Chapter Summaries

Linley tested Irina’s Ice Armor with his Alchemy Formations, then watched her explore new ways to wield the Power of Cold Ice. After discovering its strength and the limits of her conjured ice sword, Irina asked Linley to forge her a weapon that could hold more power, and he agreed.

• Linley surrounded Irina with three Alchemy Formations and bombarded her Ice Armor until she called for him to stop.
• Irina tested ways to use the Power of Cold Ice, dashing through three training dummies and freezing them in her wake.
• Irina formed weapons and controllable constructs from ice, then froze two moving training dummies with a sword qi attack.
• Irina realized her ice sword could not hold as much Power of Cold Ice as a true weapon and asked Linley to forge her a melee weapon.
• Linley agreed and asked Irina what kind of weapon she wanted.

Linley and Irina traveled to the Scandinavian Mountains to find Ice Crystal Wood for a spear that could channel Irina’s Power of Cold Ice. They reached the tree and reunited Qing Nü with the Bowtruckles living there.

• Irina chose a spear, and Linley proposed making it from Ice Crystal Wood in the Scandinavian Mountains.
• Linley asked Rowena to arrange a Cross-border Portkey, and she secured one for him and Irina the next morning.
• Linley and Irina left Fli Manor and used the Portkey to reach the Scandinavian Peninsula.
• Irina led Linley through the mountains, bringing Qing Nü along to visit its family.
• Qing Nü ran to the Ice Crystal Tree, and the Bowtruckles emerged to welcome it and inspect Linley.

Irina and Linley persuaded the Bowtruckles to move into Irina’s suitcase, then transplanted the Ice Crystal Tree into its magical grove. With the creatures and tree settled safely inside, they left the suitcase and prepared to return from the Scandinavian Peninsula.

• Irina offered the Bowtruckles pill bugs, and they brought her a branch of Ice Crystal Wood.
• Linley suggested moving the Ice Crystal Tree into Irina’s suitcase, and Irina had Qing Nü ask the Bowtruckles to come with them.
• The Bowtruckles agreed, entered the suitcase, and found homes among its magical trees.
• Linley used magic to lift the Ice Crystal Tree from the soil without damaging its roots and carried it into the suitcase.
• Irina enlarged a clearing with the Undetectable Extension Charm, and Linley planted the Ice Crystal Tree there as Bowtruckles settled on it and nearby trees.
• Linley and Irina left the suitcase and headed for the return Cross-border Portkey.

Linley crafted an Ice Crystal Spear for Irina by combining Ice Crystal Wood with Mysterious Iron and Eternal Ice, then engraving it with nearly two hundred Alchemy Formations. After finishing the spear, he gave it to Irina to test.

• Linley and Irina flew down the mountain and used a Cross-border Portkey to return to Rohl Manor before midnight.
• Linley shaped the Ice Crystal Wood into a spear and used Spell Alchemy to fuse it with Mysterious Iron and Eternal Ice.
• Linley completed the spear’s Alchemy Formations the next day, adding runes for cold ice, freezing, sharpness, and other effects.
• Linley handed the finished Ice Crystal Spear to Irina and asked her to try it out.

Linley gave Irina the Ice Crystal Spear, and she bound it to herself before testing its power against him. After Irina froze Linley with her strongest attack, they returned to Hogwarts Castle for the start of the school term.

• Linley explained the Ice Crystal Spear’s blood-binding enchantments, and Irina bonded it to herself.
• Linley and Irina tested the spear at Roer Castle’s training ground, where Irina used it to block his Cutting Charm.
• Irina unleashed Primal Ice, Biting North Wind and froze Linley in an ice sculpture, then worked to thaw him.
• Irina stored the Ice Crystal Spear in her enchanted backpack, and she and Linley stayed at Roer Castle for another day.
• Linley and Irina took the Hogwarts Express back to Hogwarts Castle and returned to their dormitories to rest before classes.

Irina and Hermione discussed Harry's Firebolt and Buckbeak's upcoming trial as they walked to Hagrid's class. Hermione began questioning her faith in the Ministry's fairness, while Irina realized that Linley's Roll Family might be able to help Buckbeak, though she did not want to pressure Linley or Irvin.

