Chapter Summaries

William used Babbling’s amulet to search the former Capitol site and confirmed that the Prehistoric Mysteries were not there. After the Capitol was destroyed in an explosion, William, Hermione, and Trene headed for Ilvermorny to confront Tom, who had gone to seize Slytherin’s Wand.

• William examined Babbling’s warm amulet and recognized its shape as the Egyptian Symbol of Life, then held it near his heart as she had instructed.
• The amulet let William perceive events across the Capitol, including Aurors fighting Scourers, Hermione interrogating a Scourer, and Trene approaching Muggle troops planting C4.
• William’s attempt to extend his vision toward the Washington Monument drained his magic, but he confirmed the Prehistoric Mysteries were not hidden at the Capitol and withdrew from the amulet’s strange state.
• Muggle soldiers detonated the bombs planted throughout the Capitol, destroying the building in a massive explosion as William, Hermione, and Trene watched from the Washington Monument.
• William told Hermione they were going to Ilvermorny because Tom had gone there to seize Slytherin’s Wand, and said it was time to settle things with him.

Tom revealed that he had arranged multiple attacks to weaken Ilvermorny's defenses so he could take the snakewood, and he asked Babbling to help. Babbling agreed, intending to use the opportunity to obtain Slytherin's Wand before handing it over to Tom.

• Headmaster Eulalie Hicks learned that the Scourers were approaching Ilvermorny and ordered the professors to evacuate students and organize the school's defenses.
• Hicks sent Fontana to recruit professors from the other three schools to defend the grounds and passages.
• Tom told Babbling that he had obtained the Prehistoric Mysteries and asked her to help him take Ilvermorny's snakewood.
• Babbling warned Tom that the Scourers would not be enough to defeat the combined defenders, so Tom revealed that he had placed the professor leading Uagadou's group under the Imperius Curse.
• Babbling agreed to retrieve the snakewood while planning to get Slytherin's Wand before giving it to Tom.

Uagadou students turned against Ilvermorny, helping the Scourers and routing the Japanese wizards from Mahoutokoro. Headmaster Hicks asked Professor Targaryen to protect the Snakewood, revealing that removing it would trigger Greylock's volcanic eruption and destroy Ilvermorny.

• A group of Mahoutokoro wizards headed for the grounds, where Ichiro Nemoto dismissed concerns about the Scourers and planned to rely on Uagadou students for protection.
• Uagadou students transformed into animals and ambushed the Japanese wizards, injuring many and tossing Ichiro Nemoto aside.
• Fontana told Hicks that Uagadou had joined the Scourers, its students were rampaging as Animagi, and the Mahoutokoro wizards had been wiped out.
• Hicks summoned Professor Targaryen and asked her to guard the Snakewood from anyone trying to take it.
• Hicks revealed that the Snakewood kept the active volcano beneath Ilvermorny from erupting, and removing it would destroy the school.

William learned that taking Slytherin’s Wand could trigger the volcano beneath Ilvermorny, threatening everyone at the school. Babbling proposed putting the Snakewood to sleep and burying it again, while Hermione and William offered ways to persuade Tom and accelerate the tree’s regrowth; William then recognized a prophecy about magma destroying Ilvermorny.

• William returned to Babbling with Hermione and gave her back her pendant as Babbling explained that Tom had used Uagadou Animagi to create chaos at Ilvermorny.
• Babbling revealed that the Snakewood rooted beneath the school was holding back an active volcano, which could erupt if the wand was removed.
• Babbling proposed using Parseltongue to put the wand to sleep and rebury it after Tom severed his connection to the Horcruxes, but Hermione warned that Tom might refuse and magma could erupt within hours.
• Hermione said she had an idea for persuading Tom, and William offered to use the power of time to make the buried Snakewood take root faster.
• As Babbling prepared to take the wand from a Pukwudgie, William recalled Trelawney’s prophecy about magma destroying a school and realized it referred to Ilvermorny.

William and his allies attacked the Pukwudgie guarding the Snakewood, and Babbling used Parseltongue to persuade him that she could prevent the volcano from erupting. William took Slytherin's Wand, unlocked the Book of Alchemy, and prepared to find Tom.

• William surprised the Pukwudgie with a lightning spell, but the creature fought back with fire and a poisoned arrow.
• Hermione and Trene helped subdue the Pukwudgie while Babbling threatened to destroy the Snakewood and spoke to him in Parseltongue.
• Babbling withered the Snakewood, and William snapped off its root to obtain Slytherin's Wand, which bore a living Basilisk.
• William used Slytherin's Wand to unlock the Book of Alchemy and saw phantoms of numerous Deathly Hallows.
• William remembered Grindelwald's warning not to gather a complete set of three Hallows from one story, then decided to find Tom.

