Recaps

Manus brought Helena to meet her mother, Rowena Ravenclaw, whose portrait was shocked to see that her daughter still looked young. While Helena wept and struggled to speak, Manus recounted how she had died in Albania and how her murderer, Baron, had become the Bloody Baron.

• Manus awakened Rowena Ravenclaw's portrait and revealed Helena, who had followed him into the secret chamber.
• Rowena recognized Helena and asked why she looked so young, mistakenly believing her daughter had died soon after leaving Hogwarts.
• Helena broke down in tears, and Manus offered to explain what had happened after she left Hogwarts.
• Manus told Rowena that Helena had gone to Albania and was killed by Baron after refusing to return with him and rejecting his confession.
• Manus explained that Baron regretted killing Helena, took his own life, and became the Bloody Baron, while Rowena struggled to accept her daughter's fate.

Manus helped Rowena Ravenclaw confront her guilt over sending the Baron to retrieve Helena, arguing that she had made the best choice available with what she knew. Rowena stopped blaming herself, and Manus left the mother and daughter to talk, with Rowena open to meeting him again.

• Rowena Ravenclaw said that she had sent the Baron, and Helena worried that her mother believed she had caused her death.
• Manus reassured Rowena that she had not intended to harm Helena and framed her action as negligence rather than deliberate wrongdoing.
• Manus asked how Rowena could have discovered the Baron's true nature at the time, showing that she had no way to know her choice would lead to Helena's death.
• Manus explained that Rowena had chosen the most suitable option available and could not fairly blame her past self for failing to foresee the Baron's actions.
• Rowena stopped obsessing over her responsibility, Helena regained her composure, and Manus left them to speak together.

Manus reviewed his remaining plans and prepared to retrieve a confirmed Horcrux during the Christmas holiday. As the holiday began, Bellows learned that Manus had already finished his homework, including Astronomy work calculated for a clear night ahead.

• Manus decided to retrieve the Gaunt family Horcrux over the holiday while pursuing his plans to study magic and acquire magical creatures.
• Flitwick asked students who would remain at Hogwarts over the holiday to register, and Jasper said he did not want to go home.
• Bellows told Manus he planned to visit his injured mother with his father, and Manus considered whether soul research might help her.
• Manus finished his holiday essays before leaving Hogwarts, while Bellows was astonished that he had completed them so early.
• Manus explained that he had completed his Astronomy assignment by calculating a star chart for a clear night the following Tuesday.

Manus investigated the Gaunt family home near Little Hangleton and recovered the ring that Tom had made into a Horcrux. He discovered a Deathly Hallows symbol inside the ring’s gemstone, leaving him wondering whether it was one of the legendary artifacts.

• Manus told Griffin and Aivina that he wanted to visit Hogsmeade Village during the holidays, and Griffin agreed to take him.
• Manus went to the Gaunt family home near Little Hangleton and found that it was protected by concealed Dark Magic spells as well as the Curse on the Horcrux.
• Manus broke the protections and retrieved the Gaunt family ring with tweezers.
• Manus found complex runes and a hidden pattern of a triangle, circle, and line in the ring’s gemstone, and recognized it as the Deathly Hallows symbol.
• Manus recalled Dumbledore’s hints that the Deathly Hallows were real and wondered whether the ring was one of them.

Manus studied the runes in the Horcrux ring without deciding whether it was the Resurrection Stone, then traveled with Griffin to Hogsmeade to visit Rare Birds and Exotic Beasts. On the way, he reflected on the nearly completed Wolf-Healing Potion and the honors it could bring him.

• Manus copied the ring’s runes into a notebook and postponed judging whether it was the Resurrection Stone until he could analyze its effects.
• Manus decided not to nurture the soul fragment into Tom II because he lacked time and a place to keep him during the holidays.
• Manus’s appointment with Rare Birds and Exotic Beasts arrived, and he traveled to Hogsmeade with Griffin and Aivina in their flying carriage.
• Manus recalled that the Wolf-Healing Potion was nearing completion and that the Ministry of Magic had made his Second-Class Order of Merlin medal all but certain.
• Griffin accompanied Manus to Rare Birds and Exotic Beasts, curious whether his son planned to buy a pet or study magical creatures.

