Chapter Summaries

Lynn and Snape demonstrated a wizarding duel before the students, and Lynn defeated Snape with a rapid Disarming Charm. Snape demanded a rematch, and Lynn agreed.

• Lynn explained dueling etiquette and faced Snape in the Great Hall before the watching students.
• Lynn and Snape exchanged bows, raised their wands, and began the duel on the count of three.
• Lynn's amplified Disarming Charm forced Snape back, and Snape answered with a Disarming Charm that Lynn dodged.
• Lynn's second Disarming Charm struck Snape, sending his wand flying and knocking him across the floor.
• The students applauded as Snape retrieved his wand and challenged Lynn to duel again, and Lynn accepted.

Lynn and Snape dueled again, and Lynn overwhelmed Snape with a triple-amplified Disarming Charm while pretending to lose his wand so the duel looked like a draw. After the demonstration, Lynn began organizing the students into pairs for practice.

• Snape changed tactics and used a Shield Charm before attempting a silent Disarming Charm against Lynn.
• Lynn's triple-amplified Disarming Charm shattered Snape's shield, disarmed him, and sent him flying.
• Lynn deliberately let Snape's spell knock his wand away, and the students applauded the apparent draw.
• Snape accused Lynn of using petty tricks, but Lynn denied it, and Snape ended the argument without pressing further.
• Lynn split the young wizards into groups of twenty and began leading them through paired practice.

Lynn received Old John's report on the Rowle family and Mrs. Rowle's efforts to buy a Hogwarts governor's seat, giving him a suspect in the attacks. The chapter left him preparing to investigate further while Hermione kept Umr's identity secret and received one of Umr's white hairs.

• The Duelling Club remained orderly and popular, and students became more enthusiastic about Lynn's Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons after his duel with Snape.
• Hermione helped Umr with Transfiguration, learned she would spend Christmas with Kira, and chose to stay at Hogwarts herself.
• Hermione left Umr carrying an extra white hair, though the chapter did not explain how she obtained it.
• Lynn read Old John's report, which said the Rowles relied on an American family's connections and that Mrs. Rowle had likely secured a governor's seat.
• Lynn learned Mrs. Rowle wanted to gather the Hogwarts governors and invite Dumbledore to a meeting, then burned the report and concluded he had a suspect.

Harry and Ron used Polyjuice Potion to disguise themselves as Crabbe and Goyle, while Hermione secretly transformed into Umr and confronted Lynn. Hermione became convinced that Professor Lockhart was Lynn, then hurried away after Lynn failed to recognize her disguise.

• Hermione helped Harry and Ron drink Polyjuice Potion and transform into Goyle and Crabbe so they could search for the Slytherin common room.
• After Harry and Ron left, Hermione added a white hair to the remaining potion and drank it, transforming into Umr.
• Umr told Lynn about visiting Kira over Christmas and explained that Kira could not enter Hogwarts Castle unless Lynn summoned him.
• Hermione, disguised as Umr, returned to Lynn's office and tested her suspicion that Professor Lockhart was Lynn.
• Lynn did not recognize Hermione, and she left, reflecting on the clues that had convinced her of his identity.

Hermione became convinced that Professor Lockhart was Lynn in disguise and planned to confirm it, while Harry and Ron returned from questioning Malfoy with a clue about the Chamber of Secrets. After months without attacks, Lynn continued watching Hogwarts and learned that the Board of Governors would meet the next day.

• Hermione decided to test whether Professor Lockhart was Lynn by using Polyjuice Potion to take Umr's form, and she kept his identity secret because he was investigating the Slytherin heir.
• Harry and Ron told Hermione that Malfoy had said the Chamber of Secrets had been opened before, and Ron suspected the Malfoy family was involved.
• After Christmas, nearly three months passed without another attack, though Finley remained in the hospital.
• Fred and George encountered Lynn in raven form while sneaking through Hogwarts to find Filch's cat, then continued on their way.
• Lynn kept watch over Hogwarts at night and learned from Dumbledore that the Board of Governors planned to meet the following day.

