Recaps

Harry and Draco left for Malfoy Manor to meet Voldemort, while William and Hermione prepared to pursue separate missions. Voldemort broke Hogwarts’ magical shield and entered the grounds, then left after sensing that a Death Eater had captured Potter.

• Harry slipped away from Ron and left with Draco, and the two discussed whether they might have been friends if they had met differently.
• William gave Hermione protective armor, and they parted as he headed toward the Forbidden Forest and she prepared to lead a team to Gringotts.
• Voldemort’s Death Eaters spent twenty minutes attacking Hogwarts’ shield without breaking through.
• Voldemort destroyed the shield with repeated powerful spells, and the Death Eaters rushed into Hogwarts.
• Voldemort sensed a Death Eater’s summons indicating that Potter had been caught, then flew away to deal with him.

William led his allied army in an assault on Hogwarts, where the Dementors revealed they had defeated the Death Eaters at the Ministry and now fought for him. After William and his forces routed the Death Eaters, he announced Voldemort had fled and demanded their surrender, leaving many of them kneeling while Auckland still resisted.

• William learned from the Dementor leader that the Death Eaters had attacked the Ministry and been defeated, while the Dementors remained unharmed and allied with him.
• William assigned Ronan, Mormont, and Kingsley to block the Black Lake, Forbidden Forest, and Hogwarts secret passages before rallying his army to charge.
• Auckland led the Death Eaters toward the gates after discovering Hogwarts was empty, but William shattered their defenses and slaughtered them as the cavalry arrived.
• The Dementors attacked the Death Eaters, and some who tried to cast the Patronus Charm were killed by the spells' backlash.
• William announced that Voldemort had fled and demanded the Death Eaters surrender; one of them attacked Auckland, and many others dropped their wands and knelt.

Voldemort killed the wounded Grindelwald and took the Elder Wand, then went to Malfoy Manor and killed Harry Potter. Believing himself invincible, he ordered Draco to bring Harry’s body to Hogwarts so he could kill his enemies and crush their spirits.

• Voldemort found Grindelwald gravely wounded in the Scottish Highlands and attacked him instead of searching for Dumbledore.
• Voldemort killed Grindelwald, took his wand, and became convinced it was the Elder Wand and made him invincible.
• At Malfoy Manor, Draco told Voldemort he had captured Harry and explained how he had escaped Hogwarts with him.
• Voldemort cast the Killing Curse on Harry, and both Harry and Voldemort collapsed before Voldemort recovered.
• After Draco confirmed Harry was dead, Voldemort ordered him to bring Harry’s body to Hogwarts.

William confronted Voldemort at Hogwarts after defeating the Death Eaters, and they fought across the ruined castle square. Voldemort’s Elder Wand charred and crumbled as William’s sword pierced his chest, leaving the duel’s outcome unresolved.

• Voldemort arrived at Hogwarts with Draco carrying Harry’s body and found William waiting outside the castle.
• William taunted Voldemort, explaining that he had killed many Death Eaters and that others had surrendered.
• William and Voldemort exchanged powerful spells, devastating the square before Hogwarts Castle.
• Voldemort switched to the Elder Wand and cast Avada Kedavra, but the wand charred and turned to dust.
• Voldemort tried to switch back to his yew wand, then saw that William’s longsword had pierced his chest.

William and Dumbledore revealed that they had tricked Voldemort, and Dumbledore wounded him with the venom-coated Sword of Gryffindor. Voldemort transformed into a Hydra and devastated Hogwarts, but William realized the sword had been summoned away and that Voldemort could finally be killed.

• Dumbledore revealed himself to Voldemort, and William explained that he had posed as Grindelwald while Sirius had disguised himself as Karkaroff.
• William revealed that the Elder Wand was fake and that Gregorovitch had made it to mislead Voldemort.
• Voldemort’s wound began turning black from Basilisk venom, and he decided to fight to the death before seeking resurrection through his Horcruxes.
• Voldemort transformed himself into a nine-headed Hydra, a Magical Animagus, and attacked William and Dumbledore with the creature’s powerful spells.
• The Hydra’s combined attack cut Hogwarts in half, and William and Dumbledore emerged battered from the destruction.
• William saw the Sword of Gryffindor vanish from Dumbledore’s hand as if summoned away, and he realized Voldemort could finally die.

