Chapter Summaries

Nelson confronted Professor Sakes at her secluded home and demanded to know why she had exposed Hogwarts to the Second Salemers. Sakes confessed that she had pursued power and tried to escape her criminal allies, then left the confrontation poised to continue as she dressed for what might be her final choice.

• Nelson arrived with Christian and confronted Professor Sakes in her flowerbed, refusing to forgive her for the harm caused by the Obscurial.
• Professor Sakes invited Nelson and Christian to her hut, changed into her Triwizard Tournament ball gown, and explained why she preferred the harsh cabin to a comfortable home.
• Nelson asked why Sakes had revealed Hogwarts's location, and she admitted she had pursued wealth, reputation, and power through the Sakes Family's dangerous magical research.
• Sakes confessed that she had tried to break free by seeking the Ravenclaw Diadem and help from Albus and Grindelwald, but ultimately used the Second Salemers to create chaos and escape her allies.
• Sakes apologized for using Christian, whom she had approached because the girl reminded her of herself, and asked Nelson to forgive her.

Nelson confronted Professor Melissa Sakes about her jealousy, her role in her father’s experiments and death, and her attacks on students, while Christian struggled to face her own part in the betrayal. After Nelson sent Christian away, he prepared to defeat Sakes using Dr. Sakes’s magic as her mirror’s creatures attacked him.

• Professor Sakes recalled how she envied Myrtle Warren’s freedom and admitted that her father had asked whether she would sacrifice herself for magical research.
• Sakes revealed that she had helped Dr. Sakes pursue his experiments, including his attempt to resurrect her mother by making Gioconda a vessel, and Nelson accused her of causing her father’s death through jealousy.
• Nelson destroyed Sakes’s magical makeup and condemned her for harming Christian and Myrtle, while Sakes insisted that Christian’s life was tied to her own.
• Sakes accused Christian of leaking the Hogwarts Express route and manipulating her, but Nelson encouraged Christian to stand on her own before Lorian’s Familiars carried her away.
• Nelson faced the magical creatures emerging from Sakes’s mirror and dissolved their poison as he prepared to defeat her with Dr. Sakes’s magic.

Nelson entered Professor Sakes's Mirror World and revealed that she had trapped herself in the desire reflected by the mirror rather than imprisoning him. As Professor Sakes collapsed into her own illusion, Nelson cared for Christian and exposed the choices and blame-shifting that had led her there.

• Nelson watched Professor Sakes's Mirror World unravel around him while she struggled to maintain her spell and keep him confined.
• Nelson told Professor Sakes about meeting Gioconda Sakes and explained that he had given her a chance to choose differently.
• Professor Sakes saw an illusion of Nelson defeated and begging for mercy, but Nelson was actually beside Christian, treating her with a potion.
• Nelson revealed that Professor Sakes had mistaken her own desire for his reflection and had imprisoned herself in the Mirror of Erised's magic.
• Nelson confronted Professor Sakes about abandoning responsibility for the events at Happy Home as Christian woke and watched.
• Professor Sakes pressed her forehead into the mirror and sank into it, leaving the inscription that the mirror showed each person their heart's desire.

Nelson and Professor Twelve Trees examined the shattered Mirror World after Melissa Sakes became trapped inside it, then arranged to seal the dangerous mirror while Nelson treated Christian. Christian woke at home and wondered whether Sakes might have been saved if someone had helped her, before Tom comforted her back to sleep.

• Professor Twelve Trees nearly got pulled into the shattered mirror, and Nelson explained that Sakes had been deceived by her own reflection and trapped herself.
• Professor Twelve Trees revealed that Ilvermorny had sheltered Melissa Sakes after the battle involving Armando Dippet, hoping to learn about her family’s legacy and knowledge.
• Nelson and Professor Twelve Trees agreed to seal the mirror room and continue looking for a permanent solution to the mirror’s magic.
• Nelson carried Christian home after treating the hidden dangers in her body, and Christian later woke in bed with Nelson, Tom, and Adele beside her.
• Christian defended the real help Sakes had once given her, then Tom told her that Sakes had not been willing to help herself before Christian fell asleep again.

