Regulus of Hogwarts: Lord of the Stars

Four months later, in March 1964.

Walbuga hosted a tea party, ostensibly a spring gathering for the women, but in reality, it was Walbuga showing his sisters how much his son had grown.

Thirteen-year-old Bellatrix was the first to arrive. She was wearing a dark green velvet dress, her hair was neatly combed, and her eyes were so critical that she seemed to be looking for flaws in everyone.

"I heard you blew up the living room," she said, walking straight up to Sirius.

Sirius Black raised his head: "I can control magic now!"

Nine-year-old Andromeda and eight-year-old Narcissa followed their mother, Druella, into the room. Andromeda smiled gently at Regulus, while Narcissa looked around at the new decorations in the living room.

The tea party began, and the adults chatted about mundane topics: personnel changes at the Ministry of Magic, the engagement of a daughter from a pure-blood family whose bloodline wasn't pure enough, but whose wealth could make up for it.

The children sat at a special little table with children's cutlery in front of them, and Sirius was restless, eager to show off his newly learned magic.

Regulus was pondering a question: why does the Transfiguration Charm require imagining a specific form? What would happen if I simply wanted to change the state of matter without specifying a particular shape?

"Watch closely." Sirius Black focused his attention on his silver spoon.

Magic surged forth.

The spoon is starting to bend, very good, the curve is elegant.

But Sirius was too excited. He thought, "If it's curved a little more, it will be even more beautiful!"

With even more magic output, the spoon bent its head.

It was a mistake. He glanced at Bella to see if she had noticed, and in that glance, his magic control went awry.

The magic flowed like a burst dam, rushing towards the entire set of tableware.

Regulus suddenly felt a violent fluctuation of magic. He looked up and saw that all the silverware on the small table began to change color. The silver-white color faded and a flesh-pink color appeared, with ring-shaped patterns appearing on the surface.

They turned into earthworms.

Twelve plump, pinkish-red earthworms wriggled on the tablecloth.

The adults had long been drawn to the commotion, and Walbuga's face had turned from red to white.

Druella put down her teacup, her expression stiff.

Bella raised her eyebrows, feigned surprise, covered her mouth, and let out an affected "Ah."

Sirius Black was stunned. He stared at his creation, his lips trembling.

"I..." He opened his mouth, but was too embarrassed to speak.

Walbuga reached for her wand, and Regulus saw the anger in his mother's eyes—anger not just for ruining the tea party, but also shame for losing face in front of her sisters.

"Trouble," Regulus thought. "If she gets angry, the tea party will end badly, Sirius will be punished, and I'll have to listen to her complain for three more days."

He stood up, walked to the small table, and looked down at the writhing creature.

He had to admit, these earthworms were preserved remarkably intact, he thought to himself.

First, the structure is analyzed. The brain automatically starts working. The Transfiguration Charm did not completely destroy the material basis; it only rearranged the molecular arrangement.

The silver atoms are still there, so the shape memory effect should still be present. The key is to find the last stable shape memory before deformation...

He raised his hand, palm down, hovering ten centimeters above the earthworm, and began to channel his magic.

Unlike ordinary wizards who output magic, Regulus discovered that he could control his magic with microscopic precision.

He doesn't even need to rely on emotions like conventional spellcasting; instead, he relies on calculation. His brain can automatically construct different dimensional models, calculate the flow of magic, and adjust the output frequency.

It's like having a supercomputer in your head. He once joked to himself that this might be one of the perks of being a time traveler.

The next moment, silver light shone from inside the earthworms, and they stopped wriggling, floating up one by one and arranging themselves into a perfect hexagon in mid-air.

He thought that hexagons were stable, which was in line with the optimal distribution of magic.

Bella leaned forward, her eyes wide open.

Narcissa covered her mouth in surprise.

Andromeda whispered, "Merlin..."

The transformation began; the earthworm contracted and stretched, revealing a silvery sheen from within.

Ten seconds later, the tableware returned to its original state, suspended in the air, with silver light flowing across its surface.

With a slight movement of his fingers, Regulus sent the cutlery flying back to its original positions along the shortest path, avoiding all obstacles.

Spoons, forks, knives, teacups, saucers, plates—everything was perfect.