Sirius and Lupin killed Wormtail, while Snape destroyed the Runespoor Horcrux with the Sword of Gryffindor. Hermione and Phoebe found Hufflepuff’s golden cup in Bellatrix’s vault and escaped as goblins attacked, leaving William free to kill Voldemort without worrying about the remaining inanimate Horcrux.

• Sirius confronted Wormtail and told him Tom Riddle had betrayed him, then killed him after recalling what Gryffindor meant.
• Snape fought the Runespoor and used the Sword of Gryffindor to kill it and destroy its Horcrux.
• Hermione and Phoebe led Bellatrix into her vault while their companions guarded the entrance against the goblins.
• Bellatrix retrieved the golden cup, and Hermione took it as the last inanimate Horcrux.
• Anne warned Hermione that goblins were attacking with a dragon, so Hermione and Phoebe left with the cup and sent William word that Voldemort could now be killed.

William and Dumbledore defeated Voldemort at Hogwarts after William revealed that all of Voldemort’s Horcruxes had been destroyed. Hermione confirmed Voldemort’s death in Hogsmeade, and the gathered forces celebrated their victory.

• William told Voldemort that his Horcruxes, including the diary, diadem, ring, cup, locket, and Runespoor, had all been destroyed.
• Voldemort faltered and tried to escape, but William pinned the Nine-Headed Serpent in place while Dumbledore summoned a powerful tornado.
• William combined Fiendfyre with Fawkes’s flames and sent a giant fire phoenix into the tornado, leaving Voldemort mortally wounded in a crater.
• William recited a prophecy as Voldemort died and turned to dust.
• Hermione announced in Hogsmeade that Voldemort was dead and William and Dumbledore had won, prompting the gathered forces to cheer.

After Voldemort’s death, William rested while the victors celebrated and planned the postwar settlement of magical creatures and the defeat of Death Eater families. Hermione revealed that Hufflepuff’s Cup was a Deathly Hallow that could brew any potion, but their conversation ended when William sensed a hidden witch.

• Madam Bones and William announced Voldemort’s death, prompting celebrations across Britain.
• William woke beside Hermione and discussed resettling magical creatures and forcing Death Eater families to submit.
• Hermione showed William Hufflepuff’s Cup and demonstrated that it could brew any potion on request.
• William and Hermione discussed the cup’s power before William addressed a witch hiding in the room.

William learned from Babbling that Death had manipulated her father, Corvinus Gaunt, into becoming his servant so he could help Death return to the living world. As Death’s plans threatened them, William asked Babbling to aid Vivian in the Underworld, and she left him her protective amulet before departing.

• Babbling told William that the United States was in chaos after the Scourers attacked the Magical Congress, and William considered using the conflict to strengthen Europe’s influence.
• William explained that Voldemort had returned after being killed and described the mysterious old man connected to Rosier, Vivian, Arya, and the Underworld.
• Babbling revealed that her mother Elaine was Death’s daughter and that Death had manipulated Corvinus Gaunt into serving him in exchange for restoring his wife and daughter.
• William and Babbling concluded that Death wanted to return to the living world, and Babbling said finding Tom could help stop the plan.
• William asked Babbling to go to the Underworld and help Vivian take Morgan’s trident, and Babbling agreed.
• Babbling warned William that Death would target him for his Deathly Hallows, then gave him her protective amulet before leaving.

Tom hid in the Vatican Secret Archives and restored his soul by enduring thousands of deaths. After regaining Voldemort’s memories and declaring his intention to kill Dumbledore, Stark, and Slytherin, he was confronted by an old man in cardinal’s robes who reminded him of a promise.

