Chapter Summaries

Murphy used a hidden wand to cheat Lisandro at cards and persuaded him to buy up potion ingredients to disrupt Draco Malfoy. He then bought spare wands and used a Shrinking Solution disguise to obtain a new wand from Ollivander, who called it suited to challengers and revolutionaries.

• Murphy won a card game against Lisandro by secretly transforming Lisandro’s Aces and turning his own cards into Aces.
• Murphy offered to pay Lisandro above market price for potion ingredients, and Lisandro agreed after consulting the bartender.
• Murphy explained that he had used a concealed wand to cast Summoning and Transfiguration spells during the game.
• Murphy sold the bald wizard’s wand, bought secondhand wands, and decided to replace the wand Ollivander could trace to him.
• Murphy drank Shrinking Solution, posed as an eleven-year-old, and bought a fourteen-inch aspen wand with a phoenix feather core from Ollivander.

Murphy altered Ollivander’s memories and wand records so his wand could not be traced, then discussed secrecy spells and the research institute with Alex Wood. He learned Umbrella Corporation’s negotiations were going badly, with rival pharmaceutical companies seeking to take it over through a forced tender offer.

• Murphy used Legilimency and Obliviate on Ollivander, making him remember that Murphy had bought an aspen wand seven years earlier.
• Murphy changed the wand shop’s account book to replace the original cypress wand entry with an aspen wand entry, then returned to Darkholm Manor.
• Murphy asked Alex Wood about spells that could prevent researchers from revealing secrets, but Alex could not recall a suitable spell.
• Murphy told Patrick that Rita had refused to endorse them, and Patrick said the pharmaceutical companies were pressuring Umbrella Corporation to go public so they could take it over.

Murphy proposed trading Cloud White Medicine shares for research institutes and revealed a beauty potion that could launch a profitable cosmetics line. Meanwhile, Lucius learned his search for Alex had stalled, though Slug had offered his men a new lead.

• Murphy offered to transfer up to 20% of Cloud White Medicine’s shares in exchange for research institutes, and Patrick reported that US clinical trial approval was nearing completion.
• Murphy showed Patrick the Beauty Potion, and Patrick saw its dramatic effect on his appearance.
• Murphy and Patrick discussed diluting the potion into Beauty Essence for facial masks and creams, and Patrick agreed that Murphy should acquire a cosmetics factory.
• At Malfoy Manor, Lucius’s men reported that Papede had fled and the barn had burned down, leaving no clues.
• Lucius’s men said Alex Wood had gone into hiding but that his former boss, Slug, had suggested a new lead.

Lucius Malfoy learned that Murphy Darkholme was selling potions to Muggles and set out to have him arrested, but Murphy’s factory was attacked and workers were abducted. Murphy identified Lucius as the attacker after examining a security guard’s memories.

• A short wizard told Lucius that Murphy Darkholme had used the alias Stephen Cumberbatch, bought large quantities of Dittany, and was supplying potions to Umbrella Corporation.
• Lucius learned that Murphy’s potion business could earn hundreds of thousands of Galleons monthly and ordered his men to gather evidence, freeze Murphy’s Gringotts account, and take him to Azkaban.
• Murphy checked a shipment of potion ingredients from Lisandro, paid him, and stored the materials in an extended trunk.
• Patrick called Murphy to report that the factory had been attacked, five workers and supplies had been taken, and the workshop had been badly damaged.
• Murphy used Legilimency on the security guard and recognized the attacker as Lucius Malfoy.

Murphy destroyed Darkholm Manor to erase evidence, then infiltrated Malfoy Manor to rescue the kidnapped factory workers and confront Lucius Malfoy. He found the workers being interrogated, but a house-elf spotted him before he could act.

• Murphy packed the potions and materials with Alex, then burned Darkholm Manor to the ground.
• Murphy disguised himself with Polyjuice Potion, left Alex in a warehouse, and told him to flee if he did not return within two hours.
• Murphy reasoned that Lucius Malfoy had kidnapped the factory workers to gather evidence that Murphy sold potions to Muggles.
• Murphy found Malfoy Manor hidden behind magical barriers and sneaked inside, where three wizards interrogated the five workers.
• Murphy overheard Narcissa Malfoy speaking with Lucius and Draco, considered taking Draco hostage, and was discovered by a house-elf.

Murphy broke into the Malfoy home to recover stolen goods and rescue five Muggles, but Dobby’s self-punishment exposed him and sparked a fight with Lucius Malfoy. Murphy gathered the hostages and unleashed Fiendfyre and a box of nitroglycerin, leaving the battle amid a massive explosion.

