Chapter Summaries

Ryan teased Kate about her mistaken guesses regarding his potion Sequences, then entertained her with a story about her parents and their first meeting. He agreed to take Kate to watch the Death Eaters again and said he also needed to check on Neville, leaving them beneath the covers on his bed before heading out.

• Ryan explained that Sequence Nine potions were the weakest and that their names had nothing to do with criminals, after Kate guessed otherwise.
• Ryan told Kate how her parents met and described how her mother received a prank Christmas gift meant for someone else.
• Kate took pictures of her parents in the prank’s aftermath and planned to use them to persuade her parents to let her move out after graduation.
• Kate asked Ryan about the Death Eaters, and he confirmed they were alive and offered to let her watch them again.
• Ryan said he needed to visit Neville because he had paid Harry more attention, then appeared with Kate on his bed before heading out.

Ryan and Kate went to St. Mungo’s Hospital to visit Neville’s parents, and Ryan planned to give Neville a birthday gift by bringing him to see them. They reached the hospital’s hidden entrance, where Kate prepared to ask to visit Frank Longbottom.

• Ryan told Kate he was preparing a belated birthday gift for Neville and explained that Neville would need guidance to use his sword magic against his parents’ miasma.
• Kate asked to enter St. Mungo’s through the public entrance instead of taking the Smith family’s private passage.
• Ryan and Kate appeared on a crowded London street and discussed why St. Mungo’s was hidden behind the department store Tautou Co. Ltd.
• Kate reacted with embarrassment when passersby heard her, then followed Ryan to the department store.
• Ryan told Kate to say they had come to visit Frank Longbottom.

Ryan and Kate visited St. Mungo’s to see Frank Longbottom, but Kate became distracted by the prospect of spying on Dumbledore and Grindelwald at Hogwarts. The chapter left the couple still in the hospital queue, joking telepathically about Dumbledore family scandals.

• Kate spoke to a mannequin in a shop window, and it moved to let her and Ryan pass through the glass into St. Mungo’s.
• Ryan agreed to queue with Kate among the hospital’s unusual patients while they waited to see Frank Longbottom.
• Kate noticed that Dilys Derwent’s portrait was absent and wondered whether she could overhear gossip about Dumbledore and Grindelwald.
• Kate urged Ryan to go to Hogwarts and use a little magic to bring Dumbledore and Grindelwald together, making both men suddenly reach for their wands.
• Ryan told Kate telepathically that Aberforth might attack Dumbledore and Grindelwald if he discovered their affair, then corrected her mistaken recollection about a Horklump-loving Dumbledore.

Ryan and Kate visited St. Mungo’s to see Frank Longbottom and Alice Longbottom, and Ryan revealed that the hospital was partly a Smith enterprise. They headed for the Longbottoms’ ward, where the portraits of Healers sent Kate into a fury.

• Ryan sensed Dumbledore and Grindelwald reacting to Kate’s malicious thought and explained that they recognized her as a real threat.
• Kate watched several patients at the reception desk being directed to different wards before she and Ryan reached the front of the line.
• Ryan asked to visit Frank Longbottom and Alice Longbottom, showed the receptionist his silver-white card, and received a key to their room.
• Ryan told Kate that St. Mungo’s was one of the Smith family’s enterprises and explained why the receptionist had treated him with respect.
• Ryan led Kate up the staircase to the Longbottoms’ ward, where portraits of Healers shouted bizarre diagnoses and treatments at her.

Ryan and Kate visited St. Mungo’s to see Frank and Alice Longbottom, where Ryan confronted the Healers’ distrust of the Smith Family and gained access to the sealed ward. He promised the Healer that Frank and Alice would recover that day, then approached their curtained beds.

• Kate argued with a portrait wizard who insisted she had dwarfism, and Ryan led her to the sealed ward on the fifth floor.
• A Healer blocked the door, suspecting Ryan of intending to harm Frank and Alice because of rumors about the Smith Family.
• Ryan used magic to make the Healer reject the rumors and open the ward.
• Ryan and Kate saw the long-term patients Agnes and a muttering wizard, while Frank and Alice remained behind a floral curtain.
• The Healer asked whether Frank and Alice would return to normal that day, and Ryan said the Smiths never lied before approaching their beds.

Ryan discovered that Broderick Bode had been murdered and used his detective disguise to uncover evidence of an attempted killing at St. Mungo's. He told Healer Strout how to investigate Bode's case and informed her that the Longbottoms had recovered, but the motive behind Bode's attack remained unresolved.

