Regulus Began to Think
12 Grimmauld Place, Regulus's Room.
He stood by the window, the London night stretching out before him, the Muggle streetlights shining in the distance, their dim yellow light spilling down from the tops of the lampposts onto the empty streets.
Several cars were parked by the roadside. A Muggle, bored enough to be walking his dog at midnight, was being dragged along by the dog, stumbling and staggering, while his other hand was holding something up and looking at it.
It felt like a lifetime had passed since he had just experienced everything.
Twenty minutes ago, he faced the most dangerous wizard of the era, and managed to preserve all his secrets through masterful manipulation under the Legilimency. Now, he stands at his window, watching a Muggle walk his dog.
Regulus began to think.
Voldemort's Magic Power.
In theory, Voldemort's Magic Power should have a structure, a texture, and analyzable components.
He couldn't sense it, probably because Voldemort's Magic Power operated at a level beyond the reach of his sensory system.
It could also be the result of Voldemort's active control, just as Dumbledore could choose whether or not people could perceive him.
There is a third possibility: the soul shattered.
Voldemort's soul was torn apart; he was no longer whole.
The Magic Power carried by a shattered soul may have an abnormal structure, which normal Magic Perception cannot detect.
It might not be related to strength or weakness, but rather to incorrect formatting.
If you take an inch ruler and try to measure something that doesn't exist in the inch unit, the ruler itself is fine, and the thing being measured is there, but the ruler will give a blank reading.
He had previously considered the relationship between the soul and Magic Power.
The soul is the load-bearing wall, Magic Power is the house built on top of it. If the load-bearing wall collapses, the house's structure will be damaged.
But Voldemort's house appeared to be fine.
That presence that made Fiendfyre retreat, that all-encompassing Magic Power interference, that Legilimency that had been used on him in a few seconds, were all operating perfectly, without the slightest sign of weakening.
This may mean that Voldemort's source of power has transcended the premise of the integrity of the soul.
He was propping up the house with something else; the ultimate profundity of Dark Arts allowed him to go to places others dared not go, and bring back things from those places that ordinary wizards could not even imagine.
Horcruxes may provide some kind of compensation mechanism; the soul is shattered, but the fragments are scattered and stored in multiple containers, each of which is an anchor point.
The anchor points pull on each other, forming alternative structural supports.
Or, going even deeper, Voldemort's understanding of the boundaries of Magic had reached such a level that while a complete soul is a prerequisite for most wizards, it was not for him.
He bypassed this condition and found another path, which came at an extremely high cost, but it worked.
What is the price?
What does an Complete Soul bring?
He thought of the look Voldemort gave Bellatrix, and there was nothing there.
His most loyal follower was beaten and fell before him, and he looked at her as if she were a dead object.
Perhaps this is the price to pay.
Once the soul is torn apart, everything that was attached to the whole soul—empathy, connection, care—all crumbles along with it.
The power remains, but everything else is gone.
Regulus noted down this conjecture, but did not draw any conclusions yet.
These are just guesses; they lack theoretical support and cannot be verified.
Unless one day he can actually access a Horcruxes, or truly analyze the structure of a shattered soul.
If you can't do it now, think about the next thing.
light and dark.
He recalled the moment Voldemort amplified his power Legilimency, and how that force struck the Containment Chamber.
The things in the Containment Chamber, the true core of Dark Enlightenment, the unfiltered and undiluted primordial form, sensed the main body and resonated. The things trapped in the cages desperately tried to escape, but the safety structure held steady, preventing them from breaking out. However, the vibrations of the resonance penetrated the barrier and reached deeper into the Mental Space.
Then Bellatrix lit up.
He recalled how he felt at that moment.
The dark side moves first; Voldemort's Magic Power triggered the core of Dark Enlightenment, and the Containment Chamber was in turmoil.
Domination, oppression, devouring, contempt—what was sealed deepest within Voldemort became active before him, so active that it almost broke through the barrier. Then the light followed suit.
Bellatrix lit up briefly, the Star Orbit Meditation fluctuated, the outline of the Soul Avatar became clearer in the core area, and the reflection of the Patronus flashed past in the deepest part.
The reaction of light follows the reaction of darkness; it responds to the surge of darkness.
But the way the response came surprised him.
Bellatrix did not confront what the Dark Enlightenment; it did not emit light to suppress the surging darkness, nor did it stand in front of it like a shield. As it had expected, the light came and the darkness retreated.
It just lit up.
It's like a fire burning brightly in a room, billowing smoke, when suddenly the window opens by itself, letting in fresh air. The wind doesn't extinguish the fire, nor does it diminish because of the wind; they each exist, in the same space.
