Chapter Summaries

Jon went to the bookstore to meet Lockhart, where he waited in the psychology section and watched Lockhart arrive. Lockhart recognized Jon as familiar, but Jon exposed his identity with a single sentence.

• Jon arranged for his maternal grandmother to keep Lynn Smith at the manor so she could not spread news of Lockhart's visit.
• Jon entered the bookstore and settled into a secluded booth with a psychology book while waiting for Lockhart.
• Jon read about profiling and wondered why Lockhart was so interested in psychology books.
• Lockhart came upstairs, noticed Jon, and struggled to remember where he had seen him before.
• Jon looked up and identified Lockhart despite his disguise of casual clothes and sunglasses.

Jon met Gilderoy Lockhart at a bookstore and tried to approach him as a potential teacher, but Lockhart mistook their conversation for the start of a friendship. The chapter ended with Lockhart criticizing Jon’s dismissal of Muggle scholarship as useless.

• Lockhart recognized Jon at the bookstore but could not remember where they had met.
• Jon claimed he identified Lockhart through a magical technique called scent comparison, surprising Lockhart with his apparent skill.
• Lockhart learned that Jon was a Hufflepuff with a Muggle father and became interested in discussing Muggle scholarship with him.
• Jon clarified that he had come to attend Lockhart’s book signing and browse the bookstore, not to make a friend.
• Jon said behavioral analysis had no practical use among wizards, and Lockhart objected to his attitude.

Jon realized Dumbledore had forced Lockhart to teach at Hogwarts by exploiting his secrets, and decided to use the same leverage himself. He ended the chapter by threatening to reveal Lockhart’s true experiences to Rita Skeeter.

• Lockhart explained how studying behavior and impersonation had helped him understand people and build convincing identities.
• Lockhart described Frank William Abagnale, a con artist who had impersonated several professions before becoming a security consultant.
• Jon recognized that Dumbledore had forced Lockhart into his position at Hogwarts by holding evidence against him.
• Jon threatened to tell Rita Skeeter about Lockhart’s real experiences, and Lockhart’s smile turned ferocious.

Jon used his knowledge of Lockhart’s past to propose hiring him as a private tutor, with Memory Magic as the real draw. Lockhart accepted the opportunity in his mind after realizing Jon belonged to the Hufflepuff family and imagining the fame and fortune that could follow.

• Jon calmed Lockhart and explained that he wanted to discuss matters peacefully rather than threaten him.
• Jon praised Lockhart’s skill in Memory Magic and asked him to become a private tutor for his family.
• Lockhart left the meeting pondering how Jon had learned his secrets and whether the offer could be avoided.
• Lockhart read the note bearing Jon Smith Hufflepuff’s name and recognized the significance of the ancient family.
• Lockhart decided that tutoring Jon could bring him the attention and money he wanted.

Jon shopped for his little sister, waited for Lockhart’s answer, and received his acceptance before leaving Manchester by train with Bella. Anthony departed for the United States, while Lockhart was told to make his way to the Smith Family Old Manor and later Jon’s Biro Manor.

• Jon bought storybooks and toys for his little sister, and told Anthony that Lockhart would work for him as a teacher rather than join the company.
• Jon considered the dangers facing his family and explained that he wanted Lockhart’s help protecting his father, Love Smith.
• Lockhart spent the night writing letters, then sent Jon a reply accepting the invitation.
• Jon replied with the address of the Smith Family Old Manor and planned for Lockhart to travel there separately.
• The next morning, Anthony drove Jon and Bella to the Manchester railway station, where he parted from them and left for the United States.
• Jon and Bella entered the station to catch the train home.

Jon and Bella met Joanne, a woman who recognized Jon from a past trip and said she had once worked with his mother. The chapter ended with Jon reading her card identifying her as an MI0 Special Investigator.

• Jon and Bella waited for their delayed tourist train in a luxury waiting room before boarding.
• Joanne sat across from Jon and Bella and addressed Jon by name.
• Joanne introduced herself to Bella and said she had worked with Mrs. Smith and met Jon in 1989.
• Jon remembered meeting Joanne before and questioned her claim that she had been his mother's colleague.
• Joanne explained that she was not a witch and gave Jon her card, which identified her as an MI0 Special Investigator.

Jon met Joanne, a former MI0 investigator who was temporarily away from the organization and traveling to London. She revealed that meeting Jon had inspired her to write stories about wizards, and she introduced herself as Joanne Kathleen Rowling.

• Joanne told Jon that she was still an MI0 investigator but had temporarily resigned and was preparing to work as a teaching assistant at the University of Manchester.
• Joanne explained that she had once delivered an ancient prophecy from Portugal to Jon’s mother, and Jon recalled that Lockhart had just left the teaching assistant position.
• Joanne told Jon that she had long dreamed of writing fantasy stories but had struggled to find suitable material.
• Joanne said that meeting Jon two years earlier had inspired her to write about wizards, and she revealed her full name as Joanne Kathleen Rowling.

