Chapter Summaries

Regulus visited Baruk in the Forbidden Forest and learned that the spider had been trying to win the trees’ acceptance by copying Centaurs and approaching Unicorns. He explained that the forest’s trees needed time to recognize Baruk, then left after the spider cheered up.

• Regulus found Baruk and confirmed that its Bowtruckle module had fused completely, allowing it to hear and speak through the trees.
• Baruk told Regulus that both familiar and unfamiliar trees disliked it, and described its attempts to imitate Centaurs and seek the glow around Unicorns.
• Regulus reasoned that trees welcomed Centaurs and Unicorns because they had belonged to the forest for ages, while Acromantulas had only recently claimed territory there.
• Regulus considered whether Centaurs’ star-reading ability came from learned knowledge or an innate magical trait that he might someday study.
• Regulus told Baruk that the trees needed time to recognize it, and Baruk cheered up by playing with beetles before Regulus left.

Regulus let Lina and Samuel into the Room of Requirement, then put Hermes through a brutal training session to test his Magic Power control and Legilimency. The chapter ended with Hermes exhausted on the floor after Regulus reminded him that he had not even used his modified body.

• Alex told Regulus that Lina wanted combat practice, and Regulus agreed to bring her and Samuel to the Room of Requirement.
• Lina and Samuel entered the Training Ground, where Lina recognized their invitation as a sign of acceptance into the group.
• Regulus attacked Hermes with a relentless barrage of spells, forcing him to dodge, block, and resist mental interference.
• Hermes used Magic Power control to free himself from quicksand and Legilimency to defend against Regulus's mental intrusion.
• Regulus stopped the battered Hermes and told him he had not even used his own body, leaving Hermes collapsed on the floor.

Regulus ordered Alex to train Lina and Samuel while he worked alone on a new Spatial Trap technique. After the others finished practicing, Regulus emerged and led them to dinner, while Hermes remained silent about why he had been beaten.

• Regulus left Hermes injured and told Alex to train Lina and Samuel, while Avery questioned Hermes about the beating.
• Alex guided Lina and Samuel through dueling practice, and Avery trained against a Training Dummy as Hermes sat silently nearby.
• Regulus practiced shaping space into a concealed trap that could hold spells, testing it with a Lumos orb and considering how damaging curses could be used.
• Lina and Samuel finished their practice exhausted, Avery stopped training after the dummy disarmed him, and Regulus came out of the cabin.
• Regulus headed to dinner, and Avery called Hermes over when he lingered by the bench.

Lily met Regulus in the Abandoned Classroom, where Nox hissed at him before he quietly suppressed the magic that upset the cat. She told him how she had disarmed James Potter by pulling down a suit of armor, then analyzed what she still needed to improve.

• Lily arrived with Nox, which arched its back and hissed whenever Regulus approached.
• Regulus suppressed the lingering magic around his wand, calming Nox, but the cat still sprang away when he touched its tail.
• Lily told Regulus how she had fought James Potter after finding him and Sirius attacking Severus, and how she used a suit of armor to reclaim her wand and disarm James.
• Lily admitted James's speed had overwhelmed her plans, and Regulus praised her performance.
• Lily asked where Baruk was, and Regulus said he was staying with his flock and trying to make friends with trees.

Regulus began teaching Lily the Constant Shield Charm as the next stage of her Magic Manipulation, explaining how to build it gradually by shaping a steady strand of magic. Lily managed to hold a strand for two seconds and left determined to master the spell within a year.

• After Lily calmed Nox, Regulus praised her use of Magic Manipulation and told her she was ready to learn the Constant Shield Charm.
• Regulus warned Lily that the difficult spell required shaping magic directly and maintaining a thin, continuous film over her body, even while moving and casting.
• Regulus demonstrated how to form a steady strand of magic on one finger, then guided Lily through her first attempts.
• Lily struggled to keep her strand thin and even, but eventually held one for two seconds before it dispersed.
• Regulus told Lily to practice the first step whenever she had a spare moment, and Lily vowed to learn the spell within a year.

