Chapter Summaries

Draco and Hermione followed an enchanted book page that seemed to be leading them toward Brakebills School. Hermione returned to alert Trillian and Selene, while Draco waited with the playful page and was still resting when she came back.

• Draco told Hermione he had a way to contact the people who might invite him to Brakebills School, and said he wanted to build a family library for her.
• A page broke free from a book and led Hermione on a tiring chase; Draco explained that it was likely enchanted by whoever handled admissions at Brakebills School.
• Draco and Hermione decided to follow the page and agreed Hermione would return to the villa to tell Trillian and Selene.
• After Hermione Apparated away, Draco made himself a stone chair and watched the page transform into a paper airplane and then a frog.
• Hermione Apparated back and teased Draco for resting instead of keeping busy.

Draco and Hermione followed a magical paper bird through the woods, believing it would lead them to Brakebills School of Magic. The bird passed through a glowing barrier, leaving them hovering outside as Hermione wondered whether to follow.

• Draco revealed that the paper frog on his head was the missing page, but it escaped Hermione's grab by unfolding into a paper bird.
• Draco and Hermione chased the bird on a broom, and Draco teased Hermione while she steered through the woods.
• Draco guessed that Brakebills had arranged the bird's flight as a test, and Hermione continued following it into the dark forest.
• Draco reassured Hermione as the woods grew darker, and the glowing bird led them above the treetops.
• The paper bird passed through a glowing white barrier, and Hermione stopped the broom to ask Draco whether they should follow it.

Draco and Hermione entered Brakebills, an isolated magical school, and were allowed to take its entrance exam despite being underage. They discovered that the shifting exam questions probed their inner selves, and Draco realized they had little effect on him because he was no longer quite the person they targeted.

• A paper bird led Draco and Hermione into a sunlit alternate space where they met Henry Fogg, dean of Brakebills.
• Henry explained that they had not been accepted and would have their memories erased if they failed, but allowed them to sit the entrance exam as an exception.
• Draco and Hermione entered a modern classroom filled with adult exam takers and began the test as Henry turned over an hourglass.
• The exam papers' words and questions constantly shifted, confusing Draco and Hermione.
• Draco realized the questions examined his identity and morality, but concluded they failed to affect him because he was not truly the original Draco and the system might be shielding him.

Draco finished the exam after writing a single sentence declaring that the paper’s illusions could not control him, while Hermione completed her questions. Headmaster Henry recognized Draco’s answer, and the students learned that the exam was a test for mages before being dismissed until the second test that afternoon.

• Draco spent most of the exam playing with his pencil, then wrote one sentence and considered the test finished.
• Headmaster Henry inspected Draco’s answer and understood that Draco had grasped what the paper was testing.
• Hermione asked Draco what he was doing, and he mouthed that he was finished, distracting her before she returned to her exam.
• Two exam staff arrived with boxes to collect the papers, and Henry ended the test when the hourglass ran out.
• Henry told the students the test was for mages and directed them to submit their papers before returning for the second test at two that afternoon.

After the first test, Draco and Hermione discovered their exam questions had been different, then left the examination room and explored a magical skill. Hermione learned Intangibility from Draco and realized it could also protect someone from ordinary attacks; Draco secretly developed a version for himself and demonstrated it to her.

• Candidates worried about the second test and learned that failing could mean having their memories erased before they were sent away.
• Draco and Hermione handed in their papers and realized they had received different questions.
• Draco used Intangibility to see the school map, then taught Hermione how to make objects intangible.
• Hermione suggested that turning oneself intangible could prevent ordinary attacks from causing harm.
• Draco used the system to develop a self-targeted Intangibility skill and demonstrated it to Hermione.

Draco teased Hermione into kissing him in exchange for teaching her intangibility, then showed her how to use the ability. They left to eat while Hermione planned to ask about the answers on her exam paper.

• Hermione figured out that Draco had learned intangibility with help from his treasure chest and asked him to teach her.
• Draco teleported with Hermione beneath a secluded live oak, where they kissed after she agreed to discuss his conditions later.
• Draco taught Hermione intangibility, and she quickly learned to make herself transparent but discovered she could not move while intangible.
• Hermione asked whether Draco had already entered the campus map into his treasure chest when he made the exam-hall onlookers intangible.
• Hermione and Draco agreed to discuss her exam-paper answers while they ate.

Draco prepared a meal of new dishes for Hermione, who enjoyed them and worried about gaining weight. Afterward, Draco used Fortune Points to clear the table and took Hermione for a walk through the woods.

