Chapter Summaries

Wolsta concluded that Harry’s extraordinary magical power meant he possessed the deity-connected object the Australians sought. As Julia Page and nine powerful Australian wizards surrounded Harry, Hermione recognized the leaders and realized how dangerous their situation had become.

• Wolsta felt Harry’s Sword Beam Charm nearly break her shield and suspected the object connected to a deity was empowering him.
• Wolsta ordered her allies to deal with Harry’s companions and capture Harry.
• Julia Page appeared and teased Wolsta for calling for help.
• Hermione recognized Liv Wolsta and Julia Page from reports about Australian protests over the deaths of Weir Hallen and Andrew Dikin.
• Nine more Australian wizards appeared and surrounded Harry, Hermione, and the two boys.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville fought Australian wizards who had been ordered to capture Harry. Harry stopped them from sealing the Left Hand’s abilities with a gray mist spell he had learned from Ravenclaw’s legacy.

• A plump wizard ordered the Australian wizards to kill anyone who resisted and take Harry Potter.
• Neville dodged a deadly spell with Phantom Magic and Disillusionment Magic, then counterattacked, while Hermione and Ron defended themselves against other wizards.
• Harry used Maxim Shield to intercept several spells, revealing the power of the Left Hand of Chaos and Calamity to the Nagudinnaf wizards.
• The plump wizard sent golden threads to seal Harry’s Left Hand, but Harry used gray mist to repel them and learned that his defense against sealing magic worked.

A black-haired Slytherin girl appeared in the dimensional space, revealed exceptional magic, and killed one of the Australian wizards. After shielding herself with Fiendfyre, she summoned a platinum-blond boy and a petite black-haired girl, leaving Harry and the others bewildered.

• The black-haired Slytherin girl appeared beside the immobilized Harry and astonished everyone with her resemblance to him.
• The girl reflected the scar-faced wizard's Ultimate Death with a Reversing Charm, killing him.
• The Australian wizards attacked the girl, but she protected herself with perfectly controlled Fiendfyre.
• The girl invited others to join the fight, and a platinum-blond boy and a petite black-haired girl appeared beside her.

Harry and his friends encountered older versions of themselves and their companions from a parallel universe, who had just killed several Australian wizards. The two groups compared their worlds and relationships, leaving the younger visitors confused by how close the older Harry’s friends were to Slytherins.

• A dark-haired girl freed Harry and his friends, while the older group discussed their counterparts and teased the younger Harry.
• Hermione saw that most of the Australian dark wizards had been killed and reacted with horror.
• The older Harry and his friends revealed that they were seventh-years, while the younger group was still in fifth year.
• Younger Harry objected when the bespectacled boy who resembled him called him girly, and older Malfoy laughed at his response.
• Younger Harry questioned why the older group included close Slytherin friends, and older Ron quickly embraced older Malfoy after learning Krum would visit his home.
• Younger Hermione asked the older group to explain the confusing differences between their worlds.

The younger Harry and his friends learned that he had encountered multiple deities, while the older group’s overwhelming victory over the Australian dark wizards left them impressed by their counterparts’ skill. The younger Harry still believed he was stronger, though he questioned whether he could match their performance.

• The younger Hermione confronted Harry for hiding his contact with multiple deities, and he explained that he had wanted to keep his friends safe.
• Daphne confirmed that the younger Harry had encountered deity power and said their group avoided deities when possible.
• The older Harry said he was surprised by the younger Harry’s strength and doubted he could necessarily defeat him.
• The younger Harry recalled how the older Harry, Neville, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny had decisively defeated the Australian dark wizards.
• The younger Harry remained convinced he could be stronger if the Left Hand of Chaos and Calamity was not suppressed, but wondered whether he could match the older group’s victory.

