Chapter Summaries

Mrs. Granger met Lim, who had Apparated into the Granger home to deliver a box from Bell Menethil to Hermione. Hermione opened it and discovered the Magic Puppet Ten Thousand Snakes, which Bell had returned to her.

• Mrs. Granger worried about Hermione's recent mood as she prepared breakfast on the day before Hermione returned to Hogwarts.
• Lim Apparated into the Granger living room and explained that Bell Menethil had sent him to deliver an item personally to Hermione.
• Hermione rushed downstairs, accepted an exquisite box from Lim, and watched him leave before she could ask about Bell.
• Hermione opened the box with her parents and found Ten Thousand Snakes inside.
• Mr. Granger tried to protect Hermione from the apparent snake, but Hermione explained that Ten Thousand Snakes was a Magic Puppet.

Hermione received Ten Thousand Snakes, which recognized her as its master, and learned from Bell about its petrifying eye and the limits on her control. Bell told her he loved her before ending the call to sleep, leaving Hermione flustered and Bell embarrassed by his confession.

• Ten Thousand Snakes bit Hermione to recognize her as its master, and she reassured her worried parents that she was safe.
• Hermione examined the snake, named Red Scale, then sent Bell a video call to thank him for the gift.
• Hermione saw Bell's exhausted condition and urged him to sleep after he admitted he had stayed awake for days.
• Bell revealed that Red Scale was paired with the black Black Scale on his wrist and explained the danger of its Basilisk eye and its ten-day control restriction.
• Bell told Hermione he loved her and ended the call, prompting Hermione to hide beneath her blankets while Bell regretted his sleep-deprived confession.

Bell woke late on the morning Shanna was leaving for Hogwarts and took the train with his excited sister. As Shanna began noticing how much stronger her magic was than other students’, she quietly confirmed that she and Bell were different.

• Shanna woke Bell and refused to bring him a Focus Potion because Lim had warned he had taken too many.
• Bell got ready, traveled with his family to Platform 9 3/4, and boarded the Hogwarts Express with Shanna.
• Bell worried that Shanna might accidentally use one of the many dangerous magical items packed in her shoulder bag.
• Shanna said she had agreed to meet her friends Phyllis and Lena at school, then followed Bell to a compartment he had found.
• Bell explained that other students’ families struggled with the Undetectable Extension Charm and that their children could not levitate heavy luggage.
• Shanna took Bell’s explanation as confirmation that she and her brother were unusually gifted and felt pleased that they were special together.

Bell introduced Hermione as his girlfriend to his little sister Shanna, who feared that he would leave her. Shanna accepted Bell’s reassurance but was devastated to see Hermione wearing one of the magical snake puppets she had hoped to receive.

• Bell reminded Shanna not to become arrogant or complacent as they arrived at Hermione’s compartment.
• Hermione nervously greeted Shanna, then felt awkward and upset when Bell sat beside his sister instead of her.
• Bell introduced Shanna as his most important family and identified Hermione as his girlfriend, shocking both girls.
• Shanna summoned the red mark on her hand, then sat back down after sensing Bell’s feelings and hearing him promise he would never leave her.
• Shanna noticed that Hermione wore one of the snake puppets Bell had made and felt that Hermione was going to steal him away.

Bell explained the dangers of Mark Magic after Hermione asked to receive a mark like his and Shanna’s, and Hermione decided against it. Shanna played with Fina while Crookshanks confronted the powerful magical creature, then settled obediently beside Shanna.

• Hermione asked Bell about the marks on his and Shanna’s hands, and Bell explained that they were Mark Magic with permanent, invasive effects.
• Hermione hesitated after hearing the risks and did not ask Bell to give her a mark.
• Shanna took Bell’s suitcase and summoned Fina, who had been suffering under Shanna’s attention.
• Crookshanks shrieked at Fina from the luggage rack, then jumped down and submissively exposed its belly.
• Bell told Fina not to bully Crookshanks, and Crookshanks settled obediently beside Shanna.

