao prepared a spirit-board ritual to identify who was influencing Alessandro, while Severus gathered materials and sought another stone from Xenophilius Lovegood. The chapter ended with Severus asking to borrow the temple stone and offering something in return.

• Zhang Tao transformed Severus's astrology board into a spirit board and planned to use reeds and pitch pipes in a ritual before the Ghost Festival.
• Zhang Tao recalled how Zou Yan had used pitch pipes to adjust Yan's calendar, and explained how reeds and buried pipes could sense Yin and Yang qi.
• The snake-haired hag on the altered board grew furious but could not speak because resin had sealed her mouth.
• Severus handled the plant ash and checked the battered topaz sphere, then called Xenophilius Lovegood.
• Severus asked Xenophilius to lend him the stone taken from the temple and promised to offer something in return.

Severus confronted his grief over Pomona and the child she had carried, while resolving to pursue Peter Pettigrew. At the Pantheon, Xenophilius gave Severus the stone and said he planned to start a new life.

• Severus reflected on the Foucault pendulum, magic, and how the Indonesian tsunami had altered the Earth's rotation.
• Severus remembered Pomona, the letters between Dumbledore and Grindelwald, and his belief that Pomona and their unborn child were dead.
• Severus decided he would find Peter Pettigrew and destroy him, then abandon his duties as a rule-enforcing teacher.
• Severus asked Xenophilius whether he had studied the Deathly Hallows to resurrect his wife and identified the stone as coming from a fountain near The Hunchback of Notre-Dame.
• Xenophilius gave Severus the stone, explained that he had acted to save Luna, and said he was leaving to begin a new life.

Severus returned to the massage parlor and asked Zhang Tao to help identify a mysterious stone from an alchemist’s warehouse. Medusa revealed that the stone might be connected to the city its former owner had been searching for and offered to identify it if they restored her board.

• Severus found Zhang Tao preparing offerings in the dark massage parlor and asked whether he could recognize the stone.
• Zhang Tao proposed asking Medusa about the stone, and Severus removed the tree sap sealing her mouth.
• Medusa said the stone had been mistaken for a meteorite and left unnoticed in its owner’s warehouse until a servant linked it to a city the owner had long sought.
• Medusa offered to explain how to learn the stone’s name if Severus restored the board, adding that she knew someone who could identify it.

Severus watched as Zhang Tao prepared a spirit-summoning ritual in the Museum of Arts and Crafts in Paris. As the ritual began, Severus had to choose whose soul to call, while he left the outcome to Zhang Tao.

• Severus examined the museum’s displays, including a biplane, a Statue of Liberty replica, and a Foucault pendulum.
• Zhang Tao arranged the English letters around a marble slab, lit candles and incense, and let the spirits in the topazes gather.
• The room grew cold as Zhang Tao set the conditions for summoning a soul.
• Severus considered calling his mother Eileen, his first love Lily, or the unborn daughter Lily, then decided to watch while Zhang Tao handled the ritual.

Severus prepared to summon spirits with a pendulum while reflecting on angels, forbidden knowledge, divination, and the history of séances. The chapter ended with preparations to appease whatever might be summoned, followed by a birthday greeting to Harry Potter.

• Severus considered how to use the twenty-eight-kilogram pendulum to obtain a divination result before calling a soul.
• The narration examined Enochian, the Book of Enoch, fallen angels, Giants, and ancient practices of necromancy and divination.
• The narration recounted Raphael’s romance with Fornarina and the grief of his fiancée, Maria.
• The narration considered why people held séances, including their wish to contact the dead and their desire for secret intimacy.
• The summoning preparations included offering food that might satisfy Giants and house-elves, and the chapter ended by wishing Harry Potter a happy birthday.

Severus recalled Voldemort’s lessons about confidence and obedience before setting up a strange experiment beneath the Foucault Pendulum. As the pendulum carved through ice amid spreading fog, Zhang Tao asked what Severus had done, and Severus called it a little trick.

• House-elves raced vintage cars through the deserted museum, and Severus stunned a security guard who screamed.
• Voldemort confronted Headmaster Snape about the missing Elder Wand and tested his loyalty, using Legilimency and demanding that Snape show submission.
• Voldemort warned Snape against lying and resentment, then taught him to project confidence even when afraid.
• In the museum, Severus recalled that Voldemort had taught him quite a lot before arranging an alphabet of metal plates and a Golden Plate beneath the Foucault Pendulum.
• Severus told Zhang Tao a sailor’s story, sang a sea song, and caused water to pour from the Golden Plate and freeze as the pendulum scratched the ice.

Severus Snape and Zhang Tao discussed the dreams, regrets, and hardships behind stories from the Muggle world while watching ghosts drift through the fog. Zhang Tao asked Severus to stop the Roswell Company from demolishing Chinatown shops, and they ended by comparing the angels in the clouds with Grindelwald’s demonic dragon.

