Recaps

Fudge’s visit to China and a flattering Daily Prophet report reignited discussion at Hogwarts about the Potions Exchange program and China’s legendary wizards. Vaughn read Dumbledore’s warning that China’s reported numbers might be a deliberate falsehood connected to the mysterious DeSantis and Wilkinson, leaving him wary as Hermione offered to help with his heavy workload.

• Fudge rushed from Durmstrang to Mount Hua after hearing China might join the Potions Exchange program, hoping to claim credit and meet its legendary wizards.
• Cho Chang rebuked Ron for repeating Dean Thomas’s insults about China, while Harry became captivated by her voice and Hermione scolded Ron.
• Hermione read the Daily Prophet’s report about China to Hagrid, who learned that four legendary wizards were said to live at Laojun Mountain.
• Vaughn read Dumbledore’s letter explaining that China had only four legendary wizards and warning that the false reports might be linked to DeSantis and Wilkinson.
• Hermione noticed Vaughn was distracted and offered to help him work through his pile of letters.

Hermione helped Vaughn manage correspondence while Umbridge reported to Fudge about the legendary wizards in China and Fudge ordered her to court the Central Alchemy Committee and contact Dumbledore. Dumbledore met Master Li, who defended China’s deception about its wizards and vowed to oppose anyone standing in their way.

• Vaughn gave Hermione some letters to sort and wrote a reply to Dumbledore.
• Umbridge reported that four legendary wizards were said to live in seclusion on Laojun Mountain and noted that France and South America were also pursuing interests in China.
• Fudge ordered Umbridge to win over the Central Alchemy Committee and tell Dumbledore that the Ministry would support his Potions exchange with Vaughn in return for something.
• Dumbledore secretly listened to Fudge and Umbridge before Master Li appeared and challenged him for eavesdropping.
• Dumbledore warned Master Li that China’s claim about its legendary wizards risked repeating the upheaval caused by Africa’s entry into the International Confederation of Wizards.
• Master Li said China only needed to maintain its lie and declared that he would oppose everyone who stood in its way.

Harry and Ron encountered Hagrid at Hogwarts and learned that Professor Flitwick had asked him to do something secret. Hagrid let slip that Vaughn had asked him to visit Aragog in the Forbidden Forest, leaving Harry and Ron wondering about the professors' private business.

• Hagrid met Harry and Ron in the courtyard and said he had come to check on magical creatures borrowed from the Forbidden Forest for practical classes.
• Hagrid revealed that Professor Flitwick had asked him to do something, then stumbled over his promise to keep it secret.
• Hagrid accidentally said Vaughn had asked him to visit Aragog deep in the Forbidden Forest and hurried away.
• Harry and Ron told Hermione about Hagrid's strange behavior over breakfast, and she argued that Professor Flitwick was not suspicious.

Vaughn and Professor Kettleburn discussed a new magical-creature research project while Kettleburn announced that Hagrid would succeed him as Care of Magical Creatures professor. The group reached the vicinity of Aragog’s nest, where Hagrid warned Ron to stay beside him.

• Professor Kettleburn comforted Hagrid and revealed that he would recommend him as his successor at Hogwarts.
• Harry, Ron, and Hermione celebrated the news that Hagrid would become a professor.
• Vaughn and Kettleburn agreed to work together on research into new potion ingredients and magical-creature breeding after Kettleburn retired.
• Kettleburn suggested using a manticore for their first hybridization project, but Vaughn said an Acromantula would attract less attention.
• Hagrid announced that Aragog’s nest was nearby and called Ron back to his side.

Ron and Harry explored the Forbidden Forest, where their attempt to collect a Chinese Chomping Cabbage led them into an encounter with giant spiders. Ron froze in terror as Harry was captured, until Vaughn’s powerful spells struck the spiders and began freeing him.

