Chapter Summaries

Manus planned safeguards for observing future solar eclipses with Star Magic, deciding to finish the current Astronomical Observation Room before improving it later. He then coached Ignis in wizard’s chess, urging him to play more aggressively before Ignis ran out of energy.

• Manus decided to finish the current version of the Astronomical Observation Room as protection for future Stargazing and noted that upcoming eclipses could produce different kinds of Star Magic.
• Manus predicted rain and went to the Ravenclaw Common Room to practice chess with Ignis, who was preparing for the Inter-School Wizard's Chess Championship.
• Manus praised Ignis's resilience but warned that his defensive style would not help him win, and encouraged him to take the initiative.
• Ignis tried attacking more aggressively, lost quickly, and stopped practice to rest.

Manus showed Ignis a teapot that switched between drinks using layered Filling Charms, a solution to a published magical conjecture. He explained why he had not sought the five-thousand-Galleon certification prize and offered to teach Ignis how the magic worked.

• Manus poured Butterbeer from his teapot, and Ignis asked how it could switch between drinks.
• Manus explained that he had used layered Filling Charms to make the teapot work, adapting a conjecture from Charms Innovation Review.
• Ignis was astonished that Manus had solved the conjecture and asked why he had not submitted it for the five-thousand-Galleon prize.
• Manus said the application and verification process was not worth the money, though certification from the Wizengamot had been valuable for its authority.
• Manus explained how to resolve conflicts between magical structures and offered to teach Ignis, saying knowledge should be shared and passed on.

Manus explained why he freely shared knowledge, arguing that exchanging ideas could help him learn faster without threatening his lead. He then invited Ignis to learn a useful combination of Filling Charms and described how its principles could lead to increasingly complex magic.

• Ignis argued that sharing hard-won knowledge could leave its owner with nothing while others gained.
• Manus said he sought knowledge for its own sake and explained that people could trade a sense of superiority for personal growth, though they had to judge whom to trust.
• Manus argued that even if everyone started with the same knowledge, exceptional learners could still pull ahead, and sharing could save him time and produce new insights.
• Ignis called Manus 'King,' and Manus asked whether he would learn the magic.
• Manus explained how combining more Filling Charms created increasingly complex structures that drew on geometry and topology, like the continually transforming structure of a Mythal.

Manus showed Ignis a teapot that used a star-chart puzzle to activate different permanent Filling Charms, revealing that it could pour many drinks. Ignis got drunk trying them, and after Manus replaced the wine, the Ravenclaws tried the teapot and were amazed.

• Manus handed Ignis the teapot and invited him to activate its Filling Charms.
• Ignis discovered that rubbing the handle brought up the All 88 Constellations Chart, where he had to correct misplaced stars to pour drinks.
• Ignis sampled tea, honey water, wine, and other drinks, then nearly passed out after drinking strong hot wine.
• Manus caught the drunken Ignis and explained that he had meant for Ignis to pour the drinks out rather than drink them.
• Manus changed the teapot's wine and left it for the Ravenclaws, who were excited and amazed when he returned after dinner.

Manus explained the teapot’s hidden Filling Charms and urged Bellows to question assumptions. The teapot’s impact led Ravenclaw students to ask deeper questions, bringing Manus closer to his long-standing goal of sharing knowledge before Monday classes interrupted them.

• Bellows told Manus that students had interpreted his remarks about exceptional intelligence as a warning against trying to match him.
• Manus revealed that the teapot held ninety overlapping Filling Charms, including hidden drinks unlocked by correcting multiple constellations at once.
• Manus explained to Bellows that people could layer different spells on one object and that unquestioned assumptions hindered progress.
• Ravenclaw students brought Manus questions on Sunday, and he answered them, encouraging deeper inquiry and the sharing of knowledge.
• Manus reflected that more than three years of effort had brought him closer to his goal of influencing the Wizarding World.
• Classes at Hogwarts interrupted Ravenclaw students’ new eagerness to learn on Monday.

Manus and Jasper discussed the value of learning alchemy before Professor Sprout taught the students how to handle the dangerous Chinese Chomping Cabbage. The students learned how to identify and harvest one safely, then began trying it themselves.