• Murphy petrified Dobby, carried him into the cellar, recovered the stolen materials and potions, and took Tom Riddle's Diary from the Malfoy collection.
• Murphy freed Dobby and asked him to stay quiet, but Dobby punished himself by smashing into a wine rack and making a loud crash.
• Murphy fought the wizards upstairs, petrifying several, using Imperio on the red-nosed wizard, and drawing Lucius Malfoy into battle.
• Murphy gathered five Muggles and ordered them to grab a rope, while Lucius blasted a wizard Murphy had used as a shield.
• Murphy silenced the Muggles, cast Fiendfyre, and threw a bag containing twenty bottles of nitroglycerin into the flames, causing a huge explosion.

Murphy rescued five Muggles from Malfoy Manor and returned them safely before arranging a plan to gather evidence against the pharmaceutical companies pressuring Umbrella Corporation. A secretly recorded video and revelations about a factory explosion turned public opinion against the companies, leaving the scandal to grow.

• Murphy escaped Malfoy Manor with five Muggles by Portkey as the estate exploded, then erased their memories and left them in a safe wood.
• Murphy learned from Patrick that officials had blamed a factory explosion on a gas leak and that the Committee on Safety of Medicines had ordered Umbrella to disclose its formula or withdraw White Medicine.
• Murphy told Patrick to arrange meetings with pharmaceutical executives and the Committee director, then collect a strand of hair from each of them.
• An anonymous video showing pharmaceutical executives and a Committee official discussing how to seize Umbrella's drug formula spread through British media.
• Investigators uncovered further evidence of the meeting, and the public connected the scandal to the suspicious factory explosion and missing workers, materials, and medicines.

Public opinion swung in Umbrella Corporation’s favor after reports of its donations and Rita Levi-Montalcini’s endorsement of Cloud White Medicine. Murphy learned Lucius Malfoy had awakened and considered how to protect his plans from Lucius’s retaliation.

• Reports revealed Umbrella Corporation had donated White Medicine to victims of the London Underground fire, and Rita Levi-Montalcini publicly praised Cloud White Medicine’s effects.
• Patrick celebrated the public’s support for Umbrella, while Murphy explained how he had shaped the story to make the company its sympathetic protagonist.
• Lisandro told Murphy that Lucius Malfoy had awakened after nearly ten days unconscious at St Mungo’s Hospital.
• Murphy worried Lucius could expose his identity and noted that Gringotts had frozen his accounts and vault, threatening his access to potion ingredients.
• Murphy dismissed Lisandro’s suspicions about the Malfoy fire and decided to tell a story to the wizarding authorities, since only they could determine guilt.

Murphy Darkholme secured Minister Millicent Bagnold’s help by promising donations and offering her a personal gift, persuading her to intervene in his dispute with Gringotts. After visiting influential Ministry officials, he reported Lucius Malfoy to Auror Director Scrimgeour as a Death Eater plotting Voldemort’s resurrection.

• Murphy offered Millicent Bagnold fifty thousand Galleons and promised future donations to help ease the Ministry’s financial troubles.
• Murphy claimed Gringotts had frozen his inherited assets and offered Millicent ten thousand Galleons if she helped recover them.
• Millicent agreed to order Gringotts to release Murphy’s property and gave him a thousand-Galleon gift in return for his support.
• Murphy visited several influential Wizengamot officials and then met Auror Director Scrimgeour.
• Murphy reported Lucius Malfoy as a Death Eater carrying out a plan to resurrect Voldemort.

Murphy Darkholme presented evidence accusing Lucius Malfoy of recruiting his father into the Death Eaters, prompting the Wizengamot to reopen Lucius’s trial under the Purge Act. The hearing remained unresolved as Lucius disputed the letters Murphy produced.

• Lucius Malfoy told Aurors that Murphy Darkholme had destroyed his house, but Scrimgeour arrested him on suspicion of being a Death Eater and reopened his trial under the Purge Act.
• Murphy entered the packed Wizengamot courtroom and was startled when Dumbledore arrived as Chief Warlock.
• Murphy told the Wizengamot that his parents had been Death Eaters and accused Lucius of escaping justice.
• Murphy presented a letter signed L.M. that he said showed Lucius had recruited his father, Sanders Darkholm, into the Death Eaters.
• Lucius denied writing the recruitment letter, and Murphy presented a second letter to Sanders so the Wizengamot could compare its handwriting with the first.