• Severus reflected on Titanic, his parents’ unhappy marriage, and his memories of discovering how Hogwarts’s feast food was transported from the kitchens.
• Zhang Tao told Severus the story of the Fox sisters, whose séances brought fame and persecution, and explained his fear that Qingchen might suffer the same fate.
• Zhang Tao asked Severus to stop the Roswell Company from demolishing Chinatown shops for a department store, or at least accept a favor owed.
• Severus asked whether the angels in the fog differed from the demonic dragon Grindelwald had summoned seventy years earlier, and Zhang Tao said they meant no harm and would not destroy Paris.

Severus and Zhang Tao discussed the dangers of mediumship and how wizards might be treated if they lived openly among Muggles, after the supernatural disturbance in the exhibition hall subsided. Severus left determined to identify the angel in his photographs, while Zhang Tao reflected on how much Hogwarts still concealed from him.

• Severus photographed the chaotic letters traced by the Foucault Pendulum on the ice and studied whether they resembled Edward Kelley's Enochian Alphabet.
• Zhang Tao blew away the ashes, dispelled the mist, and restored the pendulum's normal motion before cleaning up the water and asking Severus to put away the ritual implements.
• Severus asked Zhang Tao about adopting Ma Youjiang, and Zhang Tao explained that Qingchen had been born during her parents' flight and that he had taken her abroad to protect her.
• Severus said he did not hate Muggles and called Grindelwald an idiot, arguing that wizard rule would make wizards blamed for the world's disasters.
• Severus said he wanted to discover the angel's name by developing his photographs, and Zhang Tao acknowledged that Hogwarts held secrets he still did not know.

Zhang Tao and Severus investigated supernatural beliefs and sought help developing a photograph in Paris's Chinatown, where they uncovered an Enochian message. Severus identified the name Araqiel and connected the fallen angel to borders and mapmaking, then challenged Zhang to face him.

• Zhang Tao and Severus entered Mr. Zhao's photography studio in Paris's Chinatown to develop photographs from Severus's camera.
• Mr. Zhao used a magical process to transfer an image from the digital camera onto photo paper, and Severus asked him to fix it quickly.
• Zhang Tao and Severus examined the moving marks in the developing solution and compared them with Enochian references.
• Severus identified the name as Araqiel, a fallen angel said to have taught humanity the signs of the earth.
• Severus pointed out a line on a map representing France's border and explained Araqiel's association with boundaries and mapmaking.
• Zhang Tao compared Severus's description to Napoleon, and Severus mocked him before asking whether he could defeat Araqiel.

Zhang Tao reflected on empires, religion, ritual, warfare, and human nature while considering the photographs Severus had recovered. After debating it, Zhang Tao agreed to join Severus in returning to Alessandro, leaving their next step unresolved.

• Zhang Tao compared Severus's altered borders with historical wars and considered how rulers expanded and held their territories.
• Zhang Tao discussed Spartacus's revolt, religious authority, and the persecution of a German couple who refused to salute Hitler.
• Zhang Tao examined cultural conflicts, ritual constraints, feng shui, and the rise and fall of empires and kingdoms.
• Zhang Tao considered military strategy, shifting morality, devil worship, and the rank and power of fallen angels.
• After Severus obtained the remaining photographs, Zhang Tao agreed to go with him to find Alessandro.

Zhang Tao planted Dream-Recall Grass and used silver needles and a soul-calling ritual to bring Alessandro’s lost soul back, taking precautions against the spirit Araqiel. He ended the ritual by shouting “Rise!” and dancing gracefully as the magical grass moved in the smoke.

• Zhang Tao planted a Dream-Recall Grass seed in sandy soil, and it sprouted into crimson grass.
• Zhang Tao inserted silver needles into Alessandro and explained how he would guide the soul back through the body while protecting the heart and brain.
• Zhang Tao sealed Alessandro’s Gate of Life and prepared thunder magic in case Araqiel resisted the ritual.
• Zhang Tao suddenly shouted “Rise!” and danced as the Dream-Recall Grass began to move amid the smoke.

Zhang Tao considered the Witch-Demon Society’s rituals and the possibility that Alessandro’s soul had returned, then Alessandro suddenly revived and attacked. Severus restrained him, and Zhang Tao feared that more than one spirit had come back, perhaps including Araqiel.

• Zhang Tao reflected on how the villagers of Peach Blossom Spring had tested outsiders and connected their guarded secrecy to the Witch-Demon Society’s hidden rituals.
• Zhang Tao examined the witches’ ritual practices, their bloodlike Madeira wine, and the traditional medicine and acupoints involved in restoring life.
• Alessandro spat out red liquid and collapsed after Zhang Tao stopped dancing.
• Alessandro abruptly sat up and tried to grab Zhang Tao’s throat.
• Severus bound Alessandro with conjured belts, and Zhang Tao suspected that more than one spirit had returned, possibly Araqiel.

Zhang Tao used acupuncture, a Heavenly Talisman, and water from gourds to drive a creature out of Alessandro, whose body had been taken over by something from the water. After removing a parasite from one eye, Zhang Tao realized the other eye was still affected and asked Severus about where Alessandro had encountered it.

