Recaps

Professor McGonagall found the young wizards after they defeated a troll in the Forbidden Forest and arranged for them to be treated. After seeing the students carried to the Hospital Wing, McGonagall and Snape decided to confront Dumbledore about his promise.

• Fawkes flew away as Dumbledore noticed McGonagall approaching and saw the troll and young wizards.
• Zhang Xiao urged the others to leave, but McGonagall arrived and checked the students, finding Neville unconscious but alive.
• Ron claimed he had struck the troll, which began to rise before McGonagall knocked it back down with a spell.
• Snape examined the students, praised Zhang Xiao's contribution, and gave him a Draught of Living Death to help him rest.
• Madam Pomfrey arrived and took the students to the Hospital Wing while McGonagall and Snape resolved to see Dumbledore.

Professor McGonagall confronted Dumbledore for leaving the students unattended, then learned he had gone to meet Voldemort in the Forbidden Forest and agreed to trust his plans. Zhang Xiao woke after five days in the Hospital Wing to find that the students had showered him with gifts, and Ron asked him for a favor.

• Professor McGonagall berated Dumbledore for breaking his promise to watch over the students, and he apologized.
• Dumbledore told Professor McGonagall that he had gone to meet Tom, whom she recognized as Voldemort, in the Forbidden Forest.
• Professor McGonagall heard Dumbledore's explanation, agreed to trust his plans, and left to check on the students.
• Zhang Xiao woke in the Hospital Wing, where Ron told him he had been asleep for five days and that students had brought him many gifts.
• Ron asked Zhang Xiao for a favor.

Zhang Xiao agreed to teach Harry, Ron, and Hermione advanced spells and considered starting a secret duelling club, but Professor Flitwick told him first-years could not establish clubs and advised him to let magical learning progress gradually. Flitwick made an exception for Zhang Xiao’s talent, leaving Zhang suspicious that the professor had withheld something and wondering whether to test a wild idea.

• Harry persuaded Ron that Malfoy’s Shield Charm showed they had fallen behind, and the two resolved to work hard and learn the spell.
• Ron told Zhang Xiao that Harry and Hermione wanted him to teach them the Shield Charm, and Zhang Xiao agreed while considering a spell-practice club.
• Zhang Xiao whispered his duelling-club idea to Ron, who was excited by the plan, and Zhang decided it would have to remain secret.
• Professor McGonagall told Zhang Xiao that first-years could not apply to establish a club, and Professor Flitwick advised him to postpone the idea because students should learn magic step by step.
• Professor Flitwick praised Zhang Xiao’s exceptional talent and said he should have been sorted into Ravenclaw, while Zhang Xiao suspected the professor was hiding something and considered trying an idea prompted by Ron’s mispronounced incantation.

After settling into a calmer routine at Hogwarts, Zhang Xiao met Azure Luan, who had followed a mark to find him. She delivered his parents’ message and shared a magical fruit with him, while Fawkes flew out of Dumbledore’s office after hearing her call.

• Zhang Xiao abandoned his reckless pursuit of advanced magic and settled into classes, reading, homework, and tending his crops.
• Zhang Xiao relaxed in the winter sun when he sensed a cry approaching from the sky.
• Azure Luan arrived, bowed to Zhang Xiao, and brought him a conch containing his father’s explanation of how she had marked him to find him.
• Zhang Xiao called Azure Luan “Big Sister Bird,” and she gave him a delicious red fruit, though she limited him to one a day.
• Fawkes heard Azure Luan’s cry and vanished from his stand in Dumbledore’s office.

Zhang Xiao introduced Azure Luan to the students at Hogwarts, where she charmed the children and drew admiration in Slytherin. After Graham Montague mocked her place in Zhang Xiao’s family and challenged him to an unarmed honor duel, Zhang Xiao accepted and prepared to fight.

