Recaps

Dumbledore persuaded McGonagall that Regulus had a strong will and a protective heart, despite her worries about him. The next day, Regulus arranged leave to travel to France and learned that the professors had let his nighttime flight in the Forbidden Forest pass with a warning to be more careful.

• Dumbledore told McGonagall that Regulus had a Starry Sky Kite Patronus, had chosen his own path, and showed a powerful will through his attempts to shape Hogwarts' space and tame Fiendfyre.
• Dumbledore convinced McGonagall to give Regulus time and trust his choices, then wondered whether Regulus's flame might one day turn blue before dismissing the idea.
• Regulus woke to find Hermes exhausted and aggrieved after waiting all night for him, but greeted him calmly and went about his morning.
• Regulus asked Slughorn for the weekend off to handle personal business in France, and Slughorn approved his request.
• Slughorn told Regulus the professors knew about his commotion in the Forbidden Forest and warned him not to make such a spectacle or burn it down.

Regulus prepared to travel to France to visit a relative, but Dumbledore joined him and proposed a new Transfiguration approach to improving Regulus’s flying device. They left the journey ahead as Dumbledore explained how animal traits could be combined with Transfiguration.

• Regulus avoided official travel procedures and prepared to use the Starry Sky Kite to reach Wisteria Manor in Provence.
• Dumbledore appeared in the fog and said he was going to France to visit an old friend, then offered to travel with Regulus.
• Regulus offered to take Dumbledore, who mistakenly assumed he meant the Fiendfyre Flying Device and praised the idea before suggesting a Transfiguration alternative.
• Dumbledore proposed borrowing traits from fire dragons, Thestrals, phoenixes, griffins, and thunderbirds to improve strength, navigation, recovery, vision, and flight.
• Regulus asked whether the traits could coexist, and Dumbledore explained that their accompanying instincts had to be fused into him rather than suppressed.

Regulus and Dumbledore discussed Transfiguration before Regulus used his Starry Sky Kite Patronus to take them to Provence. As preparations for Andromeda Black’s wedding continued, Regulus reflected on what Dumbledore believed about him and watched the gathering from a distance.

• Dumbledore and Regulus combined magical and nonmagical ideas while discussing Transfiguration, and Dumbledore praised Regulus’s open-mindedness.
• Regulus conjured the Starry Sky Kite and used it to carry himself and Dumbledore to Provence.
• Dumbledore admired the Starry Sky Kite’s bright Patronus, and Regulus wondered what Fawkes would see in his soul.
• Regulus and Dumbledore saw preparations for Andromeda Black’s wedding at the stone house in Provence.
• Regulus reflected that Dumbledore saw his Patronus and care for Andromeda as signs of goodness, though Regulus had also killed people and mastered dangerous magic.

Regulus attended Andromeda and Ted Tonks's wedding in France, secretly overcoming the family’s absence to stand by his cousin. He left Ted with a warning and a promise to protect Andromeda, while deciding that her future would not end in tragedy.

• Regulus used a Confundus Charm to enter the wedding unnoticed after Dumbledore declined to attend.
• Regulus met Andromeda in her bridal suite, and she was moved that he had come to see her marry Ted.
• Regulus escorted Andromeda through the courtyard and introduced himself to Ted as her cousin.
• Regulus told Ted that Andromeda had chosen him and warned that he would know if Ted made her unhappy.
• Ted promised to treat Andromeda well, and Regulus accepted his assurance.

Regulus escorted Andromeda at her wedding to Ted, offered them his blessing and a Gringotts vault key, and watched them begin their married life. As the celebration ended, he said goodbye to Andromeda and disappeared before dark.

• Regulus escorted Andromeda down the stairs and placed her hand in Ted’s, telling him he was leaving her in his hands.
• Ted and Andromeda exchanged vows and rings, and Regulus reflected on how they and Sirius had chosen their own paths away from the Black family.
• Regulus blessed the couple, gave Andromeda a key to a vault at Gringotts in Paris, and told her someone remembered her.
• Ted promised Regulus he would treat Andromeda well, and the guests celebrated the newlyweds with cake and dancing.
• At the end of the wedding, Regulus told Andromeda he would leave before dark, said goodbye, and disappeared.

