Chapter Summaries

Sean prepared to host Stephanie while Ayla secretly invited Hermione and Daisy to visit the Wallop home. Hermione and Daisy surprised Sean at the gate, and the chapter ended when the doorbell rang again as he followed them inside.

• Sean invited Stephanie to visit his home and arranged a private reception room for their conversation.
• Ayla asked Sean to prepare desserts for two friends, and Sean agreed without realizing she was arranging a surprise.
• Hermione and Daisy arrived at the Wallop villa, hid by the gate, and jumped out to surprise Sean.
• Ayla welcomed Hermione and Daisy and led them inside, while Sean showed a guilty look that aroused Hermione's suspicion.
• The doorbell rang again just as Sean started to follow the three girls into the house.

Sean welcomed Stephanie to his home, where Hermione and Daisy had already arrived, and the awkward meeting gave way to a discussion of their investigation. Stephanie revealed evidence connecting the nursery rhyme to a story about a snake and a robin, and left the group with a possible link to the God of Wizards.

• Stephanie arrived early at Sean’s house and found Hermione and Daisy there, but explained that she and Sean had come to discuss their earlier investigation.
• Sean’s mother welcomed the three girls while Ayla admitted she had invited Hermione and Daisy to get extra desserts.
• Sean led Stephanie, Hermione, and Daisy into the private reception room, where Stephanie presented her latest findings about “Who Killed Cock Robin?”
• Stephanie pointed out that the funeral in the rhyme seemed to conceal Cock Robin’s death, despite references to birds acting in daylight.
• Stephanie showed the group a parchment containing “The Snake and the Robin,” a creation story about two friends who managed the new world.
• Stephanie revealed that the Greek scholar who preserved the story had devoted his life to studying and worshipping the God of Wizards.

Sean, Stephanie, Hermione, and Daisy theorized that the God of Wizards might be real and that an old story could involve the death of a god. Their investigation connected the story’s trials to the Seven Deadly Sins and narrowed its possible author to Fly, Dove, or Lark, while Stephanie revealed she had found further clues.

• Stephanie explained that some ancient Greek ascetics believed the God of Wizards had created the world, prompting Sean and Hermione to consider whether gods truly existed.
• Sean and Stephanie inferred that the Wisdom Snake might represent Death and Robin might represent a god of love, raising the possibility that the story concerned godslaying.
• Sean considered telling Hermione and Daisy about the Sins but held back, and Daisy clasped his hand to reassure him.
• Sean proposed that the story’s birds corresponded to the Seven Deadly Sins and that one bird was the author; the group narrowed the candidates to Fly, Dove, and Lark.
• Hermione suggested searching for real-world traces connected to those names, and Stephanie revealed that she had brought additional clues.

Stephanie revealed historical evidence linking the mysterious fly and dove to the Nott family, giving Sean and his friends a lead in their investigation. Sean decided to approach Theodore Nott for the family’s secrets, but their afternoon gathering was interrupted when Professor McGonagall arrived.

• Stephanie explained that Mr. Unfooled Spectator, a guest who brought a mysterious black book to the Nott family, may have been the fly from the nursery rhyme.
• Stephanie showed evidence that the Spectator later joined a family bearing a dove crest in resisting an attack, and Hermione and Sean concluded that the fly and dove may have been innocent witnesses trying to preserve the truth.
• Sean and the others chose the Nott family as their starting point, and Sean decided to seek Theodore Nott’s trust without approaching his father, a Death Eater.
• Stephanie prepared to leave before Diagon Alley’s curfew, while Hermione hesitated over whether to leave with her or stay at Sean’s house.
• Sean’s mother called the group out of the private reception room and told them that Professor McGonagall had arrived.

Professor McGonagall named Sean and Hermione Ravenclaw’s new prefects, then asked Sean to resume his former role as Hogwarts’s Head of Admissions. She gave him Dumbledore’s instructions to keep Durmstrang from recruiting students and invited him to compete in the upcoming Four-School Tournament despite his age.

• Professor McGonagall delivered prefect letters to Sean and Hermione, and Mrs. Wallop congratulated Sean.
• Professor McGonagall privately asked Sean to lead Hogwarts’s admissions, and Sean accepted after hearing how schools competed for Muggle-born students.
• Professor McGonagall explained that Sean would coordinate recruiters and try to win students away from Newmontgard.
• Sean read Dumbledore’s sealed letter asking him to recruit students in Durmstrang’s territories or prevent Durmstrang from recruiting them.
• Professor McGonagall gave Sean a Portkey and told him to report to Hogwarts for admissions work the day after tomorrow.
• Professor McGonagall revealed that she hoped Sean would compete in the Four-School Tournament, and Sean noted that he was not yet old enough.

