Clearly, since no one has been petrified, the rumors about the Heir of Slytherin are just that—rumors.
The students quickly moved on, at most speculating about who had written on the walls.
The only one still holding a grudge seemed to be Filch. As a Squib, he couldn't use magic to clean up the mess, and it was indeed exhausting.
Life went on, studies continued, and aside from the occasional mysterious writing on the walls, no student was harmed. Only Filch remained determined to catch the prankster and give them a proper thrashing.
Apart from attending a ghost party during Christmas, Harry Potter had no particularly exciting experiences.
Of course, Ron recounted the ghost party again and again—it was one of the few adventures of the year.
Regulus Black continued his usual classes at Hogwarts. In his spare time, he either ran off to the Ministry of Magic or checked on his various properties, living a full and colorful life.
At the Ministry, there was Judy Fox. Each visit was a chance to understand her better—from the Fox family's ancestral home to her Auror office—traces of pure and innocent memories were scattered throughout. From time to time, he'd even visit Azkaban to mock his foolish older brother, always bringing the latest newspapers as a gift.
Among his properties was his private legal advisor, Lucy Piddle. While learning about the preparations for film production, he also got to know her more personally—in the guestroom bed of Scarlet Manor, in the law office in the Scarlet Mountain Town, and even once in the manor's rear crypt. Originally, he had planned to leave via the "Station," but Lucy came to see him off, and the two ended up having another... intense conversation about work right there.
In Beheading Valley—an estate not even registered with the Ministry—only Judy Fox had initially helped look up some basic information. Regulus Black had since taken full control of the place. The roads connecting it to the outside world were protected by enchantments, and the Secret Keeper for the Fidelius Charm was none other than the housekeeper herself, Mrs. Cook. For the sake of her two daughters, she managed the estate with complete dedication.
Whenever Regulus had time to visit, she would accompany him around the entire estate. Together, they had sat on every chair, bed, and even table. They had leaned on every windowsill and balcony, crawled through every storage room, attic, and basement. Together, they explored in detail the trivialities, troubles, and hopes of daily life.
In short, life was exceedingly comfortable—so much so that Regulus Black nearly forgot about Voldemort.
Once again, he piled tons of beef offal onto the magic array. He'd done this so many times that even he had lost count.
The twelve zodiac signs: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces.
So far, he had only successfully summoned demons of Aries, Taurus, Leo, Sagittarius, Aquarius, and Pisces.
The other half remained elusive—no matter what he tried, they just wouldn't appear. Clearly, something was missing, or some essential condition hadn't been met.
Thinking back, Taurus was the first successful summoning—because he had used actual beef offal as the offering.
Aries had succeeded because he happened to be in a sheep pen at the time, and a few unfortunate sheep became the sacrifice.
Since then, each successful summoning had required matching materials corresponding to the sign.
To summon the Leo demon, Regulus bought an old lion from a circus.
To summon the Sagittarius demon, he bought an old horse and had Kreacher fetch a corpse.
To summon the Aquarius demon, he purchased the largest Pacific giant octopus he could find—five meters long.
To summon the Pisces demon, he acquired two merman specimens.
Today, to summon the Cancer demon, Regulus had prepared a large quantity of crab shells. Collecting them had taken quite some time—his mouth was sore from all the crab he'd eaten.
Shortly after the Philosopher's Stone incident last year, Regulus had traveled to Germany and, free of charge, helped them clear the crabs out of a river channel—then packed everything into his system's storage and brought it all back to Britain.
As a result of this mass harvest, he had been eating crab for over a year—only just finishing it all a few days ago.
"Let's hope this works in one go!"
Regulus Black silently cheered himself on and waited for the result.
Tons of beef offal sank into the ground, followed by half a ton of crab shells. Not long after, a demon appeared—its lower half was a massive crab, while its upper half resembled a human. It moved on eight crab legs, and its two large pincers gleamed faintly with a metallic sheen. Its humanoid torso was also clad in armored plating.
"I didn't expect it to go so smoothly this time."
Regulus Black took out a box from his system space, containing a row of twelve keys. These were keys he had originally obtained from Professor Flitwick's flying key obstacle during the Philosopher's Stone trials. After further fusion and refinement through alchemy, he had forged them into the Twelve Zodiac Keys. One of them—the Cancer key—automatically leapt out.
After the key and the demon sensed each other's presence, Regulus Black allowed the demon to sink back into the ground.
That made seven. If all went well, he would be able to complete the summoning of the twelve Zodiac demons before Voldemort's resurrection.
Each time a Zodiac demon was created, the location was random. Regulus used the "Point Me" charm as a sort of prophetic precondition. Combined with "Apparition," the spell helped him locate a suitable casting site.
The locations selected were usually remote and deserted places—places someone like Regulus, who thought like a normal person, would rarely notice.
The magic circle for Cancer happened to be in a fishpond. Presumably, there were no shortage of crabs in that pond either.
However, his outing today wasn't mainly for summoning a Zodiac demon—it was because Lucius had sent word agreeing to hand over the docks.
Originally, the diary that was supposed to stir up trouble this academic year—Tom Riddle's diary—had already fallen into Regulus Black's hands.
Later, a rumor spread in the school that Harry Potter was a Parselmouth. Naturally, Lucius was informed immediately by Draco. On such matters, Lucius had a great deal of trust in his son.
After that, strange writing began to appear in the corridors—nonsense like "The Chamber has been opened, enemies beware."
Lucius knew that since the diary had already been taken by Regulus Black, such events shouldn't have happened. But the fact that they were happening suggested only one possibility: a warning. Lucius believed it was a warning from Regulus Black.
And so, Lucius gave in—for the sake of his only son.
Handing back the Black family's property? Fine. Even Narcissa agreed.
So, a family dinner awaited Regulus Black.
After dealing with the Zodiac demon, Regulus Apparated several times in succession and arrived just outside Malfoy Manor.
He hadn't come by Floo Powder because the two families weren't that close yet, and their fireplaces weren't connected.
But he believed that wouldn't be the case for long—Regulus did value his blood ties to the Malfoy family.
Narcissa Malfoy had originally been a member of the Black family, only taking her husband's surname after marrying into the Malfoys.
They'd had a few unpleasant run-ins before, particularly over Bellatrix Lestrange's pregnancy.
But now, upon seeing him, Narcissa acted as if she were seeing her savior.
Regulus Black, of course, knew why. The birth of Jupiter Black, along with the confiscation of the diary, had clearly demonstrated the current head of the Black family's capability. Even the Weasleys could be mobilized, conducting nine surprise inspections in one night—that, undoubtedly, took real skill.
After being invited to take his seat by the Malfoy couple, Regulus could tell right away that the dinner had actually been Narcissa's idea.
"Well, before we begin the meal, I think there are a few things we need to clarify."
Regulus Black placed Tom Riddle's diary on the table.
"Lucius, you recognize this, don't you?"
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