Manus bought several Magical Creatures from Rare Birds and Exotic Beasts, including a Demiguise that quickly bonded with him. Griffin paid for the creatures as a gift, and he accepted that their family had gained another member.

• Manus and Griffin visited Rare Birds and Exotic Beasts to collect the Magical Creatures Manus had ordered.
• Manus reached into the Demiguise’s cage, and the invisible creature appeared and held his finger.
• Griffin paid for the creatures as a gift to Manus.
• Manus opened the cage, and the Demiguise climbed onto his back and became invisible again.
• Manus considered the Demiguise’s abilities and magical potential while it stayed beside him.
• Griffin returned, saw the Demiguise wave at him, and accepted that the family had gained another member.

Manus visited Hogsmeade with Griffin and met Rosmerta, who secretly warned Aivina to leave before dark. Aivina revealed the warning concerned Death Eater activity, and the family departed, with Manus realizing Rosmerta had also offered him protection for future visits.

• Griffin took Manus around Hogsmeade, where Manus bought sweets and ate at the Three Broomsticks.
• Griffin greeted Rosmerta, who met Manus and invited him to visit her pub when he was old enough to come to Hogsmeade.
• Aivina arrived and embraced Rosmerta, who quietly warned her to leave Hogsmeade before dark.
• Aivina hurried Griffin and Manus out of the Three Broomsticks and told them Rosmerta's warning involved Death Eater activity.
• Manus realized Rosmerta's invitation had been a discreet offer of protection and suspected the Death Eaters would remain active in Hogsmeade for years.

Manus moved the Magical Creatures he had bought into a magically expanded suitcase and used Huginn to investigate suspicious Death Eater activity in Hogsmeade. He suspected Voldemort was gathering there because he had sensed a change in a Horcrux, and sent Huginn closer as the Death Eaters converged on the village square.

• Manus transferred nearly a hundred caged Magical Creatures into a suitcase he had enchanted with an Undetectable Extension Charm, surprising Griffin.
• After dinner, Manus communed with the creatures, while a crow in Hogsmeade gained the enhanced vision linked to Huginn.
• Manus used Huginn’s observations to identify suspicious wizards in Hogsmeade as likely Death Eaters and wondered if Voldemort had detected a change in the Horcruxes.
• Manus reassured himself that the ring he had taken was hidden behind the Fidelius Charm at a secret base.
• When the Death Eaters gathered in Hogsmeade’s central square, Manus ordered Huginn to fly to a nearby rooftop and observe them.

Manus watched Death Eaters recruit two Hogwarts students and realized Severus would likely be targeted because of his talent and position in Slytherin. He decided to intensify Severus’s training, especially in Occlumency, while preparing for the possibility of confronting Voldemort.

• Manus watched through Huginn as Death Eaters welcomed two new recruits and realized they were recruiting Hogwarts students.
• Manus recognized that Severus’s talent and status as a Half-blood in Slytherin could make refusing recruitment dangerous for him.
• Manus concluded that the Death Eaters would probably wait until Severus’s third or fourth year before approaching him.
• Manus decided to intensify Severus’s training in Occlumency so he could protect Manus’s secrets from Voldemort.
• Manus considered that Severus might stand against the Death Eaters and noted that he now held two of Voldemort’s Horcruxes.

Manus discovered that Katria, the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, had met with Death Eaters and followed her to the shack where Lupin transformed. He saw Katria begin a painful, cursed transformation into a feline creature, leaving him faced with another mystery at Hogwarts.

• Manus decided to discuss a plan for dealing with Voldemort’s remaining Horcruxes with Severus.
• Katria appeared at a Death Eater gathering and asked where Voldemort was before leaving after a private exchange.
• Manus sent Huginn to follow Katria, but she detected the raven and struck it with a spell before continuing on her way.
• Manus followed Katria to the shack where Lupin transformed and retreated when a surge of magic came from inside.
• Manus watched Katria’s face and limbs deform as she began transforming into a feline creature, apparently under the influence of a Curse.

