Chapter Summaries

Manus discussed adding protection to the Snape and Evans homes, while reflecting on Petunia’s unexpected promise as a spellcaster. After Manus returned home, Griffin found that his house had vanished while he was away.

• Severus supported Manus’s warning that Voldemort might target his family, and Eileen agreed that the Snape home needed protection despite the burden the Fidelius Charm would impose on Mr. Snape.
• Lily promised to discuss security measures with her parents, while Manus thought about Petunia’s progress and decided to update the Evans family on her potential.
• Manus returned home and found Aivina angry in the kitchen, so Griffin hurried away with the carriage to avoid her wrath.
• Griffin came back two hours later and discovered that his house had disappeared from the street.

Manus helped Eileen and Severus make plans to escape the danger posed by Voldemort after Mr. Snape refused to improve his home’s security. He urged them to find temporary shelter while they considered buying a house.

• Griffin struggled to find his own home until his son pulled him through its protective enchantment, then Aivina scolded him for being gone.
• Manus left home after dinner to check on Severus and Lily, worrying Voldemort might target families during the Hogwarts holidays.
• Manus found Eileen and Severus discussing security with Mr. Snape, who refused to add locks or take precautions.
• Manus suggested Eileen and Severus move out, and Eileen decided to find a new place to live with Severus.
• Manus urged them to seek temporary shelter at his secret base while they looked for a house.

Manus told Petunia that her magical talent exceeded his expectations and encouraged her to tell her family she could learn magic. The Evans family struggled to understand the revelation, while Lily went upstairs to confront Petunia.

• Eileen decided that she and Severus would live at the Secret Base, and Manus left to handle protections at the Evans home.
• Manus told Petunia through Huginn that he wanted to explain her magical ability to her parents, and he revealed that her talent was better than expected.
• Manus explained that Petunia could have struggled to make a living in the Wizarding World, but her talent meant she could now build a stable life there.
• Petunia chose to tell her family everything, and Manus informed the Evanses that she had a strong talent for learning magic.
• Lily rushed upstairs to knock on Petunia's door, while Mrs. Evans questioned Manus about Dumbledore's earlier letter to Petunia.

Manus explained to the Evanses that Petunia had already learned magic through his teaching, defending his decision as a response to her firm choice. The Evanses remained angry but realized they could not undo what had happened, leaving Petunia’s future in the Wizarding World unresolved.

• Manus showed Mrs. Evans a Daily Prophet report about his Order of Merlin, First Class award and claimed he could teach Petunia magic.
• Mr. Evans challenged Manus for teaching Petunia without her guardians’ permission, and Manus compared it to Hogwarts accepting Lily without asking them.
• Manus said Petunia had chosen to learn magic after he confirmed her determination, and he argued that she could decide when her guardians could not understand her choice.
• Manus reflected that Petunia’s success proved ordinary people could become mages and explained why he wanted the School’s future apprentices to come from ordinary people who learned magic.
• The Evanses fell silent, angry that Manus had bypassed them but unsure what they could do, as Petunia had already learned magic.

Lily, Petunia, and Manus discussed how Petunia could learn magic without attracting Voldemort’s attention, while the Evans parents struggled with the changes their daughters’ magical lives would bring. The family remained divided between the parents’ ordinary life and the path Lily and Petunia had chosen.

• Lily admitted she had opposed Petunia learning magic because Voldemort might discover her and endanger the family.
• Manus explained that Petunia could study magic at home or attend another school, but Petunia chose to keep learning from him at home.
• Lily accepted Petunia’s plan and told Mr. and Mrs. Evans she no longer objected.
• Mr. and Mrs. Evans explained that both daughters becoming wizards would disrupt their family’s preparations and relationships with their neighbors.
• Lily struggled to understand her parents’ distress because she had never considered the changes they described.

Manus agreed that the Evans family’s concerns about Lily and Petunia’s magical lives were reasonable and promised to find a practical solution for them by next summer holiday. He protected the Evans home, then returned to his study and wrote a large batch of letters.

