Chapter Summaries

Manus reconsidered Bagnold’s survival and the Defense Against the Dark Arts curse while assessing how the battle had disrupted his plans. Despite the upheaval at Hogwarts, students from several houses began joining his research circle, and they had settled on preliminary research topics.

• Manus concluded that Bagnold had survived the battle through skill and luck, and decided to keep observing him as a possible exception to the curse.
• Manus reflected that the battle had disrupted his plan to promote his slogan because Slytherin students were dealing with injured or dead relatives and the consequences for their families.
• Students continued approaching Manus to ask about the future, and he used prepared talking points to explain the basics of organizing a group.
• Ignis asked Manus how his little circle was progressing, and Manus said its members had already chosen several preliminary research topics.
• Manus noted that students from multiple houses were joining, including Slytherins whose ambitions were constrained by their circumstances.

Manus established an organization for capable Slytherins, offering research projects, credit-based rewards, and protection. Ignis joined after signing a magical contract and discovered that its decorative patterns had secretly used the Fidelius Charm to convey members-only information.

• Manus recruited capable Slytherins by offering research work, guidance, protection, and credits redeemable for goods and Galleons.
• Manus asked Ignis whether he wanted to join, and Ignis explained that he wanted opportunities beyond his family's conservative approach.
• Manus presented Ignis with the organization's contract, and Ignis signed it after reviewing the terms.
• Ignis received hidden information about the organization through the Fidelius Charm and recognized the spell's use.
• Manus called the contract's patterns the organization's first lesson, and Ignis checked that they had only conveyed Fidelius-related information.

Manus agreed to name the study group the Wizard Sage Party after Ignis and Pandora argued that it needed an official name. After rejecting the idea of a distinctive emblem, he adjourned the meeting, but Hector Shafiq stopped him to speak privately.

• Ignis urged Manus to give the organization a more impressive name, and Pandora later warned that outsiders might name it if its members did not.
• Manus agreed to choose a name and settled on Wizard Sage Party, dismissing Pandora's suggestion of Fairy Forest.
• Pandora proposed creating a distinctive emblem, but Manus rejected the idea because it could cause alarm or attract Aurors.
• Manus adjourned the meeting, and Hector Shafiq stopped him to talk in private.

Manus considered whether Regulus Black, a former peripheral member of the Death Eaters, could join the Wizard Sage Party. He allowed Regulus to apply and left the decision to a test of his abilities and views.

• The Wizard Sage Party members settled on calling Manus “King,” a title that could mean either his surname or a monarch.
• Hector privately asked Manus whether someone with ties to the Death Eaters could join the Wizard Sage Party.
• Manus asked who the applicant was, and Hector named Regulus Black, who had never received the Dark Mark.
• Manus decided the party had no rule forbidding Regulus from applying and gave Hector a test paper covering Regulus’s abilities and beliefs.

Manus suspected Regulus had an ulterior motive for seeking entry into the Wizard Sage Party, so he posted a research task that could expose pure-blood ideology and offered information about the Resurrection Stone as bait for Voldemort. He expanded the Party’s magical-item redemption list to protect its members, then checked on his potions and found the Weight Loss Potion still unfinished.

• Hector took Manus’s test back to Regulus, while Manus doubted Regulus had genuinely abandoned pure-blood supremacy.
• Manus posted a 5,000-credit research task to measure wizard blood concentration and offered information about the Resurrection Stone as an alternative reward.
• Manus added protective magical items in several price tiers to the Wizard Sage Party’s redemption list.
• Manus went to the Potions Room and found that the Weight Loss Potion remained cloudy and unfinished.

Manus tested a Restoration Potion enhanced with Beauty Potion and found that it restored a rabbit’s severed leg in silver rather than gold. After considering what else the potion might improve, he noticed a clue that suggested Beauty Potion had enhanced the Restoration Potion’s restorative limits.

• Manus examined the silver-colored potion and wondered whether Beauty Potion had only changed the color of restored limbs.
• Manus gave the potion to an anesthetized rabbit and watched its severed leg grow back silver, prompting him to doubt his understanding of Potions.
• Manus grilled and ate the rabbit’s restored leg, confirmed that its flavor had not improved, and considered whether the potion might heal magical, spiritual, or genetic deficiencies.
• Manus decided to brew several batches of Restoration Potion with and without Beauty Potion so he could test their limits.
• Manus noticed a rabbit near his feet, inspected its silver leg, and realized what aspect of the Restoration Potion Beauty Potion had enhanced.

Manus discovered that the Restoration Potion created a lifelike, self-repairing prosthesis rather than regrowing a real limb, and that repeated repairs could drain the wearer’s body. He decided to develop more artificial-looking options and prepared a larger round of tests.