Professor McGonagall explained that Hogwarts could issue Sean a magical certificate allowing him to enter the Triwizard Cup despite his age, and Sean agreed that he wanted to compete. At Hogwarts, Sean organized the admissions staff for their recruitment mission and discovered that Grindelwald had apparently been sending Dumbledore Howlers.

• Professor McGonagall told Sean that a new Hogwarts rule could grant him an age-exemption certificate after he passed an assessment based on his school contributions.
• Sean told Professor McGonagall he was interested in competing in the Triwizard Cup, and she assured him that participation would be his choice.
• Sean joined the admissions staff at Hogwarts and assigned tasks for their student recruitment campaign while Charlotte and Colton bickered.
• An owl delivered Dumbledore a Howler, which he silenced with magic, and Charlotte and Colton revealed that he had received nine in recent days.
• Sean suspected that Grindelwald was sending Dumbledore the Howlers, but Dumbledore offered no explanation before the staff departed by Portkey.

Sean Wallerup met Newmontgard Student Council President Morgans Daniels to recruit Aliz Root, whose family had received acceptance letters from four magical schools. Sean took the lead in the visit and left the Roots with his private number, while representatives from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang arrived to make their own pitches.

• Sean introduced himself to Morgans Daniels and persuaded him to visit the Roots before the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang representatives arrived.
• Sean and Daniels went to the Root home, where Daniels demonstrated magic and Sean used a spell to cure Mr. Root’s hangover.
• Sean reassured Mr. Root that Aliz Root’s magical talent made attending a school the best choice, then presented himself as the Hogwarts representative while Daniels identified himself as being from Newmontgard.
• The Beauxbatons and Durmstrang representatives arrived and introduced their schools to Mr. Root and Aliz.
• Sean gave the Roots his private number for questions about the magical world, even if Aliz chose another school.

Sean secured Aliz Root’s enrollment at Hogwarts by reassuring her family and demonstrating his power, then outmaneuvered the other admissions officers through his family’s connections to recruit Fana Schroeder as well. The rival representatives agreed to visit families together, but Sean’s wealth and social ties continued to give him the advantage.

• Sean offered Mr. Root and Aliz a telephone contact service, and Daniels countered by praising Newmontgard’s Triwizard Cup record.
• Sean reassured Aliz that she could study magic without focusing on fighting, then awakened his Obscurus enough to make the other admissions officers retreat.
• Aliz chose Hogwarts, and Sean told Mr. Root to take her to Diagon Alley to shop for supplies.
• Daniels, Kig Adam, and Nadia Ibay proposed recruiting from shared areas together so Sean would not reach families first.
• Mr. Schroeder rejected the visitors until Sean connected him to Wallop Medical Center and arranged a call with Allen Wallop.
• Mr. Schroeder agreed to send Fana to Hogwarts and accepted an invitation to a Wallop family gathering.

Sean intervened when Durmstrang admissions officer Deep Thomas threatened the Jensen family into sending Tulisa to his school, then persuaded them to choose Hogwarts instead. After the other admissions officers left, Sean suspected Durmstrang’s recruiters were acting without coordination and noted information about students in Durmstrang’s exclusive recruitment range.

• Deep Thomas used magic to frighten Mr. Jensen into believing Tulisa would become dangerous unless she attended Durmstrang.
• Sean arrived with Adam, Daniels, and Yibei, challenged Thomas’s recruitment tactics, and watched Thomas and another wizard Apparate away.
• Sean repaired the Jensen family’s yard, explained the wizarding world, and persuaded the family to send Tulisa to Hogwarts.
• Sean’s companions left, with Adam and Daniels planning to report Durmstrang’s rule-breaking to their school leaders.
• Sean concluded that Thomas had recruited Tulisa outside the agreed schedule and suspected a lack of coordination within Durmstrang.
• Sean recorded details about students in Durmstrang’s exclusive recruitment range so he could exchange information later.

Sean Wallop visited the Parsons Family to explain that magic was real and recruit Doug Parsons for Hogwarts, overturning Mr. Parsons’s belief that Doug’s Durmstrang letter was a prank. After overhearing that the Lloyds’ son had attended Durmstrang, Sean investigated their house and found the Lloyd Couple sitting silently in an unsettling trance.

