The last Wednesday of October brought the same sullen weather to the Scottish Highlands. Clouds hung low, pressing down on everything.
Morning.
History of Magic classroom.
Regulus sat by the window, its glass fogged over, the world outside reduced to a grey blur.
Professor Binns droned on about the Giant Wars. Around the room, young wizards slumped in various stages of unconsciousness. Regulus's mind was elsewhere entirely.
He knew now. Exerting influence outward was the key to lighting the eighth star.
But at Hogwarts, under Dumbledore's watchful eye, the range of what he could directly influence was limited.
The student body was the most obvious target. Not ideal, but the most viable path available.
The problem was being a Slytherin. In this era especially, the house sat behind an invisible wall that separated it from the other three. His influence was bottled up inside Slytherin. What leaked out was reputation, and that reputation was mixed at best.
Honestly? Mostly bad.
Everything he'd done in first year, whatever the purpose, whatever Slytherin thought of it internally, looked terrible from the outside. To the other houses, he was probably a ruthless Pure-blood princeling who bullied the weak. A future Death Eater in training.
And even if he could build enough influence among the students, spreading it beyond Hogwarts would be difficult. This was still a school. They were all children.
The kind of outward influence he needed couldn't come from that alone.
Then again, maybe it could.
If making waves inside Hogwarts wasn't enough, he could make waves with Hogwarts.
If that idea actually worked... if he really did blow Hogwarts apart... would that be enough influence?
Never mind lighting the eighth star perfectly. Every wizard on every continent would know the name Regulus Black.
The surname Black would become an inescapable entry in the history of world magic.
Modern Magical History would probably dedicate an entire chapter to him. He'd even come up with the title for future historians:
The Destruction of Hogwarts: The Crime of Black
The text would probably read something like:
In 197X, Hogwarts student Regulus Black, while attempting to verify a theoretical principle of Alchemy, caused the entire castle to be reduced to ash in a single instant due to a procedural error.
Thanks to the timely intervention of Headmaster Albus Dumbledore, a small number of students survived.
According to eyewitnesses at the scene, at the moment of the explosion, Black himself was standing at the center of the ruins, wand still in hand, looking confused.
When asked about the incident, he said only: "I just wanted to see if it would work."
The subsequent reconstruction of Hogwarts took seven years and cost an incalculable sum. The Black family covered the bill in full.
Some commentators have called it the most expensive experiment in magical history.
Regardless, the name Regulus Black was, from that day forward, carved into the annals of magic.
The corner of his mouth twitched.
Setting aside whether he could even pull it off, Hogwarts meant more to the British wizarding world than a few centuries of history. It practically was British magic.
Blow it up, and Dumbledore wouldn't just come after him. Voldemort might actually set aside his feud with Dumbledore long enough for both of them to come after him together.
After all, Hogwarts was the place Voldemort had called home. The first place that ever took him in. The only place he'd ever acknowledged.
Regulus reeled his thoughts back in.
Hogwarts was fine where it was. No need to blow it up. Even if he could, he shouldn't.
But blowing up other things... that was on the table.
---
Afternoon. The Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom on the third floor. When Regulus pushed the door open, most of the seats were already taken.
Slytherin on the left. Gryffindor on the right. An aisle between them like a border.
Professor Ezra Vance stood behind the lectern. Fortyish, tall and lean, hair combed without a strand out of place, eyes sharp.
The students watched him with an eager, almost restless energy.
After nearly two months of theory and fundamentals, Vance had announced last session that today's class would be live dueling.
His gaze swept the room. "Quiet."
Silence fell.
Vance wasted no words. A flick of his wand sent the desks and chairs sliding to either side, clearing an open space in the center.
"Pair up. Two to a team. Use what you've learned."
His eyes lingered on a few students. "Begin."
The room burst into motion.
Young wizards scrambled to find partners. Some called out invitations, some got claimed, some stood rooted in place waiting to be found.
Gryffindor and Slytherin stayed rigidly separate. Nobody crossed the aisle.
Regulus didn't move. Hermes didn't move either.
An unspoken consensus hung over the surrounding students. Nobody wanted to square off against Regulus.
As for Hermes, everyone knew his level too. Nobody was keen to volunteer for that particular misery.
Cuthbert and Alex exchanged a glance and paired up automatically.
Lina and Samuel stood in the corner, looking at each other. Nobody would come for them. They knew that.
It didn't matter which class. The two of them were permanent partners.
Regulus glanced over. "Cuthbert."
Cuthbert turned.
Regulus tipped his chin toward Samuel. "You're with Vance."
Cuthbert blinked. He looked at Samuel, then back at Regulus.
Regulus said nothing more.
Cuthbert understood. Last time, Vance and Costa had run that errand for Regulus, tracking down the professor. This was payback.
He knew perfectly well what life was like for those two half-bloods.
He didn't need Regulus to spell it out. Just carrying the Avery name and showing the slightest hint of acceptance would be enough to make their lives in Slytherin considerably easier.
And if he was being honest, it had occurred to him at the time: if those two half-bloods hadn't been around and Regulus needed someone to fetch a professor, one of them would've had to do it.
Their little circle did need people for errands. The sort of thing Regulus wouldn't do himself, which meant it fell to them.