• Ron and Harry admired the Forbidden Forest and spotted a wild Chinese Chomping Cabbage, which they planned to capture for its valuable seeds.
• Harry and Ron heard two voices arguing about food and Aragog, then tried to retreat quietly to find Hagrid and Vaughn.
• Aragorn appeared behind them and called Harry and Ron meat, while Araclaid descended and lifted Harry in spider silk.
• Ron froze in fear as Aragorn approached, but Vaughn’s Bombarda blasted Aragorn away and his Sectumsempra severed Araclaid’s leg and began cutting through the silk holding Harry.

Vaughn rescued Harry and Ron from Acromantulas, then faced the spider colony as it surrounded the group. Aragog emerged and rebuked his children, recognizing Vaughn as a danger powerful enough to destroy them.

• Vaughn severed Araclaid’s leg with Sectumsempra, and another spell stopped Harry’s fall while Ron watched in terror.
• Hagrid scolded Harry and Ron for running ahead, then learned that Araclaid had fled to bring the Acromantula colony.
• Mars arrived with the spiders and questioned Hagrid’s account, while Araclaid claimed that Ron had killed Aragorn and Professor Kettleburn returned carrying stolen venom.
• Aragog emerged from the forest, struck Araclaid down, and warned that the colony risked being destroyed by Hogwarts or by Vaughn.
• Aragog sensed the immense magic surrounding Vaughn and understood that the young wizard posed a grave threat to the Acromantulas.

Vaughn questioned Aragog about the attack on Harry and learned that foreign wizards had made an agreement with Mars more than three months earlier. Aragog identified their accents as American, leaving Vaughn to suspect that a hidden plot was unfolding closer to Hogwarts.

• Aragog prepared to kill Araclaid, but Vaughn shrank him with magic and sealed him in a glass bottle.
• Aragog apologized to Hagrid while Vaughn took Araclaid for an experiment, and Hagrid left them to talk privately.
• Vaughn confronted Aragog about whether Araclaid and Mars had attacked Harry on behalf of outsiders, then pressured Aragog to explain what he knew.
• Aragog revealed that foreign wizards had approached Mars more than three months earlier and made an agreement with him.
• Aragog described the wizards' unfamiliar English accents, and Vaughn recognized them as American pronunciation.

Vaughn learned that American-accented wizards had arranged for Mars to attack Harry, then consulted Dumbledore about whether prophecy could explain their plan. Suspecting the DeSantis group and Wilkinson might be involved, Vaughn asked to meet Grindelwald and proposed that he could persuade him to cooperate.

• Vaughn promised Aragog he would leave Mars alone and learned that American-accented wizards had visited more than three months earlier and arranged for Harry to be attacked.
• Vaughn rejoined Hermione, Harry, and Ron, then escorted them back to the castle before heading to the Headmaster's Office.
• Vaughn asked Dumbledore whether prophecy could precisely predict events, and Dumbledore said he would consult someone, whom Vaughn identified as Grindelwald.
• Vaughn and Dumbledore discussed their suspicions that the DeSantis group and Wilkinson were connected to missing legendary wizards, with Grindelwald as a possible target for recruitment.
• Vaughn asked to meet Grindelwald and said he believed they could cooperate because Grindelwald wanted to free magic from the Statute of Secrecy, though Vaughn rejected his use of hatred and conflict.

Vaughn argued to Dumbledore that profit could drive wizards to end the Statute of Secrecy, leaving Dumbledore unsure of his own convictions. After their call, Phineas Black asked Vaughn to save Sirius in exchange for the Black Family’s knowledge and resources, while Harry lay awake remembering the danger in the Forbidden Forest.

• Vaughn explained how profit had driven Muggle industrial revolutions and called Grindelwald an idiot for failing to learn from them, leaving Dumbledore without a rebuttal.
• Dumbledore urged Vaughn to make no moves and keep Harry safe until he returned to Hogwarts, then ended their fireplace call without resolving their disagreement.
• Vaughn questioned the shrunken Acromantula Araclaid, who protested that Vaughn had promised Aragog not to hurt him.
• Phineas Nigellus Black approached Vaughn and offered the Black Family’s books, magic, and resources if Vaughn would save Sirius.
• Harry woke in the dormitory feeling watched and recalled how close he and Ron had come to dying in the Forbidden Forest.