Bell, Shanna, and Hermione shared hot pot on the Hogwarts Express before Dementors stopped the train and searched its carriages. Bell sensed the Dementors approaching and questioned why Dumbledore had allowed them aboard as they searched the students for Sirius Black.

• Crookshanks won Shanna’s favor, and Bell praised the cat while Hermione celebrated his approval.
• Bell prepared hot pot for the group, then had to soothe both Shanna and Hermione when they grew jealous.
• As rain fell, the Hogwarts Express stopped before it reached Hogwarts, and Bell sensed a Dementor approaching.
• Shanna explained that Sirius Black had escaped Azkaban and was reportedly searching for Harry Potter.
• Dementors entered each carriage and searched the Little Wizards without harming them, while Bell wondered why Dumbledore had permitted it.

Bell cast his first successful Patronus to protect Shanna from a Dementor, and the beast devoured the attacker. He discovered that his Patronus was the mythical Qiongqi, leaving him intrigued by the creature’s fierce nature.

• A Dementor entered Bell’s compartment, and Shanna became pale and began trembling as its influence reached her.
• Bell pulled Shanna close and cast Expecto Patronum, summoning a giant winged beast that tore apart and ate the Dementor.
• Bell’s Patronus roared, frightening the other Dementors away, and Bell stopped it from chasing them when its form began to fade.
• Bell gave Hermione and Shanna drinks mixed with Felix Felicis, and Shanna began to recover.
• Bell realized that his fear of losing Shanna had let him cast the Patronus Charm successfully for the first time.
• Bell identified his tiger-like, winged Patronus as Qiongqi, a ferocious creature from Chinese mythology, and shared his surprise with Hermione and Shanna.

Bell examined his unusually physical Patronus before Professor Lupin arrived and asked him to put it away. Back in the compartment, Bell reassured Shanna and discovered that Hermione's stomach hurt because she had indigestion.

• Bell found that his Patronus Qiongqi had a physical form, powerful claws, and an unusually long-lasting existence.
• Professor Lupin introduced himself, and Bell shrank Qiongqi and sealed it in a bottle before repairing the train window.
• Bell checked on Shanna after they returned to their compartment, and she said she felt better.
• Hermione complained of a stomachache to get Bell's attention, and Bell found that she had indigestion after eating too much and being frightened.

After the train reached Hogwarts, Bell confronted the Ministry wizards and Dementors waiting at the station. Auror squad leader Snelli apologized to Bell and explained that Fudge had sent them to investigate a Dementor’s report of an attack and death on the train.

• Hermione blushed with embarrassment over Bell’s earlier remark, but held back her anger and talked with him and Shanna during the rest of the journey.
• The students arrived at Hogwarts and saw Hagrid standing tensely beside Ministry wizards and several Dementors.
• A wizard approached Bell, Hermione, and Shanna, then bowed and apologized to Bell.
• Snelli introduced himself as an Auror squad leader affiliated with the Menethil Family and explained that Fudge had sent the group after the Dementors reported an attack and a dead companion.
• Bell demanded an explanation and asked why the Dementors had appeared before him again.

Bell ordered Snailey to remove the Dementors from Hogwarts and sent Shanna with Hagrid to join the first-years, then rode to the Great Hall with Hermione. Professor McGonagall summoned Bell and Hermione and stressed that the Ministry, not Dumbledore, had ordered the Dementors to guard Hogwarts.

• Bell condemned Fudge’s decision to search the Hogwarts Express with Dementors and ordered Snailey to take them away.
• Bell told Shanna to follow Hagrid to the Black Lake and promised to meet her in the Great Hall.
• Bell and Hermione rode together in a carriage, and Bell leaned against her while he recovered from the frightening events.
• Bell and Hermione arrived at the Great Hall, where Professor McGonagall called them over.
• Professor McGonagall told Bell that the Dementors at Hogwarts were the Ministry’s decision and had nothing to do with Dumbledore.

Professor McGonagall offered Hermione a Time-Turner to resolve conflicts between her Elective Courses, but Bell reacted urgently and forbade Hermione from touching it. When Bell questioned McGonagall about students who had used Time-Turners, she searched Hogwarts’s records and grew visibly anxious.

