Chapter Summaries

Exhausted by the life he felt trapped in, Tom sought a quiet place by the Forbidden Forest, but Dumbledore joined him and tried to cheer him up. The chapter left Dumbledore reflecting on how others pressured him to confront Gellert without asking what he wanted.

• Tom returned to his dormitory, read a letter, and thought of himself and Abraxas as prisoners bound by their noble lives.
• Tom declined Ian and another boy’s invitation, then went alone to the edge of the Forbidden Forest to rest.
• Dumbledore found Tom and persuaded him to sit and talk despite Tom’s reluctance.
• Dumbledore offered Tom Cockroach Clusters, ate them in front of him, and declared that love was the greatest magic.
• Dumbledore considered how people had pressured him to confront Gellert without asking whether he was willing.

Tom attended a lesson on Boggarts, where his attempt to hide his thoughts failed and the creature became the hand that had killed Abraxas. Afterward, he found Eileen Prince brewing an antidote and questioned her about working in an empty classroom.

• Dumbledore watched Tom leave and considered the altered memories and traces of the Cruciatus Curse he had noticed, then thought the book on advanced Dark Arts should be put away.
• Professor Merrythought explained Boggarts and the Riddikulus Charm to the class.
• Tom tried to mislead the Boggart with Legilimency, but it transformed into the grayish-white hand from his dreams that had killed Abraxas.
• Professor Merrythought sent the Boggart back into its cabinet and ended the lesson.
• Tom found Eileen Prince bottling an antidote for Amortentia in an abandoned classroom and warned that her brewing there did not comply with the rules.

Aileen gave Tom a rare Potions book, and its contents made him confront the immense gap between his resources and Abraxas's. Tom returned to his dormitory feeling isolated and convinced he had no right to disrupt Abraxas's future happiness.

• Aileen gave Tom a book of Potions formulas in hopes of asking him for guidance, then left while inwardly wishing to stay away from him.
• Tom read the book and found many unfamiliar potions, including formulas connected to the Dark Arts and a Rebirth Potion.
• Tom considered Aileen's vulnerable position in her family and wondered whether she could endure what awaited her.
• Tom compared himself with Abraxas and felt overwhelmed by the distance between them.
• Tom returned to his dormitory, reflected on his loneliness and his feelings for Abraxas, and recalled envying children with parents when he begged on the street.

Tom dismissed the idea that anyone could love him, while Corban read a letter linking a young half-blood wizard to the Gaunt family. The letter ended with a hint that the young wizard could learn more about his family, and Corban planned to pass the information to Riddle.

• Tom scoffed at Dumbledore's words about love and doubted anyone could feel simple affection for him.
• Corban left his circle, secured his dormitory door, and opened an envelope about a Gaunt descendant who had appeared as a half-blood.
• The letter recounted Bob Ogden's 1925 visit to the Gaunt home, where he feared the family's violent reputation and noticed its gloomy, neglected surroundings.
• Corban read the letter's suggestion that the young wizard might want to learn about his family, then burned it.
• Corban decided to pass the information to Riddle, expecting him to pursue the family's affairs.

Corban invited Tom to his dormitory and pretended to confide in him about his reluctance to join the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Tom recognized Corban’s deception, warned him in Parseltongue, and left, while Corban revealed he suspected Tom was a half-blood.

• Tom followed Corban to his dormitory and accepted tea while keeping his irritation hidden.
• Corban claimed his father wanted him to work at the Ministry of Magic but said he did not want to join the Department of Magical Law Enforcement under Bob Ogden.
• Tom replied that Bob Ogden would not remain captain forever and told Corban he had already made his choice.
• Tom warned Corban in Parseltongue not to do such boring things again, then left.
• Corban dropped his false expression and grinned, calling Tom a half-blood.

Tom investigated his Gaunt ancestry and learned that his mother had taken one of the family heirlooms before her relatives discovered it. He suspected she might have exchanged the heirloom for Muggle money, leaving him to consider where she had gone to Gringotts.

• Tom brooded over his origins and the black diary he had bought after leaving the orphanage.
• Tom asked Radolphus to find information about the Gaunt family, and Radolphus eagerly agreed.
• Tom read that Marvolo and Morfin Gaunt had been imprisoned, and that Marvolo's youngest daughter had taken one of the family's heirlooms.
• Tom realized his mother had known the significance of his middle name, Marvolo, but had left him no heirloom.
• Tom reasoned that his destitute mother might have taken the heirloom to Gringotts and exchanged it for pounds.

Tom realized his mother had sold a Slytherin relic and decided to search for it in Knockturn Alley. After imagining that his unknown Muggle father might have been loving and unaware of his existence, Tom attended Slughorn’s Slug Club, where Volga took him outside and thought of her friend Olivia’s plea for help.

