Chapter Summaries

Dumbledore questioned Li Weide and Tom about using magic against human traffickers and rescuing the children they held. He accepted their actions as self-defense and said they had escaped a breach of the Statute of Secrecy, but warned that their haul of gold might bring serious trouble.

• Mrs. Cole punished Li Weide and Tom by forbidding them dinner, and Dumbledore took them to Li Weide's room to discuss their day.
• Li Weide cited a law protecting underage wizards to explain why he and Tom had used magic against the human traffickers, and Dumbledore agreed they had acted in self-defense.
• Li Weide admitted that he and Tom had raided the traffickers' hideout to rescue the children, explaining that he did not regret helping people in danger.
• Li Weide and Tom described the raid, including the gold bars, Tom's Parselmouth ability, and how they had attracted Nagini.
• Dumbledore explained that Nagini was a Maledictus and warned that the traffickers' den seemed unlikely to have held so much gold.
• Li Weide realized Dumbledore believed their gold haul might have drawn them into serious trouble.

Li Weide and Tom realized the criminals they robbed might target Wool's Orphanage, so Dumbledore proposed shifting suspicion to a fabricated criminal organization. The boys agreed to let Dumbledore erase their traces from the Orphanage, even if Mrs. Cole and the others forgot them, and prepared to leave at dawn.

• Li Weide warned Tom that the criminals could identify them through the rescued children and threaten Wool's Orphanage.
• Tom suggested capturing or killing the criminals, but Li Weide rejected those plans as too risky and immoral.
• Li Weide asked Dumbledore how to protect the Orphanage, and Dumbledore proposed diverting suspicion toward a fake criminal organization.
• Li Weide realized Dumbledore could erase their connection to the Orphanage, and both boys agreed despite the risk that Mrs. Cole and the others would forget them.
• Dumbledore told Li Weide and Tom to pack for someone to collect them at dawn while he made preparations.

Li Weide bought a Transfiguration guide and a wounded House-elf through the system, then found and healed the elf in an alley. Toby pledged himself as Li Weide’s new servant.

• At midnight, Li Weide found the Complete Guide to Transfiguration and a House-elf Butler for sale in the System Shop.
• Li Weide bought the guide and Toby, then followed the system’s map to a nearby alley.
• Li Weide found Toby severely injured beside a trash bin and treated his wounds with Dittany and potion.
• Toby woke, explained that his former master had died in a duel and left him free, and asked Li Weide to take him in.
• Li Weide agreed to become Toby’s master, and Toby swore to serve him loyally.

Li Weide introduced Tom to Toby, his House-elf, before they waited for Dumbledore’s people to collect them. Professor Eulalie Hicks arrived at the orphanage and revealed herself to the boys.

• Li Weide explained to Tom what House-elves were and introduced Toby as his loyal servant.
• Toby finished eating, cleaned the dishes with magic, and vanished to find a place to rest.
• As dawn broke, a carriage pulled by Thestrals arrived at the orphanage, though Tom could not see the creatures.
• Eulalie Hicks appeared in Li Weide and Tom’s room, introduced herself, and was asked whether Dumbledore had sent her to collect them.

Professor Hicks took Li Weide and Tom from the orphanage to begin their new lives, then brought them to a house in Godric's Hollow where Jacob Kowalski and Queenie would soon look after them. Li Weide realized Queenie's uncontrollable Legilimency could expose his thoughts and secrets.

• Professor Hicks praised Li Weide and Tom for their bravery and said she thought they would be sorted into Gryffindor.
• Professor Hicks Apparated with Li Weide and Tom to the orphanage, gathered their luggage, and allowed Li Weide to bring Toby along.
• Frank Doyle explained that Professor Hicks had erased the orphanage's memories and records concerning the boys before they set off in the carriage.
• During the flight, Tom asked Professor Hicks about spells while Li Weide read a disguised guide to Transfiguration.
• Frank brought them to a house in Godric's Hollow, where Professor Hicks said Jacob Kowalski and Queenie would look after them when they arrived.
• Li Weide remembered that Queenie's innate Legilimency let her hear nearby people's thoughts and feared she could uncover his secrets.

Li Weide urgently studied Occlumency so Queenie could not uncover his secrets, but his attempts to calm his mind failed and he prepared to flee. Professor Hicks’s Transfiguration lesson then gave him a new insight into how magic might help him master Occlumency.