• Madam Pomfrey examined Harry after Professor McGonagall explained that a Dementor had attacked him, then confirmed that he was only frightened and needed rest.
• Professor McGonagall sent Harry into the corridor and told Bell and Hermione that their Elective Courses conflicted, so she had obtained a Time-Turner for Hermione.
• Bell struck the desk to stop Hermione reaching for the Time-Turner and made her promise never to touch it.
• Professor McGonagall reassured Bell that earlier students had used Time-Turners safely, but Bell asked who they were and where they were now.
• Professor McGonagall searched Hogwarts’s student register for the names and became increasingly anxious as she turned the pages.

Bell explained to Professor McGonagall and Hermione that Time-Turners seemed to make the future predetermined, then pointed out suspicious gaps in their history and the Ministry of Magic’s oversight. The chapter left McGonagall uncertain about what she knew as Bell questioned who had damaged the other Time-Turners and what had happened to them.

• Bell asked Professor McGonagall whether his example of using a Time-Turner to save himself was possible, and she confirmed that it was.
• Bell argued that the example implied his future was fixed, and Professor McGonagall suggested that fate might govern the world.
• Bell questioned why no one knew who invented Time-Turners, why their manufacture was lost, and why the Ministry of Magic had entrusted them to students with little apparent supervision.
• Professor McGonagall explained that a professor’s guarantee and a strict application process were required, but she could not confidently claim her influence was enough to reassure the Ministry.
• Bell asked whether Hogwarts’s Time-Turner had ever been damaged, and Professor McGonagall said no before he questioned who damaged the others and what happened to them.

Bell explained his theory that Time-Turners created isolated timelines whose users vanished from the real world, and cited the deaths of three recorded users as evidence. Professor McGonagall rejected the idea, but Bell left her unsettled by questioning whether the Ministry and Dumbledore had known more than they let on.

• Bell theorized that Time-Turner users were removed from the present and became lost in timelines that ended when they died.
• Professor McGonagall insisted that records named three Time-Turner users, and Bell said two appeared to have been murdered.
• Bell described Mr. Nizhal Petrov’s sudden appearance and death in Hogsmeade beside a damaged Time-Turner, proposing that he had spent centuries in his own timeline.
• Hermione feared that Time-Turner users were doomed to die, while Professor McGonagall panicked at the thought that Hogwarts students she had authorized might have disappeared.
• Professor McGonagall relaxed when Bell admitted he had no proof, but Bell then questioned whether the Ministry and Professor Dumbledore had known the truth.

Bell learned that Shanna had been Sorted into Slytherin instead of Ravenclaw and hurried to confront her. Shanna nervously explained nothing, leaving Bell bewildered about why she had chosen a different House.

• Bell told Professor McGonagall he believed she would not find the missing people's names in Hogwarts records, then left with Hermione for the Great Hall.
• Bell arrived after the Sorting Ceremony and sensed that Shanna was sitting at the Slytherin table.
• Shanna recalled her parents' instructions, stopped using Occlumency, and let the Sorting Hat place her in Slytherin.
• Shanna waited anxiously for Bell, regretting her choice and resenting that he had arrived with Hermione.
• Bell apologized for being late and asked Shanna why she had not joined him in Ravenclaw.

Bell comforted Shanna after she explained why she had not used Occlumency during the Sorting and had been placed in Slytherin. Wanting to be in the same House as her brother, Shanna inspired Bell to ask Snape to change Houses, but Snape refused.

• Bell took the seat beside Shanna and used a weakened Fear Curse to stop the little snake from objecting.
• Shanna told Bell that their parents had advised her not to use Occlumency during the Sorting, and she apologized for ending up in Slytherin.
• Bell reassured Shanna that she had broken no agreement and said he felt relieved to see her making her own choices.
• Shanna said she still wanted to be in Bell's House, so Bell loudly asked Snape to transfer him to Slytherin.
• Snape refused Bell's request, and Bell hinted that the materials from the snake might be negotiable.

