Recaps

Will received a letter from his biological father, Edward William Philanthus Howard, inviting him to spend Christmas at the Howard family estate and warning that the family might withhold future support if he refused. After weighing the risks to his finances and plans, Will decided to go home for Christmas.

• Will read Edward's letter inviting him to the Howard estate and threatening limited family support if he stayed away.
• Will considered the Howard family's ties to the Wizarding World and how nobles used talented illegitimate children to serve their interests.
• Sylvia warned Will he was about to be late for class, interrupting his thoughts about whether to accept the invitation.
• Will worried the Howards might cut off his Galleon funding, which he needed for Potions practice and daily expenses.
• Will decided to return to the Howard estate for Christmas and use the family's support while he continued developing his strength.

Will’s extra Potions lesson was interrupted when Harry and Ron beat Malfoy after he insulted their families, and Will took Malfoy to the Hospital Wing before using his Restricted Section permission. In the Room of Requirement, Will began reading a book by a notorious Potions Master that claimed potions were spells.

• Malfoy rushed into Snape’s classroom with a bruised face, and Harry and Ron tackled him and beat him after he insulted Harry’s parents.
• Snape stopped the fight, deducted points from Gryffindor, and assigned Harry, Ron, and Malfoy detention; he told Will to take Malfoy to the Hospital Wing.
• Will levitated Malfoy and silenced him, then learned from Neville and Hermione that Neville had fought Goyle and Crabbe while Hermione petrified them.
• Will delivered Malfoy to Madam Pomfrey and went to the Restricted Section, where he found a book titled The Strange Nature of Potions.
• Will read the book in the Room of Requirement and discovered that its opening claim was that potions were spells.

Will read Ethan Abdullah’s manuscript, which traced his recovery from memory loss at Durmstrang and his later experiments seeking to prove that potions were spells. The chapter left Ethan pursuing a way to turn Healing Potion into Flesh-Stitching Potion through cruel experiments.

• Ethan’s diary recounted how Hog brought him to Durmstrang, where a professor treated his memory loss with Legilimency, potions, the Cruciatus Curse, and brain surgery.
• Ethan recovered memories of his abusive former teacher and began studying spells and Dark Magic at Durmstrang.
• After returning to England, Ethan experimented on Muggle slaves to compare spells with potions and explore how their effects were connected.
• Will realized his Wizard’s Eye could help him observe magical changes and continued reading Ethan’s research.
• Ethan tried to create Flesh-Stitching Potion from Healing Potion and recorded an experiment in which he stitched a Muggle to a wolf.

Will read Ethan Abdullah’s records of developing the Flesh-Stitching Potion through brutal experiments, then using it to improve the Flesh-Stitching Curse. The system recognized Ethan’s distorted research as useful knowledge, leaving Will questioning the foundations of magic.

• Will realized Wizard’s Eye could help him study the flow of magic during the Flesh-Stitching Curse.
• Ethan stitched Fantastic Beasts flesh onto Muggles and wizards, recording their reactions and discovering wizards were more likely to survive.
• Ethan developed the Flesh-Stitching Potion with Cole’s repeated tests, but Cole died after transforming into a creature covered in stitched-on flesh.
• Ethan experimented on Muggle twins and found that the potion and curse produced different effects, turning the children into Half-Beasts.
• Ethan concluded that a potion could be fixed into a spell and used the potion’s effects to improve the Flesh-Stitching Curse.
• Will gained Charms and Potions experience from Ethan’s distorted knowledge and questioned whether magic’s underlying rules were distorted.

Will studied Ethan Abdullah’s manuscript on converting spells and potions, then asked Professor Flitwick about the history of the Spell-Potion Transmutation School. He learned that the Euphoria Draught had already been converted into the Cheering Charm by a Hogwarts Potions Professor, and that Ethan may have founded a separate theory of Potion Improvement.