• Jasper told Manus he had no interest in alchemy and would not attend lessons just to pursue the five thousand Galleons.
• Sprout warned the students about the cold before leading them into the greenhouse’s isolated area to study Chinese Chomping Cabbages.
• Sprout explained that the cabbages could bite through flesh and bone, and demonstrated how one attacked and destroyed a wooden dummy.
• Sprout described how to harvest a cabbage safely and called students forward to try handling them one at a time.

Manus showed the students how to handle a Chinese Chomping Cabbage safely, then explained that his goal was to understand the rules governing the world and make his visions real. His bold definition of magic left the gathered wizards stunned.

• Manus demonstrated how to inspect and harvest a Chinese Chomping Cabbage, advising the students to pinch its broken stem and throw it before worrying about the leaves.
• Sprout awarded Ravenclaw House ten points and warned the students not to neglect identifying the cabbage's leaves.
• Jasper asked Manus what goal guided his interest in so many kinds of knowledge, including Muggle knowledge.
• Manus said his goal was the splendor of magic, which he defined as understanding the world's rules and using them to change reality.
• Manus demonstrated his point by sending water into a flowerpot, and the gathered wizards fell silent at his ambition.

Manus prepared to face Slytherin students angered by his claim that Muggles could use magic, while secretly watching Dumbledore’s trap for Voldemort unfold in Hogsmeade. As reinforcements closed in on Bagnold and the students approached Manus, both confrontations neared their next stage.

• Severus warned Manus that his remarks had stirred up Slytherin, but Manus told him to continue working on his potion and not to worry.
• Manus watched through Muninn as Bagnold fought the Death Eaters in Hogsmeade and defeated four of them.
• More Death Eaters Apparated toward the battle, while Voldemort and Dumbledore remained out of sight.
• Manus decided not to interfere in the Hogsmeade fight and reflected that the upheaval at Hogwarts would help his plans.
• Manus chose the open area behind the Great Hall as the place to meet the approaching Slytherin students.

Manus confronted Amycus, Alecto, and a group of Slytherins who came to challenge him over his views on blood status. He redirected their spells into a powerful explosion that left fifty-seven students injured or sprawled on the floor, while he remained unharmed.

• Amycus tried to claim Manus as a pure-blood ally, but Manus rejected his standards for friendship and mocked the value of blood status.
• Amycus and Alecto laughed at Manus and declared they would teach him to respect power, prompting more than twenty Slytherins to cast spells at him.
• Manus analyzed and redirected the incoming magic, combining the spells into an explosion that blasted fifty-seven Slytherins off their feet.
• Manus told the Slytherins to respect knowledge and compared their poor control of magic unfavorably to Muggles learning to use guns.

Manus explained that the Slytherin students had been injured when their own spells exploded after colliding, while Slughorn, Flitwick, and Madam Pomfrey struggled to make sense of the scene. The wounded students were taken to the Hospital Wing, where Manus gave his account of how the fight began.

• Manus noticed McGonagall in Hogsmeade Village before Slughorn arrived behind the Great Hall.
• Slughorn and Flitwick found the injured Slytherin students, and Manus claimed their own spells had exploded.
• Slughorn and Flitwick carried the students to the Hospital Wing, where Madam Pomfrey scolded them and the professors.
• Madam Pomfrey learned that all the injured students were from Slytherin and questioned how their wounds had been caused.
• Manus said the Slytherins had confronted him after his Herbology comment upset them, then injured themselves when their spells collided.

Manus offered to use Zone of Truth to verify the Slytherin students’ accusations, and Slughorn and Flitwick tested the spell in the Hospital Wing. The spell confirmed Manus had not lied, leaving Slughorn to punish the students before the professors left under Madam Pomfrey’s glare.