Paris, disguised as Reborn, attended a Berlin banquet where Dark Wizards discussed attacks on Werewolves, a new form of Muggle magic, their suspended Potion ingredients supply, and a traitor. In London, Christian revisited the site of her former alley, discovered it had become Oblique Alley, and learned that its builders were searching for Richard Jewell or his heir.

• Paris, disguised as Reborn, mocked a Werewolf who accused the Scoundrel Gang of killing his men, while the old Wizard confirmed that Muggles had killed them.
• The old Wizard and the other Dark Wizards discussed reports of Muggles using magic, the loss of their Potion ingredients supply, and a traitor among them.
• Christian walked through Oblique Alley, where a pickpocket stole her wallet, and struggled to reconcile the bustling magical market with memories of her childhood home.
• A Chocolate Frog Specialty Store worker assured Christian that she had found Oblique Alley and offered to show her around.
• The worker explained that Oblique Alley had been built over the former alley, but one house's protected ownership remained unresolved, and he told Christian about a three-hundred-Galleon reward for finding Richard Jewell or his heir.

Christian visited Oblique Alley with Daniel Abbott, who showed her how the rapidly changing magical shopping district had grown and blended wizarding and Muggle inventions. Seeing a preserved little house brought back memories of her father, and the chapter ended with the crowd staring after she said she did not know its owner.

• Christian met Daniel Abbott at the Chocolate Frog Specialty Store and drew a card bearing Nelson Wiltening Williams's name.
• Daniel explained how Oblique Alley had expanded, how its shops adapted their goods for both wizards and Muggles, and how new transport such as the subway and buses operated.
• Daniel described Nelson Williams's role in designing a new bus, then demonstrated how to summon the Knight Bus and argued with its conductor.
• Christian saw a preserved, dilapidated house and remembered her childhood with her father, while a penguin-costumed promoter handed her a balloon.
• Daniel asked whether Christian knew the house's owner, and the crowd turned to stare when she said she did not.

Barry disrupted Borgin Burke’s banquet by exposing his profiteering and arguing that Prussia’s outcasts needed chaos rather than a new regime, causing their loose alliance to dissolve. Afterward, Nelson met Moody at the Ministry of Magic and prepared to recruit him for holiday work.

• Barry mocked the diners’ claims of loyalty and accused Borgin Burke of secretly selling scarce magical goods to Britain for profit.
• Barry argued that Prussia served the world’s Ministries of Magic as a lawless buffer and left the banquet, prompting several diners to follow him.
• Barry vomited in an alley and warned the Werewolf that Prussia was a powder keg, while the Werewolf suspected Borgin Burke’s people had killed his wolf cubs.
• Borgin Burke noticed what he considered Barry’s unusual reluctance and bottom line, then decided to meet him.
• Nelson found Moody waiting outside the Department of Mysteries and cautioned him against treating suspected Dark wizards as criminals before the Ministry arrested them.
• Moody told Nelson that his uncle had sent him to help, and Nelson promised to pay him for an interesting holiday job.

Nelson taught Moody that Dark Magic was defined by the evil intent behind it, not by its appearance, and demonstrated how emotion fueled its power. Moody chose to continue following Nelson and would visit his office the next day to see a real dark wizard.

• Nelson questioned Moody about how the Aurors defined Dark Magic, then explained that its nature depended on the user's intent and emotions.
• Nelson taught Moody the words and movements for the Imperius Curse, then challenged him to cast it on a spider; Moody's attempt failed.
• Nelson explained that the Imperius Curse required greed and warned Moody that Dark Magic could corrupt those who lacked firm wills.
• Nelson invited Moody to visit his office the next day or report him to the Ministry, and Moody followed him home after buying a gift for Christian.
• Nelson told Moody that the person he had described as firm-willed and just was Moody himself.

