Chapter Summaries

Sean prepared for his Animagus transformation and hoped to continue it at Newmontgard, while Hogwarts students reluctantly faced selection for the academic exchange. After Hermione challenged their cowardice and stepped onto the dueling platform, Sean joined her and insulted the gathered students.

• Sean practiced holding a Mandrake leaf in his mouth and planned to attempt the Animagus ritual at Newmontgard, where clear skies were more likely.
• Sean and Hermione helped Daisy study, and Daisy gained a reputation for her academic and potion-making abilities.
• Hogwarts students showed little interest in competing for places in the Newmontgard exchange, fearing they would lose.
• Hermione criticized the students for refusing to improve and stepped onto the dueling platform, but no one volunteered to face her.
• Sean joined Hermione on the platform, amplified his voice with a Sonorus Charm, and asked whether everyone present was trash.

Sean provoked Hogwarts students by calling them afraid of Newmontgard, then turned their anger and shame into determination to compete. The students rallied around Hogwarts and declared that the sleeping dragon had awakened.

• Sean insulted the Hogwarts students and challenged them to duel him over their fear of Newmontgard.
• Sean summoned Naja and faced Zachary Shafiq, using Shafiq's spell to accuse Hogwarts students of being more willing to fight him than Newmontgard.
• Sean shamed the students for fearing the exchange, and Daisy shouted that Hogwarts could grow stronger and defeat Newmontgard.
• The students erupted in calls to join the competition, while Sean recalled Naja and asked them to name Hogwarts's motto.
• Hermione answered with the motto, and Sean led the students in declaring, "We are Hogwarts!"

Dumbledore and Grindelwald discussed Sean’s future and Grindelwald’s methods before Hogwarts students set out for Newmontgard in a giant magical statue. The statue charged toward the assembled Newmontgard students as Grindelwald ordered them to welcome their guests.

• Grindelwald told Dumbledore he would teach Sean to use useful forces without instructing him how to make friends, and Dumbledore agreed to let Sean go to Newmontgard.
• Grindelwald explained that he had taken an artifact from one of Greece’s ancient families to help Dumbledore’s injured hand recover.
• Professor McGonagall transformed a Hogwarts tower into a giant stone statue that carried the students beneath the Black Lake and across the mountains.
• Percy told Sean that he and the other prefects had received items from Professor McGonagall to use when entering Newmontgard’s Great Hall.
• The statue charged toward Newmontgard’s waiting students, and Grindelwald told them to show their pride and welcome the guests.

Hogwarts arrived at Newmontgard Castle, where Grindelwald welcomed the students with a banquet and laid out the school’s rules. As Sean learned that he and Hermione had been chosen as second-year representatives, a Newmontgard student named Bach hinted that he planned to defend his family’s honor against Sean.

• Grindelwald greeted the Hogwarts delegation and led them into Newmontgard Castle for a welcoming banquet.
• The four Hogwarts Houses entered the Great Hall with magical displays of their animal crests, impressing both schools’ students.
• Sean noticed Bach watching him as Bach discussed taking action to uphold the Hoffman family’s honor.
• Dave alerted Sean that the High-Precision Sneakoscope in his uniform pocket had started spinning and glowing.
• Grindelwald announced Newmontgard’s restrictions, assessment system, and facilities, then selected Sean and Hermione as the second-year representatives.

Grindelwald summoned Sean to his office and taught him to build influence by borrowing power and to persuade others by understanding how emotions form. He demonstrated the lesson by firing the Killing Curse at Sean, then pointed his wand at himself as the chapter ended.

• Grindelwald selected student representatives and brought them to Professor Macdouff, who was to explain Newmontgard's strict school rules.
• Grindelwald sent Sean to fetch the timetables, then spoke with him privately about gaining strength through followers and using Newmontgard as a starting point.
• Grindelwald criticized Sean's Hogwarts speech and explained that persuasive oratory required understanding the stages of emotion.
• Grindelwald fired a Killing Curse past Sean to demonstrate fear's physical, cognitive, emotional, and behavioral stages.
• Grindelwald restored the damaged wall, offered to teach Sean deception and how to read motives, then aimed his wand at himself.

