Chapter Summaries

Dumbledore questioned Li Weide and Tom about their use of magic against human traffickers and their rescue of the children they held. He accepted their actions as self-defense but warned that the traffickers’ large stash of gold might draw serious trouble.

• Mrs. Cole punished Li Weide and Tom by denying them dinner, and Dumbledore took them to Li Weide’s room to question them.
• Li Weide cited wizarding law to argue that he and Tom had been allowed to use magic in self-defense against the human traffickers.
• Li Weide admitted that he and Tom had raided the traffickers’ hideout to rescue the children, and Dumbledore warned them about exposing magic to Muggles.
• Li Weide and Tom described the raid, including the gold bars, Tom’s Parseltongue, and Nagini’s arrival.
• Dumbledore explained that Nagini was a Blood Curse Werewolf and warned that the traffickers’ gold suggested they had stumbled into serious trouble.

Li Weide and Tom realized the criminal organization behind the traffickers might threaten Woods Orphanage, so Dumbledore proposed erasing their connection to it and planting evidence of a fake criminal group. They agreed to the plan, including the possibility that Mrs. Cole and the other children would forget them, and prepared to leave at daybreak.

• Li Weide explained that the traffickers were likely part of a powerful criminal organization that could trace them through the children they had rescued.
• Tom proposed capturing or killing the criminals, but Li Weide warned that the people at Woods Orphanage could suffer retaliation.
• Dumbledore recognized that Li Weide was bringing out a trace of warmth in Tom and suggested deflecting suspicion from the Orphanage.
• Li Weide understood that they could make the criminals believe the boys belonged to a rival organization and leave false clues to distract them.
• Dumbledore said magic could erase the boys' traces at Woods Orphanage, possibly causing Mrs. Cole and the others to forget them.
• Tom and Li Weide accepted the plan, and Dumbledore told them to pack for a departure at daybreak.

Li Weide bought a Transfiguration book and a House-elf Butler from the System Shop, then found the badly injured elf and saved him. The elf, Toby, pledged himself to Li Weide as his new master.

• At midnight, Li Weide bought the Complete Book of Transfiguration and a House-elf Butler from the System Shop.
• Li Weide followed the system’s map to a filthy alley, where he found the injured House-elf beside a trash bin.
• Li Weide cleaned Toby’s wounds, treated them with Essence of Dittany, and gave him the rest of his potion.
• Toby woke, explained that his former master had died in a duel and that he had become free, then asked Li Weide to take him in.
• Li Weide agreed to become Toby’s new master, and Toby pledged his loyalty to Young Master Weide.

Li Weide introduced Tom to Toby, the house-elf he had acquired, and explained what house-elves were. As dawn broke, Professor Eulalie Hicks arrived to collect them for Dumbledore, and the chapter ended with her introducing herself.

• Li Weide stopped Toby from punishing himself and told Tom that the house-elf was now his most loyal servant.
• Li Weide explained house-elves to Tom, while Toby cleaned the dishes and vanished after being told to rest.
• Tom anxiously waited for Dumbledore's pickup until a carriage drawn by Thestrals arrived outside the orphanage.
• Eulalie Hicks appeared inside the boys' room, introduced herself, and Li Weide 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 they would stay with Jacob Kowalski and Queenie Goldstein. Li Weide recognized Queenie’s uncontrollable Legilimency and realized she could expose his secrets.

• Professor Hicks praised Li Weide and Tom, Apparated them and their luggage to the orphanage, and erased the memories and records connecting them to it.
• Li Weide asked to bring Toby, and Professor Hicks allowed the House-elf to accompany them.
• Frank Doyle explained that Professor Hicks would remove and alter the orphanage residents’ memories before the group set off in the flying carriage.
• During the journey, Tom questioned Professor Hicks about spellcasting while Li Weide read a disguised copy of Complete Book of Transfiguration.
• Professor Hicks brought Li Weide and Tom to a house in Godric’s Hollow and said Jacob Kowalski and Queenie would care for them.
• Li Weide recognized Queenie’s passive Legilimency and feared she could hear his thoughts and uncover his secrets.