• Ryan recognized that Broderick Bode's attack and death were tied to changes at the Ministry of Magic and suspected an assassination.
• Ryan transformed into a child detective and told Strout that Frank and his wife would wake cured within an hour.
• Ryan revealed that Bode had worked in the Department of Mysteries and had been attacked there, rather than being a Hit Wizard injured by a workplace accident.
• Kate found a black button hidden inside the pillow, and Ryan identified it as a cursed object that could kill without a sound.
• Ryan told Strout to report the button to the hospital director and investigate the decrepit wizard with trumpet-shaped hearing aids using a Flashback Charm on his wand.
• Ryan told Strout to notify Augusta Longbottom that her son and daughter-in-law were well, and Kate asked why Bode had been attacked and why Ryan had not told Neville himself.

Ryan explained to Kate that Maven Jackson had used a magical wedge to take over Rufus Fudge’s mind and had murdered Broderick Bode to conceal his research. Jackson confessed after Ryan disrupted the wedge, and he was sent to the prison Cage.

• Ryan explained that he had kept Neville’s parents’ recovery secret so they could surprise him when he returned home.
• Ryan told Kate that Broderick Bode studied the transfer of thoughts and personalities, and that Maven Jackson stole and perfected his research.
• Ryan revealed that Jackson had spent a year planting a wedge in Rufus Fudge, Cornelius Fudge’s nephew, to transform Rufus’s mind and personality into his own.
• Ryan snapped his fingers and disrupted Jackson’s wedge, then told Kate that Ministry Aurors had arrested Jackson and obtained his confession.
• Ryan said Jackson would be imprisoned in Cage alongside Cornelius Fudge, Umbridge, and Gilderoy Lockhart.

Harry and his friends learned that Neville’s parents had awakened and been reunited with him. The news left Harry thinking of the members of the Order of the Phoenix who had died or disappeared and could never return.

• Krum told Draco that the foreign students would arrive in Britain later and hinted that something interesting would happen, then gave Ron signed photographs and left.
• Neville quietly vanished into the crowd, and Draco helped Harry understand that Ron was too distracted by Krum’s photographs to notice.
• The next morning, Ron, Ginny, and Draco brought Harry the Daily Prophet, which reported that Frank and Alice Longbottom had awakened at St. Mungo’s.
• Harry saw photographs of the Longbottoms reunited with Neville and pictured with surviving members of the Order of the Phoenix.
• Harry thought of Marlene MacKinnon and Gideon Fenwick, who could never return, and Draco asked why he had become unhappy.

Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Draco read about St. Mungo’s Healer Meriem Strout discovering that Maven Jackson had cursed Broderick Bode with a dark-magic button. At Smith Castle, Kate complained that the newspaper credited Strout and the hospital director instead of her and Ryan, while Ryan approved of Harvey’s handling of the case.

• Harry read Rita Skeeter’s report about Meriem Strout finding a cursed button in Broderick Bode’s pillow and linking it to Maven Jackson.
• Aurors arrested Maven Jackson at 67 Privet Drive, where he confessed to cursing Bode out of jealousy; Healer Steven said both men had been close to dying.
• Harry worried that Jackson might have been assigned to watch him, but Ron and Draco said it was likely a coincidence.
• Ginny recognized Auror Finnidax Dax from Bill’s stories, and she threatened to tell Lavender about Ron’s interest in women with marriageable relatives.
• At Smith Castle, Kate protested that the newspaper credited Meriem Strout and Harvey Bonham for solving the case, while Ryan said Harvey had handled everything well.

Ryan, Penelope, Kate, and Pheobe argued over Jackson’s motives for cursing himself, and Ryan confirmed that Pheobe’s explanation was correct. The group then discussed St. Mungo’s care for Bode and the Longbottoms, with Ryan agreeing that the hospital had done well.

• Penelope asked whether Augusta Longbottom and Neville knew about Ryan and Kate, and Ryan said he had foreseen that they would keep Smith’s information private.
• Pheobe argued that Jackson had cursed himself because he expected to die, while Kate insisted he had wanted to die alongside Bode.
• Pheobe insulted Kate, and Ryan held Kate back while confirming that Jackson had expected to resurrect inside Little Fudge and had not cursed himself for love.
• Ryan soothed Kate, then told her not to call Pheobe names; Kate calmed down when he praised her as a mature, elegant British lady.
• Penelope criticized St. Mungo’s, but Ryan explained that the hospital had treated Bode and the Longbottoms well despite the Ministry withholding important information.
• Kate asked Ryan to judge St. Mungo’s, and Ryan agreed that it was a good hospital while secretly winking at Penelope.