Moody visited Nelson and met Christian at a lively family banquet, where he learned about the household and Nelson’s work. When attackers struck the garden, Moody saw how routinely the family handled the assault, and Nelson promised they would visit the attackers’ hometowns once he had dealt with other matters.

• Tom teased Moody about bringing wine for Nelson and warned him that his Auror reflexes were too slow.
• Tom described the candidates for Hogwarts’ teaching position, while Nelson explained that magical businesses had drawn many skilled workers away.
• Nelson brought Adele home, and the group gathered for a lavish family dinner with Christian and Moody.
• Nelson explained that the house belonged to his late uncle Jonas Nicklaus and discussed his work improving the Knight Bus designs.
• An explosion sent attackers flying over the garden, and Christian told Moody that the house faced attacks several times each week.
• Nelson told the shaken, injured Moody that they would visit the attackers’ hometowns after he finished his other work.

Nelson took Moody on a covert trip, first posing as his guardian to get him released from a foreign prison and then guiding him through a street full of dark wizards. After Nelson protected Moody from Borgin Burke’s memory attack, they escaped by carriage, with pursuers trailing them.

• Moody woke at Nelson’s house, and Nelson hurried him through breakfast before taking him through a magical doorway.
• Nelson arrived in a prison as Igor Karkaroff and claimed Moody was his nephew, Lucas Karkaroff, then persuaded the warden to release him from cell thirteen.
• Nelson explained that the staged release let Moody experience life among dark wizards and made the warden a witness to their identities.
• On a crowded street, an old man in a carriage used his strange blue eye to probe Moody’s memories, but Nelson shielded him and identified the man as Borgin Burke.
• Nelson turned water into a carriage and horses, and Moody drove while Nelson lifted their pursuers into the air.

Nelson and Moody arrived in Berlin, where Nelson investigated a Wizard-run trade in enslaved people and uncovered ties between Borgin Burke and the attacks on his home. The chapter ended with Moody catching a hidden Wizard and Nelson brushing past Borgin Burke as the two men met.

• Moody became unsettled by Borgin Burke's Magic Eye and fell asleep as Nelson's carriage crossed Berlin.
• Nelson reviewed a report on Aurors injured fighting Grindelwald's followers and revealed that he had come to Prussia on official business and for personal grudges.
• Borgin Burke recognized Nelson as Igor Karkaroff, an old enemy who had once caused chaos in Knockturn Alley.
• Nelson explained to Moody that a flyer disguised a trade in Muggles and Wizards, and that enslaved Wizards had been used in repeated attacks on their home.
• Nelson told Moody that Melissa Sakes had defected from Hogwarts and that her actions had exposed valuable information, then said they had found resources that could help them become part of Prussia.
• Moody dragged a Wizard concealed beneath Demiguise hide out from under the carriage as Borgin Burke greeted Nelson, who walked past him without returning the embrace.

Nelson used the identity of Igor Karkaroff to manipulate Borgin Burke into believing he was a wealthy outsider with ties to the Scoundrel Gang. He told Moody their mission was to infiltrate Prussia’s elite and collapse its power from within without using magic.

• Fritz Harriman greeted Nelson as Igor Karkaroff and invited him to a banquet and a vault prepared by Reborn.
• Borgin Burke recalled Nelson’s past dealings and approached him, hoping to win his favor with access to magical antiques.
• Nelson pretended to remember Borgin Burke only as the seller of Dragon eggs, then offered information from a witness who last saw Melissa Sakes.
• Borgin Burke accepted Nelson’s offer and took him toward his warehouse, intending to send him to the Scoundrel Gang afterward.
• Nelson explained to Moody that he had fabricated his wealthy outsider identity and used Borgin Burke as a reliable witness to help confirm their identities during infiltration.
• Nelson told Moody their holiday internship would involve infiltrating Prussia’s elite and causing its collapse without using magic.

