Chapter Summaries

Nagini woke to find Dumbledore, Grindelwald, Nelson, and Tom gone, while Herpo the Foul escaped his painting, absorbed Melissa Sakes’s magic, and overwhelmed the allied forces. After Herpo seized Nagini, Ivy rescued her, and Adele arrived through The Veil with Christian, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Professor Slughorn as reinforcements.

• Nagini woke and indicated that Dumbledore, Grindelwald, Nelson, and Tom had disappeared from the battlefield.
• Herpo the Foul broke out of the painting, and his Basilisk’s gaze petrified Moaning Myrtle and killed much of the allied force.
• Herpo absorbed Melissa Sakes’s magic, attacked Nagini, and drove Credence to sacrifice himself while Aberforth tried to Apparate away with her.
• Nagini used her last magic to tell Aberforth to go to Egypt, but Herpo took her as she reverted to snake form.
• Ivy shot Herpo, rescued Nagini, and challenged him with her wand.
• Adele arrived through The Veil with Christian, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Professor Slughorn.

Salazar Slytherin led Hogwarts’s professors toward the battle as Tom and Herpo the Foul confronted each other over their plan and the cost of the ritual. Herpo opened the gate to Limbo and began merging Kenttanka with the shadow, but Tom revealed he was still able to resist from within her as Nelson attacked.

• Adele left the battlefield through The Veil, and Slughorn gathered the Hogwarts professors to hold back Herpo the Foul until help arrived.
• Salazar Slytherin emerged from his portrait, took the Sorting Hat and Gryffindor’s sword, and led the professors into battle.
• Tom challenged Herpo the Foul’s belief in immortality while Herpo argued that their ritual would bind their lives together.
• Herpo’s shadow placed the heart from The Scales into its chest, opening the gate to Limbo and spreading the Lost Mist across the land.
• Herpo began merging the shadow with Kenttanka as Nelson broke through the defenses and struck at him with Crucio and the giant’s Iron Fist.
• Kenttanka opened her eyes with Tom’s gaze and spoke his words, declaring that their wager was not over.

Nelson struck down Herpo the Foul with the Hub’s giant, then tried to force him to choose life over power and destroy his remaining Horcrux. Herpo’s body and soul were consumed, but the ritual unleashed the Three Calamities, and a mysterious black force passed through Nelson as two figures appeared behind him.

• The Hub’s giant smashed Herpo the Foul into the harbor, and Nelson rescued Tom and Kenttanka from the blast.
• Tom warned Nelson that Herpo the Foul had multiple Horcruxes and that Nelson needed to make him choose between life and power.
• Nelson endured pain transmitted through his connection to Herpo the Foul, then left Pythia and the Wizards to protect the Hub while he confronted Herpo.
• Nelson trapped Herpo’s ruined body in molten iron and thunder, then watched Herpo abandon his body and have his soul consumed by the Lost Mist.
• Nelson ordered the Mayflies to stop Herpo’s fleeing dark clouds, but the ritual’s black force passed through Nelson, his Patronus, and the Lost Mist before two figures appeared behind him.

Professor Binns and McGonagall arrived in Ancient Greece using a Time-Turner, then returned to the moment before she opened a coffin on Azkaban. Binns explained the origins of the Order of the Garter and Hogwarts, ending his account as the first Dementor awakened.

• Professor Binns stopped time with a pocket watch and told Nelson that he and McGonagall had come because Nelson would eventually ask them to.
• McGonagall helped Professor Binns approach the coffin, and he began explaining the Order of the Garter’s history before asking her to open it.
• Professor Binns recounted how Gryffindor discovered Azkaban, where the Founders found ancient remains, damaged silver instruments, and dormant Dementors.
• Professor Binns explained that the Four Founders established Hogwarts to train Wizards against the Dementors, which were parts of Herpo the Foul, and that he discovered the Patronus Charm’s history.
• Professor Binns described how Slytherin made alchemical tools to amplify the Patronus Charm, then said the first Dementor awakened.

