Chapter Summaries

Vidi asked to laze around, but Tom ordered him to leave after writing a letter and warned him not to reveal his stupidity. Back in the office, Nagini argued with Tom, while Vidi tried to lure her away and hinted that the Resurrection Stone had been made by Death.

• Vidi asked Tom to let him stay and do nothing, but Tom told him to leave after the letter was written and warned him to keep his identity uncertain.
• Nagini woke in the office and accused Tom of hitting her with a Stunning Spell.
• Vidi tried to persuade Nagini to go with him and eat lambs and calves, while Tom let him try.
• Tom noticed Vidi stiffen at Nagini's mention of his rotten smell and suspected the Resurrection Stone was involved.
• Vidi hinted that only the Resurrection Stone among the true Deathly Hallows had been made by Death, but Tom said he was uninterested and urged Nagini to leave with Vidi.
• Tom threatened to destroy Vidi if he swore in front of Nagini, leaving Vidi confused about what he had supposedly said.

Lucius confronted his godfather, Tom, about Abraxas Malfoy's death, but Tom remained fixated on knitting him a scarf as a gift. After finishing it, Tom prepared to leave and find Abou, and Vidi arrived to make him face reality.

• Lucius returned to Malfoy Manor and asked Narcissa about Tom, then chose to visit him instead of resting beside his pregnant wife.
• Lucius found Tom trying to knit a scarf from unicorn tail hairs and told him that Abraxas Malfoy was dead.
• Tom repeated that Abraxas Malfoy was dead, then continued knitting because he believed Abou would like the gift and return to him.
• Tom placed the finished scarf in a wooden box, washed and tidied himself, and went downstairs intending to find Abou.
• Tom found Vidi waiting for him, and Vidi said he had come to make Tom face reality.

Tom relived the events surrounding Abou’s death and realized that a prophecy had helped drive him to kill the person he loved. Desperate to change their future, Tom offered his soul and life force to the Resurrection Stone and formed a contract.

• Vidi woke Tom, who recognized Riddle Manor and searched for Abou.
• Tom witnessed his past self destroy the manor and kill Abou with the Killing Curse.
• Tom returned to the valley and admitted that his arrogance and fear had led to Abou’s death.
• Tom removed the Resurrection Stone ring and offered everything he had to change his and Abou’s future.
• A figure appeared from the stone and confirmed that the contract had formed.

Tom taught a Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson while distracted by the Resurrection Stone and irritated by the thought of Divination. He left the class practicing the Banishing Charm in duels.

• Tom woke up annoyed by the Resurrection Stone and decided he had to burn it in front of Vidi.
• Sybill Trelawney arrived late to class, apologized to Tom, and watched him with a strange feeling.
• Tom questioned Amycus Carrow about hags and Lucius Malfoy about dealing with Acromantulas and the Blasting Curse.
• Tom gave Slytherin a point and split the students into two groups to practice the Banishing Charm in duels.
• Tom walked among the students, freezing those who had been blasted away.

Tom manipulated a Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson to injure Archibald and punish Lucius, while Pamela Rosier revealed her divided loyalties. He later gave Lucius permission to move against Archibald and sent him away.

• Tom deducted points from Lucius for mishandling a spell and sent Pamela Rosier to escort the injured Archibald to the Hospital Wing.
• Archibald accused Pamela of trying to join the Sacred Twenty-Eight, and she insisted she would not defy her family's head.
• Tom listened to their exchange with an Eavesdropping Charm, then awarded Slytherin points while continuing to send students flying.
• Lucius asked Tom whether the lesson meant he could act against Archibald, and Tom gave him permission before throwing him out of the office.

Tom went to Dumbledore’s office and found him discussing Vinda’s nephew with Grindelwald. Tom hinted that he would be away while handling a matter that had overwhelmed the Ministry and noble circles, leaving Dumbledore to manage Hogwarts.

• Tom shrank the young wizards’ essays, put them in his pocket, and headed to Dumbledore’s office.
• Tom overheard Dumbledore and Grindelwald discussing whether Vinda’s nephew had pledged himself to Tom’s student and might betray Grindelwald.
• Tom entered the office, told Dumbledore he would be leaving for a while, and placed the essays on his desk.
• Tom said he would handle the matter burdening the Ministry and noble circles, and Dumbledore agreed to manage Hogwarts.
• Tom turned to leave, but Grindelwald called out, “Wait!”

Tom left Dumbledore's office after provoking Gellert into offering to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts. Gellert and Dumbledore remained alone, caught between old memories and the unchangeable past.

• Tom rejected Gellert's proposed deal and left the Headmaster's office.
• Tom expected troublemakers in the British wizarding world to disappear and looked forward to being with Abou again.
• Dumbledore told Gellert he would handle the rest.
• Gellert agreed to give the man what he wanted and insisted that he would teach Defense Against the Dark Arts himself.
• Dumbledore recalled their youth, and Gellert asked what he was thinking.
• Dumbledore told Gellert that memories were precious because the time they held could never return.

Tom returned to Malfoy Manor and learned that Ragno was mobilizing goblins to reclaim the Sword of Gryffindor. Meanwhile, Olivia prepared to meet Lucius, who showed Severus a pocket watch that had stopped ticking.

