Chapter Summaries

After Ian nearly burned down Hogsmeade while experimenting with magic, Dumbledore stopped the fire and visited him to discuss his talent and dangerous experiments. Dumbledore left Ian with advice to rethink how he studied magic, while his Phoenix unexpectedly landed on Ian’s head.

• Dumbledore halted the runaway fire and restored the damaged fence as Ian watched in alarm.
• Dumbledore visited Ian, praised his boldness in exploring magic, and warned him to be cautious.
• Dumbledore asked how Ian had learned Sectumsempra, and Ian claimed Snape had forced him to learn it and that it took an hour.
• Dumbledore advised Ian that magical circuits did not directly cause magic and suggested he shift his research focus.
• A red Phoenix arrived, circled the room, and landed on Ian’s head instead of Dumbledore’s arm.

Fawkes unexpectedly groomed Ian, prompting Dumbledore to wonder whether the boy had a rare connection to magical creatures. Later, Dumbledore asked Snape to investigate whether the Prince and Dumbledore families had intermarried in the past five generations.

• Fawkes perched on Ian's head and affectionately groomed his hair and eyebrows, leaving Ian terrified and Dumbledore astonished.
• Dumbledore suggested Ian might have a talent for connecting with Fantastic Beasts and said he would invite Newt Scamander to teach.
• Dumbledore called Fawkes back, then returned to Hogwarts and reflected on Ian and another special child.
• Snape arrived carrying potion ingredients, and Dumbledore asked him to check the Prince family genealogy for a recent marriage to the Dumbledore family.
• Snape was left dumbfounded by Dumbledore's request.

Ian returned the potion books to Aurora Grindelwald at the secondhand bookstore, where a scarred wizard arrived to abduct her over a debt owed by her grandfather. Aurora killed him with Fiendfyre, and she and Ian began cleaning up the evidence as accomplices.

• Ian finished his morning language studies, packed the potion books, and waited until Kraft left before entering the bookstore.
• Ian returned the books to Aurora Grindelwald, and they talked about their friendship and his promised return gift.
• A scarred wizard entered the bookstore, pointed his wand at Aurora, and demanded that she come with him to settle her grandfather's debt.
• Aurora killed the wizard with Fiendfyre before Ian could attack him.
• Aurora asked Ian to sweep the ashes into the wooden box and said they were accomplices.

Ian helped Aurora dispose of a dead wizard, then buried the ashes beneath Snape's Small Wooden House. The experience made him realize how vulnerable he was, and he began studying forbidden magic to become stronger.

• Aurora told Ian that Kraft would handle the aftermath, then asked him to carry away the box containing the dead wizard's ashes.
• Ian left the shop with the box and avoided Professor McGonagall while returning through Hogsmeade Village.
• Ian buried the box beneath the floorboards of the Small Wooden House and carefully restored the room.
• Ian retrieved Secrets of the Darkest Art from the toilet tank and began reading it, determined to improve his strength.

On the day before school began, Ian reviewed his progress in magic, struggled with Transfiguration, and continued studying Fiendfyre in Secrets of the Darkest Art. He planned to hide the dangerous book before leaving for school and was astonished by a personal message in Grindelwald’s notes.

• Ian had learned the theory of the Three Unforgivable Curses and several beginner spells, but his Transfiguration practice had barely progressed.
• Ian recognized that his focus on logic might be obstructing Transfiguration and hoped to balance reason with imagination.
• Ian’s Fiendfyre proficiency reached Level 1 at 76/100 through studying Gellert Grindelwald’s annotations, though he avoided practising the spell with his wand.
• Ian decided to bury Secrets of the Darkest Art beneath the living room floor before going to school.
• While studying Fiendfyre’s final annotations, Ian read the message, “May you gain much from your studies, my friend,” and felt inexplicably astonished.

Ian waited all day for Snape to take him to Hogwarts, then set off with Snape and Aurora Grindelwald. Snape warned Aurora against spreading forbidden magic at school and questioned Ian about what he had told Dumbledore before leading them away from Hogsmeade.