• Manus offered to cast Zone of Truth after a Slytherin student accused him of lying.
• Manus cast the spell, and Slughorn entered it to test whether it prevented lies.
• Flitwick asked Slughorn where he hid the Mead in his office, but Slughorn chose not to answer.
• Slughorn questioned the Slytherin student inside the zone, and the student could not claim Manus had lied.
• Slughorn took one hundred and fifty points from Slytherin and assigned the students detention.
• Slughorn and Flitwick left the Hospital Wing after Madam Pomfrey pressed them to go.

Manus watched the battle in Hogsmeade Village as the Order of the Phoenix pushed back Voldemort’s forces, observing the combat magic and the Black family’s fighters. Voldemort entered the battle and cast the Killing Curse, but Muninn judged that it merely severed the victims’ souls from their bodies and was not a reliable way to kill a mage.

• Manus waited in the Hospital Wing while Madam Pomfrey tended to the patients, then observed the expanding battle in Hogsmeade Village.
• Muninn identified Dumbledore’s allies as the Order of the Phoenix, whose fighters drove the Death Eaters back.
• Manus watched Bellatrix Black, her husband, and other familiar faces fight, and wondered why Lucius Malfoy and Narcissa were absent while Abraxas Malfoy fought.
• Voldemort entered the battle and cast the Killing Curse, killing two targets while a third dodged.
• Muninn examined the victims and concluded that the Killing Curse severed the connection between soul and body, making it unreliable against a mage.

Manus observed two victims of Voldemort’s Killing Curse enter the Misty Illusion, which appeared to them as King’s Cross Station and the Hogwarts Express. Back in Hogsmeade, Dumbledore joined the battle and fought Voldemort while both wizards attacked others around them.

• Manus watched the souls of two victims enter the Misty Illusion, and Sleipnir raced there but arrived too late to catch them.
• Manus saw that the Misty Illusion had taken the form of King’s Cross Station and the Hogwarts Express for the departing souls.
• Manus called Sleipnir back to the Mental World and reassured him that he was only curious about the souls.
• Voldemort cast Fiendfyre across the square, killing eight Order of the Phoenix wizards as well as several of his own fighters, then extinguished the flames.
• Dumbledore animated the statues in the square and attacked Dark Wizards while trading powerful spells with Voldemort.

Dumbledore and Voldemort fought to a stalemate as Dumbledore trapped both sides with an Anti-Apparition Charm. Voldemort unleashed Fiendfyre across Hogsmeade, forcing Dumbledore to defend the others while Manus watched through Muninn.

• Dumbledore called on Bagnold to send a signal, while Voldemort tried to steady the Death Eaters and mocked Dumbledore’s appeal for allies.
• Voldemort ordered his followers to fall back, but they discovered that an Anti-Apparition Charm prevented either side from leaving.
• Dumbledore declared that it was time to settle their score, and Voldemort unleashed Fiendfyre across Hogsmeade Village.
• Dumbledore summoned a torrent of water to counter Voldemort, who used blood-based Dark Magic to turn much of it into a foul, corrosive liquid.

Dumbledore and Voldemort fought fiercely, with Dumbledore using the Elder Wand and the Killing Curse to suppress Voldemort, who remained difficult to harm. While Manus hoped Dumbledore had a decisive spell, Madam Pomfrey arrived to discuss the validation of Manus's Wound-Healing Potion.

• Manus recognized Voldemort's mastery of Dark Magic as Dumbledore adapted his attacks against Voldemort's magical resistance.
• Dumbledore used Occlumency to buffer extreme emotions, then met Voldemort's Killing Curse with his own and forced Voldemort to dodge.
• Dumbledore struck Voldemort with lightning and another Killing Curse, but Voldemort survived and the duel settled into a stalemate.
• Manus secretly helped the Aurors maintain the Anti-Apparition Charm while Voldemort considered retreating.
• Madam Pomfrey told Manus that the Monthly Potion Digest's Potions Masters struggled to fit his Wound-Healing Potion into their framework, so she had come to discuss its rigorous validation.

Madam Pomfrey explained the healers’ authority over approving medicinal potions and told Manus that his Wound-Healing Potion had passed review, with only efficacy testing left. Manus agreed to supply potions for volunteer patients and realized they were likely injured members of the Order of the Phoenix facing the raging Fiendfyre.

