Chapter Summaries

Hermione visited Hagrid but concealed the real purpose of her visit from Harry and Ron, while worrying that he would not heed her advice about Umbridge. Hagrid returned to teaching, though the students disagreed about his return.

• Hermione walked through the snow to Hagrid's Hut while Harry and Ron stayed behind to do homework.
• Hermione told Harry and Ron that Hagrid had been in the Forbidden Forest and had ignored her advice about teaching under Umbridge.
• Hermione privately reflected that she had visited Hagrid to explain her current identity, and that he had assured her he would be all right.
• Hagrid appeared at breakfast the next day, where Fred, George, Li, and others welcomed him while Parvati and Lavender looked displeased.

Hermione sought Jon’s advice while Hagrid taught a lesson on Thestrals under Umbridge’s hostile observation. As Christmas approached, the students returned to the castle, where Hermione remained busy with her House-elf campaign and Harry focused on his essay and leaving Hogwarts for the holidays.

• Hermione secretly sent Jon a message during Hagrid’s Thestral lesson and received the advice to wait and see.
• Umbridge arrived to observe Hagrid, pretended not to understand him, and left after twisting the facts about his lesson.
• Hermione defended Hagrid’s teaching as she walked back to the castle with Harry and Ron, while Malfoy mocked Ron about the Thestrals.
• As December brought snow and heavy homework, Ron complained about his prefect duties and Hermione worried that she had too few hats to free the House-elves.
• Harry worked on his History of Magic essay and, for the first time since starting school, wanted to leave Hogwarts for the holidays.

Harry returned to the Gryffindor common room shaken after Cho kissed him and cried, while Hermione explained the conflicting grief and feelings behind Cho’s reaction. He was left wondering whether he would have to ask Cho out, a prospect that made him deeply uneasy.

• Harry learned he would spend Christmas at The Burrow with Ron, though he worried about leaving Sirius alone.
• Harry came back late from the last meeting before the holidays, and Ron and Hermione asked what had happened.
• Harry admitted that Cho had kissed him and cried, leaving him unsure how to respond.
• Hermione explained that Cho was grieving Cedric, confused about her feelings, guilty about the kiss, and worried about Quidditch.
• Harry imagined dating Cho and felt his stomach clench at the thought of asking her out.

Harry dreamed that a huge snake attacked Mr. Weasley and woke with severe pain in his scar, convinced he had witnessed the attack. Professor McGonagall believed him and took him and Ron to Dumbledore, who decided to send someone to warn Mr. Weasley.

• Hermione told Ron that Harry had liked Cho for ages, while Ron questioned Hermione about writing to Viktor Krum.
• Harry dreamed from the perspective of a snake as it attacked a man guarding a corridor, then woke in pain and realized the victim was Mr. Weasley.
• Harry insisted to Ron and Professor McGonagall that his vision was real and that Mr. Weasley had been badly bitten.
• Professor McGonagall took Harry and Ron to Dumbledore, who knew Mr. Weasley’s current assignment and arranged for someone to warn him.

Jon endured Grindelwald’s bland breakfast and learned that Mr. Weasley had gone to the laboratory early. The chapter explained how Jon had arranged Weasley’s apparent injury and hospital replacement so he could secretly begin working, while other plans around the Order of the Phoenix remained concealed.

• Grindelwald scolded Jon for staying up late and insisted that he eat a healthy breakfast.
• Dumbledore recognized that the attack on Mr. Weasley had been anticipated and arranged by Jon as a way to move Weasley into a new role.
• Jon had Mr. Weasley secretly report to the laboratory while a substitute took his place in St. Mungo’s.
• Grindelwald and Zhu Sha created a magical duplicate controlled through Mr. Weasley’s mind to answer questions in the hospital.
• Jon kept the Order of the Phoenix’s plans secret and supported Sirius’s plan to fake his death and later return under a hidden identity.

