Regulus of Hogwarts: Lord of the Stars

1959 11 Month 3 Day.

The air inside the delivery room at 12 Grimmauld Place was thick with tension and solemnity.

Wolbuja Black lay on a four-poster bed, her long hair soaked with sweat.

Three witches skilled in healing magic surrounded the bed in the room, their robes embroidered with the Black family crest, the Twin Stars and Sirius.

The fireplace burned with a deep, indigo-blue flame for family ceremonies.

"Push harder, madam," whispered the chief witch, Alma, as her yew wand traced a soft arc in the air.

As the midnight bells struck eleven, the sound of a baby crying broke the silence.

Orion Black stood by the bed, his face solemn.

He wore a dark green robe with a family brooch on his collar, a Sirius star inlaid with a black diamond. At thirty years old, he was already the thirteenth generation head of the family.

Walbuga smiled weakly: "Let me hold him."

The baby was placed in her arms, and she looked down at the wrinkled little face, her fingers gently stroking the strand of black lanugo on his forehead that was destined to become unruly curls.

"His name?" Orion asked.

Without hesitation, Walbuga replied, "Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, the navigator who never loses his way, he will lead the Black family to new glory."

The portraits on the wall nodded in agreement, and a female ancestor wearing a Victorian high collar said softly, "A good name, but remember, even the brightest star can be obscured by a storm."

"Welcome to the Black family, Sirius," Orion whispered, leaning down. "May you live up to your name."

......

The nursery at 12 Grimmauld Place is located on the third floor, east wing. The room is covered with a dark green carpet and the walls are adorned with moving magical tapestries depicting the great achievements of the Black ancestors.

One of the ancestors tamed the Peruvian venomous dragon, while the other guarded Gringotts during the goblin rebellion.

There is another one, the one in the painting looking down arrogantly at the room. He once served as Minister of Magic, although he was forced to resign after only four months in office.

One afternoon when Sirius was ten months old, Walbuga was in the next room receiving her sister Druella Black, while Kreacher stood by the cradle, smoothing the silk bedding with his slender fingers.

Sirius Black, holding onto the railing, wobbled to his feet. His legs weren't strong enough to support him for long, but he stood there, his gray eyes fixed on a silver bell toy on the carpet three feet away.

He reached out his hand, and the silver bell rolled half an inch toward him.

Kreacher gasped, then began banging his head against the nearest table leg: "You bad Kreacher! You didn't notice your master's magical awakening! Bad! Bad!"

When Walbuga burst into the room, his face was filled with ecstatic joy: "He's standing up! Only ten months! Orion, did you see that?"

Orion stood in the doorway, a complex expression flashing across his face: "Too early, and the awakening of magic is also too early."

"This is talent!" Walbuga picked up his son and planted a series of kisses on his cheeks. "My little Sirius, you were born to do great things."

From that day on, pure-blood education began.

Every afternoon, Walbug would hold Sirius Black in his arms and sit in front of the family tapestry, which covered an entire wall and was embroidered with gold and silver thread depicting the Black family’s thousand-year lineage.

Some branches were charred, marks of those who had been expelled, like ugly scars.

“Look here,” Walbuga pointed to the top of the tapestry: “This is our first ancestor, Lynfred Black, a 12th-century healer who laid the foundation for our family.”

Sirius Black was already able to speak in complete sentences when he was one year old. One afternoon, he pointed to a charred name on a tapestry and asked, "What happened there?"

Walbuga's face darkened. "That's your great-aunt Sedreel. She made an unforgivable mistake by marrying a Muggle, so her name was burned and erased from the family. Never make that mistake again, Sirius."

......

1961 1 Month 15 Day.

The winter of 1961 was exceptionally cold; London's streets were covered in snow, and the Thames was frozen over. But at 12 Grimmauld Place, protective magic kept the interior warm and cozy.

Wolbuga's second delivery was more difficult than her first.

The contractions began at midnight on January 14 and lasted for a full sixteen hours.

