Recaps

Manus explained to Lily that Huginn was still gathering intelligence in the Forbidden Forest, where it had discovered a colony of Acromantulas. In Transfiguration class, Manus recognized McGonagall as an Animagus and dismissed the form as underwhelming before she began taking attendance.

• Manus told Lily that Huginn’s investigation of the Forbidden Forest was taking longer than expected, though it was safe and had found a colony of Acromantulas.
• Manus and Lily continued their conversation while the Gryffindor first-years behind them grew uneasy at their silent exchanges.
• Manus noticed that the cat on the lectern was examining the class and identified it as an Animagus.
• McGonagall transformed from a cat into her human form, then demonstrated turning the lectern into a pig and warned the students about the dangers of Transfiguration.
• McGonagall began calling the class register and gave Manus King a serious look when she called his name.

Professor McGonagall watched the first-year Sorting and taught the students their first Transfiguration lesson, where Manus and Lily quickly impressed her. After comparing the textbook’s practice-based approach with Manus’s method, Lily chose to follow his guidance.

• Professor McGonagall regretted that Manus had chosen Ravenclaw, then continued the roll call and began teaching the first-years how to turn matches into needles.
• Manus transformed his match into a finely made needle on his first attempt, earning ten points for Ravenclaw.
• Lily produced a rough but clearly metallic needle on her first attempt, earning five points for Gryffindor.
• Manus explained two ways Lily could develop her Transfiguration: repeated practice following the textbook, or thinking and summarizing before acting.
• Lily chose Manus’s approach, trusting his training and deciding to keep following his lead.

Lily improved her Switching Spell with Manus’s guidance, and she and Severus commiserated over being praised as geniuses despite measuring themselves against Manus. When they submitted their staircase assignment early, Manus gave them maps of his explorations and examined their work with an unsettling expression.

• Manus guided Lily to imagine a needle clearly and practice transforming a match until she recreated it successfully.
• McGonagall praised Lily and Manus as Transfiguration geniuses after Lily completed the spell before class ended.
• Lily told Severus that McGonagall had praised her, and Severus shared that Slughorn had privately called him gifted at Potions.
• Lily and Severus agreed that praise felt misplaced because they could not approach Manus’s abilities.
• The next day, Manus gave Lily and Severus maps of the castle and checked their early staircase-assignment submissions, which had only minor errors.
• Manus looked between Lily and Severus with a complicated expression, leaving them worried about what he had noticed.

Manus explained that he had struggled to teach students outside Ravenclaw, and told Severus and Lily that their ability to learn made them genuine geniuses. The chapter ended with them questioning his praise because they believed their success came from his teaching.

• Severus and Lily apologized to Manus for neglecting their magic practice, but Manus said he had not been criticizing them.
• Manus reflected on how other students had struggled to understand his explanations, making him grateful to have met Severus and Lily first.
• Severus suspected Lily had told Manus that Professor Slughorn praised him, and Lily angrily denied it.
• Manus clarified that he had not been upset about professors calling Severus and Lily geniuses.
• Severus and Lily credited Manus's teaching for their success, but Manus insisted they were geniuses because they had learned from him.

Manus explored Hogwarts and was unexpectedly carried by a staircase to the fifth floor, where he searched for hidden rooms and possible dangers. He found a secret passage but left it unopened, then entered a classroom as a witch in a portrait watched and departed her frame.

• Manus encouraged Severus and Lily to believe in their abilities, then resumed exploring Hogwarts.
• He mapped another hidden passage and was unexpectedly carried by a staircase to the fifth floor.
• Manus considered whether Dumbledore or some other force had redirected the staircase, then decided to investigate.
• He searched the fifth-floor corridor with Revelio, found a secret door behind a statue, and continued without opening it.
• Manus entered a classroom, and a witch in a nearby portrait left her frame.

Dumbledore arranged for Manus to encounter the Mirror of Erised so he could learn what the boy desired most, but Manus left the room before Dumbledore could confirm what he had seen. Manus suspected someone was manipulating the stairs and returned with an interesting haul, while Dumbledore found the room empty.

• Dumbledore questioned whether his predictions about Manus's future could be trusted and arranged to guide him toward the Mirror of Erised.
• Manus noticed something strange when the stairs shifted but went up to the fifth floor and entered the room containing the Mirror.
• Dumbledore learned from a portrait that Manus had left the room and waited before going to investigate.
• Manus noticed the stairs shift again and suspected that someone had been guiding him, then patted his satchel over his interesting haul.
• Dumbledore entered the room and found the Mirror of Erised missing.

Manus discovered that the Magic Mirror revealed its viewers’ heart’s desires, though it had no effect on him. He then found Lily fighting three Gryffindors on the lawn, and she told him they had agreed to fight.

