Chapter Summaries

Draco, Hermione, and Professor Babbling defeated waves of stone warriors in the secret vault before its magic separated Draco from the others. Alone in the inner vault but connected to Hermione by the Two-Way Mirror, Draco followed a trail of energy to another ice trap and faced three statues.

• Draco dodged the stone leader’s sword and destroyed it, then he, Hermione, and Professor Babbling worked together to defeat the other six warriors.
• More stone warriors kept appearing until the vault’s blue-white magic contracted and teleported Hermione and Professor Babbling to the outer vault, leaving Draco alone inside.
• Draco used the Two-Way Mirror to speak with Hermione and Professor Babbling, then refused to leave the inner vault because its entrance might close permanently.
• Draco followed wisps of energy to another ice trap, where three statues appeared; he aligned their shadows and prepared for their attack.
• The far-right statue teleported toward Draco, but he blocked its sword with Protego and destroyed it with Stupefy.

Draco, Hermione, and Professor Babbling reached the heart of the secret vault and uncovered memories explaining its Ancient Magic trials. Their discovery was interrupted when Ranrok forced his way into the chamber and confronted Draco.

• Draco destroyed successive waves of stone statues and opened the final Ancient Magic doorway.
• Draco entered the hidden chamber, where Hermione and Professor Babbling were transported to join him beside an ancient Pensieve.
• Professor Babbling used a memory vial to reveal Percival Rackham and Charles Rookwood discussing the vault and its trials.
• Hermione realized the vault was a trial ground built by Rackham, and Professor Babbling said Ancient Magic had chosen Draco.
• Ranrok entered the secret chamber with goblin guards, and Draco challenged the goblins over their security before Ranrok mocked him as Lucius's arrogant son.

Draco, Hermione, and Professor Babbling confronted Ranrok over the key, the Pensieve, and Vault Twelve’s ancient magic. Ranrok’s attack triggered the vault’s ultimate protection, and a giant guardian emerged and swung its sword at him and his group.

• Ranrok demanded the vault key, the ancient magic legacy, and the Pensieve’s memories, then knocked the goblin driver unconscious for enforcing Gringotts’ rules.
• Draco warned Ranrok that Dumbledore would come for him, but Ranrok dismissed the threat and demanded the vault’s treasures again.
• Professor Babbling cast Stupefy, but Ranrok blocked it and counterattacked with ancient magic that shattered the Protego barrier raised by Draco and Hermione.
• The shock wave triggered Vault Twelve’s protection mechanism, and an enormous magical guardian rose from the water around the Pensieve.
• Ranrok recoiled in fear as the guardian raised its sword and swung at him and his group.

Draco, Hermione, and Professor Babbling escaped Ranrok and the collapsing vault through a doorway of ancient magic. After discussing Ranrok’s power and the goblin rebellion, Draco brought them to Hogsmeade at Christmas.

• Ranrok and his subordinates attacked the giant guardian, which drove them back toward Draco, Hermione, and Professor Babbling.
• Draco spotted a secret doorway, but Professor Babbling stayed to admire the guardian until its sword nearly struck her and triggered the vault’s collapse.
• Draco used the Summoning Charm to pull Hermione and Professor Babbling to him, and the three escaped through the doorway just before the vault collapsed.
• Professor Babbling identified the guardian as Rackham’s ultimate defense and explained that Ranrok led the goblin rebels.
• Draco explained that Ranrok borrowed ancient magic through his armor, while Draco himself could resonate with it.
• Draco transported Hermione and Professor Babbling to Hogsmeade at Christmas.

Draco and Hermione spent Christmas night in Hogsmeade and found that The Three Broomsticks had only one room left, so they booked it together. While they warmed up with Butterbeer and read the news, Madam Rosmerta described how the Malfoy family had made the area safer.

• Professor Babbling returned to Hogwarts to organize materials about Ancient Magic and brief the headmaster, while Hermione chose to stay in Hogsmeade with Draco.
• Draco and Hermione went to The Three Broomsticks to find a room, where Madam Rosmerta welcomed them and offered Butterbeer and fruit.
• Madam Rosmerta told them that only the attic room remained and warned them against staying at the Hog's Head, so Hermione agreed to share the room with Draco.
• Draco asked Madam Rosmerta for recent copies of the Daily Prophet, and she told them that Lucius had moved Dementors away from villages and schools and increased Ministry patrols.
• Madam Rosmerta noted that the Malfoy family had gained public goodwill and reconsidered the benefits of Draco's ten-percent stake in The Three Broomsticks.