Dumbledore visited Nicolas Flamel and described Regulus Black’s exceptional magical talent and apparent desire to leave the world. He brought Regulus to meet Flamel, where Regulus considered whether the meeting was meant to test his response to the Philosopher’s Stone.

• Dumbledore told Nicolas Flamel that Regulus had developed a spatial spell, showed promise in Transfiguration, and was close to taming Fiendfyre.
• Dumbledore said Regulus’s ambition might be to leave the world, and Nicolas suspected he had brought the boy to discuss the Philosopher’s Stone.
• Regulus picked up a waving glove at Wisteria Manor and was pulled through space to Nicolas’s home.
• Regulus met Nicolas Flamel, who noticed Regulus probing him with Magic Perception and gently called him out.
• Regulus studied the strange devices in Flamel’s room and suspected Dumbledore had brought him there to test his attitude toward the Philosopher’s Stone.

Regulus visited Nicolas Flamel with Dumbledore and used the rare opportunity to learn about alchemy, which he connected to his own ideas about destruction and creation. Flamel explained that alchemy converts Magic Power into matter, and Regulus ended by asking whether the soul was matter.

• Regulus considered how alchemy transformed matter and contrasted its ordering force with the Severing Charm’s destruction.
• Nicolas Flamel went to prepare food, and Dumbledore told Regulus he had brought him there to broaden his understanding of magic.
• Regulus shared a meal with Nicolas and Dumbledore, then accepted Dumbledore’s invitation to ask Flamel questions.
• Regulus asked how the Philosopher’s Stone created the mass needed to turn lead into gold, and Nicolas explained that Magic Power could become matter.
• Regulus asked Nicolas whether there was a limit to converting Magic Power into matter, then asked whether the soul was matter.

Regulus asked Nicolas Flamel about the soul and learned how alchemy could help him see, anchor, and nourish it. He left with a new way to understand his soul and its connection to his goal of lighting up Saiph, though he remained unsure whether darkness could nourish it too.

• Dumbledore listened as Regulus asked Nicolas whether the soul was matter, and Nicolas explained that alchemists treated it as matter so they could work on it.
• Nicolas told Regulus that he had sensed Regulus observing him and recognized that Regulus could see his soul.
• Nicolas explained that a soul needed an anchor to keep it from scattering, and Regulus considered his desire to explore the world and his reflections on magic as anchors.
• Nicolas said a soul grew by consuming experiences, choices, and attachments, and connected that nourishment to the brightness of Regulus's Patronus.
• Regulus wondered whether darkness and destructive impulses could also nourish the soul, then concluded that seeing, anchoring, and feeding formed a cycle that could support his goal of lighting up Saiph.
• Nicolas advised Regulus that some answers would emerge through action, and Regulus thanked him.

Regulus reflected on the nature of his Patronus and Nicolas Flamel’s explanation that Magic Power and mass could be converted, then discussed life and death with the two old wizards. He revealed that he wanted to explore the stars, leaving Nicolas struck by an ambition he had never encountered before.

• Regulus considered how his Starry Sky Kite represented freedom and exploration, while recognizing that it was only one part of him.
• Regulus connected Nicolas’s remarks about converting Magic Power and mass to his own magical theories.
• Nicolas asked Regulus how long he wanted to live, and Regulus said he wanted to live for doing things rather than merely staying alive.
• Regulus sensed that Nicolas had lost interest in continuing his life and realized Dumbledore had brought him partly to give Nicolas a new perspective.
• Regulus told Nicolas and Dumbledore that he wanted to discover what lay among the stars and whether other worlds held life and Magic.
• Nicolas laughed, saying he had thought he had seen everything, after hearing Regulus’s ambition.

Regulus left Nicolas Flamel with an invitation to visit again and returned to Hogwarts with Dumbledore, reflecting on their conversation about the stars, magic, and the soul. He ended the night considering how mass might become magic and how experience could nourish the soul, while his six stars remained unchanged.