Harry and Hermione discussed reports that a lone intruder had stormed Nagadainaf Magic School and caused heavy casualties, and they wondered whether the attacker could have been Voldemort or Dumbledore. Harry ruled Dumbledore out based on the timing but had no way to tell whether Voldemort was involved, leaving the attacker’s identity unknown.

• Hermione told Harry that Australian news reported one intruder had attacked Nagadainaf Magic School and escaped despite causing heavy casualties.
• Harry and Hermione considered whether only Voldemort or Dumbledore could have been powerful enough to attack a school alone.
• Harry asked when the attack occurred, and Hermione said it happened two days before a newspaper published a week-old report, around the start of their summer holidays.
• Harry pointed out that Dumbledore had gone to Weasley Manor on the first day of the holidays, making him unlikely to have been the attacker.
• Harry told Hermione that he had sensed no unusual emotions or dreams from Voldemort, though he could not tell whether Voldemort had been inactive or had severed their connection.

Harry prepared to leave Privet Drive with Dumbledore, while Petunia revealed that she knew something about Harry’s future and Dudley struggled with the prospect of his departure. The chapter ended with Dudley hugging Harry goodbye before Harry left with Dumbledore.

• Harry received Dumbledore’s letter saying he would pick him up from Privet Drive that evening.
• Petunia asked whether Harry would return the following summer and said Dumbledore had told her a few things.
• Harry told Dudley he might not come back, leaving Dudley upset and the household subdued.
• Dumbledore arrived late that night to take Harry away.
• Dudley hugged Harry and urged him to stay safe, nearly squeezing the breath out of him.

Harry and Dumbledore arrived at Nurmengard, where they met Nagini and learned she had been living there. Nagini welcomed Harry and offered him food, while Grindelwald had yet to appear.

• Dumbledore led Harry into the neglected but clean castle of Nurmengard.
• Nagini greeted Dumbledore and complained that he had not told her who they would be visiting.
• Nagini warmly thanked Harry for breaking her Blood Charms and restoring her human form.
• Nagini led Harry and Dumbledore into the bare main hall and explained that she had removed the prison furnishings.
• Nagini offered Harry something to eat.

Harry wondered why Grindelwald recognized something about his contact with deities at a glance, and decided not to let him study Voldemort’s soul fragment. On his first night in Nurmengard, Harry absorbed the fragment with little difficulty, leaving him feeling refreshed the next morning.

• Harry recalled Grindelwald’s casual appearance and his remark that Harry had encountered two beings, which made Harry suspect he meant deities.
• Harry compared Grindelwald’s insight with what Luna, Lockhart, Professor Babbling, and Professor Gageon had told him about deities, and resolved to stay wary of Grindelwald.
• Harry chose not to let Grindelwald study Voldemort’s soul fragment and absorbed it in Nurmengard that night.
• Harry turned the fragment into red starlight and absorbed it, suffering only a brief headache before feeling refreshed the next day.

Harry settled into Nurmengard, where Grindelwald stopped pressing him to reveal his thoughts and told him the British Ministry could not monitor his magic there. He learned more about Nagini's life and lack of a wand, leaving him embarrassed that his question had touched on her past.

• Nagini put Harry in a room beside hers, while Grindelwald asked to examine Harry's mind and accepted his refusal.
• Harry told Grindelwald that Voldemort's soul fragment was gone, and Grindelwald did not question his explanation.
• Grindelwald told Harry he could use magic freely at Nurmengard, and Harry tested it without receiving a Howler from the Ministry.
• Harry noticed that food appeared each day and asked Nagini why she did not use magic to clean up after meals.
• Nagini explained that she had forgotten most spells and could not buy a wand because she was not registered as a witch, and Harry felt embarrassed for bringing it up.

On his fifth day at Nurmengard, Harry learned that Grindelwald had seen through his lie about absorbing Voldemort’s soul fragment. Grindelwald called Harry upstairs after breakfast, where Harry recognized a manuscript about the Kalkas Magic Array.

