Chapter Summaries

Jon discussed using Harry Potter’s crisis as a model for addressing his own predicament, and Grindelwald agreed that Jon’s plan seemed workable but should be reviewed by one of his elders. As they left to eat, Jon asked the group to make a trip to buy textbooks soon, when Harry and the others would likely be shopping too.

• Grindelwald explained that Voldemort and Harry could serve as stand-ins for the figures in Jon’s own situation, despite the differences between their circumstances.
• Jon suggested that the girl might become an ally, but Reel warned that his captain was stubborn and unlikely to change her mind without a strong reason or benefit.
• Grindelwald told Jon to show his final plan to one of his elders, then avoided Jon’s question about whether he had seen them recently by suggesting they go to dinner.
• Reel turned off the crystal ball, Rank switched off the camera, and Joanne put away her notebook as the group prepared to leave.
• Jon asked everyone to make a trip to buy textbooks in a few days, when Harry and the others would probably be shopping too.

Jon discussed Voldemort, the returning gods, and his own preparation with Grindelwald, who warned that Jon’s research-heavy training had left gaps in his combat abilities. The chapter ended with Jon asking whether Grindelwald meant his Magic Net plan was the most viable approach.

• After dinner, Jon and Grindelwald left the others behind and discussed the danger of learning too much about Voldemort.
• Grindelwald dismissed Horcruxes as inferior magic, while Jon questioned that assessment and used ancient spatial travel magic to take them to his house.
• Jon argued that he was less reckless than Harry and lacked a divine adviser, and Grindelwald explained that gods could soon return as the world's magical power rose.
• Grindelwald pointed out Jon’s weaknesses in offensive magic, wandless casting, and mastering his gloves, then said one of Jon’s plans was viable but difficult without experience.
• Jon asked Grindelwald whether he meant the Magic Net plan.

Grindelwald explained why the Magic Net was difficult to control and why earlier efforts to use it had failed. He left Jon with a question about why even gods who had possessed Magic Nets eventually abandoned them.

• Grindelwald told Jon that Hogwarts and Durmstrang had records of earlier Magic Net research, but judged Jon’s plan unlikely to succeed.
• Jon connected the Magic Net to the networks gods formed with living beings to gain power from their followers.
• Grindelwald explained that the Magic Net arose from connections among living beings and carried more information than most could handle.
• Grindelwald said controlling a Magic Net could grant immense power, then asked Jon why gods had later abandoned the networks they possessed.

Grindelwald explained that the World Will restricted access to the Magic Net and made creating derivative worlds extraordinarily difficult. Jon continued pondering whether another path could overcome those limits.

• Jon admitted that he did not understand what lay beneath the surface of the Magic Net.
• Grindelwald said the World Will prevented anyone, including gods, from using the Magic Net because it had itself arisen from an immense Magic Net.
• Grindelwald explained that the World Will rarely interfered in mortal affairs but strictly controlled magical advances and derivative worlds.
• Jon inferred that the World Will's rules could explain why gods and pantheons had declined.
• Grindelwald rapped Jon on the forehead and told him to stop dwelling on distant concerns and prepare for what lay ahead.
• Jon asked whether there might still be another path to make his ambitions involving the Magic Net possible.

Jon and Grindelwald discussed how Jon could survive the threat posed by the Ancient Egyptian Pantheon, and Grindelwald agreed to resume his training. Jon kept the rejected Magic Net proposal to show Helga, thinking it might help with her Small World.

• Grindelwald reflected that Jon’s youth made him reckless, but admired his determination to find a way through the looming crisis.
• Grindelwald explained that Jon needed safeguards and a higher-order perspective to survive the pantheon’s pressure, since the Magic Net plan was too risky and could not quickly double his strength.
• Jon considered how the World Will favored humanity and the continuation of life, while powerful wizards and gods could be treated as a destructive force.
• Grindelwald told Jon to follow his plan and said they would resume training the next day to stabilize his strength before school began.
• Jon left Grindelwald’s plans on the table but kept the Magic Net proposal, intending to let Ancestor Helga examine whether it could help with her Small World.

Jon trained in wandless magic while arranging for Reel and Joanne to buy his schoolbooks and seek out Harry Potter in Knockturn Alley. Grindelwald said his plans were going smoothly and prepared to travel to Germany to make people submit by force.

• Jon received Lockhart's book list and collector's edition, gave the books to Bella, and reconsidered housing Lockhart at his estate because he worried about his mother.
• Reel arrived to collect Jon's school letter, and Jon asked him to buy the listed books and gather materials from a shop near Borgin and Burkes with Joanne and the others.
• Jon continued practicing wandless magic with Grindelwald's enchanted sponge, learning to summon a glove while working to improve his control.
• Grindelwald returned and praised Jon's progress, then said he would travel to Germany in a few days to reason with his opponents.

Joanne, Reel, and Rank visited Jon after an encounter with Harry Potter in Diagon Alley. Joanne wanted to rescue a little girl targeted by Lucius Malfoy, but Jon argued that intervening contradicted their agreement to observe Harry’s life, leaving Joanne upset over his refusal to act.