• Nicolas gave Regulus a rune-engraved Metal Ball that would let him visit again, then sent him away with Dumbledore.
• Dumbledore explained that Nicolas felt he had experienced everything, and said he would be glad if Nicolas still wanted to live.
• Regulus and Dumbledore returned to Hogwarts, where Dumbledore encouraged Regulus to let his Patronus travel through the Castle.
• Dumbledore asked why Regulus had wondered about converting magic power and mass, and Regulus said he wanted magic to feel more like magic.
• Regulus returned to the dormitory, identified mass conversion and soul growth through experience as his main gains, and found his six stars unchanged.

During a Defense Against the Dark Arts practical lesson, Regulus reflected on how to expand his influence before arranging for Slytherins to partner with two half-blood students. The class sparred, and Regulus and Hermes showed Professor Vance that their skill far exceeded the others', even while holding back.

• Regulus considered how to gain enough influence to light up Saiph, briefly imagining the notoriety he would earn by destroying Hogwarts before rejecting the idea.
• Regulus told Avery to partner with Samuel Vance, prompting Avery to reconsider his prejudice and accept the half-blood as his sparring partner.
• Alex paired with Lina, while Regulus and Hermes faced each other for the practical exercise.
• Professor Vance ordered the students to begin sparring, and Avery took the initiative against Samuel while Alex coached Lina.
• Regulus and Hermes exchanged precise, controlled spells without moving, impressing Vance despite their apparent lack of effort.

In Professor Vance’s Defense Against the Dark Arts class, Regulus demonstrated his dueling skill in a fast-paced match against the professor. Vance ended the duel impressed, awarded Slytherin twenty points, and dismissed the class as the students watched Regulus leave with his friends.

• Professor Vance criticized the class’s uneven practice, praised Cuthbert and Roxier for guiding their partners, and called Regulus forward for a demonstration.
• Regulus opened the duel with Transfiguration traps and combined familiar spells with quick counters, forcing Professor Vance to defend and reposition.
• Regulus increased the speed of his attacks and drove Professor Vance back with a linked sequence of spells before Vance called the duel off.
• Professor Vance told the class that Regulus had fought beyond the level of a second-year using standard spells and awarded Slytherin twenty points.
• Regulus collected his book and left with Hermes, Avery, and Alex, while Lina and Samuel stayed behind.

Regulus developed a plan to use controlled light to transmit emotional information into another person’s mind by adapting ideas from Legilimency. After building the light carrier and preparing emotional samples, he began combining the techniques but became stuck on how to establish a stable mental connection.

• Regulus considered how light could carry information and reasoned that he needed to make the recipient’s brain process it as its own thought.
• In the Forbidden Section, Regulus studied Legilimency and concluded that its memory-extraction process might be adapted in reverse to send information inward.
• Regulus left the Forbidden Section intending to first prove that light could carry information into another person’s eyes.
• In the Room of Requirement, Regulus modified Lumos so he could control its colors, brightness, and rhythm, and created isolated samples of distinct emotions.
• Regulus began merging the improved Lumos with Legilimency’s mental-positioning and connection methods, but he got stuck on how to make their magic structures work together.

Regulus developed a crude spell that used a light beam to influence emotions and chose Aragog as a test subject. He traveled into the Forbidden Forest to Aragog’s nest, where Aragog challenged him over his proposed experiment.

• Regulus used a trace of the Starry Sky Kite’s silver light as a buffer between Legilimency and Lumos, forming an unstable spell to transmit emotions.
• Regulus decided to test the spell on Aragog because the Acromantula could speak, had a complex mind, and possessed magical resistance.
• Before dawn on the first Tuesday of November, Regulus crossed the grounds under a Disillusionment Charm and entered the Forbidden Forest.
• Regulus followed signs of the spider colony to its nest, where he sensed Aragog and Mosag and found a large gathering of Acromantulas.
• Regulus revealed himself and said he had come to conduct an experiment, prompting Aragog to angrily ask whether he meant to experiment on its kin.

Regulus confronted Aragog in the Acromantula nest and demanded that the giant spider cooperate with his experiment. Aragog held back from attacking, wary of Regulus’s power, and continued weighing his response.