Professor Binns recounted how he carried the sarcophagus into Limbo, helping the Founders uncover Herpo the Foul’s connection to the Dementors and eventually defeat them. As McGonagall prepared to open the sarcophagus, she recognized its ancient inscription as a message from her recent correspondent, Nelson.

• Professor Binns explained that the Founders took the sarcophagus from Azkaban, and Slytherin developed a Patronus-based spell that could injure Dementors.
• As the Dementors spread and the war worsened, Ravenclaw found that Limbo could hide the sarcophagus, and Binns agreed to carry it there and become a ghost.
• In Limbo, Binns discovered that Dementors came from Herpo the Foul’s stolen power of death, and the Wizards later defeated the Dementors using new magic and knowledge from the past.
• Binns asked McGonagall to help open the sarcophagus, and she recognized its inscription as a message written in the same distinctive handwriting as Nelson’s recent letter.
• McGonagall read the inscription: “My dear friend, I hope that in two thousand years, the one who greets you will be me.”

Nelson defeated Herpo the Foul’s ritual, but Herpo’s final gift left Nelson tainted by the power of Limbo. McGonagall returned to her own time with Professor Binns’s sacrifice, while Nelson remained behind to face Herpo and the consequences of their clash.

• McGonagall and Professor Binns opened the coffin, and Binns recognized the pocket watch as the start of an extraordinary journey.
• Herpo the Foul hesitated between restoring his soul and preserving his Horcruxes, allowing Tom to prevail in the ritual’s contest for power.
• Nelson sent McGonagall back through time, and Professor Binns used his remaining magic and a Lion Patronus to return her alone.
• Nelson realized Herpo’s offered power had tainted him, while Professor Binns explained that Herpo’s choice had changed history and that he had knowingly stayed behind.
• Herpo tried to persuade Nelson to remain and witness the future, but Nelson raised his Wand and struck him as Herpo’s gift began consuming him.

After Nelson defeated Herpo the Foul by calling on his own selves from across time, he vanished, leaving Tom grieving and furious at Pythia. Tom took Nelson’s hat, the unfinished Philosopher’s Stone, and Professor Binns’s liquor, then walked into the sea with a coffin.

• On the beach, Pythia showed Andros a Chocolate Frog card honoring Nelson and recalled that he had disappeared after saving their world.
• Herpo the Foul poured his power and soul into Nelson, hoping to overwhelm him and secure a new vessel for rebirth.
• Nelson used the Pocket Watch to summon versions of himself from possible futures, and together they erased Herpo the Foul.
• Tom found Nelson’s hat, the broken Pocket Watch, the unfinished Philosopher’s Stone, and Professor Binns’s liquor, then rejected the Watch as a way home.
• Tom attacked Pythia and demanded to know what her prophecy had rewarded, but Pythia said there would be no victor.
• Tom disappeared from the shore holding a local girl and carrying Nelson’s hat and the liquor, while Andros followed him into the sea.

Tom continued searching the world for Nelson while carrying the Philosopher's Stone and remembering Kenttanka, who had died after he failed to save her. He left the steppe intending to see the Great Wall and investigate the Great Shift of Heaven and Earth.

• Tom repeatedly tossed away the Philosopher's Stone, and Kenttanka used to return it to him before he remembered that she was dead.
• Tom recalled how the world forgot the truth about the war, how he traveled with Kenttanka, and how he tried to preserve her failing life.
• Tom found Kenttanka dead among the coconuts and swallowed the bitter potion he had made for her, then tore open the storm clouds above the island.
• Tom remembered building a grand pyramid in Alexandria and driving its residents away, an episode later recorded briefly in Egypt's History of Magic.
• Tom retrieved the Philosopher's Stone and told himself he would keep searching for Nelson, then set off toward the Great Wall to witness the Great Shift of Heaven and Earth.

