Chapter Summaries

Zhang Xiao struggled to explain his intuitive approach to spellcasting to the students, then learned they studied advanced theories he had never read. After the gathering, he secured Professor Flitwick as the Duelling Club’s faculty adviser, and Flitwick offered to tell him how he became world duelling champion.

• Zhang Xiao cautiously suggested that direct thoughts might replace some specific spellcasting procedures, leaving the students confused while Professor Flitwick led their applause.
• Hermione told Zhang Xiao that advanced spellcasting theories appeared in a series of books he had never read.
• Professor Flitwick explained that Dumbledore, Nicolas Flamel, and Newt Scamander had helped create the Grand Common Room using advanced applications of familiar magic.
• Zhang Xiao asked Professor Flitwick to advise his Duelling Club, and Flitwick signed the club parchment.
• Professor Flitwick asked Zhang Xiao whether he wanted to hear how he became the world duelling champion.

Professor Flitwick told Zhang Xiao how he won the wizarding dueling championship after forgetting most of the spells he had mastered, only to cast them instinctively. He explained that Zhang Xiao was already approaching a deeper understanding of magic and urged him to keep attending the Charms Club as he forged his own path.

• Flitwick showed Zhang Xiao a photograph of himself as the new wizarding dueling champion and explained how his early struggles led him to charms.
• Flitwick told Zhang Xiao that he had mastered over a thousand spells before entering the tournament and reaching the final.
• On the day of the final, Flitwick realized he had forgotten more than half of his spells and entered the arena in despair.
• When his opponent attacked, Flitwick instinctively cast spells and won the championship.
• Flitwick told Zhang Xiao that mastered magic had become part of his thoughts and body, reassured him that he was not wrong, and advised him to keep attending the Charms Club.

Zhang Xiao reflected on his unusual progress in magic and concluded that spells and gestures anchored young wizards’ thinking, so he should learn through orthodox methods before transforming spells in his own way. After Flitwick praised Zhang to Dumbledore, the Headmaster decided to seek a more suitable gift to help him.

• Zhang Xiao devised a rough ranking of magical skill and realized he had advanced from a beginner to a quasi-magic-god level through an unusual path.
• Zhang Xiao concluded that incantations and gestures anchored young wizards’ magic and that advanced spells could disrupt their developing patterns of thought.
• Zhang Xiao decided to learn new magic through orthodox methods before adapting it to his own approach.
• Flitwick sent Dumbledore a Patronus praising Zhang’s early grasp of spelllessness and predicting his great potential.
• The portraits in the Headmaster’s Office discussed Zhang’s abilities, and Dumbledore decided to consult an old friend about finding him a helpful gift.

Zhang Xiao helped an anxious Draco Malfoy prepare for his first Quidditch match by giving him a lucky charm. As Slytherin and Gryffindor prepared to face off on new Nimbus 2001 brooms, Zhang Xiao left to handle the reporter Rita Skeeter and Dobby so the match could proceed without interference.

• Zhang Xiao found Malfoy awake before dawn, anxiously studying Quidditch techniques.
• Zhang Xiao took Malfoy to an empty classroom and gave him an Eastern Golden Talisman, telling him it would bring good luck.
• Malfoy worried that the charm would compromise Slytherin's victory, but accepted it after Zhang Xiao compared it to other players' lucky charms.
• Students and staff gathered for the highly anticipated Slytherin-Gryffindor match, with both teams using Nimbus 2001 brooms.
• Zhang Xiao left the Slytherin team before its captain's pep talk to ensure Rita Skeeter reported fairly and Dobby did not interfere with the match.

Before the Quidditch match, Zhang Xiao confronted Daily Prophet reporter Rita Skeeter and demanded fair coverage of Slytherin, then settled in to watch the match begin. Rita feared his influence but decided to prepare two versions of her article and choose between them later.

• Zhang Xiao met Rita Skeeter in the Daily Prophet's box and refused her interview, freezing her Quick-Quotes Quill.
• Zhang Xiao silenced the room and warned Rita to write objectively and fairly about Slytherin, then destroyed the miniature typewriter hidden in her handbag.
• Rita Skeeter feared Zhang Xiao's influence but decided to write two articles and choose which one to publish after the match.
• Madam Hooch started the Quidditch match, and Zhang Xiao watched the fourteen players take off.

During the Quidditch match, two Bludgers went out of control and attacked the players, but Yunbo found seven house-elves nearby and stopped them. After the match resumed, Zhang Xiao hurried to the Hogwarts Kitchen.