• Regulus told Aragog that he wanted Aragog himself, not the whole clan, to cooperate with his experiment.
• Aragog warned Regulus that Acromantulas were dangerous and said that Hagrid’s influence kept the clan from attacking young wizards.
• Aragog remembered the powerful Hogwarts wizards and sensed that Regulus was dangerous, so he chose to talk rather than attack.
• Aragog advanced with the colony surrounding Regulus, but Regulus said Aragog should be grateful he had not used his wand.
• Aragog’s instincts stopped him from striking, and he ordered the other spiders to retreat.
• Regulus considered Aragog’s unusual intelligence and Hagrid’s skill with Magical Creatures while Aragog remained silent and deliberated.

Regulus explained his experiment to Aragog, who questioned why he had not approached the Centaurs and offered Baruk as a willing subject instead. Regulus exposed Baruk to a patterned beam of light that appeared to provoke arrogance and contempt, then asked how it felt.

• Aragog asked Regulus why he had chosen the Acromantulas instead of the Centaurs, and Regulus admitted he had not considered them.
• Aragog asked about the experiment’s risks, then proposed that its clever offspring Baruk cooperate under the condition that the test stop if Baruk was harmed.
• Regulus aimed a modulated beam of light at Baruk, and the spider suddenly acted arrogant and contemptuous toward the others.
• After about ten seconds, Baruk’s behavior subsided, and Regulus extinguished the light and asked how it felt.

Regulus confirmed that his light-based magic could implant emotions in a spider’s mind, then revealed his control over Fiendfyre to explain his confidence to Aragog. He left after securing Aragog’s promise to keep his visit and magic secret, while Aragog asked whether Regulus would seek out the Centaur.

• Baruk described how Regulus’s light had briefly made him feel stronger and fit to lead, and Regulus confirmed that the experiment had succeeded.
• Regulus offered Aragog the chance to name a favor, and Aragog chose to decide later.
• Regulus summoned controlled orange-red flames, frightening Aragog and sending the other spiders into a panic.
• Regulus told Aragog to keep his visit and magic secret, and Aragog promised he would.
• Regulus said he would return, praised Baruk, and vanished after Aragog asked whether he would seek out the Centaur.

During Charms class, Regulus used the Sonorus and Muffliato spells to consider how magic controlled sound and whether the same principles could help him control light. Later, he explained his approach to practicing spells to Lily, who asked to join him the next time he practiced.

• Professor Flitwick taught the students Sonorus and Muffliato, and Regulus examined how Sonorus directed and concentrated sound waves.
• Regulus experimented with narrowing Sonorus's sound toward a target and wondered whether magic could similarly control light.
• At the Library, Lily asked Regulus about his rumored duel with Professor Vance and how he made spells so fast, accurate, and powerful.
• Regulus explained that mastering a spell meant improving its speed, accuracy, and stability beyond simply learning to cast it.
• Lily asked whether Regulus thought she could improve, and he encouraged her.
• Lily asked to join Regulus during his next magic practice, and he agreed.

Regulus accepted Snape’s potion and recognized that Snape was seeking both repayment and a possible business connection, but he left the offer unanswered. Meanwhile, Orion secured two mature Whomping Willows from the Bulgarian Preserve, and Regulus learned they would arrive in Cornwall before Christmas.

• Snape gave Regulus a high-quality potion as a thank-you gift and asked about the Black family’s potion shop in Diagon Alley.
• Regulus praised the potion’s brewing but left Snape’s business proposal unanswered and went to breakfast.
• Orion met Stoyanov in Sofia and hinted that the Black family wanted Whomping Willows from the Bulgarian Preserve.
• Orion offered five years of Herb Garden output support, and Stoyanov agreed to provide two mature Whomping Willows instead of saplings.
• Orion sent Regulus a letter saying the two Whomping Willows would arrive in Cornwall before Christmas.

Regulus tested his developing Light Magic and Spatial Network while the others trained until exhaustion. He then told Alex to invite Samuel Vance and Lena Costa to lunch in the Great Hall the next day, leaving Alex unsure why Regulus wanted them seen there.

• Avery and Alex continued dueling while Hermes trained his reflexes and endurance by dodging spells without using his wand.
• Regulus tested compressing and encoding Lumos, considering how the light could carry information and affect people’s thoughts and emotions.
• Regulus used the Spatial Network to release eight light spheres at once and fire thirteen Disarming Charms from different directions simultaneously.
• Regulus stopped the exhausted training session and floated Hermes, Avery, and Alex back to the Dormitory.
• Regulus told Alex to invite Samuel Vance and Lena Costa to lunch in the Great Hall the next day, and Alex agreed despite not understanding the purpose.

