Chapter Summaries

Nelson met Newt in New York, where Newt explained how a switched suitcase had led to his friendship with Jacob Kowalski and how Jacob’s memories were erased after Queenie disappeared. At Jacob’s bakery, Newt spotted Queenie’s initial added to the sign, while Nelson asked for help treating the lingering effects of Swooping Evil venom.

• Nelson met Newt in Times Square, and they disguised themselves before heading to a bakery.
• Newt recounted how he and Jacob Kowalski had become friends after their identical suitcases were switched, and how Jacob’s memories of magic and Queenie had been erased.
• Nelson criticized the American Ministry of Magic’s treatment of Jacob, and Newt led him to Jacob’s bakery.
• Nelson noticed a new Q on the bakery sign, and Newt realized it might stand for Queenie; Nelson stopped him from rushing in and risking another memory wipe for Jacob.
• Nelson told Newt that a caged Swooping Evil had affected his memory, and Newt began explaining how to make an antidote for its venom.

Newt and Nelson visited Jacob’s bakery, where Jacob’s forgotten memories of Queenie began surfacing. Newt spotted Queenie outside and chased after her, leaving Nelson with his case as Jacob repeated her name.

• Newt and Nelson waited in line at J.Q.K. Bakery, where an old customer gave Nelson a cream puff after he praised her unicorn pastry.
• Jacob welcomed Newt and Nelson, served them freshly baked bread shaped like Hippogriffs, and explained that he could not remember why his shop’s name included a Q.
• Jacob described dreams of a loving woman who liked sewing fashionable clothes and eating his cookies, then became distressed as memories of Queenie surfaced.
• Newt recognized Jacob’s memory problems as the effects of an Obliviation Charm and considered using Swooping Evil venom, but Nelson argued that Jacob might be recovering his memories through love.
• Newt saw Queenie pass the bakery window, grabbed his wand, and ran after her, while Jacob emerged from the baking room repeating her name.

Grindelwald froze Jacob and challenged Nelson to a duel, promising to lift the spell if Nelson disarmed him. Nelson won by using Lost Mist to conceal his approach and cast Expelliarmus, leaving Grindelwald impressed and Jacob still waiting for the spell to be removed.

• Grindelwald petrified Jacob and ignored Nelson's request to release him, instead proposing a duel over Jacob's freedom.
• Grindelwald set the rules: Nelson could use any spell, while Grindelwald would use only first-year-level defenses; Nelson would lose if he failed to disarm him.
• Nelson tried to reach Newt's case, but Grindelwald moved it away and explained that he had arranged for Queenie to draw Newt away.
• Nelson filled the bakery with Lost Mist, then used it to approach Grindelwald and cast Expelliarmus.
• Nelson caught Grindelwald's wand and won the duel, and Grindelwald called him the only wizard in more than ten years to defeat him in a formal duel.

Nelson debated the International Statute of Secrecy with Grindelwald, who argued that it served wizard interests and hindered his plans to unite the world. After Grindelwald left, Nelson questioned Newt about whether the statute truly protected Muggles, and they departed together.

• Grindelwald discussed Jacob’s memory loss with Nelson and argued that the weak could be controlled by the powerful, while Nelson defended Muggles’ right to choose and love.
• Nelson said the International Statute of Secrecy had been imposed without consulting Muggles, and Grindelwald praised his independent thinking while explaining his opposition to the statute.
• Grindelwald left Jacob’s memory intact, ordered Nelson to guard the suitcase, and departed with a blond woman in a red coat after ordering lemon cookies.
• Newt returned to the shop, checked his suitcase, and prepared to leave with Nelson without realizing Grindelwald had been there.
• Nelson asked Newt whether the International Statute of Secrecy protected Muggles, and Newt said it kept them safer from magical beasts and dark wizards before they walked away together.

Nelson told Newt that Grindelwald had dueled him at Jacob's shop, but Newt dismissed the account as a joke as they walked to MACUSA. After discussing the American wizarding world and Queenie's past, they were confronted by a woman who asked Newt if he had come to turn himself in.