Li Weide urgently studied Occlumency to keep Queenie from discovering his secrets, but he struggled to quiet his thoughts and planned to flee. Professor Hicks’s lesson on Transfiguration gave him a new insight into how magic could help him master Occlumency.

• Li Weide sent Toby to buy every available book on Occlumency and secretly studied them in a cave.
• Li Weide chose to practice by calming his mind and adding false memories because he had no trusted wizard to help him train.
• Li Weide meditated through the night and following day but could not quiet his thoughts, so he decided to leave with Toby that night.
• Professor Hicks told Tom that a wizard could let magic fill in the details of a Transfiguration, and Li Weide realized he could rely on magic rather than sheer willpower to practice Occlumency.

Li Weide mastered Occlumency and concealed his thoughts from Queenie's passive Legilimency, then went to sleep after checking the System Shop. He woke to Toby warning that their home was under attack, with the attackers shouting “For the Greater Good!”

• Li Weide used magic to hide his real thoughts and memories behind a false mind, mastering the first two stages of Occlumency.
• Li Weide pretended to Professor Hicks and Tom that he had slept late because he was tired, then ate dinner and returned to his room.
• Li Weide found Felix Felicis in the System Shop, locked it because he lacked enough Merit Points, and fell asleep from exhaustion.
• Li Weide dreamed of a shadow in a foggy white place before Toby's voice woke him.
• Toby told Li Weide that someone was attacking them and that they had to flee with Tom, as spells and shouts sounded outside.

Li Weide fought Grindelwald’s Wizarding Supremacists after they attacked the house, trying to protect the unconscious Tom and Toby and find Professor Hicks. He drew the attackers away with a breakout and used mist to ambush them, but they cast Shield Charms and Hurricane Spells, leaving him in a desperate situation.

• Toby told Li Weide that Professor Hicks was holding off the attackers, but a blast through the wall knocked Toby unconscious beside Tom.
• Li Weide blasted back an intruder, dodged a barrage of spells, and pulled Tom and Toby out of danger before deciding to draw the enemy away from them.
• Li Weide blasted through the rear wall, stunned and immobilized two guards, and drew the Wizarding Supremacists toward him.
• Li Weide cast Misty Veil and used the fog to ambush the attackers, forcing them to stop attacking recklessly for fear of hitting one another.
• The Wizarding Supremacists cast Shield Charms and Hurricane Spells, dispersing the mist and leaving Li Weide surrounded and exposed.

Gellert Grindelwald ordered his followers to capture Li Weide so he could learn why Dumbledore was protecting him and potentially take the boy for himself. Li Weide incapacitated the surrounding Wizarding Supremacists with a blinding flash and a powerful roar, but Grindelwald appeared behind him and put a hand on his shoulder.

• Gellert Grindelwald told Vinda Rosier he wanted to meet the two children Dumbledore was protecting and considered taking Li Weide from him.
• The Wizarding Supremacists surrounded Li Weide and mocked him while demanding that he surrender his wand.
• Li Weide cast Lumos to blind the attackers, protected himself with spells, and amplified his voice into a deafening roar that shattered windows and made the Wizarding Supremacists collapse.
• Li Weide transformed pebbles into ropes and bound the incapacitated Wizarding Supremacists.
• Gellert Grindelwald appeared behind Li Weide, put a hand on his shoulder, and asked when he had assumed he was safe.

Gellert Grindelwald confronted Li Weide and Tom, offering them power and inviting them to join his cause. Li Weide refused, but Grindelwald insisted they would come with him until Dumbledore emerged from the shadows.

• Grindelwald revealed himself to Li Weide while Vinda freed the Wizarding Supremacists and treated their injuries.
• Grindelwald said he had attacked because he wanted to meet the students Dumbledore valued, and he confirmed that Professor Hicks was safe if she had not escaped.
• Grindelwald singled out Tom and Li Weide as unusually talented, then asked Li Weide whether he was Dumbledore's favorite student.
• Grindelwald offered Li Weide and Tom access to rare magical knowledge and greater power, but Li Weide declined the invitation.
• Grindelwald insisted the boys would come with him, and Dumbledore stepped out of the shadows to stop him.