At Sunday lunch, Regulus let Samuel Vance and Lena Costa sit beside him at the center of the Slytherin table, drawing attention to his association with two Half-bloods. He left them with instructions to meet him in the Library that afternoon, while the Slytherins began speculating about what his choice meant.

• Regulus reflected on Slytherin’s pure-blood social order and the power Voldemort would soon wield over its members.
• Samuel Vance and Lena Costa walked past the edges of the Slytherin table and approached Regulus, prompting the other students to watch them.
• Regulus invited Samuel and Lena to sit and eat beside him, while assessing their different temperaments and potential.
• Regulus considered how his protection of the two Half-bloods could serve as a deliberate show of defiance toward Bellatrix.
• Regulus told Samuel and Lena to meet him in the Library at two o’clock to help him find books, then left with Avery, Alex, and Hermes.

Regulus tested Lina and Samuel by asking them to find several Muggle physics books, then told them they no longer had to hide while eating in Slytherin. He sent Lily a note inviting her to meet him at eight o’clock in the abandoned classroom on the fourth floor.

• Regulus gave Lina and Samuel a list of Muggle subjects and asked them to bring back books on those topics.
• Lina and Samuel accepted the task, and Regulus told them they could eat openly in Slytherin from then on.
• Regulus watched Lina and Samuel leave, judging whether they could be trusted to handle the request discreetly.
• Regulus transformed a leaf into a parchment bird and sent it to Lily by the Black Lake.
• Lily read Regulus's invitation and waved excitedly toward the Library while Marcia Flint stood beside her.

Lily enjoyed a transformed leaf from Regulus and prepared carefully to meet him for spell practice, while Marcia worried about the differences between their families and houses. The chapter ended as Lily and Regulus met in an abandoned classroom and playfully addressed each other as professor and student.

• Lily’s note from Regulus changed back into a leaf, and she put it away as a keepsake.
• Marcia teased Lily about Regulus and told her that her family expected the Blacks to produce someone formidable.
• Lily, Marcia, and Susan chose a pale purple robe for Lily to wear to her spell practice with Regulus.
• Regulus told Avery, Alex, and Hermes to practice without him, then went to meet Lily at the abandoned classroom.
• Regulus moved the classroom furniture aside, and Lily greeted him as Professor Regulus before he called her Student Lily.

Regulus tested Lily’s spellwork by catching and dispelling every spell she cast, then explained that true magical basics meant controlling magic directly. He began coaching her on her technique, and the lesson ended with Lily eager to learn from him again the next day.

• Regulus asked Lily to cast every spell she knew at him and caught each one without a wand.
• Lily asked how he had stopped her spells, and Regulus explained the difference between silent, wandless spellcasting and direct magic control.
• Regulus judged Lily an excellent young witch with room to improve, then demonstrated spells and corrected her technique.
• Lily practiced under Regulus’s precise guidance until nearly ten o’clock, when he ended the lesson.
• Lily asked whether Professor Regulus would teach her again tomorrow, and he said they would see.

James Potter and Sirius Black attacked Snape in a corridor, leaving his face gray-black and impossible to cleanse. After Rababstan Lestrange ordered him to investigate why Black was protecting Lena Costa and Samuel Vance, Snape disguised his face and waited for Regulus, who asked how he had gotten darker.

• Snape encountered James Potter, Sirius, Lupin, and Peter in the corridor, and James taunted him about his robe.
• Snape and James exchanged spells until Sirius joined in, and Snape was knocked to the floor with his face turned gray-black.
• Lily tried to help Snape and confronted James and Sirius, while the group left and Snape went back to the Dormitory.
• Snape tried several charms to remove the discoloration, then brewed Whitening Potion, but it made his face unnaturally white.
• Rababstan Lestrange ordered Snape to ask why Black was protecting Lena Costa and Samuel Vance and what he had arranged for them.
• Snape waited near the Library in a hooded robe, approached Regulus, and heard him ask how Snape had gotten darker.