Malfoy convened the Hogwarts Board of Governors and accused Dumbledore of neglecting his duties after the Chamber of Secrets attack. He proposed removing Dumbledore as Headmaster, leaving the governors to consider his motion.

• Malfoy questioned Mrs. Rowle about her motives, and she asked how likely his political plan against Dumbledore was to succeed.
• Malfoy and Mrs. Rowle welcomed the governors to their meeting, and Dumbledore arrived to find no chair prepared for him.
• Malfoy introduced Mrs. Diana Rowle as the new governor after she took Mrs. Selwyn's seat.
• Malfoy accused Dumbledore of failing to report or stop the Chamber of Secrets attack and called him negligent in his duties.
• Malfoy proposed stripping Dumbledore of his position as Headmaster of Hogwarts.

The Board of Governors voted to remove Dumbledore as Hogwarts Headmaster, and he accepted their authority to do so. He then declared that Hogwarts belonged to him and challenged Malfoy to call out to the castle and see whether it answered.

• Malfoy called for a vote to remove Dumbledore, and seven governors supported the proposal while five opposed it.
• Malfoy said Professor McGonagall could serve as interim Headmistress, and Dumbledore accepted the governors' decision without objection.
• Malfoy asked when Dumbledore would leave Hogwarts and offered him a house, but Dumbledore clarified that he would remain at the school.
• Dumbledore told the governors that Hogwarts belonged to him, even if he no longer held the Headmaster position.
• Malfoy questioned Dumbledore's claim, and Dumbledore challenged him to call out to Hogwarts and see whether it answered.

After the Board of Governors forced Dumbledore to give up the headmaster title, he remained at Hogwarts while Lynn and he suspected their enemies were preparing another move. Three weeks later, Dumbledore left to mediate an international dispute, and Lynn warned the professors that the Chamber of Secrets threat remained.

• Dumbledore returned to Hogwarts and announced that McGonagall would serve as acting headmistress while he stayed in the Headmaster's office.
• Lynn learned from McGonagall that the Board of Governors had voted to remove Dumbledore, then discussed with Dumbledore the conspiracy behind the decision and proposed a plan.
• Three weeks later, McGonagall told the Heads of House and Lynn that Dumbledore had left Hogwarts to mediate a dispute between the American Magical Congress and several Middle Eastern Ministries of Magic.
• Lynn reminded the professors that the danger of Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets being opened had never disappeared.

After Harry’s Parseltongue ability renewed rumors that he was Slytherin’s heir, Snape was attacked and named Harry before losing consciousness. Professor McGonagall questioned Harry, but the available testimony failed to provide him an alibi.

• Malfoy summoned a snake to attack Harry, and Harry spoke Parseltongue to make it leave.
• Students renewed their suspicions that Harry was Slytherin’s heir after learning he could speak Parseltongue.
• A student spotted Harry near the Great Hall and called him Slytherin’s heir, prompting Professor McGonagall to take him away.
• Ron and Hermione learned that Snape had been attacked at dawn and had said, “Catch Harry Potter!”
• Lynn joined Professor McGonagall’s questioning after realizing the person he had watched overnight had made no suspicious moves.
• Harry said he had stayed in the dormitory, but Professor McGonagall explained that Ron, Seamus, and Neville could not confirm his whereabouts at five in the morning.

After Snape was gravely injured, Lynn proved Harry had not attacked him and urged McGonagall to clear his name. As fear spread through Hogwarts and Dumbledore’s absence became known, Lynn received a letter that led him to ask the Fat Friar whether his research into bringing ghosts back to life involved Horcruxes.

• Lynn used Prior Incantato on Harry’s wand and concluded Harry had not attacked Snape, while McGonagall agreed to announce Harry’s innocence.
• Lynn learned from Madam Pomfrey that Snape had suffered severe injuries and blood loss, then promised to get payback for him.
• Students and their families grew alarmed after Snape’s attack, and Dumbledore’s absence from Hogwarts became known.
• Lynn received a letter, hurried to find the Fat Friar, and asked whether the magic he had researched was called a Horcrux.