Finally, there was the bent spoon, with deep creases, indicating metal fatigue.

Regulus extended his index finger and lightly touched the crease.

The rearrangement of the metal crystal structure requires local heating to the recrystallization temperature, but not exceeding the melting point. The magical simulation of the thermal effect adjusts the frequency to resonate with the silver atoms.

The creases began to disappear, and the atoms returned to their original positions, as if time had reversed.

Five seconds later, the spoon was as good as new.

Regulus withdrew his hand, sat back down, picked up the biscuit he hadn't finished eating, and remained expressionless throughout, not letting anyone notice that he was deliberately showing off.

But I was secretly very pleased with myself. That's how I am!

"Merlin's beard!" Druella blurted out, nearly throwing her teacup.

Bella stood up, walked to the small table, picked up the spoon to examine it, turned it over, held it up to the light, and tapped it lightly with her fingernail, making a crisp metallic sound.

She looked up at Regulus, her eyes wide with shock: "How...how did you do that?"

Regulus, chewing on a biscuit, mumbled, "They want to turn back."

"What?"

"The tableware wanted to turn back into tableware, and I just helped out."

This explanation is ridiculously naive, but it seems normal coming from a three-year-old.

"Of course I know how I did it," Regulus thought to himself, "but I can do it, I can't say it."

Wizards can do many incredible things through intuition and talent, but at my age, if I could not only do them but also explain the underlying principles, that would be far too much.

Narcissa whispered to Andromeda, "He looks very relaxed."

Andromeda nodded, a hint of worry in his eyes.

Volbuga's expression changed rapidly: shock, confusion, and then ecstasy.

But she restrained herself; the lady of the Black family couldn't lose her composure in front of outsiders.

She simply picked up her teacup, took a sip, and said in as calm a voice as possible, "Regulus has a special intuition for transfiguration."

Druella forced a dry laugh. "Special? Volbuga, that's a miracle, he's only three! What was Orion doing when he was three? He was smearing jam on house-elves."

Everyone's eyes kept drifting towards Regulus, but he just quietly ate his biscuits, as if nothing had happened.

Sirius kept his head down, and Regulus glanced at him, knowing that this had hurt his pride.

After the tea party, Druella left with her daughters, leaving only her family in the living room.

Volbuga finally couldn't hold back any longer; she picked up Regulus and exclaimed, "My genius!"

She whispered excitedly in her son's ear, "I knew it! The future of the Black family!"

He looked over his mother's shoulder and saw Sirius.

Sirius stood in the living room doorway, gripping the doorframe. It was hard to imagine that a four-year-old child could have such a complex expression: shock, hurt, confusion, and a touch of jealousy.

This only adds to the trouble, Regulus thought. A four-year-old doesn't understand what it means to have no other choice; he only knows that his younger brother has stolen his thunder.

Sirius turned and ran away, his footsteps echoing on the stairs.

Volbuga put Regulus down, frowned, and said, "He's throwing a tantrum again. Ignore him, Regulus. You did the right thing."

He was only four years old, Regulus thought, but he didn't say it aloud, after all, he was only three years old.

That night, Orion knocked on Regulus's door. He had just come home and, as a member of Wizengamo, often worked late.

"I've heard about what happened today," Orion said, sitting opposite Regulus. "Exquisite skill."

"How did you do that?" he asked.

Regulus thought for three seconds and gave an answer: "I don't know, I just... saw what to do."

"Saw?" Orion was puzzled; this was an answer he hadn't expected.

"I saw what the earthworms looked like, so I changed them back."

Orion stared at him thoughtfully. This could be explained by talent; it was rare, but not unheard of.

Sirius's power is immense but out of control, stemming from emotional instability.

In contrast, Regulus exhibits a greater tendency towards control and precise operation.

"An interesting explanation," he finally said, "but remember, don't show too much to others. Genius inspires envy and fear."

"My cousin Bella seems very excited," Regulus steered the conversation toward Bella.

"Bella..." Orion frowned. "She's obsessed with power, and that rising big shot is also obsessed with power. Be careful not to get targeted."

Regulus nodded; he certainly knew who that important figure was: Tom Riddle, the future Voldemort.