• Joanne, Reel, and Rank arrived at Jon’s house with his textbooks and the materials Reel had bought.
• Reel explained that he had followed Harry Potter after helping him in Knockturn Alley and had watched him head to Flourish and Blotts.
• Joanne described how Lucius Malfoy had targeted a little girl and how Reel and Rank had stopped her from taking the diary.
• Joanne urged Jon to help the girl, but Jon said they could not protect everyone and reminded her that they had agreed only to observe.
• Jon told Joanne that she had crossed the line by trying to interfere.

Jon explained his plans to Joanne and considered how to advance his cultivation quickly enough to face the coming crisis. He began another soul-training session, sending his soul from his body in the form of a Mysterious Bird.

• Jon warned Joanne that provoking Lucius over an ordinary witch had been risky, and she said she could use her encounter with him to write more realistically.
• After Joanne and the others left, Jon considered how he could help Dumbledore’s efforts to tear down the wall without relying on stronger wizards.
• Jon reflected on his cultivation progress and the need to build on Helga’s plan, which focused on strengthening his Patronus.
• As his usual soul-training time approached, Jon put on his glasses, recited the Guardian Spell, and sent his soul out of his body as a tiny black Mysterious Bird.

Jon sent his soul out on the Mysterious Bird to search a distant desert for clues about a hidden divine kingdom, discovering strange folded space before returning home. The journey strengthened his out-of-body training, and he rejoined his body after making a considerable breakthrough.

• Jon's soul rode the Mysterious Bird out of the city and experienced the bustling metropolis through its expanded perception.
• Jon flew roughly three thousand kilometers to a desert region he had identified in a reference book and searched its beach, marshes, and ruins.
• Jon noticed a warning chill near the water and sensed that the space was strange, confirming his suspicion that a declining divine kingdom lay hidden there in folded space.
• Jon anchored the location and flew back home, arriving after about two hours and assessing his recent training as a considerable breakthrough.
• Jon let his body's pull draw his soul back inside.

Jon and Joanne discussed the worsening upheaval, Joanne’s work on a book about the wizarding world, and whether Lockhart could help her write it. As school approached, they settled Joanne’s living arrangements, and Reel suggested that they go out for dinner.

• Joanne told Jon that layoffs and poor business showed how unsettled things had become, and Jon said the upheaval was only beginning.
• Joanne revealed that she had worked out Lockhart’s identity and asked why he was not helping with the book; Jon suggested bringing him to assist her after the school year.
• Joanne agreed that Lockhart could help, since organizing Grindelwald’s suggestions and adapting the material for Muggle readers had become difficult.
• Jon warned Joanne to be careful while he was away at school and offered her a place to stay; Rank decided that she and Reel would move into Jon’s larger house.
• Reel suggested that they relax by going out for dinner, and Jon agreed to follow him.

Jon woke with a headache and tried to return to Hogwarts, but Dobby had sealed the station barrier, so he followed Harry and Ron as they flew there in a car. He reached Hogwarts in time to see the car crash into the Whomping Willow, then left the wreck behind.

• Jon woke after Reel had gotten him drunk and used Poseidon to splash water on the sleeping figures before Apparating away.
• Jon found Harry and Ron unable to pass through the sealed station barrier and realized Dobby had blocked the passage.
• Jon followed Harry and Ron after they drove their car into the sky, using his glasses to track it through the clouds.
• Jon flew through the clouds after the car and reached Hogwarts as it crashed into the Whomping Willow.
• Jon tried to push the car upward with water vapor but failed to prevent the crash, then landed beside the tree and left.

Jon avoided the feast and left after warning Snape that Harry and Ron were near the Whomping Willow, then reflected on loneliness with Peeves. He sent Kane with a note to Snape, while Peeves pressed him to explain his thoughts about the gods of Ancient Egypt.

• Jon told Snape that Harry and Ron might be in danger from the Whomping Willow, then used a Disillusionment Charm to slip away.
• Snape found Harry and Ron, brought them to his office, and confronted them about flying the Ford Anglia and appearing in the Evening Prophet.
• Jon lay on his roof and asked Peeves whether he had been lonely, then wondered if the gods of Ancient Egypt had been lonely too.
• Jon sent Kane with a note to Snape, and Peeves asked Jon to explain what was going on.

Jon told Peeves about his troubles and revealed that he planned to bring Grindelwald to meet Dumbledore, enlisting Peeves’s help to arrange a peaceful meeting. After the feast, Stephen, Fren, Scaly, Bella, and Penelope visited Jon and learned that he had traveled with Harry and Ron in the flying car.

• Jon finished telling Peeves about his troubles and suggested they plan a major prank that would actually be a gift for Dumbledore.
• Peeves guessed that Jon had brought Grindelwald back, and Jon admitted he was arranging a meeting between Grindelwald and Dumbledore.
• Jon explained the danger posed by dark wizards in Germany, and Peeves agreed that Grindelwald could help and that he would assist with the meeting.
• After the feast, Stephen, Fren, Scaly, Bella, and Penelope visited Jon and asked where he had gone.
• Penelope deduced that Jon had arrived with Harry and the Weasley boy in the flying car, and she agreed to keep Bella’s private matter confidential.