Lynn learned that a ghost could use Horcrux magic to possess a human body, confirming the final piece of his theory about the attacks. He confronted Miss Fontana outside a hidden opening and asked whether Beshilde was her real name.

• Lynn questioned the Fat Friar about the ghost resurrection method, learning it could suppress a host’s soul and leave the possessing ghost physically weak.
• The Fat Friar told Lynn that his former research partner had traveled to the Americas.
• Lynn dismissed his troubled Defense Against the Dark Arts class and summoned Umr, telling her he believed the day’s attack had been the last.
• Umr reported that students feared the Slytherin heir would continue attacking people and that Hogwarts might close.
• Miss Fontana sneaked out of the castle, uncovered a dark opening in the lawn, and was confronted by Lynn, who asked if Beshilde was her real name.

Lynn confronted Bessild and revealed that he had uncovered her identity as an American descendant of Salazar Slytherin. He explained how Grindelwald’s warning and the investigation into Bessild’s background led him to the truth, while Bessild listened without denying it.

• Bessild dropped her shy persona, exposed Lynn’s identity, and asked how he had discovered her.
• Lynn explained that Grindelwald’s warning led him to reconsider the overlooked suspects and investigate Bessild after she approached him.
• Lynn traced Bessild’s surname to the American Fontana family and its connection to Ilvermorny’s founder, Isolde Sayre.
• Lynn revealed that Isolde Sayre’s aunt, Gormlaith Gaunt, linked the Fontanas to Salazar Slytherin’s descendants, making Bessild a Slytherin heir.

Lynn exposed Ms. Fontana as a dead American Auror resurrected inside a girl's body, who had infiltrated Hogwarts to pursue revenge and carry out a mission for the American Magical Congress. Fontana refused to confirm that the Congress intended to destroy Hogwarts, but her reaction convinced Lynn his suspicions were correct.

• Lynn explained how he traced Fontana's attacks and her impossible identity to the Auror his great-uncle had killed.
• Lynn accused Ms. Fontana of possessing a child's body, opening the Chamber of Secrets, and releasing the basilisk to take revenge.
• Lynn deduced that outside forces had arranged Fontana's infiltration, with the American Magical Congress behind the plot.
• Lynn guessed that Fontana's mission was to destroy Hogwarts Castle, and she refused to admit it.
• Fontana described the events she had not expected, while Lynn took her disbelief as confirmation that he had guessed correctly.

Lynn deduced Fontana’s plan and identified her goblin accomplice, but Fontana summoned a colossal beast from beneath Hogwarts and challenged him. Meanwhile, Dumbledore remained asleep on Corvo Island, unaware of the danger at the castle.

• Lynn explained how he had inferred Fontana’s plan to drive Dumbledore from Hogwarts, destroy the castle, and kill him, along with the goblin’s role in moving the basilisk.
• Fontana lost her composure when Lynn revealed that he had deduced her accomplice was a goblin.
• Fontana drew her wand and summoned a colossal beast from beneath the Hogwarts lawn, opening a chasm and shaking the castle.
• Fontana stood atop the beast and challenged Lynn, saying that knowing the truth had not cornered her.
• On Corvo Island, Dumbledore finished a day of arguments at the International Confederation of Wizards and fell asleep, unaware of the events at Hogwarts.

Dumbledore confronted American Magical Congress representative O'Brien after the delegation demanded he mediate their dispute with the Middle Eastern Ministry of Magic. When O'Brien revealed that anti-Apparition magic would keep Dumbledore from returning to Hogwarts, Dumbledore declared he had anticipated the move and challenged the three wizards.

• Three American wizards forced their way into Dumbledore's room near midnight and said the Congress required a decision that night.
• Dumbledore offered to approve the Americans' proposed restrictions on Middle Eastern wizards, but O'Brien rejected the ruling as unfair and asked him to mediate.
• Dumbledore questioned O'Brien about the Rowle family's purchase of a Hogwarts Board seat and the Fontana student's arrival, linking both to trouble at Hogwarts.
• O'Brien said an accident with a new alchemical item had covered the island in anti-Apparition magic, preventing Dumbledore from leaving until morning.
• Dumbledore said he had never intended to return from Hogwarts and threatened to use spells against the three Americans for plotting to destroy his school.

