Recaps

Manus used Huginn to confirm that Remus Lupin was the Werewolf attending Hogwarts and that he transformed in a secret passage leading to a shack in Hogsmeade. After Manus told Lily and Severus what he had learned, Lily questioned the school’s decision to keep Lupin’s condition secret, and Severus asked whether she planned to report Hogwarts to the Ministry of Magic.

• Huginn followed Remus through a secret passage beneath the Whomping Willow to a shack in Hogsmeade and watched him begin transforming.
• Manus concluded that Remus had no hidden purpose at Hogwarts and that the school already knew about his condition and managed his full-moon transformations.
• Manus sent Muninn to notify Severus and Lily, then returned to Hogwarts after ending his synchronized connection with the birds.
• Manus told Severus and Lily that the Werewolf was Remus Lupin, prompting Lily to worry about sharing a Gryffindor tower with him.
• Lily challenged the school for concealing Lupin’s condition, and Severus asked if she would report Hogwarts to the Ministry of Magic.

Lily and Severus debated how to protect themselves from Remus Lupin without ruining his future, but Manus argued that appealing to the professors or the Ministry would probably fail. He explained that Dumbledore had gone to great lengths to keep Lupin at Hogwarts, leaving them to consider what other options they had.

• Severus suggested Lily tell Professor McGonagall that she might report Lupin unless the school moved him or assigned someone to watch him.
• Lily worried that threatening McGonagall would damage their relationship and searched for a safer solution.
• Severus suggested asking Manus for advice after realizing Manus had been silent.
• Manus said that going to the professors or reporting Lupin to the Ministry would accomplish little because Dumbledore was determined to protect Lupin's place at Hogwarts.
• Manus explained that Dumbledore had arranged for the Whomping Willow, its tunnel, and a shack in Hogsmeade to accommodate Lupin's transformations.

Manus advised Severus and Lily to prepare for threats they could not control and gave them Wolfsbane Potion. After Lily watched the exhausted Remus pass by, James mistakenly concluded that she liked frail-looking boys and decided to change his style.

• Manus explained that powerful people could make or disregard rules, urged Severus and Lily to protect themselves, and gave each a vial of Wolfsbane Potion.
• Severus wondered whether they should seek out a Werewolf, but Lily warned him against provoking one and joked that she would kill him if he turned.
• Lily noticed James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter approaching, and Severus hurried away when he saw Remus.
• James mistakenly thought Lily had been staring at Remus because she liked his frail appearance, and he resolved to become delicate-looking himself.
• Remus and Peter backed James's reasoning while Remus concealed the effects of transforming into a Werewolf the previous night.

Peter doubted James’s theory that Lily liked him, but James decided her concern for Remus could still draw her attention. In the library, Manus advised Lily on her homework and explained how flight changed a spellcaster’s options in combat, leaving her eager to hear what made a first-rate spellcaster.

• Peter dismissed James’s guess about Lily’s feelings and silently supported James’s plan to win her attention.
• Lily felt a chill on her way to the library and decided to wear an extra layer the next day.
• While Lily studied, Manus spoke to her from outside the library window during Flight practice and suggested a History of Magic reference for her homework.
• Lily asked why Manus was learning to fly despite having no interest in Quidditch, and Manus explained that aerial movement was useful in combat.
• Manus described how second-rate spellcasters could dominate weaker opponents by mastering flight, and Lily asked what first-rate spellcasters could do.

Lily learned how first-rate spellcasters built their combat styles and how wizards studied magic’s principles to create their own methods. She and Manus went to visit Hagrid, where an explosion from his hut revealed that his secret Dragon was causing trouble.