• Bellows returned to the dormitory and recoiled in fright after seeing the Magic Mirror reveal his heart’s desire.
• Manus explained the mirror’s inscription and later brought it along to study its runes with Severus or Lily.
• Manus heard that a girl was fighting three people and followed the crowd to the lawn.
• Manus found Lily beating James Potter and two other Gryffindors.
• Lily startled at Manus’s voice and kicked one opponent away, then said the fight had been agreed upon.

After a quarrel during Flight class, James Potter challenged Lily to a duel and the argument turned into a fight involving James, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Lily. Professor McGonagall questioned them and warned James that she would tighten nighttime patrols.

• Professor McGonagall dragged James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Lily into her office after they fought outside Hogwarts Castle.
• Lily explained that James had mocked her awkward flying, then challenged her to a duel after she argued back.
• James admitted he had meant to scare Lily and claimed wizard duels were an ancient tradition.
• Professor McGonagall warned James that prefects would increase patrols around Gryffindor Tower and that she would watch for students sneaking out at night.
• Lily continued explaining how James had persuaded her that they could duel without spells, leaving McGonagall furious with him.

After Lily explained why she had attacked James during the day, Professor McGonagall punished James and his friends and spoke with Lily and Manus. She learned that Manus, Lily, and Severus were childhood acquaintances from Cokeworth who had entered three different Hogwarts houses.

• Lily told Professor McGonagall that she had fought James after class because she thought a daytime duel avoided breaking school rules.
• Professor McGonagall blamed James and his two friends for misleading Lily, deducted points from Gryffindor, and assigned them a month of detention.
• Professor McGonagall dismissed the three boys, then invited Manus inside when she learned he was waiting for Lily.
• Lily explained that she and Manus had known each other before Hogwarts, and Manus revealed that Severus was also from Cokeworth and was Lily's neighbor.
• Manus said he had taught Lily and Severus before they enrolled, and Professor McGonagall encouraged Lily to trust her own talent.

McGonagall warned Lily that private duels were against Hogwarts rules and explained how students might exploit them. After Lily left her office with Manus, McGonagall considered recruiting James Potter and his friends for Gryffindor Quidditch next year, while Lily explained why she had fought Potter without magic.

• McGonagall urged Lily to cherish her friendship with Manus and Severus, then clarified that private duels were forbidden and James Potter had misled her.
• McGonagall reviewed Hogwarts rules with Lily and, after the children left, considered putting Potter and his friends on the Quidditch team next year.
• Manus asked Lily why she had not used magic against Potter and his friends.
• Lily explained that Potter might know powerful Charms, so she had chosen a fistfight to prevent him from preparing and to avoid the greater risk of using spells.

Lily questioned why Professor McGonagall treated her fight with Potter as insignificant, and Manus explained that wizards dismissed physical injuries because Potions could heal them. He then showed Lily an intact Magic Mirror from an abandoned Hogwarts classroom, whose inscription revealed that it showed a viewer’s heart’s desire.

• Lily asked Manus why Professor McGonagall had not reprimanded her for beating Potter and his companions.
• Manus explained that wizards considered physical injuries minor because Potions could heal them, even though the pain could be severe.
• Manus took Lily to an abandoned classroom to test an intact Magic Mirror he had found at Hogwarts.
• Lily saw a portrait-like image of herself in magnificent robes, holding a book she seemed to have written and wearing an Order of Merlin medal.
• Lily read the mirror’s inscription: “I show not your reflection, but your heart’s desire.”

Manus explained how the Magic Mirror revealed a person’s deepest longing and decided to repurpose it. He showed it to Severus, whose reflection depicted his parents standing beside him, leaving Manus to recognize that the mirror could reveal a desire for family happiness as well as life goals.

• Lily and Manus discussed how the Magic Mirror’s reflection could reveal a person’s changing desires and considered turning the mirror and its magical-metal frame into something else.
• Manus surprised Severus during an evening walk, and they sparred before Manus invited him to an abandoned classroom.
• Manus summoned the Magic Mirror and asked Severus to look into it.
• Severus saw his parents standing beside him, though they looked unfamiliar, and Lily encouraged him that his wish could come true.
• Manus realized that the mirror reflected longings for a happy family as well as life goals.

Manus decided the Magic Mirror could harm people whose wishes were impossible to fulfill, and he returned his library books to research raising Magical Creatures and cultivating Magical Plants. He began studying how to acquire materials at Hogwarts, but a guide to Niffler care made him reconsider keeping the creatures.