• Manus tested repeated limb restoration on a rabbit and found that each regeneration consumed substantial resources, leaving the rabbit emaciated and near death.
• Manus concluded that the potion made a prosthetic limb that the rabbit’s body treated as intact but that the healing potion could not repair.
• Manus cut away the silver prosthesis and part of the rabbit’s limb, allowing the healing potion’s lingering effects to restore real flesh and bone.
• Manus decided to weaken the potion’s effect and create prostheses in several styles for people with disabilities to choose from.
• Manus began brewing twenty batches of the Restoration Potion and planned to request reimbursement from the school for the supplies.

Manus was surprised when Dumbledore sought information about the Resurrection Stone, apparently hoping to join the Wizard Sage Party. Manus made their conversation about the Deathly Hallows, left unfinished seven years earlier, Dumbledore’s assessment, and they began with the Elder Wand.

• Manus spent his spare time brewing potions while waiting for Voldemort and Regulus Black to make their next moves.
• Dumbledore summoned Manus and asked about the Wizard Sage Party’s lead on the Resurrection Stone.
• Manus questioned Dumbledore’s claim that he sought the information out of curiosity and reminded him of their discussion about The Tale of the Three Brothers seven years earlier.
• Manus proposed that Dumbledore finish their conversation about the Deathly Hallows as his assessment for joining the party.
• Dumbledore took out the Elder Wand and described the eldest brother’s wish to conquer death, then shook his head.

Manus discussed the Deathly Hallows with Dumbledore, explaining the Elder Wand’s limits and the Invisibility Cloak’s outdated protections. He revealed that he had already seen the actual cloak at Hogwarts, surprising Dumbledore.

• Manus told Dumbledore that the Elder Wand could aid its owner in direct confrontation but could not protect them or grant other abilities.
• Manus explained that the youngest brother’s attitude toward death meant accepting it calmly when one’s time came, and said Voldemort’s willingness to harm others to survive was the real problem.
• Dumbledore agreed with Manus and reflected on his mature judgment and accepting attitude toward others.
• Manus said the Invisibility Cloak’s protections had fallen behind modern detection magic.
• Dumbledore was surprised when Manus said he had seen the actual Invisibility Cloak at Hogwarts.

Manus explained that the Resurrection Stone was inferior to ghosts and asked Dumbledore when he first wanted to resurrect someone. Dumbledore froze at the question, leaving his answer for later.

• Manus pressed Dumbledore to explain the Resurrection Stone, and Dumbledore regretted not choosing it earlier.
• Dumbledore described the Stone as the most wondrous Hallow and recalled his guilt and longing for the dead.
• Manus said the Elder Wand and Invisibility Cloak had real advantages, but the Resurrection Stone was weaker than its counterpart, a ghost.
• Manus explained that ghosts reflected the deceased, while the Resurrection Stone reflected the user, then offered to share more if Dumbledore answered a question.
• Manus asked whether Dumbledore's desire to resurrect someone had only begun recently, and Dumbledore froze.

Dumbledore explained why his attempts to resurrect the dead had failed, while Manus recognized that he had pursued the problem through the wrong approach. Manus revealed that the Resurrection Stone had passed from Ignotus Peverell’s descendants to the Gaunt family, leaving Dumbledore to wonder whether Voldemort possessed it or whether it remained where the Gaunts had kept it.

• Dumbledore told Manus that he had searched for resurrection magic and tried to develop it, but could not find a way to target a truly dead person’s soul.
• Manus concluded that Dumbledore had taken the wrong approach by trying to cast a spell on the dead person’s soul directly.
• Manus explained that a descendant of Ignotus Peverell had married into the Gaunt family, passing the Resurrection Stone to them.
• Dumbledore recalled how Voldemort had killed his father and grandfather, framed Morfin Gaunt, and stolen the Gaunt family ring.
• Dumbledore realized the Resurrection Stone might be in Voldemort’s possession or still at its original location.

Manus explained why Dumbledore had to kill Voldemort before he could use the Resurrection Stone, then watched Dumbledore begin taking research bounties. After Ravenclaw beat Gryffindor, Regulus delivered his completed test and Barty Jr. asked Manus for Occlumency training.

• Manus left Dumbledore after discussing the Resurrection Stone and getting his signature on the Wizard Sage Party parchment.
• Manus reasoned that Dumbledore could not use the Resurrection Stone while Voldemort lived because Voldemort had made it a Horcrux, and decided not to resurrect Dumbledore's sister himself.
• Dumbledore accepted several research bounties from the bounty board, and Ravenclaw defeated Gryffindor in a rainy Quidditch match.
• Regulus gave Manus the test he had completed over fifteen days.
• Barty Jr. asked Manus for Occlumency training, and Manus asked whether Severus or Lily had suggested it.