• Grindelwald questioned why Harry and Nagini had come to Nurmengard and offered to ask Albus to take Harry home.
• Grindelwald exposed Harry’s claim that he had absorbed the soul fragment without reaching out to it, explaining that the fragment’s protective mechanism made that impossible.
• Grindelwald told Harry to meet him upstairs after breakfast, and Nagini encouraged Harry not to feel embarrassed.
• Harry went to Grindelwald’s room and spotted a manuscript about the Kalkas Magic Array.
• Grindelwald was surprised that Harry recognized the array, and Harry vaguely said he knew a little about it.

Harry considered whether to learn Dark Magic from Grindelwald, weighing the old wizard’s skill against Voldemort’s strength and reflecting on Grindelwald’s apparent knowledge of deities. Grindelwald guessed that Harry had gained Dark Magic from Voldemort’s soul fragment and noticed that Harry still wanted something from him.

• Harry judged that Grindelwald’s Dark Magic expertise might surpass Voldemort’s, though Voldemort would likely be stronger in a fight.
• Harry recalled Voldemort’s enchanted body potion and his own encounters with Voldemort, which had revealed the Dark Lord’s magical resistance and connection to deities.
• Harry suspected Grindelwald had recognized that he had encountered two deities and became more interested in learning about them than in studying Dark Magic.
• Grindelwald guessed that Harry had inherited Dark Magic knowledge by absorbing Voldemort’s soul fragment.
• Grindelwald noticed Harry’s conflicted expression and inferred that he still wanted something from him.

Grindelwald told Harry that Lockhart had gone to Egypt to excavate a pharaoh’s pyramid, where he had become interested in Egypt’s unusual deities. He left Harry knowing that Lockhart had joined a capable young wizards’ organization with an unknown plan.

• Harry asked Grindelwald what had happened to Professor Lockhart, and Grindelwald said Lockhart had gone to Egypt to excavate a pharaoh’s pyramid.
• Grindelwald explained that some pharaohs’ curses were genuine and that Egyptian wizards had studied deities for longer than European wizards.
• Grindelwald told Harry that the deities Egyptian wizards encountered seemed to care more about humans than the deities he knew.
• Grindelwald said Lockhart had learned about deities from him and later joined an organization of capable young wizards with an interesting plan and goal.

Harry told Grindelwald how the Black Man had appeared to him, and Grindelwald traced their connection to Harry’s first touch of the Invisibility Cloak. Grindelwald revealed that Harry’s family cloak was unique, leaving Harry to wonder how it differed from other invisibility cloaks.

• Harry asked Grindelwald to identify the deity who had given him his left-hand ability, and Grindelwald asked him to recount how they had met.
• Harry described the Black Man’s appearances, and Grindelwald prompted him to remember an earlier unusual encounter.
• Harry recalled touching the Invisibility Cloak Dumbledore had sent him during his first year, and Grindelwald said the contact had likely caught the Crawling Chaos’s attention.
• Grindelwald identified Ignotus Peverell as the cloak’s previous owner and connected the cloak to The Tale of the Three Brothers.
• Harry argued that invisibility cloaks were not unique, but Grindelwald told him his family’s Invisibility Cloak was unique and asked whether he had noticed its differences.

Grindelwald explained to Harry that the Deathly Hallows came from three different deities and that bringing them together might unleash a world-ending horror. He revealed that the Elder Wand was also a key to the Nameless Mist, and Harry realized Dumbledore had been its master since defeating Grindelwald.

• Harry questioned Grindelwald about the Deathly Hallows, and Grindelwald said their union might bring down a horror capable of destroying everything.
• Grindelwald told Harry that the Hallows’ powers came from three different deities and that their functions had been misunderstood.
• Grindelwald explained that the Elder Wand was a key to the Nameless Mist, which could provide vast magical knowledge, usually at the cost of death.
• Harry asked where the Elder Wand was, and Grindelwald confirmed that Dumbledore had taken it after defeating him.
• Grindelwald complained that Dumbledore had held the wand for decades without seeking power from the Nameless Mist.