Tom taught his students about immortality, the burden of centuries of memories, and the importance of living an ordinary life. After the students finished their coursework, he left Bamboo Forest, while the woman who had hosted him said they still could not find the Great Shift of Heaven and Earth.

• Xiao Zuo claimed Tom had taught his ancestors and asked how to refine an elixir of immortality, and Tom warned the class that surviving the chaotic times mattered more.
• Tom explained how centuries of memories could make a person slow, forgetful, and dull, then exposed his students’ misbehavior and threatened to sell them by weight.
• After the bell rang, Tom admitted he had never asked a ghost how he remembered things because the ghost had died, then made a student explain a problem as punishment.
• A young married woman arrived and found Tom emerging from a daze; he told her he had stayed in Bamboo Forest for seven years and would leave the next day.
• Tom departed with his suitcase and asked the woman to deliver his books, while she said they had begun taking in spiritually gifted children but still could not find the Great Shift of Heaven and Earth.

Tom visited Pythia at Delphi and recounted how, over centuries, he traveled the world teaching magic and trying to bring Wizards and Muggles closer together. Pythia revealed that she had left him something, but the chapter ended before she told him what it was.

• Tom met Pythia at the ruined temple and explained that Herpo the Foul’s return had stopped changing five hundred years earlier because Tom was tired of interfering.
• Tom described how he had traveled widely, taught local Wizards, and spread magic while pursuing Herpo’s dream of Wizards and Muggles living in harmony.
• Tom recounted his efforts in Africa to persuade secluded Wizard communities to help their former tribes, only to find those Wizards later worshipped as gods without changing their homelands.
• Tom described traveling east and encouraging educators to accept students from different regions, races, and classes to help integrate Wizards with Muggle society.
• Tom told Pythia she no longer needed to remain bound by fate, and she explained that she was only a prophecy responding to their predicted meeting.
• Pythia told Tom that she had left him something and that he would have seen it sooner if he had come earlier.

Pythia told Tom that Nelson might still be alive, explaining how the damaged Limbo could have turned him into its caretaker after Herpo the Foul’s final attack. Her illusion faded after she shared her suspicions and described how her era had preserved Nelson’s memory in Chocolate Frog cards.

• Pythia told Tom that Nelson should still be alive and said she had discovered signs of it in Limbo.
• Pythia explained that Herpo the Foul had forced the black power of Limbo onto Nelson, leaving the dead souls trapped in a damaged realm.
• Pythia described how Lost Mist consumed memories and rebuilt Limbo’s missing foundation, leading her to suspect Nelson had become death’s caretaker.
• Pythia connected Limbo’s changing balance of black and white to the origins and prevalence of magic, drawing on research by Andros and the society Hermes Trismegistus.
• Pythia said her era had preserved Nelson’s creations and memory in the picture cards before her illusion vanished, leaving Tom with a set of Chocolate Frog cards.

Young Weasley defeated Malfoy in a Chocolate Frog card duel using Cliodna, Nelson Williams Wiltening, and Tom Riddle, while the chapter described how wizard cards spread and shaped magical culture. Tom and McGonagall met the boys afterward and learned they would soon start Hogwarts.

• Weasley used Cliodna’s Herbology and Animagus abilities to summon Nelson Williams Wiltening and Tom Riddle, then defeated Malfoy with a five-day strategy.
• The narration explained that wizard cards had emerged centuries earlier and became popular through Chocolate Frogs, teaching young wizards about spells, Potions, and magical history.
• Tom and McGonagall approached the boys, and Weasley realized that the man resembled the Tom Riddle depicted on his card.
• Tom recognized Weasley and suspected Malfoy was related to Abraxas, while McGonagall startled Malfoy by reaching toward his blond hair.
• Tom learned that Weasley and Malfoy would begin Hogwarts that September and wished them a wonderful school life.

Tom reunited with McGonagall and revealed that he had spent two thousand years building Hermes Trismegistus and summoning historical figures to oppose Herpo the Foul. As the reinforcements gathered, the battle in Alexandria intensified and an ancient pyramid emerged over the modern city.