• Abraxas told Tom that Ragno was rallying goblins to reclaim the sword forged by their king, and Tom complained about goblins.
• Abraxas asked Tom how Lucius was doing, and Tom guiltily said he would visit Ian the next morning.
• Olivia told Brutus she suspected the pocket watch she had left Luke was no longer with him and looked forward to meeting Severus as Lucius Malfoy.
• Lucius prepared to apologize to Slytherin while Severus complained about him and took out the pocket watch.
• Severus showed Lucius that the pocket watch had stopped ticking, and Lucius offered to examine it.

Lucius discovered that his golden pocket watch produced lights that embraced Severus, though he could not remember why Leander had told him to keep it close. At school, Grindelwald took Professor Riddle’s place and publicly mocked Lucius, who realized his godfather had left him behind.

• Lucius’s pocket watch glowed and released lights that circled him before embracing Severus.
• Lucius forgot why Leander had told him to keep the watch close, and he returned it to Severus’s pocket.
• Lucius arrived at Defense Against the Dark Arts hoping his godfather would teach Archibald another lesson, but found Grindelwald posing as Headmaster Ward.
• Grindelwald questioned Lucius about surviving a Peruvian Vipertooth and mocked him for not knowing the creature’s habits or effective spells.
• Lucius kept his composure while wondering whether his godfather had angered Grindelwald by going too far.

Tom returned to his manor, apologized to Ian for missing their meeting, and learned that the goblins had become increasingly hostile toward wizards. Tom proposed using Augustus Rookwood’s intelligence network and the Bagmans to approach them, leaving Ian and the others waiting for a clearer explanation.

• Tom entered his manor, where Ian confronted him for missing their appointment and Nagini complained that Vidi had cheated her out of lambs for her venom.
• Tom apologized to Ian, then asked what Ragnok had been doing over the past two days.
• Ian asked whether Vidi was Tom’s Horcrux, and Tom denied it before Ian joked that Vidi might be his illegitimate son.
• Ian reported that the goblins were growing hostile toward wizards and that their people struggled to get close to them.
• Tom recalled that Augustus Rookwood’s intelligence network included the Bagmans, whose son was talented at Quidditch.
• Ian asked Tom to explain what he needed them to do.

Tom explained how Augustus could use Ludo Bagman’s gambling habit to bring him into debt with the goblins, then assigned Vidi to manage the Ministry of Magic. He singled out Barty Crouch as a threat to Abou’s influence and left Vidi asking whether Crouch should be dealt with.

• Tom told Mickey and Ian that Augustus should approach Ludo Bagman through a Quidditch job and encourage him to gamble.
• Tom explained that Bagman’s growing debts would eventually drive him to seek help from the goblins.
• Ian teased Tom that his plan might be retaliation for Bagman opposing Abou’s support for the new Minister.
• Vidi reminded Tom to give him an assignment, and Tom told him to handle the Ministry of Magic.
• Tom named Barty Crouch as an ambitious man who had criticized Abou, and Vidi asked whether he should deal with Crouch.

Tom discussed how to use Barty Crouch’s campaign against Dark wizards to damage his reputation and power, while his friends wondered whether he would intervene. He suggested that the goblins’ impending rebellion could bring Crouch down, then joked about his Defense Against the Dark Arts class at Hogwarts.

• Tom recalled Crouch’s son admiring him at Lucius’s engagement banquet and imagined Crouch’s reaction to learning his son was a Dark wizard.
• Mickey asked whether Tom would stop Crouch from targeting his people in Knockturn Alley.
• Tom said Knockturn Alley would not be easy to eliminate and trusted that Augustus and the Aurors could handle the situation.
• Tom proposed that Crouch could be blamed for failing to prevent a goblin rebellion, while his opponent took credit for stopping it.
• Ian asked whether Tom had turned his Hogwarts Defense Against the Dark Arts class into a Dark Arts class, and Tom denied it before silently cheering on Lucius.

Lucius Malfoy tortured Archibald in Hogwarts after confronting him about his family and a marriage alliance. He silenced Archibald and waited by the One-Eyed Witch statue for Bella to arrive.

• Lucius cleaned the trophy display case by hand and noticed Tom Riddle’s award for services to Hogwarts.
• Archibald emerged from the shadows and congratulated Lucius on the marriage alliance between two great families.
• Lucius mocked Archibald, cursed him with a Cruciatus spell, and silenced his screams.
• Lucius levitated Archibald toward the One-Eyed Witch statue and summoned the passage with Dissendium.
• Bella arrived and told Lucius to shut up.

Lucius helped Bella capture Archibald and warned her not to cause trouble for Lord Riddle, while Bella cautioned him about his loyalties and Regulus’s future at Slytherin. Back in the common room, Severus warned Lucius to conceal his secrets and handed him potions, insisting he would handle his own troubles.

• Bella questioned Lucius about Archibald and threatened him if his actions caused trouble for Lord Riddle.
• Lucius said he had his godfather’s permission and argued that the Prince family’s wealth should not fall into someone else’s hands.
• Bella asked whether Sirius was still being slandered, then told Lucius to look after Regulus when he entered Slytherin.
• Bella used Obliviate on Archibald and led him into a secret passage.
• Lucius returned to the common room, where Severus warned him to hide his secrets and gave him several vials of potion.