• Zhang Xiao watched the fast-paced match between Slytherin and Gryffindor as rain fell over the stands.
• The Bludgers began flying erratically and attacking players, while Professor McGonagall struggled to protect them from the stands.
• Fred took a Bludger hit to save Angelina, and George was struck while trying to rescue Fred; Professor McGonagall caught the twins with magic.
• Zhang Xiao summoned Yunbo, who searched for house-elves and found seven nearby.
• Yunbo and the other Hogwarts house-elves stopped the Bludgers, and Madam Hooch called them back to her.
• Madam Pomfrey treated Fred and George, Lockhart was prevented from helping, and the match resumed before Zhang Xiao hurried to the Hogwarts Kitchen.

Zhang Xiao learned that seven starving house-elves had come to Hogwarts after Dobby asked them for help, and he promised to give them a better future. After settling them near Hagrid’s cabin, he returned to the still-unfinished Quidditch match and wondered how to solve the house-elf problem.

• Zhang Xiao questioned the seven outsiders and learned they had come because Dobby had written to them.
• The elves explained they had gone without food for three days and were forbidden by their dead master’s order from actively obtaining food for three years.
• Zhang Xiao had the Hogwarts elves feed them and, seeing the elves’ hope, vowed to give them a better future.
• Zhang Xiao settled the elves near Hagrid’s cabin, where Hagrid agreed to prepare their meals.
• Zhang Xiao returned to the Quidditch Pitch, where Harry and Malfoy were still competing as the match continued into the dark.

Zhang Xiao imagined starting a house-elf housekeeping agency while watching Malfoy and Harry’s Quidditch match end in an unprecedented draw. The celebration ended when news arrived that Ginny Weasley and Colin Creevey had been attacked.

• Zhang Xiao considered creating a house-elf agency for wild house-elves and chose Mrs. Weasley as its potential manager.
• Malfoy and Harry caught the Golden Snitch at the same time, with the score tied at 1,080 to 1,080.
• Madam Hooch consulted both captains, and Slytherin and Gryffindor agreed to end the match in a draw.
• Lee Jordan announced the result as the students and reporters celebrated the historic match.
• Harry and Malfoy were treated in the Hospital Wing, where Snape gave them a weakened Draught of Living Death.
• The students learned that Ginny Weasley and Colin Creevey, both first-years, had been attacked.

After Ginny Weasley and Colin Creevey were petrified in another attack, Dumbledore and the professors investigated the melted camera and questioned the attacker’s motives. Zhang Xiao sought a way to obtain a cure and invited people to join his planned Duelling Club.

• Harry and Malfoy hid in their hospital beds as Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall, and Madam Pomfrey arrived with the petrified Ginny Weasley and Colin Creevey.
• Dumbledore found that Colin’s camera had melted and suspected the attacker had used distinctive dark magic, but he could not explain the motive.
• Zhang Xiao investigated the attack, worried about the basilisk’s unexplained choice to petrify its victims, and decided to strengthen himself and his friends by starting a Duelling Club.
• After the attack spread fear and rumors through Hogwarts, Zhang Xiao wrote to the Potions Association offering any price for mature mandrake juice or a restorative potion.
• Zhang Xiao sent invitations to the people he had selected for his club.

Zhang Xiao assessed the Dueling Club members’ spell skills and dueled Cedric to demonstrate combat techniques. He planned to teach the group Nonverbal Spells, the Shield Charm, and the Stunning Spell as the school remained dangerous.

• Zhang Xiao gathered ten invited students from the four houses and assessed their abilities with the Stunning Spell, Shield Charm, and Petrificus Totalus.
• Zhang Xiao challenged Cedric to a duel while the other club members watched.
• Cedric opened with a feint and a rapid barrage of spells, trying to disrupt Zhang Xiao’s rhythm.
• Zhang Xiao dodged Cedric’s attacks and silently cast the Disarming Charm, sending Cedric’s wand flying.
• Cedric praised Zhang Xiao’s silent casting and asked him to teach the technique, and Zhang Xiao agreed while setting goals for the club.

Zhang Xiao struggled to teach Neville the Disarming Charm and suspected that Neville had aphantasia, but encouraged him to keep practicing. After receiving the Potions Association’s reply that only first-maturity mandrake roots could make the potion to reverse petrification, Zhang Xiao turned his attention to Professor McGonagall’s upcoming Transfiguration Club meeting.