• Manus explained that first-rate spellcasters built combat templates around their strengths and adapted them to each fight, while wizards studied the principles behind magic.
• Lily met Manus on the lawn, and he explained that wizards could devise new methods, such as his Wolfsbane Potion for dealing with a Werewolf.
• Lily decided she wanted to explore the principles of magic and become a wizard.
• Manus and Lily approached Hagrid’s Hut just as an explosion blasted open its door and sent Hagrid rushing outside.
• Manus cleared the smoke with Whirlwind Scour, and Hagrid hurried back into the hut after noticing it was still smoking.

Manus and Lily visited Hagrid’s Hut, where they discovered that Hagrid had hatched a dragon and asked Manus how to raise it. Lily left before hearing more, and Hagrid admitted he had obtained the egg in Knockturn Alley while looking for a gift for Manus.

• Manus and Lily waited outside Hagrid’s Hut until Hagrid called them inside, where they found a mess and dragon scales on the floor.
• Hagrid apologized for having no refreshments, and Manus introduced Lily as a new Gryffindor first-year.
• Hagrid asked how to raise a baby dragon that had hatched from an egg he thought was dead.
• Lily left because she did not want to hear Hagrid’s secret and worried Potter might come looking for her.
• Hagrid admitted he had found the egg in Knockturn Alley while searching for a gift for Manus, then warned Manus to stay away from the dangerous area.

Manus learned that Hagrid had found and hatched a Common Wales Green dragon egg in Knockturn Alley, and he met the young dragon Hagrid named Bob. Manus warned that Bob would soon outgrow the hut and become a fire hazard, leaving Hagrid unsure what to do as Bob darted from his nest.

• Hagrid explained that he had found the egg in Knockturn Alley, assumed the dragon inside was dead, and brought it home to hatch.
• Manus asked Hagrid about the promised gift, but Hagrid admitted he had been too busy caring for Bob to find one.
• Hagrid led Manus to Bob’s metal nest and warned him that the young dragon could breathe sparks.
• Bob roared at Manus, who blew out the sparks and recognized that the dragon was poised to attack.
• Manus warned Hagrid that Bob would grow five times larger within two weeks and could set the hut ablaze with his fire.
• Hagrid tearfully admitted he did not know what to do, and Bob darted out of his nest.

Manus stopped Bob from attacking Hagrid and explained that Hagrid could not meet the young dragon’s needs or teach him how to live as a dragon. After watching Bob fight a Metal Whelp and win, Hagrid accepted that they needed to discuss Bob’s future.

• Bob charged at Manus, who caught him and blocked Hagrid’s attempt to stop him, leaving Manus’s arm numb from Hagrid’s blow.
• Manus explained that Bob needed to eat meat, learn to hunt and fly, and grow in an environment suited to dragons, while Hagrid’s care went against his nature.
• Manus created a Metal Whelp and let it attack Bob, showing Hagrid how the dragon hatchling learned to fight through combat.
• Bob adapted to the Metal Whelp’s attacks, fought back with his teeth, claws, tail, and sparks, and finally knocked it down.
• Manus told Hagrid that Bob was truly happy and asked him to discuss Bob’s future.

Manus took Bob from Hagrid to arrange professional, isolated care until the dragon could survive in the wild and join a suitable clan. He returned to Hogwarts and began the final adjustments to the Magic Mirror so Bob could live there.

• Manus explained that Bob could not safely return to a dragon clan and advised Hagrid to find a qualified caretaker.
• Manus offered to care for Bob through someone whose name he would not disclose, and Hagrid agreed to entrust Bob to him.
• Manus left Hagrid’s Hut with Bob and his belongings, promising Hagrid he would arrange a suitable clan for Bob in one to three years.
• Manus considered trying to communicate with Bob and, through him, with wild Common Welsh Green Dragonkind.
• Manus returned to Hogwarts and gathered materials to finish adjusting the Magic Mirror’s habitat for Bob.

Manus transformed the empty space inside the Magic Mirror into a hot, humid habitat for Bob, the young Dragon. After settling Bob in, he returned to his dormitory and added a safeguard to the mirror.