Murphy presented forged debt letters and the Dark Lord’s diary as evidence against Lucius Malfoy at the tribunal. Lucius collapsed when Murphy summoned Dobby as a witness, but Dobby refused to betray his master, leaving Murphy unsure how to proceed.

• Murphy showed the tribunal two debt letters, and Dumbledore questioned where Murphy had found them before warning that the letters alone might not prove Lucius Malfoy’s intent.
• Murphy accused Lucius of hiding dark magic objects and revealed a diary he said had been given to Lucius by the Dark Lord.
• Lucius denied knowing the diary, so Murphy called Dobby to testify, and Lucius collapsed in his cage.
• Dumbledore silenced Lucius when he tried to order Dobby to stop.
• Dobby tried to hurt himself rather than betray Lucius, and Murphy threatened him but then looked to Dumbledore for help.

Murphy presented a notebook that appeared to implicate Lucius Malfoy and other Death Eaters in Voldemort’s return, while Lucius denied the evidence and accused Murphy of crimes. Dumbledore examined the notebook and asked Murphy where he had obtained it.

• Dumbledore persuaded Dobby to answer Murphy’s questions truthfully about the Malfoy cellar and identify the notebook as Lucius’s treasure.
• Murphy heated the blank notebook over an alcohol lamp, revealing entries naming Death Eaters and describing Lucius as Voldemort’s loyal servant.
• The assembled wizards reacted to the notebook’s contents, and Lucius denied that it was authentic or that he had been a Death Eater.
• Lucius accused Murphy of breaking into his home, causing a fire, violating wizarding secrecy, and selling potions to Muggles.
• Dumbledore examined the notebook and asked Murphy where he had obtained it.

Murphy used a forged diary to push for Lucius Malfoy’s retrial, but the tribunal found insufficient evidence to convict Lucius as a Death Eater and sentenced him for hoarding Dark Magic items. Lucius then produced Murphy’s wand and claimed it could prove Murphy had attacked his home, leaving Murphy’s own trial in question.

• Murphy admitted the diary came from a supposed contact named Tony Wayne, and Dumbledore supported reopening the trials of Crabbe, Goyle, Igor Karkaroff, and others.
• Dumbledore questioned Lucius about hoarding Dark Magic items, while Lucius accused Murphy of arson, murder, and violating the Statute of Secrecy.
• Murphy and Lucius traded accusations before the judges voted to convict Lucius of crimes involving Dark Magic items but not of being a Death Eater.
• Dumbledore sentenced Lucius to a fine of five thousand Galleons and three months in Azkaban.
• Lucius revealed that he had Murphy’s wand and claimed Prior Incantato and a witness would prove Murphy had attacked his home.

At Murphy’s trial, Lucius Malfoy tried to prove Murphy was a dark wizard by presenting a wand and witnesses who identified it as his, but Ollivander confirmed it was not Murphy’s wand. Lucius dropped his accusation that Murphy attacked his home and introduced goblin Locke as evidence that Murphy violated the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy.

• Lucius Malfoy presented a wand whose spell traces included Fiendfyre and the Cruciatus Curse, claiming it proved Murphy was a dark wizard.
• Belinda Pound and Frez Shafiq identified the wand as Murphy’s, while Murphy denied it and insulted both witnesses.
• Murphy asked the court to summon Garrick Ollivander, who identified Murphy’s actual wand as a fourteen-inch aspen wand with a phoenix feather core.
• Ollivander said the wand Lucius presented was not Murphy’s, and Dumbledore asked Lucius for other evidence after the wand accusation failed.
• Lucius withdrew his accusation that Murphy had attacked his home and called for the goblin Locke to present evidence of a secrecy violation.

Murphy Darkholme cleared himself of Lucius Malfoy’s accusations by exposing Malfoy’s scheme and challenging his claim that Cloud White Medicine was stolen wizarding potion. Lucius was left without proof as the Aurors prepared to take him to Azkaban.

• Murphy urged Locke to tell the truth, and Locke testified that he and Murphy had acted legally and that Lucius Malfoy had coached him to make false accusations.
• Scrimgeour announced that Bogrod had been arrested and Gringotts had verified Murphy’s funds as legal, then ordered Lucius taken to Azkaban.
• Lucius produced potion samples and ingredients, claiming Murphy had sold Essence of Dittany to Muggles, and demonstrated that Cloud White Medicine healed his wound.
• Murphy questioned whether the medicine was actually Essence of Dittany, and Dumbledore admitted he could not prove the two were the same substance.