Draco and Hermione read news about Ranrok at the Three Broomsticks before two hostile men confronted Draco. Draco disarmed one and humiliated the other, driving them from the pub after warning them not to threaten him.

• Draco pointed out a newspaper report about Ranrok to Hermione while Madam Rosmerta discussed the trouble he caused.
• A top-hatted man and his burly thug entered the Three Broomsticks and demanded that Draco come with them.
• Draco disarmed the thug, summoned his wand, and refused to return it unless the man slapped himself.
• The top-hatted man ordered his companion to leave, and Draco tossed the thug’s wand into the snow for him to retrieve.
• When the top-hatted man threatened Draco, Draco cast Locomotor Mortis, forcing him to stumble away from the spell and flee the pub.

Draco subdued the men who threatened Hermione and made the top-hatted man promise not to target them again. Back in the Three Broomsticks, Hermione worried that Draco would ruin his future for her, but he reassured her and the pub teased them about getting married.

• The top-hatted man threatened Hermione, so Draco Apparated outside and immobilized his burly subordinate with a spell.
• Draco held his wand to the top-hatted man's neck until he promised never to target Draco or Hermione again, then ordered him to take his subordinate and leave.
• Draco returned to the Three Broomsticks, where Hermione admitted she had feared he would kill the man and never come back.
• Draco embraced Hermione, promised he would not cross that line, and said he would not risk their future together.
• Madam Rosmerta and the pub's customers teased the pair about marrying and kissing, leaving Hermione scarlet with embarrassment as Draco pulled her close.

Draco and Hermione retreated to their room after the customers teased them, shared a tender moment, and returned downstairs for food. Madam Rosmerta identified the men they had confronted as wanted Dark wizards, leaving Hermione wondering how they dared show themselves in Hogsmeade.

• Draco teased Hermione in front of the customers, and she fled to their room in embarrassment.
• Draco followed Hermione upstairs, apologized for teasing her, and said they would eventually have to be open about their relationship.
• Hermione told Draco she had worried about him and asked him not to act so impulsively again, and they kissed beside the fire.
• Draco and Hermione returned downstairs, where Madam Rosmerta served them Christmas treats and Butterbeer.
• Madam Rosmerta identified Victor Rookwood and Theophilus Harlow as notorious Dark wizards wanted by the Ministry.
• Hermione asked how the wanted men had dared come openly into Hogsmeade and provoke Draco.

Madam Rosmerta agreed to give Draco a ten-percent stake in the Three Broomsticks in exchange for his promised protection and a month without dividends, leaving Hermione unsure whether the deal counted as freeloading. After signing the contract, Draco and Hermione left the pub and were drawn toward a Christmas variety show that invited couples onto the stage.

• Madam Rosmerta explained that Fudge's failure to protect Hogsmeade had left shopkeepers vulnerable to Dark wizards, and Hermione blamed him for neglecting his duty.
• Draco proposed taking a ten-percent stake in the Three Broomsticks without paying gold upfront, offering to forgo the first month's dividends instead.
• Madam Rosmerta accepted Draco's terms, and they signed a contract granting him the stake while Hermione privately struggled to decide whether he was freeloading.
• Madam Rosmerta gave Draco and Hermione hot Butterbeer and Christmas treats, and they left the Three Broomsticks to stroll through Hogsmeade.
• A variety-show performer invited couples to try a united-heart magic circle, and the surrounding crowd pushed Draco and Hermione toward the stage.

Draco and Hermione shared a bed at the Three Broomsticks after dazzling the crowd with their magic, and Hermione eventually let him hold her. The next morning, Draco kept her pinned in his arms while she tried to get up.

• Draco and Hermione joined a magical performance, where Draco shaped the spirit flames and stardust into an elaborate heart that amazed the audience.
• Draco pinned a glow-in-the-dark badge to Hermione's lapel, and they returned hand in hand to the Three Broomsticks.
• Hermione hesitated to share the small bed, but Draco persuaded her to lie beside him.
• Draco reached for Hermione in the night and called her "Wifey," and she protested before settling into his arms.
• The next morning, Hermione tried to escape the duvet, but Draco held her close and complained when she tried to move.