• Li Weide had Toby buy nearly every available book on Occlumency and hide them in a mountain cave.
• Li Weide studied the books overnight and chose to practice by calming his mind and planting false memories because he had no trusted wizard to help him.
• Li Weide struggled to clear his thoughts and decided he would leave with Toby that night rather than let Queenie read his mind.
• Professor Hicks explained that a wizard could sketch an intended transformation and let magic fill in the details.
• Li Weide realized Occlumency was magic rather than mere meditation, and he lay back down to try practicing with this new understanding.

Li Weide mastered Occlumency and discovered that it let him conceal and alter the thoughts others could perceive. Toby woke him when attackers struck, shouting, “For the Greater Good!”

• Li Weide used magic to hide his real thoughts and memories behind a false mind, mastering both stages of Occlumency.
• Li Weide woke at night, told Tom and Professor Hicks he had been tired, and ate the dinner Toby had saved for him.
• Li Weide checked the System Shop, locked Felix Felicis despite lacking enough Merit Points to buy it, and then fell asleep.
• Li Weide dreamed of a shadow in a foggy white expanse before Toby woke him and said someone was attacking them.
• Li Weide heard spells and slogans outside, including the familiar cry, “For the Greater Good!”

Li Weide fought Grindelwald's Followers after they attacked the house, trying to protect the unconscious Tom and Toby while drawing the attackers away from them. He ambushed several enemies in conjured mist, but the Followers cast Shield Charms and blew the mist away, leaving him in desperate straits.

• Toby told Li Weide that Professor Hicks was outside holding off the Followers of Grindelwald, but an explosion knocked Toby unconscious beside Tom.
• Li Weide drove an attacker back with an Obstacle Charm, rescued Tom and Toby from falling debris, and blasted through a wall to draw the enemies away from them.
• Li Weide stunned and bound two guards outside, then cast a Cloud Conjuring Spell as the Followers rushed around the house toward him.
• Li Weide used the mist to ambush several Followers, forcing the others to fear attacking blindly and risk hitting their own.
• The Followers cast Shield Charms and used Hurricane Spells to disperse the mist, exposing Li Weide to their attacks.

Li Weide used an amplified Lumos and a deafening roar to incapacitate and bind the Followers of Grindelwald surrounding him. Just as he thought he was safe, Grindelwald appeared behind him and put a hand on his shoulder.

• Grindelwald told Vinda Rosier he planned to capture Li Weide and another child to learn why Dumbledore was protecting them.
• The Followers of Grindelwald surrounded Li Weide and mocked him, but he dodged a Disarming Charm and struck Jester's Shield Charm with a Stun Spell.
• Li Weide amplified his Lumos to blind the surrounding Followers, then amplified his voice into a roar that shattered windows and injured their ears.
• Li Weide transfigured nearby stones into hemp ropes and bound the incapacitated Followers of Grindelwald.
• Grindelwald appeared behind Li Weide, put a hand on his shoulder, and asked when he had assumed he was safe.

Li Weide rejected Grindelwald’s invitation to join him after Grindelwald revealed he had attacked them out of curiosity about Dumbledore’s favored students. Grindelwald insisted Li Weide and Tom would come with him, but Dumbledore appeared and opposed him.

• Grindelwald revealed that he had ordered the attack to meet Li Weide and learn why Dumbledore valued him, while Vita freed the injured Followers.
• Grindelwald noticed Tom’s composure and praised the boys’ talent, then asked Li Weide if he was Dumbledore’s favorite student.
• Grindelwald offered Li Weide and Tom power and access to magic they could not learn from Dumbledore; Tom was tempted but held back when Li Weide shook his head.
• Li Weide refused to join Grindelwald, reasoning that he could become stronger without siding with him.
• Grindelwald insisted that Li Weide and Tom come with him, but Dumbledore emerged from the shadows and said they were going nowhere.

Dumbledore arrived with Aurors and allies to confront Grindelwald, who tried to recruit Li Weide and Tom before their argument turned toward an imminent fight. Grindelwald used the Elder Wand to raise a barrier of blue flames and escaped with his followers, believing he had planted doubts in the children’s minds.