• Fawkes appeared when his tail feather began to burn, but Azure Luan rebuffed him after a brief exchange of calls.
• Zhang Xiao brought Azure Luan around the grounds, and she let the Hogwarts students pet her.
• Zhang Xiao introduced Azure Luan as an elder of his family in the Slytherin Common Room.
• Graham Montague mocked Zhang Xiao’s family and challenged him to an honor duel without wands.
• Zhang Xiao accepted Montague’s challenge and announced that he would use tai chi.

Zhang Xiao beat Montague in a duel, then explained his victory through Davis’s mistaken belief that all Chinese people knew kung fu. As Christmas approached, Hogwarts grew cold, Snape berated Harry in Potions, and Malfoy unknowingly guessed why Snape resented him.

• Zhang Xiao punched Montague unconscious, and Davis revealed that he believed Chinese people all knew kung fu.
• Zhang Xiao showed Bird Sis around Hogwarts, where she chose the tallest tower as her home and began bringing him fruit at lunch.
• Snow blanketed Hogwarts in mid-December, while the Weasley twins were punished for enchanting snowballs to chase Quirrell.
• In Potions, Seamus caused an explosion and ended up in the Hospital Wing, while Snape mocked him and took points from Gryffindor through Harry.
• Malfoy asked Zhang Xiao why Snape hated Harry, and Zhang Xiao praised Malfoy's accidental insight into the reason.

Zhang Xiao prepared Christmas gifts, asked his parents about a Spirit Beast Collar, and practiced drawing talismans at Hogwarts. He finally succeeded once at drawing a Sky-Drawing Talisman after a month of practice.

• Zhang Xiao finished a Christmas gift list, including presents for Hogwarts professors, and gave it to Azure Luan to deliver when the weather cleared.
• Zhang Xiao contacted Li Qingshu and Zhang Chengdao, who confirmed that the Daoist Order had Spirit Beast Collars and agreed that Zhang Xiao could have one.
• Zhang Xiao practiced drawing talismans in a magically restored sand tray and reflected on the Daoist Order's Sky-Drawing Talisman technique.
• Zhang Xiao successfully drew a Sky-Drawing Talisman for the first time after a month of repeated practice.

Zhang Xiao pushed himself too hard practicing the Sky-Drawing Talisman and Azure Luan stopped him before he collapsed. As the first term ended, he declined Malfoy’s invitation to visit Malfoy Manor and prepared to leave for the holidays.

• Zhang Xiao failed repeatedly at the Sky-Drawing Talisman until pain and exhaustion snapped him out of his frantic practice.
• Azure Luan gave Zhang Xiao a green jujube and her cry helped him recover; he realized he had been depleting his vital essence and returned to bed with her.
• Headmaster Snape distributed a sign-up sheet for students staying at Hogwarts over Christmas, and Zhang Xiao was the only young Slytherin who signed up.
• Malfoy invited Zhang Xiao and his parents to Malfoy Manor during the summer, but Zhang Xiao politely declined because his family already had plans.
• Zhang Xiao said goodbye to Malfoy as the first term of his first year ended.

Zhang Xiao spent the Christmas holiday with Harry and Ron, enjoying the Gryffindor Common Room and a chaotic game of wizard’s chess. On Christmas morning, he sorted through a mountain of gifts and discovered that Dumbledore had sent him a letter handwritten by Salazar Slytherin.

• Professor Flitwick, Professor McGonagall, and Professor Sprout decorated the Great Hall with magical Christmas decorations and plants, and Ron got lashed by a singing plant after an experiment.
• Harry, Ron, and Zhang Xiao spent time in the Gryffindor Common Room, where Zhang Xiao transformed Ron’s chess queen and Harry’s pieces played on their own before Ron won.
• Zhang Xiao woke to a mountain of Christmas presents, including gifts and love letters from young witches he did not know, among them Romilda Vane and Lavender Brown.
• Zhang Xiao opened gifts from Harry, Ron, Hermione, Malfoy, and Hagrid, and gave Ron a Chudley Cannons uniform, a deluxe edition of Dragon Ball, and a Ptolemy wizard card.
• Zhang Xiao opened Dumbledore’s package and found a letter handwritten by Salazar Slytherin.

