Chapter Summaries

Lily told Manus that Potter wanted to join the Wizard Sage Party to commission research on preventing or reversing a failed Animagus Transformation. Manus agreed to test him and said he would consider the commission only if Potter earned enough credits, while Potter and his friends continued struggling to complete the transformation.

• Lily explained that Potter had asked her to post a commission for him, then decided to join the Wizard Sage Party himself after learning that the rules did not allow her to post it on his behalf.
• Manus told Lily to give Potter the party’s test and said he would review the commission only if Potter gathered enough credits.
• Lily revealed that Potter wanted advice on avoiding failure during Animagus Transformation or reversing a failed transformation.
• Manus realized that Potter and his friends were seeking a precaution, since none of them had yet succeeded despite months of trying.
• Lily felt disappointed that Manus showed little interest in the problem, though she was curious about becoming an Animagus herself.

Lily asked Manus about making the Animagus ritual safer and considered studying it so she could fulfill Potter’s commission. Manus then returned to practicing Wizard’s Chess with Ignis, who prepared for the upcoming championship with renewed confidence.

• After Transfiguration class, Lily asked Manus about becoming an Animagus, and he explained that the ritual could be modified with safeguards and perhaps a broad choice of animal form.
• Manus offered Lily books on advanced Ritual Studies, and Lily realized she might study the ritual and earn money by completing Potter’s commission.
• Manus considered whether Petunia could work as his assistant someday, then headed back to the Ravenclaw Common Room to meet Ignis.
• Ignis lost another Wizard’s Chess game to Manus but asked whether he could win the championship in March.
• Manus said Ignis had a better chance than Pante had against his opponent two years earlier, though he could not guarantee victory, and Ignis jokingly prayed to King for the championship.

Manus discussed fate and Divination with Ignis while training him for the Inter-School Wizard's Chess Championship. Three days before leaving for Koldovstoretz, Manus learned that Professor Bagnold had been found badly injured at St. Mungo's and expected her to return to Hogwarts.

• Manus explained to Ignis that fate followed the world's laws, and that people could uncover what would happen through deduction or Divination.
• Manus and Ignis resumed their Wizard's Chess practice, which continued until three days before Manus was due to leave for Koldovstoretz.
• Ignis told Manus that his uncle had seen Professor Bagnold at St. Mungo's, covered in blood and barely able to walk.
• Manus finished the chess practice and said Professor Bagnold would probably return to Hogwarts.

Ignis told Manus that Professor Bagnold had returned to teach, and Manus explained that his earlier prediction had not come from inside information. Regulus and Lily later shared accounts of a battle over a gold cup, leaving Manus to wonder whether it was the Holy Grail or Helga Hufflepuff’s cup.

• Ignis congratulated Manus on predicting Professor Bagnold’s return, but Manus explained that he had only reasoned from her injury and unfinished duties.
• Ignis revealed that he had hoped Manus knew more about the curse, and Manus said he had no inside information about Bagnold.
• Regulus and Lily pieced together accounts of a three-way battle between the Order of the Phoenix, the Death Eaters, and another group.
• Regulus said the groups had fought over a gold cup that originally belonged to Voldemort, and that Bellatrix recovered it while Rodolphus received little punishment.
• Manus considered whether the cup might be the Holy Grail or Helga Hufflepuff’s gold cup.

Manus suspected Voldemort had hidden a Horcrux in Hufflepuff’s Cup and consulted Big Tom in the deep prison. Big Tom confirmed it and revealed Voldemort had planned to make Horcruxes from all four founders’ relics.

• Manus reasoned that Voldemort’s unusual leniency over the recovered golden cup meant he cared deeply about it and was hiding its importance.
• Manus visited Big Tom in the deep prison and told him three years had passed outside and that Voldemort’s prospects were improving.
• Manus explained his suspicions about the golden cup, and Big Tom identified it as Hufflepuff’s Cup and a new Horcrux.
• Big Tom said Voldemort had planned to use the four founders’ relics as Horcruxes, prompting Manus to identify the Sword of Gryffindor and Slytherin’s Basilisk as the other two.

Manus questioned Big Tom about the objects he had chosen for Horcruxes and why he had made them in a particular order. Big Tom asked how Manus had discovered the secret, and Manus revealed that he had seen it in Professor Slughorn’s memory, leaving Big Tom incredulous.

