Chapter Summaries

Nelson defeated Armando, who used his final moments to confess how his grief over Barry had turned him into a strict headmaster and helped make Barry an Obscurial. Armando died leaving two amber gemstones, his Wand, and an unpressed device for contacting Barry, while Nelson was joined by Tom.

• Nelson found Armando mortally wounded and listened as he asked Nelson to tell Barry the truth and help him find a place beside him after death.
• Armando recounted how Barry’s father killed himself after rescuing Barry from a Muggle church school, and admitted that his own strictness had forced Barry into becoming an Obscurial.
• Armando revealed that he had secretly researched forbidden magic with a group seeking to understand magic and make up for their regrets, and asked Nelson to keep his eyes safe.
• Armando crumbled into sand, leaving his Wand, two amber gemstones, and the black device he had not pressed to contact Barry.
• Tom arrived with an umbrella, picked up Armando’s Wand, and recalled that Professor Dippet had once encouraged him to become a teacher.
• Nelson asked Tom to help him stand because he had been sitting in the mud too long.

Nelson and Tom investigated Professor Dippet’s paired magical gems and discovered that the eye-shaped magic revealed Credence’s Obscurus was failing and might kill him. Nelson offered Credence a dangerous experimental treatment, and Credence agreed to try it so he could keep living with Nagini.

• Nelson showed Tom two amber-like gems that Tom identified as Professor Dippet, and they discussed why a related form of magic became an eye.
• Rowena sheltered Adele from the rain and explained that young wizards could choose what they wanted to become when they grew up.
• Nelson used the eye-shaped gem to learn that Credence’s Obscurus no longer obeyed him and that Credence might die soon.
• Credence explained that he had wanted to eradicate the Second Salemers and hoped Adele could grow up happily, while accepting that his life might be nearing its end.
• Nelson described a risky experiment that might solve Credence’s Obscurus problem, and Credence agreed to try it.

Dumbledore and Grindelwald discussed Nelson’s plans, the changing purpose of Nurmengard, and the one-second reversal they attributed to “The Boy Who Changes.” Dumbledore left the tavern after their talk, while a pale green spherical gem remained in Grindelwald’s glass.

• Grindelwald told Dumbledore that Professor Dippet was preparing to target the girl Nelson had brought from the United States, and explained that Dippet’s grandson was with him.
• Grindelwald and Dumbledore debated whether love could change people and whether Nurmengard’s new industries had truly changed the people and cause behind it.
• Grindelwald revealed that he and Dumbledore had each experienced time turning back by one second, which they linked to “The Boy Who Changes.”
• Dumbledore and Grindelwald discussed the blood pact, Newt, and whether Nelson’s inventions could undo regrets, but neither persuaded the other.
• Dumbledore left the tavern, and a pale green spherical gem slowly turned in the glass where Grindelwald had been sitting.

Nelson explained to Credence that he believed time travel was possible and that Credence’s future self had already succeeded in controlling his Obscurus, which could help save Nagini. After receiving a letter from the Ministry of Magic inviting him to join a new department, Nelson became curious because its work seemed connected to fragments of the future he possessed.

• Nelson told Credence that he believed the Obscurial spying on him was Credence from the future and that Credence could learn to control his Obscurus.
• Nelson proposed using Professor Dippet’s magic to help Credence exhaust the Obscurus’s power and free himself from it.
• Tom and Nelson discussed how owls delivered messages, and Credence opened the Ministry letter after Nelson struggled with its tube.
• Nelson read that Judge Shafiq had recommended him as a candidate for a Ministry position and grew interested in the Ministry’s new department.

Nelson visited Minister Nobby Leach at the Ministry of Magic and discussed the old pure-blood families, the Ministry’s decline, and Leach’s plans to recruit promising young witches and wizards. Leach revealed that Chief of the Wizengamot Mr. Shafiq had prepared a list especially for Nelson and was expected to arrive soon.

• Nelson met Old Malfoy outside Leach’s office, and Old Malfoy urged him to visit the Malfoy home and reconnect him with Pollux Black.
• Nelson entered Leach’s sparse office and found the Minister playing with a Tin Soldier and a toy Dark Lord.
• Leach warmly welcomed Nelson, who unfolded his own silver stool rather than waiting for a seat to be brought.
• Leach criticized the old Ministry establishment and showed Nelson a recruitment list featuring Tom Riddle, Miranda Goshawk, Alastor Moody, and other promising Hogwarts graduates.
• Leach said the list had been prepared especially for Nelson and that Mr. Shafiq was likely to arrive soon.