• Grindelwald told Dumbledore that he had failed to recruit Li Weide and Tom, and the two men argued over Grindelwald’s ideals and the deaths they had caused.
• Dumbledore drew his wand and challenged Grindelwald to fight, while Grindelwald’s followers gathered behind him.
• Dumbledore revealed that he had brought Aurors and allies, including the disheveled Professor Hicks, and called Li Weide and Tom to his side.
• Li Weide went to Dumbledore with Toby, while Tom hesitated before accepting Grindelwald’s assurance that he would not be harmed and following them.
• Grindelwald raised a wall of blue flames with the Elder Wand, then Apparated away with his followers, convinced he had planted a spark in the children’s hearts.

After Grindelwald attacked Godric's Hollow, Dumbledore brought Li Weide, Tom, and Toby to Hogsmeade and arranged for them to stay at the Hog's Head Inn. There, they met Dumbledore's younger brother Aberforth, whose first words to Dumbledore were a bitter question about Grindelwald escaping again.

• Li Weide read a Daily Prophet headline about Grindelwald's uprising in Godric's Hollow, where Dumbledore had taken him and the others away overnight.
• Dumbledore told Li Weide that Jacob and his family had been sent back, and the two men argued over who was to blame for the danger.
• Tom sarcastically blamed himself, then protested when Li Weide turned the blame on him; Dumbledore praised their friendship.
• Dumbledore brought Li Weide, Tom, and Toby to Hogsmeade and led them to the Hog's Head Inn, owned by his younger brother.
• Aberforth looked up from polishing a glass, recognized Dumbledore, and asked whether Grindelwald had escaped him again.

Li Weide and Tom settled into the Hog’s Head Inn, where Li Weide discovered that strange, magical knocking came from the forbidden attic. When he left to ask Aberforth about it, black mist began spilling down the attic stairs and filling the corridor.

• Aberforth gave Li Weide and Tom a room at the inn, and Toby volunteered to help run the bar.
• Li Weide used Stupefy to put Tom to sleep so he could rest without being disturbed.
• Repeated knocking from upstairs woke Li Weide, who sensed that the sound carried magic and grew stronger over time.
• Li Weide decided to ask Aberforth about the attic and left his room to find him.
• Li Weide saw sinister black mist pouring down the attic staircase and spreading through the corridor.

Li Weide discovered that Aberforth’s son Aurelius Dumbledore was an Obscurial who lived in the attic, then discussed moving out with Tom. The chapter ended with Tom asking Li Weide to take him along if he managed to leave.

• Li Weide encountered Aurelius’s Obscurus in the corridor, and Aberforth calmed his son and led him back to the attic.
• Aberforth explained to Li Weide that Aurelius suffered from an illness that could make him lose control and transform into an Obscurus.
• Li Weide refrained from asking more questions, and Aberforth recognized his consideration.
• After Tom woke, Li Weide said he was considering moving out and living independently with his money.
• Tom objected that Dumbledore would not allow Li Weide to leave and reminded him that half their money belonged to him.
• Tom asked Li Weide to take him along if he found a way to move out, saying they could then go their separate ways.

Tom questioned why Li Weide had rejected Grindelwald’s invitation, arguing that Grindelwald’s vision of wizard supremacy made sense. Li Weide explained that Grindelwald tailored his promises to recruit followers and that a war with Muggles would likely end in disaster for wizards, leaving Tom silent.

• Li Weide and Tom agreed to work together to escape Dumbledore’s supervision, then live separately.
• Tom asked Li Weide why he had refused Grindelwald’s invitation and defended Grindelwald’s claim that the strong should rule the weak.
• Li Weide told Tom that Grindelwald had flattered his belief in his own specialness to lure him with promises of power.
• Li Weide argued that Grindelwald cared only about gaining followers and that his ambitions would bring chaos rather than improve the world.
• Li Weide warned Tom that Muggles could resist a wizard war and that the conflict could destroy the Wizarding World.
• Tom accepted that Li Weide’s warning was true and fell silent.

Tom abandoned the idea of joining Grindelwald’s followers and spent the weeks before school practicing magic with Li Weide. After Tom challenged Li Weide and was easily defeated, Li Weide explained how Tom’s rigid spellcasting had weakened his attacks, leaving Tom to reconsider how he should learn magic.