• Nelson told Newt that Grindelwald had entered Jacob's shop after luring him away and that Nelson had subdued him with a Disarming Charm, but Newt assumed the story was made up.
• Newt showed Nelson the Woolworth Building and explained how MACUSA's enchanted headquarters worked, then described its history and the strained relations between American Muggles and Wizards.
• Newt warned Nelson that witch hunters were still active in America and explained that Queenie had been a natural Legilimens who could not control her ability.
• Newt asked Nelson why he had left with Grindelwald, but a woman approached from behind and asked Newt whether he had come to turn himself in.

Newt reunited with Tina Goldstein in New York and learned that the Second Salemers might target Ilvermorny with Obscurials. The chapter ended when Newt told Tina he may have seen her sister, Queenie, in the United States.

• Tina Goldstein greeted Newt and met Nelson, then explained that she was investigating the New Salem Philanthropic Society, also called the Second Salemers.
• Tina warned Newt and Nelson that the group might attack Ilvermorny using one or more Obscurials, and Newt offered to help her.
• Nelson said he would rather take leave and avoid the danger, while Tina agreed that young wizards should focus on studying and leave fighting to adults.
• Newt told Tina that Nelson had attended Hogwarts and had supposedly defeated Grindelwald in a duel, making Tina laugh.
• Newt said he might have seen Queenie outside Jacob's bakery, and Tina reacted with shock at the possibility that her sister was in the United States.

During Professor Binns’s History of Magic class, Tom learned about Ravenclaw’s troublesome door knocker and surveyed students about replacing it. He left class hinting that he planned to do something about it.

• Tom asked Alphard whether he knew a way into Ravenclaw’s common room besides its front entrance, and Alphard said he did not.
• Alphard told Tom the legend of Slytherin’s Chamber of Secrets and described how the Ravenclaw door knocker had once left Dwight waiting outside in an emergency.
• Professor Binns rebuked a Slytherin student who insulted Hufflepuff and explained that Helga Hufflepuff welcomed and taught every student rejected by the other houses.
• Dwight joined Tom and Alphard in complaining that the door knocker caused Ravenclaw students trouble, and Tom surveyed the nearby Ravenclaws about replacing it with a password.
• Tom put away his tally chart and hinted that he planned to do something good about the door knocker.

Tom sneaked through Hogwarts at night to visit the Ravenclaw common room and met Helena Ravenclaw, the Grey Lady, who revealed herself as the intelligence behind its talking knocker. He began comforting Helena about living in the shadow of her famous mother, but their conversation was interrupted when Professor Sakes opened her office door.

• Tom left the Slytherin common room after arranging Ogg's patrol route so he could cross the castle unseen.
• Tom reached Ravenclaw Tower and spoke with the bronze knocker, whose questions led him to suspect a clever mind was behind it.
• A female ghost emerged from the door and introduced herself as Helena Ravenclaw, the Grey Lady and daughter of Rowena Ravenclaw.
• Tom praised Helena's intelligence and compared her struggle for recognition to a young wizard overshadowed by his famous older brother.
• Helena admitted that Tom was the first person besides her mother to say she was equally wise, then stopped speaking when Professor Sakes opened her door.

Tom escaped through the Ravenclaw common room knocker and helped Helena recover after Professor Sakes cursed her, then learned how the school’s past attempts to eliminate Peeves led to his disappearance and the ghosts being blamed for his return. Helena revealed that Sakes had stolen an ornament from the trophy room, but it was only a practice piece her mother had made and had long since been replaced with a fake.

• Helena pushed Tom through the common room knocker as Professor Sakes came out and confronted her in the corridor.
• Professor Sakes cursed Helena’s throat, and Tom emerged from the knocker and used Finite Incantatem to restore her voice.
• Helena told Tom that Peeves had repeatedly returned after the school tried to remove him, and that a failed attack more than sixty years earlier had forced the school to evacuate.
• Helena explained that Professor Sakes had blamed the ghosts for Peeves’s apparent return after finding his old wrench at Nearly Headless Nick’s deathday party.
• Helena told Tom that the trophy-room ornament Professor Sakes took was only a practice piece made by her mother, which Helena had replaced with a fake.

Tom learned that Helena had hidden Rowena Ravenclaw’s diadem in a tree trunk in Albania and used Helena’s memories to identify a distinctive mountain near the hiding place. He woke in his dormitory convinced he could find the diadem.

