Chapter Summaries

Dumbledore brought Li Wei and Hermione to Nicolas Flamel and Perenelle’s secluded villa so they could learn Alchemy from the legendary couple. Nicolas praised Li Wei’s Hero King Game and offered to teach him, while Perenelle welcomed the students and led them toward the couple’s inventions.

• Dumbledore revealed the villa and led Li Wei and Hermione inside, where Loul welcomed them on behalf of Nicolas Flamel and Perenelle.
• Nicolas and Perenelle greeted the students, and Li Wei sensed the elders’ frail bodies and immense magic.
• Perenelle invited Li Wei and Hermione to relax, order refreshments, and call her by her name.
• Nicolas praised Li Wei’s Hero King Game and said he had invited him to help guide his Alchemy studies.
• Perenelle interrupted Nicolas’s lecture and offered to show the students toys she and Nicolas had invented.

Li Wei began studying Alchemy under Nicolas Flamel, who passed on priceless runes, blueprints, and teachings about the art’s principles. Impressed by Li Wei’s talent, Nicolas decided to entrust him with the forbidden Book of Abraham and guide him in resisting its temptations.

• Li Wei and Hermione explored Nicolas Flamel and Perenelle’s alchemical tools before beginning lessons with their respective mentors.
• Nicolas Flamel gave Li Wei a crystal ball containing ancient scripts and a magical book of alchemical blueprints, and asked him to preserve and pass on the knowledge.
• Nicolas Flamel questioned Li Wei about Alchemy’s nature, and Li Wei explained that magic, runes, and Soul Emotions formed the world’s essential elements.
• Li Wei demonstrated an extraordinary grasp of Alchemy, and Nicolas taught him to perceive magic as the force flowing through all things and runes as frameworks guiding it.
• Nicolas Flamel decided to give Li Wei the Book of Abraham, whose forbidden knowledge included immortality, transmutation, life modification, souls, and life creation, and resolved to teach him how to resist its dangers.

After a month of training with the Flamels, Li Wei and Hermione discovered that Nicolas Flamel and Perenelle were distributing their estate as they prepared to die. As the estate emptied, Nicolas gave Li Wei a final warning about staying true to his purpose in Alchemy, while Perenelle gave Hermione a magically expanded library of books.

• Li Wei advanced in Alchemy under Nicolas Flamel's guidance, while Hermione improved her knowledge and combat skills through Perenelle's instruction.
• Three days before term began, Li Wei and Hermione found the Flamel Estate packed into labeled boxes and feared that the Flamels were preparing to die.
• Nicolas Flamel and Perenelle calmly explained that they welcomed death as a great adventure, leaving Li Wei shaken and Hermione crying.
• Li Wei and Hermione helped the Flamels distribute their belongings to Beauxbatons, relatives, friends, and promising younger wizards.
• Nicolas gave Li Wei the wooden box containing the Book of Abraham and warned him to preserve his original purpose and avoid losing his way.
• Perenelle gave Hermione an enchanted chest containing a small library of precious magical books.

Li Wei and Hermione mourned Nicolas Flamel and Perenelle, then began their journey back to Hogwarts. When Harry and Ron flew the Weasleys' car past the train, Li Wei suspected that Tom Riddle's diary had reached the school.

• Nicolas Flamel and Perenelle sent Li Wei and Hermione away with Dumbledore before they began their final journey.
• Li Wei and Hermione learned from the Daily Prophet that Nicolas Flamel and Perenelle had died, and Li Wei reflected on their lessons and the inheritance they had left him.
• Harry and Ron found themselves unable to enter Platform Nine and Three-Quarters and decided to fly the Weasleys' car to Hogwarts.
• Li Wei and Hermione saw Harry and Ron speed past the Hogwarts Express, while Li Wei considered how to uncover Voldemort's Horcruxes and find Tom Riddle's diary.

Li Wei Wickens watched Hogwarts welcome an unusually large group of first-year students and worried that a rising number of wizards would transform the Wizarding World and strain its institutions. As the Sorting Ceremony continued, Luna Lovegood was sorted into Ravenclaw and asked Li Wei why there were no Wrackspurts around him.