Regulus taught Lily the Enhanced Senses Charm to help her anticipate opponents, and she struggled through the overwhelming flood of sensory information on her first attempt. She left determined to master it alongside the Constant Shield Charm.

• Nox grew comfortable enough around Regulus to settle beside him by the classroom window.
• Regulus explained that the Enhanced Senses Charm could help Lily detect an opponent's movements earlier, but warned that its first use would overwhelm her and drain her mental strength.
• Lily learned the incantation and wand movements for Sensus Altus and successfully cast the charm.
• Lily was flooded with details from her surroundings, then gradually learned to focus on Regulus's voice and endure the spell before ending it after several seconds.
• Lily vowed to develop the Constant Shield Charm within a year and train the Enhanced Senses Charm until she could handle it.
• Lily picked up Nox, said good night to Regulus, and headed toward Gryffindor Tower.

Regulus completed a precise partial Transfiguration in class and wondered how permanent Transfiguration worked. When he visited Professor McGonagall, she asked for his overdue essay, and he agreed to hand it in before Friday.

• Professor McGonagall taught Slytherin and Hufflepuff to transform half of a stone slab into wood while preserving a clean boundary.
• Regulus successfully transformed his slab and considered what made permanent Transfiguration last without continued magic.
• After class, Regulus went to Professor McGonagall's office to ask her questions.
• Professor McGonagall asked Regulus to submit the Transfiguration essay he had missed during his leave.
• Regulus claimed he was writing the essay, and Professor McGonagall told him to hand it in before Friday.

Regulus asked Professor McGonagall how permanent Transfiguration worked and learned that objects reverted because their inner nature still recognized their original form. He left considering whether the Severing Charm could strip away that recognition long enough for Transfiguration to make a new form permanent.

• Regulus asked McGonagall where an object's tendency to revert came from and whether it could be eliminated.
• McGonagall explained that ordinary Transfiguration suppressed an object's unchanged inner nature, while permanent Transfiguration changed that nature to accept its new form.
• Regulus realized he had been focusing on stronger suppression instead of altering an object's inner nature.
• Regulus avoided revealing his Severing Charm and asked whether stripping away an object's self-recognition could remove its direction to revert.
• Regulus wondered whether Transfiguration could permanently reshape something during the brief interval after severing it but before its fundamental units dispersed or re-formed.

Regulus discussed the limits of Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall and realized that Severing might let him erase an object's original nature before reshaping it. He connected that idea to his search for a way for light and darkness to coexist, then the discussion ended when Sirius arrived.

• Regulus asked Professor McGonagall whether something stripped of its original nature could be given a new form.
• McGonagall explained that such a state would last only an almost nonexistent moment and that reshaping after erasure went beyond Transfiguration.
• Regulus realized he might use Severing to erase an original nature and impose a new form before the remaining units dispersed or collapsed.
• Regulus connected McGonagall's ideas about suppression, erasure, and transformation to his unresolved questions about light and darkness.
• Regulus thanked McGonagall, who told him to submit his paper before Friday.
• Sirius opened the office door after knocking.

Regulus watched Sirius demonstrate his progress in Human Transfiguration to Professor McGonagall, recognizing Sirius’s talent and hard work even as his dragon scales lacked magical properties. Sirius began another demonstration with an ink-bottle stopper, leaving its result unrevealed.

• Regulus stayed in Professor McGonagall’s office to observe Sirius and wait for a chance to ask his own question.
• Sirius showed McGonagall his practice notes, then guessed at the advanced subject Regulus had come to discuss.
• Sirius Transfigured the skin on his forearm into dark Hebridean Black Dragon scales, which Regulus recognized as a precise but purely physical transformation.
• The scales faded after Sirius held the transformation, and Regulus praised his progress while McGonagall showed satisfaction.
• Sirius announced he was not finished, and McGonagall floated an ink-bottle stopper into his hand for another demonstration.