Zhang Xiao considered why Dumbledore had given him Salazar Slytherin’s letters and concluded that Dumbledore believed he could gradually change Slytherin House. In Slytherin’s first letter to Godric, Zhang Xiao learned that the Church’s Witch Hunters were persecuting wizards, and the chapter left him reflecting on Slytherin’s youthful compassion and resolve.

• Zhang Xiao read Dumbledore’s note and reasoned that his Slytherin identity and family standing made him better positioned than Dumbledore to influence the House.
• Zhang Xiao decided that changing Slytherin would take years of steady guidance, and that correcting the pure-blood community would take even longer.
• Zhang Xiao opened Salazar Slytherin’s first letter to Godric and read that the Church was pursuing Slytherin.
• Salazar Slytherin described Witch Hunters capturing wizards and using Crowns of Thorns to prevent them from casting spells.
• Salazar Slytherin told Godric that many persecuted wizards knew few spells and hinted that he was developing an idea to help them.
• Zhang Xiao set the letter aside and pictured Salazar Slytherin as a compassionate, spirited young man.

Zhang Xiao read Salazar Slytherin’s letters and learned that Slytherin opposed excluding Muggle-born students because of a catastrophe he believed he had discovered in ancient ruins, not because he despised Muggles. The letters led Zhang Xiao to recognize Slytherin’s true spirit as one of wisdom, compassion, equality, and leadership.

• Zhang Xiao read letters describing the unequal wizarding world and Salazar Slytherin’s idea to establish Hogwarts with Godric, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff.
• Zhang Xiao read Slytherin’s frantic warning to Godric that admitting Muggle-born students would bring catastrophe, based on something he had found in ancient ruins.
• Zhang Xiao read Dumbledore’s note suggesting that Slytherin had been misled, since a thousand years had passed without the predicted disaster.
• Zhang Xiao realized Dumbledore had shown him the letters to help him understand Slytherin’s virtues and the Sorting Hat’s words about finding true friends in Slytherin.
• Zhang Xiao concluded that Slytherin had embodied courage, wisdom, acceptance, and leadership, while pure-bloods had distorted his legacy.

Zhang Xiao discussed Dumbledore’s letters with Zhang Chengdao, who explained that Dumbledore hoped the message about Slytherin would reach young wizards and pure-blood families. The next morning, Zhang Xiao encountered professors reacting to his Christmas gifts and reunited with Harry, Ron, and the Weasley twins.

• Zhang Xiao read Dumbledore’s letters to Zhang Chengdao, who said Dumbledore was encouraging positive views of Slytherin and expected the Daoist Order to share the message with pure-blood families.
• Zhang Chengdao described Dumbledore as a shrewd strategist, and Zhang Xiao realized his father was teaching him how great families handled political maneuvering.
• Professor Flitwick thanked Zhang Xiao for the Auspicious Cloud, while Professor McGonagall said she had dyed his white Stone Lion and put it beside her bed.
• Zhang Xiao avoided Professor Snape after remembering that the temperature-controlled cabinet he had gifted him required electricity, which Hogwarts lacked.
• The Weasley twins arrived with Percy, and Zhang Xiao thanked them for Mrs. Weasley’s sweater before Fred and George teased Ron about crying over Zhang’s present.

During the Christmas holidays, Zhang Xiao celebrated at Hogwarts, practiced magic, and tested how spells behaved when they struck protective gear. Harry then took Zhang Xiao and Ron to see a mirror that revealed their deepest desires.