• Tom entered the Vatican Secret Archives, returned a Kabbalah book to its shelf, and prepared to restore his soul from the fragments in the Soul-Gathering Coffin.
• Tom repeatedly repented for his murders and killed himself whenever the pain overwhelmed him, dying 4,396 times before making his soul whole.
• Tom recovered Voldemort’s memories and celebrated his return as a complete Dark Lord.
• Tom vowed to kill Dumbledore, Stark, and Slytherin, but an old man in cardinal’s robes appeared and asked why he had hidden after returning to the world.

The old man revealed that he had engineered Tom’s path to resurrect him as a vessel for Death, then began the ritual using Tom’s body and heart. William arrived and attacked the old man, but his real target was Tom, whom he tried to kill to stop Death’s descent.

• Tom refused to hand over the clay doll unless the old man helped him kill Dumbledore and Stark.
• The old man refused and revealed that he was Gaunt, had manipulated Tom’s search for the Prehistoric Mysteries, and wanted Tom’s body to serve Death.
• The old man immobilized Tom, activated the markings beneath his skin, and used the Ark of the Covenant to remove Tom’s heart and begin Death’s descent.
• William appeared in the archive room and attacked the old man with lightning and water magic.
• William used the attack as a feint, appeared behind Tom, and swung his longsword at Tom’s head to stop Death’s descent.

William confronted Gaunt in the Vatican archives as Death took possession of Tom Riddle, then fled when Death’s commands killed everyone in the Vatican. Death ordered Gaunt to release Morgan from the Underworld and turned his attention toward the remaining Deathly Hallows.

• William attacked Tom Riddle but could not cut through the red hair protecting him, then questioned Gaunt about his schemes and Death’s resurrection.
• Gaunt refused to abandon his two-hundred-year plan, and Death possessed Tom Riddle’s body, killing Tom in the process.
• Death emerged from the archives and used his commands to suffocate soldiers and force them to kill one another, while William resisted with the Prehistoric Mysteries.
• Death appeared atop Saint Peter’s Basilica, took the Spear of Longinus, and commanded everyone in the Vatican to kill themselves, including the pope.
• Gaunt told Death that William had escaped to the United Kingdom, and Death ordered him to go to the Underworld and release Morgan.
• Death turned his attention toward Jerusalem and the Deathly Hallows hidden in Merlin Memorial Hall in the United Kingdom.

After Death destroys cities across Europe and the Middle East, William waits at Merlin Memorial Hall, prepared to confront him. Death demands the Hallows and declares himself the only god, beginning their confrontation.

• The Vatican’s population is found dead, and Italy tries to redirect blame toward Turkey.
• A young wizard floods Constantinople, kills hundreds of Aurors near Jerusalem, steals the Weeping Wall, and petrifies Athens with a gigantic Basilisk; the world names him the third-generation Dark Lord.
• William waits for Cedric’s new wand and Nicolas Flamel’s alchemical item while Vivian and Professor Babbling pursue the trident.
• Death arrives in the British Isles with his Basilisk after destroying Auckland and confronts William at Merlin Memorial Hall, demanding the Deathly Hallows.
• William questions Death about his destruction of cities, and Death claims that he alone will remain when the universe ends.

William used an alchemical gauntlet containing six Obscuruses to challenge Death, then drew on rain and natural magic to unleash a massive Water Tornado. Death endured his attacks with ease, and the battle remained unresolved as William sent the torrent around for another strike.

• William confronted Death and declared that he would never serve him or surrender the Deathly Hallows.
• William put on Nicolas’s gauntlet, which let him channel the power of six Obscuruses without putting them directly into his body.
• William attacked Death with seventeen Killing Curses, but Death erased one and caught the rest before sending them back at him.
• William used Undead Frenzy to send the six Obscuruses against Death, who caught and repelled their attacks.
• William drew on three years’ worth of rain to form a colossal Water Tornado, but Death struck it down and tore open the ground.
• William curved the Water Tornado beneath the earth and sent it back toward Death as thunder and lightning filled the sky.

William was overwhelmed by Death in their battle near Stonehenge, but a sudden phenomenon interrupted Death just as he prepared to take William’s soul. In the Underworld, Babbling helped Vivian seize Merlin’s trident and send it into the River Styx, leaving the conflict with Morgan unresolved.