• Li Wei told Michael and Anthony that his plan to settle down in the Wizarding World had worked and invited them to visit his home.
• Professor McGonagall led nearly twice the usual number of first-year students into the Great Hall, surprising the students and staff.
• Li Wei reasoned that the surge might signal more magical awakenings and feared the Wizarding World lacked the resources and institutions to cope with continued population growth.
• The Sorting Ceremony began, and Ginny Weasley, Colin Creevey, Luna Lovegood, and other new students were sorted into their Houses.
• Luna Lovegood sat across from Li Wei and asked why there were no Wrackspurts around him.

Li Wei returned to Hogwarts for his second year, while Grindelwald studied Muggle society in the United States and reconsidered how to change the Wizarding World. Grindelwald then experienced another Precognitive Dream, which showed him a wizard using Levi Keynes’s Magic Machine in 1997 before an alert interrupted the vision.

• Filch whispered to Snape that Harry and Ron had arrived in the Flying Car, so Snape left to deal with them while Ron missed Ginny’s Sorting.
• After the feast, Li Wei returned to the Ravenclaw common room and thought about Dobby, the Horcrux, and Scabbers.
• Grindelwald studied wireless communications and political reform at Stanford, deciding that his former approach to changing the Wizarding World had been foolish.
• Grindelwald considered how the Statute of Secrecy might fail and wondered whether he could enter United States politics, while wishing Dumbledore would join him.
• Grindelwald fell asleep and dreamed of a wizard in Diagon Alley using Levi Keynes’s Magic Machine to view tasks and withdraw Galleons.
• Grindelwald learned that the dream showed July 1, 1997, and heard a warning from the Magic Machine before he could discover what the vision meant.

Li Wei reflected on Luna Lovegood’s ability to perceive Wrackspurts and considered studying the Lovegood family’s unusual intuition. At breakfast, Molly Weasley’s Howler publicly scolded Harry and Ron for stealing the Flying Car, while Li Wei watched Ginny and planned to take Tom Riddle’s diary.

• Li Wei reasoned that Luna’s unusual perception might come from an inherited magical intuition and considered asking the Lovegoods to help him research it.
• Hermione told Li Wei how Harry and Ron had flown the Flying Car to Hogwarts and crashed into the Whomping Willow, then said the school had only warned them.
• Harry and Ron arrived at the Gryffindor table to a celebratory welcome, while Li Wei watched Ginny Weasley and planned to take Tom Riddle’s diary.
• Molly Weasley’s Howler rebuked Harry and Ron in the Great Hall for stealing the car and risking expulsion, then congratulated Ginny on joining Gryffindor.

Li Wei trapped Gilderoy Lockhart with Cornish Pixies during a Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson, exposing his incompetence while pretending the incident was an intentional demonstration. Lockhart was rescued, but Li Wei pressured him to maintain the story that it had all been part of his teaching.

• Li Wei attended Gilderoy Lockhart's first Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson and judged him to be an incompetent fraud.
• When Lockhart released the Cornish Pixies, Li Wei cast Circle Prison and trapped him with them.
• As the pixies attacked Lockhart, Li Wei told Hermione and the other students that they were watching Lockhart's practical demonstration.
• Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape arrived and found Lockhart battered and pleading for help.
• Li Wei praised Lockhart's supposed sacrifice, and Lockhart reluctantly agreed that the students should learn from his demonstration.

After another disastrous Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson with Gilderoy Lockhart, Li Wei agreed to Hermione’s proposal to secretly organize students for private training. Hermione began compiling a list of students eager to improve while Li Wei planned to gather them when the time was right.

• Professor McGonagall and Snape praised Lockhart’s lesson sarcastically and decided that future classes should make him face dangerous dark creatures.
• Li Wei discovered that Lockhart’s class had earned him only ten credits and complained to Hermione about the poor Defense Against the Dark Arts professors.
• Hermione suggested that Li Wei teach students how to defend themselves against dark magic and creatures.
• Li Wei agreed and explained that they should secretly identify interested students before inviting them to train in a hidden place.
• Hermione promised to investigate which students wanted better Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons and make a list.

Li Wei advanced to become a First-Circle Arcanist but found that his active meditation was too inefficient to support further growth. He decided to create a Tower Spirit through the Wizard Tower MOD to help him develop a Meditation Method.