Grindelwald explained how the Resurrection Stone could restore a corpse’s life but not its soul, then began describing the Invisibility Cloak’s connection to the Crawling Chaos. He identified the yellow figure Harry encountered as the King in Yellow, a relatively peaceful avatar of the Lord of the Deep Space Star Sea.

• Grindelwald explained that the Resurrection Stone could restore life to a corpse but could not return a soul that had dissipated.
• Grindelwald said the Invisibility Cloak drew its power from the Crawling Chaos, unlike the Elder Wand and Resurrection Stone.
• Grindelwald explained that most deities responded only when wizards contacted them through specific actions or rituals.
• Grindelwald told Harry that deities had avatars and projections, and identified Harry’s yellow figure as the King in Yellow.
• Harry recalled that he had nearly died when he encountered the King in Yellow and that another person had died.

Harry left Nurmengard with Dumbledore, eager to reunite with his schoolmates, and they arrived at the Burrow instead of Sirius’s home. There, Harry was stunned to encounter a beautiful woman he had not expected to see.

• Harry said goodbye to Grindelwald, who invited him to return and learn from him.
• Dumbledore took Harry away from Nurmengard, and Harry noticed the Elder Wand in Dumbledore’s hand.
• Dumbledore explained that Voldemort might have supporters inside the Ministry of Magic and brought Harry to the Burrow.
• Harry expected to find members of the Weasley family at the Burrow, but a beautiful woman greeted him and Dumbledore.
• The woman greeted Harry and Dumbledore in accented English, leaving Harry speechless with disbelief.

Harry visited the Weasley Manor, where Fred and George showed him ideas for new products in their research room. The twins lacked the magic to develop some of their more unusual suggestions, and Harry was left considering how they might put the ideas into practice.

• Harry reunited with Ron and Mrs. Weasley, while Fred and George brought him to their research room.
• Dumbledore stayed for dinner and relaxed in the Manor courtyard as Mrs. Weasley welcomed him.
• Fred and George told Harry that most of the promising ideas they had collected came from children in Muggle families.
• The twins showed Harry their ideas and explained that they lacked the magic needed to make some of them work.

Harry and Ron discussed Ron’s lingering struggle with Pheobe’s Veela enchantment and learned that Hermione planned to erase her parents’ memories because she feared dying in the fight against Voldemort. Harry also reflected on his own suspicions that his memories had been altered, while Ron connected Hermione’s fears to Bill’s delayed engagement to Pheobe.

• Harry asked Ron whether he had grown used to Pheobe, and Ron admitted that her sudden appearances still affected him.
• Harry recalled Ron’s old infatuation with Pheobe and concluded that Ron could resist her enchantment if he had time to prepare.
• Harry asked why Hermione had not visited, and Ron said she planned to erase her parents’ memories in case she died fighting Voldemort.
• Harry recalled that he had learned memory-modification magic from Grindelwald and suspected that his own memories had been altered.
• Ron explained that Bill had delayed getting engaged to Pheobe because the threat of the Dark Lord had worried him.

Hermione checked Harry and Ron’s homework as the friends prepared for the new school year, while teasing about her love life became a way to make her blush. With Voldemort’s return disrupting Quidditch in Britain, Ron stayed with his family instead of attending the Chudley Cannons’ trial, despite the club’s eagerness to sign him.

• Hermione checked Harry and Ron’s completed homework and kicked or shoved them while Qiu and Lavender encouraged the teasing.
• Harry and Ron asked Hermione whether Krum or Jacob had contacted her, making her blush and flee after punching one of them.
• Voldemort’s return led the Commonwealth Tournament Committee to reduce British Quidditch matches and increase security.
• The Chudley Cannons urged Ron to attend a trial and promised him a top-salary contract, but he stayed with his family because of the danger posed by Voldemort and the Death Eaters.