• Manus used Ancient Magic to turn the bare soil inside the Magic Mirror into hills, a river, and a lake.
• Manus reshaped the habitat with vegetation, a hot spring, sulfurous air, and humid conditions suitable for Bob.
• Manus carried Bob to a cave near the water, where Bob adapted comfortably to his new home.
• Manus moved to a distant island inside the mirror and added a warning inscription to its full-length mirror.
• Manus passed through the Magic Mirror and returned to his dormitory, where Bellows was still absent.

Manus considered how to turn stored body heat into a reserve of magical power after eating a large dinner, while Bellows quietly watched him. Huginn then reported that Hagrid had visited Aragog in the Forbidden Forest, leaving Manus to wonder about Hagrid’s history with the Acromantula and what Aragog had revealed.

• Manus ate an unusually large dinner and considered developing magic to convert stored fat into physical strength or magical power.
• Bellows watched Manus eat but kept his suspicions about Manus’s appetite to himself.
• Huginn arrived outside Manus’s window and reported that Hagrid had visited Aragog in the Forbidden Forest.
• Manus reasoned that Hagrid and the Acromantulas could have become neighbors and companions, then connected Aragog to Hagrid’s past punishment for raising dangerous creatures.
• Manus praised Huginn and focused on a detail Aragog had seemingly revealed during his conversation with Hagrid.

After hearing Aragog recall how Hagrid had been blamed for a Hogwarts murder decades earlier, Manus deduced that the real killer had never been caught and might still be alive. He resolved to verify his suspicions while continuing his other projects and preparing prey for Bob.

• Manus inferred from Aragog and Hagrid’s conversation that Hagrid had been arrested after a student died at Hogwarts, though Dumbledore later secured his release.
• Manus reasoned that the professors’ failure to identify the killer suggested a powerful murderer had planned the crime and concealed the motive, which might involve a secret within Hogwarts Castle.
• Manus connected the old unsolved murder with Voldemort’s later attempt to obtain a Hogwarts teaching position and wondered what secrets the castle held.
• Manus planned to revise his Wolfsbane Potion paper, investigate Helena Ravenclaw through the ghosts, and continue deciphering the door on the Seventh Floor.
• Manus decided he needed to catch rabbits or other rapidly breeding prey for Bob the next day.

Manus asked Severus to review his paper on the Wolfsbane Potion and explain what he understood, so he could identify gaps in its presentation. After Severus suggested Lily review it instead, Manus had him do the same and arranged to send Lily a copy later.

• Manus gave Severus a paper on the Wolfsbane Potion and asked him to point out anything unclear or unfamiliar.
• Severus suggested sending the paper to Lily for reading notes, and Manus agreed that her response could reveal what readers understood.
• Manus told Severus to review the paper himself and explain his understanding aloud rather than write notes.
• While Severus reviewed the paper, Manus continued brewing a trial potion and planned to question Hogwarts ghosts about an old murder and Helena Ravenclaw.
• Severus left for Transfiguration class, and Manus said he would send Lily a backup copy through Minerva.

Manus investigated a decades-old murder at Hogwarts and followed Lady Grey’s advice to seek out the victim. He found Moaning Myrtle in the abandoned third-floor girls’ bathroom and began speaking with her.

• Manus put away his newly made potion and asked Lady Grey about a murder at Hogwarts from more than twenty years earlier.
• Lady Grey told Manus to ask the person involved directly and pointed him toward the third-floor girls’ bathroom.
• Manus sent a parchment to Lily with Minerva, then went to the abandoned bathroom and heard someone sobbing inside.
• Manus cast Revelio, detected a hidden door near the taps, and blocked a burst of water from one of the stalls with Prestidigitation.
• Moaning Myrtle emerged from the stall, assumed Manus had come to mock her, and resumed crying; Manus told her he had not come to laugh at her.

Manus questioned Moaning Myrtle about her death, and she recalled seeing a pair of large yellow eyes before she died in the girls’ bathroom. Her memory of the boy speaking in hissing sounds left Manus with a possible clue about the murderer.