• Helena told Tom she had hidden the diadem in a stump in an Albanian forest and explained that wearing it had flooded her mind with magical knowledge.
• Helena showed Tom her memories through the Eagle-headed Bronze Knocker and revealed that she had hidden the diadem after fleeing her mother’s expectations.
• Tom watched Baron find Helena in Albania, where he killed her and then took his own life.
• Tom saw Helena hide a gray bundle in a hollow tree and spotted an axe-shaped mountain through a gap in the canopy.
• Tom awoke in his four-poster bed, certain that the mountain would lead him to the diadem.

Dumbledore visited Tom after finding him asleep in a corridor and offered him special tutoring to prepare him for powerful threats such as Grindelwald. Tom accepted, and Dumbledore set their first lesson for the following Sunday in the Hufflepuff basement.

• Dumbledore found Tom sleeping outside Professor Sakes's door and spoke with him in the dormitory the next morning.
• Dumbledore warned Tom about sharing memories and praised his connection with The Grey Lady, while Tom admitted he had been interested in the Ravenclaw common room's knocker.
• Dumbledore offered Tom special tutoring and explained that Grindelwald's Fiendfyre had trapped Tom in France and that Nelson was being trained by Grindelwald.
• Tom agreed to begin lessons with Dumbledore the following Sunday, and he revealed that he knew where Rowena Ravenclaw's Diadem was.
• Dumbledore said the diadem could wait, chose the Hufflepuff basement for their first lesson, and told Tom to sleep while he recovered from the effects of the memories.

Nelson arrived in Kraków to inspect The Hub, a vast center being built for intercontinental magical transport, and found Grindelwald waiting to test his dueling skills. Nelson’s improvised tricks impressed Grindelwald, who then challenged him to defeat a powerful Transfigured bird.

• Nelson saw the enormous The Hub and learned that Grindelwald had reserved a space for him on its top floor.
• Grindelwald challenged Nelson to a duel and criticized his loud, inaccurate spellcasting as Nelson fired spells and transformed a silver ball into a tiger.
• Nelson used a timed chain of exploding silver balls to blind Grindelwald and cover the room in green dye.
• Grindelwald sealed Nelson’s pocket, but Nelson escaped with Lumos Solem and Apparition.
• Grindelwald conjured a huge black bird and told Nelson to defeat it before they ended the day’s training.

Nelson defeated Grindelwald’s giant magical bird with a failed ancient Transfiguration spell, earning Grindelwald’s promise to teach him and explain his interest in him. Grindelwald revealed that Nelson was absent from every future he had foreseen and offered to help him pursue his wish for peace.

• Nelson transformed Grindelwald’s giant bird into a toad with a failed version of Slytherin’s Transfiguration spell, and Grindelwald accepted the result as a victory.
• Grindelwald promised to personally oversee Nelson’s magical studies and took him to his tower in Nurmengard.
• Grindelwald told Nelson that his visions were true memories of the future and explained that they had led him to fear being bound by fate.
• Grindelwald revealed that Nelson appeared in none of the futures he had seen and believed Nelson could change the course of events.
• Nelson admitted he wanted to fulfill his elder’s wish for peace, and Grindelwald offered to guide him toward becoming powerful enough to do so.

Nelson challenged Grindelwald’s belief in destiny and argued that people’s choices could change the future, while Grindelwald turned Nelson’s mead into honey water because he was underage. Three years later, Tom spoke with Dumbledore about Nelson’s progress and possible return to Hogwarts, and Dumbledore reaffirmed his promise to help Tom build a peaceful life, adding that it was time for some things to end.

• Nelson told Grindelwald that the future could not be known and that unexpected choices continually changed it.
• Grindelwald recalled finding Nelson in Paris twelve years earlier and changed Nelson’s mead into honey water before they toasted.
• Tom and Dumbledore discussed Tom’s O.W.L.s, Nelson’s continued Hogwarts enrollment, and whether Nelson might return to take exams.
• Tom told Dumbledore that Nelson was preparing to attempt Animagus transformation and would astonish him.
• Dumbledore gave Tom a crate of drinks to take to his friends and reaffirmed his promise of a peaceful future, saying some things were about to end.

Jack and the battered British frigate Blaney came under fire from a Polish cruiser while laying mines. Nelson learned of the battle from his fleet and ordered the cruiser disabled, then reflected on the prisoners and concentration camp he had left behind.