• Tom crossed out his plan to seize power at the Ministry and decided to find the relic his mother had sold at Borgin and Burkes.
• Tom imagined that his Muggle father might have been kind and might not have known he existed, and he vowed to stay with him in the Muggle world.
• At Slughorn’s Slug Club, Slughorn introduced Tom to the older students and left Volga with him.
• Volga asked Tom to accompany her outside, thinking of Olivia’s letter asking for help with her father-and-son farce.

Volga hinted to Tom that Abraxas had fallen out with his father over changing someone’s surname, then explained that Slughorn’s Slug Club could help Tom build influence. Tom returned to the banquet convinced that two powerful families would support him and resolved to gather followers without disappointing them.

• Volga teased Tom with news that her friend had quarreled with his father and wanted to change someone’s surname sooner.
• Tom privately suspected that Volga was talking about Abraxas and rejected the idea of taking the Malfoy name.
• Volga told Tom that Slughorn’s Slug Club included influential students and asked Orion to look after him.
• After Volga left, Tom watched the night, returned to the banquet, and decided to gather followers and satisfy his aristocratic supporters.

Tom endured the strain of hiding his dissatisfaction and felt abandoned by the people he had trusted. He used a Time-Turner to attend Professor Kettleburn’s lesson on Billywigs, where Ian asked him for help.

• Tom returned to his dormitory after a banquet and bitterly reflected on having to endure others’ ambitions and suspicions.
• Tom woke with a splitting headache, drank a potion, and used his Time-Turner to leave his sleeping self behind.
• Tom went to the Forbidden Forest for Professor Kettleburn’s lesson on Billywigs.
• Tom examined his assigned immobilized Billywig while Ian hid from Mickey and begged Tom to jinx him.

After receiving a mysterious message from his Patronus, Tom discovered that books about Horcruxes had vanished from the Forbidden Section and found a note summoning him to the Astronomy Tower. He waited there in hiding for the protagonists to arrive.

• Tom declined his friends’ invitation to walk together, cast a Disillusionment Charm, and followed a white peacock into the Forbidden Forest.
• Tom followed markings from the forest to the library and searched the Forbidden Section under concealment spells.
• Tom found the space where several books about Horcruxes had been was conspicuously empty and feared someone had deliberately taken them.
• Tom found a torn note in his dormitory, written in his own hand, telling him to meet at five o’clock in the Astronomy Tower.
• Tom ate the chocolate his friends had given him, then arrived early at the Astronomy Tower and hid while waiting for the protagonists.

Tom overheard Dumbledore and Newt discussing Dumbledore’s conflict with Gellert Grindelwald and realized that others saw him only as a substitute for someone else. He left the Astronomy Tower suspecting that the book on Horcruxes had been planted for him, and wondering who had put it there and why it had vanished.

• Tom watched Newt arrive on a hippogriff and listened as Dumbledore asked for his help against Gellert because of their Blood Pact.
• Newt asked Dumbledore what he had seen in the Mirror of Erised, and Dumbledore said he had seen the people he had lost.
• Tom waited for Dumbledore to leave the Astronomy Tower, then watched him depart before heading out himself.
• Tom concluded that his mother, Dumbledore, and the Slytherin nobles each valued him as a substitute, a threat, or an heir rather than as Tom Riddle.
• Tom laughed as he questioned how a book about Horcruxes had appeared in the Forbidden Section where he spent time and then disappeared.

After realizing he had no family in this world apart from his father, Tom tried to regain control of his emotions and attended Transfiguration. The chapter left him avoiding Dumbledore and heading toward the library after another painful collision with Hagrid.

• Tom used his Time-Turner and Patronus to leave a message, then hid in the Forbidden Forest until his daytime self had departed.
• In Transfiguration, Tom silently turned a mouse into an ornate golden goblet, earning ten points for Slytherin.
• Tom hurried from class and collided with Hagrid, who apologized and asked whether Tom wanted to visit the kitchens.
• Tom declined Hagrid's invitation and said he needed to look up information in the library.

Tom questioned why Dumbledore had shown him a book about Horcruxes and later confronted the young man in his dream about what he was. The young man explained that he represented one possible future, leaving Tom uncertain about where he was being led.

• Tom returned to his dormitory after learning the hint about the Astronomy Tower and hid a note beneath his pillow.
• Tom wondered why Dumbledore had put a book about Horcruxes in front of him and reflected on his fear of being left alone.
• Tom became dangerously feverish and entered the dream of the scarlet land and his sinister young counterpart.
• Tom asked the young man whether he was an illusion or a representation of Tom's evil thoughts.
• The young man said he had deduced one possible future and that everything Tom had experienced was real.

Tom spent time with the strange figure in the dungeon, then woke in his dormitory and headed to class in a better mood. He met Ian on the way and joked with him about coasting through Divination.