Jon struggled to understand why Joanne Kathleen Rowling, a woman whose life and ideas resembled those of J.K. Rowling from his former world, had appeared in his new magical world. He asked Helga about parallel spaces, and she challenged him to consider whether Magic Fairy Castle was real.

• After meeting Joanne on the train, Jon returned to his manor unsettled and went to sleep so he could enter Magic Fairy Castle.
• Jon told Helga that he had encountered something confusing but could not yet explain it, then asked whether she had heard of parallel spaces.
• Jon explained his doubts about parallel worlds and wondered how Joanne could exist in a world shaped by J.K. Rowling's work.
• Helga questioned Jon's assumptions about reality and asked whether he thought Magic Fairy Castle was real.

Helga explained to Jon that reality mattered because people experienced and believed in it, then showed him how a world grew from a foundational point into branching possibilities. She left him with the claim that parallel-world theory was fundamentally unreasonable because this world was the only one.

• Helga told Jon that a world had meaning if he experienced it as real and believed it was worth fighting for.
• Jon wondered whether this world was the only one, and Helga inadvertently read his thoughts because of a side effect of her soul research.
• Helga said she had seen the world's true nature after reaching Legendary and explained that parallel-world theory was improper.
• Helga illustrated a world growing from a foundational cell into a precarious structure of possibilities that could collapse and annihilate its inhabitants.
• Helga concluded that Jon's parallel-world theory was fundamentally unreasonable.

Helga showed Jon her deductions about the world's origins, depicting reality as a tree of possibilities pruned by forces like gardeners. The world rewound into primordial chaos, and Jon watched as it began expanding again, waiting to see what came next.

• Jon asked Helga how derivative worlds could exist if the world was destined to perish.
• Helga demonstrated how possible worlds grew like saplings before unseen forces pruned them into a surviving world-tree.
• Helga rewound the world-tree through time until space and time dissolved into primordial chaos.
• Jon compared the vision with creation myths and concluded that a force had guided the world's earliest development.
• Helga brought Jon into the void beyond the floating island and told him to watch as the world began expanding again.

Jon explained how intelligent life, gods, and Legendaries shaped the world’s fate through accumulated Repair Quota and Destruction Trend. He then questioned the system’s account of the world, insisting that Earth was round.

• Jon recalled how a Creator’s great flood destroyed much of civilization and led survivors to revere the gods.
• Jon explained that gods and powerful Legendaries became bound to the world’s fate and had to act in accordance with its development.
• Jon described how positive actions accumulated Repair Quota while destructive actions accumulated Destruction Trend, with the two forces balancing the world’s course.
• Jon objected to what he had observed, saying that he remembered Earth was round.

Helga showed Jon the ancient world before it shattered and explained that the gods vanished from Earth afterward. She revealed that the wizard who founded the Papacy had disappeared after becoming a god, then warned that he had come.

• Helga expanded Jon’s vision to show him the original world, a flat plane beneath a blue barrier with stars drifting beyond it.
• Helga changed Jon’s body into a tailcoat with a blank space reserved for his Guardian Spirit Totem.
• The world shattered into fragments, leaving smaller worlds and stars within the surrounding barrier.
• Helga explained that Earth was a fragment of a greater world and that no trace of gods remained after the world changed.
• Helga said the founder of the Papacy had vanished after becoming a god and reaching for the Creator’s and Maker’s authority.
• Helga warned Jon that the founder had come.

Helga showed Jon the world’s true form with the Azure Deep Sea’s consent, then pulled his soul from his body and ordered him to summon a Patronus within an hour. Jon struggled to cast the spell as Helga urged him to stop relying on happy memories.

• Helga opened a gap in the sealed space, allowing the Azure Deep Sea’s will to enter and witness her showing Jon the world’s true appearance.
• Jon saw Earth concealed among countless points of light, surrounded by barriers, with derivative worlds growing from the World Tree.
• Helga said she had summoned the world’s will for Jon, then strengthened his spirit and pulled his soul from his body.
• Helga gave Jon one hour to return to his body and instructed him to summon his Patronus.
• Jon cast Expecto Patronum but failed to summon one, and Helga told him the spell was not just about recalling happiness.

Jon tried to summon a Patronus while Helga restrained the unstable Azure Deep Sea trace in his soul. The trace revealed a vast array of possible creatures, leaving Helga puzzled by the blue phantom forming around him.