• Ian planned his first-year studies, dressed in his school robes, and waited all day for Snape to arrive.
• After Snape failed to appear for most of the day, Ian packed his suitcase and prepared to travel to Hogwarts on his own.
• Snape arrived at the cabin and took Ian outside, where Aurora Grindelwald was waiting with her suitcase.
• Snape asked Aurora whether she had taught Ian the Inferi Control Charm, and she denied teaching him any magic.
• Snape warned Aurora to follow Hogwarts' rules and demanded to know what Ian had told Dumbledore, but Aurora interrupted before he could press him.
• Ian offered to carry Aurora's luggage, then placed her suitcase handle in her hand and ran ahead.

Ian and Aurora reached the Black Lake with Snape and waited to enter Hogwarts by boat with the other new students. As they discussed Dumbledore’s motives, the school-bus students arrived.

• Snape warned Ian about ordering Aurora around, then left them to continue toward Hogwarts while Aurora kept carrying Ian’s suitcase.
• Ian sampled a Sour Berry and offered some to Aurora, who identified it as an ingredient for souring agents.
• Ian and Aurora admired Hogwarts across the Black Lake, where Ian caught a giant squid hatchling and tossed it back.
• Aurora told Ian that Dumbledore had approved her admission after they killed a dark wizard, and warned him that Dumbledore manipulated people.
• Ian dismissed Aurora’s suspicion as overly conspiratorial, and the Half-blood Giant arrived with a group of new students.

Ian and Aurora joined the Hogwarts first-years crossing the Black Lake, where they met Cho Chang and another quiet girl. As the boats neared Hogwarts, Ian dismissed a legend about the Four Founders, while the quiet girl warned them of danger ahead.

• Hagrid found Ian and Aurora, gathered them with the other new students, and led them to the Black Lake.
• Hagrid put Ian and Aurora's suitcases in a boat, where they were joined by Cho Chang and a silent girl.
• Ian and Aurora introduced themselves to Cho Chang, and Ian claimed Aurora had autism to explain her silence.
• The boats moved automatically across the lake as the students lit their wands; Cho Chang shared a legend about the Four Founders blessing new students.
• Ian checked his Personal Panel and dismissed the legend as a rumor, then the quiet girl warned the group to watch for danger ahead.

Ian, Aurora, Cho Chang, and Daphne Greengrass discussed Hogwarts and clashed over pure-blood prejudice while traveling across the Black Lake. They reached Hogwarts, where Snape led the first-years into the Great Hall, and Ian spotted the Sorting Hat before the ceremony began.

• Cho Chang and Daphne Greengrass described the coming Sorting, and Daphne insulted Ian and Aurora for being Muggle-born and praised Slytherin's pure-blood legacy.
• Ian cast a brilliantly powerful Lumos Charm that lit much of the Black Lake and astonished the students in the surrounding boats.
• The boats reached shore, and Hagrid led the first-years to Hogwarts, where Snape took charge of them.
• Snape led the nervous first-years into the candlelit Great Hall, where Aurora admired the enchanted ceiling and Ian noticed the Sorting Hat.

The Sorting ceremony began at Hogwarts, and Aurora Grindelwald's name stunned the Great Hall when Professor McGonagall called her forward. The chapter ended as Aurora calmly approached the Sorting Hat while Daphne feared the consequences of her earlier mockery.

• Professor McGonagall presented the Sorting Hat, which sang about the four Houses.
• The Sorting ceremony began, and Grace Allison was sorted into Hufflepuff while Mien Agfus was sorted into Gryffindor.
• Professor McGonagall called Aurora Grindelwald's name, and the Great Hall fell silent.
• Daphne recognized Aurora's name and panicked, believing her earlier sneers had doomed her family.

Aurora Grindelwald was Sorted into Slytherin, where she warned Daphne Greengrass that a greater threat awaited her. Ian Prince was Sorted into Ravenclaw after the Sorting Hat recognized his resemblance to a lonely woman, provoking an angry reaction at the teachers’ table and a fainting student at Slytherin.