• Death swallowed William’s Water Tornado, turned the water into hydrogen, and battered William with fire, wind, lightning, and reflected spells until William collapsed.
• Death prepared to take William’s soul and reclaim the Deathly Hallows, but a strange phenomenon appeared and drew his attention while William recognized that help had arrived.
• Morgan told Vivian that Merlin was Death’s son and Vivian’s younger brother, then attacked while Vivian was stunned.
• Babbling arrived from a golden coffin, restrained Morgan, and knocked the trident from her grasp while identifying herself as Elaine’s daughter.
• Vivian retrieved Merlin’s trident, recognized it as a key, and hurled it in its golden coffin into the River Styx.

Hermione and Phoebe opened the locked room in the Department of Mysteries with the trident, releasing Merlin’s stored power. At Stonehenge, that power transformed William and let him wound Death, who retaliated by summoning five mountain-sized meteorites toward the earth.

• Hermione and Phoebe waited in the Death Chamber until a golden coffin emerged from the archway, revealing the trident William had identified as the key.
• Hermione fitted the trident into the locked room’s three holes, and the doors opened in a blaze of white light.
• At Stonehenge, William summoned the trident as Merlin’s power emerged from the opened room and rushed toward him, forcing Death to intercept it.
• The column of light flooded William with power, healed his injuries, and enabled him to break Death’s defenses, seize the trident, and drive Death into the ground.
• Death recovered from his wounds and challenged William, then pulled five mountain-sized meteorites from space and sent them hurtling toward the earth.

William fought Death to protect Britain from a meteor attack, but Death repeatedly revived and eventually overwhelmed him. As William died, he trapped Death inside Stonehenge, while Gellert Grindelwald arrived on Death’s island in the Underworld.

• John Major learned that meteors were heading for London, panicked, and collapsed with a heart attack.
• William redirected the meteors into the Atlantic Ocean, then fought Death with the trident and wand.
• Death repeatedly revived after William’s attacks, while William’s borrowed power dwindled.
• Death altered gravity, beat William nearly to death, and stabbed him with the Spear of Anubis.
• William used his remaining power to summon Stonehenge and trap Death before dying.
• Gellert Grindelwald crossed the Bridge of Death and the River Styx to reach Death’s island.

Grindelwald reached Death’s island and sacrificed his soul to cut down the elder tree, the source of Death’s power. As he vanished, he asked Albus Dumbledore to forgive him and said goodbye.

• Grindelwald found Death’s battle axe after traveling to the end of the River Styx.
• Grindelwald recalled how Ariana’s death had ended his bond with Dumbledore and left him burdened by guilt.
• Grindelwald struck the elder tree with the axe, surrendering his soul as the phantom scythe tore it from his body.
• Grindelwald felled the elder tree and asked Albus Dumbledore to forgive him for the hurt he had caused.
• Grindelwald remembered making the Blood Pact with Dumbledore, said goodbye, and vanished completely.

In Limbo, Merlin explained to William that he was Death’s son and revealed how Herpo the Foul became Death. William learned that Death’s immortality came with eternal confinement in the Underworld, while Merlin left him with the secret behind Death’s rise and imprisonment.

• William found himself in a memory of Merlin’s birth, where Merlin revealed that he could see William and explained that they were in Limbo.
• Merlin told William that Death was his father, making Merlin the younger brother of Vivian and the older brother of Morgan and Elaine.
• Merlin explained that Death could not die because he had become one with the Underworld, where he was bound to guard it and maintain the order of life and death.
• Merlin revealed that Death’s real name was Herpo the Foul, who had used Horcruxes to resurrect himself while fighting Anubis for the title of Death.
• Merlin said Herpo destroyed ancient Greece and Egypt, including the Egyptian Invisible College, to prevent wizards from learning the Prehistoric Mysteries and challenging him.

Merlin explained Death’s long-running plan and why the Hallows, the elder tree, and Death’s surviving bloodline mattered. He prepared William to use the Ravenclaw Bronze Ring to train in a time loop before facing Death, leaving the final move of their ancient struggle to William.