• Helga stopped Jon's magical power surge and explained that he had left his soul name in the Azure Deep Sea.
• Jon struggled to cast the Guardian Spell, and Helga insisted that he summon a Patronus before she taught him Defense Magic.
• Jon doubted that he had a Patronus, but Helga said the Azure Deep Sea trace would let him summon it if he truly wanted to succeed.
• Jon cast "Expecto Patronum," and a deep blue glow emerged from his brow as Helga sealed it around him.
• The blue light showed Jon countless lifeforms recorded by the Azure Deep Sea, and Helga stared at the resulting phantom in confusion.

With Helga’s imprint gone, Jon had to choose a Patronus from the remaining totems inside a shrinking blue barrier. The tiny black bird defeated the honey badger by swallowing the last of [Azure Deep Sea]’s power, leaving Jon with the victorious bird as his transformed Patronus.

• Helga’s consciousness explained that its help was over and left Jon with the remaining power of [Azure Deep Sea] to give a Patronus tangible form.
• Jon found six or seven potential Patronuses in the barrier, including Helga’s honey badger, a sika deer, a white horse, a dolphin, a sea turtle, and a small black bird.
• The shrinking space eliminated the sea turtle, then the sika deer and white horse, while the black bird drove out the dolphin.
• Jon hoped the honey badger would win, but the black bird evaded it, swallowed the blue-glowing pearl that held [Azure Deep Sea]’s residual power, and caused the space to collapse.
• The honey badger vanished, and the transformed black bird hopped in front of Jon to flaunt its victory.

After waking from a three-day sleep, Jon met with his new magic teacher, Gilderoy Lockhart, and settled back into life at Biro Manor. Helga then stepped out of her portrait, leaving Jon shocked and asking how she could do it.

• Jon woke on the night of the third day, changed his clothes, and invited Lockhart to dinner.
• Jon ate ravenously while Lockhart behaved cautiously under pressure from Kaledi.
• Lockhart returned to his room to prepare lessons based on the progress Jon had claimed to make.
• Jon went to the study, tried sketching, and then fiddled with the desk lamp.
• Helga appeared in the study by stepping out of her portrait, and Jon asked whether she could now leave paintings.

Helga explained how she could briefly leave her portrait and showed Jon a map of derived worlds scattered across Earth. She clarified that derived worlds depended on the main world's energy and left Jon free to ask more questions.

• Helga told Jon that improved magical conditions let her project herself out of the portrait, though she could barely affect objects and was confined to his study.
• Jon offered Helga fruit, but she explained that she could not eat normally and made the fruit shrivel by drawing on its magic.
• Helga displayed a map showing derived worlds around the globe and told Jon that most had appeared hundreds of years earlier.
• Helga explained that derived worlds could be created or formed through the World Will, but they depended on the main world and would end if its energy fell dormant.
• Helga told Jon that stories about reincarnation with past-life memories likely reflected glimpses of possible futures, then asked whether he had more questions.

Jon received a Law Imprint from the trace of [Azure Deep Sea], giving him one chance to communicate with any conscious being. After Helga vanished, Jon rested and woke to a new day.

• Jon summoned his black bird Patronus and showed Helga the lingering ripple left by [Azure Deep Sea].
• Helga deciphered the ripple and gave Jon a Deep Sea Miracle · Communication Imprint.
• The imprint melted into Jon's hand and revealed that it could let him understand and be understood by any living being or conscious existence once.
• Helga disappeared into the portrait, and Jon tidied his desk before going to sleep.
• Jon slept through the night, woke after the sun had risen high, washed up, and left his room.

Stephen arrived at Jon's manor for the holidays, where Jon teased him about his growth and offered him a break from lessons. The chapter left Stephen exploring the estate while Jon returned to the study, keeping his Hufflepuff descent secret.

• Stephen arrived through the fireplace, and Kaledi greeted him and showed him where Jon was waiting.
• Stephen noticed Jon had grown taller, and Jon realized his clothes had become too short.
• Jon told Stephen he could explore the manor and visit his cousin Bella, while warning him to keep Lockhart's presence from his mother.
• Jon lent Stephen Muggle clothes, and Stephen changed before heading into the garden.
• Jon returned to the study and reflected on why he kept his Hufflepuff descent known only to a few people.

Lockhart ignored the House-elf’s warning and used magic to spy into Jon’s study, where Helga Hufflepuff’s portrait struck him with a painful warning. He steadied himself and hoped to keep his job as Jon came to check on him.

• Lockhart had gone to the Muggle world to recover from the effects of altering memories after secretly killing wizards whose experiences he stole.
• Curious about the Hufflepuff family and Jon’s manor, Lockhart used tiny ice mirrors to look into the study while Jon was away.
• Helga Hufflepuff’s portrait noticed Lockhart, crushed his mirrors, and pierced his mind with a sharp burst of pain.
• Lockhart recognized the portrait as Helga Hufflepuff and decided never to approach the study again, treating her warning as a blessing.
• Jon checked on the trembling Lockhart and asked whether they should skip their class that evening.