Chapter Summaries

Vaughn agreed to Old Crouch’s plan to involve the England Branch of the International Confederation of Wizards in the Magic Exposure Incident and the International Magical Exchange Event. Meanwhile, Li Nanyu and his student Cheng Quandao prepared to meet Vaughn, leaving Cheng determined to judge the famed young wizard for himself.

• Old Crouch proposed bringing the England Branch into the effort, and Vaughn agreed to handle it with Dumbledore.
• Li Nanyu studied intelligence about Vaughn Weasley while observing England and considering the possibility of a European alliance.
• Cheng Quandao told Li Nanyu that the Confederation branch had approved their request to meet Vaughn on the condition that an official attend.
• Cheng Quandao objected to the condition, but Li Nanyu told him to accept it and criticized his rigid view of political relationships.
• Cheng Quandao reflected on his jealousy of Vaughn and explained that he had joined the Potion Exchange Event to meet him in person.

Cheng Quandao accompanied Li Nanyu to meet Vaughn Weasley, expecting a diplomatic magical contest, but Weasley’s immense fog spell overwhelmed him before they could meet. Li Nanyu recognized the fog as real water modeled on cloud magic and regarded it as both a warning and proof of Weasley’s formidable ability.

• Li Nanyu told Cheng Quandao that he would have to liaise with Vaughn Weasley by breaking his spell during a diplomatic display of magic.
• Cheng Quandao accepted the challenge and spent the evening reviewing his spells and high school knowledge.
• The next morning, Li Nanyu led Cheng Quandao through London’s thick fog and revealed that Weasley had hidden the meeting place within it.
• Cheng Quandao realized the fog contained real water, and Li Nanyu explained that creating it required extraordinary control over matter.
• Li Nanyu identified the fog as Weasley’s attempt to reproduce the effects of a cloud over the city and took it as a warning against using the Chinese cloud chariots aggressively.

Cheng Quandao and Li Nanyu traced Vaughn Weasley’s citywide fog spell to a dimensional doorway and crossed it to meet him and Dumbledore. The chapter ended with Dumbledore asking Vaughn to stop the magic now that Li and his student had arrived.

• Li Nanyu challenged Cheng Quandao to recognize the gap between his sheltered outlook and Vaughn Weasley’s ambition to face coming changes.
• Li Nanyu used Golden Aura to reveal that the fog’s moisture followed a vast vortex shaped by Vaughn’s Space Magic.
• At the fog’s source, Li Nanyu entered his Legendary boundary dimension and realized Vaughn had placed his final question there to test him.
• Li Nanyu sealed Cheng Quandao’s senses and led him through Vaughn’s dimensional door to a pier beside a violently churning river.
• Cheng Quandao saw Dumbledore and another figure at the end of the walkway, and Dumbledore called for Vaughn to stop the fog spell.

Vaughn Weasley met Li Nanyu, who explained that China had sent its finest young wizards to take part in Vaughn’s Potion Exchange Event as a serious act of trust. Li began revealing the history behind Wilkinson and the DeSantis, leaving Vaughn to hear how China and America faced the Confederation’s pressure around 1940.

• Cheng Quandao froze when he met Vaughn Weasley, then recognized that Vaughn’s indifference resembled the way Cheng had once treated his former playmates.
• Dumbledore introduced Vaughn to Li Nanyu and took Cheng Quandao aside, recalling a Chinese friend named Cheng and learning that the Confederation had executed Qi Practitioners during World War II.
• Li Nanyu said China had entrusted its promising young wizards to Vaughn, and Vaughn asked what China wanted from him.
• Li asked Vaughn about his understanding of magic, the world, the future, and Destiny, then explained that Wilkinson was a Legendary Wizard who had escaped Death, like the DeSantis.
• Li described the devastation of the Muggle world and the Confederation’s campaign against China, then said the crisis peaked in 1940 as the Confederation blocked China’s avenues for help and indulged Grindelwald’s ideology.