Draco and Hermione spent the morning flirting before discussing how to protect Hermione’s parents from the dark wizards. After Draco received Professor Babbling’s letter about checking for traces of Ancient Magic at Hogwarts, they ate breakfast at the Three Broomsticks and prepared to return to school.

• Draco kissed Hermione and agreed that using a Memory Charm could help deal with the dark wizards.
• Draco secretly wrote home asking for someone to protect Hermione’s parents.
• Draco received a letter from Professor Babbling asking them to check a map for traces of Ancient Magic when they returned to school.
• Draco and Hermione ate breakfast at the Three Broomsticks and stepped outside to head back to school.
• Draco stopped suddenly as they were about to return to school.

Draco and Hermione overheard Ranrok and Victor Rookwood plotting to obtain the power of Ancient Magic, then investigated Professor Babbling’s map and discovered a portal beneath the Restricted Section. They activated it with a nearby wellspring of magic and stepped through.

• Draco and Hermione followed Victor Rookwood into a hidden meeting, where they heard Ranrok threaten him over his failure to capture Draco and obtain Ancient Magic.
• Hermione realized Victor Rookwood might be descended from the Rookwood who guarded the Ancient Magic ruins.
• Draco and Hermione found Professor Babbling’s warning letter and used Specialis Revelio on her map, revealing a faint magical trace in the Restricted Section.
• Draco and Hermione found a dormant portal underground and activated it by resonating with a wellspring of magic.
• Draco and Hermione entered the glowing portal and disappeared.

Draco and Hermione explored an ancient magical temple, using a rune orb to activate bridges and defeating its stone guardians. They crossed toward the next level while joking about their combat skills and whether Hermione needed Draco as a bodyguard.

• Draco and Hermione descended through a portal and opened an Ancient Magic door into a temple suspended in darkness.
• Hermione struck a rune orb with Expelliarmus, causing a magical bridge to appear after Draco tried to span the gap with a folding ladder.
• Draco used Depulso to smash two club-wielding statues together, and Hermione used Accio to destroy the remaining guardians.
• Draco disarmed an axe-wielding statue and sent its weapon back into it with the Summoning Charm, then Hermione copied his tactic against the other statue.
• Hermione activated another rune orb and crossed the bridge toward the next level as Draco teased her about having a personal bodyguard.

Draco and Hermione explored the Athenaeum, where the Pensieve revealed Ancient Magic being used to restore a dying village. The Book of the Keepers explained the dangers of abusing Ancient Magic and the existence of trials, but their details were missing, leaving Draco as the only known way to access them.

• Draco and Hermione entered the Pensieve chamber, where the Book of the Keepers vanished into a spatial rift.
• Draco and Hermione viewed a memory of Rackham using Ancient Magic to bring rain and restore a barren village, then saw a girl they suspected was Morgana.
• The book returned to Draco, and he used his system to decipher that the chamber was the Athenaeum, built by four Keepers to pass down Ancient Magic.
• Draco told Hermione that Morgana had abused Ancient Magic by extracting human emotions, and that anyone seeking to inherit it had to pass trials whose details had been torn from the book.
• Hermione reasoned that a Keeper or a would-be inheritor had removed the trial details, while Draco argued that only he could serve as a medium for accessing the trials.
• Draco put the book in his spatial pouch and left with Hermione to find food.

Draco and Hermione learned that Rookwood’s Ashwinder faction had attacked a Hogsmeade patrol and went to investigate. Draco rescued an old woman from two Ashwinders, then ordered his subordinates to take the unconscious men away for possible recruitment.

• At lunch, Draco teased Hermione about whether their future children would inherit his ancient-magic constitution, flustering her.
• An owl brought Draco a report that unidentified Dark wizards had attacked the Hogsmeade patrol and injured two people.
• Draco and Hermione found Tom badly wounded, and Draco healed him with a potent healing potion.
• Tom and another guard identified the attackers as Rookwood’s newly gathered Ashwinder faction.
• Draco stunned two Ashwinders who were threatening an old woman, and Hermione comforted her.
• Draco erased the attackers’ memories and ordered his subordinates to take them away under the family rules, with recruitment in mind.