• Madam Pomfrey explained that healers had authority to verify medicinal potions after reckless potioneers died testing their own brews.
• Madam Pomfrey praised Manus’s detailed research and said the Wound-Healing Potion needed only an efficacy test.
• Manus agreed to provide the potion, and Madam Pomfrey offered a contract reimbursing him for ingredients.
• Madam Pomfrey said she wanted as much potion as Manus could provide because injured volunteers were ready for testing.
• Manus suspected the patients were members of the Order of the Phoenix and looked toward the battle, where Fiendfyre still raged.

Manus watched Dumbledore fight Voldemort but chose not to intervene, then supplied Madam Pomfrey with his stock of Wound-Healing Potion for the wounded Order members. Back at the dormitory, Bellows asked about the potion and raised the question of paying for the healing potion his mother used.

• Manus decided not to secretly help Dumbledore kill Voldemort because the risks of revealing his abilities outweighed the benefit.
• Manus estimated the Order members’ need for medicine, and Madam Pomfrey contracted to buy all eighty-seven bottles of his Wound-Healing Potion.
• Manus wondered who would pay for the potions, reasoning that public funds might cover treatment for the Order members while he gained useful test subjects.
• Bellows saw Manus collecting potions in the dormitory and asked what they did.
• Manus explained that the potion treated external physical wounds and removed scars, then Bellows said his family should pay for his mother’s healing potion.

Manus proposed adjusting Mrs. Travers's treatment to gently nourish her weakened soul, leaving Bellows unsure whether to accept and deciding to consult his father. Meanwhile, Manus reflected that Voldemort had escaped the battle after redirecting Fiendfyre at the wizards maintaining the Anti-Apparition Charm.

• Manus told Bellows he had a tentative plan to account for the damage to his mother's soul, but said the treatment was not ready and could be refused.
• Manus explained that his proposed treatment would be gentle and that Bellows could continue buying healing potions instead.
• Manus left Bellows to write to his father about the decision, then delivered Wound-Healing Potion to Madam Pomfrey.
• Voldemort used dark magic to sacrifice part of his body and redirect Fiendfyre at the wizards maintaining the Anti-Apparition Charm.
• Voldemort escaped with half his body while Dumbledore and the others pursued him.

Manus realized Voldemort’s true strength lay in surviving through spells from Bone · Blood · Flesh, and decided to help Dumbledore strengthen his attacks. After Dumbledore’s failed pursuit, the battle’s heavy casualties and destruction began affecting Hogwarts and Hogsmeade.

• Manus recognized that Voldemort had used a spell from Bone · Blood · Flesh and reasoned that Dumbledore was unlikely to kill him without a decisive advantage.
• Manus decided to find an excuse to give Dumbledore a Spider-Silk Scarf to increase the power of his spells.
• Dumbledore returned from the pursuit without killing Voldemort, while many injured wizards required treatment beyond the Hospital Wing’s resources.
• Madam Pomfrey informed Manus that his Wound-Healing Potion had passed testing.
• Hogwarts felt the aftermath as Hogsmeade residents rebuilt after Voldemort’s Fiendfyre destroyed much of the village, and families mourned those killed.

After the devastating battle in Hogsmeade, Hogwarts held a somber Halloween Feast as students and staff reckoned with the casualties and injuries. Manus privately suspected Dumbledore might be exaggerating his condition, while Jasper wondered how Professor Bagnold had survived unharmed.

• Dumbledore attended the Halloween Feast still pale from the curse wound Voldemort had inflicted, and the professors and students kept their celebration subdued.
• Bellows told Jasper, Quirinus, and Manus that more than a hundred people had recently been admitted to St. Mungo's, most likely because of the battle.
• Quirinus hoped the fighting would quiet down enough for him to take leave and conduct field research, but Jasper warned him to be cautious.
• Manus suspected Dumbledore might be feigning weakness to lure Voldemort into Hogwarts, but kept the idea to himself.
• Jasper noted that Professor Bagnold had survived the battle without apparent injury and began to suggest something about him; Manus told him he was overthinking it.