• Jack cursed his assignment aboard the Blaney as he waited at sea with his injured hand and thought of the girl in his locket.
• A Polish cruiser opened fire on the Blaney, and Jack ordered his crew to prepare for combat and close with the enemy.
• A Wizard told Nelson that the Polish cruiser was attacking a British frigate, and Nelson watched the battle through a magical projection.
• Nelson recognized Jack aboard the frigate and ordered his Acolytes to disable the Polish ship by targeting its paddles.
• Nelson asked about prisoners of war and the concentration camp, learning that some prisoners had been released while others had died.

Nelson returned to Britain under the cover of being a reporter and traveled to Little Hangleton. He reached the village and looked toward the Riddle manor, where the chapter left him poised to investigate.

• Nelson passed through British customs by posing as a young reporter, then rejected Mike's suggestion to use a Confundus Charm on Muggles.
• Nelson vanished from the Acolytes and took the Knight Bus, where he discovered that Ernie Prang had become its driver after the previous driver was attacked by Nurmengard wizards.
• Nelson rode to Little Hangleton and met a wizard from the area who asked whether he was visiting the Riddle family.
• Nelson headed toward the Riddle manor and noticed that a missing-person notice at the village entrance had been torn down and blacked out.

Nelson visited Riddle Manor to collect a Death's-head Hawkmoth pupa Tom had stored for him, then encountered Lewis Ogden, a Ministry of Magic law-enforcement employee who questioned him about dark wizards from Nurmengard and his return to Britain. Nelson escaped Lewis using a smoke bomb.

• Nelson met Tom Riddle Sr. at Riddle Manor, where they discussed Tom, Laura Riddle, and Nelson’s visit.
• Nelson went to Tom’s room and retrieved the frozen Death's-head Hawkmoth pupa from a locked cellar room.
• Nelson left the manor and noticed that Morfin’s hut still looked dilapidated, then prepared to Apparate toward a neighboring town.
• Lewis Ogden revealed himself as an Animagus and introduced himself as an employee of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.
• Lewis questioned Nelson about his contact with dark wizards from Nurmengard and his reasons for returning to Britain.
• Nelson set off a smoke bomb and disappeared before Lewis could stop him.

Nelson returned to war-scarred London, confronted the exploitation of its street children, and visited his old home and Jonas’s grave. At the cemetery gate, Nagini found him and agreed to travel with him to Hogwarts to see Tom.

• Nelson questioned a drunken tramp about the street children and left bread for them to share.
• Nelson returned to his aunt and uncle’s home, triggered Tom’s magical welcome, and found a tidy room with a hot meal waiting.
• Nelson told Jonas about the war, the concentration camps, and his efforts to rescue prisoners in Kraków.
• Nelson left silver balls at the cemetery and encountered Nagini, who had guarded the place for three years.
• Nelson asked Nagini to come with him to Hogwarts, and she agreed to travel with him to see Tom.

Nelson encountered a Dementor on the train to Hogsmeade and destroyed it with his newly summoned silver falcon Patronus. He then reached the Hog's Head Inn, where Aberforth asked about the encounter and borrowed a lighter for Nelson's cigars.

• Nelson found a Dementor forcing its way into the train and gave chocolate to a frightened attendant.
• Nelson cast Expecto Patronum, and a silver falcon drove the Dementor back and destroyed it.
• Nelson recognized the falcon as the image from Jonas's funeral, then burned the Dementor's remains and the train resumed its journey.
• At the Hog's Head Inn, Nelson told Aberforth about the Dementor and gave him cigars from Central America.
• Aberforth handed Nelson a box of chocolate and borrowed Grindelwald's lighter to light a cigar.

Nelson returned to Hogwarts after several years away, collected his school records from Aberforth, and reunited with Tom and their friends. He gave Tom a magical storage ball for Nagini and prepared to tell him about his time away.

• Nelson collected his school records from Aberforth, who shared memories of his family before falling asleep.
• Nelson left the Hog's Head Inn and reached Hogwarts, where Ogg escorted him across the Black Lake.
• Tom, Walburga, Alphard, Christian, and Myrtle welcomed Nelson at the castle, and Question Mark knocked him off balance before Nelson picked the cat up.
• Tom led Nelson to the Slytherin common room, and the friends joked about Nelson's height and the years they had spent apart.
• Nelson unpacked magically expanded luggage and gave Tom a storage ball, reminding him that Nagini had spent three years guarding a graveyard.