Nelson rejected Judge Shafiq’s attempt to recruit him into the Ministry’s plans, arguing that the Wizengamot had ignored change and was now scrambling to catch up. He left Shafiq with a possible path to cooperation, but insisted the judge still needed to work harder to earn it.

• Judge Shafiq visited Nelson in Leach’s office and recalled the oath Nelson had taken when receiving the Order of the Garter Medal.
• Shafiq explained that he had chosen Leach for his courage and offered Nelson a list of people and a role backed by a new finance department.
• Nelson revealed that he had created Nurmengard’s industrial magic goods and that the Black Family had his authorization to distribute them across the United Kingdom.
• Nelson criticized Shafiq for resisting change and accused the Wizengamot of panicking as its power faced a reshuffle.
• Shafiq failed to persuade Nelson to join the Ministry, and Nelson said their goals could align if Shafiq made one final effort.

Nelson negotiated a trade agreement with Judge Shafiq, offering low-priced goods and local manufacturing in exchange for British support while securing the Black Family’s leadership. After Minister Leach signed the contract, Nelson left with Tom, who had collected prize money and two medals.

• Nelson proposed low export prices and a gradual shift to semi-finished goods so British wizards could take over manufacturing and sales.
• Shafiq accepted Nelson’s terms, and Nelson insisted the agreement proceed under the Black Family’s leadership and be signed by Minister Leach.
• Nelson revealed that he knew Shafiq was preparing to challenge Professor Dumbledore for the Wizengamot’s chief seat.
• Leach entered and signed the contract, while Nelson photographed the signing before leaving the office.
• Nelson met Tom outside and criticized Shafiq’s lack of economic understanding as Tom added the medals to his prize money bag.

Nelson and Tom investigated the Department of Mysteries and discovered that its floor was connected to the Ministry by a transfer spell. Back at Hogwarts, Nelson helped Adele practice the Levitation Charm with a carrot cake, and Dumbledore comforted her after she dropped it.

• Nelson and Tom discussed the exploitation of wizards and the Ministry before Nelson led Tom to the Department of Mysteries.
• Nelson delivered a small ball as a supposed Prophecy Orb and learned that the Department's floor was linked to another location by a large-scale transfer spell.
• Nelson and Tom returned to Hogwarts, where Adele confronted them for leaving her behind and Tom revealed his chin wound.
• Nelson gave Adele a Carrot Cake and encouraged her to levitate it to the Great Hall while he and Tom watched her practice.
• Adele dropped the cake, and Dumbledore tasted some, praised it, and promised to replace it with a bigger one.

At dinner, Dumbledore announced new opportunities for Hogwarts students, including expanded Care of Magical Creatures lessons, Ministry career counseling, and practical Defense Against the Dark Arts instruction. The feast ended with students cheering the changes and sharing food, while Nelson and Tom joked together and Adele happily joined the Hufflepuffs.

• Dumbledore encouraged students to enjoy the clear sunset and announced that Care of Magical Creatures classes would add new magical creatures and more practical work.
• Dumbledore announced Ministry career counseling and internship opportunities, and Nelson told Tom that Mr. Black had been preparing the changes.
• Hufflepuff students comforted Adele with shared snacks after her cake fell, while Nelson and Tom reminisced about sharing food at the West City Orphanage.
• Tom threatened to put snakes in Nelson’s blanket, and later revealed that he had sent snakes to make Nelson sleep; meanwhile, the Hufflepuff prefect helped Adele practice the Levitation Charm.
• Adele sent Nelson a can with her Levitation Charm, and Dumbledore announced that Defense Against the Dark Arts would include more practical instruction after Alastor Moody’s duelling success.
• The students cheered Dumbledore’s announcement as dinner ended and the Hufflepuffs shared snacks with the other houses.

Nelson learned that his classmates considered him a savior because his replacement mistranslated an Ancient Runes inscription and sent the professor to St. Mungo's. Dumbledore then asked Nelson about Herpo the Foul's Horcruxes and said he had something to give him before Christmas.

• Nelson met Moaning Myrtle at the Owlery and carried her package toward the Ravenclaw Common Room while asking about the rumors surrounding him.
• Moaning Myrtle explained that Nelson's replacement had translated Sleipnir as eight fine horses, causing the Ancient Runes professor to faint and spend two weeks at St. Mungo's.
• Dumbledore and Flitwick interrupted Nelson and Moaning Myrtle, and Myrtle hurried into the Common Room after Flitwick mistook the scene for a romantic encounter.
• Dumbledore walked with Nelson and asked whether Herpo the Foul's Horcruxes still worked after Nelson had killed him; Nelson said the remaining ones likely only retained ancient spells and power tied to the illusion.
• Dumbledore asked whether Nelson would stay at school for Christmas and said he had something to give him the day before Christmas.