• Zhang Xiao enjoyed his first Christmas feast, joined the snowball fight, and practiced the Sky-Drawing Talisman with a cheek-slapping alarm clock nearby.
• Zhang Xiao spent the holidays in the Room of Requirement, testing offensive spells against a bulletproof vest and recording one hundred scorch patterns.
• Zhang Xiao concluded that spells spread outward after impact and might bypass body armor by reaching uncovered parts of the body.
• Harry hurried Zhang Xiao over to meet his family, while Ron explained that Harry had been visiting a magical mirror and described his own vision of winning the House Cup with Harry and Zhang Xiao.
• Zhang Xiao comforted Ron about life's disappointments and went with Harry to see the mirror that supposedly showed a person's deepest desire.

Zhang Xiao and Ron discovered that the Mirror of Erised showed them Harry’s family and a vision of Gryffindor winning the House Cup, leaving Zhang Xiao unsettled about why he could see their desires. As Harry became fixated on the mirror, Zhang Xiao brought him food and was startled when Albus Dumbledore appeared behind them.

• Zhang Xiao saw Lily, James, and other members of the Potter family in the Mirror of Erised, while Ron saw himself, Harry, and Zhang Xiao celebrating a Gryffindor Quidditch House Cup victory.
• Ron asked Zhang Xiao why he had seen Harry’s family, and Zhang Xiao left the room troubled by his own reaction to the mirror.
• Zhang Xiao found Ron eating alone in the dining hall and learned that Harry had been spending all day with the mirror.
• Ron asked Zhang Xiao to take food to Harry, and Zhang Xiao found him staring at the mirror and handed him a pie.
• Albus Dumbledore appeared behind Harry and Zhang Xiao, startling Zhang Xiao because he had not seen Dumbledore enter.

Zhang Xiao and Harry encountered Dumbledore at the Mirror of Erised, where Dumbledore explained how it reflected a person’s deepest desire. Zhang Xiao glimpsed a private scene of a younger Dumbledore in the mirror, concealed his reaction, and left while Dumbledore hinted that he knew Zhang had seen it.

• Dumbledore explained that the Mirror of Erised showed Harry his family, Ron his success and companionship, and Zhang Xiao only himself.
• Zhang Xiao claimed he had seen only himself, despite Harry recalling that Zhang had earlier said he saw Harry’s parents.
• Dumbledore warned Harry not to waste his life longing over the mirror and said it would be moved the next day.
• When Dumbledore stood before the mirror, Zhang Xiao saw a younger Dumbledore holding hands with a handsome young man, alongside another young man and a girl preparing food.
• Zhang Xiao denied that Dumbledore’s glasses were crooked, then left for the new term after Dumbledore remarked that the scene had been happy.

Zhang Xiao reflected on Dumbledore’s discovery that he could perceive others’ desires and decided he would not hide his ambition to shape the wizarding world. In the Headmaster’s Office, Dumbledore and the portraits debated Zhang Xiao’s abilities and intentions, then chose to wait and see what he would do.

• Zhang Xiao got the password to the Prefects' Bathroom from Gemma, sent Moaning Myrtle away, and bathed while considering Dumbledore’s suspicions.
• Zhang Xiao concluded that he would not cower or stay hidden and resolved to openly influence the wizarding world’s future.
• Armando and the other portraits questioned Dumbledore about Zhang Xiao’s ability to perceive desires and his possible ambitions.
• Dumbledore described Zhang Xiao’s talent, family backing, and support among students from every house.
• Phineas Nigellus Black called Zhang Xiao a true Slytherin, and Dumbledore decided they should wait to see how events unfolded.

Zhang Xiao visited the Hogwarts Kitchen to give the House-elves a Chinese cookbook and ask them to make more dishes. The elves welcomed his help and began looking through the recipes as he introduced fried dough sticks, steamed buns, and soy milk.