• Mr. Parsons dismissed Doug’s Durmstrang acceptance letter as a prank by Ront Lloyd and tried to steer Doug away from believing in magic.
• Sean Wallop arrived and introduced himself as a Hogwarts admissions officer, then used magic to convince the Parsons Family that wizardry was real.
• Doug and his parents chose Hogwarts, and Sean said they would be helped with the trip to Diagon Alley and warned them a Durmstrang admissions officer might visit.
• After hearing Mr. Parsons speculate that Ront Lloyd attended Durmstrang, Sean connected the boy to Durmstrang’s suspicious activity and went to investigate the Lloyds’ house.
• Sean entered the Lloyds’ house invisibly and found Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd sitting silently in their brightly lit living room.

Sean found the Lloyd Couple trapped in a motionless, extremely sluggish state that began after their son Ront Lloyd entered Durmstrang, and he suspected the school was responsible. He took the unconscious couple toward Hogwarts with a Portkey, but another force intercepted their journey, and Sean landed fighting with blue magical flames.

• Sean discovered the Lloyd Couple sitting motionless amid months of untouched, rotting food and learned that their strange condition had begun after Ront Lloyd entered Durmstrang.
• Sean used Naja to ring the doorbell and watched the Lloyds briefly act like attentive hosts before returning to their vacant, sluggish state.
• Sean decided to take the Lloyd Couple to Hogwarts, stunned them, bound them together, and activated a Portkey with them.
• An unknown force intercepted the Portkey and dragged Sean and the Lloyd Couple elsewhere, so Sean cast Protego Diabolica as soon as he landed.

Sean was sent by a warped Portkey to a graveyard, where he realized the Lloyd Couple had triggered a trap connected to the Returners. Deep Thomas and two synchronized companions confronted him, revealed they knew about Sin, and attacked his Protego Diabolica with power like its own.

• Sean activated Hermione Granger's Echo and Dark Sleeper, then used Dave's senses to locate three unknown figures near a stone coffin.
• Sean recognized Deep Thomas and his silent companion as two of the figures, while the third remained hooded and indistinct.
• Sean deduced that a spell on the Lloyd Couple had redirected his Portkey and that the trio had come to capture whoever triggered it.
• Thomas identified Sean's magic as Sin's power and claimed he would explain it after making Sean lose his smile.
• Thomas and his companions struck Sean's Protego Diabolica with powerful green spells, making the flames tremble, then Thomas offered to teach Sean to use Sin's power as a blinding white light appeared overhead.

Sean learned that the three Thomases wielded power from Sloth, while Dumbledore’s cooperation with the Returners ran deeper than he had known. Dumbledore revealed that an Unbreakable Vow bound him to them, but hinted that it did not constrain him as Thomas expected.

• Dumbledore appeared in the cemetery, apologized to Sean, and acknowledged that he had suspected something was wrong with the Lloyd Couple.
• Sean identified Thomas as Durmstrang’s admissions officer, and Thomas accused Dumbledore of secretly cooperating with the Returners and said he would take Sean away.
• The three Thomases attacked Sean with magic from Sloth, but Dumbledore blocked their spell with a silver-white shield.
• Sean saw the Unbreakable Vow’s red magic activate around Dumbledore’s wrist as Thomas warned that defying the Returners would kill him.
• Dumbledore opened his previously shut eye and told Thomas that the vow did not bind him as strongly as Thomas believed, then asked why he would kill him.

Dumbledore revealed that he had prepared to betray the Returners and asked Sean to restrain them while he avoided breaking the Unbreakable Vow himself. As Sean fought the Black Hood, he sensed his magic changing in response to the Sin of Sloth, and the chapter ended with Sean’s transformed magic overpowering his opponent.

• Dumbledore admitted that he could suppress the Unbreakable Vow’s backlash, and Thomas and the other two attacked him while the Black Hood tried to send a message.
• Dumbledore blocked the attack and revealed a barrier that prevented the Black Hood from contacting the Returners, then asked Sean to subdue the group.
• Sean trapped Thomas and one follower, then fought the Black Hood and noticed that the opponent’s magic seemed linked to Thomas’s.
• Sean used the Obscurus to strengthen his attacks, while his own magic gradually changed as it clashed with the Black Hood’s power.
• Sean focused on the changing nature of his magic, then overwhelmed the Black Hood’s spell as his magic began suppressing the opponent’s.

Sean defeated Black Hood after his magic changed, then questioned Dumbledore about the boy’s identity and the Unbreakable Vow. Dumbledore helped Sean leave with the prisoners, then stayed behind to confront the Returners who arrived in response to his signal.