• Tom asked McGonagall about the year and explained that he had returned after lying in his coffin for two thousand years.
• McGonagall told Tom that Professor Binns had sacrificed his memories and life to send her back through time.
• Tom revealed that he had spent the intervening centuries spreading knowledge, preserving great Wizards' legacies on Chocolate Frog cards, and sustaining Hermes Trismegistus.
• Tom summoned members of Hermes Trismegistus, and historical figures gathered to join the fight against Herpo the Foul.
• In Alexandria, Aberforth pulled two young people clear of the shattered barrier and charged toward the emerging ancient pyramid, followed by Alphard.

Slytherin and Rowena trapped and blinded the Basilisk, while reinforcements from numerous magical schools arrived as the battle for Berlin continued. Herpo the Foul approached Nagini as the professors closed in, and Aberforth and Alphard discovered a strange heart pierced by a silver sword beneath the battlefield.

• Slytherin called to Rowena, who used Hufflepuff's Cup to grow a forest of Yew trees that pinned the Basilisk.
• Slytherin stabbed out both of the Basilisk's eyes, and the trapped creature unleashed a final magical assault on the professors guarding the teleportation gate.
• Constance and the Beauxbatons professors arrived with allies and magical defenses, followed by teachers from many other schools.
• Professor Twelve Trees arrived with Lorian, learned that the Basilisk was destroyed, and sent her onward.
• Ivy taunted Herpo the Foul as he approached the fallen Nagini and the professors advanced on him.
• Aberforth entered a vast underground chamber and found a hairy heart pierced by a silver sword, while Alphard recognized it as the heart from The Tales of Beedle the Bard.

Aberforth and Alphard found Nelson’s sword and the beating heart in the collapsing pyramid, then Aberforth stole both from Herpo the Foul and nearly escaped. Tom arrived, took the heart, and drew Herpo after him to Berlin, where he prophesied the end of Herpo’s life.

• Alphard recognized the fragile sword as Nelson’s Triwizard Tournament weapon and explained how Nelson had formed it from Mayflies around his Wand.
• As the pyramid began to collapse, Aberforth sent Alphard away with a Portkey and Apparated off with the heart and sword, burying Herpo beneath falling stones.
• Alphard returned and shielded Aberforth from the Black Tide with his coat and Patronus until Tom arrived and dispersed the attack.
• Tom took the heart and the remains of Nelson’s Wand, then asked Alphard to send them to Berlin.
• Tom taunted Herpo, declared they would settle their score in Berlin, and Apparated away with the heart as Herpo pursued him.

Tom destroyed Herpo the Foul’s Hairy Heart Horcrux, allowing the people gathered in Berlin and the spirits preserved in Chocolate Frog cards to defeat him. At the celebration afterward, Tom searched for Nal, but Margaret did not recognize the name as Tom began to feel himself falling.

• Tom watched the forces assembled in Berlin overcome their divisions and join the battle against Herpo the Foul.
• Tom seized Herpo the Foul in the sky, snapped his neck, and threw him into the battlefield, where the crowd attacked him with spells.
• Slytherin recognized the arrival of old acquaintances as historical figures emerged from Chocolate Frog cards to help restrain Herpo the Foul.
• Tom crushed the Hairy Heart, and Herpo the Foul’s existence dissolved as the gathered heroes confronted him with the question of why he had sought power.
• At the celebration, Nicolas Flamel recognized the scent of the Philosopher’s Stone on Tom, who searched for Nal while Margaret said she did not know who Nal was.

Tom Riddle emerged into a victorious future where no one remembered Albus Dumbledore or the friends and events he recalled. He fled to the Scottish Highlands, where Grindelwald joined him and revealed that he shared Tom’s confusion about the altered past.