Draco, Hermione, and Nora were ambushed by a top-hatted witch and two concealed accomplices, but Draco swiftly defeated them and erased their memories. The attackers ended the chapter bound and gathered together as the old woman praised Draco’s skill.

• A top-hatted woman attacked Draco, Hermione, and Nora with a powerful spell, and Draco shielded them from the blast.
• The woman sent a gale of sand and stones at them, but the three defended themselves and Nora fired a Disarming Charm while Draco Apparated behind the woman.
• Draco disarmed and stunned the top-hatted woman, then erased her memories, but a concealed accomplice attacked him from behind.
• Draco blocked the ambusher’s spell and used Specialis Revelio to reveal two hidden attackers, who tried to flee.
• Draco stunned both accomplices and erased their memories, then used Accio and Incarcerous to gather and bind all three attackers.

Draco and Hermione rescued Nora Treadwell from dark wizards, and Nora revealed her research into Merlin’s stone pillars, which she called “Merlin’s Trial.” Hermione activated the trial with mallowsweet, lighting the stones and making the vines fall away, but what would happen next remained unclear.

• Draco summoned his family’s men to remove the unconscious dark wizards while Hermione recognized Nora Treadwell as a leading Merlin scholar.
• Nora warned that the attackers had targeted her research and identified the vine-covered stone pillars as Merlin’s Trial.
• Nora said mallowsweet could activate the trial and invited Hermione to test her theory.
• Hermione fetched a mallowsweet leaf and placed it on the vortex mark, causing the stone to glow green and the vines to fall away.
• Hermione asked Nora what they should do next after the stones lit up but nothing else seemed to happen.

Hermione, Draco, and Mrs Nora activated Merlin’s trial by lighting the three braziers, revealing a magical pavilion and Merlin’s apparition. Mrs Nora departed to investigate other trial sites, and Draco and Hermione returned to Hogwarts, where Hagrid told them that creatures in the Forbidden Forest were disappearing again.

• Hermione lit the tallest pillar’s brazier, causing the pillar to sink, and Draco suggested lighting all three pillars at once.
• Hermione ignited all three braziers, activating the stone formation and raising a vine-covered pavilion as Merlin’s apparition appeared.
• Hermione praised Mrs Nora’s research, and Mrs Nora confirmed her hypothesis before leaving to pursue clues at other Merlin Trial sites.
• Draco and Hermione said goodbye to Mrs Nora and headed back to Hogwarts, planning to visit Hagrid on the way.
• Hagrid told Draco and Hermione that mooncalves and bowtruckles had become scarce in the Forbidden Forest, and Draco joked that Voldemort might be drinking unicorn blood.

Draco, Hermione, and Hagrid investigated the disappearance of creatures in the Forbidden Forest and learned that poachers were capturing them. They rejected a plan to attack the poachers with the forest’s creatures and went to report the camp to Dumbledore.

• Draco, Hermione, and Hagrid entered the Forbidden Forest after suspecting poachers were responsible for the missing animals.
• Several Acromantulas told them that nine wizards had camped deep in the forest, burned grassland, and were capturing spiders and other creatures.
• Draco proposed uniting the forest creatures to attack the poachers, but Hagrid and Hermione rejected the plan as dangerous and potentially illegal.
• The three agreed to ask Dumbledore for help and hurried to his office.
• Hermione told Dumbledore that the poachers were near the centaurs’ territory in a northern gorge and that their leader used powerful Fire-Making Spells.

After reporting poachers in the Forbidden Forest to Dumbledore, Draco and Hermione shared a private moment before the ghost Richard Jackdaw interrupted them to ask for help. Jackdaw offered information about a page of an Ancient Magic book in exchange for help uncovering his death and clearing Anne’s name, then began explaining how he had stolen the page from Peeves.

• Dumbledore promised Hagrid he would contact the Ministry of Magic about the poachers, and Hagrid returned to watch the forest.
• Draco and Hermione went to dinner, then headed toward the Room of Requirement after their dangerous day.
• Draco kissed pudding from the corner of Hermione’s mouth, but Richard Jackdaw suddenly emerged from a wall carrying his own head.
• Jackdaw asked Draco and Hermione to investigate his death and clear Anne’s name, offering to reveal where an Ancient Magic page was hidden.
• Jackdaw explained that he had stolen the page from Peeves, and said he regretted doing so because he believed it had led to his death and Anne’s imprisonment in Azkaban.