Dumbledore arrived to confront Grindelwald, who tried to persuade Li Weide and Tom to join him before their argument ended in a standoff. Grindelwald escaped with his followers, believing he had planted doubts in the two students.

• Grindelwald admitted he had tried to recruit Li Weide and Tom in front of Dumbledore, but neither had accepted his offer.
• Dumbledore and Grindelwald argued over Grindelwald’s ideals and the lives lost in pursuit of them, then agreed to fight.
• Grindelwald’s Wizarding Supremacists gathered behind him, but Dumbledore revealed that Aurors and other allies had arrived in greater numbers.
• Dumbledore called Li Weide and Tom to his side, and Li Weide went with Toby while Tom hesitated before following.
• Grindelwald raised the Elder Wand to create a wall of blue flames, then Apparated away with his followers.

After Grindelwald attacked Godric's Hollow, Dumbledore took Li Weide, Tom, and Toby to Hogsmeade and brought them to the Hog's Head for safety. There they met Dumbledore's younger brother Aberforth, who immediately asked whether Grindelwald had escaped Dumbledore again.

• The Daily Prophet reported Grindelwald's attack on Godric's Hollow as Li Weide and the others left the village with Dumbledore.
• Dumbledore told Li Weide that Jacob and his family had returned home, and he and Li Weide argued over who was responsible for the danger.
• Tom sarcastically blamed himself, prompting Li Weide to tease him for failing to stop the rescue.
• Dumbledore led the group to the Hog's Head, explaining that its owner was his younger brother and that they would be safer there.
• Aberforth saw Dumbledore enter the bar and asked whether Grindelwald had escaped him again.

Li Weide and Tom settled into Aberforth’s tavern, where Li Weide discovered that a strange magical sound was coming from the forbidden attic. When he went to ask Aberforth about it, black mist began pouring down the stairs and filling the corridor.

• Aberforth gave Li Weide and Tom a room and allowed them to use the tavern and explore Hogsmeade, while Toby volunteered to help run the tavern.
• Tom studied a Spellbook while Li Weide tried to rest, then Li Weide used a Stunning Spell to make Tom sleep.
• Repeated thuds 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 noise rather than sneak into the forbidden attic.
• As Li Weide turned toward the stairs to go downstairs, he saw black mist flowing down from the attic and spreading through the corridor.

Li Weide encountered Aurelius Dumbledore during an Obscurus outbreak and learned that Aberforth had been hiding his son in the attic. After Tom woke, Li Weide considered moving out from under his guardian’s roof, and Tom asked to go with him before they went their separate ways.

• Li Weide recognized the black mist as an Obscurus and backed away until Aberforth arrived and calmed Aurelius.
• Aurelius begged Aberforth to kill him, but Aberforth reassured him and helped him return to the attic.
• Aberforth explained to Li Weide that Aurelius was his son and that the Obscurus was an illness that could make him lose control.
• Li Weide told the waking Tom he was considering buying a house and living independently with his money.
• Tom reminded Li Weide that he was owed half their money and asked to move out with him before they separated.

Li Weide explained to Tom that Grindelwald used promises of power and wizarding superiority to recruit supporters for his own ambitions. Tom fell silent after realizing that a war with Muggles could end disastrously for the wizarding world.

• Li Weide and Tom agreed to join forces to escape Dumbledore's supervision, then live separately.
• Tom asked Li Weide why he had rejected Grindelwald's offer and argued that Grindelwald's ideas made sense.
• Li Weide told Tom that Grindelwald tailored his promises to what people wanted to hear and used talk of wizarding superiority to gain followers.
• Li Weide warned that Grindelwald's ambitions would bring chaos and that Muggles could retaliate with overwhelming force.
• Tom fell silent, recognizing that wizards were vulnerable and could suffer devastating consequences in a war with Muggles.

Li Weide and Tom waited for Hogwarts to begin while Grindelwald’s forces fought Dumbledore in Britain and eventually withdrew. When Tom challenged Li Weide, he was effortlessly defeated and learned that studying spells had made his attacks slower because he focused too much on technique.