• Will learned from Abdullah’s manuscript that Ethan used his own and other people’s flesh in dangerous experiments before improving the Flesh-Stitching Curse into the Flesh-Consumption Charm.
• Will read that Ethan died in 1667 before completing his work on converting the Euphoria Draught into a spell.
• Will decided to seek guidance from Snape and Professor Flitwick rather than conduct dangerous experiments himself.
• Will asked Professor Flitwick about the Spell-Potion Transmutation School, and Flitwick explained its history and its connection to the Cheering Charm.
• Professor Flitwick told Will that Ethan could be considered the founder of the less prominent Potion Improvement Theory.

Will learned about the failed attempt to turn Felix Felicis into a Charm and received a notification that the Potions Master's theory was distorted knowledge. Later, Professor Flitwick helped Harry with his painful detention and spoke with Snape about Will's Restricted Section books.

• Professor Flitwick told Will how a Potions Master had failed to reproduce Felix Felicis with a Charm and concluded that potions were nature's gift.
• Will received a notification that the Potions Master's ideas were distorted knowledge and resolved to revisit the subject when he knew more.
• Snape kept Harry in detention to process Agapi Flowers without gloves, leaving Harry's hands painfully itchy.
• Professor Flitwick removed the nectar from Harry's hands, gave him gloves, and told him to wear them when handling the flowers.
• Professor Flitwick told Snape he wanted to discuss Will Behrens's Restricted Section reading, and Snape replied that Dumbledore had approved it.

After Snape ended Harry's detention, Harry encountered Professor Quirrell, who was struggling to suppress Voldemort's demands to kill Harry and capture Will. Will told Harry he had met Dumbledore in the Kitchens, then headed for the Room of Requirement to sleep.

• Snape threw Harry out of his office, and Harry wondered why Dumbledore had let Will read books from the Restricted Section.
• Harry met a nervous, sweating Quirrell, while Voldemort urged Quirrell to kill Harry.
• Quirrell quieted Voldemort by reminding him that Dumbledore was at Hogwarts, but Will's arrival made Voldemort demand that Quirrell capture him.
• Will told Harry that he had run into Dumbledore in the Kitchens, and Quirrell hurried away to avoid a possible encounter with Dumbledore.
• Exhausted, Will continued upstairs toward the Room of Requirement while Harry called after him.

Hermione learned that Will had permission to read from the Restricted Section, while Voldemort pressed Quirrell to find unicorn blood and pursue the Philosopher’s Stone. After Sylvia invited Will to spend Christmas with her family, he said he would come if he could.

• Hermione asked Sylvia where Will was and learned he was sleeping in the Room of Requirement; Sylvia said she already knew about his Restricted Section reading.
• Voldemort berated Quirrell for failing to kill Harry and for bringing back only unicorn hairs, then told him to hurry and warned him to be careful of Dumbledore.
• Quirrell promised to catch a unicorn and planned to try again to get past the three-headed dog and reach the Philosopher’s Stone.
• Will woke at noon and set aside the Christmas stay-at-school list Sylvia brought him, saying he would leave for the holidays.
• Sylvia invited Will to visit her home and explained that her Corvus branch of the Lestrange family did not discriminate against non-pure-bloods.
• Will said he would visit if he could, and Sylvia smiled.

Will spent a relaxing afternoon with Sylvia, Hermione, and Neville before Snape’s views on Potions helped him understand Distorted Knowledge. He left with a theory for brewing potions through Transfiguration and Charms, earning a 5% experience bonus in three subjects.

• Will found no Distorted Knowledge in the Potion Conversion School’s gruesome research and continued studying its material in the Room of Requirement.
• Sylvia, Hermione, and Neville visited Will, exchanged addresses with him, and played Wizard’s Chess by the fire.
• Will returned the Restricted Section material to the Library, then went to Snape’s Office after dinner.
• Snape explained that Potions involved magical liquids and criticized attempts to treat Potions and Charms as the same thing.
• Will theorized that he could use Transfiguration and Charms to create ingredients and brew potions, then gained a 5% experience bonus in Charms, Potions, and Transfiguration.