• Manus told Moaning Myrtle he was investigating her murder and asked her to help identify the killer.
• Moaning Myrtle recalled entering the girls’ bathroom to hide from Hornby and confronting a boy who had entered it.
• Moaning Myrtle said she died immediately, without pain or feeling a spell strike her.
• Manus suggested the large yellow lanterns she remembered might have been eyes, which terrified Moaning Myrtle.
• After Manus calmed her, Moaning Myrtle recalled that the boy spoke in a quiet, hissing dialect, then laughed at the memory.

Manus connected Moaning Myrtle’s death to a Basilisk and traced the hidden faucet door to Salazar Slytherin’s legacy. He concluded that Voldemort had once sought something beyond the door but had likely found only the Basilisk, which Manus himself considered a treasure.

• After Moaning Myrtle left, Manus examined the hidden door in the girls’ bathroom and identified a snake symbol on its faucet.
• Manus recalled that Parseltongue was associated with Salazar Slytherin and that Voldemort was the only famous British Parselmouth in recent decades.
• Manus reasoned that Voldemort had likely been the one who released the Basilisk that killed Moaning Myrtle.
• Manus concluded that Voldemort had probably found no treasure behind the door, then grew excited at the prospect of the Basilisk itself.

Manus discovered evidence that a Basilisk might still be hidden beneath Hogwarts and began planning how to capture and kill it. As he returned to Ravenclaw Tower, he wondered why the Basilisk had appeared at Hogwarts.

• Manus considered the Basilisk’s value as a source of magical material and reasoned that Voldemort probably had not taken it away.
• Manus assessed the Basilisk’s defenses and attacks, then rejected plans that could not guarantee a swift kill.
• Manus decided to develop sealing magic to keep the Basilisk from escaping and protect against its gaze, venom, and strength.
• Manus left the girls’ bathroom and, while climbing the stairs to Ravenclaw Tower, questioned why the Basilisk was at Hogwarts.

Manus investigated the Basilisk’s origins and the hidden door’s connection to Parseltongue, while Lily confronted Severus over the extra assignments he had caused her. The chapter ended with Lily chasing Severus during training as Manus studied the castle’s shifting spaces.

• Manus deduced that the Basilisk had probably been left at Hogwarts long before Voldemort found it and wondered whether Parseltongue opened the hidden door.
• Manus considered asking Rowena Ravenclaw’s portrait about the secret, but knew she would likely not answer until he found news of her daughter.
• Manus received eight rabbits from Huginn and continued studying the hidden doors through the Magic Mirror.
• Lily blamed Severus for piling extra work on her and learned Diffindo while preparing to confront him.
• During training, Lily attacked Severus with Diffindo and chased him as he begged Manus for help.
• Manus noted that intense emotions could improve magical learning and continued examining the castle’s vast, intent-controlled spaces.

Manus brought Lily and Severus to the hidden rooms on the Seventh Floor for combat training, urging them to use tactics as well as magic. Their carefully planned duel began, and Severus ended the chapter by launching Lily's frozen metal spiked balls at her.

• Manus discovered that the hidden door opened into nearly a hundred rooms, including areas suited for practicing magic.
• Lily beat Severus after he acknowledged his wrongdoing, and Manus healed him before setting rules for their training.
• Lily and Severus spent ten minutes planning before Manus started their duel.
• The two traded spells, using Transfiguration, freezing magic, Mage Hand, and other tactics to disrupt each other's movements.
• Severus used Waddiwasi to send Lily's frozen metal spiked balls flying toward her.

Severus defeated Lily in a practice duel by using simple hexes to disrupt her and create an opening for a Disarming Charm. Manus praised their progress and the clever use of magic, while both students recognized the need to keep improving amid tensions at Hogwarts.

