Recaps

Manus left the gathering studying Professor Bagnold’s curse and wondered what she had been investigating before it took effect. He noticed Dumbledore had accepted many Wizard Sage Party commissions at once, then returned to Hogwarts’ ordinary routines as signs of the war continued to surface.

• Manus declined to stay with Jasper and the others to observe Bagnold’s curse, while Bellows remained with Mrs. Travers.
• Back in his dormitory, Manus considered whether Bagnold had been tracking Voldemort, a Death Eater, or the Greater Good.
• Manus checked the Wizard Sage Party’s commission records and saw that Dumbledore had accepted more than a dozen commissions at once.
• Manus wondered why Dumbledore suddenly needed so many credits, then returned to his usual student life after an uneventful night.
• Manus noticed reports of explosions, Dark Marks, fewer commissions, defensive-item exchanges, and grieving students as the war continued beyond Hogwarts.

Manus announced that Regulus had become his Apprentice and explained how a Mage’s School differed from ordinary study. After a meal together, Barty Jr. asked to become Manus’s Apprentice, but Manus warned that research did not suit him, and Barty Jr. insisted he could change.

• Lily questioned why Regulus had joined Manus’s circle, and Regulus said he had come with his teacher.
• Manus announced that Regulus was now his Apprentice and explained the purpose of a Mage’s School to the group.
• Manus told Lily and Severus that their goals did not center on research, so they did not need to join his School.
• Manus served the group a meal featuring trout he had raised and prepared himself.
• After the others left, Barty Jr. asked Manus to make him an Apprentice.
• Manus warned Barty Jr. that his emotion-driven nature did not suit research, but Barty Jr. said he could make himself suited to it.

Manus let Barty Jr. attempt to prove that his emotional drive could enable rational thinking during research, giving him an enchanted test to complete. He then began making Regulus a wand suited to his new path, choosing ebony and a tail hair from Sleipnir.

• Barty Jr. insisted that he could learn whatever abilities he needed, and Manus considered whether his intense obsession might help him think rationally while conducting research.
• Manus gave Barty Jr. an enchanted test designed to reveal his genuine thinking patterns without letting him memorize or falsify answers.
• Barty Jr. left eager to take the test, while Manus wondered whether deliberately altering a person's thinking through magic was a good thing.
• Manus began carving a wand for Regulus, choosing ebony rather than yew because he hoped Regulus would hold to his new beliefs under pressure.
• Manus chose a tail hair from Sleipnir as the core for Regulus's wand.

Manus considered using his own body to make a wand, then investigated a sealed balance trait that began changing inside his Mental World. The trait was disintegrating the sealing chamber and gathering matter into a vessel, leaving Manus to suspect that Righteous Qi and Black Qi were involved again.

• Manus reasoned that his body could provide effective wand materials and decided to modify his wand for his own use.
• Manus noticed alarms from the sealing chamber and found that the balance trait he had stored there was changing.
• Manus traced the first anomaly to exactly seven o'clock and suspected that time might be affecting the trait.
• An hour later, Manus discovered that the trait was slowly disintegrating the chamber, though he himself was unharmed.
• Manus saw matter condensing around the trait as the amounts of Righteous Qi and Black Qi in its seal diminished, and wondered whether their involvement explained the change.

Manus examined the newly formed Tiger Talisman and decided to keep it sealed rather than risk activating its uncertain powers. The next day, McGonagall confronted Potter about sneaking around the third floor, and Lily asked Manus what he thought about Potter and his friends joining the Wizard Sage Party.

• Manus identified the talisman's markings as Oracle Bone Script and connected its formation to the final hour of Yin in the Wood Tiger year of 1974.
• Wary of the talisman's equal measures of righteous qi and black qi, Manus placed it in the sealed chamber and added extra seals and a triggered Alchemy Magic spell.
• Before class, McGonagall accused Potter of playing hide-and-seek with her on the third floor and told him to come to her office after class.
• Potter glanced at Lily, who met his eyes before he looked away; Lily then asked Manus through the Communication Charm what he thought of Potter and his friends joining the Wizard Sage Party.