He always believed that light and darkness needed to be balanced.
For over a year, he kept Dark Enlightenment confined to Containment Chamber, using Filtration Layer to select the usable parts and Isolation Zone to seal off the dangerous ones. The design logic of the entire system is that the dark is dangerous and must be controlled, managed, and confined to a safe area. Bellatrix, the Patronus, and Star Orbit Meditation are the light, the good, and his core need to be protected and kept separate from the dark.
Each of you should mind your own business and avoid getting involved with each other.
But his recent experience told him that when they met, they didn't fight.
The darkness surged, and the light followed suit, both active simultaneously in his Mental Space, separated by several layers of defense. But those defenses were his own creation, artificial isolation.
What would happen if we removed those barriers?
He didn't know, but he had a new idea.
Perhaps light and darkness were never opposing forces from the beginning.
Dumbledore's Magic Power is the ultimate of light, Voldemort's Magic Power is the ultimate of darkness.
The Wizarding World places them on opposite ends of a scale, requiring everyone to choose sides: light or darkness.
But this division was created by wizards; Magic itself doesn't choose sides.
Magic is chaotic.
Before wizards used it, Magic Power was simply Magic Power; it had no color, no stance, no good or evil.
Wizards imbued their magic with direction when using it; to protect people, it became light; to harm people, it became darkness. But that was the user's choice, a label attached. Over time, Wizards began to believe the label itself was true. White Magic and Dark Arts were treated as two fundamentally different things, written into textbooks, engraved in law, and became the Ministry of Magic's classification standard. But Regulus believed that their essence should be the same thing.
Dumbledore certainly knew Dark Arts. Given his talent and experience, and the years he spent with Grindelwald, it was impossible for him not to be proficient. At his level, the line between White Magic and Dark Arts had probably become so blurred that it almost didn't exist.
Every kind of Magic is merely a means to achieve the desired result; which one to use depends on the need and has nothing to do with good or evil.
But he chose the light, chose to act in a righteous way, chose to stand on the side of the light, and chose to become Protection of the light. This choice defined him, and it also limited him. He doesn't use Dark Arts, perhaps simply because his choice doesn't allow him to.
Voldemort certainly understood the Patronus. He studied Magic at Hogwarts for seven years, so he must have learned the Patronus Charm and understood the theory. He also had happy memories. Tom Riddle won all the awards at Hogwarts, was favored by the professors, and was admired by his classmates. It's impossible that he didn't have happy moments during those years.
But he couldn't do it; perhaps after his soul shattered, the things that could support his Patronus also shattered.
Perhaps he chose darkness, chose domination and fear, and chose to crush everything with power.
This choice defined him, and it also sealed the door to his Patronus.
Both of them reached the extreme in their respective directions, but each only went one way.
They could certainly go the other way; with their talent and ability, going the other way might not be worse than going this way.
But they won't leave; choice becomes definition, and definition becomes limitation.
Dumbledore became the Dumbledore of Light, and Voldemort became the Voldemort of Darkness.
They each reached the end of their own paths, and the door behind the end pointed to the other side.
They can see it, but they won't push it away, because it's their choice.
Regulus didn't want to make that choice. He didn't want to be defined, didn't want to go down only one side, didn't want to draw a line between light and darkness and then stand on one side.
Magic is chaotic, complete, and contains all possibilities.
Light and darkness are merely different aspects of it, like the solid and liquid states of water; they differ in temperature and state, but are essentially the same thing. He chose to preserve its integrity; to put it bluntly, he wanted it all.
The light, the Patronus, Bellatrix, the will to Protection, the yearning for the vast world—these are all part of his soul, always have been. And the darkness?
Does the soul have a dark side?
He had thought about this question before, more than once, but had never looked at it seriously.
Those things have always existed, blended into daily life, treated as part of oneself, never taken out and looked at separately.
Voldemort's appearance tonight forced him to watch.
He sank into his Mental Space.
The Soul Avatar stood silently in the deepest part, its outline clear, indistinguishable in front and behind.
Bellatrix shone behind it, steady and warm.
In Star Orbit Meditation, other stars revolve in more distant locations, their light tracing fixed paths.
His soul is that little man, Bellatrix is its light.
But the Starry sky is not just about stars; between the stars are vast, dark gaps, and those gaps are not empty.
In Astronomy, interstellar space is filled with dark matter, dust, gas, and Radiation. Those places that appear to be empty are actually full of things, just invisible to the naked eye.