After Katria’s transformation and return to Hogwarts, Manus collected traces of her Curse outbreak and discussed Severus’s choices regarding the Death Eaters. Severus rejected joining them, and Manus offered to help him prepare to resist Voldemort’s demands.

• Huginn watched Katria leave the Shrieking Shack for Hogwarts, and Manus extracted and sealed traces of her Curse outbreak.
• Manus returned home to rest, then summoned Severus to the secret base the next morning.
• Manus told Severus what had happened and raised the options of joining, avoiding, or opposing the Death Eaters.
• Severus explained that Voldemort demanded unquestioning obedience, so joining could force him into deadly acts, including killing family members.
• Severus chose not to join the Death Eaters, and Manus offered to train him in useful Hexes, but Severus declined and focused on improving his strength.

Manus discussed the Death Eaters’ future threat with Severus and decided to strengthen protections for his home and Lily’s. He offered to teach Severus a separate system of magic, and Severus agreed before learning that he first had a towering stack of foundational books to study.

• Severus worried that he lacked the strength to withstand the Death Eaters outside Hogwarts, and Manus said he would strengthen the defenses around Severus’s home and Lily’s.
• Manus asked Severus whether he wanted to learn magic such as Mage Hand and Resistance Boost, and Severus eagerly agreed.
• Manus summoned more than thirty notebooks and explained that Severus needed to master the foundational theory before beginning formal lessons.
• Manus described magic’s potential to control elements, create force fields, interfere with space and time, and even bring the dead back to life.
• Severus questioned whether true resurrection existed, and Manus confirmed it was possible but extremely difficult and dependent on conditions.

Severus studied Manus’s theoretical notes while Manus investigated the Horcrux Ring and the Curse afflicting Katria. Manus identified the ring as a likely Resurrection Stone and concluded that its magic produced an incomplete imitation of a ghost, leaving him to consider the consequences of that flawed creation.

• Severus struggled through Manus’s dense notes, and Manus encouraged him to keep building a solid foundation.
• Manus continued studying the Horcrux Ring and the unstable magical properties he had extracted from Katria’s Curse.
• Manus considered convincing Katria that he could help with her Curse and disrupt her tentative contact with the Death Eaters.
• Manus’s research led him to suspect that the Horcrux Ring was the Resurrection Stone and that its magic imitated the creation of ghosts.
• Manus concluded that the Stone created a half-finished figure based on the user’s memories of someone, rather than resurrecting that person.

Manus considered using the Resurrection Stone to create a ghostly form of resurrection, then invited Severus and Lily to celebrate Christmas together. As the three met at their secret base, Severus explained how the Death Eaters were recruiting Hogwarts students, and Lily worried about the danger to their families.

• Manus read about the Resurrection Stone in The Tale of the Three Brothers and noted ghostly resurrection as a possible future invention.
• Manus invited Severus and Lily to celebrate Christmas together, and Severus agreed.
• Lily noticed Severus studying and heard how Manus had discovered the Death Eaters were recruiting Hogwarts students.
• Severus described his plans, and Lily worried that the recruitment would intensify the conflict between Slytherin and Gryffindor and threaten their families.
• Lily insisted she would not avoid the Death Eaters' recruits and said she could grind with Manus and Severus.

Manus discussed how to protect Lily’s Muggle family from the Death Eaters, and Lily chose to keep them in Cokeworth under a Fidelius Charm and other protections. He also offered to teach Lily and Severus ways to use magic without attracting the Ministry’s attention, and the three finished by decorating their secret base for Christmas.

• Manus explained that the Death Eaters could target Lily’s Muggle relatives and gave her the options of moving her family away or protecting their home in Cokeworth.
• Lily chose the second option, and Manus said they would discuss the plan with Mr. and Mrs. Evans before taking action.
• Lily asked Manus to teach her magic, and he explained that young Wizards had no Trace before finishing their first year and signing a Magical Contract.
• Manus promised to teach Lily and Severus ways to use magic while avoiding the Trace.
• Manus, Lily, and Severus decorated their secret base with Christmas decorations, enchanted sweets, and magical fireworks.