• Petunia explained that she felt out of place, and Manus agreed that the Evans family’s requests were reasonable.
• Manus devised a plan to address the problems Muggle-born wizards caused their families and promised the Evanses a solution by next summer holiday.
• Mr. and Mrs. Evans agreed to Manus placing protective magic on their home.
• Manus cast protections that made uninvited visitors lose their ability to perceive, and warned the family not to invite people inside casually.
• After strengthening the Secret Base’s protections and adding the Fidelius Charm, Manus went home and wrote and sealed a large pile of letters.

After his proposal to reveal a hidden group of Wizards to Muggles was rejected as a violation of the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy, Manus sent a letter through Muggle channels and considered the influence he would need for his future plans. He then studied Shadow Magic and focused on a low-level spell whose potential had become apparent when it reached +10.

• Manus read replies from his contacts, who urged him to abandon his proposal because it would violate the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy.
• Manus sent a letter through Minerva to pursue a backup plan for Mr. and Mrs. Evans and Petunia, and considered building influence in the Muggle world.
• Manus reflected on his changing moral limits and his ambition to shape the world's rules and magical future.
• Manus studied Shadow Magic and recognized that the low-level Shadow-Tapping Spell could offer a more promising path than the system's high-level spells.
• Manus recalled that the Shadow-Tapping Spell seemed unremarkable until it reached +10 and offered him a choice of enhancement direction.

Manus studied Shadow Magic and ancient Egyptian texts until he understood that shadows were independent entities connected to their owners. After refining the Shadow-Tapping Spell and strengthening its connection to his shadow, he prepared to ask it for a response.

• Manus considered the risks of connecting with his shadow and decided to investigate the unknown path carefully.
• Manus studied Shadow Magic and concluded that shadows were individual entities that depended on matter without interfering with it.
• Manus discovered that strengthening the connection with a shadow amplified Shadow Magic.
• Manus found that ancient Egyptian texts about shadows closely matched the Shadow Magic he was studying.
• Manus refined the Shadow-Tapping Spell and devoted its enhancements to strengthening his connection with his shadow.
• Manus used an invocation to ask his shadow to reveal its existence.

Manus used the Shadow-Tapping Spell to establish clearer communication with his shadow and learned that their worlds were too different for him to understand the shadow world deeply. He discovered that Shadow Magic benefited his shadow without harming it, leaving them with a foundation for further research and practical spell development.

• Manus cast the Shadow-Tapping Spell and sensed the shadow world more clearly through his connection with his shadow.
• Manus confirmed that his shadow could think and respond, but the differences between their worlds made its thoughts difficult to translate or understand.
• Manus tried different approaches to explore the shadow world, then decided to pursue restrained research and focus on practical uses for Shadow Magic.
• Manus learned that casting Shadow Magic and borrowing power from the shadow world benefited his shadow without causing it harm, and his shadow supported further use and development.
• Manus ended the communication, dismantled the ritual and Zone of Truth, and regarded the exchange as a success despite his limited prospects for exploring the shadow world.

Manus went to St. Mungo's to treat Mrs. Travers and found the hospital unsettled by a rise in patients and violent incidents. After examining her and confirming the preparations, he began setting up for the delicate treatment while Travers and Bellows secured the room.

• Manus reflected on his recent progress with Shadow Magic, the Restoration Potion, and his Weight Loss Potion as he traveled to St. Mungo's.
• Manus noticed that St. Mungo's was busier and that injuries from dark magic had increased.
• Bellows met Manus in the lobby and warned him that someone had recently cast spells at random in the hospital.
• Manus and Bellows went to Mrs. Travers's room, where Travers confirmed that the preparations were complete.
• Manus examined Mrs. Travers and prepared to begin treatment while Travers secured the doors and windows with protective spells.

Manus used a new soul-treatment technique called the Soul Cradle to treat Mrs. Travers, while Bellows and Travers watched. As Manus continued the complicated procedure, Travers grew anxious and reinforced the room’s protections.