Will confirmed that magical power was central to magic and discovered a path to advance his Potions and Charms studies. He needed hundreds of Galleons for Snape’s materials list and was left with questions for Dumbledore.

• Will asked Snape what he should buy to study second-year Potions, and Snape gave him a list of more than a hundred ingredients.
• Will identified Shrinking Solution from the ingredients on Snape’s list, impressing Snape with his Potions knowledge.
• Will realized the ingredients would cost several hundred Galleons and considered seeking money from his nominal father.
• Will declined Fred and George’s invitation to join a Gryffindor party in the Kitchens.
• Dumbledore visited the Kitchens, and Will stopped him to ask some questions.

Will left Hogwarts for the winter holidays after asking Dumbledore questions about Transfiguration and nuclear matter that Dumbledore could not answer. He arrived at his empty London home alone and used wandless magic to clean, heat, and secure it.

• Will asked Dumbledore whether Transfiguration could alter matter microscopically and whether transformed radioactive substances would cause lasting effects, but he received no answers to his key questions.
• Will joined Sylvia for breakfast, then shared six dishes prepared by the Hogwarts House-elves with Sylvia, Hermione, and Neville on the train home.
• At King's Cross, Neville's grandmother and the other students' parents greeted them, while Will said he would take a taxi because his family could not meet him.
• Will arrived at his dusty, empty house, used wandless magic to clean it, lit the fireplace, and sealed the doors and windows.

Will disguised himself as a hunchbacked dwarf and returned to Knockturn Alley to buy advanced Dark Magic books. He left Lodals’s bookstore with the books and two stone spiders, while the alley’s swindlers continued peddling their wares.

• Will dressed in his old disguise and entered Knockturn Alley through an alley off Diagon Alley.
• Will crushed one of Lodals’s fake Himalayan crab spiders outside her bookstore, and Lodals pretended to mourn it.
• Will searched Lodals’s disorganized shop for Dark Magic books while she tried to scam him.
• Will rejected Lodals’s doctored scale, paid for the books with five Galleons and thirty-three Sickles, and took two stone spiders.
• Lodals cursed Will for shoplifting as he left, while other swindlers advertised their dubious goods in Knockturn Alley.

Will studied the Imperius Curse before Christmas, then traveled from London to Arundel Castle to meet his biological father, Edward Philanthus Howard. Their reunion began tensely, with Will restraining himself from using magic against him.

• Will studied the Imperius Curse and gained Dark Magic and Charms experience.
• On December 24, 1991, Thomas Gray arrived in a limousine to take Will to the Earl of Arundel.
• Will traveled through the snow to Arundel Castle, unimpressed by the Howard family's wealth and focused on growing stronger.
• Thomas brought Will to meet his biological father, Edward Philanthus Howard, who dismissed Thomas and asked why Will would not call him Father.
• Will called Edward Father coldly and kept his old wand clenched in his sleeve as he resisted casting the Imperius Curse.

Will reunited with his father, Edward, who concealed his lack of affection while assessing Will as a potentially useful wizard. Edward’s brother Hobart, a wizard, returned to meet Will, while Edward viewed the boy as a way to strengthen the family’s access to magic.

• Edward apologized to Will for being absent after Dorothy died, and Will pretended to be lonely and grateful while considering why the Howards wanted him back.
• Edward sent Will to rest and told him that his uncle was a wizard who could talk with him about Hogwarts.
• Hobart Philance Howard arrived at the study and hurried off to visit Will with a present.
• Edward reflected that the family needed wizards it could trust and believed Will’s blood ties would make him easy to control.
• Edward dismissed any sense of family affection for Will and assumed the boy would be tempted by the Howard name, wealth, and status.

Will met his uncle Hobart and learned more about the Howard family, while Edward viewed him as a tool for the family. After overhearing Edward demean him, Will used the Imperius Curse on his father.