• Draco conjured a table and armchairs beneath an oak tree and served Hermione several dishes, including sweet-and-sour ribs and sweet potato leaves with shrimp paste.
• Hermione tasted the food, praised its flavors, and discussed how palace chefs and restaurants might have inspired culinary innovation.
• Hermione worried that eating more would make her fat, and Draco reassured her while joking about who looked good at different weights.
• Hermione ate several more mouthfuls after Draco assured her that his weight-loss method worked, then admitted she was full.
• Draco spent Fortune Points to clear away the meal and walked with Hermione through the woods, where she admired the scenery.

Draco showed Hermione a capsule house and explained how he had answered the shifting illusion-based exam questions. After they rested together, they discussed the next exam and ended by proposing a bet about whether Director Henry had approved Draco’s answer.

• Draco produced a capsule that unfolded into a furnished house, astonishing Hermione.
• Hermione joined Draco on the bed, and he explained that the first exam used shifting questions to probe each examinee’s subconscious and mental resilience.
• Draco said his questions about his family were easy because Hermione’s place in his life had already strengthened his defenses.
• Draco guessed the second exam would test the activation of magical power and claimed they had probably already passed.
• Hermione challenged Draco’s confidence, and Draco pointed out that Director Henry had read his answer without criticizing it before suggesting a bet.

Draco and Hermione arrived at the examination room for the second stage of the magic university assessment and waited while other candidates speculated about the school and their chances. The first candidates entered the room, but the interview remained a mystery as a bearded man turned to question Draco and Hermione about their age.

• Draco and Hermione woke from their nap, reached the examination room, signed in, and sat at the back of the waiting area.
• A female teacher began calling candidates into the examination room, and Ethan Carter and Liam Wilson went in first.
• The waiting candidates discussed how they had reached the magic university, the changing written exam, and their doubts about passing the assessment.
• Zara Reed greeted Draco and Hermione, and they discussed the campus and the possibility that failed candidates would have their memories erased.
• A bearded man turned around and asked Draco and Hermione how old they were.

Draco and Hermione discussed the applicants’ unusual paired interviews while waiting for their turn. Leland and Ella entered together, but when the teacher came out alone, the candidates realized both had been eliminated.

• Draco told the waiting candidates that he and Hermione were both minors, prompting speculation about why the academy had admitted them.
• The teacher called Leland Shaw and Ella Wins for an interview, and Leland asked Ella to withdraw so he could improve his chances.
• Ella agreed to withdraw because she did not want to become a wizard, and the pair entered the examination room.
• The waiting candidates debated whether the academy might reject both applicants, while others speculated about the fate of the previous pair.
• The teacher emerged from Leland and Ella’s interview alone, and the candidates understood that both had been eliminated.

Cole Baker and Jenna Leith entered the interview, and Jenna emerged alone, pale and exhausted, suggesting Cole had been eliminated. Quentin and Julia were called next, while the waiting candidates debated whether the interview could change their fate or merely reveal an outcome already decided.

• The teacher called Cole Baker and Jenna Leith, who entered the interview after calming their nerves.
• The candidates discussed the previous pair’s eliminations and speculated about the interviews.
• The teacher returned with Jenna, who looked drained and unsteady, while Cole did not emerge.
• The teacher called Quentin and Julia, and the childhood friends entered together, each troubled by the possibility that one would be eliminated.
• The waiting candidates debated whether their magical potential and interview results had already been determined.

Candidates waited anxiously for their magical interviews after Jenna and Quentin emerged in distress, and a teacher explained that exhaustion and temporary unconsciousness could occur during the test. Draco and Hermione were called in together, leaving the chapter as they entered the examination room.

• Candidates speculated that the interview trials varied in intensity and that Jenna’s pallor reflected the pressure she faced.
• Quentin was carried out unconscious, and a female teacher explained that he had successfully awakened his innate magic but had exhausted his mind and magic.
• Colin Ward and Martha Bell were called into the exam, while the waiting candidates tried to calm themselves with conversation.
• A later candidate emerged smiling, and the female teacher then called Draco and Hermione together.
• Draco and Hermione entered the room, and Draco said their interview would disprove the others’ guesses.

Draco and Hermione entered their joint interview, where Director Henry and four other examiners began questioning them. Outside, the candidates argued over whether the young pair deserved their opportunity and whether they would pass, while the interview’s outcome remained unknown.

• Zara challenged the candidates’ assumption that Draco and Hermione could not both pass, while the bearded man noted that earlier groups had each lost one candidate.
• Draco reassured Hermione before they entered the examination room together, and the examiners studied them as they prepared to question the pair.
• Candidates outside mocked Draco and Hermione, while others defended them and speculated that they might come from a wizarding family.
• A quarrel broke out between the candidates, and the man who had mocked the pair grew wary that they might have powerful connections.

Draco and Hermione demonstrated their magic before Director Henry and the examiners, then proved they could cast without wands. After both passed the interview, Draco explained that they would study at the school for two months before returning to Hogwarts.