• Li Wei filled his magic to its limit and formed five First-Circle Spell Slots, while his Zero-Circle Spell Slots increased from ten to twenty.
• Li Wei reasoned that future advancement would require filling empty Zero-Circle Spell Slots and increasing his maximum magic capacity.
• Li Wei concluded that he needed a Meditation Method to improve how quickly his Spell Slots absorbed magic.
• Li Wei considered arranging Ancient Runes into a universal training technique but found the possible combinations too complex to solve alone.
• Li Wei decided the Tower Spirit from the Wizard Tower MOD could help him develop a Meditation Method and renewed his ambition from last year's Sorting Ceremony.

Li Wei redeemed three soul-related Spells from the Wizard Tower MOD as preparation for crafting a Tower Spirit and considered extracting Voldemort’s remnant soul. Back in the Ravenclaw Common Room, he found Luna upset over her missing belongings and sent a complaint to prefect Penelope Clearwater before going to bed.

• Li Wei spent 120,000 academy points to redeem the Soul Construct Spell, the Advanced Enlightenment Spell, and the Soul Extraction Spell, planning to master them before crafting a Tower Spirit.
• Li Wei returned to the Ravenclaw Common Room late at night and woke Luna, who said Bubble Lice had hidden her shoes, The Quibbler, and necklace.
• Li Wei urged Luna to return to her dormitory and suggested her belongings might be returned the next day.
• Li Wei made a magical paper airplane and sent it to Penelope Clearwater to report Luna’s missing belongings and the bullying behind them.

Li Wei donated seven newly produced Firebolts to Ravenclaw, hoping to help the House team win the Quidditch Cup and promote the brooms. He and Professor Flitwick went to the pitch to present them to the team, where Cho Chang greeted them.

• Luna Lovegood thanked Li Wei after her belongings were returned, and Li Wei hinted that the students who had hidden them had given them back.
• Li Wei told Professor Flitwick he wanted to donate seven Firebolt broomsticks to Ravenclaw, and Flitwick accepted the donation.
• Li Wei summoned the seven Firebolts in Flitwick's office, and Flitwick recognized their goblin-forged metalwork.
• Li Wei and Flitwick went to Ravenclaw's Quidditch practice, where Cho Chang spotted them and called out a welcome.

Li Wei donated a set of unreleased Firebolt broomsticks to the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, and the players discovered their extraordinary speed during test flights. The team remained confident the Firebolts would help them win the Quidditch Cup as they prepared to train.

• Roger Davies welcomed Li Wei and Professor Flitwick to Ravenclaw's training and mistakenly assumed Li Wei had come to join the team.
• Professor Flitwick explained that Li Wei wanted to donate new broomsticks, and Li Wei revealed the Firebolts to the surprised players.
• Roger Davies mounted a Firebolt, shot into the sky at terrifying speed, then adapted to its handling and returned exhilarated.
• Cho Chang and the other Ravenclaw players test-flew the Firebolts and eagerly thanked Li Wei for the donation.
• Roger Davies promised to lead Ravenclaw to the Quidditch Cup and urged the team to keep the Firebolts secret, while Professor Flitwick and Li Wei reminded them that effort mattered more than broomsticks and secrecy was unlikely.

Li Wei expanded the Hero King card business with new characters and a card-drawing system, then arranged private Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons for Hogwarts students. He told Hermione that students could skip Professor Lockhart’s classes, and she decided to do so herself.

• Li Wei designed and forged more than a dozen new Hero character cards, then used the Alchemy Workshop to produce them in large quantities.
• Grave Sanchez, Boss Tom, and Valentin added card draws and new prizes to their shops, increasing Hero King Game Company’s profits.
• Hermione gave Li Wei a list of first- and second-year students who wanted private Defense Against the Dark Arts instruction.
• Li Wei told Hermione to gather the students on the Seventh Floor the next day and keep the training sessions secret.
• Li Wei said students did not have to attend Lockhart’s classes, and Hermione decided to stop attending them for the rest of the school year.

Li Wei gathered students to form a secret society and teach Defense Against the Dark Arts in the Room of Requirement, arguing that Lockhart’s poor teaching had left them no choice. As he began teaching Protego, the MOD System loaded Professor MOD, leaving Li Wei wondering why his lessons over the holidays had not triggered it.

• Hermione gathered the students outside the Room of Requirement, where Harry and Ron stood watch for professors.
• Li Wei arrived, reassured the students that Lockhart was to blame for their self-study society, and established rules for keeping it secret.
• Li Wei had Hannah Abbott demonstrate how to enter the Room of Requirement, then led everyone into its spacious training area.
• Li Wei began teaching the students Protego, and the MOD System loaded Professor MOD while he taught.