• Merlin told William how Death had recruited Corvinus Gaunt through Elaine and used Gaunt to manipulate Tom Riddle and prepare his descent.
• Merlin explained that Death could not be killed while his bloodline endured, but said he had severed his own connection and Vivian and Elaine were dead, leaving Morgan as the remaining target.
• Merlin warned that William was too weak to fight Death and urged him to master the Prehistoric Mysteries with the Ravenclaw Bronze Ring during a short time loop.
• Merlin gave William an oak wreath that would boost his intelligence and learning, then explained how he and others had laid the groundwork for the final confrontation.
• Merlin declared that William would decide the outcome of the ancient game and shape the human world for the next thousand years.

Gaunt and Vivian killed Morgan after Babbling suddenly collapsed, and Gaunt revealed the many ways he had worked against Death. William awakened after the broken charm saved him from the Spear of Longinus and confronted Death, declaring it was time for him to die.

• Babbling suddenly lost her strength and collapsed, allowing Morgan to attack, but Gaunt intervened and struck Morgan down.
• Gaunt revealed that he had secretly engineered several events to undermine Death and said Morgan was Death’s last Bloodline Horcrux.
• Morgan let go of her magical protection and died, believing she was finally free.
• As Death’s collected wizard souls battered Stonehenge, William awakened and pulled the Spear of Longinus from his chest, revealing that Babbling’s shattered charm had saved him.
• Death told William that Babbling was probably dead, and William challenged Death, calling him Herpo the Foul.

William fought Death with power strengthened by years in a time loop and used time magic to weaken him before summoning the axe that had cut down the Elder Wood. After discovering and striking Death’s weak point, William severed his head despite Death’s threat to destroy the world, leaving Death dead.

• William clashed with Death and revealed that he had developed powerful space-time magic during a time loop.
• William cast Death into turbulent currents of time, weakening him, but Death returned and wounded William with his scythe.
• William summoned Grindelwald’s axe and learned that Death’s finger bone, used to make the Bronze Ring, was his weak point.
• William told Death that Morgan had been killed, then struck Death’s vulnerable hand and dismantled his body with the axe.
• Death threatened to destroy all life if William killed him, but William cut off Death’s head anyway.

William defeated Death’s Basilisk as the River Styx threatened to flood the human world, and Dumbledore chose to become the new Death to save it. After Gaunt and the others departed for the far side of the River Styx, William woke at home, where he and Hermione discussed their future and Luna’s book about his adventures.

• William pinned Death’s Basilisk with the broken trident while Dumbledore and Newt stood by, but he admitted he could hold back the Underworld’s rain for only half an hour.
• Dumbledore took the Resurrection Stone and Death’s weapons, became the new Death, and sealed the passages between the Underworld and the human world.
• Gaunt, Vivian, and Babbling discussed crossing the River Styx; Babbling chose to return with Arya, while Vivian planned to leave her body behind.
• Dumbledore planted the Elder Wand as a tree in the Underworld and named it Gellert Grindelwald.
• William woke at home in Ottery St Catchpole, received a Hogwarts letter, and found Luna writing a book about his adventures.
• William and Hermione walked by the river, teased each other about marriage, and he promised her the grandest wedding.

Yaya reflected on completing the novel, explained its main ideas and foreshadowing, and acknowledged its flaws. Yaya planned to write side stories and a new fanfiction after finishing a thesis and resting.

• Yaya recounted writing the novel from December 2019 to August 2021 and finishing 2.71 million Chinese characters.
• Yaya described Death and the Prehistoric Mysteries as the story's central ideas and explained how the plot developed from them.
• Yaya explained that earlier prophecies foreshadowed Little Tom's restored soul and Dumbledore becoming Death.
• Yaya acknowledged the novel's flaws, including excessive references and similarities to the original, and promised to keep them in mind for future writing.
• Yaya said side stories about William, Hermione, and Dumbledore might follow, while the next fanfiction would come after Yaya finished a thesis and rested.
• Yaya thanked editor Xiao Yuan and the readers who supported the book.