Harry and Ron examined Vaughn’s questionnaire about expanding the Dueling Club, while Vaughn privately invited Snape to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts. Snape reluctantly agreed, and Vaughn warned him to report any unusual effects of the curse.

• Hermione made Harry fill out questionnaires about the Dueling Club, and Cho Chang told him the answers would explain Vaughn’s plans.
• Harry visited Ron in the hospital wing and found him cheerful after Madam Pomfrey gave him a pint of Elixir to Induce Euphoria.
• Harry and Ron read questions proposing that professors join the Dueling Club and wondered whether Vaughn was challenging the Board of Governors’ restrictions.
• Vaughn told Snape he had invited him to become a Defense Against the Dark Arts instructor, and Snape reluctantly agreed to help.
• Vaughn warned Snape to tell him or Dumbledore immediately if he noticed anything unusual because of the curse.

Vaughn discussed the curse and his plans for a universal potion substrate with Snape, who hinted that he would advise the Dueling Club. Vaughn planned to use the club to challenge the Board of Governors’ restrictions, while students debated whether the club could appoint an instructor.

• Vaughn told Snape that he suspected the curse had affected his Aether-traveling ritual and explained his plan to develop a universal substrate using biological research.
• Snape criticized Vaughn’s Dueling Club but offered to help as its Potions instructor.
• Vaughn left Snape’s office with Araclaid and frightened the shrunken spider by describing his plans to study its body.
• Vaughn resolved to use Snape’s appointment as an advisor to rally the club’s supporters and intensify pressure on the Board of Governors.
• Students returned questionnaires about possible club advisors, and Harry and Ron joined the lively discussion at the Gryffindor table.
• Seamus raised Malfoy’s warning that the Board of Governors would not permit the club to invite an instructor, leaving students worried and the Slytherins especially uneasy.

Vaughn’s questionnaire prompted the Hogwarts Heads of House to debate whether to challenge the Board of Governors’ restrictions on the Dueling Club, while Vaughn continued his research in the Slytherin dungeons. The chapter ended with Vaughn explaining to Kettleburn how the reforms served the professors’ personal ideals and ambitions.

• Hermione and Ginny collected the questionnaires, and Seamus and the twins worried that Vaughn had no plan to resolve the Board of Governors’ restrictions.
• Professor McGonagall gathered the questionnaires and went through a portal door to a secret meeting with Flitwick, Sprout, and Snape.
• Snape announced that he would support Vaughn and proposed asking the Board of Governors to revoke its restriction on the Dueling Club.
• Flitwick showed McGonagall how practical classes and the club had improved students’ skills, while Sprout described how they had increased students’ interest in Herbology.
• In a hidden Slytherin classroom, Vaughn worked on an enchanted microscope as Kettleburn asked whether he was concerned about the uproar over the questionnaire.
• Vaughn told Kettleburn that Flitwick, Sprout, and Snape would persuade McGonagall, explaining that the reforms helped professors pursue their ideals and realize their value.

Vaughn explained the Board of Governors’ divided interests to Kettleburn while preparing a laboratory for his research. He demonstrated Vaughn's Living Disintegration Ritual on Araclaid, revealing the Acromantula’s body in a high-dimensional space and overwhelming Kettleburn with its information before the chapter left them marveling at the magic.

• Vaughn told Kettleburn that the Board of Governors was divided and that wizarding families who had once supported him might oppose him over his actions in North America.
• Vaughn and Kettleburn turned an abandoned classroom into a laboratory, where Kettleburn studied Vaughn’s unfamiliar magical and Muggle-inspired methods.
• Vaughn explained that Vaughn's Living Disintegration Ritual used a high-dimensional space to expose a living organism’s body and all its structures for observation.
• Vaughn released Araclaid into the ritual, which unfolded the Acromantula’s body into a crystalline polyhedron and projected its biological information into the room.
• Vaughn cast a spell to stop the information from overwhelming Kettleburn, then explained that his Multispectral Vision Charm could filter the information carried by light.
• Kettleburn looked at the polyhedron again without suffering the earlier effects and exclaimed at the astonishing magic, which Vaughn called a miracle.