Sean learned about deception, reading people, and the value of power from Grindelwald, who tested him with a fake death and a transformed Vita Rosier. After receiving timetables and a challenge to master practical spells, Sean returned to the students’ quarters and began encouraging cooperation among the Hogwarts Houses.

• Grindelwald pretended to die from his own Killing Curse, then transformed into Vita Rosier and attacked Sean to test his reasoning and ability to evade spells.
• Grindelwald revealed the deception and taught Sean how emotions, authority, and power could help wizards manipulate people and escape danger.
• Grindelwald demonstrated a healing version of the Killing Curse and gave Sean timetables along with a challenge to master practical spells, promising to teach him Transfiguration afterward.
• Sean returned to the Common Room and heard Raoul François explain Newmontgard’s rules and strict detentions.
• Sean distributed the timetables through Slytherin students to encourage the visiting Hogwarts students to mix across Houses.

Sean and the Hogwarts students began classes at Newmontgard, where students were sorted by a strength test and lessons were more demanding than at Hogwarts. Sean impressed Vice Principal Vita Rosier with his Transfiguration and earned twenty personal points.

• Sean read Grindelwald’s difficult spells before bed, then woke at seven with his roommates for their first day of class.
• Jackie Mahabais explained that the Great Hall’s Elder Wand spell judged which of two students was weaker and determined which table they could eat at.
• Sean and Harry tried the test, and the line immediately tilted toward Harry; Fred and George tested themselves next, and it pointed toward Fred.
• Hermione criticized Newmontgard’s competitive ranking system while Sean noted that the school emphasized strength over cooperation.
• Vita Rosier taught a demanding Transfiguration lesson, and Sean earned twenty personal points for turning a rabbit into a decorated gray fur hat; Hermione earned five.

Sean handled the heavier workload at Newmontgard, turned a challenge at the Gate of Division into a profitable bet, and began considering an organization built around himself. The chapter ended with Professor Gurey assigning the class to kill a Swamp Digger using the Blood Loss Curse.

• Sean worked on his Potions essay with Hermione, while Harry asked to use Sean’s Transfiguration work as a reference and Daisy teased Hermione about lending Sean homework.
• A Newmontgard boy challenged Sean to test his strength at the Gate of Division, and Sean wagered ten Galleons that the gate would favor him.
• The Gate of Division tilted toward Sean, and he collected the boy’s ten Galleons before investing more money in the Weasley brothers’ business.
• Sean reflected that the bet had displayed his skill and wealth as he considered building an organization centered around himself.
• Professor Gurey introduced the class to Swamp Diggers and challenged the students to kill one with the Blood Loss Curse for twenty points.

Sean mastered the Blood Loss Curse during Professor Gurey’s class, causing a Swamp Digger to gush blood and splattering Gurey before Sean stopped the spell. Later, the Weasley twins were beaten by Newmontgard students, and Sean considered the upcoming Duelling Training Class as the brothers discussed revenge.

• Professor Gurey demonstrated the Blood Loss Curse on Swamp Diggers and invited the students to practise it.
• Sean’s Blood Loss Curse leveled up during his turn, making the Swamp Digger gush blood and splattering Professor Gurey before Sean stopped.
• Professor Gurey awarded Sean twenty points, while the students from both schools reacted with fear and Newmontgard students grew wary of him.
• Hermione warned Sean to use the curse carefully, and Sean promised he would not use it to harm a student.
• The Weasley twins returned to the Common Room battered after a Newmontgard group attacked them, and they argued with Percy about how to respond.
• Sean asked Fred and George whether they remembered who had attacked them, thinking of the next night’s Duelling Training Class.

Sean watched Professor Goodman defeat Professor Gurey with carefully prepared Runes-based Ancient Magic and learned that effective duelling meant exploiting every advantage. After hearing that Newmontgard seventh-year Booker had beaten up Fred and George, Sean promised to help them and signed up for an open challenge, accepting opponents up to fourth year.

• Professor Goodman demonstrated how advance defensive spells and Runes-based Ancient Magic helped him overpower Professor Gurey in a duel.
• Goodman explained that he had played to his strengths, enhanced his spells, and stayed prepared for his opponent's final counterattack.
• Fred and George told Sean that Booker had led a group that ambushed and beat them, and they discussed revenge.
• Sean promised the twins he had a plan, then registered for an open challenge against Newmontgard students.
• Sean accepted challenges from second-, third-, and fourth-year students, surprising Goodman.