Tom agreed to help William save Ilvermorny after the volcano began erupting, hoping to win influence over the school’s students and make William its next headmaster. William secretly intended to betray Tom, while Tom planned to use Slytherin’s Wand against Voldemort before building his own power.

• The volcano erupted and shattered Ilvermorny’s shield, prompting William to demand that Tom help save the students.
• Tom realized that Ilvermorny’s young wizards could become future followers and help him gain control of the Magical Congress.
• Tom offered to help William stop the eruption if William could become headmaster and let Tom pursue his plans.
• Tom said he would use Slytherin’s Wand to sever the Horcruxes’ connection, then return it by planting the Snakewood again.
• William watched Tom walk toward a cave and swore on Voldemort that he would betray him.

Tom severed the links between his soul and his remaining Horcruxes, but William revealed that he had impersonated Targaryen and killed him. After confirming Tom was dead, William took the wand and Resurrection Stone and flew toward Ilvermorny, while a mysterious old man appeared beside Tom’s body and vanished with it.

• Tom used Slytherin’s Wand to sever all the remaining Horcrux connections to his soul.
• At Hogwarts, Harry accidentally used Levicorpus on Ron, then felt something inside him being severed and collapsed in pain.
• William met Tom outside the valley and urged him to go to Ilvermorny to save the students before the volcano erupted.
• William stabbed Tom with a Goblin sword and struck him with a spell, then revealed that he had always been Targaryen and had fooled Tom.
• Tom died, and William took Slytherin’s Wand and the Resurrection Stone before flying toward Ilvermorny as a sea eagle.
• A mysterious old man appeared by Tom’s body, and both he and the body vanished.

As Ilvermorny’s volcano erupted, William returned and used the Slytherin wand and stored time magic to grow the Snakewood and halt the disaster. He then went with Hermione and Trene to the Washington Monument, where Babbling’s pendant revealed the lost power of Prehistoric Mysteries.

• As magma broke through Ilvermorny’s defenses, Hermione and Trene trusted that William would return, while the Pukwudgie prepared to sacrifice his life to delay the eruption.
• William arrived, gave the Slytherin wand to Babbling, and poured stored time magic into it until it grew into a great tree.
• William left Babbling to explain the restored Snakewood to Headmistress Hicks and borrowed her amulet to search for Prehistoric Mysteries.
• William, Hermione, and Trene reached the Washington Monument and used Babbling’s pendant to make the obelisk resonate with its hidden power.
• Runes appeared around the glowing monument, and William recognized it as the source of the lost power he had been seeking.

William recognized a Slytherin Statue on the Washington Monument and concluded that the power hidden there was probably a trap rather than Slytherin’s legacy. He explained to Hermione that Corvinus Gaunt may have fabricated the Chamber of Secrets Sanctuary and falsified records to lure people toward the Prehistoric Mysteries and Slytherin’s wand, leaving William unwilling to take the power.

• William spotted a monkey-faced Slytherin Statue on the Washington Monument and identified the monument as the likely hiding place of the Prehistoric Mysteries.
• Hermione suggested taking the entire monument back to the United Kingdom, but William refused because he suspected the power was a deception.
• William recalled Professor Babbling’s lesson that mistranslating Ancient Runes had led Corvinus Gaunt to depict Slytherin with a monkey’s face.
• William told Hermione that the Chamber of Secrets and Basilisk were real, but Tom’s Sanctuary inside the statue was probably fabricated and falsely attributed to Slytherin.
• William reasoned that Gaunt may have planted misleading notes to lure seekers toward the Prehistoric Mysteries and wand, and decided not to touch the power.

Tom awoke in the Capitol Library after an old man saved him from his wounds and learned William had found the Prehistoric Mysteries beneath the Washington Monument. The old man revealed that he was Salazar Slytherin, Tom’s ancestor and the author of the prophecy.

• Tom drifted through the void, then awoke with a chest wound in the Capitol Library.
• An old man told Tom that William had stabbed him and explained that he had saved him with Snakewood leaves and potions.
• Tom learned that William had found the Prehistoric Mysteries, which lay at the Washington Monument rather than the Capitol.
• The old man recited the prophecy and explained that “the place where the nation was founded” referred to the Muggles’ nation.
• The old man told Tom that he had written the prophecy and revealed in Parseltongue that he was Salazar Slytherin.