• Zhang Xiao decided the Prefects' Bathroom was the only place he would bathe and grumbled that Dumbledore treated Slytherins unfairly.
• As exams approached, Zhang Xiao found the Dining Hall's menu lacking and decided to improve the Hogwarts Kitchen again.
• Zhang Xiao turned down Malfoy's invitation to do homework and went to the kitchen, where Hufflepuffs cheered him on.
• Yunbo and the House-elves thanked Zhang Xiao for the students' praise and told him that Dumbledore had praised their work.
• Zhang Xiao gave the House-elves a bilingual Huaiyang cookbook, and Tiao Tiao volunteered to teach the others to read it.
• Zhang Xiao asked Yunbo to make dishes from the cookbook and introduced fried dough sticks, steamed buns, and soy milk.

Zhang Xiao enjoyed a Chinese breakfast with Malfoy, who predicted Potter would lose the Quidditch match but then watched Potter catch the Snitch right away. Afterward, Malfoy proposed buying new brooms so he could become Slytherin's Seeker, and Zhang began teaching him how to make Slytherin great again.

• Zhang Xiao shared fried dough sticks and soup dumplings with Malfoy, who struggled to eat them with a fork and invited Zhang to watch the next day's Quidditch match.
• Malfoy predicted Slytherin would beat Potter's team unless Potter caught the Snitch at the start.
• After Potter caught the Golden Snitch right away, Malfoy blamed Slytherin's Seeker and proposed asking Lucius to buy new brooms so he could take the position.
• Zhang Xiao promised to teach Malfoy how to make Slytherin great again and summoned Bird Sis to gather his people in the Common Room.
• Fawkes appeared, and Zhang Xiao persuaded him to deliver a message to the headmaster by offering him candid photographs of Bird Sis.

Zhang Xiao gathered his Slytherin supporters and argued that they needed to change how the house was perceived by taking on the responsibilities of nobility and embodying excellence. He proposed donating the latest Broomsticks to all four houses, not just Slytherin.

• Bird Sis quickly gathered Slytherin students from every year, while Miles Bletchley explained that Marcus Flint was serving detention for stealing a younger student's snacks.
• Zhang Xiao told the students that Slytherin needed to change and asked why their wealth and history did not earn them respect.
• Zhang Xiao argued that pure-bloods had neglected the duties and responsibilities that should accompany their claimed nobility.
• Zhang Xiao described a future in which Slytherin students were admired for their grace and excellence, winning over Draco Malfoy and many younger students.
• Zhang Xiao proposed donating the latest Broomsticks to all four houses, surprising the students who thought he meant Slytherin alone.

Zhang Xiao organized Slytherin pure-bloods into the Azure Luan Society and proposed that they donate Nimbus 2001 broomsticks to all four Hogwarts houses. After his father offered to cover the remaining cost, Zhang Xiao prepared to fund the donation in the society’s name.

• Zhang Xiao proposed buying thirty-two Nimbus 2001 broomsticks for all four houses, and Malfoy suggested dividing the cost among their families and seeking a bulk discount.
• Zhang Xiao warned the group that he would reconsider their cooperation if they refused to contribute, then ordered them to write home and told them Marcus had to stop using dirty tricks as captain.
• Zhang Xiao named the group the Azure Luan Society, and the pure-bloods embraced the name because they admired Bird Sis and saw it as a fitting symbol.
• Zhang Xiao contacted his father to ask for more pocket money, and his father agreed to cover the rest of the broomstick cost and promised to give him more next year.

Zhang Xiao arranged donations for new Nimbus 2001 broomsticks and introduced Azure Luan Society badges as he prepared to unite Slytherin’s members. On the day of the Slytherin-Hufflepuff match, the badge-wearing group drew attention, and Madam Hooch began the pre-match toss.

• Zhang Xiao commissioned gold badges bearing Bird Sis’s likeness while the pure-blood families helped arrange an early batch of thirty-two Nimbus 2001 broomsticks for Hogwarts.
• Bird Sis took Malfoy’s badge and gave him a fruit, which he ate before Zhang Xiao demanded his fruit back and refused to share more.
• During Dark Magic Defense Class, Zhang Xiao noticed Quirrell’s worsening condition and anticipated that Voldemort would soon make his move.
• Zhang Xiao and the Azure Luan Society members arrived at the Quidditch Pitch wearing their badges, drawing attention and contempt from other Slytherins and curious students.
• Dumbledore watched the divided Slytherins with anticipation as Madam Hooch called the captains forward to shake hands and call the toss.