• Hermione told Irina that she had reported Harry's Firebolt to Professor McGonagall because she feared it might be cursed, and Irina encouraged her to apologize to Harry and Ron for overlooking their feelings.
• Hermione explained that Buckbeak would face trial in April after Malfoy's father complained, and Irina warned that the Malfoys' influence could sway the officials.
• Irina reminded Hermione that Minister Fudge had allowed Dementors to roam Hogsmeade, then revealed that she and Linley had overheard Fudge's conversation at The Three Broomsticks.
• Hermione despaired that Buckbeak was doomed, and Irina realized that Linley's Roll Family and Irvin's Fli Family might use their influence to help him, though neither was obliged to do so.

Linley tested a component of Purgatory Demon Puppet, hoping to derive a powerful modern spell from its magic. He discovered that its gray magic power could animate objects and make them obey him.

• Irina and Hermione attended Hagrid's Salamander lesson, and Hermione reconciled with Harry and Ron after they apologized to each other.
• Irina and Linley met outside the Room of Requirement during a free period and entered to practice magic.
• Irina worked on converting her magic power into the Power of Cold Ice while Linley summoned the gray magic power from Purgatory Demon Puppet.
• Linley sent the gray magic power into a training dummy, which came alive and obeyed his command to lie down.

Linley experimented with the hell magic from Purgatory Demon Puppet and used it to forge a black spear from flames. He discovered that any wielder could command its flames and named the spell Purgatory Flame Martial Forging.

• Linley considered whether the gray magic could grant souls to living beings and decided to test it later in the Forbidden Forest.
• Linley shaped compressed flames into a spear and infused it with gray magic from hell.
• Linley held the black spear and learned that its wielder could control its flames and unleash them as independent attacks.
• Linley named his new weapon-forging spell Purgatory Flame Martial Forging.

Linley and Irina devised a plan to save Buckbeak by shifting responsibility for the incident back to Hagrid, while relying on Dumbledore’s support to protect him from severe punishment. After discussing the plan with Hagrid, Irina learned that he readily agreed to take responsibility.

• Linley put away his newly forged spear and prepared to leave the Room of Requirement with Irina.
• Irina asked Linley to help Buckbeak, who was facing a Ministry of Magic hearing.
• Linley proposed using the Roll Family’s influence and contacting Lucius Malfoy to redirect the case toward Hagrid, with Dumbledore’s support limiting Hagrid’s likely punishment.
• Irina objected to risking Hagrid’s safety, but Linley explained that he would also work to reduce Hagrid’s responsibility and help him return to his post.
• After lunch, Irina visited Hagrid’s Hut, explained the plan, and heard Hagrid immediately agree to take responsibility so Buckbeak would be safe.

Linley and Rowena arranged for Hagrid to accept responsibility so the Ministry would drop its case against Buckbeak, while Dumbledore protected Hagrid from a severe punishment. Buckbeak was cleared, Hagrid received a suspension and fine, and Harry continued improving his Patronus Charm with Lupin.

• Hagrid agreed to accept a six-month suspension to protect Buckbeak, and Linley sent Rowena his prepared letter.
• Rowena reached an agreement with Lucius Malfoy, whose family and the Roll Family used their Ministry influence to redirect blame toward Hagrid and clear Buckbeak.
• Hagrid told Dumbledore he was willing to take responsibility, and Dumbledore guessed that someone had helped him and agreed not to interfere with the Ministry’s decision.
• The Ministry canceled Buckbeak’s trial, then ruled that Hagrid was responsible for Malfoy’s injury and gave him a suspension pending investigation and a five-thousand-Galleon fine.
• The Slytherin Quidditch Team narrowly defeated Ravenclaw’s Quidditch Team, while Harry practiced his Patronus Charm against a Boggart shaped like a Dementor.

Harry made progress toward forming a Patronus resembling his father’s stag, while Hagrid told his friends that he would be suspended pending investigation and Buckbeak’s charges had been dropped. The next day, Newt Scamander arrived as the substitute professor for Magical Creatures class.