Jon visited St. Mungo's in disguise at Dumbledore's request to examine the Longbottoms and found their minds profoundly disordered. He realized that Laura, the psychologist on his research team, might be able to help.

• Jon reflected on his expanding magical research team and the effort to study the nature of magic through experiments.
• Dumbledore sent Jon to St. Mungo's to visit two disguised people and check on old friends who might recover.
• Jon encountered Harry and the others at the hospital, and Hermione noticed him without exposing his disguise.
• Jon approached the Longbottoms and saw Neville's mother clutch a candy wrapper and leave her bed to follow her child.
• Jon examined the Longbottoms' minds with magic and found their consciousness chaotic, then thought of asking Laura for help.

Jon arranged for Laura to become a wizard so she could help treat two psychologically ill wizards, then used the laboratory’s conversion device and the Magic Net to transform her. Laura felt a new power inside her but could not control it, leaving the success of the conversion uncertain.

• Laura told Jon that treating the two wizards could take more than two years, and Jon decided to make her a wizard before sending her to the magical hospital.
• Jon explained that the laboratory’s conversion device could draw magical power from the air, though it was expensive, and that the Magic Net could gradually transform people who could not afford one.
• Three days later, Laura arrived at the laboratory’s conversion area with Anthony and Lenna as the experimenters gathered to observe the test.
• Jon summoned the Magic Net’s power into the conversion device, and Laura felt a brief tingling sensation and a force circulating through her body.
• Laura asked whether the conversion had failed because she could not control the power she felt.

Jon explained that Laura’s modification had succeeded, but her weak soul left her unable to control the magic stored in her body. He brought her to Voldemort’s cave to obtain potion water for training her Spiritual Power, and they entered the cave together.

• Jon examined Laura and explained that her ordinary background had left her soul too weak to wield her newly acquired magic.
• Grindelwald confirmed that Laura’s body could hold magical power but said she needed to strengthen her soul.
• Jon decided to use a training method from the past and brought Laura to Voldemort’s cave to find the potion in its stone basin.
• Laura chose to accompany Jon into the dangerous cave despite his warning about the Inferi in the lake.
• Jon said he would bypass the lake’s flawed defenses by breaking through space.

Jon retrieved Voldemort’s potion from the basin using a water pump and returned to test it on Laura. As Laura inhaled the potion mist, her soul power began to rise, though the experiment was still underway.

• Jon bypassed the lake’s defenses, pumped the potion out of the stone basin, and took the locket before returning to Laura.
• Jon brought Laura and the potion back to the laboratory, where Grindelwald stayed to intervene if anything went wrong.
• Jon tied Laura to a chair and used a humidifier to turn the potion into mist for her to inhale.
• Laura endured pain as her soul power slowly increased, and Jon estimated that the bottle might provide enough potion.

Jon’s grandmother, Mrs. Yang, told him that the Queen had agreed to cooperate with his effort to raise wizards’ status. With Laura’s successful transformation as proof, Jon prepared to negotiate with the Royal family through representatives.

• Jon completed Laura’s soul enhancement, allowing her to use magic to examine a person’s consciousness.
• Mrs. Yang met Jon at his laboratory, greeted Grindelwald, and discussed her choice not to pursue further magical advancement.
• Mrs. Yang told Jon that the Queen had agreed to cooperate because his work could restore the Royal family’s influence in a wizard-led world.
• Jon explained that Laura was a successful Muggle-to-wizard transformation achieved with the power of three Legendary Wizards.
• Mrs. Yang said Jon could not meet the Queen directly and offered to find negotiators, but Jon said his company could handle the talks.
• Mrs. Yang prepared to go shopping, and Jon told Anthony to accompany her.

Jon left the laboratory to organize negotiations with the Royal family, hoping to use their influence to support his plans. He explained to Laura why Muggles could not yet be safely turned into wizards, leaving the transformation project dependent on preparing people’s souls first.