Tom met an old wizard who claimed to be Salazar Slytherin and offered to teach him the Prehistoric Mysteries, despite William having gained the power in the obelisk. The old man sent Tom to find Harry Potter, whose soul held another fragment of Tom’s, and promised to guide them in seeking the Deathly Hallows in exchange for asking Death for the third one for him.

• Tom saw the obelisk go dark and feared William had taken its power, but the old man told him William had not and offered to teach him himself.
• The old man explained that the Prehistoric Mysteries were hidden in religious texts around the world, though their contents had been altered and only the worthy could understand them.
• Tom asked the old man to teach him, and the old man agreed on the condition that Tom help him ask Death for something.
• Tom said he needed three related or brotherly companions to find Death, and the old man revealed that a fragment of Tom’s soul was attached to Harry Potter.
• The old man promised Tom the obelisk’s power and guidance on the quest for the Deathly Hallows if Tom asked Death for the third Hallow for him, and Tom agreed.

After returning to Hogwarts, William told Dumbledore that he had killed Tom and recovered the Resurrection Stone, which Dumbledore refused to touch because he feared its temptation. They planned how to destroy the last Horcruxes, but the chapter ended with Harry’s approaching sacrifice still uncertain.

• William reviewed his success against Tom with Dumbledore and explained that he had used the Resurrection Stone to summon figures formed from his memories.
• Dumbledore confessed that he could not resist the Resurrection Stone’s pull and told William to keep it from him unless he was about to die.
• William and Dumbledore discussed destroying the remaining Horcruxes, with Snape assigned the Runespoor and Hermione’s group set to retrieve Hufflepuff’s Cup from Gringotts.
• William said he planned to hand Bellatrix over to Neville and Mrs. Longbottom, and Dumbledore praised William for helping Neville grow braver.
• William asked whether Harry was ready to die, and Dumbledore admitted that he did not know but hoped so.

After the Capitol was destroyed, tensions rose between Muggles and wizards in the United States, while Hogwarts erupted over rumors about Harry and Ron. Gryffindor reached the Quidditch final against Ravenclaw, and William prepared his team for the last match of his Hogwarts career.

• Clinton turned his attention toward the wizards, and the Magical Congress of the United States of America prepared for a possible conflict with Muggles and Scourers.
• William asked Professor Babbling to contact Wormtail in Tom's name so he could control all three spies close to Voldemort.
• Rumors spread that Harry and Ron had been caught in a compromising scene, and Harry's decision to replace McLaggen with Ron intensified the gossip and Lavender's anger.
• Katie returned to Gryffindor's team and scored twelve goals against Hufflepuff, carrying the team into the final against Ravenclaw.
• William reminded his teammates that the final was their last match at Hogwarts and marked their brooms with the message, "The last dance!"

William Stark led Ravenclaw to a record-breaking victory over Gryffindor in the final, securing the team’s fourth consecutive Quidditch Cup. After the match, Luna bid farewell to William, Cho Chang, and the graduating veterans as William raised the Cup.

• Luna introduced William Stark and the players with extravagant announcements, while the students filled the stands to honor Ravenclaw’s veteran team.
• Gryffindor focused its defense on William, but Ravenclaw’s Chasers scored early before missed shots and disputed fouls disrupted their attack.
• William broke through Gryffindor’s defense with fast maneuvers and long-range shots, overwhelming the opposing team.
• Cho Chang caught the Golden Snitch as Ravenclaw won by 580 points and claimed its fourth consecutive championship.
• Luna said goodbye to William, Cho Chang, and the veteran Ravenclaw team as William held the Quidditch Cup aloft.

Ravenclaw celebrated its fourth consecutive Quidditch championship, and William took every N.E.W.T. subject while accepting an invitation to set exams for the Wizarding Examinations Authority. At the end-of-year feast, Dumbledore announced that Hogwarts would remain open and urged the graduating students to remember those lost in the wars against Voldemort.

• Ravenclaw celebrated its fourth straight championship, while William’s records cemented his reputation as the greatest player in Hogwarts history.
• William sat every N.E.W.T. subject, including Alchemy, and Professor Marchbanks invited him to work for the Wizarding Examinations Authority or set its exam questions.
• Cho asked William and Hermione to vote for her to join the Order of the Phoenix, and William revealed that he had received an invitation to an International Alchemy Conference in Cairo.
• Dumbledore told the students that Hogwarts would stay open as long as even one student wanted to attend, and said Voldemort still feared to attack the school.
• Dumbledore reminded the graduating students of the many witches and wizards killed in the wars and urged them to let the fallen be their light in the darkness.