• Manus concluded that the Magic Mirror could cause pain or false comfort for people who longed to reunite with dead loved ones, and put it away.
• Manus returned his books to Madam Helka and asked for detailed guides to raising Magical Creatures and cultivating Magical Plants.
• Madam Helka directed Manus to the relevant sections of the library and suspected he might be planning to raise creatures and plants at Hogwarts.
• Manus considered raising creatures and plants to obtain Beast Blood Baptism ingredients and materials for magical items, and looked into legal sources near Hogwarts.
• Manus read How to Become an Excellent Niffler Keeper, learned about Nifflers' breeding, escape, and destructive habits, and put the booklet back.

Manus borrowed six books on Magical Creatures and planned to explore Hogwarts’s free facilities for raising plants. To learn what else the school offered, he sought out the Fat Friar and asked him about its benefits.

• Manus copied a guide to raising dragons into his Spirit Sea and browsed books about other Magical Creatures.
• Manus checked out books on Doxies, Fire Crabs, Diricawls, Mokes, and Occamies after Madam Helka confirmed his choice.
• Manus decided to ask Professor Sprout about using a student plot in the greenhouses, where he could grow plants with free guidance.
• Manus sought out the Fat Friar, hoping Hogwarts’s ghosts could tell him about school benefits students might not know about.
• The Fat Friar agreed to answer Manus’s questions after warning him that he would not do or tutor his homework.

Manus visited Hogwarts' kitchen after learning about the castle's resources and the ghosts' recollections of past students. He discovered that House-Elves could Apparate despite Hogwarts' protections, examined the kitchen's enchanted cooking tools, and left with milk and sugar.

• Manus thanked the Fat Friar for explaining Hogwarts' study resources, sharing stories about former students, and revealing the kitchen's location and entrance.
• Manus entered the kitchen through the fruit painting and wondered how House-Elves could teleport inside Hogwarts despite its Anti-Apparition magic.
• A House-Elf welcomed Manus, and he compared Hogwarts' House-Elves' condition with Nati's.
• Manus examined the kitchen's enchanted utensils and ingredients, noting that their preset magic kept Hogwarts' traditional menu largely unchanged.
• Manus asked for milk and sugar, shrank a barrel of milk with a Shrinking Charm, and took a bag of granulated sugar.

Manus planned to use magic to create a place at Hogwarts for raising food and decided to repurpose a Magic Mirror as an enchanted container. Before Potions class, Pandora asked to copy his unfinished homework, and Manus offered to dictate while she wrote.

• Manus received a package containing Transfiguration Today and planned to read it before Potions class.
• Manus decided not to use a cabinet for his Undetectable Extension Charm because House-Elves might open it while cleaning.
• Manus chose the Magic Mirror as the vessel for his charm and planned to turn its surface into another Magic Mirror while salvaging its magical metal frame.
• Pandora asked Manus to let her copy her unfinished Potions homework, but he warned that his distinct approach would not fit her assignment.
• Manus told Pandora to write while he talked.

Manus helped Pandora finish her Potions essay, impressing her with how naturally he continued her ideas. After Professor Slughorn praised her work, Manus encouraged Pandora to build her own skills, and she decided to revise the essay and ask him to review it.

• Pandora watched Manus continue her Potions essay in her style without consulting any books, then struggled to revise or finish it herself.
• Professor Slughorn returned the assignments, awarded Manus ten points and Pandora five, and praised Pandora’s improvement.
• Pandora thanked Manus for helping her, and he told her to treat the points as a lesson to check her homework carefully.
• Pandora worried she could not live up to Slughorn’s expectations, so Manus urged her to study her sources and think through her work more deeply.
• Pandora resolved to continue and revise the essay, then asked Manus to look it over.

Manus explored the Clock Tower’s old training ground before visiting Hagrid, who invited him for tea and Rock Cakes. The chapter ended with Manus discovering that the cakes were so hard they triggered protective magic when he bit one.

• Manus received a note from Hagrid inviting him to his hut for tea and snacks.
• Manus explored the Clock Tower’s training ground and found enchanted dummies, targets, and durable robes that might have belonged to an old dueling club.
• Manus considered asking permission to modify the training equipment and inviting Severus and Lily to train with him.
• Manus visited Hagrid’s Hut, bit into a Rock Cake, and found it hard enough to trigger protective magic.
• Hagrid happily ate his own Rock Cake and declared that it went well with hot tea.

Manus reassured Hagrid that he wanted to spend time with him and arranged regular Saturday afternoon tea at Hagrid's hut. The two planned to make treats together, leaving Hagrid tearfully grateful and eager to hug Manus.

• Manus told Hagrid he could not eat the Rock Cakes, and Hagrid felt embarrassed about offering food Manus could not enjoy.
• Manus asked when Hagrid was free and offered to visit him regularly for snacks and conversation.
• When Hagrid accidentally knocked the Rock Cakes and tray off the table, Manus used a Freezing Charm to stop them and guide them safely back.
• Manus and Hagrid agreed to meet for afternoon tea every Saturday, with Manus sometimes bringing friends.
• Manus suggested that Hagrid gather ingredients so they could make treats together, and promised to teach him how to cook them.
• Hagrid cried with gratitude and asked Manus if he could hug him, and Manus agreed.