• The Mass Bell rang inside Severus’s transformed lizard-skin pouch, and Zhang Tao enlisted Severus to help him treat Alessandro.
• Zhang Tao protected Alessandro’s heart and brain, then inserted a talisman-wrapped silver needle into his Taiyi acupoint to restrain the entity fighting for control of his body.
• Zhang Tao filled a bathtub with water from gourds, and Severus levitated Alessandro into it; Alessandro convulsed as the needle smoked and the water churned.
• A small octopus-like parasite crawled from beneath Alessandro’s right lower eyelid, and Zhang Tao caught it with chopsticks.
• Severus said one of Alessandro’s eyes had returned to normal, and Zhang Tao said the other had not; Severus did not know where Alessandro had caught the parasite.

Zhang Tao treated Alessandro’s parasite and questioned Severus about his missing wife, whose soul Napoleon Bonaparte had taken. He urged Severus to seek greater power and value his life, but disappeared before Alessandro woke.

• Zhang Tao gave Alessandro a Mume Pill after Severus administered an antidote, and Alessandro began to stir.
• Zhang Tao questioned Severus about his wife and learned Napoleon Bonaparte had taken her soul more than two days earlier.
• Zhang Tao urged Severus to pursue power and avoid risking his life, while Severus insisted he only wanted to find his wife.
• Zhang Tao explained why he valued teaching and hinted at a connection between Hogwarts and Eastern history.
• Alessandro groaned as he began to wake, and Severus discovered Zhang Tao had vanished.

Severus helped Alessandro recover after his soul returned from a strange world and asked what he had experienced. Their conversation turned to Bonaparte and Linda, while the chapter ended by noting the Crusaders in jeans appeared in 1212.

• Severus gave Alessandro a blanket, an Invigoration Draught, and chocolate, then offered to help him forget what he had experienced if he explained it.
• Alessandro asked how long he had been unconscious, and Severus said it had been no more than two hours, though it had felt like four months to Alessandro.
• Lucius contacted Severus, who invited him to Chinatown and explained to Alessandro how the Dark Mark connected Death Eaters.
• Lucius arrived showing off a gold-and-amethyst bracelet and lion claw, then reacted with surprise that Alessandro was still alive.
• Alessandro asked whether Bonaparte would abdicate for Linda, and Severus said he would not because losing power would leave him doomed to die.

The chapter reflected on Napoleon’s reluctance to surrender power for Josephine, using the Gracchi brothers and Rome’s failed reforms to consider how interests, institutions, and social divisions shaped political change. Napoleon’s choices remained unresolved, while the Treaty of Amiens seemed poised to bring a longer peace because of a woman.

• The narrator recalled how Voldemort’s rule had humiliated Lucius Malfoy and left Malfoy Manor in decay.
• The narrator compared succession disputes and reforms across the histories of Rome, Zhao, and France, arguing that King Wuling’s mistakes led to his death and that Napoleon had not become emperor.
• Tiberius Gracchus proposed redistributing public land to poor farmers, but senators and their hired attackers killed him during a violent confrontation.
• Gaius Gracchus continued his brother’s reforms after winning election as tribune, but the Senate’s forces killed him and his supporters.
• The narrator described how the Gracchi brothers’ failed reforms deepened Rome’s inequalities and helped lead to civil war and the rise of Caesar and Octavian.
• The narrator considered Napoleon’s ties to Josephine and concluded that the Treaty of Amiens might turn its short-term ceasefire into lasting peace.

Alessandro described the political and economic consequences of silk, grain, and prison policies, then told Severus and Lucius about rumors surrounding a woman in Paris. The chapter ended with Severus reacting jealously to reports that she wore men's clothing and was close to a lesbian actress.

• Alessandro explained how Justinian's silk production hurt Persian merchants and contributed to conflict and unrest in Constantinople.
• Alessandro discussed France's grain policies, middlemen, and the costs of public and private systems, including prisons.
• Alessandro described how private prisons expanded through government contracts and political influence.
• Alessandro told Severus and Lucius that a woman had disappeared in September, wore men's clothing in Paris, and was close to a lesbian actress.
• Severus questioned whether the woman was a witch or had been sent to seduce Caesar, while Lucius mocked his rigid concern about permits.

The chapter examined how rulers, public opinion, economic hardship, and spectacle shaped events from ancient Rome to Napoleon’s France. It ended with Theodora’s hidden past: before marrying Justinian, she buried her infant daughter alive, leaving unanswered whether the child was wrapped in purple robes.

• Caligula used his power to force gladiators into bloody spectacles, while Justinian’s empire endured plague, famine, earthquakes, and volcanic darkness.
• The chapter traced how economic distress and inequality helped drive popular unrest in France, from the Bastille’s fall to the public’s response to Napoleon.
• Napoleon survived an assassination attempt by Republican officers, whose plot and execution were obscured from the public.
• Theodora’s daughter died before Theodora married Justinian, and Theodora buried the infant herself.