Li Nanyu told Vaughn Weasley that Death had died long ago and that ancient alchemists had been bewitched into pursuing the Golden Soul. Their discussion left Vaughn shaken by Li Nanyu’s claim that the Golden Soul had never been born in their timeline.

• Li Nanyu explained that Grindelwald had served the Confederation’s interests and that a proposed American alliance had failed because Wilkinson represented the New Gospel Society, not the Magical Congress of America.
• Vaughn admitted that he had encountered Death, but Li Nanyu insisted Death had died long ago and challenged Dumbledore’s account of Death’s origin.
• Vaughn described Dumbledore’s explanation that Death had been born from Nicolas Flamel’s dream, and Li Nanyu traced the idea to ancient alchemists who had tried to create the Golden Soul.
• Li Nanyu argued that the alchemists must have witnessed the Golden Soul before pursuing their plan, prompting Vaughn and the distant Dumbledore to cry out, “Impossible!”
• Vaughn’s Magic Power distorted the air and made the nearby water boil as Li Nanyu argued that the Golden Soul had never been born in their timeline.

Li Nanyu explained to Vaughn how the golden soul theory linked the Creator, destiny, and a single future, while acknowledging that the Creator might be deliberately influencing events. Vaughn spotted a contradiction in that account and began questioning why an inevitable Creator would need to interfere at all.

• Li Nanyu suggested that the golden soul could be born in the future and travel backward through the aether, prompting Vaughn to reconsider his assumptions about the Creator.
• Li Nanyu explained that destiny was an impersonal manifestation of the universe's movement toward the Creator, whom he described as the only future.
• Vaughn worried that this account made the future seem inescapably fixed, but Li Nanyu argued that a single outcome was not necessarily predetermined.
• Vaughn asked whether the Creator had beguiled ancient Legends and the New Gospel Society, and Li Nanyu said they suspected the Creator was actively bringing about his future birth.
• Li Nanyu described the Creator's birth as a law of nature that drew all matter together, and Vaughn noticed that an inevitable birth seemed to make the Creator's interference unnecessary.

Vaughn learned from Li Nanyu that souls and free will could act as variables in an otherwise determined universe, and that China had been searching among English wizards born in 1980 for an extraordinary variable. After meeting Li, Vaughn realized he was likely the person Li meant, while Fudge's maneuvering to approach Japan added another danger to the changing international situation.

• Li Nanyu explained that souls and free will could alter outcomes, and said the New Gospel Society might be seeking the Creator's descent despite the destruction it would bring.
• Li Nanyu revealed that China had examined English wizards born in 1980, including Harry Potter, but had become interested in Vaughn after his rapid rise.
• Vaughn privately concluded that Li's “variable among variables” meant someone who did not originally belong to this world.
• Vaughn and Dumbledore returned to the Ministry of Magic and gave Fudge a report about their meeting with the Chinese delegation.
• Vaughn recalled Li Nanyu's warning that China would oppose Fudge's efforts to draw Japan into an alliance, then endured Fudge's inquiry in the Grand Courtroom.

After meeting Li Nanyu, Vaughn considered how the Creator, souls, and variables might shape space-time, and planned experiments to test his theories. In Dorset, Newt struggled to understand evidence that magical creatures and their medicinal traits were influenced by legends.

• Vaughn returned to Hogwarts, spoke with Professor McGonagall, and visited the House-elves in the Kitchen.
• Vaughn wrote down the Creator, variables, space-time, and Aether in his Notebook as he considered Li Nanyu's claims and his own theories about souls and free will.
• Vaughn decided he would design experiments to investigate the Creator, variables, and whether time formed a closed loop, and considered testing the idea on Newt Scamander.
• Newt sneezed while working on a new edition of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and Tina checked on him.
• Newt told Tina that his tests based on Vaughn's Trait Theory and Magic Extraction Method showed magical creatures' medicinal materials could acquire traits from legends, leaving him unsure how to investigate the results.