Harry and the other Gryffindors fled their dormitory as Hogwarts shook, while Lynn confronted Fontana and her enormous armored serpent, Jörmungandr. After Tom confirmed that Fontana had killed the girl whose body she possessed, Lynn challenged her motives and accused her of cowardice.

• Harry woke Ron, Neville, and Seamus when the castle began shaking, and Percy ordered them to gather in the Great Hall.
• Neville spotted a colossal shadow outside, while Lynn faced Fontana atop the armored serpent she named Jörmungandr.
• Tom emerged from Fontana's body and told Lynn that she held only one soul and that the girl was already dead.
• Fontana admitted she had killed the girl after the child kept crying for her mother.
• Lynn condemned Fontana for killing the girl's family and causing chaos at Hogwarts to target one descendant of her enemy, then called her a timid Auror.

Lynn battled Fontana’s armored basilisk at Hogwarts, using Fawkes and Gryffindor’s Sword to wound the serpent. The basilisk was blinded, Fawkes was struck by the Killing Curse and began to burn, and Lynn drove the sword through the basilisk’s armor.

• Lynn tested the basilisk’s armor with an amplified Explosion Curse, while Fontana explained how potions had transformed it into a world-destroying serpent.
• Lynn evaded the basilisk’s attack and asked Tom to take control, but Tom learned that the serpent recognized only Fontana as its master.
• Fawkes brought Lynn the Sorting Hat, and Lynn drew Gryffindor’s Sword from it.
• Fawkes blinded the basilisk by piercing its head, but Fontana hit Fawkes with the Killing Curse as it flew away.
• Lynn dodged the basilisk’s thrashing tail and stabbed Gryffindor’s Sword through its armor, drawing black blood.

As Lynn fought the basilisk outside Hogwarts, Ian deduced that Professor Lockhart was Lynn and promised to keep his secret. Meanwhile, Harry, Ron, and Hermione suspected an unknown figure had entered the castle and decided to investigate.

• McGonagall ordered the students to remain in the Great Hall while Lynn fought the basilisk outside.
• Ian realized that Umr was disguised as Lynn and inferred that Professor Lockhart was the one fighting the monster; he and Cedric agreed not to reveal Lynn's secret.
• A Ravenclaw prefect confronted the Slytherin students for suspecting Professor Lockhart of being the Heir of Slytherin as he protected the school.
• Harry told Hermione and Ron that he had seen a short figure Apparate into the castle, and Hermione decided they should investigate.

Hermione, Harry, and Ron deduced that an intruder was trying to break into the Headmaster's office while Lynn fought Fontana and the Basilisk outside Hogwarts. Unable to overcome the armored Basilisk from the ground, Lynn transformed into his Improvised Animagus and flew into the night sky to attack.

• Hermione led Harry and Ron to the third floor after concluding that the intruder's target was the Headmaster's office.
• Lynn repeatedly stabbed the Basilisk with the Sword of Gryffindor, but his attacks barely harmed it as he dodged its charges and Fontana's Killing Curses.
• Lynn realized Fontana seemed content to prolong the fight, despite the likelihood that Dumbledore or Ministry Aurors would soon arrive.
• Lynn decided to change tactics, transformed into his Improvised Animagus, and flew toward the Basilisk and Fontana.

Lynn fought Fontana and the basilisk in the sky, revealing his identity and taunting Fontana about her family’s crimes. He wounded the basilisk with the Sword of Gryffindor but was left on its head as Fontana fired another Killing Curse.

• Fontana recognized Lynn and accused him of destabilizing Scotland and killing the Head of the Auror Bureau.
• Lynn dodged the basilisk’s tail and Fontana’s Killing Curse, then used an Explosion Curse while condemning Fontana for murdering his parents and plotting against Hogwarts.
• Fontana ordered the basilisk to attack Lynn with its head, and Lynn flew in and drove the Sword of Gryffindor into its exposed lower jaw.
• The basilisk struggled with Lynn clinging to the sword, so Lynn leaped onto its head as Fontana cast another Killing Curse.