At Isobel’s funeral, McGonagall and her friends gathered with Robert and his sons to bury the belongings that stood in for her remains. Robert honored his wife’s memory by walking across a field of heather and trying to use her wand, while Nelson faced the anger of her eldest son.

• McGonagall and Flitwick prepared a shallow grave for Isobel as Dumbledore, Nelson, Tom, Augusta, Hagrid, Robert, and his sons attended the funeral.
• Nelson shielded Robert from the rain, and Robert told him he had done what was right despite the consequences.
• Robert recalled Isobel’s wish to be buried in the churchyard and to have heather planted around her grave.
• Robert walked through the cemetery as heather bloomed beneath his feet, then took Isobel’s wand from the wooden box and tried in vain to make it work.
• After Robert collapsed in grief and remained motionless until the rain stopped, Isobel’s eldest son charged at Nelson, who caught him and told him his mother had become a ghost so he could live properly.

At Isobel’s funeral, Nelson confronted her grieving son and then discussed the causes of her tragedy and the dangers of forcing change with Dumbledore. Robert’s reflections on his life with Isobel challenged Nelson’s belief that Muggles would welcome magical power.

• Nelson released Isobel’s grieving son and urged him to honor the kind of person his mother had hoped he would become.
• After Isobel’s burial, Dumbledore placed an emerald eye on her grave, and Nelson learned that Grindelwald had given it to him and that it revealed magic through emotion.
• Dumbledore warned Nelson that changing the world through force could create new tragedies, and Nelson considered how contradictions might persist even if Muggles could use magic.
• Dumbledore questioned whether exposing Isobel’s crimes had changed the course of history, and Nelson asked Robert whether he would want to become a Wizard.
• Robert said that a Wand might not be what he needed and that he would have cherished Isobel more rather than wishing for a different version of their lives, leaving Nelson to reconsider his assumptions.

Penguin and a team of wizards successfully launched Faust from the Scottish Highlands, using a communication device to confirm it reached Assyria on schedule. Penguin urged the team onward, presenting the launch as part of Wiltening’s effort to build a better future through magic and exploration.

• Robert blessed a child while gazing at a bright star visible in daylight.
• Penguin’s team survived the launch tower’s fiery destruction behind his ice shield and checked the launch’s results.
• Penguin used a Small Silver Ball and a Black Tower to receive a message confirming Faust had reached Assyria in ten seconds.
• Penguin congratulated the team and assigned a curious young wizard to replace wizards stationed at the Oasis.
• Penguin described the Silver Falcon and Wiltening’s plans to send useful devices into space, then rallied the team for their next assignment.

The Cruise Destroyer destroyed the remaining launch-frame fragments, unleashing a shock wave that shook the Highlands but harmed no one. As Robert comforted Nelson over Isobel’s death, Nelson struggled with the burden of deciding who needed to be stopped, and Robert fell asleep beside him.

• The Cruise Destroyer spotted launch-frame fragments buried beneath the soil and dropped rune-forged cores to destroy them.
• Robert told Nelson that magic could not erase the poverty, greed, and other hardships that drove people to sin.
• The impact’s shock wave reached the settlement, and Dumbledore, Tom, and the others shielded the people as a stone wall and tide stopped it.
• Nelson reassured Dumbledore that the weapon was not meant to be used on people, while the impact scattered cemetery flowers around Robert.
• Robert told Nelson that Isobel had remained his beloved and the mother of his family, then fell asleep as Nelson reflected on his responsibility for judging others.

Nelson explained how Nobby Leach was preparing to challenge Shafiq and revealed that he had mapped Europe to pinpoint Hogwarts. He and Tom were confronted by an armed centaur in the Forbidden Forest as Nelson asked to discuss the strange celestial signs.

• Tom used a Cleaning Charm in the library, accidentally blasting a hole in the table and damaging the floor while Nelson hid his letter to Nobby Leach.
• Nelson told Tom that Leach was preparing to overturn Shafiq and had discreetly sent Nelson an address through a magical message.
• Nelson said he planned to use photographs and evidence against Shafiq, whose assumptions about the relationship between Nelson and Nurmengard were mistaken.
• Nelson showed Tom a map made from observations across Europe, explaining that the unmappable blank at its center revealed Hogwarts's location.
• Nelson and Tom approached centaurs arguing over the strange celestial signs, and Nelson asked to learn about their mysteries as one centaur aimed an arrow at them.

Nelson and Tom met Chiron and the Centaurs in the Forbidden Forest, where Nelson sought their knowledge of astrology and revealed changes in the stars linked to Lorian’s experiment. After confirming the celestial shift was limited, Nelson exchanged a magical star-recording device for Chiron’s promise to teach him Centaur star magic, leaving Nelson confident he could use the sky to determine historical coordinates.