Tom interviewed with Dumbledore for the Defense Against the Dark Arts professorship and argued that education had helped him overcome a life shaped by hardship and power. He said he wanted to give students the knowledge to protect themselves and others, then left to await Dumbledore’s decision.

• Dumbledore told Tom that his age made him a difficult candidate despite his application and invited him to persuade the professors and governors.
• Tom described how Mrs. Cole, Nelson Williams, Jonas, Bella, and his Hogwarts teachers had shaped his life and kept him from becoming a tyrant.
• Tom said he wanted to share his good fortune through teaching, and Dumbledore reconsidered his past assumptions about Tom’s capacity for love.
• Tom explained that Defense Against the Dark Arts should prepare students to survive dark magic and defend others, citing the attack on the Hogwarts Express.
• Dumbledore ended the interview and told Tom to wait for the professor’s owl before receiving the official decision.

Tom left the Headmaster's Office after his interview for the Defense Against the Dark Arts position and received encouragement from McGonagall and Flitwick. Meanwhile, Nelson revealed that the Gaunt family ring held the Resurrection Stone, just as his nephew attacked Borgin Burke.

• Tom told McGonagall and Flitwick that he thought his interview had gone well, and they discussed the demands of teaching and handling Hogwarts' defenses.
• Flitwick said many governors supported Tom for the Defense Against the Dark Arts post, while McGonagall warned him that becoming a professor would require sacrifices.
• Hogwarts governors arrived to meet Tom as McGonagall and Flitwick carried their trunks into the castle.
• Borgin Burke tried to provoke Nelson into explaining the Gaunt ring and claimed its black stone had been ruined by the symbol carved into it.
• Nelson identified the symbol as the Deathly Hallows and revealed that the ring contained the Resurrection Stone.
• Nelson's nephew attacked from above, but Moody disarmed Borgin Burke before he could cast a spell.

Nelson used the Resurrection Stone to manipulate Borgin Burke into believing it could create an intelligent army of the dead, while Borgin Burke’s Magic Eye overwhelmed him and nearly killed him. After Nelson saved him, the group continued toward the secret vault, leaving a fleeing woman unknowingly marked by Nelson’s spell.

• Borgin Burke’s Magic Eye flooded his mind with information about Berlin until Nelson pulled him back from the brink of death.
• Borgin Burke mistook Nelson’s intervention for the Resurrection Stone’s power and became eager to acquire the ring and build an army of Inferi.
• Nelson warned Borgin Burke that the Resurrection Stone was not for sale, and Borgin Burke offered his vault in hopes of raising the price.
• Nelson spotted the woman who had been watching from the rooftop, marked her hairclip with a silver dragonfly, and blasted the building after she escaped by Apparition.
• Borgin Burke led Nelson and Moody onward, while Moody wondered whether Nelson had brought him along merely as a prop.

Borgin Burke brought Nelson to a blood-sealed treasure vault in Berlin while Moody was whisked away by the pocket watch. In London, Christian picked up her brother Tom Riddle, who recognized that Nobby Leach’s speech had gone off script and disappeared after an explosion rocked Oblique Alley.

• Borgin Burke opened his Berlin shop’s hidden vault by letting its door drink his blood, then led Nelson inside while Moody was carried into the sky by the pocket watch.
• Christian met Abbott in Oblique Alley, learned that Nobby Leach would give a speech, and accepted Abbott’s offer to drive her to King’s Cross Station.
• Christian and Abbott waited for Tom Riddle, who left the station in Muggle clothes after changing his robes and giving money to a beggar.
• Abbott realized Christian was a witch and that Tom was her brother, then nervously drove them away from the station.
• Tom heard Nobby Leach’s speech contradict Nelson’s draft, pushed Christian and Abbott down for cover, and vanished as an explosion struck Oblique Alley.