• Sean overwhelmed Black Hood with his magic, shattered his wand, and restrained him and Thomas.
• Sean discovered a black substance inside the boy’s skull and deduced that his appearance was Sloth’s, while Dumbledore’s Unbreakable Vow prevented him from revealing the truth.
• Sean worked out that Dumbledore had not known about Sin and Sloth beforehand and had come because he feared Sean was in danger.
• Dumbledore warned Sean that someone was approaching and devised a cover story; Sean put Thomas and the other two into his ring and left with the Lloyd Couple.
• Dumbledore disturbed the cemetery’s magical traces and sent a signal, then questioned the Returners who appeared.

Dumbledore denied knowing what happened to Thomas, while the Returners investigated the missing wizard and the unknown person who had triggered the Anchor’s magic. Back at Hogwarts, Sean entered his Soul World while his magic was still changing and summoned Pride, who demanded to know where Sean had obtained that power.

• Dumbledore told the shadow that he had arrived after the magical disturbance and knew nothing about Thomas’s disappearance.
• The Returners decided to investigate the Anchors and search nearby for the person who had taken Thomas.
• A middle-aged wizard questioned the Parsons family, then reported that their son had received a Durmstrang letter and that strange magical traces remained at the Lloyd Couple’s home.
• Sean noticed that his magic was returning to normal and used the Unstable Coin to check whether meeting Pride would bring harm.
• Sean entered his Soul World, inspected the Sky Island, and provoked Pride by using the last traces of his altered magic.
• Pride rose from the lava in the form of a giant Sean and asked where Sean had obtained that power.

Sean confronted Pride about its presence in his body and discovered that mentioning the gods and a possible deicide caused the Realm of Illusion to destabilize. He used that danger to bargain with Pride, which promised not to absorb his soul when it fully awakened.

• Sean challenged Pride over parasitizing his body, and Pride said becoming its bridge was an honor.
• Sean learned that his power came from Sloth, whom Pride called a traitor, and his questions about the Realm of Illusion and its gods caused the Soul World to shake.
• Sean realized that speaking about deicide triggered the world’s collapse, while Pride warned him not to pursue the subject.
• Sean threatened to destroy the Realm of Illusion by revealing more about deicide, and Pride stopped the spreading crack in the sky.
• Sean bargained with Pride, which promised not to absorb his soul when it fully awakened, and Sean accepted the promise with suspicion.

Sean negotiated a temporary cooperation with Pride, learned why wizards could draw on Sloth’s sleeping power, and received access to a tempting but dangerous portion of Pride’s magic. After returning from Sky Island, Sean found the Lloyd Couple still unconscious, and Dumbledore arrived at the door.

• Sean persuaded Pride to cooperate and asked about the strange power used by Thomas and the other wizards.
• Pride explained that Sloth had not awakened, allowing others to forcibly draw on its power, and that magic of the same level resonated temporarily.
• Pride gave Sean permission to borrow more of its power, but Sean feared that using it could weaken his resistance to Pride’s future erosion.
• Sean returned from Sky Island unharmed and found the Lloyd Couple still unconscious.
• Dumbledore arrived and greeted Sean at the door.

Sean finished the joint admissions drive after Dumbledore assured him the Lloyd Couple could be helped and the Triwizard Cup would proceed safely. In Godric's Hollow, Sean and Daisy secretly watched Capen Roman and Milani Locke worry about how becoming wizards would affect their friendship, while withholding the news that they would attend Hogwarts together.

• Dumbledore examined the Lloyd Couple, said their condition could be resolved, and asked Sean to report any similar strange incidents while reassuring him about the Triwizard Cup.
• Sean completed the joint admissions drive, leaving Daniels and Yibei impressed and Kig Adam frustrated after Sean had deliberately thwarted Durmstrang's recruiting efforts.
• Sean decided to visit the last two prospective students and went to Godric's Hollow on July thirty-first to celebrate Daisy and Harry's birthday.
• Sean and Daisy secretly watched Capen Roman and Milani Locke worry that becoming wizards would separate them, though both children were wizards and were headed to Hogwarts.
• Daisy questioned Sean's plan to keep the children in suspense, and Sean said he had faith in their friendship.

Capen and Milani promised to remain best friends, then discovered that they were both wizards. Sean brought them to Diagon Alley to shop for school supplies and introduced them to the magical entrance.

• Capen told Milani he was going away to study, and they promised to keep in touch and remain best friends.
• Milani began to reveal that she was a witch, but Sean interrupted her and warned her about discussing magic.
• Sean teased the children before revealing that both Capen and Milani were wizards, then invited them to the Potter family's home for Daisy and her brother's birthday.
• Capen and Milani visited the Potter home, celebrated with magic, and joined Sean for a school-supply trip after Mr. Roman entrusted Capen to him.
• Sean showed Capen and Milani how to open the passage to Diagon Alley and welcomed them to the magical world.