• Big Tom told Manus that he had wanted the Sword of Gryffindor but had not found it, and that he had chosen Slytherin’s locket because it had belonged to his mother.
• Big Tom explained that his mother had pawned the locket to Caractacus Burke, who had resold it before Big Tom could reclaim it.
• Big Tom said he had planned to work at Borgin and Burkes to investigate the locket, and described how he had learned about Hufflepuff’s Cup from Hepzibah Smith.
• Manus questioned why Big Tom had made the diary into a Horcrux before killing someone at Hogwarts, and accused him of reversing the order to conceal the diary’s purpose.
• Big Tom asked how Manus had learned the order, and Manus said he had found it in Professor Slughorn’s memory.
• Big Tom objected that Slughorn knew Occlumency and could not have allowed Manus to read such a memory.

Manus explained how he had inspected the ring in Slughorn’s memories and confirmed it was not yet a Horcrux, leaving Big Tom stunned by his ability to examine memories firsthand. Manus agreed to provide Big Tom with meals, but Big Tom suspected the offer meant Manus no longer needed to distort his sense of time.

• Manus clarified that he had seen the ring in Slughorn’s memories and physically checked that it had not yet become a Horcrux.
• Big Tom realized Manus could have learned the ring’s history only by examining it inside the memory, and wondered whether Manus was even human.
• Manus asked whether Big Tom would admit he had asked Slughorn about making a second Horcrux, but Big Tom changed the subject and asked for food.
• Manus agreed to have three meals delivered each day, reassuring Big Tom that he would be able to wait for them.
• Big Tom suspected Manus had stopped blurring his sense of time because he no longer needed to, and wondered how much Manus had grown beyond his claimed fourth-year status.

Manus questioned Big Tom about why he had made the diary a Horcrux, and Big Tom explained that he had intended it to help fulfill Slytherin’s legacy by using the Chamber of Secrets. The group learned the chamber’s monster was a Basilisk, while Big Tom described how he expected the diary to let him act through a student without anyone suspecting him.

• Manus pressed Big Tom to explain why he had turned an ordinary diary into a Horcrux.
• Manus asked Regulus about Slytherin’s Chamber of Secrets, and Regulus recounted the legend of a hidden monster meant to purge Hogwarts of students who were not pure-bloods.
• Bellows raised the possibility that the chamber’s monster was real, and Manus confirmed it was a Basilisk by showing the group its shed skin.
• Severus asked Manus for Basilisk eyes and fangs, but Manus said the materials had already been used and considered transmuting another Basilisk for potion ingredients.
• Big Tom explained that he had planned for the diary to remain at Hogwarts and control a student who would direct the Basilisk, believing no one would suspect a blank diary.

Manus questioned Big Tom about why he had created the Diary Horcrux and realized Big Tom had hidden its special purpose. He left Big Tom to consider their future cooperation, while the truth about the Diary remained unresolved.

• Manus challenged Big Tom's claim that he made the Diary Horcrux to fulfill Slytherin's dying wish.
• Manus reasoned that Big Tom had intended to give the Diary to someone rather than hide it, and sensed that his deductions were correct.
• Manus suspected Big Tom believed Horcruxes could preserve one another and grant immortality.
• Manus explained that Horcruxes could not sustain the main soul in that way, leaving Big Tom shaken.
• Manus told Big Tom to consider their worsening situation and offer a more useful plan for their future cooperation.

Manus confronted Big Tom with the loss of his supposed safeguard, forcing him to consider how to earn the right to survive. Manus then questioned Little Tom, weighed the Horcruxes’ possible uses, and continued his usual Hogwarts routine as the school year neared its end.

• Big Tom realized Manus could destroy him and understood that he would need to give Manus a reason to let him live.
• Manus sought out Little Tom to cross-check what Big Tom had revealed and explain his position on the Horcruxes.
• Manus learned that neither Tom knew where the Diary was, though Voldemort had still held it when Big Tom was created.
• Manus considered finding Hufflepuff's Cup but chose not to rush into obtaining it, and continued studying and teaching his friends.
• As April brought heavier revision and the final Quidditch match, Manus read in the common room while Ravenclaw remained poised to win the championship.