Sean challenged Newmontgard students to free duels, and Aleka Ramos stepped forward to face him. Sean obscured the stage with dust, secretly marked Ramos with a Shadow Worm, and began targeting him through the haze.

• Professor Goodman announced Sean's open challenge to students through fourth year, with points available as wagers.
• When no one volunteered, Sean and Stephen Warren provoked the Newmontgard students until Aleka Ramos entered the stage.
• Ramos opened the duel with Expelliarmus, and Sean dodged before filling the platform with dust.
• Sean repeatedly cast the Dust Charm while Ramos probed the haze with spells, and Bach Hoffman criticized Sean's apparent lack of a solution.
• Sean's Shadow Worm marked Ramos through the dust, allowing Sean to fire Acupunct Internus at him; Ramos dodged and realized Sean could pinpoint his position.

Sean Wallerup defeated Ramos and Cyrus Elman in consecutive duels by disguising his spells and laying traps, then faced a powerful Newmontgard fourth-year, Solly Stevenson. As Stevenson prepared to test their raw magical power, a dark force within Sean awakened.

• Sean used fake spells and shifting positions to confuse Ramos, then struck him with a powerful Stinging Hex and disarmed and immobilized him.
• Professor Goodman awarded Sean five points and Ramos's ten-point wager after Ramos was carried away.
• Cyrus Elman challenged Sean for twenty points, but Sean lured him onto a Binding Marsh and defeated him with Confringo before Professor Goodman stopped the duel.
• Solly Stevenson challenged Sean, promised to use his full strength, and waited for Sean to attack first.
• Sean warned Stevenson to dodge as the Obscurus inside him spun rapidly and its dark red core flashed.

Sean defeated Stevenson with an Ancient Fire spell, then accepted challenges from fifth-year students and began a duel with Phileas Garfield. Garfield overwhelmed him with fast nonverbal spells, but Sean steadied himself and prepared to act as the duel continued.

• Sean used the Ancient Fire spell against Stevenson, and Professor Goodman protected Stevenson before the flames badly burned him.
• Goodman declared Sean the winner and told him not to use powerful Ancient spells in future duels.
• When no one else stepped forward, Sean announced that he would also accept challenges from fifth-years, prompting Phileas Garfield to take the platform.
• Garfield attacked with rapid nonverbal spells, forcing Sean to dodge and leaving him little chance to counterattack.
• A spell grazed Sean's face and began restricting his movement, but he recognized that his position was right and raised his wand.

Sean defeated Garfield by triggering a trap he had prepared beneath the dueling platform, despite being immobilized by Garfield’s Binding Charm. As Professor Goodman considered ending the duels, Sean acted exhausted and taunted the Newmontgard students, while Hermione and Daisy suspected he was hiding his true condition.

• Garfield bound Sean with a silent Binding Charm, and Sean answered by detonating stones he had secretly enchanted earlier.
• The explosion overwhelmed Garfield despite his Shield Charm, leaving Sean the winner and prompting cheers from the Hogwarts students.
• Sean recalled how he had concealed the enchanted stones during his earlier duel and predicted where Garfield would stand.
• Hugo rebuked a younger Newmontgard student for dismissing Sean’s tactics as mere tricks.
• Professor Goodman asked Sean whether the duels should end, and Sean claimed he was fine while continuing to provoke the Newmontgard students.
• Hermione and Daisy suspected Sean was pretending to be exhausted, and Hermione guessed he had further motives beyond helping Hogwarts and showing off.

Sean defeated Sanjay Sharma by using an Illusion Charm and a Disillusionment Charm to ambush him, then celebrated his victories with the Hogwarts students. Back in his room, Sean found a note from Grindelwald praising him, offering more spell instruction, and giving him a key to a private practice room.

• Sanjay Sharma challenged the exhausted Sean to a duel, wagering forty points and sixty Galleons.
• Sharma raised a Protego Maxima shield and fired Confringo at Sean, only for Sean's illusion to vanish as the real Sean attacked him from behind with a Stinging Hex.
• Sean asked Professor Goodman whether Sharma's Galleons could be confiscated and transferred to him.
• Sean celebrated after defeating five Newmontgard students in duels, then returned to his room exhausted.
• Sean found Grindelwald's note with spell advice and a key to a quiet practice room in the castle.