Slytherin played unusually cleanly against Hufflepuff, puzzling the spectators and the team captains. Hermione suspected Zhang Xiao was trying to change Slytherin, and the chapter left her sharing that theory with Harry and Ron.

• Marcus Flint greeted Glenn Ellison gently instead of crushing his hand, and Ellison hurried away in alarm.
• Slytherin avoided dirty tricks during the match, prompting Professor McGonagall and the Hufflepuffs to notice the change.
• Harry and Ron wondered why Marcus had stopped using his usual rough tactics.
• Hermione connected Slytherin's new behavior to the badges and Zhang Xiao's influence.
• Hermione told Harry and Ron she believed Zhang wanted to change all of Slytherin.

Zhang Xiao watched Slytherin students grow more polite and struggled to transfigure a mouse into a goblet, suspecting that the living creature’s resistance was preventing the spell from succeeding. Professor McGonagall asked him to consider what caused his Transfiguration to fail.

• Hermione guessed that Zhang Xiao wanted to change Slytherin, while Harry and Ron doubted her theory.
• Slytherin lost its Quidditch match after its players stopped using their usual underhanded tactics, and Malfoy began promoting aristocratic conduct among his classmates.
• Seamus caused another Potions explosion, while Professor Flitwick delighted students by teaching from an Auspicious Cloud and using Zhang Xiao’s walking stick.
• Zhang Xiao turned his white mouse into a goblet but left its head attached, then suspected the mouse’s resistance was hindering the transformation.
• Professor McGonagall asked Zhang Xiao to consider why his attempts to transfigure living creatures kept failing.

Zhang Xiao used Professor McGonagall’s advice about intent to successfully Transfigure a mouse into a goblet, though he remained uncertain how magic worked. Later, he learned that Harry, Ron, and Hermione had been keeping Hagrid’s dragon egg secret, and Harry revealed it was about to hatch.

• Zhang Xiao asked Professor McGonagall why a mouse’s resistance affected Transfiguration, and she urged him to consider the intensity of his intent when attacking.
• Zhang Xiao questioned whether magical energy existed and concluded that living targets might resist Transfiguration, so he focused his will on turning a mouse into a goblet.
• Zhang Xiao cast Vera Verto and successfully transformed the mouse, while Professor McGonagall watched with a pleased smile.
• Zhang Xiao asked Harry, Ron, and Hermione whether Hagrid’s dragon egg was about to hatch, and they admitted they had kept it secret to protect Hagrid.
• Zhang Xiao reassured Hermione, Harry, and Ron that they had done nothing wrong by honoring Hagrid’s request, then Harry showed him a note saying the egg would hatch now.

Zhang Xiao, Harry, Ron, and Hermione watched Hagrid’s Norwegian Ridgeback hatch and saw Hagrid struggle with the thought of giving it up. Zhang Xiao gave Hagrid a Spirit Beast Collar that could control Norbert’s size, revealing it as his belated Christmas present.

• Zhang Xiao and his friends hurried to Hagrid’s hut, where Hagrid told them the dragon egg was about to hatch.
• The egg hatched, and Hagrid named the baby Norwegian Ridgeback Norbert while treating its biting as affection.
• Ron asked whether Hagrid planned to keep Norbert, and Hagrid admitted he could not keep him forever but could not bear to abandon him.
• Zhang Xiao gave Hagrid a Spirit Beast Collar that could control a Fantastic Beast’s size, and the others hoped it would let Hagrid keep Norbert.
• Hagrid said the collar was too precious to accept, so Zhang Xiao explained that it was his original Christmas gift and wished him a belated Merry Christmas.