• Nicolas Flamel reattached his arm and told Margaret that Tom appeared healthy, while Slughorn kept the victory celebration going.
• Tom rushed into a transformed London, where Muggles recognized him as a hero and a tailor dressed him in a lavish suit.
• Tom questioned a reporter about Penguin and Albus Dumbledore, then fled London after discovering that no one knew Dumbledore.
• Tom flew to the Scottish Highlands, vented his anger by repeatedly reshaping a hill, and sat outside a ruined church.
• Grindelwald appeared with the Elder Wand, said he had come to visit Isobel Ross, and asked whether Tom had ended her secret actions.
• Tom told Grindelwald that Slughorn was Hogwarts’ headmaster in this world despite his memories of Dumbledore, and Grindelwald shouted that he could not have forgotten Dumbledore.

Grindelwald gave Tom the Invisibility Cloak and explained how a dead Inferius had carried it through the war, while they considered how Narlson and his companions had been erased from history. Grindelwald summoned his Acolytes and accepted their allegiance, leaving Tom to wonder what price Grindelwald himself had paid; Grindelwald said Tom still remembered Dumbledore, and that was Tom’s price.

• Grindelwald gave Tom a Small Silver Ball that blasted him through the church and revealed the Invisibility Cloak inside.
• Grindelwald recounted how Johnny or Joseph became an Inferius and struggled to deliver the cloak, even after his body was destroyed.
• Grindelwald argued that Narlson had relied on the cloak to deceive fate and that losing it had caused Narlson and his allies to be erased from history.
• Grindelwald asked Tom whether he had returned from the past and suggested that Tom’s two-thousand-year life was a form of imprisonment.
• Tom used a spell to summon Grindelwald’s followers, and Andre welcomed Grindelwald back as the Acolytes knelt.
• Tom asked about Dumbledore, and Grindelwald said that Tom still remembered him and that this was the price Tom had paid.

Andre recognized that Tom was connected to people erased from history, and Grindelwald sent the Acolytes to search for traces of them. Tom investigated clues in Chocolate Frog cards and set out to find Alphard, while Martha encountered evidence that the magazine’s readers had forgotten its founder.

• Andre recognized Jonas in the memory of his former student and answered Grindelwald’s request to search for traces of people who no longer existed.
• Tom and Grindelwald concluded that inconsistencies in the world could expose the erased people, and Grindelwald dispatched the Acolytes to investigate major events linked to Nelson and Dumbledore.
• Martha read The Quibbler and asked who had founded it, prompting readers to argue over a question many believed they had discussed before.
• Martha opened a Chocolate Frog card whose image and writing vanished, leaving her shaken by the apparent misprint.
• Tom found Aberforth drunk at the Hog’s Head Inn, collected the mug he had requested, and confronted him about Ariana before saying he would go find Alphard.
• Grindelwald searched Nelson’s Chocolate Frog card for Dumbledore, while a reader claiming to remember The Quibbler’s inaugural issue challenged others to meet at the Paris Wizarding World Expo.

Dr. Jack, Tom Riddle Sr., and others gave testimony that helped reveal Nelson’s past, while Grindelwald and Tom tried to restore the vanished Nelson through a new magic. Tom entered the Veil to use his own memory as proof, and Nelson returned, waking in a hospital ward as someone noticed the Elder Wand.

• Dr. Jack told an investigator how Barry Goshawk had disappeared from a ship after a distress signal and fireworks appeared over the sea.
• Tom Riddle Sr. described his son’s difficult childhood, his unexpected heroism, and his plea for the wizard in the courtroom to help him.
• Grindelwald explained that Nelson’s disappearance was tied to Herpo the Foul and devised Shadow of the Hero using a reconstructed Steel Giant as a vessel.
• Grindelwald gave Tom the Elder Wand and urged him to bring Nelson back, while Tom promised to help restore Professor Dumbledore as well.
• Tom entered the Veil with the Invisibility Cloak and offered his own memory as proof of Nelson’s existence, but Nelson’s magic returned through the decayed wand and restored him.
• Nelson woke in a hospital ward and saw someone outside react to the Elder Wand.