After returning late from the Ministry, Mr. Weasley explained how overlapping duties and disputes between departments had kept him busy. He revealed that his own department had to revise rules and coordinate the conflicts, leaving him exhausted and unable to study Muggle technology.

• Mr. Weasley returned to The Burrow late, drenched in sweat, and hurriedly ate dinner.
• Mr. Weasley told the family that Gilbert Wimple was using regulations to hassle Reginald Cattermole over his work in the Magical Maintenance Department.
• Mr. Weasley described the overlapping responsibilities and long-running dispute involving the Muggle Affairs Mediation Committee, the Muggle Liaison Office, and the Misinformation Office.
• Ginny asked why the Misinformation Office belonged to the Department of Magical Creature Management and Control, and Mr. Weasley explained that wizards had once been classified as magical creatures.
• Percy asked why Mr. Weasley had to deal with disputes outside his department, and Mr. Weasley explained that he was responsible for drafting rules and coordinating changes.
• Mrs. Weasley embraced the exhausted Mr. Weasley while Harry and the others looked away toward the food.

Harry and his friends read Neville's letter, which explained that Neville's parents had become Aurors again and that Neville would stay with the Weasleys until school began. The letter also revealed that Grindelwald was disguised as a Durmstrang professor and had taken an interest in Harry.

• Arthur Weasley reflected on receiving the German and Austrian Ministry officials who had arrived with Grindelwald, then embraced Molly until their children fled the dinner table.
• Ron brought pies to Harry's room, where the group dodged the commotion after Fred and George caused an explosion and Mrs. Weasley went upstairs to confront them.
• Ron spotted a letter on Harry's pillow, and Ginny pulled him away when he crowded Harry to read it.
• Harry told Ron, Ginny, and Draco that Neville was coming to stay with the Weasleys and showed them Neville's letter.
• Neville's letter said his parents had returned to the Aurors, Grindelwald was disguised as a Durmstrang professor, and Moody believed Grindelwald was jealous of Harry.
• Ron reacted angrily to the news that Grindelwald had taken an interest in Harry.

Ron grew suspicious that Harry and Neville were secretly involved and drew Draco into his investigation, only for Ginny to burst in with the same conclusion. Meanwhile, Harry and Neville trained together in the mountains, where Neville demonstrated his sword magic and physical strength.

• Ron told Draco that Ginny had taken leave to stay near Harry and that Harry had been spending time alone with Neville.
• Ron explained his suspicions about Harry and Neville, citing their closeness at Hogwarts and Neville's visit to the Weasley home.
• Ginny burst into Ron's room and declared that Neville Longbottom and Harry Potter were having an affair.
• Harry and Neville rested after a fierce sword-training match in the mountains, and Harry questioned whether Neville's magic had anything to do with swords.
• Neville explained his view of the way of the sword and sliced a continuous stream of water in two with his greatsword.

Ginny, Ron, and Draco confronted Harry and Neville after suspecting they were secretly involved, but Harry explained that they had only been practicing magic. The misunderstanding was cleared up, though Ginny and the others began to suspect Ron instead.

• Ginny, Ron, and Draco found Harry and Neville sparring in the wilderness and mistook their shirtless, muddy appearance for evidence of an affair.
• Ginny confronted Harry, while Ron accused him of cheating on his fiancée and Neville prepared to defend himself.
• Draco explained the rumors that had led them there, and Harry demonstrated that he and Neville had only been practicing magic.
• Neville realized that Draco did not know about Ryan and suspected that their conversation was being monitored.
• Harry and Neville blamed Ron for spreading the rumor, while Ginny, Draco, and Neville pointed out Ron's unusual closeness to Harry.

Neville explained why he had been sent to The Burrow: after his parents returned home, his Billywigs stung him while he was practicing magic, and Hagrid arranged for him to stay with the Weasleys. Neville’s Billywigs were confiscated, though Hagrid promised he could retrieve them once school started.

• Harry and the others found Pigwidgeon chasing a Goblin in the garden, and Ron cleaned the owl with a spell before letting it fly off.
• Ginny guessed that Neville had been sent away after his parents caught him practicing magic, and Neville agreed.
• Neville recounted how he practiced among hundreds of Billywigs after his parents returned, until his mother opened the door and startled them into stinging him.
• Neville passed out from the stings and woke to learn Hagrid had arranged for him to go to The Burrow.
• Neville said his Billywigs had been confiscated, but Hagrid had promised he could get them back once school started.