• Bellows and Travers watched Manus prepare to treat Mrs. Travers, and Manus told them to stay quiet.
• Manus used a spare unicorn-hair wand and spider silk to weave clothing for Mrs. Travers’s soul, then explained that the Acromantulas’ silk techniques had made the Soul Cradle possible.
• Manus began the main treatment with spells and potions, tracing magical symbols that Bellows and Travers could not understand.
• As the treatment continued for over an hour, Travers paced and added protective spells to the room, including a Muggle-Repelling Charm.

Manus completed Mrs. Travers’s soul treatment and told the Travers family she could recover at home over the next six months. After a violent disturbance damaged St. Mungo’s, the family Apparated away, while Manus sent Huginn to inspect the chaos.

• Bellows prepared Dark Magic traps as he worried that someone might attack the ward, and Travers questioned him about the spells.
• A violent tremor shook the ward, but a force-field dome protected Mrs. Travers and the bed during Manus’s treatment.
• Manus finished weaving the Soul Cradle, removed the spells holding Mrs. Travers asleep, and explained that she could leave the hospital while her soul healed.
• Travers carried Mrs. Travers and Apparated home with Bellows, while Manus used a Portkey to prepare to leave on his own.
• Manus sent Huginn to survey St. Mungo’s and saw that an unknown magical attack had blasted open part of the building, though he saw no attackers or fighting.

After the attack on St. Mungo’s, Manus sent Huginn and Muninn to keep critical patients alive while he investigated. He learned the attackers were probably neither Death Eaters nor the Order of the Phoenix, and suspected the Greater Good before deciding to leave the wider crisis to Dumbledore.

• Manus sent Muninn and Huginn, hidden by the Invisibility Charm, to cast the Life-Sustaining Charm on critical patients while healers were overwhelmed.
• Manus learned that the missing Death Eater in the attacked ward was Rodolphus Lestrange, making it unlikely that Death Eaters had attacked to kill or rescue him.
• After finding no evidence against the Death Eaters or the Order of the Phoenix, Manus wondered whether an outside group had entered the conflict.
• Manus recalled the Greater Good and its earlier attempt to find something at Hogwarts, then called the ravens back and decided the situation was Dumbledore’s concern unless it threatened Hogwarts or Cokeworth.

Manus helped Eileen and Severus move into their new home, where Severus thanked him for helping make a long-held dream come true. As Eileen brought out snacks, Manus comforted Severus and used a Human Transfiguration Spell to fix his tear-streaked face.

• Manus told Eileen and Severus the address of their new home, which reappeared before them after he finished his work.
• Eileen thanked Manus and invited him inside the modest home, which lacked running water and electricity.
• Severus told Manus he had once dreamed of moving away with his mother, and credited Manus with helping that dream become reality.
• Manus hugged Severus and reminded him that his own choices and hard work had helped earn their new home.
• Manus teased Severus about crying, then used a Human Transfiguration Spell to restore his face.
• Eileen brought out sweets, tea, and warm milk for Manus and Severus.

Manus returned to Hogwarts after the St. Mungo’s attack and learned that Professor Bagnold had temporarily left, with another professor set to cover Defense Against the Dark Arts. A witness had seen her tracking someone in Knockturn Alley, and Ravenclaw students suspected her departure marked the start of the professor’s curse taking effect.

• Manus and Bellows traveled back to Hogwarts while discussing the patients affected by the events at St. Mungo’s.
• Manus returned to the Ravenclaw Common Room and learned from Jasper that Professor Bagnold had left the school and another professor would fill in for Defense Against the Dark Arts.
• Jasper said a student had seen Professor Bagnold asking questions and tracking someone in Knockturn Alley.
• Manus learned that Ravenclaw students had begun taking the Defense Against the Dark Arts curse seriously after he argued that it might be real.
• Ravenclaw students interpreted Professor Bagnold’s departure as a sign that the curse was beginning to take effect.

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.