Bell tried to bargain with Snape for a transfer to Slytherin, but Professor McGonagall intervened and ordered him back to Ravenclaw. Penelope tried to make Bell obey while he introduced her to Shanna and continued insisting he wanted to join his sister's House.

• Snape demanded the Millennial Basilisk's eyes and fangs as payment for helping Bell transfer to Slytherin, but Bell explained that he had used them to make magical items.
• Bell began offering Acromantula silk to Snape, but Professor McGonagall interrupted their deal and forbade House transfers.
• Professor McGonagall ordered Bell back to the Ravenclaw table and threatened to deduct Ravenclaw points if Penelope did not take him there.
• Penelope tried to persuade Bell to return, while Bell introduced her to Shanna and congratulated her on becoming Student Council President.
• Bell insisted that he wanted to transfer to Slytherin to be with Shanna, and Penelope warned him to come back before Professor McGonagall lost her temper.

Bell gave Shanna Mad Bear, a magically bound toy bear he had spent years creating to protect her, then prepared to leave with Penelope. Before saying goodbye, he warned Shanna to tell him if anyone bullied her and unleashed an oppressive aura over the Slytherin table.

• Shanna persuaded Bell to return to Ravenclaw, and Penelope pulled at him while Hermione and Professor McGonagall watched.
• Bell gave Shanna Mad Bear as a gift and explained that it would protect her when he was away.
• Shanna bound Mad Bear with a drop of blood, and it emerged from a scarlet cocoon and leaped into her arms.
• Bell explained that he had built Mad Bear with an Inferior Philosopher's Stone and spells, making it a powerful, independent protector.
• Bell said goodbye to Shanna, promised to deal with anyone who bullied her, and released a terrifying aura across the Slytherin table.

Bell worried about Shanna’s first day at Hogwarts and sat near her so he could keep watch, but Luna Lovegood’s unusual reaction to Fina caught his attention. Luna recognized that Bell’s kitten was terrifying, and Bell realized she was the first person to clearly sense that Fina was unusual.

• Bell released his pressure to frighten the little snakes, then withdrew it when Shanna reproached him and told her she could let Mad Bear bite anyone who bothered her.
• Bell asked a Ravenclaw student to switch seats so he could sit across from Shanna, and Penelope persuaded the student with the promise of a Restricted Section borrowing pass.
• Luna Lovegood moved her chair away from Bell, prompting him to ask whether he smelled or looked ugly.
• Luna explained that she had been looking for Fina, whom she considered a terrifying cat, and asked Bell what breed it was and where he had found it.
• Bell realized Luna was the first person to clearly recognize that Fina was unusual.

Bell improvised a curse to explain why he had to sit in a particular seat, then Hermione watched Shanna endure Bell’s intense combat training. The chapter left Hermione stunned by how powerful Shanna was.

• Luna asked Bell about his supposed illness, and Bell claimed Professor McGonagall had cursed him to return to a particular seat.
• Hermione dragged Bell away from the Slytherin common room before he could follow Shanna inside, avoiding Snape’s wrath.
• After morning training, Hermione joined Bell and Shanna to observe Shanna’s combat training in the suitcase.
• Shanna fought waves of Magical Statues with powerful spells, and the resulting blast sent Hermione flying onto her backside.

Hermione watched Shanna overwhelm the Training Ground’s Magical Statues and feared she could never keep up with Bell or his sister. Bell reassured her that she could reach Shanna’s current strength in one to two years, and Hermione ended the conversation smiling and demanding more than a lifetime together.

• Hermione watched Shanna rapidly destroy the Training Ground’s gargoyles and knights, leaving her shaken by the gap between their abilities.
• Bell found Hermione feeling discouraged as they walked to Care of Magical Creatures, and she asked whether she could become as strong as Shanna.
• Bell estimated that Hermione could reach Shanna’s current level in one to two years, explaining that Hermione’s magic was growing quickly but her physical enhancement would take time.
• Bell reminded Hermione how much she had improved since arriving at Hogwarts, and she regained her confidence.
• Hermione said Bell would have to take responsibility if she failed to reach Shanna’s level, and Bell offered to support her for life before Hermione replied that a lifetime was not enough.