• Aurora Grindelwald was Sorted into Slytherin, whose students welcomed her enthusiastically despite rumors about her family.
• Daphne Greengrass was also Sorted into Slytherin and nervously apologized to Aurora, who told her she had already provoked a greater trouble.
• Peter Papacro was Sorted into Gryffindor before Ian Prince eagerly put on the Sorting Hat.
• The Sorting Hat said Ian belonged in Ravenclaw because he resembled a deceased, lonely woman, and Sorted him there despite having been threatened to choose Slytherin.
• A furious figure at the teachers’ table slammed a hand down, while a student at the Slytherin table pretended to faint.

After Daphne Greengrass fainted during Ian Prince’s Sorting, Professor Sprout took her to the infirmary while Snape watched Ian uneasily. Ian joined Ravenclaw, met the prefect, and attended the opening feast, where Dumbledore introduced the new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, Ronnie Erich.

• Daphne Greengrass fainted at the Slytherin table, and Professor Sprout carried her to the infirmary after confirming she was unharmed.
• Snape stared at Ian and the Sorting Hat until Dumbledore calmed him, then Ian removed the hat and returned it to Professor McGonagall.
• Ian joined Ravenclaw, shook hands with the students, and met prefect Detrick Wiggins.
• Cho Chang was sorted into Ravenclaw and sat beside Ian, where they discussed Daphne and her insult toward Grindelwald.
• Dumbledore introduced Ronnie Erich as the new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor and began the welcoming feast.

At the Hogwarts banquet, Ian asked Ravenclaw prefect Penelope Clearwater to find two brothers, one of whom had a dead younger sister named Ariana. After the feast, Dumbledore sent the students to their dormitories, and Snape seized the Sorting Hat from Professor McGonagall.

• Ghosts appeared at the banquet and joined the students in eating and joking.
• Penelope Clearwater offered to help Ian search for two brothers, possibly twins, whose younger sister had died and might have been named Ariana.
• Dumbledore warned students to stay out of the Forbidden Forest and reminded them not to use magic in the corridors.
• Ian waved to Aurora across the Great Hall, and she waved back before the students left for their dormitories.
• Snape snatched the Sorting Hat from Professor McGonagall, and the hat cried out for help.

Snape confronted the Sorting Hat over Ian Prince’s placement in Ravenclaw, demanding an explanation for why the boy had not been sorted into Slytherin. The Sorting Hat revealed that Ian’s arrogance toward knowledge made him resemble Rowena Ravenclaw, and Dumbledore accepted that Ravenclaw was the House that could help him reach greatness.

• Snape carried the protesting Sorting Hat toward a restroom to punish it, but Dumbledore persuaded him to stop and hear its explanation.
• Snape argued that Ian’s ambition, cunning, willpower, and understanding of glory made him an obvious Slytherin.
• The Sorting Hat said Ian was suited to become Rowena Ravenclaw’s apprentice, prompting McGonagall and Dumbledore to recognize the significance of its claim.
• Dumbledore revealed that Ian had already shown the ability to improve and create magic, astonishing McGonagall and Snape.
• The Sorting Hat explained that Ian shared Rowena’s arrogance toward knowledge and declared Ravenclaw the House that could help him ascend to greatness.

Ian and the new Ravenclaw students climbed the moving stairs to their Common Room, where a Bronze Eagle Head tested each student with a question before letting them inside. Ian passed with an answer about Rowena Ravenclaw and considered improving the door’s question bank.

• Penelope and Dietrich led the Ravenclaw students up the shifting stairs, and Dietrich pulled Ian away from the crowd.
• Penelope explained that Ravenclaw students had to answer the Bronze Eagle Head’s question to enter the Common Room, and Cho Chang answered that knowledge changed the world more than power.
• Ian answered that he would choose Rowena Ravenclaw as his mentor, then entered after telling the Bronze Eagle Head to ask why next time.
• Ian and Cho Chang explored the blue-and-bronze Common Room and joked about a senior who had repeatedly questioned the door.
• The Bronze Eagle Head continued asking questions, including riddles, and Ian decided its question bank needed improvement.