Sirius demonstrated advanced transformations to Regulus and Professor McGonagall, who gave him guidance and a booklet of exercises for developing his Magic Perception. Regulus then insisted Sirius leave the office before he and McGonagall discussed something privately, and Sirius reluctantly went into the corridor.

• Sirius transformed a cork stopper into fire, water, and wind before the wind dispersed and returned to cork.
• Regulus praised Sirius, and McGonagall advised him to solidify small patches of his dragon-scale transformation and learn to sense transformed objects without relying on sight.
• McGonagall tested Sirius's ability to sense a moving sheet of parchment with his eyes closed and gave him a booklet of sensory exercises.
• Regulus told Sirius to leave first, and McGonagall backed him up despite Sirius's protest.
• Sirius grudgingly left the office, then stopped after only a few steps in the corridor.

Regulus asked McGonagall whether he could visit Dumbledore and arranged to use her office to travel by phoenix flame on Saturday. He planned to test whether he could place his Guardian Will inside Hogwarts’s space, then left the office and found Sirius waiting in the corridor.

• Regulus asked McGonagall if Dumbledore would return soon, and she told him he had permission to go find him.
• Regulus chose McGonagall’s office for the phoenix crossing so he could attempt to insert his Guardian Will into a gap in Hogwarts’s space.
• Regulus arranged to borrow the office on Saturday morning and told McGonagall he might need to take leave.
• McGonagall reminded Regulus to submit his Transfiguration essays before Friday and to complete the following week’s essay as well.
• Regulus considered why he could not yet seek knowledge from Voldemort and decided to find Dumbledore first.
• Regulus left McGonagall’s office and found Sirius waiting at the corner of the corridor.

Regulus ignored Sirius’s complaints and led him outside the Castle, where Sirius asked how to gain power. Regulus pointed him toward understanding his relationship with Magic, leaving Sirius to ponder the belief-driven path that suited his intuition.

• Regulus ignored Sirius’s questions about his conversation with Professor McGonagall as they walked toward the Great Hall.
• Regulus left through the Castle gates, and Sirius followed him to a secluded spot beside the stone wall.
• Sirius told Regulus that he had been training but still lacked power, and Regulus advised him to keep thinking.
• Regulus asked Sirius to consider his relationship with Magic and the world, prompting Sirius to struggle with the questions.
• Regulus recognized that Sirius’s intuitive magic could grow through clear, firm belief, though Sirius had not yet understood the path he was already on.

Sirius asked whether Magic and the world would help him rescue Regulus, who urged him to act and find the answer for himself. Regulus explained that he sought freedom beyond the limits of space and time, then agreed to continue training Hermes after Hermes apologized and asked to resume their confrontations.

• Sirius asked Regulus whether Magic and the world would help him do something difficult, and Regulus told him to try rather than rely on someone else's answer.
• Sirius asked what Regulus wanted, and Regulus said he wanted freedom to travel through space and live long enough to explore what lay beyond human limits.
• Sirius and Regulus returned to the Great Hall and went to their respective tables for dinner.
• Hermes stiffly apologized to Regulus in front of their friends, who watched and reacted to his awkward attempt.
• Hermes asked Regulus if they could continue their training, and Regulus agreed before Hermes eagerly ate to regain his strength.

Regulus pushed Hermes through an intense dueling session, then told the others he would be away in India next week. After they accepted the cover story and promised to train, Regulus left to pursue his real plans, which he kept secret.

• Regulus repeatedly attacked Hermes in the Room of Requirement, forcing him to improve his dodging, Legilimency, and Magic Power control.
• After about an hour, Regulus stopped the training, and Hermes managed to say that the ordeal had been good.
• Regulus told Avery, Alex, Lina, and Samuel that he would be away in India, and Avery launched into a long account of its dangers and wizarding customs.
• Regulus revealed that India was a false lead intended to misdirect anyone asking about his whereabouts, and Avery agreed to spread the story.
• Alex nodded that he would keep Lina and Samuel within the limits of what they could reveal, while Regulus warned everyone to make progress before he returned.
• Regulus told them to train and left the Room of Requirement.