Neville explained why he had come to The Burrow, and Draco and Ron debated whether Dumbledore had deliberately made him aware of Grindelwald’s interest in Harry. The Weasleys prepared for Hagrid’s visit, and Hagrid arrived with the living flame Hephaestus on his head.

• Draco suggested Dumbledore had used the Billywig craze to make Neville take Grindelwald’s interest in Harry seriously, while Ron dismissed the need to fear Grindelwald.
• Neville reflected on his parents discovering his sweet-wrapper-covered wall and settled into life at The Burrow.
• Percy directed Ron to help arrange the garden for lunch, while Fred and George watched from their window and defended their work on new products.
• Harry, Neville, and Draco watched as the Weasleys used magic to prepare for Hagrid, who arrived through the fireplace with Hephaestus, a living flame, on his head.
• Mrs. Weasley greeted Hagrid and patted Hephaestus as the small flaming figure introduced himself.

Hagrid visited Harry and the others to announce that he had become Hogwarts' Care of Magical Creatures professor and to bring them five mysterious Seeds from Castelobruxo. The group learned that Hagrid had expected them to tame his biting textbooks by stroking them, and they were left wondering what the Seeds did.

• Hagrid announced that he was Hogwarts' new Care of Magical Creatures professor, and Neville suspected the change was connected to his earlier complaint about the textbooks.
• Ron claimed the group had read Hagrid's recommended book, but Harry explained that he had subdued the biting books so they could open them.
• Hagrid demonstrated how stroking a book's spine made it open, and Ginny suggested Harry had discovered the trick easily because of his skill and agility.
• Harry hurried Hagrid to reveal his second surprise, and Hagrid produced five pebble-like Seeds from Castelobruxo for young wizards under fourteen.
• Ron asked whether the Seeds should be eaten, while Draco wondered if they were a distinctive magical tool from Castelobruxo.

Hagrid explained that Arborsages formed magical bonds with wand-tree seeds, which could transform a young wizard’s magic as the tree grew. He described how the system worked and gave an example of a wizard whose transformed ability let him create fire without a wand.

• Harry picked up a red seed as Hagrid introduced the lost Arborsage school and its ancient attempt to extend wizards’ lifespans by linking them to trees.
• Neville, Ron, Harry, and Draco recognized that the seeds came from trees matching their wand woods, and Ron worried about Ginny’s long-lived yew seed.
• Hagrid explained that Arborsages bonded with compatible wand-tree seeds, and that their magic could transform as the tree grew or died.
• Draco asked what would happen if someone destroyed a contracted tree, while Fred and George asked whether the connection could transmit curses; Hagrid said it could be severed unilaterally.
• Harry and Neville asked what magical transformation meant, and Hagrid explained that it created an innate ability related to a wizard’s strengths, such as producing fire without a wand.

Hagrid guided Harry, Ron, Neville, Ginny, and Draco through planting their Contract Tree Seeds beneath the Banyan Tree. After the flowerpots were protected, Hagrid said the saplings would sprout by morning and could be moved to the Forbidden Forest after a month.

• Hagrid used moonlight, the trees, and a potion to prepare the solution for the Seeds.
• Harry, Ron, Neville, Ginny, and Draco planted strands of their hair in the flowerpots, and the solution flowed into each Seed.
• Hagrid cast a golden protective ring around the Banyan Tree and assured Draco that rain would not harm the Seeds.
• Hagrid checked his notebook and said the saplings could be transplanted into the Forbidden Forest after a month.
• Ron described Hagrid's abilities, while Neville wondered what power he might awaken.

Ryan explained how Caster Pollacchi, an Arborsage, achieved immortality by sharing the lifespan of his pine Contract Tree through a contract. As the scene of Caster speaking with Hagrid continued, Kate, Penelope, and Ryan discussed the mistaken beliefs behind Arborsage lore.

• Kate asked whether Caster was nearly three hundred years old, and Ryan confirmed he was the only successful Arborsage.
• Ryan explained that books confused the lifespan of trees with how long their Seeds remained viable, so Caster’s Contract Tree was not a Holly Tree.
• Ryan identified Caster’s Contract Tree as a pine and connected pine wandlore with long-lived masters.
• Kate speculated that Caster’s ability let him share his Contract Tree’s lifespan, and Ryan confirmed she was right.
• Ryan revealed that Caster Pollacchi’s contract granted him the lifespan of his pine, which could live for thousands of years.