Tom dealt with Lucius’s mess by ordering Arthur Weasley’s memories altered and sending him to Knockturn Alley, then returned to Hogwarts to visit his mentor. He left the story poised to check in on Dumbledore.

• Lucius teased Severus by calling him his only friend, and Severus stormed away in anger.
• Tom read Lucius’s letter and decided to return the imprisoned Arthur Weasley to Dumbledore.
• Tom visited Yaxley Manor and ordered Coban to alter Arthur’s memories and send him to Knockturn Alley, with extra consideration for Arthur’s family.
• Tom arranged matters over the following days and returned to Hogwarts to see his long-unseen mentor.

Tom learned that Mundungus Fletcher had escaped a vampire after receiving a mysterious wizard’s warning, while Dumbledore suspected Tom had helped him. They discussed Grindelwald’s involvement with Archibald and the goblins’ continued search for the Sword of Gryffindor, leaving Dumbledore worried that Tom would take matters too far.

• Dumbledore told Tom that Mundungus Fletcher had escaped a vampire after receiving intelligence from a mysterious wizard.
• Tom realized that Lucius, Dumbledore, and Grindelwald had become caught in a strange chain of schemes.
• Dumbledore said Grindelwald had gone to deal with young Mr. Archibald’s matter and asked Tom to know where to draw the line.
• Tom teased Dumbledore about keeping Grindelwald around and suggested that the greatest White Wizard’s defection would cause interesting turmoil.
• Dumbledore told Tom that goblins were still searching for the Sword of Gryffindor and had approached Mundungus for information.
• Dumbledore warned Tom not to go too far, and Tom dismissed him as an idiot.

Tom asked Dumbledore why he believed Tom would be interested in Horcruxes, and Dumbledore explained that Mrs. Cole had warned him against judging Tom with prejudice. Their exchange ended with Dumbledore teasing Tom about his fear of death and Tom acknowledging that he no longer considered him a mortal enemy.

• Tom challenged Dumbledore to name anyone who could punish or defeat him.
• Dumbledore recalled that Mrs. Cole had sent him a letter warning him not to judge Tom through prejudice.
• Tom realized that Apos had carried the money he sent Mrs. Cole when it returned late decades earlier.
• Dumbledore revealed that his correspondence with Mrs. Cole had taught him about Tom's fear of death and losing loved ones.
• Tom threatened Dumbledore, who admitted his past mistakes and teased him about holding a grudge.
• Tom reflected that he had long since stopped viewing Dumbledore as a mortal enemy.

Tom told Dumbledore about his loneliness, his memories of Brutus, and the promise that led him to protect someone even if he had to oppose Dumbledore. He left their conversation still guarded, while Dumbledore tried to lighten the mood with a joke.

• Tom said that since Brutus died, he had lacked an elder who could feel like a father, and admitted he still wished he could bring the dead back to life.
• Tom recalled finding strength in watching the stars from the Astronomy Tower and said he could not become himself because he had to act as Slytherin's heir to protect someone.
• Tom vowed that he would raise his wand against Dumbledore, even to kill him, if that was necessary to keep his promise.
• Dumbledore feigned hurt that Tom valued Mr. Malfoy more than him, and Tom dismissed the joke and blamed Dumbledore for Grindelwald's bullying.

Tom continued training the Hogwarts students and pushed Lucius through extra practice, while Lucius explained why he was building his own influence rather than relying on Tom. Tom reassured him that he and Lucius's father would leave people behind to help him.

• Tom warned Dumbledore to abandon his plans for Orion and joked that he would bring him flowers every year.
• Tom resumed tormenting students with extra lessons, and he made Lucius practice defensive spells after teasing him about his O.W.L. preparations.
• Lucius told Tom he intended to pursue his own plans and needed time to win people over.
• Lucius said he had attracted pure-bloods, half-bloods, and Muggle-born wizards, but doubted he could control the Ministry without Tom's protection.
• Lucius warned that news of Severus's visit to Prince Manor would cause a storm in the wizarding world.
• Tom assured Lucius that he and Lucius's father would leave him people to help in the future.

Tom supported Lucius’s decision while preparing to carry out a promise to Grindelwald, and Dumbledore celebrated the Durmstrang delegation’s departure by drinking heavily. Dumbledore’s drunken words revealed his grief over someone who had no place in the world because of his many wrongs.

• Tom accepted that he could not change Lucius’s plans and sent him to practice defensive spells.
• Tom learned from a letter that Archibald had been sent to Lestrange Manor and that intruders seeking information on House of Prince had been killed.
• Tom decided to fulfill his promise to Grindelwald, which would bring an official named Al-Devoir into the British Ministry of Magic after Headmaster Ward returned to Durmstrang.
• Dumbledore celebrated the Durmstrang delegation’s departure by inviting Tom to drink treasured Riesling.
• Dumbledore drank heavily and said that someone he missed had no place in the world because he had done too many wrong things.