Ian settled into his Ravenclaw dormitory with roommates William Smith and Michael Jordan, then wrote a reassuring letter to the orphanage while the other boys studied and slept. As rain fell outside Hogwarts, a strange winged creature watched Ian through the dormitory window.

• Ian was assigned to a three-person dormitory with William Smith and Michael Jordan.
• Michael shared the food he had smuggled from the feast and explained that his father had died fighting The Dark Lord.
• William began studying while Ian wrote a letter to Headmistress Elena to reassure the orphanage that he was safe at Hogwarts.
• Michael fell asleep, and William continued studying as Ian finished his letter and went to bed.
• A strange creature with blue wings watched the sleeping Ian from beneath the dormitory eaves.

After a stormy night, Ian and his roommates woke for Hogwarts’s first day of classes and headed to Transfiguration. The chapter ended with Professor McGonagall warning Ian about his questionable freeze-dried food after he recognized her while she was disguised as a cat.

• A strange creature watched Ian from outside the Ravenclaw dormitory until a fiery red Magical Creature chased it into the night.
• William woke Ian and Michael, accidentally startling Michael by striking him hard in the chest.
• Ian, William, and Michael ate breakfast and raced to their first lesson, Professor McGonagall’s Transfiguration class.
• Michael rushed to pet the tabby cat on the lectern, but Ian recognized it as Professor McGonagall and hid his freeze-dried raw meat.
• Professor McGonagall praised Ian’s sharp eyes and warned him that spoiled food could harm his health.

Ian struggled to turn a match into a needle in Professor McGonagall’s Transfiguration class because he approached magic as a way to alter matter. McGonagall recognized his mistaken understanding and introduced him to the ancient idea that wizards give matter new rules, leaving Ian with a revelation.

• Professor McGonagall transformed a lectern into a leopard to demonstrate Transfiguration and warned the Young Wizards about its dangers.
• The students practiced turning matches into needles, and William succeeded before Ian did.
• Ian asked McGonagall why his attempts failed, explaining that he had been trying to convert the wood’s components into iron atoms.
• McGonagall told Ian that magic was the mind’s manifestation and the echo of imagination, not merely a way to distort matter.
• McGonagall wrote “Wizard is Deity” in Runes, giving Ian a new perspective on Transfiguration.

Ian understood that a wizard’s magic power imposed influence on matter, allowing Transfiguration to persist while that influence remained. After successfully turning a matchstick into an iron needle and then experimenting further, he was interrupted by Professor McGonagall when the transformation became smoke.

• Ian realized that magic power acted as a wizard’s innate divine force and that Transfiguration faded when its influence ended.
• Ian cast Vera Verto and transformed a matchstick into a patterned iron needle, impressing Professor McGonagall and his classmates.
• Ian sensed that some of his magic power remained dormant while maintaining the needle’s form, and reasoned that spells and Runes merely guided magic’s influence.
• Ian cast Vera Verto again, causing the needle to peel into green smoke as his classmates watched.
• Professor McGonagall forcibly terminated Ian’s Transfiguration and threatened him with Azkaban after a student compared the smoke to his sister’s underwear.

Ian’s dangerous Transfiguration experiment in Professor McGonagall’s class led her to warn him and the other students about the lethal risks of turning objects into gases or liquids. After class, Ian tested the technique again in the Owlery, killed a mouse with a burst of steel needles, and named his new attack the Prince Killing Curse.

• Ian transformed a matchstick into Gillywater-colored smoke, prompting Professor McGonagall to reprimand him and explain that inhaled Transfiguration could cause fatal injuries.
• Ian admitted he had acted on curiosity, and Professor McGonagall revised her lesson to warn the class that transforming objects into gases or liquids could be deadly.
• Professor McGonagall warned Laura that joking about using such magic on someone could bring punishment worse than expulsion, then ended class.
• Ian left William and Michael to deliver a letter to Wu's Orphanage and escaped an older student's unsettling invitation before reaching the Owlery.
• Ian transformed straw into gas, sent it into a mouse, and changed it into sharp steel needles that burst from the mouse's body; he named the attack the Prince Killing Curse.