Jon reunited with Stephen, Scaly, and Fren after arriving at Hogwarts, while keeping the wider troubles he was investigating to himself. As the boys spent the night at Jon’s little house, Jon reassured them that he would face his responsibilities without dragging them into danger and promised they would have a bright future.

• Jon explained that he had missed the train and flown to Hogwarts with two girls, then joked with Stephen and Scaly about his rapid improvement at flying.
• Fren brought sandwiches from the kitchens, and Jon ate while privately noticing that the food had worsened amid upheaval in Muggle society.
• Stephen chose not to press Jon about the secrets he was keeping and reflected on his unexpected role as the Hufflepuff family's guardian.
• Jon teased Stephen for feeling pent-up after a holiday without letters, then sat with him beneath the stars as they spoke about their short lives and difficult responsibilities.
• Jon told Stephen and the others to protect themselves and study peacefully, promising that the dark night would pass and they would have a bright future.

Jon stayed up practicing Poseidon's water-controlling abilities and investigating magical elements, leaving himself exhausted the next day. Stephen helped him settle into Snape's class so he could sleep.

• Jon covered the sleeping Stephen with a blanket and returned to the house to practice magic.
• Jon sent his soul out of his body and spent hours studying how water and magical elements connected.
• Jon arrived at class the next day tired and barely paid attention to the lesson.
• Stephen offered to watch over Jon while he slept during Professor Snape's class.
• Jon fell asleep as soon as he sat down in the next classroom.

Jon was jolted awake in Potions class by a mysterious spiritual attack that felt like a cold, sinister magical beast. After class, he hurried with Stephen to the cottage to discuss what had happened.

• While sleeping in Potions class, Jon sensed a familiar Earth Magic will and reached toward it with his spiritual power.
• A force followed Jon’s spiritual tendrils back and struck his soul, leaving him in pain and visibly unwell.
• Snape questioned Jon and then turned his attention to Stephen’s potion, while Stephen checked on Jon and continued brewing.
• Jon told Stephen that something had attacked him in his sleep and felt like a hostile aquatic magical beast.
• After class, Jon and Stephen hurried toward the cottage to talk, while Scaly and Fren stayed behind.

After a strange magical force injured Jon, he searched Hogwarts’s records to identify what he had encountered. He discovered that it was connected to the Shadow of Hogwarts, the most important of the school’s three great prisons.

• Jon told Stephen he would skip Defense Against the Dark Arts because he had given Professor Lockhart’s books to Bella.
• Jon examined his recent injury and reasoned that a magical beast had suddenly been suppressed, causing a brief but powerful fluctuation.
• Jon searched the Yin-Yang Records and identified the source as the Shadow of Hogwarts.
• Stephen stayed nearby and wrote Professor Lockhart a note requesting leave while Jon investigated with his Spiritual Power.
• Jon learned from the records that the Shadow of Hogwarts was a prison for the most evil wizards, alongside the Underground Palace and the Misty Jungle.

Jon investigated the Shadow of Hogwarts and traced the hostile will that had attacked him to a hidden prison. He found only nine of its expected twelve zodiac doors before returning to his house to explain his discovery to Stephen.

• Jon used Helga's bloodline to observe the Shadow of Hogwarts, where the remains of long-dead prisoners lay among bloodstains.
• Jon recognized Peeves's trace and followed it through the prison's tangled magical auras to the source of the will that had attacked him.
• Jon discovered that the prison had been designed around twelve zodiac doors, but only nine remained.
• Jon suspected the missing water signs were connected to Slytherin and returned to his house, where Stephen asked what had happened.
• Jon told Stephen that he had found the will's origin but would need time to explain it.

Jon discussed his plans to search for something at school and warned Stephen to avoid going out at night, while hinting that Grindelwald would soon arrive. Stephen realized the future might be dangerous, and Jon resolved to face whatever came with the people behind him.

• Stephen showed Jon Scaly's comic account of Professor Lockhart's class, and they laughed at Lockhart's exaggerated performance.
• Jon told Stephen he planned to search for something at school over the next few days and advised him not to go out at night.
• Jon said Grindelwald might arrive soon and planned to build a house for him beside his own.
• Stephen described the Magic Research Society's information network and worried that the future looked grim.
• Jon reassured Stephen that they had each other and their allies, then resolved to face the coming crises.

Jon researched the Basilisk sealed within Hogwarts and asked Peeves about its origins. Peeves said it had been kept to protect the school and revealed its name: Basilisk Slytherin.

• Jon set aside Stephen’s personal troubles and used his free time to investigate the Basilisk.
• Jon read about Harp, the Basilisk’s abilities and weaknesses, and its long lifespan.
• Jon questioned Peeves about why Salazar Slytherin had kept a Basilisk at Hogwarts.
• Peeves said the Basilisk had been meant to protect the school and identified it as Basilisk Slytherin.