Manus was called home from his Christmas Eve gathering when Professor Sprout arrived with the unusual Dittany he had asked her to find. After harvesting its withered and newly sprouted branches, he preserved them for later and returned to spend the evening with Severus and Lily.

• Manus left the secret base after the bell rang and found Professor Sprout visiting his parents.
• Sprout told Manus that the special Dittany had appeared and took him to Hogwarts Greenhouse Four.
• Manus examined the Dittany's strange withered branch and vibrant young branch, then removed both for study.
• Manus preserved the branches and chose to postpone experimenting so he could spend Christmas Eve with Severus and Lily.
• Manus returned to find that Severus and Lily had added more wine to the simmering pot.

After returning the tipsy Severus and Lily home, Manus investigated two Dittany branches and found that the tender branch held unusually abundant vitality. Unsure whether it had sacrificed itself to save the withered branch or stolen that branch’s vitality, he hesitated over how to use them—until sunlight revealed a new trait in the tender branch.

• Manus returned the tipsy Severus and Lily to their families, then decided to postpone crafting his magical item while he was still muddled.
• Manus tested the withered and tender Dittany branches and found that the tender branch had an abnormal excess of vitality, with no evidence of outside magical interference.
• Manus realized that the tender branch might have either received vitality through a sacrificial process or plundered it, changing whether the Phoenix Bracelet would heal or steal vitality.
• Manus spent the night unable to decide whether testing the branches would risk their purity or proceeding without testing would endanger the Phoenix Nirvana Ashes.
• As sunlight fell on the tender branch, Manus perceived a golden, flame-like trait and wondered why it had appeared.

Manus completed the Phoenix Bracelet using two Dittany Branches and Phoenix Nirvana Ashes, unexpectedly giving the branches traits associated with the Sun God's Birthday. The bracelet became a single, continuous ring, and Manus wondered whether a mysterious force had arranged the timing and materials.

• Manus recalled that Christmas had originated as a celebration of the Sun God's birthday before the Church adopted the date, and remembered that Easter had undergone a similar change.
• Manus examined the sunlight-tinged Dittany Sprig and decided to craft the bracelet from it and a withered branch, using Phoenix Nirvana Ashes as their core.
• Manus treated both branches with potions and spells, preparing them to withstand the materials and preserve their contrasting qualities of growth and withering.
• Manus changed his design and used the Phoenix Nirvana Ashes to join the branches end to end, making the bracelet a single, continuous ring.
• Manus finished the Phoenix Bracelet just after midnight and suspected that the timing, the materials, and his choice to spend Christmas Eve with Severus and Lily had all been just right.

Manus reflected on the Phoenix Bracelet as a possible reward from the fairy-tale world, then rested and considered the limits of his young body and magic. As the holiday ended, he returned to Hogwarts and reunited with Pandora on the train, where she brought him her Potions homework.

• Manus wondered whether the Phoenix Bracelet was a reward for his past actions or an advance payment for a future trial, then stored it in his pocket dimension.
• After feeding the Magical Creatures in his suitcase, Manus went to bed exhausted and reflected the next morning on needing time to grow stronger.
• Manus spent the holiday and his twelfth birthday in Cokeworth while Huginn watched Hogsmeade Village.
• On Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, Manus and Bellows watched students complain about returning to school and unfinished homework.
• Pandora visited Manus's compartment, handed him her Potions homework, and sat opposite him after joking with Bellows.

Manus evaluated Pandora’s potion assignment, praised her progress, and encouraged her to keep studying. After they reached Hogwarts in heavy rain and Peeves soaked the students with water balloons, Manus reflected on his research into Non-beings and the potential for further study.

• Manus praised Pandora’s assignment and recommended books, while Bellows teased him about sounding like a professor courting her.
• Rain poured over the students as they traveled to Hogwarts, leaving them soaked and muddy by the time they entered the castle.
• Peeves mocked the students and threw water-filled balloons at them before vanishing.
• Manus recalled studying a Boggart and considered how Non-beings arose from collective emotions.
• Bellows explained that Peeves rarely crossed paths with Manus because he avoided professors, the library, and Ravenclaw Tower.