• Tom stayed in the dungeon with the smiling figure because he did not want to be alone.
• Tom woke in his dormitory, washed, and prepared to attend Divination and Muggle Studies.
• Tom met Ian on the way to class and agreed jokingly that he planned to coast through Divination.
• Ian blushed at Tom's smile and was surprised that Tom could joke around.

Tom wrestled with a cryptic Divination reading and dismissed it as nonsense, then ran into Stuart, who confronted him over the Cruciatus Curse and altered memories. The chapter ended with Stuart casting the Bone-Gouging Cruciatus Curse at Tom.

• Tom teased Mickey and entered Divination class with him and another student.
• Professor Charida read the tea leaves in Tom’s cup as “Lies.. and sin..” and asked whether anything had happened to him.
• Tom wondered whether the reading referred to his past actions or foretold something, then dismissed prophecy as nonsense.
• Tom headed toward the Owlery and encountered Stuart from House of Bulstrode.
• Stuart accused Tom of torturing him with the Cruciatus Curse and altering his memories, and cast the Bone-Gouging Cruciatus at him.

Tom woke in the infirmary after using a warning spell and being tortured by Stuart Bulstrode, whom Headmaster Armando expelled. Dumbledore learned Stuart had sexually harassed Tom and told him he had proven where he belonged.

• Tom endured Stuart's Cruciatus Curse long enough to cast a warning spell before collapsing.
• Dumbledore disarmed Stuart and eased Tom's pain, while Headmaster Armando used Priori Incantatem and took Stuart away for punishment.
• Tom woke in the infirmary, thanked Dumbledore, and explained that Stuart had wanted to make him do something sexual.
• Dumbledore told Tom that Stuart had been expelled and would never appear before him again.

After more than a week in the Hospital Wing, Tom returned to the library and discovered a note from his ancestor Corvinus Gaunt describing how to open the Chamber of Secrets. The note also revealed a hidden entrance and promised a surprise, leaving Tom wary of investigating it.

• Tom held back his anger and ended his conversation with Dumbledore, who left the Hospital Wing without apologizing.
• After more than a week of recovery, Tom was released from the Hospital Wing and decided to avoid Divination.
• Tom found a concealed parchment inside a History of Magic book and read Corvinus Gaunt’s instructions for opening the Chamber of Secrets.
• Tom watched the message fade and saw a plumbing diagram appear, marking the hidden entrance to the Chamber.
• Tom put the parchment away, unsettled by Corvinus Gaunt’s promise of a surprise, and decided to postpone exploring the Chamber.

Abraxas pushed to become Patriarch so he could punish House of Bulstrode for using the Cruciatus Curse on his child, but his father refused to hand over the family yet. Abraxas manipulated his father into retaliating on his behalf, while Olivia watched and questioned the pure-blood families.

• Abraxas told his father he wanted to become Patriarch and take revenge on House of Bulstrode.
• The old Malfoy Patriarch refused to let Abraxas inherit while he was acting out of anger.
• Abraxas feigned hurt until his father vowed to visit House of Black and discuss increasing the family vault's assets.
• Olivia distanced herself from the Malfoys and reflected on the flaws she saw in several pure-blood families.

Olivia questioned Abraxas about pure-blood supremacy and suspected that pure-bloods were all insane. Meanwhile, Tom reluctantly listened as Orion used a request for Astronomy tutoring to get close to him, and the chapter ended with Tom saving Orion from a coughing fit.

• Olivia asked Abraxas whether pure-blood supremacy was right, and he dismissed it as a noble excuse for exploiting others.
• Olivia hinted that Volga had told her something interesting and that people were watching her junior, prompting Abraxas to clarify that she meant Riddle.
• Orion cornered Tom in the common room and asked him to tutor him in Astronomy despite already having excellent grades.
• Orion explained his affection for his family and his plans to name his future son Sirius, then began coughing violently.
• Tom cast Ancochea to clear Orion’s airway and prevent him from choking.

Tom avoided his other self while continuing his Divination class, and Orion and Volga discussed their plans for House of Black and Orion's failing health. The chapter left Orion fearing he might not live long and Tom still facing ominous tea leaves.

• Tom left the common room, exhausted by the probing and hypocritical conversation, and decided not to visit it casually again.
• Volga told Orion he had looked foolish, but Orion defended their joint plan to hide behind the throne and fund candidates.
• Orion dismissed pure-blood supremacists as ignorant and said a descendant of Slytherin would not let others manipulate him.
• Volga said they intended to remove unnecessary people to preserve the family's glory, while Orion admitted his body could not support the family's future.
• Volga insisted the family needed two heirs, and Orion worried that he might not live long enough to provide them.
• Tom continued avoiding his other self and altered the black bird shape in his Divination tea leaves with a spell.