• Zhang Xiao coached Cho, Hermione, and the other second-years as they practiced spells, while he gave most of his attention to Neville’s difficulty casting them.
• Neville told Zhang Xiao he could not picture images in his mind, leading Zhang Xiao to suspect he had aphantasia and resolve to keep teaching him.
• The Azure Luan delivered a letter from the Potions Association, and Zhang Xiao worried about her growing listlessness before she settled down to sleep on his shoulder.
• Zhang Xiao learned that the potion to reverse petrification required mandrake roots harvested at their first maturity, ruling out the option of buying fresh juice from mature mandrakes.
• Zhang Xiao put away the letter and wondered what he would learn at Professor McGonagall’s Transfiguration Club.

Umbridge persuaded Fudge to send Hogwarts an official letter about the attacks, while Zhang Xiao, Harry, and Hermione visited petrified Ginny and then attended McGonagall’s Transfiguration Club. The club’s throne-making exercise began, and Zhang Xiao prepared to create a Dragon Throne.

• Umbridge read parents’ complaints to Fudge and suggested that wealthy pure-blood families wanted to meet with him about Hogwarts’s attacks.
• Fudge instructed Umbridge to send Hogwarts an official Ministry letter asking about the attacks and expressing concern for its students.
• Zhang Xiao, Harry, and Hermione visited Ginny in the Hospital Wing, where Ron and Mrs. Weasley worried about her condition.
• Zhang Xiao and Hermione discussed the fearful atmosphere at Hogwarts and wondered why the staff had not taken more effective action.
• McGonagall welcomed Zhang Xiao and Hermione to the Transfiguration Club and assigned the members to create luxurious thrones.
• Hermione transfigured a small pink throne, and Zhang Xiao drew his wand intending to make a Dragon Throne.

Professor McGonagall taught Zhang Xiao and the other young wizards how to use Transfiguration in combat and explained why it often failed against guarded opponents. After class, Zhang Xiao contacted his father through the Far-Seeing Mirror and heard a terrifying roar followed by a cry to bind something with dragon-binding chains.

• Zhang Xiao conjured an enormous golden dragon throne, which impressed the young wizards but proved uncomfortable to sit on.
• Professor McGonagall demonstrated how transfigured objects could attack in succession and taught the group about Transfiguration’s limits and defensive uses.
• Penelope revealed that she and Percy had practiced turning an opponent’s clothes into restraints, and Professor McGonagall explained that a wizard’s magical defenses could prevent such attempts.
• Professor McGonagall bound Cedric with a rope transfigured from his tie, then dismissed the young wizards after advising them to observe, practice, and think carefully.
• Zhang Xiao copied Hermione’s notes and contacted his father with the Far-Seeing Mirror, where he heard a dragon’s roar and someone shout for dragon-binding chains.

Zhang Chengdao discovered that Zhang Xiao’s advanced insights into Western magic had destabilized his mind, leaving Senior Azure Luan exhausted from helping him. He urged Zhang Xiao to slow down and strengthen his foundation before pursuing further knowledge.

• Zhang Xiao contacted Zhang Chengdao through the Far-Seeing Mirror and mentioned that Senior Azure Luan had become listless, but Zhang Chengdao ended the call amid a crisis involving a dragon.
• Zhang Xiao entered the Golden Book and Jade Register and found its mental landscape darkened and clouded.
• Zhang Chengdao explained that Senior Azure Luan had been using her ability to steady Zhang Xiao’s mind and had grown exhausted.
• Zhang Xiao told Zhang Chengdao about his recent discoveries concerning the wizarding spellcasting system.
• Zhang Chengdao warned that Zhang Xiao’s understanding had outpaced his foundation and advised him to slow down and focus on the journey.

Zhang Xiao thanked Azure Luan for helping steady his mind, then sought out Snape to learn Memory Magic so he could seal off part of his awareness. Snape explained the technique and questioned Zhang Xiao’s talent, while Zhang Xiao confidently claimed he had some.

• Zhang Xiao left the Golden Book and Jade Register training ground after thanking the room and its moving training dummy.
• Zhang Xiao thanked Azure Luan for helping him overcome his impatience, and she gave him a small fruit before falling asleep again.
• Zhang Xiao considered how to relax while staying in the Slytherin Common Room during the attacks.
• Zhang Xiao visited Snape’s office and asked him to teach Memory Magic, claiming Dumbledore had told him Snape knew it.
• Snape explained how Memory Magic could seal part of one’s awareness, and Zhang Xiao said he believed he had a talent for it.