Sean settled into life at Newmontgard, received an antidote kit from Professor Mistting, and used Grindelwald’s private practice room with Hermione and Daisy. With the full moon approaching, he continued preparing to become an Animagus and began considering how to alter the Levitation Charm into a spell that summoned buffalo.

• Sean read Grindelwald’s note explaining that the key locked his private potion-making space.
• Sean earned professors’ favor at Newmontgard, then Professor Mistting gave him Poison Heart Iris floral dew and root-and-stem seepage as protection against failed potions.
• Sean, Hermione, and Daisy practiced in the Quiet Room, where Sean said the full moon in three days might let him complete the first step of his Animagus transformation.
• Hermione objected to Sean studying advanced transformation magic and dangerous Dark Arts books, and Sean and Daisy promised to focus on spells and Animagus practice.
• Sean reviewed spell notes and considered changing the Levitation Charm’s effects to create a Buffalo Summoning Levitation Charm.

Sean experimented with improving the Levitation Charm and successfully created a spell that summoned a bison to strike a target. He tested its tracking ability with Hermione and Daisy, then invited them to help name it.

• Sean studied spell theory and devised a way to combine the Levitation Charm with a Summoning Charm.
• Sean cast his altered incantation and summoned a young bison above a practice dummy, crushing its wooden head.
• Hermione excitedly questioned Sean about the spell, and he explained his method to her and Daisy.
• Sean and Hermione tested the spell together, confirming that the summoned bison tracked a target after Sean's magic struck it.
• Sean discovered that the spell could consume large amounts of magic and invited Hermione and Daisy to name it.

Sean prepared for the first step of becoming an Animagus, waiting anxiously for the full moon to appear before midnight. He completed the ritual and hid the sealed Crystal Vial in a Stone Chamber, leaving him to wait for a storm.

• Sean asked the Weasley twins to learn Fabian Aiken’s usual routes through the castle.
• On the thirtieth day of keeping a Mandrake leaf in his mouth, Sean went to the eastern terrace to wait for the full moon.
• Grindelwald rang the gathering bells to send the students back to rest and encouraged Sean to focus on his ritual.
• After the moon emerged shortly before midnight, Sean placed the leaf, his hair, dew, and a Death's-head Hawkmoth Pupa in the Crystal Vial.
• Sean sealed the vial in an airtight potion case and hid it in the Stone Chamber beneath the underground classroom.

Sean completed the first step of his Animagus preparations and began the daily sunrise and sunset incantations while waiting for a storm. After returning to school, he learned from Professor Rosier that Grindelwald wanted to see him.

• Sean left the sealed Stone Chamber and met Patricia De Lasalle, who was sneaking out to investigate a supposedly dangerous Magical Creature; he denied knowing anything and headed back.
• Sean told Hermione and Daisy that the first Animagus step had succeeded, then ate the dinner Hermione had saved for him.
• At sunrise, Sean recited “Amato Animo Animato Animagus” and felt a brief warmth flow toward his chest.
• Sean described his experience to Hermione and Daisy, who recorded his observations and asked whether they could keep visiting the underground classroom.
• Professor Rosier summoned Sean on Grindelwald’s behalf and gave him a note saying he could arrange his own leave from class.

Sean’s Animagus heartbeat changed unpredictably, and Grindelwald reassured him that the unusual shifts might reflect his unique talent for Transfiguration. When a storm arrived eleven days later, Sean found the Blood-Red Potion ready and entered the Ring Space to begin transforming.

• Sean developed a second heartbeat that changed frequency between sunrise and sunset, so he asked Grindelwald for advice.
• Grindelwald used his Seer ability to reassure Sean that he had not seen him transform into anything bizarre, then urged him not to reject what made him special.
• Dumbledore and Grindelwald discussed Sean’s resemblance to their younger selves and joked about Animagus forms and the Ministry’s registration rules.
• Sean continued practicing and experienced eight different heartbeat frequencies, leading him to wonder whether he might gain multiple Animagus forms like Merlin.
• Eleven days later, Sean saw a storm arrive, and lightning prompted him to retrieve the Blood-Red Potion from the Stone Chamber.
• Hermione and Daisy wished Sean well as he entered the Ring Space to begin his transformation.