• Hermione and Draco used the playing cards to create a hovering bird, but the examiners asked them to demonstrate wandless magic.
• Draco explained wandless magic to Hermione, who immediately used it to send the card bird across the room.
• The examiners praised Hermione’s extraordinary talent and declared that she needed no additional basic test.
• Draco controlled the airflow around the card bird, impressing the examiners with his precision and understanding.
• Director Henry announced that Draco and Hermione had passed the interview.
• Draco thanked the examiners and clarified that they would return to Hogwarts after two months of further magical studies.

Draco and Hermione passed their interviews, received magical dormitory keys, and left the waiting candidates stunned by their success. They reached the Gothic dormitory building and wondered whether it had been built before the modern teaching building.

• Director Henry and the professors accepted Draco and Hermione’s request to study for only two months and gave them dormitory keys.
• The examiners told Draco and Hermione to bind the keys with magic, avoid using wands at school, and begin learning wandless magic.
• Draco and Hermione left the interview room, and the waiting candidates reacted with surprise to their success.
• The next pair of candidates also passed, breaking the candidates’ assumption that one person had to fail.
• Draco and Hermione walked to the Gothic dormitory building, where Hermione wondered whether the modern teaching building had been built later.

Hermione and Draco explored their dormitory, discovered its magically adjustable lighting, and reminisced about sneaking around Hogwarts at night. Draco ended by asking whether Hermione liked a bad person like him.

• Hermione opened the dorm room door with her thoughts and teased Draco as they entered.
• Hermione brightened the dim sitting-room lamp by adjusting it with her mind.
• Draco and Hermione discussed how Hogwarts used dim lighting to create atmosphere and frighten timid students.
• Draco recalled Hermione's nighttime excursions, and Hermione blamed him for leading her into rule-breaking adventures.
• Draco asked Hermione whether she liked a bad person like him.

Hermione admitted that she liked Draco, then tried to hide her embarrassment while he inspected her dorm room. Draco discovered that the room’s unusual window glass absorbed magic, and Hermione hurried to stop him from testing it further.

• Hermione told Draco she liked him and fled into the bedroom to inspect it.
• Draco knocked and asked to see the bedroom, and Hermione let him in after trying to compose herself.
• Draco examined the bed, desk, bookcase, and spell-marked wall while teasing Hermione.
• Hermione pointed out that the window glass looked strange, prompting Draco to test it with a probing spell.
• Hermione grabbed Draco and scolded him for testing the glass recklessly after it absorbed his magic.

Hermione and Draco flirted in their dorm room until Draco's teasing left her embarrassed and scrambling to find somewhere to change. Hermione realized she could simply lock herself in the second bedroom, then headed there with renewed confidence.

• Hermione insisted on managing their money after Draco joked about paying to replace anything he broke.
• Draco pulled Hermione into his arms and teased her until a noise in the corridor interrupted them.
• Hermione noticed her clothes were in an embarrassing state, wrapped her jacket around herself, and demanded a change of clothes from Draco.
• Hermione searched for somewhere private to change, but Draco pointed out that the dorm had no bathroom and that going outside could expose her to new students.
• Hermione realized she could change in the second bedroom with the door locked and strode toward it, telling Draco to dream on.

Hermione changed into the outfit Draco had picked out and emerged from the bedroom, only to realize she could have cleaned her wet clothes with a Scouring Charm. Draco teased her and offered the outfit as compensation, while Hermione accused him of choosing it so he could admire her.

• Hermione changed into Draco's striped top and khaki trousers, then gathered her courage to leave the bedroom.
• Draco watched Hermione as she checked her appearance in the living-room mirror and asked whether she liked the outfit.
• Hermione became embarrassed when Draco brought up her wet clothes and complained that he kept mentioning them.
• Draco reminded Hermione that a Scouring Charm could have cleaned her clothes, and Hermione blamed him for making her forget the spell.
• Draco offered the outfit as compensation, but Hermione rejected it and accused him of wanting to see her wear clothes he liked.

Draco explained to Hermione that changing her fate earned him Fortune Points to use his Treasure Chest, and Hermione realized his plans and rewards were tied to her. They continued teasing each other in the dorm room, ending with Hermione pinching Draco and him warning her not to damage his stamina.

• Hermione asked Draco for a private bathroom, and he claimed he could use his Treasure Chest to provide one.
• Draco told Hermione that changing her fate earned him Fortune Points, and he said her coming to Brakebills counted as a change.
• Hermione connected Draco’s choices and unexpected advantages to his Treasure Chest and realized its rewards depended on her.
• Draco teased Hermione about being schemed against, and she hugged him while insisting he would not dare scheme against anyone else.
• Hermione pinched Draco’s waist, and he flinched and warned her not to damage his stamina.