Li Wei discovered that the Professor MOD awarded credits for teaching and resolved to use the Defense Against the Dark Arts study group to earn them. As he coached the students in Protego, Harry mastered the spell and received the first Hero character card reward.

• Li Wei learned that the Professor MOD evaluated his teaching and students' progress, and he planned to keep the study group active to earn credits.
• Li Wei demonstrated Protego and guided the students, including Ginny Weasley, while hoping to gain her trust and eventually obtain Tom Riddle's Diary.
• Harry Potter mastered Protego under Li Wei's instruction, and Li Wei led the group in applauding him.
• Li Wei offered Hero character cards to the first three students who learned Protego, and Harry accepted the first reward after Li Wei reminded him of the dangers facing Hogwarts.
• Harry chose a Golden Lion card for Ron, and the other students began practicing Protego more earnestly to earn their own rewards.

After the first self-study gathering ended, Li Wei asked the young wizards to keep it secret and warned that some might not dare to skip Lockhart’s class next time. Harry Potter and Ron Weasley declared that they would attend the next gathering instead, leaving Li Wei and Hermione confident that many members would do the same.

• Li Wei dismissed the gathering and reminded everyone to keep its existence secret before inviting them to return next Thursday.
• Hermione asked Li Wei whether some members might not come, and Li Wei said that skipping class would be too difficult for some young wizards.
• Ron Weasley condemned Lockhart for charging the Weasley family a fortune for useless books and vowed to stop attending his class.
• Harry Potter agreed with Ron, reflected on the gap between his fame and his abilities, and resolved to train so he could defeat Voldemort.
• Harry and Ron firmly declared their support for the gathering, and Li Wei and Hermione concluded that many young wizards would return.

Li Wei earned a large reward from his first study group and watched Hogwarts turn against Lockhart. He helped Professor Sprout treat the injured Whomping Willow, collecting its fallen branches for future use.

• Li Wei gained three thousand points from his first study group and resolved to continue it.
• Hogwarts students and professors increasingly excluded Lockhart, while Li Wei waited for a chance to expose him.
• Li Wei accompanied Professor Sprout to tend the Whomping Willow, whose magical affinity made it extend its injured branches to him.
• Li Wei used his wand to immobilize the Whomping Willow, and Professor Sprout praised his unusual talent for Herbology.
• Li Wei supplied dragon dung to fertilize the tree and collected its fallen branches with Professor Sprout's permission.

Li Wei planted Whomping Willow cuttings in the Illustrated Guide and began preparing for Animagus transformation by keeping a Mandrake leaf in his mouth. After the leaf vanished overnight, he resolved to continue without using spells to shortcut the risky ritual.

• The Illustrated Guide granted Li Wei the Deadly Strike specialty and a Willowbank Embankment suitable for growing Whomping Willows.
• Li Wei and Professor Sprout saved the Whomping Willow, and Li Wei planted cuttings in the Illustrated Guide.
• At dinner, Michael guessed that Li Wei was training to become an Animagus after Li Wei explained through writing that he could not speak.
• Li Wei put a mature Mandrake leaf in his mouth to practice the first step of Animagus preparation.
• The leaf was bitten apart and swallowed while Li Wei slept, and he rejected using magic to keep it in place because that could ruin the transformation.

Li Wei solved the practical difficulties of keeping a Mandrake leaf in his mouth and expanded his Defense Against the Dark Arts Self-Study Society across Hogwarts. After Lockhart discovered that most students had skipped his classes, the society’s members emerged from their second gathering and found Professor McGonagall and other teachers waiting for them.

• Li Wei used frequent short naps, potions, and food from the System Shop to manage speaking, eating, and sleeping with the Mandrake leaf in his mouth.
• Li Wei and Hermione welcomed new members until nearly all first-, second-, and third-year students from the four houses had joined the society.
• Lockhart found only a handful of students in his Defense Against the Dark Arts class, became furious, and set off to complain to Professor McGonagall, Professor Snape, and Dumbledore.
• At the society’s second gathering, Li Wei taught more students Protego, Stupefy, and Expelliarmus, while promising rewards for good performance.
• The society’s members left the Room of Requirement and encountered Professor McGonagall, Lockhart, and a group of teachers, leaving them frozen in fear.