• Jon and the Professor discussed his maternal grandmother’s old grudge and the value of keeping a low profile while building connections.
• Jon asked the Professor to supervise the laboratory while he handled a publicity campaign against Voldemort’s destruction in Muggle society.
• Jon returned to the company with Laura and told Secretary Jin to assemble negotiators to approach the Queen and secure the Royal family’s endorsement without surrendering core interests.
• Jon explained that the Royal family’s goal of turning everyone into wizards would not restore its rule, since Muggle leaders would become wizards too.
• Laura asked why Muggles had not been transformed, and Jon said the process required strengthened souls; older people were more suitable because their souls had grown through experience.

Jon and Laura tried to find a way to heal the Longbottoms, and Laura discovered that Mrs. Longbottom’s mind fiercely resisted her attempts to read it. Laura proposed entering Mrs. Longbottom’s subconscious, a risky method that would require someone to help her return.

• Jon explained that he had quietly helped people survive without changing Harry Potter’s story, while Voldemort remained unaware of those efforts.
• Jon asked Laura if she was confident about treating the Longbottoms, and she chose to try with Mrs. Longbottom first.
• Laura used her newly awakened magical ability to read Mrs. Longbottom’s mind, but Jon saw the attempt fail when the magical link broke.
• Laura told Jon that Mrs. Longbottom’s damaged mind was protected by a strong barrier, especially while she slept.
• Laura said she could enter Mrs. Longbottom’s subconscious, but warned that she might not be able to return without help.

Jon and Laura entered Mrs. Longbottom’s consciousness to investigate her condition. They found an unnaturally orderly village filled with wanted posters of Bellatrix Lestrange, and faint signs that someone was inside.

• Jon and Laura entered Mrs. Longbottom’s consciousness through a gap in its barrier, with Jon following Laura in the form of a Mysterious Bird before taking human shape.
• They explored a cottage and village that Jon and Laura recognized as too orderly to be a natural creation of the subconscious.
• Laura spotted Neville Longbottom, but his figure appeared only briefly before vanishing.
• Jon recognized Bellatrix Lestrange on wanted posters throughout the village and noted that Mrs. Longbottom seemed to hate the Death Eater who tortured her and her husband.
• Jon knocked at a manor and received no answer, then heard faint footsteps after he and Laura turned away.

Jon and Laura explored the dreamlike consciousness of Mrs. Longbottom, where a mysterious shadow and a looping village made their search dangerous. After following a doctor who appeared within the dream, they reached a clock tower as he vanished and rain began to fall.

• Jon warned Laura to be cautious in the dream, and they realized someone had been following them.
• Jon and Laura found themselves caught in a loop within the village and discussed whether the shadow might be connected to Mrs. Longbottom.
• A doctor appeared, and Laura asked him to lead them to Mr. and Mrs. Longbottom.
• Jon and Laura followed the doctor through the strangely vast town, but the wooden house disappeared behind them.
• A clock tower appeared and its bell rang, causing the doctor to vanish as rain began falling.
• Jon suggested finding shelter, but the raindrops passed through the force field of his consciousness.

Jon and Laura explored Mrs. Longbottom’s consciousness to find the source of her condition, but their attempt to leave trapped them in a deeper layer. Jon realized they were still inside her mind and warned Laura that escaping would be difficult.

• Jon and Laura found a strange yellow-green substance on conjured paper and followed a faint crying sound to Mrs. Longbottom in a sealed white room.
• Laura suspected Mrs. Longbottom was holding a Remembrall that might contain the memory connected to the mental landscape, and Jon said the Magic Net could help locate it.
• A group of Chainsaw Monks approached, and Jon used blue flames to burn them before Laura could test Mrs. Longbottom’s mental state.
• Jon and Laura returned to what appeared to be the hospital room, but Jon recognized it as a second, more solid layer of Mrs. Longbottom’s consciousness.

Jon and Laura entered Mrs. Longbottom’s chaotic consciousness to investigate it, while Jon explained the elaborate plans he had arranged around Harry and asked Laura to analyze their surroundings. Laura concluded that their consciousnesses had intersected and that she might eventually find a way out.