• Lily broke free of Severus's binding and cast Diffindo, while Severus rolled to avoid the spell.
• Severus hit Lily with Tarantallegra, disrupting her counterspell, then disarmed her.
• Severus returned Lily's wand and explained how simple prank spells could create openings for stronger magic.
• Manus praised Severus and Lily's progress and noted that their duel had revealed problems to work on.
• Severus and Lily joked about their victory and defeat, then reflected on why they needed to keep practicing magic.

After their combat exercise, Lily and Severus reviewed their performances with Manus. Lily identified weaknesses in her tactics, while Severus recognized that he needed a more decisive offensive spell, leaving Lily still unsure what other flaws Manus had noticed.

• Manus asked Lily and Severus to evaluate their performances in the combat exercise.
• Lily admitted that her fighting style was rigid and her magic and spell choices were less flexible than Severus's, and she described the plays that had turned the fight against her.
• Manus confirmed that Lily had been distracted by surprise but did not criticize her magical control, then asked Severus to assess himself.
• Severus said he lacked a powerful finishing spell, and Manus suggested that he study Dark Magic from the Hogwarts library or Manus's family collection.
• Severus planned to learn Diffindo and later pursue a spell combining a Curse's destructive power with a Hex's speed and stealth, but kept his intended spell secret.
• Lily and Severus said they could not identify any other shortcomings, leaving Manus's remaining observations unstated.

Manus explained how Lily and Severus could improve their combat strategy after their practice duel. He assigned them another practice session for the following month and praised their abilities.

• Manus told Lily that her plan relied on Severus responding as expected and lacked contingencies if he interrupted it.
• Manus explained that effective battle plans required preparing for many possible responses or forcing opponents into a chosen course of action.
• Severus admitted that he had focused on reacting to the immediate situation rather than planning ahead or shaping the broader battle.
• Manus asked Lily and Severus to reflect on their performance and announced another practice session the next month.
• Manus praised Lily's use of Transfiguration in combat and Severus's control and use of spells.

Manus discovered how to open the secret door and used it to create a space for raising Magical Creatures. He explored the sunlit grassland and found that its only traces of former inhabitants were the remains of about twenty Nifflers.

• Manus deciphered that the secret door required three consecutive passes while holding the same thought.
• Manus tried to use the door to reach the Basilisk but failed, then opened it by wishing for a place to raise Magical Creatures.
• Manus protected himself, checked the space for dangers, and sent Muninn ahead with the Patronus Charm.
• Manus followed the river and found well-preserved bones identified as the remains of roughly twenty Nifflers.
• Manus concluded that the Nifflers had likely been abandoned in a place with neither food nor shiny objects.

Manus buried the bones of the starving Nifflers and searched the deserted forest, concluding that the wizard who had raised its Magical Creatures had never returned. A brilliant magical signature led him to a charred nest, where he wondered whether someone had raised a Phoenix there.

• Manus reconstructed how the Nifflers had starved beside the river and buried their bones without leaving a marker.
• Muninn reported that the forest held only bones and abandoned nests, including traces of Augureys and other creatures.
• Manus concluded that the creatures had not simply been abandoned and went to bury the bones in the forest.
• Manus detected an unusually bright magical signature and followed it, considering whether a creature or egg had survived there.
• Manus found a charred nest whose ashes radiated intense magic and wondered whether it had belonged to a Phoenix.

Manus collected the Phoenix Nirvana Ashes and considered their uses in potions and spellcasting tools. As he continued burying Magical Creature remains, he discovered bones belonging to Fairies, Jobberknolls, and a Unicorn.

• Manus stored the Phoenix Nirvana Ashes and decided they were better suited to spellcasting tools than consumable potions.
• Manus resumed burying the bones, treating the ashes as a reward for carrying out his task properly.
• Manus found and buried tiny bones belonging to Fairies beneath a tree.
• Manus uncovered Jobberknoll remains and questioned how the space's Magical Creatures had been housed.
• Manus discovered a Unicorn skeleton and walked over to examine it.