• Tom gave up on joining the Wizarding Supremacists after Li Weide warned him that he was not strong enough.
• Dumbledore repaired the Hog’s Head’s protective magic, then left to continue opposing Grindelwald.
• The Daily Prophet reported that Dumbledore’s Aurors and Grindelwald’s followers fought several battles before Grindelwald withdrew from Britain.
• Tom challenged Li Weide after weeks of practice, but Li Weide dodged his spells and then disarmed and tied him up.
• Li Weide explained that Tom had lost the instinctive speed of his earlier attacks by focusing too narrowly on incantations and wand movements.
• Tom asked whether Li Weide feared he would catch up, and Li Weide said Tom would soon stop believing he could challenge him.

Li Weide demonstrated his Transfiguration to Professor Dumbledore, who was astonished by his skill and called him a once-in-a-century genius. Li Weide regretted drawing so much attention, while Tom questioned how far behind him he really was.

• Li Weide exchanged 500 Merit Points for a vial of Felix Felicis on the way back to the Hog's Head.
• Li Weide and Tom found Professor Dumbledore and Professor Hicks waiting in their room, and Dumbledore asked what Li Weide had been studying.
• Li Weide conjured a cream cake, transformed it into a detailed goblet, then changed it into a kitten.
• Dumbledore praised Li Weide's Transfiguration as surpassing many adult wizards and called him a once-in-a-century genius.
• Li Weide worried that he had revealed too much of his talent, while Tom wondered whether his own confidence in challenging Li Weide had been misplaced.

Li Weide and Tom looked forward to studying at Hogwarts, and Dumbledore promised to send them books and a reading list. When Dumbledore raised the question of finding them guardians, Li Weide argued that they would put other families at risk, but Dumbledore proposed protecting them with a Fidelius Charm.

• Li Weide realized he needed to learn more about the wizarding world and eagerly anticipated starting at Hogwarts.
• Dumbledore praised Li Weide's talent, named Minerva McGonagall as Hogwarts's Transfiguration professor, and agreed to send books for Li Weide and Tom to study.
• Dumbledore said he was looking for suitable guardians, but Li Weide and Tom argued that they did not want to endanger another family.
• Li Weide said he and Tom planned to buy a house and leave the Hog's Head, but Dumbledore insisted they needed guardians and suggested using a Fidelius Charm.

Li Weide avoided adoption by convincing Dumbledore that painful memories made him unable to accept a family, while Tom insisted on staying with him. Dumbledore agreed not to find them guardians but required the Fidelius Charm and chose their future home; after he left, Li Weide revealed that his sorrow had been an act.

• Dumbledore explained that the Fidelius Charm could conceal Li Weide and Tom’s home, with Dumbledore serving as Secret-Keeper.
• Li Weide refused to join a family and implied that his past made him afraid of losing loved ones.
• Tom declared that he was Li Weide’s only friend and insisted on staying with him, so Dumbledore agreed not to find guardians for either of them.
• Dumbledore required the Fidelius Charm and said he would choose where they lived before leaving with Professor Hicks.
• Li Weide dropped his sorrowful act and told Tom to avoid celebrating too much, explaining that Occlumency had helped him fool Dumbledore’s Legilimency.

Li Weide questioned Toby about his former master’s family and learned that its abandoned manor was an ownerless tower in the Scottish Highlands near Hogwarts. After touring the tower, Li Weide discovered that its third and fourth floors had once held books and asked whether they had been sold.

• Li Weide used a drop of Living Death Potion to keep Tom asleep and asked Toby about the family he had served before.
• Toby explained that the Somnolun Family had died out and that its last heir, Sophiek, had left only an old manor behind.
• Li Weide asked to take over the ownerless manor, and Toby happily agreed and transported him there.
• Li Weide found that the hidden, five-story tower stood in the Forbidden Forest and that its interior was mostly empty.
• Toby described the tower’s floors and said Sophiek had sold everything valuable, prompting Li Weide to ask whether the books had been sold too.