• Tom gave up on joining Grindelwald’s followers after Li Weide warned him about his shortcomings.
• Dumbledore repaired the breached protective magic at the Hog’s Head Inn, then left to continue fighting Grindelwald in Britain.
• Li Weide and Tom followed reports of the battles until Grindelwald withdrew from Britain after failing to gain an advantage against Dumbledore.
• Tom challenged Li Weide, but Li Weide dodged his spells, disarmed him, and tied him up in a tree without taking his wand hand from behind his back.
• Li Weide explained that Tom’s rigid focus on incantations and wand movements had made his attacks slower and less effective, and advised him to study magic’s principles.
• Tom asked whether Li Weide feared he would eventually catch up, and Li Weide smugly dismissed the possibility.

After returning to the Hog’s Head Inn, Li Weide demonstrated his Transfiguration for Dumbledore and Professor Hicks, who were astonished by his skill. Dumbledore called him a once-in-a-century Transfiguration genius, leaving Li Weide worried that he had revealed too much and Tom stunned by the gap between them.

• Li Weide exchanged 500 Merit Points for a vial of Felix Felicis on the way back to the Hog’s Head Inn.
• Aberforth told Li Weide and Tom that Dumbledore was waiting for them in their room, where they found Dumbledore and Professor Hicks.
• Dumbledore asked what Li Weide had been studying, and Li Weide said he had been practicing Transfiguration.
• Li Weide summoned a cream cake, transformed it into a goblet, and then turned it into a kitten in front of Dumbledore and Professor Hicks.
• Dumbledore praised Li Weide as a once-in-a-century Transfiguration genius, while Li Weide regretted attracting attention and Tom questioned his own ability to challenge him.

Li Weide asked Dumbledore for books to study and learned more about the professors at Hogwarts, while Tom grew envious and then touched by Li Weide including him. When Dumbledore tried to find them guardians, Li Weide argued that Grindelwald’s threat put other families at risk, but Dumbledore proposed protecting them with a Fidelius Charm.

• Dumbledore told Li Weide that Minerva McGonagall was a Transfiguration professor, and Li Weide realized his world differed from what he remembered.
• Li Weide asked Dumbledore for books, and Dumbledore offered to send reading materials for both Li Weide and Tom.
• Tom asked if he could read the books too, and Li Weide assured him that they were meant for both of them.
• Dumbledore said he was looking for guardians for Li Weide and Tom, but Li Weide refused, citing Grindelwald’s threat and the danger to other families.
• Li Weide said they planned to buy a house and leave the Hog’s Head Inn, but Dumbledore proposed using a Fidelius Charm to keep them safe.

Dumbledore proposed using the Fidelius Charm to protect Li Weide and Tom, but Li Weide pretended to be too wounded by the idea of joining a family for Dumbledore to insist on finding them guardians. Dumbledore agreed to leave them together while casting the charm himself, and Li Weide revealed afterward that his sorrow had been an act.

• Dumbledore explained that he could use the Fidelius Charm to hide the address where Li Weide and Tom lived, with himself as Secret-Keeper.
• Li Weide refused a new family and spoke sadly about never having one, leading Dumbledore to decide not to find him a guardian.
• Tom insisted that he was Li Weide's only friend and had to stay with him, so Dumbledore agreed not to find guardians for either boy.
• Dumbledore required that the Fidelius Charm be cast and said he would find where they would live.
• After Dumbledore and Professor Hicks left, Li Weide dropped his sorrowful act and told Tom that his Occlumency had concealed his real emotions from Dumbledore's Legilimency.

Li Weide questioned Toby about his former master and learned that the Somnolen family’s abandoned manor remained unclaimed. He took possession of the tower and explored it with Toby, discovering its empty laboratory and asking whether its books had been sold.

• Li Weide put Tom into a deep sleep with a drop of Draught of Living Death and asked Toby about his former master, Sophic of the Somnolen Family.
• Toby explained that Sophic had died in a duel, leaving only an old manor after his family’s decline.
• Li Weide learned that no one had inherited the manor and asked to become its new master; Toby gladly agreed so he could care for it again.
• Toby took Li Weide to the hidden tower in the Scottish Highlands near Hogwarts and showed him its mostly empty rooms.
• Toby said the third and fourth floors had held books, and Li Weide asked whether those books had also been sold.