Vaughn’s meal in the Hogwarts Kitchen was interrupted when Hermione arrived to free the house-elves, who treated her as a monster and defended their work. After Vaughn calmed the elves and learned Hermione had gone nearly two days without eating, she showed him the leaflets for her new elf-rights society, and he began questioning how she expected others to support it.

• Tina suggested that Newt visit Vaughn at Hogwarts for help with his trait research, but Newt sneezed as a Diricawl watched.
• Vaughn reviewed Li Nanyu’s warnings about the New Gospel Society and its plans to create chaos in England and Europe, then went to the Kitchen for food.
• Hermione entered the Kitchen to free the house-elves, who panicked and insulted her, while Hokey defended Vaughn and the elves’ right to work.
• When the elves’ distress escalated, Vaughn unleashed a surge of magic and ordered them to leave; they knelt before him, and he asked Hermione when she had stopped eating.
• Hermione revealed she had founded S.P.E.W. and planned to boycott elf-made food and campaign for house-elves’ rights, while Vaughn questioned whether anyone would accept her proposals.

Hermione challenged Vaughn over House-elf enslavement, but Vaughn argued that millennia of domestication had shaped House-elves to be docile and that freeing them abruptly could impose another will on them. After showing Hermione his research, he encouraged her to make reversing their artificial selection a long-term research goal.

• Hermione said she would keep campaigning for House-elves, and Vaughn asked her to consider why wizards accepted their enslavement.
• Vaughn explained that House-elves had developed a symbiotic relationship with wizards and compared their domestication to that of animals bred for human needs.
• Vaughn argued that House-elves' instincts and biology had been shaped by generations of artificial selection, making sudden liberation potentially another form of imposed will.
• Vaughn showed Hermione his experimental records on House-elves' hormones, brain structures, and physical traits as evidence of domestication.
• Hermione asked whether medicine could restore House-elves to their original state, and Vaughn said it was not currently possible.
• Vaughn promised to support Hermione and encouraged her to research reversing artificial selection.

Hermione reconsidered her campaign to free the house-elves after talking with Vaughn, while Harry and Ron struggled with her sudden change of heart. Vaughn returned after meeting China’s delegation, whose arrival at Hogwarts left Harry eager to learn how they would travel.

• Vaughn encouraged Hermione to set her own research goals and persuaded her to treat the house-elves as friends rather than demand their liberation, and Hokey warmly welcomed Hermione in the Kitchen.
• Ron objected to Harry wearing a S.P.E.W. badge, but Hermione later told Harry and Ron that she had suspended the society’s activities after realizing she had imposed human beliefs on the house-elves.
• Harry and Ron saw Vaughn surrounded by Ravenclaw girls, and Fred and George tried to recruit Harry into a business venture that he declined.
• Hermione told Harry that Vaughn had met China’s delegation successfully and that they would likely stay in a rest area near the Quidditch Pitch rather than in the castle.
• Harry wondered whether the delegation would arrive on cloud carriages and hoped to ask Vaughn about them, but the Ravenclaw girls kept him occupied through breakfast.

Hogwarts suspended most classes to prepare students for visiting magical academies, putting them through demanding etiquette training as Ministry workers renovated the castle. While accompanying Hedwig to the West Tower, Hermione discovered Ginny’s feelings for Harry, and the group met McConnell as he oversaw repairs.

• Professor McGonagall announced that international magical academy delegations were arriving and suspended most classes for a week of crash-course training in speech and conduct.
• Harry and his classmates struggled through etiquette lessons, while Professors Rosier and Flitwick taught dancing, horseback riding, dueling, and flower arranging.
• Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny crossed the icy bridge to move Hedwig and saw Ministry employees repairing the separated West Tower.
• Hermione asked Ginny whether she liked Harry, and Ginny admitted she had admired him for a long time but was unsure how she felt after getting to know him.
• The group reached the West Tower and greeted McConnell, who was flying over to inspect its repairs.

Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Hermione moved Hedwig and Zhu Weiqiong from the renovated West Tower Owlery to new perches near the greenhouses. Meanwhile, Fleur questioned the press’s portrayal of Vaughn and China’s strong support for him, while Madame Maxime admitted she too did not understand the Chinese delegation’s enthusiasm.

• McConnell warmly welcomed Ron and Ginny, claimed to support Vaughn, and offered to show the children the lavishly renovated West Tower, but they declined.
• Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Hermione saw the tower’s expanded interior, which featured elaborate decor inspired by eight countries, before collecting Hedwig and Zhu Weiqiong from the filthy Owlery.
• Ginny and Ron argued over carrying the owls’ belongings, and Hagrid helped arrange new perches for Hedwig and Zhu Weiqiong near the greenhouses.
• Fleur complained that newspapers portrayed Vaughn as a great leader and his supporters as followers, while Madame Maxime urged her to join Vaughn’s project and study his essays.
• Fleur asked why the Chinese delegation supported Vaughn so eagerly, and Madame Maxime recalled rumors that Li Nanyu and Dumbledore had clashed over Vaughn.

As delegations from several magical schools converged on Campbeltown, Vaughn tracked their movements while preparing for the Potion Exchange Event. At Hogwarts, Professor McGonagall intensified etiquette lessons and announced assessments, then warned Harry that he was thinking too naively about avoiding trouble.

• Madame Maxime and Fleur spotted Durmstrang's black sailing ship near England's white cliffs, and Maxime suspected Karkaroff had heard rumors.
• Phineas reported the schools' routes to Vaughn, who learned that Beauxbatons and Durmstrang had anchored at Campbeltown while other delegations approached from different directions.
• Vaughn promised to check on Sirius, prompting Phineas to resume monitoring the schools, and Phineas mourned Regulus while regretting that he had not helped him.
• Phineas reported that Ilvermorny and the Magic Institute had reached Campbeltown, where the Magic Institute contacted Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, and Durmstrang welcomed them aboard.
• Professor McGonagall barred outside creatures from Hogwarts and accelerated etiquette training so she could assess students' academic skills before the exchange event.
• After Harry said he did not care about showing off, Professor McGonagall told him he was thinking too naively.

Harry worried that foreign visitors would challenge him because they believed he had killed Voldemort, while his friends and professors struggled to prepare him. After humiliating assessments and grueling extra training, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny found the Great Hall completely redecorated on an early February morning.

• A wizard told Harry that his reputation as the only person in centuries to kill a Legendary Wizard could attract challenges from visiting delegations, and Harry fretted over how to avoid them.
• Ron suggested Harry pretend to be weak or surrender, but Hermione rejected those plans and urged him to undergo Professor McGonagall’s assessment and training.
• Harry and Ron received poor assessment results, and Snape mocked them for their Potions grades; Harry, Ron, and the other students were then harshly criticized by their professors.
• Harry and Ron devoted themselves to the professors’ intensive study plans as the foreign delegations’ arrival drew nearer.
• One early February morning, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny entered the Great Hall and discovered it had been redecorated.

Harry and the Hogwarts students welcomed the visiting delegations as the Central Academy of Qi Practitioners arrived spectacularly on clouds, led by Li Nanyu. As their students gathered the mist, Harry sensed Li Nanyu’s attention and noticed an unfriendly Chinese boy staring at him; then a fiery ship rose from the Black Lake.

• Harry and the other students dressed in their House robes and assembled in the courtyard to welcome the visiting delegations.
• A torrent of clouds swept over the mountain ridge and filled the valley with white mist, and Dumbledore introduced the Central Academy of Qi Practitioners.
• Li Nanyu emerged from the mist and greeted Dumbledore while his students used golden threads and bags to gather the clouds.
• Li Nanyu looked toward Harry and nodded, and Harry sensed his scrutiny before using Occlumency without detecting anything unusual.
• Harry noticed a Chinese boy watching him with an unfriendly, appraising stare.
• Ice shattered on the Black Lake, and a blazing sailing ship rose from beneath its surface.