After months of training in Constantinople, Tom learned that the city concealed a passage connecting the human world to the Underworld. Slytherin sent him to retrieve a soul fragment and prepare to meet Death.

• Tom explored Constantinople for more than two months, studying religious texts and cultivating himself as Slytherin instructed.
• At Saint Sophia Cathedral, Slytherin told Tom that Jesus had once possessed Death’s goblet, which became the Holy Grail and was later connected to William’s white dragon incident in Venice.
• Slytherin explained that Death had guided wizards through dreams, including Osman I, whose dream led to the conquest of Constantinople.
• Slytherin revealed that the passage to the Underworld lay beneath Constantinople, where Dumbledore and Grindelwald had planned to make a pilgrimage.
• Slytherin told Tom to find a boy, bring the soul fragment to Constantinople, and meet Death.

Hermione and the Order of the Phoenix rescued Professor Charity Burbage from a Death Eater attack, while Voldemort’s attempt to capture her failed. He killed the returning survivor, ordered Snape to investigate the leak and Auckland to hunt the young Order members, then announced he would focus on military affairs, alarming veterans who remembered his disastrous micromanagement.

• Wiggins’s Death Eaters searched Charity Burbage’s home in Oxford, but Hermione, Cho, Cedric, and the twins ambushed them and rescued Burbage.
• Casio escaped to Voldemort’s meeting and falsely claimed Wiggins had died after an ambush by Stark and the Order of the Phoenix.
• Voldemort questioned Casio, detected his lies, and killed him with the Killing Curse.
• Voldemort ordered Snape to investigate how the Order learned of the mission and tasked Auckland with hunting Hermione and the other young Order members.
• Voldemort said he would devote his energy to military affairs, prompting Rookwood to fear a return to Voldemort’s disastrous micromanagement.

Voldemort’s Death Eaters debated the Ministry’s planned summer offensive before he ordered them to make the Hebrides the battlefield and encircle Stark’s forces. He insisted their eight thousand fighters had the advantage over the enemy’s six thousand, then stepped onto the map at Hogwarts.

• Roose Bolton reported that Stark would command the Ministry’s summer offensive and that the battle would take place in the Hebrides.
• Death Eaters from rival factions argued over whether to reinforce Jaehaerys MacFusty or abandon the islands, while MacFusty warned that the young dragons there were valuable.
• Voldemort silenced the argument and confirmed that the Hebrides would be the battlefield.
• Roose Bolton announced that Jaehaerys would hold the islands while Nott led an eastern force and Diram led a western force to converge on Stark’s army.
• Voldemort demanded that his forces drive the Europe Wizard Allied Forces from Britain before autumn and declared that eight thousand fighters gave them the advantage over six thousand.
• Voldemort walked across the map and planted his foot on Hogwarts.

William briefed the allied commanders on a plan to surround and destroy Voldemort’s forces using intelligence from Snape and concealed reinforcements. He ended the meeting by ordering the summer offensive to proceed, while keeping his contingency plan for the Dementors secret.

• William revealed that Voldemort’s forces would be ambushed rather than face the expected attack on the Hebrides, and confirmed that Thunderbirds were due to arrive from North America.
• Madame Cregan said France had prepared a hidden base for the Thunderbirds, and Charlie Weasley promised fifty dragons from the Romanian sanctuary to help regain air superiority.
• William assigned Nott’s Eastern Expedition Corps to attack, with Mormont’s Werewolves encircling the enemy near Helvellyn, and said Centaurs and Acromantulas would counter the mounted Trolls and Orcs.
• Madam Cregan and the other European representatives agreed to intercept the Western Expedition Corps, while Kingsley would lead British Aurors to divide the battlefield.
• After Mr. Weasley warned that thousands of Dementors could enter the battle, William said he had a contingency plan and ordered the allies to destroy Voldemort’s eight thousand Death Eaters.

Hermione brought Professor Burbage safely to the Ministry, where William arranged for her to stay at Hogwarts while she continued writing against Voldemort. As the war neared, William and Hermione returned home, and Hermione asked him to marry her after the summer.

• Hermione rebuffed Percy when he tried to use her to reconnect with William and urged him to visit his mother instead.
• William welcomed Hermione and Professor Burbage, kept Dumbledore’s mission abroad confidential, and told Burbage she could continue publishing her articles.
• William told Hermione that Voldemort’s Trolls had become cavalry, so the Centaurs would have to fight sooner and production of alchemical weapons must speed up.
• William, Hermione, and Anne ate Anne’s successful dinner before William and Hermione went for a walk by the river.
• Hermione asked William to marry her after the summer, and William promised her a grand wedding.