Zhang Xiao began practical memory-magic training with Snape, but his family pendant disrupted the first attempt. He then successfully built a mind palace modeled on his former home and stood at the bedroom door, wondering whether his wife and daughter would be there.

• Snape praised Zhang Xiao's talent and agreed to begin practical memory-magic training.
• Zhang Xiao's pendant flared with golden light and roared with the images of a tiger and dragon, forcing Snape to release his wrist.
• Zhang Xiao warned Snape that some of his memories were sealed and that probing them could be fatal.
• After checking for further problems, Snape helped Zhang Xiao enter the swirling realm of his mind.
• Zhang Xiao shaped his mind palace into his former home and hesitated before opening the bedroom door.

Zhang Xiao explored his mind palace, revisited memories of home, and sealed away his understanding of the spell system to ease the strain on his mind. Snape brought him back to the underground office and warned him not to give plug-in gifts again.

• Zhang Xiao examined the mind palace’s recreation of his home, felt the pain of missing his family, and left the bedroom.
• Zhang Xiao discovered shelves of memory books, sealed an embarrassing book, and resolved to fill new shelves with imprinted books.
• Zhang Xiao locked away a dangerous memory that held his understanding of the spell system, making his mind feel lighter but leaving him unable to recall its contents.
• Snape ended Zhang Xiao’s mind palace session and warned him not to stay there too long until he had mastered the magic.
• Snape gave Zhang Xiao a Wakefulness Potion, then showed him a cabinet and told him not to give gifts with plugs next time.

Zhang Xiao studied basic spell theory to rebuild his magical foundations after blocking part of his cognition, while uncovering signs that his abilities had once been far greater than he realized. The school’s peace was interrupted by news that Professor Kettleburn had been taken to St Mungo’s, as Hagrid urgently summoned Zhang Xiao to his hut.

• Zhang Xiao planned to strengthen his foundations and master the Void-Clarity Mirror after imagining four stages of his power.
• Zhang Xiao asked Hermione for her first-year notes, and she agreed after he said Professor Flitwick had advised him to revise.
• Zhang Xiao studied spell theory in the Library and wondered whether he had blocked a cognition that let him move objects within a small area.
• Zhang Xiao’s spell skills improved over the next fortnight, while Zhang Chengdao told him that hostile people were placing objects at key locations near him.
• Hagrid sent Zhang Xiao an urgent letter inviting him to the hut, and Draco told him that Professor Kettleburn had been taken to St Mungo’s after drinking liquor steeped with part of a Troll.

Zhang Xiao visited Hagrid and learned that Professor Kettleburn had been hospitalized after drinking a dangerously prepared troll liquor that proved unexpectedly effective. He helped Hagrid plan lessons for his temporary Care of Magical Creatures post, then questioned the house-elves about who else had visited Hagrid’s Hut.

• Zhang Xiao played Frisbee with Fang using a talisman and asked Hagrid about Professor Kettleburn.
• Hagrid said Professor Kettleburn was recovering at St. Mungo’s after drinking troll liquor, whose powerful effects had attracted the hospital staff’s attention.
• Hagrid told Zhang Xiao that Dumbledore had asked him to teach Care of Magical Creatures temporarily, and Zhang Xiao suggested lesson plans centered on Norbert and popular beasts.
• Hagrid said Norbert had killed and eaten all the chickens, making Zhang Xiao suspect something was amiss.
• Zhang Xiao visited the house-elves and asked who else had recently visited Hagrid’s Hut.

Zhang Xiao learned that a tall wizard in a black robe had visited the hut, then grew concerned about Rita Skeeter’s report criticizing Dumbledore. A notice announcing a Duelling Club excited the students, and Zhang Xiao and his friends gathered in the Great Hall for its evening meeting.

• Rainwater told Zhang Xiao that a tall wizard in a black robe had visited the hut while Rainwater watched the moon, and Zhang asked the house-elves to report if the stranger returned.
• Zhang asked Malfoy whether he was going home for Christmas, and Malfoy said his father had told him to stay at Hogwarts.
• Zhang read Rita Skeeter’s article questioning Dumbledore’s handling of the attacks and suspected the Ministry of Magic had approved it to undermine him.
• Harry and Ron celebrated the announcement of a Duelling Club, while Hermione reminded them that their training was meant to help them protect themselves.
• Zhang, Malfoy, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and other students gathered in the Great Hall for the Duelling Club’s evening meeting.