Vaughn used a higher-dimensional spatial spell to study Araclaid and discussed how the resulting knowledge might reveal the nature of spirituality. Meanwhile, Harry and his dormmates worried about the Dueling Club’s fate and decided to seek Dumbledore’s help, with Ron proposing another way to contact Fawkes.

• Kettleburn recognized that Vaughn’s spell had revealed information about Araclaid’s life, while Vaughn filtered the information through Personality Armaments and stored the resulting knowledge in his Memory Archive.
• Vaughn explained that Araclaid’s life appeared superimposed across nonlinear spacetime and suggested the experiment might uncover the secret of spirituality.
• Harry, Ron, Seamus, Dean, and Neville discussed the threat to the Dueling Club and learned that Vaughn had been researching with Kettleburn.
• Seamus urged Harry to contact Dumbledore through Fawkes, and Harry explained that they could not enter the headmaster’s office without its password.
• Ron said there was another way to contact Fawkes: Fruit Tea.

Harry, Ron, Seamus, Dean, and Neville left Gryffindor Tower under the Invisibility Cloak, using Scabbers to lure Fruit Tea into helping them summon Fawkes. Fruit Tea led them to a corridor where the four Heads of House were arguing with Alecto Carrow, and the group decided to follow her inside.

• Harry and the others sneaked out of Gryffindor Tower beneath the Invisibility Cloak.
• Ron used Scabbers as bait to attract Fruit Tea and offered to let her play with him in exchange for a feather that could summon Fawkes.
• Fruit Tea accepted Ron's offer and led the group deeper into the castle.
• Harry and the others found Fruit Tea outside a lit room where Alecto Carrow was arguing with the four Heads of House.
• Seamus suggested the room might host the Hogwarts Board of Governors meeting, and the group chose to follow Fruit Tea inside.

Harry and his friends secretly watched the Board of Governors debate whether to restore Vaughn's Dueling Club, then struggled to understand the deadlocked vote. Harry left uncertain whether contacting Dumbledore would help, while Ron was left mourning Scabbers after Fruit Tea tormented him.

• Harry, Dean, Ron, Seamus, and Neville crept beneath the Invisibility Cloak into a Board of Governors meeting and overheard Alecto Carrow and Lucius Malfoy criticize the Dueling Club.
• Lucius Malfoy calmed Alecto while Harry watched the governors, and the vote on restoring the club ended in a four-to-four tie with four abstentions.
• Harry and his friends returned to Gryffindor Tower confused by the vote, and Harry began doubting his plan to contact Dumbledore through Fawkes.
• Hermione scolded Harry for sneaking out and refused to help them interpret the meeting, while Seamus warned that contacting Dumbledore could upset the board's deadlock.
• Harry's friends agreed to keep a Phoenix Feather as a backup plan, while Fruit Tea battered Scabbers's cage and Ron lamented his pet's suffering.

Harry learned from Draco Malfoy that Lucius had abstained from voting against Vaughn and the Duelling Club, and Draco explained that Vaughn’s growing influence had won him support among many pure-blood families. Draco proposed that Slytherins help protect the club, but the conversation ended before he explained the position of the final Board family.

• Ron’s speech seemed to revive Scabbers, and Hogwarts students and professors spent the day anxious about the Board of Governors’ review of the Duelling Club.
• Fred and George questioned Harry and Ron about the Board meeting, while Harry warned his friends to discuss sensitive matters only in private.
• Draco asked Harry whether Lucius had abstained from the vote, and Harry confirmed that he had seen it happen.
• Draco explained that many pure-bloods respected Vaughn’s magical power and growing alliances, and said Slytherins shared Harry’s desire to save the practical classes and Duelling Club.
• Draco said Alecto Carrow was the only Board representative firmly opposed to Vaughn, citing the Carrows’ extreme anti-Muggle beliefs and the Greengrasses’ weakness, before beginning to describe the remaining family.