Deep down, Cuthbert looked down on anyone who wasn't Pure-blood. Strongly. He found it distasteful.
But something had shifted after that speech in the common room.
He'd stood in front of everyone, mimicking his father's posture, his father's cadence, and every person in the room had listened.
He knew they'd listened because of Regulus. He wasn't deluding himself about that.
But the feeling of it... that had been real. And it had been good.
Now Regulus was telling him to pair with Vance, and instinctively he filtered the situation through his father's perspective.
What would Father think?
Weigh the costs and benefits. Consider what it does for the group.
This was business.
He looked at Vance.
The kid was a half-blood. Beneath him. But didn't his father deal with lesser families at the Ministry? At home? People the Cuthberts had no particular respect for?
Father didn't like them either. But when there was business to discuss, he discussed it. When there was use for them, he used them.
Adults didn't operate on like and dislike. They operated on advantage.
With that settled, he walked over and stopped in front of Samuel, composing himself into something steady and measured. "Vance. You're with me."
Samuel looked up. Froze for a beat.
His mouth opened. Something like excitement flickered across his face, the corners of his lips curling upward before he caught himself and pressed them flat.
He managed a nod. His voice came out a little tight. "Yes, Mr. Cuthbert."
Lina shot him a quick glance from beside him, then looked away just as fast.
Cuthbert waved a hand, walked to the center of the cleared space, and turned to face Samuel.
Alex looked at Regulus, then walked over to Lina. "Lina. We're a pair."
She blinked too, then broke into a surprised smile. "Okay, Alex."
She didn't have Samuel's careful composure. She just smiled.
Regulus took it all in and said nothing.
Everyone wore multiple faces. In public, in private. That was just how people worked.
He and Hermes were the only ones left in the room without partners. They stood at the same time, walked to one side of the open space, and faced each other.
Professor Vance stood beside the lectern, watching the students pair off. His gaze rested on Regulus for a moment, then moved on.
He'd been at Hogwarts for nearly two months now, and this second-year Black kept reaching his ears through one channel or another.
Other professors had mentioned him. Students had mentioned him.
They said he could take on fifth-years back in first year. That his standing in Slytherin was unusual. That he was a sharp thinker. That he wasn't like the other young wizards.
But in Vance's own classroom, Black's performance was simply... excellent.
Flawless homework. Textbook spell execution. Knew what he should know, finished what he should finish.
And that was it. Nothing that jumped out.
Vance had heard the rumors and hadn't given them much weight. Word of mouth exaggerated. That was what it did.
Today's practical session would be a good chance to see what this Black was actually worth.
He rapped the lectern. "Begin."
Spells erupted across the room.
Young wizards threw themselves into it. Curses and charms flew in every direction. Some dodged, some chased, some got hit and clutched the impact point with teeth bared.
Over with Cuthbert and Samuel, Cuthbert controlled the pace, spells coming one after another. Samuel stayed mostly on defense, firing back occasionally.
Cuthbert fought casually, even saling a glance sideways.
Alex and Lina had settled into something different. Alex was coaching her: how to cast, how to dodge, how to find an opening.
She learned fast.
Cuthbert looked away and went back to handling Samuel.
Regulus and Hermes stood facing each other and locked eyes.
They'd dueled privately more times than either could count. No restrictions, any magic fair game. But this was a classroom. That approach wouldn't do.
Both raised their wands at the same time.
Hermes fired first. "Stupefy!"
A bolt of red light shot from the tip and streaked toward Regulus's chest.
Regulus flicked his wand, a tiny upward motion, and batted the spell aside. The red light veered off course and struck the wall, leaving a faint scorch mark.
He enunciated carefully. "Expelliarmus!"
Hermes sidestepped and answered with an Impediment Jinx.
Regulus didn't bother with a Shield Charm. He leaned back slightly and let the spell graze past his shoulder.
They stayed planted. One spell, then another. Neither moved from their spot.
Every curse was precise, the force carefully measured, each one aimed at the gap in the other's defense. And yet neither gave ground.
Nearby, Cuthbert's and Alex's pairs had fought their way to the far end of the classroom.
Cuthbert crouched behind a desk, poking his wand out to fire spells. Samuel hid behind a pillar, returning fire when he could.
Alex and Lina had ended up in a corner. Lina had just figured out how to use a chair for cover, and Alex was directing from beside her.
"Lina, don't stand so straight. Bend down... right, like that."
She did. When the incoming spell sailed overhead, she popped out. "Impedimenta!"
Regulus caught it in his peripheral vision.
Not bad.
He and Hermes were still rooted in place. One spell, then the next.
Professor Vance watched from beside the lectern. The expression on his face grew increasingly complicated.
These two were phoning it in. Standing still, trading spells, feet glued to the floor.
And even so, their casting outclassed every other student in the room by a wide margin.
Hermes's spell speed was noticeably faster than anyone nearby, his precision a cut above.
Regulus received even faster, deflecting or slipping each curse with minimal movement, as though he already knew where every spell was headed before it arrived.
Other pairs were still watching their spells float through the air. These two had already completed two full exchanges.
Vance shook his head but said nothing.
This kind of half-effort was somehow more unsettling than if they'd been trying.