• Hobart gave Will a Nimbus 2000 and told him about his life, the Howard family, and the family’s ties to the Wizarding world.
• Hobart took Will to dinner with Edward, the butler, and Cree, and Edward was impressed by Will’s manners.
• Edward and Hobart argued over whether the Howard family should take Will in, with Edward calling him a bastard to be controlled and Hobart defending him.
• Will secretly listened to their conversation under a Disillusionment Charm and decided he could not trust Edward.
• Will aimed his old Wand at Edward and whispered, "Imperio."

Will secured Edward’s cheques, learned that he was excluded from the Howard family’s Christmas dinner, and left with Hobart for Diagon Alley. The chapter ended when the Knight Bus delivered them to the Leaky Cauldron.

• Will watched Edward write bearer cheques, then stunned him and erased his memory with Obliviate.
• Hobart told Will that he could not attend the Christmas dinner because the Howard family was hosting Sir Gell’s daughter, Edward’s future wife.
• Will asked Hobart to take him to Diagon Alley to buy books, and they traveled by Knight Bus.
• When the bus lurched forward, Will stopped Stan Shunpike’s airborne hot chocolate with Impedimenta and Scourgify.
• Will accepted Stan Shunpike’s offer of a free ride if he ever forgot his money, and the Knight Bus reached the Leaky Cauldron.

Will spent Christmas with Sylvia and the Lestranges after meeting Professor McGonagall in Diagon Alley. At Lestrange Manor, he discovered that a wizard who looked like him had saved the family generations earlier and was named Vincent Behrens, the alias Will had used.

• Professor McGonagall questioned Hobart about bringing Will to Diagon Alley, then greeted Sylvia and her grandfather, Roy Lestrange.
• Sylvia invited Will to spend Christmas at her family’s home, and Hobart encouraged him to accept.
• Roy Apparated Will and Sylvia to Lestrange Manor, where he welcomed Will.
• Will saw an old painting of a wizard who looked like him rescuing Corvus V and learned the wizard’s name was Vincent Behrens.

Will realized that he was the future Vincent Behrens, who had saved Corvus Lestrange and created the friendly Lestrange branch that welcomed him. At Christmas dinner, Roy revealed that Vincent had been left a share of the Lestrange family property and showed Will an alchemical device that could test his bloodline.

• Will connected his resemblance to Vincent Behrens with the future rescue of Corvus Lestrange and the creation of the Corvus bloodline.
• Sylvia introduced Will to her family, who warmly welcomed him as Vincent's descendant and showed him around their estate.
• Will and Sylvia toured the magically protected estate before joining the Lestranges for Christmas dinner.
• Roy told Will that the Lestrange family had divided its inherited property among themselves, Dumbledore, and Vincent Behrens, with rules for what would happen if Vincent's descendants did not appear.
• Roy showed Will the Wizard's Eye, an alchemical item that could determine whether someone shared Vincent Behrens's bloodline.

Will learned that his golden Wizard’s Eye identified him as Vincent’s descendant and gained ownership of the Lestrange family vault, while Roy and Victor discussed Vincent’s past and their hopes for Will. The chapter ended with Roy confident that Will’s connection to Vincent would protect the Lestranges, even as Will faced trouble at Hogwarts.

• Will used the golden Wizard’s Eye, which changed color after his blood touched it, and Roy gave him the key to the Lestrange family vault.
• Will realized the vault had once belonged to Rodolphus and contained Hufflepuff’s Cup, one of Voldemort’s Horcruxes.
• Roy told Victor that their old debt and promise to Vincent were settled, and said he believed Vincent was still alive and pursuing the truth.
• Victor mentioned Sylvia’s affection for Will and worried about Will’s clashes with pure-blood families and the governors seeking his expulsion.
• Roy insisted that Vincent’s legacy and Dumbledore’s control of Hogwarts would protect Will, and urged Victor to let the children’s relationship develop on its own.

Will visited Gringotts with Roy and discovered that the Lestrange Vault contained Hufflepuff’s Cup, then went shopping in Diagon Alley with Sylvia. He left with potion ingredients and protective equipment Sylvia had given him as a belated Christmas present.