Harry agreed to watch Lucius Malfoy’s conduct on the Board of Governors after Draco asked him to investigate his father’s ambiguous position. Meanwhile, Kettleburn brought breakfast to Vaughn, who continued studying Araclaid’s life information as the Board of Governors remained deadlocked.

• Draco asked Harry to observe Lucius Malfoy and find out why he was not clearly supporting or opposing Vaughn, and Harry agreed.
• Draco left with Pansy Parkinson, Goyle, and Crabbe, while Harry hid his agreement from Ron and wondered whether he should have asked Draco about the notebook.
• Kettleburn evaded students following him and entered the abandoned classroom where Vaughn was studying the light emitted by the polyhedron.
• Vaughn drew the light back into the polyhedron, then ate breakfast while Kettleburn described the Board of Governors’ deadlock and the growing support among some pure-blood families and Slytherin students.

Kettleburn worried that rumors of Pure-blood overtures were pushing students toward appeasement, while Dumbledore and Vaughn’s apparent rift drew attention from Fudge and Master Li. After discussing the international Potions exchange and the consequences of the conflict, Dumbledore was left considering the Pure-blood letters and the growing pressure surrounding Vaughn.

• Kettleburn reflected on how the deadlocked Board vote and rumors had made students more willing to cooperate with Pure-blood families, and he hoped Vaughn would reject their overtures.
• Fudge visited Dumbledore on Laojun Mountain and smugly suggested that Vaughn might be won over after Dumbledore blocked his proposal at the Board meeting.
• Master Li emerged from the shadows and asked Dumbledore whether his conflict with Vaughn was genuine, explaining that it could affect the East’s decision to join the international Potions exchange.
• Master Li warned that the exchange could spread Vaughn’s ideas and influence among students, and he argued that the older generation should not presume to judge the future.
• Dumbledore admitted that he and Vaughn had disagreed, then reflected on the Pure-blood letters and the pressure being brought to bear on him before Master Li left.

Li Nanyu met with three fellow Legendary wizards in a hidden valley, where they discussed the danger of the Ether gods, Vaughn Weasley’s research, and the possibility of a new legend. After his teacher sent him to observe Vaughn in England, the story shifted to Hogwarts, where Harry and Ron worried about Professor McGonagall’s essay assignment and Hermione’s anger.

• Li Nanyu told the other three wizards that Dumbledore and Vaughn Weasley had clashed over their ideals, and they discussed the threat posed by an unseen presence that could detect their conversations.
• Li Nanyu reported that Vaughn might be developing a universal potion additive, so the group decided to share the intelligence with the Qi Refinement Committee and cultivate ties with Cornelius Fudge.
• Li Nanyu suggested that Wilkinson might have survived by pledging himself to an Ether god, but the Eastern Celestial Master rebuked him and ordered him to go to England to observe Vaughn and destiny.
• Professor McGonagall assigned her second-year class a four-foot essay with strict font and spacing limits, prompting the students to groan after she left.
• Harry left Transfiguration with Ron, who fretted that Professor McGonagall had singled him out, while Harry worried that Hermione still would not speak to them.

Harry secretly arranged to help Draco deliver Lucius Malfoy’s sealed letter to Snape, while also organizing his friends’ efforts to investigate the Hogwarts Board of Governors. After Snape taunted Harry about Vaughn’s Wolfsbane Potion in class, Harry and Draco set out together that night, and Draco explained how much Vaughn meant to Slytherin.

• Harry met Draco in the fourth-floor corridor, agreed to take him to the Board of Governors’ meeting place that night, and learned that Draco had a sealed letter from Lucius for Snape.
• Harry divided his friends over who would stay behind to work on their essays, then persuaded Ron, Seamus, Dean, and Neville to remain while he investigated alone.
• Snape quizzed Harry about Vaughn’s Wolfsbane Potion, mocked him, and assigned the class a seven-foot essay on the potion’s ingredients and their toxicity.
• Draco followed Snape after class and returned with a nod for Harry, while Hermione avoided Harry and left without speaking to him.
• Harry met Draco outside the dungeons under the Invisibility Cloak, and Draco said Slytherins treasured Vaughn’s carved “Sea View Room” sign because Vaughn represented hope to many of them.