• Jon reassured Laura that he had prepared for their mission and led her through the ward window into the consciousness space.
• Laura spotted a figure she recognized as Mr. Lockhart, and Jon explained that he was a substitute Lockhart had left behind.
• Jon described the layers of influence he had arranged around Harry, intended to lead Voldemort’s magical consciousness toward Sirius.
• Jon and Laura walked through the unstable consciousness space, and he asked Laura how she understood their environment.
• Laura said the space resembled a dream formed from Mrs. Longbottom’s consciousness and that their subtle connection currently prevented them from leaving.

Laura theorized that Jon and the others were trapped in Mrs. Longbottom’s stable consciousness space, where leaving might send them into deeper layers instead. She warned that reaching the deepest layer could be dangerous, but might be necessary for them to escape.

• Jon said they needed to search faster and avoid becoming trapped, whether or not they could cure Mrs. Longbottom.
• Laura explained that the setting might be a consciousness space rather than a dream, and that ordinary people could still possess magical elements through their souls.
• Laura hypothesized that Mrs. Longbottom’s consciousness remained stable despite her madness, and that magical disorder could disrupt the soul and thoughts.
• Laura proposed that trying to leave might push them into deeper layers of consciousness, and said they might need to reach the deepest layer to escape.
• Laura warned that navigating intermediary consciousness was difficult and that collisions between souls could annihilate them.

Jon and Laura investigated a consciousness space that Laura suspected belonged to Mrs. Longbottom and included a projection of Mr. Lumbaton. As Laura searched for a passage to deeper consciousness, Jon reflected on his understanding of the magical world and the bloodline claims Zhu Sha had made about him.

• Laura explained that consciousness spaces could briefly integrate when people exchanged control, often strengthening trust between lovers.
• Jon and Laura concluded that Mrs. Longbottom's consciousness space had likely opened a passage to accommodate Mr. Lumbaton's consciousness projection.
• Jon urged Laura to find the passage to the deepest layer while they stayed hidden from Mr. Lumbaton.
• Laura searched for the space's anchor point while Jon considered how the wider magical world differed from the books he knew.
• Jon recalled Zhu Sha's claims about his ancestry and reasoned that his soul might remain that of a descendant of China despite questions about his bloodline.

Jon and Laura searched for a way out of the Longbottoms’ chaotic consciousness while estimating how long they had been trapped. Jon explained that his connection to his body had been cut off, and Laura theorized that the consciousness space had preserved its contents because the Longbottoms’ madness had prevented new thoughts from entering.

• Jon considered whether he had rushed the restoration of the magical world, but concluded that the Azure Deep Sea’s approval meant his actions would not cause serious harm.
• Jon recalled placing magical restrictions on the Prophecy Orbs with the administrator key he had taken to protect those outside if he could not escape.
• Jon asked Laura how long they had been in the consciousness space, and she estimated that two or three days had passed based on the dissipation of her power.
• Jon told Laura that the chaotic consciousness had blocked his connection to his original body, leaving him and Laura unable to contact the outside world.
• Laura reasoned that the Longbottoms’ madness had kept new content from entering their consciousness, allowing old memories and thoughts to remain instead of being cleared away.

Laura tried to find a way through the madman’s consciousness space while Jon guarded her and examined its workings. After Laura recovered her magical power, Jon judged that the changing turbulence meant the consciousness world might still be salvageable.

• Laura struggled to find a point that would let them enter the next space, so Jon told her to rest and recover her magical power.
• Laura lay down to sleep while Jon wandered the consciousness space under concealment, beyond the notice of Mr. and Mrs. Longbottom.
• Jon considered how the Magic Net could merge with Hogwarts, help restore magical power, and work alongside the internet through people as its terminals.
• Jon observed that the shifting clouds reflected changes in the turbulent currents of consciousness, which gave him hope that the space could be saved.
• Laura returned and told Jon that she had recovered.