At 1 a.m. on January 15, the screams in Wolbuga reached their peak.

Immediately afterwards, the baby cried, softer and shorter than Sirius's cry.

Orion strode forward and asked Volbuga, "His name?"

Walbuga looked at the unusually quiet child in his arms. The child had the signature gray eyes of the Black family and was calmly observing everything around him.

"Regulus," she whispered, "the heart of Leo, the second brightest star in the sky, unassuming yet indispensable, steadfast, loyal, and eternal."

Orion added the middle name to him: "Regulus Atallos Black".

Walbuga placed Regulus in the cradle and almost immediately fell into a deep sleep.

Orion stood between the two cradles. On the left, two-year-old Sirius was fast asleep in his cradle, one hand outstretched from the railing, clutching his favorite silver bell toy.

On the right, the newborn Regulus lay quietly with his eyes open, looking at Sirius in the cradle opposite him.

Sirius, as if sensing something in his sleep, turned over and faced his younger brother.

Regulus rolled his eyes. There lay a two-year-old boy, Sirius Black, the man in the original story who betrayed his family for his beliefs and ultimately died behind the veil—his brother.

Deep within his soul, an adult soul from another world sighed silently.

Then, with the infant's still-developing brain, he struggled to organize his first clear thought:

"I will not repeat the tragedy of Regulus; I will take a different path."

Outside the window, the London night sky was unusually clear.

The constellations are clearly visible in winter: Orion hangs high in the south, Taurus shines in the east, and between them lies Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky.

Not far from it, Regulus in Leo twinkles quietly, dimly but firmly.

......

On the day Sirius turned two, Walbuga held a small celebration in the garden.

Although only close relatives of the Black family were invited, the event was still grand. House-elves used magic to make roses bloom in winter, silver cutlery flew up and arranged itself automatically, and even the fountain in the garden was temporarily changed to spray lemon juice, just because Sirius Black liked sour tastes.

At the banquet, Regulus was sitting on Volbuga's lap.

He was dressed in an exquisite dark green velvet baby suit, with a small silver brooch pinned to his collar. He didn't look at anyone, but stared into the distance.

"What is he looking at?" Walbuga followed his son's gaze and saw the garden wall covered with ancient vines, nothing special.

"They might be looking at the shimmering light on the vines," Druella guessed. "The sunlight shining on the dew makes it sparkle beautifully."

But the direction Regulus was looking was actually where there was a nest of Bowtruckles, those little creatures hidden deep in the vines, invisible to ordinary people, and even wizards.

However, whenever the Bowtruckle moves, the surrounding magic is slightly disturbed.

Regulus could sense it, but based on the conversation between Druella and Volbuga, he guessed they probably didn't.

After much hesitation, Volbuga finally asked Orion somewhat tentatively one afternoon, "Is Regulus... a little slow to react?"

At that time, Regulus was one year and three months old, while Sirius, who was the same age, could already run around the house and speak in complete sentences.

Regulus, on the other hand, was always unusually quiet, rarely made a sound, and reacted slowly to external stimuli.

Orion put down the Daily Prophet and went to the nursery, with Walbuga following him.

Regulus was sitting on the carpet with a magic picture book open in front of him. It was "Fantastic Beasts That Move," a book for children over three years old. The hippogriffs in the book could flap their wings, and the elusive birds could suddenly disappear and reappear.

Orion observed for ten minutes.

He then walked over, knelt down, and looked his son in the eye, saying to Volbuga, "Look into his eyes, Volbuga."

Volbuga also crouched down and looked into Regulus's eyes, but couldn't see anything unusual.

Orion continued, "He's not slow to react; he's listening, watching, learning, and observing, he's just a bit silent."

As if to confirm his words, Regulus raised his head and looked at his father for the first time.

Gray eyes meet gray eyes.

Walbuga was puzzled, but she secretly breathed a sigh of relief. She trusted her husband's judgment; her son was not slow to react.