• Harry and Professor Lupin celebrated as Harry’s Patronus mist began to form the outline of a stag.
• Hagrid told Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Irina that he would miss the next day’s class while suspended pending investigation, but Buckbeak was no longer in danger.
• Hermione realized Irina had asked Linley to help clear Buckbeak’s name, and Irina explained that Hagrid was expected to return next school year.
• Hagrid kept the identity of the substitute professor secret, leaving Irina eager to meet him.
• Newt Scamander arrived to teach Gryffindor’s Magical Creatures class, and Irina welcomed him as the students recognized the author of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

Newt Scamander began teaching Magical Creatures, teasing Malfoy over the Buckbeak incident before introducing the class to a Niffler. Hermione and Irina shared their knowledge and earned Gryffindor points as Newt invited the students to contribute.

• Newt introduced himself as the substitute Magical Creatures professor and hinted that third-year students might not control themselves around dangerous creatures.
• Newt indirectly mocked Malfoy for provoking Buckbeak, drawing laughter from the class.
• Newt opened Irina's suitcase and presented a Niffler as the lesson's creature.
• Hermione described the Niffler's characteristics, named herself, and earned five points for Gryffindor.
• Irina explained the Niffler's connection to the invention of Apparition, earning five points for Gryffindor, and Newt awarded additional points to students who contributed further details.

Newt impressed the students with magical creatures in his first classes, while Irina encouraged him. At the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw Quidditch match, Harry drove off Malfoy’s Dementor disguise with a Patronus and caught the Snitch, winning the match for Gryffindor.

• The Niffler repeatedly disappeared and reappeared during Newt’s lesson, amusing the students and landing on Malfoy’s head before appearing in Irina’s hand.
• After the class, Newt asked Irina how he had done, and she reassured him that he had taught wonderfully.
• Newt’s later lessons with Nifflers, Bowtruckles, and Mooncalves pleased the students, while Malfoy, Goyle, and Crabbe prepared to frighten Harry by dressing as Dementors.
• Harry calmly cast Expecto Patronum at the disguised trio, sending them tumbling from the stands, then caught the Golden Snitch before Cho Chang.
• Gryffindor won the match, and Professor Lupin praised Harry’s nearly complete Patronus.

After Gryffindor won the Quidditch match, Irina met Sirius Black in the Shrieking Shack and told him to stage an attack in Ron’s dormitory to draw attention to Peter Pettigrew and the case against him. Sirius realized Irina and Linley were trying to clear his name, and the chapter left him considering the plan for Harry’s sake.

• Harry learned that the supposed Dementors were Malfoy, his friends, and Marcus Flint in disguise, and Professor McGonagall punished them for trying to sabotage Gryffindor’s Seeker.
• Gryffindor celebrated its Quidditch victory while Fred and George used Linley’s Marauder’s Map to fetch treats from Hogsmeade.
• Irina slipped away from the celebration, entered the passage beneath the Whomping Willow, and met Sirius Black in the Shrieking Shack.
• Irina told Sirius to sneak into the Gryffindor dormitory and pretend to attack Ron’s bed curtains, where Peter Pettigrew was held in an alchemical cage.
• Sirius wanted to kill Peter, but Irina reminded him that exposing Peter and clearing Sirius’s name would give Harry a chance to know his godfather.

Irina helped Sirius prepare to enter Hogwarts, while Linley secretly fortified the Shrieking Shack for the coming confrontation with Peter Pettigrew. Sirius found Peter caged in Ron’s bed and left without killing him, but his repeated break-ins shook the British wizarding world and revived scrutiny of his old case.

• Irina told Sirius she was helping him to make up for regrets and gave him details about Harry’s dormitory and Ron’s bed.
• Linley waited for Sirius to leave the Shrieking Shack, then entered and secretly prepared the shack with Alchemy Formations and an awakened training dummy.
• Sirius broke into Harry’s dormitory, found Peter Pettigrew trapped in an alchemical cage on Ron’s bed, and left after choosing not to kill him.
• Sirius narrowly escaped Hogwarts, and his repeated intrusions prompted British wizards to question how he had breached the school and revisit his case from more than a decade earlier.