After Gryffindor crushed Slytherin, Bellows and the Ravenclaw team questioned whether Potter and Black had used unusual homemade broomsticks. Gryffindor celebrated the win, while Lily worried about the danger as the chapter revealed the fragile broomsticks were disposable and had already caused trouble in earlier matches.

• Bellows complained that Slytherin had lost badly to Gryffindor, costing Ravenclaw the chance to place first on points.
• Bellows suggested Potter and Black had ridden broomsticks unlike any popular models, and Manus said Potter might have developed them from techniques they had exchanged.
• The Ravenclaws speculated that Gryffindor might have deliberately lost to Hufflepuff to make other teams underestimate them, before turning back to exam revision.
• Potter celebrated Gryffindor's victory by holding up two cracked broomsticks as his teammates tossed him into the air.
• Lily watched anxiously as the chapter revealed Potter had made the disposable broomsticks and that six had been used across Gryffindor's three matches that school year.
• Potter's first pair had been ruined through poor maintenance, and the second pair had suffered after he and Black flew too hard against Hufflepuff.

After Potter gambled on an untested Broomstick and won, Lily received an anonymous letter from Malfoy and passed it to Manus. Manus questioned why Malfoy had chosen Lily as his intermediary and decided to ask him directly.

• Potter explained that he had risked using his improved Broomstick in the match because proper testing was impossible, and the gamble had paid off.
• Lily received a letter from an unfamiliar owl, checked it for danger, and used Mage Hand to open and read it.
• Lily brought Malfoy's letter to Manus, explaining that Malfoy had asked her to keep the message from Voldemort's eyes and ears.
• Manus questioned why Malfoy had contacted Lily rather than Abbott, and Lily wondered whether Malfoy knew about her relationship with Manus.
• Manus told Lily he would ask Malfoy about his choice, and Lily warned him that the Malfoy family had a poor reputation.

Manus read Lucius Malfoy's unusually eager letter asking to join the Wizard Sage Party and wondered what motivated the Malfoy family's heavy bet on him. He replied through a secure channel, then considered how to expand his Muggle business and prepare a youth training program that could also provide cover for Lily and Petunia.

• Manus read Lucius Malfoy's letter and questioned why Lucius was so keen to join the Wizard Sage Party.
• Manus wondered whether Lucius wanted to meet him and considered the possibility that Voldemort might be waiting for him.
• Manus replied to Lucius using a secure means of contact he had established for discreet communications.
• Manus reviewed the Muggle company he had built with fabricated staff, laboratories, and research institutes as groundwork for future ventures.
• Manus planned a youth talent development program that would train teenagers for his group's needs and provide cover for Lily and Petunia.

Manus’s business manager Marge warned him that his ambitious training program would bankrupt the company, then advised converting its benefits into loans. Manus accepted the change but refused to cut other costs, as he had secretly made a breakthrough in transmuting materials and repairing his Mage Tower.

• Marge warned Manus that the company could not afford his proposed program and that other companies could poach the trained workers.
• Marge proposed turning the students’ tuition waivers, meals, and other benefits into loans they would repay from their salaries, and Manus agreed.
• Marge tried to persuade Manus to make further changes to improve profits, but he said the ingredient costs and company profits were not a concern.
• Manus explained that the company’s waste-collection business supplied him with dead matter, which he could transform into resources using Blackening.
• Manus celebrated a breakthrough in transmuting magical materials that had raised the Mage Tower’s restoration progress above twenty percent.

As final exams approached, Potter and Black realized they could not earn enough Wizard Sage Party credits in time, so they planned to attempt Animagus Transformation that month. An explosion at London Tower Bridge revealed a clash involving Death Eaters, while Manus suspected Professor Bagnold had left Hogwarts because of the danger surrounding her post.

• Manus’s progress on restoring the Mage Tower lifted his spirits, while Potter calculated that commissions would not earn him and Black enough credits before graduation.
• Potter and Black decided to attempt Animagus Transformation that month so they could accompany Lupin during his monthly transformations.
• Manus read reports of the London Tower Bridge explosion and suspected the Death Eaters had attacked the group that stole Voldemort’s golden cup.
• McGonagall announced that Professor Bagnold had left early and that students would revise under a substitute professor for the last two weeks.
• Manus connected Bagnold’s sudden departure and Madam Pomfrey’s Wound-Healing Potion order to a foreseeable danger, and planned to visit Staky in France over the summer.