Harry and the Hogwarts students watched magical school delegations arrive for the international gathering, but a Beauxbatons witch singled Harry out and insulted him as England’s Savior. As Harry returned to Gryffindor Tower with Ron and Hermione, Hermione warned that the public confrontation had drawn everyone’s attention.

• Harry and the Hogwarts students applauded as delegations from magical schools around the world arrived by distinctive means.
• The students admired the visiting delegations, while Draco felt proud that Vaughn Weasley and Slytherin would benefit from the Potion Exchange Event.
• A silver-haired Beauxbatons witch stopped before Harry, asked if he was England’s Savior, and declared that he did not live up to his reputation.
• Ron angrily condemned the witch on the way back to Gryffindor Tower, while Hermione said Harry attacking her would have made matters worse.
• Hermione told Harry that Professor McGonagall’s concerns had come true because everyone had watched the witch confront him.

Vaughn visited a London slum with Montague to assess the people and area for his plans, then returned to Hogwarts and discussed the Ireland research and Regulus with Dumbledore. The chapter ended with Vaughn calmly confronting Dumbledore over spying and distrust.

• Harry, Hermione, and Ron discussed Fleur Delacour's provocation and the delegations' hostility toward Vaughn.
• Montague led Vaughn through an underground passage to a decaying industrial district in London and described the area's poor residents and history.
• Vaughn returned to Hogwarts and found Dumbledore waiting in the deputy headmaster's office.
• Dumbledore questioned Vaughn about Old Crouch and the others researching Tom in Ireland, and Vaughn warned that Dumbledore would have suffered terribly if he had gone there first.
• Vaughn told Dumbledore there had been no Horcrux in Ireland, only the remains of a group of people and Regulus's noble soul.
• Vaughn accused Dumbledore of using Montague as a spy and provoking him, but chose not to investigate or punish anyone.

Dumbledore warned Vaughn Weasley that Magic Protein could destabilize the wizarding world and tear apart its old order. At a secret Pure-blood meeting, Rosier revealed to Lucius Malfoy that he knew Voldemort was pursuing an item connected to resurrection.

• Dumbledore told Vaughn that Magic Protein could threaten the balance of the wizarding world and ignite conflict between Muggles, Muggle-born wizards, and Pure-bloods.
• Dumbledore admitted he had feared Vaughn would be influenced by Gellert Grindelwald, but now considered Vaughn even more dangerous.
• At a secret meeting beneath a London castle, Selwyn and Travers argued over Magic Protein while the Pure-bloods debated how to protect their interests.
• The meeting broke up without a decision, and Rosier stopped Lucius Malfoy before he could leave.
• Rosier told Lucius that he knew American guests were hiding at Hogwarts to help Voldemort obtain an important item, possibly for resurrection.

Vaughn and Dumbledore discussed the Pure-blood plan to resurrect Voldemort and agreed to let it proceed, while preparing for the danger. Vaughn used Scabbers, secretly Peter Pettigrew under his control, to extract his memories, and Harry woke to Ron screaming that Scabbers was gone.

• Dumbledore explained that some Pure-blood families planned to resurrect Tom because Magic Protein threatened their inherited status, while others supported Vaughn’s research.
• Dumbledore identified the Rosier family as the force behind the plan and warned that the Potion Exchange Event could provide an opportunity to act.
• Vaughn agreed to let the Pure-bloods resurrect Tom, and later searched Hogwarts for the North American wizards while considering the risks of Voldemort’s return.
• Guoguo Tea brought Scabbers to Vaughn, who revealed that he had controlled the rat through his Persona Armor and extracted Peter Pettigrew’s memories.
• Peter briefly regained his awareness before Vaughn’s spell subdued him again, and Harry woke to Ron shouting that Scabbers was missing.