After Moody fell from the enchanted bench, Margaret, Nina Kant, and Queenie Goldstein explained their resistance network in Berlin and asked him to help them reach Nelson. Moody recorded Margaret’s account, but he had lost the pocket watch that was meant to guide him to Nelson.

• A spell struck Moody as he traveled over Berlin, making him drop his pocket watch and fall into the street; his Wand turned rubbery when he confronted Margaret.
• Margaret introduced Nina Kant and Queenie Goldstein, then explained how their unusual magic let them conceal themselves and uncover Nelson’s identity.
• Margaret told Moody that she, Nina, and Queenie had gathered intelligence and supported Nelson’s Muggle and wizard allies as they attacked dark-wizard warehouses and freed prisoners.
• Margaret explained that the growing attacks had exposed the liberators, so she wanted to help Nelson before the dark wizards overwhelmed them.
• Moody recorded Margaret’s account for Nelson but admitted he had lost the watch that might have led him to him.
• Nina asked whether Nelson’s ring was the Resurrection Stone, and Moody said he suspected it was bait.

Tom Riddle rushed toward Minister Nobby Leach through the destruction in Oblique Alley, learning from a dying Auror that the attack had been planned and the Azkaban guards had been placed under the Imperius Curse. As Leach’s defenders waited for reinforcements, Tom reached the battle and killed an enemy wizard, then threw a small silver ball toward the Knight Bus Corps buses.

• Tom found a mortally wounded Auror in an alley, tried to heal him, and learned that Azkaban had been attacked at seven that morning but the Ministry received the news hours later.
• Tom conjured a wall to seal the alley, then transformed into a black whirlwind and headed toward Oblique Alley as dark clouds gathered overhead.
• Christian urged Abbott to help the injured, but Abbott locked her inside the car and took her Wand before going out himself.
• Minister Leach and the remaining Aurors held their position behind cover while they waited for reinforcements.
• Tom reached the fighting, killed a fat Wizard who explained that the attackers were covering a group infiltrating the Ministry of Magic, and threw a Small Silver Ball toward the Knight Bus Corps buses.

Nobby Leach was trapped with the Aurors in Oblique Alley as poisonous insects and a giant snake attacked, while he suspected the Ministry had been deliberately left without reinforcements. After surviving the snake’s assault, Leach called for the Aurors to kill the prison-break attackers.

• Nobby Leach realized reinforcements had not arrived and feared someone was exploiting the Oblique Alley attack to inflame tensions between Wizards and Muggles.
• A poisonous insect infected Leach, and an Auror tried to protect him with a bandage and flames as swarms of venomous insects surrounded them.
• Leach warned the Auror that the Ministry might have fallen and instructed him to shelter survivors in the Knight Buses if Leach was taken away.
• As poison made Leach ramble, a small emerald snake bit his neck, and a giant black snake emerged and swallowed him.
• Leach reappeared from the shattered stage, drew lightning with his Wand, and ordered the Aurors to kill the prison-break attackers.

Tom used Veritaserum and painful potions to expose Nobby Leach’s reckless plan, then took control of Leach’s appearance and led the Aurors against their enemies. After the battle, Tom ordered a wounded stranger taken to St. Mungo’s and dealt with the captured fugitives, while an arriving ally praised Leach for holding on.

• Tom questioned Nobby Leach under Veritaserum and learned that Leach had come to Oblique Alley on his own, without telling his true allies.
• Tom used a black snake’s venom and a torture potion to bring Leach back to consciousness, then warned him that Tom would spread fear among their enemies.
• Tom drank a potion that let him impersonate Leach, and the disguised Tom rallied the Aurors as Knight Buses struck the enemy ranks.
• Tom ordered Paul to send a wounded stranger to St. Mungo’s, return the seriously injured fugitives to Azkaban, and bring the lightly injured ones to the Ministry for interrogation.
• A fat figure approached Tom and said that Leach’s survival had allowed them to arrive in time, and Tom dismissed him with a sneer.