Manus considered whether the Defense Against the Dark Arts curse targeted people who already had problems or ulterior motives, since the position offered outsiders a route into Hogwarts. He concluded that the curse could let some professors escape serious harm to keep attracting replacements, while he continued preparing a ritual to exchange for the Third Eye.

• Manus reasoned that Bagnold had chosen to risk her life as bait for Voldemort, while the other professors' troubles had also begun independently of their Hogwarts posts.
• Manus suspected that people with existing problems or hidden aims were more likely to take the Defense Against the Dark Arts position, making them vulnerable whether or not the curse existed.
• Manus went to his Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson, where Flitwick supervised the students as they reviewed their completed coursework.
• Bellows asked Manus whether Bagnold's quick departure had made this year's curse less severe, unaware of her secret operations and current condition.
• Manus reflected that he needed greater insight into events and continued preparing the exchange ritual, which required an alchemical breakthrough to remove his Third Eye.
• Manus told Bellows that the curse did not need to kill every professor; by letting some escape serious harm, it could lure more people into the position before killing them.

As Hogwarts exams approached, Ignis asked Manus for help overcoming his anxiety about how his results could affect his future in the family. Manus created a spell to sharpen Ignis’s focus, and the chapter ended after its effect wore off, leaving Ignis with a mild headache.

• The investigation into the London Tower Bridge explosion faded away, while Hogwarts students turned their attention to their approaching exams.
• Ignis told Manus he could not calm himself because his exam qualifications could affect how much of the family business and fortune he might inherit.
• Manus suggested a Cheering Charm, then devised a first-circle focus spell and cast Mental Focus (Animum Intendere) on Ignis.
• Ignis used the spell’s effects to study, and Manus recorded that the spell lasted about twenty-four minutes and was followed by a mild headache.
• After the spell wore off, Ignis described how sharply his focus and thinking had changed, while his headache made him feel sluggish.

Manus tested the Focus Charm with students and found that it could aid revision without the toxicity of a Wit-Sharpening Potion, though its effectiveness depended on the caster’s ability to focus. Pettigrew then approached Manus for help with his Animagus transformation, leaving Manus wondering why he was in such a hurry.

• Manus advised Ignis to rest after using the Focus Charm and gathered volunteers to test the spell.
• The tests showed that students needed to reserve time to rest, while many discovered they could not cast the Focus Charm effectively themselves.
• Manus set up in an unused classroom to cast the Focus Charm for students and continue studying the spell.
• Pettigrew arrived with a Mandrake leaf under his tongue and asked Manus for help with becoming an Animagus.
• Pettigrew said he was caught up in Potter’s rush to learn the transformation, but did not explain the reason.

Pettigrew confided in Manus about his fear of failing the Animagus Transformation and his conflicted wish to help Lupin. Manus listened, then tested Pettigrew’s Transfiguration and told him his score qualified him to practice the transformation, leaving Pettigrew bewildered.

• Pettigrew told Manus he feared he lacked the ability to learn the Animagus Transformation as Potter and Black planned to do for Lupin.
• Manus listened as Pettigrew explained his worries, and Pettigrew admitted he might only have come to talk.
• Manus asked Pettigrew to take a Transfiguration test, and Pettigrew agreed.
• Manus marked Pettigrew’s test and gave him ninety-eight out of a hundred, saying he was qualified to practice the Animagus Transformation.
• Pettigrew asked to see his answers again, unable to believe his score.

Manus helped Pettigrew recognize that learned helplessness had made him underestimate his abilities, then left him to decide whether to accept the truth. As final exams approached, Dumbledore asked Manus not to use the Focus Charm on students during the tests.

• Manus explained that he had temporarily removed Pettigrew's habit of believing he could not do anything well, allowing Pettigrew to show his real abilities on a test.
• Manus told Pettigrew to keep the test paper as evidence of his abilities and said he would not reveal their conversation to anyone.
• Manus considered whether to tell Lily that Potter and the others planned to attempt the Animagus Transformation, but decided to wait.
• Final exam week arrived, and Dumbledore asked Manus not to use the Focus Charm on students during their exams.