After Lucius Malfoy was imprisoned and Murphy’s finances were restored, Murphy opened potion shops and considered how wizarding society’s self-sufficiency and attachment to tradition had thwarted his efforts to fit in. He decided he would remake the world rather than be assimilated, and the volume ended with him drawing his own wand.

• Lucius Malfoy was fined another thousand Galleons and sentenced to two months in prison, while his accusations against Murphy were dismissed for lack of evidence.
• Murphy hired Locke as his full agent, donated money to the Ministry of Magic, and received a VIP visitor permit arranged by Millicent.
• Murphy opened Supreme Potion shops in Knockturn Alley and Diagon Alley, launched steep discounts to compete with Slug & Jiggers Apothecary, and began recruiting potion makers for Beauty Potion production.
• Murphy reflected that magic made wizarding society self-sufficient and resistant to competition, specialization, and reform, explaining why his job hunt and unconventional methods had failed.
• Murphy concluded that he could not adapt to wizarding society and would have to change it, then drew his wand: an aspen wand with a phoenix feather core, fourteen inches long.

Murphy took advantage of the stock market crash to acquire research institutes and raise funds for Umbrella, then began construction of its biotech R&D base in Hertfordshire. He outlined the company’s research plans and hiring needs, while leaving the problem of protecting magical secrets unresolved.

• Murphy acquired three research institutions cheaply as pharmaceutical companies’ shares collapsed, then sold 8% of Umbrella’s shares for nearly one hundred million pounds.
• In spring 1988, Murphy and Patrick inspected the 970-acre Umbrella Group Biotech R&D Base, where construction had begun on the first of six zones.
• Patrick explained that Zone One would include a vertical White Medicine plantation, a medicinal-material cultivation and optimization base, and a White Medicine R&D center.
• Murphy ordered Patrick to rent temporary facilities, redirect the acquired institutes toward White Medicine research, hire qualified scholars, and expand the company’s administrative staff.
• When Patrick raised confidentiality concerns, Murphy proposed severe confidentiality agreements for researchers until he found a safer way to protect the wizarding world’s secrets.

Murphy recruited Serika Wood to develop a secrecy spell, but her research fell behind schedule as his Venus Series cosmetics became a major commercial success. When Murphy confronted her about the delays, Serika offered to let him hit her, and he ordered her to lie across his lap.

• Alex Wood told Murphy that his sister Serika, a former member of the Committee on Experimental Charms, might help with the secrecy spell.
• Murphy met Serika, asked her to develop a spell that would stop people from revealing secrets, and gave her one month to produce a viable research proposal.
• Murphy gave Serika a key to a rented factory building for the research and told her to ask Alex for whatever else she needed.
• Umbrella Group acquired Camelot Cosmetics Company, and Murphy launched the Venus Series cosmetics, which drew a flood of orders.
• After three months without a viable research plan, Murphy scolded Serika, who apologized and offered to let him hit her.
• Murphy told Serika to kneel and lie across his lap, then smacked her.

Murphy searched for a way to create a secrecy charm and decided to use Tom Riddle’s diary to learn about Dark Magic. He recruited Alex to test it, leaving Alex about to write his first message.

• After Serika left, Murphy reviewed the secrecy charm research but kept the team working while considering other approaches.
• Murphy asked Alex about a similar charm he had seen at Hogwarts, then wrote to Professor Filius Flitwick for advice.
• Flitwick replied that a charm capable of fully concealing secrets might involve Dark Magic and suggested books in Hogwarts’s Restricted Section.
• Murphy realized Tom Riddle’s diary might know about Dark Magic and decided to question it through a test.
• Murphy offered Alex ten Galleons for every sentence he wrote in the dangerous diary, and Alex agreed to begin.
• Murphy handed Alex a fountain pen and told him to write, “Hello, diary. I’m Lucius Malfoy.”

Murphy used Alex to question Tom Riddle’s diary and obtained the Thorn Oath, a Dark spell that punished Muggles who tried to break an oath. After learning and testing the spell, Murphy asked whether Tom knew better ones.

• Murphy had Alex pose as Lucius Malfoy and ask the diary questions, confirming that Tom Riddle could answer schoolwork and teach spells.
• Murphy asked Tom for a spell that could stop someone from revealing secrets, and Tom described Natasha’s Tongue-Tying Spell and the Thorn Oath.
• Murphy chose the Thorn Oath for his planned work with Muggles, while Alex objected to learning Dark Magic.
• Tom gave Murphy the spell’s name, pronunciation, gestures, and a diagram drawn from a book he had read.
• Murphy copied and practiced the Thorn Oath until he confirmed it worked, then asked Tom whether he knew better spells.