Harry and Draco followed Fruit Tea into the Hogwarts governors’ meeting, where the vote again ended in a tie. Afterward, they watched Lucius Malfoy behave cautiously and waited for him to leave, then asked Fruit Tea to help them track him.

• Harry and Draco entered the governors’ meeting under the Invisibility Cloak with Fruit Tea’s help, and Draco observed the attendees as the debate resumed.
• The governors’ vote ended in a 4:4:4 tie, and Alecto Carrow berated the Ministry representatives and other abstaining members before the meeting adjourned.
• Harry and Draco hid as Lucius Malfoy and Snape left, then waited while Lucius remained behind and later checked the room again for anyone watching him.
• Harry asked Fruit Tea to help them catch up with Lucius, and she summoned cats, birds, and other castle animals to search for him.
• A raven returned and appeared to communicate silently with Fruit Tea, who then led Harry and Draco onward.

Harry and Draco followed Lucius Malfoy to a secret meeting with Snape in an underwater corridor, where a mysterious wizard named DeSantis appeared and Snape's magic shattered the passage. The boys escaped and argued over whether they could report Lucius, but Draco pointed out they had no evidence and Lucius could legally invite guests to Hogwarts.

• Harry and Draco followed Lucius through Hogwarts while Fruit Tea countered his detection spells with potion.
• Lucius met Snape in an underwater corridor and revealed that a mysterious mark had suddenly activated; Snape angrily rejected the idea that its owner had returned.
• A hidden voice appeared, and Snape attacked the darkness, shattering the corridor while a magical barrier held back the lake water.
• Snape recognized that Harry and Draco were nearby and used the attack to cover their escape; the stranger introduced himself as the North American legendary wizard DeSantis.
• Harry and Draco fled to the Slytherin common room, where Harry accused Lucius of plotting with an outsider and Draco argued that they had no evidence to report.

Harry and Draco tried to work out how to investigate Lucius Malfoy and the unfamiliar wizard, while Snape agreed to serve Voldemort under DeSantis’s demands. Fruit Tea’s recovered memories revealed the meeting to Vaughn, who learned that DeSantis was cooperating with Voldemort and decided to summon Dumbledore back.

• Harry and Draco realized they could not report the damaged bridge and discussed investigating the wizard Lucius had brought, then noticed Fruit Tea was missing.
• Fruit Tea, invisible in the maze, overheard DeSantis question Snape and Lucius, who revealed Voldemort wanted to cooperate with DeSantis to achieve resurrection.
• DeSantis told Snape that Lucius was bound by an Unbreakable Vow and offered Snape the choice to serve Voldemort under the same arrangement; Snape accepted.
• Fruit Tea woke in Vaughn’s room and accidentally encountered his dangerous experiment, but Vaughn protected her and recovered her memories through Personality Armament.
• Vaughn saw Fruit Tea’s memories of the meeting and learned that DeSantis was working with Voldemort, so he decided to summon Dumbledore back.
• Harry woke the next morning to find heavy snow falling outside Hogwarts.

Harry worried about Snape after witnessing his powerful magic, but found Snape unharmed when he was summoned to the dungeon office. There, Harry discovered Vaughn with Snape, and Vaughn began a casual tea gathering before explaining why Harry counted as a witness.

• Harry concealed his anxiety about Snape from Ron and his other friends, though Ron noticed that he looked troubled.
• Snape confronted Harry at the Great Hall entrance and ordered him to come to his office after breakfast.
• Ron urged Harry to tell Professor McGonagall what he had seen, but Harry went to Snape's office instead.
• Vaughn greeted Harry from inside Snape's office and told Snape to let him in because he had witnessed the events of the previous night.
• Harry entered the unusually tidy office, where Vaughn invited him to warm himself and share tea with Snape.