Manus developed a self-balancing system of Light Qi and Dark Qi to strengthen his body and magic, then decided to help Ravenclaw’s Quidditch team with its slow training balls. He showed Edmund a Golden Snitch he had made.

• Manus used his Qi Magic to create preliminary magical Five Organs and Six Bowels that could digest food and store some of its energy.
• Manus concluded that balancing Light Qi and Dark Qi could let his magic system strengthen itself over time.
• Ravenclaw students discussed their Quidditch prospects and complained that their training golf balls were slower than the Golden Snitch.
• Manus approached Edmund and showed him a Golden Snitch he had made.

Manus unveiled his Training Golden Snitch, astonishing Ravenclaw and stirring interest across Hogwarts. Rowena Ravenclaw thanked him for reconciling her with Helena and offered him the possessions buried with her in a secret tomb beneath Hogwarts, leaving Manus uneasy about accepting them.

• Manus showed Edmund his reusable Training Golden Snitch and explained how its box could recall it remotely.
• The Ravenclaw Quidditch Team tested the Snitch at an extra practice, and its speed amazed the spectators.
• News of the Snitch spread through Hogwarts, prompting the Gryffindor and Slytherin captains to seek access to it and the pitch.
• Rowena Ravenclaw thanked Manus for helping her and Helena understand one another and avoid repeating their old conflicts.
• Rowena told Manus that the founders had built a secret tomb beneath Hogwarts and offered him the possessions buried with her, which he found difficult to accept.

Rowena Ravenclaw asked Manus to retrieve Helena's remains from Albania and bury her beside Rowena, then told him how to find the founders' tombs at Hogwarts. Manus opened the hidden entrance and crossed the crystal barrier, discovering a moonlit field created with Ancient Magic.

• Rowena Ravenclaw asked Manus to bring Helena's remains from Albania and bury her with Rowena, and she told him Helena would reveal the location.
• Rowena Ravenclaw showed Manus the route to the founders' tombs and explained how to enter them using the rhythm of the Hogwarts motto.
• After class, Manus went into the dungeons, used Revelio as he followed the hidden passage, and tapped the brick wall to reveal a spiral staircase.
• Manus descended to a crystal barrier and used the Ancient Magic Rowena Ravenclaw had taught him to make it transparent.
• Manus saw an archway opening onto a moonlit field created with Ancient Magic.

Manus visited the founders’ graves and planned future work on Soul Magic and Voldemort’s soul fragment in the Resurrection Stone. Back at Hogwarts, he refused to sell the Training Golden Snitch to the Gryffindor and Slytherin Quidditch Teams, while allowing Ravenclaw to use it for free.

• Manus entered the founders’ burial place, paid tribute at the graves, and noted that Slytherin’s grave lacked a wand.
• Manus left the graves and considered advancing his Soul Magic research and experimenting with the Voldemort soul fragment in the Resurrection Stone.
• Manus ate in the Great Hall, where George approached him about the Training Golden Snitch.
• George told Manus that the Gryffindor and Slytherin Quidditch Teams wanted to know whether the Training Golden Snitch was for sale.
• Manus refused to sell the Snitch and asked George to explain that Ravenclaw could keep using it for free.

Manus negotiated cooperation with Little Tom, a young Horcrux fragment, and considered what its guesses revealed about Voldemort's choices. After noticing that Katria's Curse was worsening and her flare-ups were drawing closer together, Manus decided to speak with her.

• Manus told Little Tom that he was a Horcrux fragment and offered cooperation, which Little Tom accepted after hearing the danger of meeting Voldemort's original self.
• Manus reflected on Little Tom's guesses that Voldemort favored commemorative objects for Horcruxes and might entrust them to close subordinates.
• Manus considered asking Big Tom why he had chosen the diary as a Horcrux and concluded that Big Tom's information was useful but not fully trustworthy.
• Manus noted that Katria rarely attended Death Eater gatherings and that the intervals between her Curse flare-ups had shortened.
• Manus estimated that Katria had only a little over four months before the Curse became a serious threat and decided it was time to talk to her.