• Chiron warned Nelson and Tom to leave the Forbidden Forest, but Nelson explained that he had come to learn the Centaurs’ astrology.
• Tom and the Centaurs argued over the Forbidden Forest and the meaning of calling Centaurs people, while Chiron explained his views and revealed he had once been imprisoned in a circus with Nagini.
• Chiron learned that Nagini remained human and recognized Nelson as a prophet after hearing that her transformation had been prevented.
• Nelson told Chiron that the stars had shifted, and Chiron confirmed that celestial bodies were moving two seconds ahead of their recorded paths.
• Nelson showed the Centaurs his Small Silver Ball and offered it to Chiron in exchange for instruction in Centaur star magic.
• Chiron accepted the device and agreed to discuss the extra stars, while Nelson concluded that the starry sky could help him determine historical coordinates.

Nelson learned how centaurs used the stars and shadows to find their way, and realized their positioning magic could complete his plans involving time travel. As he and Tom left the Forbidden Forest, they heard a hunt nearby and found themselves surrounded by Floaters.

• Chiron explained that centaurs passed down their history orally and used the stars to navigate through forests.
• Chiron gave Nelson medicinal bark for his color-induced nausea, and Nelson recognized it as an ingredient in Clear-Mind Potion.
• Chiron demonstrated centaur archery and explained how centaurs used shadows and star positions to determine direction and seasons.
• Nelson realized the method could provide precise coordinates that included time, and Chiron agreed to teach him the magic.
• As Nelson and Tom left the forest, they heard strange noises and spotted a towering figure pursued by creatures before Floaters closed in around them.

Nelson and Tom found Hagrid fleeing a colony of Acromantulas in the Forbidden Forest, and Tom learned that the fate he once expected to follow had already changed. After Nelson revealed that Myrtle had died in the future Tom might have created, Tom incapacitated the spiders and helped Hagrid.

• Nelson and Tom drove off an Erumpent and discovered an Acromantula nest in the Forbidden Forest.
• Nelson and Tom spotted Hagrid running from the spiders, and Hagrid insisted they were his friends.
• Nelson explained that Tom had once been destined to release the Basilisk and frame Hagrid for keeping an Acromantula at school, but Tom questioned why he would do so.
• Nelson told Tom that Myrtle had died in the future he was trying to prevent, and Tom said she would not be bullied this time.
• Nelson's Floaters intercepted the spiders attacking Hagrid, and Tom incapacitated the colony with a spell.
• Nelson pulled Hagrid to his feet while Tom scolded him for raising dangerous creatures and wandering around at night.

Tom and Nelson confronted Hagrid about the dangerous Acromantulas he had raised in the Forbidden Forest and learned that Aragog and Mosag had been given to him by a suspicious traveler. Nelson suspected someone had deliberately introduced the spiders to Hogwarts, and the chapter ended with Tom and Nelson realizing that Aragog spoke Human-speak rather than Hagrid speaking Spider-speak.

• Tom scolded Hagrid for bringing Acromantulas into the school, while Hagrid pleaded with him not to tell Dumbledore because he feared the spiders would be killed.
• Nelson asked Hagrid to identify Aragog, and Hagrid carried the unconscious giant spider over to them.
• Hagrid explained that a hooded traveler from Knockturn Alley had given him Aragog, who later found Mosag and fathered many generations of spiders in the Forbidden Forest.
• Nelson concluded that the traveler may have deliberately introduced the Acromantulas to Hogwarts and asked Hagrid to bring Mosag out so they could inspect her.
• Hagrid recalled that the traveler was short, hooded, and spoke with a foreign accent, then explained that Aragog had learned a few simple phrases in English.

Nelson used Legilimency on Hagrid to learn who had given him an Acromantula egg, and watched a memory of Hagrid meeting a mysterious wizard in Knockturn Alley. The wizard gave Hagrid a young Acromantula, leaving Nelson with clues about the egg’s source but no clear view of the wizard’s identity.

• Nelson extracted Hagrid’s memory while Tom kept watch over them in the Forbidden Forest.
• In Hagrid’s memory, Hagrid visited a Knockturn Alley herb shop and overheard a black-robed wizard asking about selling a Norwegian Ridgeback dragon egg.
• Hagrid followed the wizard into an alley, where the wizard revealed he had noticed him and asked why he was following.
• Hagrid admitted he wanted to see the dragon egg, but the wizard refused and told him he was not yet qualified to become a Dragon Tamer.
• The wizard gave Hagrid a young Acromantula, calling it a homeless creature and encouraging Hagrid to practice with it.