• Roy took Will and Sylvia to Gringotts, where Will opened the vault that had belonged to him.
• Will spotted Hufflepuff’s Cup among the vault’s treasure but withdrew only Galleons.
• Sylvia took Will to Ollivanders and bought two wand care kits.
• Sylvia gave Will dragonhide potion gear and crystal test tubes as a belated Christmas present.
• Will bought potion ingredients, and the Herb Shop manager arranged for the supplies to be delivered to Hogwarts by owl.

Will encountered Remus Lupin being extorted over a supposed Werewolf Potion, helped him defeat Carlo Gentus and his accomplices, and fled with him. Lupin then collapsed in the snow, apparently affected by poison.

• Will heard Carlo Gentus and his accomplices accuse Remus Lupin of not paying for more Werewolf Potion.
• Will stunned Carlo when Carlo tried to rob him, and Lupin drove off the other wizards with a series of spells.
• Lupin grabbed Will and led him away from the alley to the far end of Diagon Alley.
• Lupin collapsed in the snow, and Will suspected the potion had poisoned him.

Will treated Lupin after he was poisoned by a fake werewolf cure, and the two shared a meal and discussed Hogwarts. Lupin agreed to teach Will Defence Against the Dark Arts until school started, though he remained determined to leave before the next full moon.

• Will brewed an antidote for Lupin and cared for him as he recovered from the Amarla Grass toxin.
• Lupin woke the next day, drank Will's second potion, and learned that Will lived alone.
• Lupin decided to leave that night to protect Will from the danger he posed as a werewolf.
• Lupin told Will why he had tried the fake potion and warned him about werewolves during a full moon.
• Will asked Lupin to teach him Defence Against the Dark Arts, and Lupin agreed to stay and teach him until school started.

Will advanced his Defence Against the Dark Arts studies with Lupin and reached Dark Magic LV4, choosing Dark Echo. As Lupin prepared to leave, Will urged him to seek work in the Muggle world and gave him a job lead, leaving Lupin considering the offer.

• Will questioned Lupin about Dark Magic and studied the third- and fourth-year Defence Against the Dark Arts curriculum.
• Will reached Dark Magic LV4 and chose the Dark Echo ability, which increased the power of his spells.
• Lupin prepared to leave two days before Will returned to school, and the two agreed to study together again during the holidays.
• Will suggested that Lupin find work in the Muggle world and explained how spells and restraints could help him manage full moons.
• Will gave Lupin a business card for Green's Bookshop, and Lupin took it after pausing over Will's advice.

The Hogwarts students returned for the new term as Harry grew convinced that Snape was plotting to steal the Philosopher’s Stone. Harry visited the Mirror of Erised again, where Dumbledore spoke to him.

• Will received Hobart’s letter about his allowance, then rode the Hogwarts Express with Sylvia, Hermione, and Neville while studying Potions.
• Harry remembered finding the Mirror of Erised after he and Ron saw Snape corner Quirrell, and he resolved to visit it once more before classes began.
• Will returned to Hogwarts, found Auburn Nott fleeing from their dormitory, and prepared for his extra Potions Class in the Room of Requirement.
• Harry told Hermione and Ron that Snape was after the Philosopher’s Stone, and they agreed to seek proof and protect it from Voldemort.
• Harry put on the Invisibility Cloak and returned to the Mirror of Erised, where Dumbledore greeted him.

Will reached Potions level 4 after days of intensive brewing and chose an ability that made his potions 10% more effective. After Gryffindor won the Quidditch match, Harry spotted Professor Quirrell heading into the Forbidden Forest and followed him.

• Will worried that Harry might resent him for spending time with Snape, though Dumbledore had encouraged Harry to befriend him.
• Will focused on studying and Potions practice, while Sylvia felt hurt when he declined her invitation to watch the Quidditch match.
• Will completed a potion in the Room of Requirement, gained Potions level 4, and chose Potion Potency Proliferation.
• Harry led Gryffindor to victory over Slytherin, while Sylvia remained upset about Will's absence.
• Harry saw a hooded figure he recognized as Professor Quirrell sneak toward the Forbidden Forest and followed him on his broomstick.