Regulus wrote to Orion to arrange leave for a Saturday departure and sent Walburga an ordinary, affectionate letter. At breakfast, Orion planned to disguise Regulus’s absence as a trip to repair the Black family vineyard in France, while anticipating that people might investigate.

• Regulus sent Orion a brief letter saying he planned to leave on Saturday and needed travel arrangements.
• Regulus wrote Walburga a letter about school and his health, responding to her efforts to become a more normal mother.
• Kreacher brought Regulus’s sealed letter to Orion and Walburga at breakfast, and Orion understood that Regulus was preparing to leave after their earlier discussion.
• Orion considered how students and Death Eater sympathizers might investigate Regulus’s absence from Hogwarts.
• Orion planned to tell Slughorn that Regulus was visiting the Black family’s French vineyard to oversee repairs to its protective Magic.

Orion arranged a false trip to France for Regulus, using the story to identify anyone investigating his whereabouts, while Regulus requested leave from Slughorn. Slughorn recognized the letter’s purpose and approved the request, leaving it up to him whether to repeat the false story.

• Orion planned to use a fabricated France itinerary and a false Regulus to expose anyone probing the Black heir’s whereabouts.
• Walburga received a letter from her son, read it repeatedly, and was visibly moved by his greetings and concern for her.
• Regulus read and burned Orion’s detailed letter describing supposed trouble at the Black family vineyard in Provence.
• Regulus visited Slughorn and requested leave for family matters, and Slughorn realized the France story was intended for outsiders.
• Slughorn signed Regulus’s leave form and advised him to bring an extra robe for the cold in France.

Regulus told Lily he would be away for at least a week because of family matters, and the two shared a quiet evening in the Library. Before leaving, Lily promised to help him with his studies, and they parted warmly.

• Regulus read about ancient ritual magic and soul resonance in the Library before Lily joined him.
• Regulus told Lily that he would be away for at least a week and that their weekend practice would be postponed.
• Lily showed Regulus her progress with the Constant Shield Charm and described practicing the Enhanced Senses Charm each night.
• Lily offered Regulus her notes and tutoring, then playfully asked him to call her Professor Lily.
• Regulus and Lily left the Library, with Lily wishing him well as he departed to prepare for his trip.

Regulus Black rode Baruk through the Forbidden Forest and discovered that the Acromantula had built a shock-absorbing suspension system. Preparing to meet Dumbledore without exposing his allegiance, Regulus transformed his appearance into that of a rugged young wizard.

• Regulus arrived near Aragog's nest, and Baruk carried him through the forest on its newly stabilized back.
• Regulus stopped in a clearing, illuminated the forest, and used a water mirror to examine his face.
• Regulus considered how Dumbledore's trust and Voldemort's reliance on fear left both factions vulnerable to betrayal.
• Regulus decided to conceal his identity when contacting Dumbledore outside Hogwarts and planned to alter his appearance, magic, and fighting style.
• Regulus changed his black hair to long, coarse silver-white hair, turned his gray eyes amber with vertical pupils, reshaped his features, and made himself taller and more muscular.

Regulus created a new identity by changing his appearance and making his magic power fierce and explosive, then tested a close-range fighting style. After promising Baruk a future trip and treats, he returned to Hogwarts as himself, ready to leave on his journey.

• Regulus used Betelgeuse's image to make his magic power overflow with a scorching, aggressive texture and practiced a close-range fighting style in the clearing.
• He tested high-speed charges and explosive spells against trees and rocks, confirming that the new fighting style worked.
• Regulus restored his usual appearance and magic power, then reassured Baruk with promises before leaving it behind.
• Regulus Apparated from the Forbidden Forest and flew toward the Castle.