Manus helped Hagrid find a way to make desserts without a wand, and Hagrid insisted on giving him something in return. After Hagrid offered him a basket of naturally shed Unicorn Hair, Manus decided to use it to make a protective robe, while Hagrid kept searching for a more personal gift.

• Manus realized Hagrid could not use a wand and reassured him that he could make desserts by hand.
• Hagrid asked Manus to write down the ingredients and seasonings he needed, then insisted on repaying his friend's help.
• Hagrid offered to weave Manus a winter blanket from Unicorn Hair he had gathered in the Forbidden Forest.
• Manus asked for the Unicorn Hair itself so he could use it for a more valuable purpose, and Hagrid readily gave him the basket.
• Manus examined the hair and planned to make a protective robe, while Hagrid decided that giving the materials alone was not enough of a gift.

Manus considered the rumors surrounding the cursed Defense Against the Dark Arts post and wondered why Voldemort had wanted it. He attended Katria’s lively lesson, which ended with Quirinus comparing her storytelling to Professor Binns’s.

• Manus wondered whether Hagrid had chosen a gift for him and hoped it would not be made of Unicorn Hair.
• Manus weighed the rumors that Voldemort had cursed the Defense Against the Dark Arts position and questioned why Voldemort had sought the post.
• Katria arrived for Defense Against the Dark Arts and taught from her experience as an adventurer, sharing stories about dark creatures.
• Katria stopped her story when the bell rang, and Quirinus praised her class while beginning to compare her with Professor Binns.

Manus realized that Professor Binns’s dull lessons concealed a vast, unusually objective store of historical knowledge. He began seeking Binns out after class to ask about events, leaving the ghost professor’s firsthand record as a valuable source for his research.

• Manus considered Binns’s ghostly existence and recognized that his story could aid research into ghosts.
• Manus concluded that Binns taught from memory and that modern History of Magic textbooks had drawn heavily on his lessons.
• Manus discovered that Binns continued learning about historical events that occurred after his death and knew far more than the textbook covered.
• Manus began asking Binns questions after class, valuing his knowledge as an unusually objective record of events he had witnessed at Hogwarts.

Manus questioned Professor Binns about Obscurials and learned of historical incidents involving Obscuruses, including a concealed episode during the 1920s New York incident. He suspected the mysterious magic inside a cabinet was an Obscurus and ended the chapter intrigued by the possibility that it was a living form of energy.

• After History of Magic class, Manus caught up with Professor Binns to ask about the 1625 International Confederation of Wizards conference.
• Binns explained that an Obscurial had been smuggled into the conference to protest the oppression of underage wizards.
• Manus asked whether Obscuruses were documented, and Binns described a large-scale Obscurus-related incident in early twentieth-century New York.
• Manus compared Binns's account with the black, magic-glowing lump he had found inside a cabinet and suspected it was an Obscurus.
• Manus wondered whether the cabinet's Obscurus was a living being and became eager to capture it.

Manus explained the moving staircases to Bellows and mentioned that an Obscurial had been disguised at a poorly documented conference. Bellows’s startled reaction made him fear Manus had uncovered his secret, and at dinner he worried that Manus was concerned about him.

• Manus showed Bellows how to learn the staircases’ repeating movement patterns as they climbed toward Ravenclaw Tower.
• Bellows asked what Manus had discussed with Professor Binns, and Manus said he had asked about a conference where an Obscurial had been disguised.
• Bellows nearly fell down the stairs, and Manus caught him before he could be hurt.
• When Manus said “Obscurus,” Bellows stiffened and then avoided explaining his reaction.
• Bellows lay awake worrying that Manus had guessed his secret, then saw Manus eating even less than he was at dinner and felt guilty.

Bellows finally told Manus about the childhood event behind his long-kept secret: a strange, fiery mass had attacked him and his parents by a lake. Bellows broke down before he could explain what happened next, and Manus stayed beside him to comfort him.

• Bellows woke Manus in the middle of the night and insisted on sharing a secret he had kept for years.
• Manus said he was not curious enough to make Bellows reveal anything, then explained that Hogwarts food had ruined his appetite.
• Bellows mistook Manus's consideration for kindness and began crying as he prepared to tell his story.
• Bellows recalled fishing with his parents as a child when a black-red, fire-wrapped mass fell from the sky and tore through the woods toward them.
• Bellows said his parents' spells could not stop the mass and that it lunged at him, then broke down before finishing.
• Manus crossed to Bellows's bed, placed a hand on his shoulder, and gave him tissues.