Public doubt over Sirius Black’s conviction pressured Cornelius Fudge, who stationed Dementors in Hogsmeade after Dumbledore refused to let them return to Hogwarts. At Hogwarts, Newt continued teaching students about magical creatures, introducing them to a Demiguise.

• A Quibbler article and rumors about Peter Pettigrew’s survival fueled demands for a retrial of Sirius Black, who had been imprisoned without a formal trial.
• Cornelius Fudge repeatedly asked Dumbledore to let Dementors return to Hogwarts, but Dumbledore refused.
• Fudge stationed Dementors in Hogsmeade, disrupting village life and driving Hogwarts students away from its shops and pubs.
• Newt introduced third-year Gryffindor and Slytherin students to the gentle Demiguise and explained that its fur could be used to weave Invisibility Cloaks.

Newt formally asked Irina to become his student and successor in caring for magical creatures, and she accepted. After introducing her to the creatures in his suitcase, Newt hinted that the wizarding world faced future dangers and asked her to return after dinner.

• Newt praised Irina's talent and love for magical creatures, then asked her to become his student and successor.
• Irina accepted Newt's offer, and he invited her to his office that afternoon to introduce her to his companions as his student.
• Newt showed Irina the magical creatures in his suitcase and said she might someday need to take over protecting them.
• The suitcase creatures welcomed Irina warmly, especially the Zouwu, which reluctantly returned to its living area when she left.
• Newt asked Irina to return after dinner, and she hurried to the Great Hall in time for the meal to begin.

Newt taught Irina the theory and techniques behind his powerful Undetectable Extension Charm, and she quickly advanced through intensive study. Meanwhile, Linley tested the strange magical power from hell on Acromantulas and discovered it let him control a host and see through its eyes, though a powerful wizard could expel it.

• Irina visited Newt after dinner, and he promised her a midnight snack before teaching her his Powerful Undetectable Extension Charm.
• Newt explained that his suitcase’s Pocket Dimension depended on both the Extension Charm and alchemy, then gave Irina a reading list and his old practice notes.
• Irina finished the assigned books in three days and, after a week of study, could expand a suitcase’s interior to the size of a villa.
• Linley spent several nights testing his summoned magical power on Acromantulas in the Forbidden Forest.
• Linley discovered that the power let him control an infected creature and see through its eyes, but a powerful wizard could force it out of their body.

Linley created the Soul Insertion Charm and used a weaker version to secretly obtain Peter Pettigrew’s vision, giving him a way to track Peter without alerting him. Linley returned to his usual routine as Easter approached, while the professors buried the students in homework amid the danger at Hogwarts.

• Linley named his new spell the Soul Insertion Charm after discovering it could grant souls to objects or attach to living beings to control them and access their vision.
• Linley left a monitoring spell outside the Gryffindor Common Room to alert him if Ron took Scabbers out in the alchemical cage.
• Linley sneaked into Harry and the others’ dormitory and cast the vision-only spell on Peter Pettigrew, who was trapped in the cage in his rat form.
• Linley confirmed that he could call up and dismiss Peter’s vision without Peter noticing the spell.
• As Easter arrived, Linley and Irina spent most of their days completing the heavy homework assigned by the professors.

Linley and Irina prepared to steer the altered school-year events back toward the main storyline as exams approached. After Harry recounted a changed prophecy about a servant escaping and reuniting with the Dark Lord, Irina worried that their plan might fail.

• Gryffindor defeated Slytherin in a brutal Quidditch final after Harry caught the Golden Snitch.
• Linley and Irina met in the Room of Requirement and planned to bring Ministry officials to Hogwarts so they could witness Peter Pettigrew being captured.
• Linley sent a letter to Roer Castle, and officials arranged for Minister for Magic Fudge to visit Hogwarts and assess Hagrid's qualifications.
• Harry told Irina, Ron, and Hermione about Professor Trelawney's prophecy, which included unfamiliar references to wear and the Sword of Damocles.
• Irina wondered whether the changed prophecy meant their plan could fail.