Regulus of Hogwarts: Lord of the Stars

Chapter 399 Sirius's Intuition

Hagrid turned around as if he had just noticed Avery and the others.

The warmth on his face vanished instantly; the face beneath the beard wasn't exactly fierce, but it certainly wasn't friendly either.

He hung the windproof oil lamp he was holding on the door frame and took two steps toward Avery.

Frosty tucked his tail between his legs and huddled behind Hagrid, curling up into a ball with his ears pressed against his scalp.

Potter and the others followed and lined up behind Hagrid.

James crossed his arms, stared at the person opposite him, and turned down at the corners of his mouth.

Sirius Black came out from behind Frosty and stood next to James, lounging around loosely.

Lupin stood further back, looking helpless, while Peter huddled at the very back, only half his head showing.

The atmosphere on both sides immediately became tense.

I got into a fight yesterday and the professor caught me red-handed. I'm in solitary confinement now.

It's hard to say whether Slytherin suffered any losses, but Potter, on the other hand, had his nose punched by Avery and Lupin received a curse on the face. On paper, they were at a disadvantage.

The person who is at a disadvantage often has a more aggressive look in their eyes.

Before anyone from the Slytherin side could speak first, James spoke up.

He was having a great time talking to Hagrid when he caught a glimpse of those faces across from him, and the anger from yesterday resurfaced, igniting his rage.

"Oh," James said, glancing sideways and making a strange noise, "I thought you wouldn't dare come. You've been beaten up and you still dare to show your faces?"

Avery smirked: "So what if I showed up?"

He said slowly, "It's still better than some people who have their noses smashed by a punch, and then run to Mrs. Pomfrey, crying and begging for help."

He tilted his head and slowly examined James's nose for a while: "It's not bad, you can't really tell it was flat before. Madam Pomfrey's workmanship is really good."

James's face immediately darkened: "Who did you say cried?"

"I didn't say who," Avery said, shrugging innocently. "You figured it out yourself."

James choked for a moment.

"That curse from yesterday," Avery said, taking a step forward before he could recover, his eyes narrowing, "I still have a score to settle now."

"Fine, fine!" James leaned forward, craning his neck and glaring. "Who's afraid of who! Didn't you get enough of a beating yesterday?!"

"That's enough," Avery chuckled, glancing casually at James's back. "You four were easily subdued by the five of us. I'm more than satisfied. But you, you..."

He drawled, "Haven't you had enough?"

"You have the nerve to say that five against four!" James raised his voice.

Avery didn't respond immediately. He glanced in his direction, then at James, before suddenly realizing, "You mean, five second-years?"

He pursed his lips: "It's not easy for you to say that."

After thinking for a moment, he added, "How about this, since third graders can't beat second graders because there are more of us, we'll each step back one person, and it'll be a one-on-one fight. You and I, are you in?"

James's face turned bright red, his lips trembled, but he couldn't find the words.

How do I connect?

Agreeing to a one-on-one fight would be tantamount to admitting that the third graders couldn't beat the second graders; disagreeing would be too much to swallow.

He's fearless when it comes to fighting, but when it comes to talking, he's no match for Avery.

He pointed at Avery, and after a long pause, only managed to utter, "You fucking bastard."

Avery picked at his ear and just stood there letting him yell at him.

After James stopped to catch his breath, he slowly replied.

Every sentence strikes at the heart of the matter, accurately and slowly, without a single dirty word. It sounds very polite, but it hurts the person deeply.

James kept repeating the same few lines, shouting loudly and with great force, but to no avail. Avery, on the other hand, returned the favor with just a few light words.

Peter shrank back, half his body hidden behind Hagrid's thighs, his eyes wide open, silent and not taking sides.

Lupin tugged at James's arm, but couldn't budge it, so he tugged again: "James, that's enough—"

'

Alex tugged at Avery's sleeve, lowering his voice, "That's enough."

Unlike James, Avery didn't charge forward; he just stood there with a smile on his face, which was even more infuriating than if he had charged ahead.

Hermes stared at Sirius for a long time, his eyes somewhat sinister.

After watching for a while, as if remembering something, he shifted his gaze from Sirius to James and stared at him.

Lena and Samuel stared intently at the opposite side, at James, at Lupin, and at Peter hiding behind Hagrid's legs.

Without prior arrangement, everyone's gazes shifted away from Sirius, and no one stared at him.

The Slytherin members know perfectly well who fought whom in yesterday's fight.

But Sirius is Regulus's older brother, and Regulus is watching from the sidelines. He simply avoids him and goes around him.

So, out of the five people opposite, three or four pairs of eyes all focused on James.

James was under a lot of pressure right now, facing several pairs of unfriendly eyes, and he was also losing the argument, making his nostrils flare with anger.

He glanced to the side at Sirius.

Hey bro, give me a hand, let's talk back to these snake bastards. Your mouth is sharper than mine.

Sirius didn't even look at him.

His eyes swept back and forth between the people opposite him, then to both sides, across the empty lawn, and towards the base of Hagrid's cabin, as if searching for something.

At first, he thought it was an illusion; the feeling was very faint and fleeting, disappearing as soon as he reached out. But it didn't dissipate; it just lingered there.

He frowned, glanced around again, sniffed, and then his gaze fell directly onto a patch of thin air.

Regulus stood there, through the modified Illusion Charm.

The air there was no different from the surroundings; in the gray-blue twilight, there was nothing.

Sirius saw nothing, but his gaze was fixed there, his brows furrowed tightly, and he couldn't quite explain what he was looking for.

His intuition told him there was something there, but he couldn't reach anything.

He was never a perceptive person, but his intuition was always accurate, unbelievably accurate.

I don't know where he got this skill from, but it's always been with him. The Black family blood has a lot of strange aspects.

At this moment, his intuition awakened, but it couldn't offer him anything.

He just stared at that empty space for a while, and then a hint of awkwardness slowly crept onto his face.

There is something right in front of you, but you can't touch it, see it, or grasp it. It's like reaching out to grab something, but your fingertips are just a little short, and no matter how hard you try, you can't reach it.

"Sirius," James nudged him on the shoulder, "What are you standing there for? Give me a hand!"

Sirius paused for a moment, then looked away from the air, suppressing his awkwardness.

Regulus stood there, not moving an inch.

Sirius can't see him, that's for sure—visually, olfactorily, magically, in no way at all.

But Sirius's eyes still ended up on him.

Regulus knew in his heart that it was intuition, something Sirius had since he was a child, something that didn't follow reason or the level of magic.

The illusion spell can fool the eyes and the nose, but it can't fool your intuition.

Even though they were siblings from the same mother, separated by a spell that swallowed even their body temperature and scent, he still vaguely sensed their presence.

The two were very close, separated by a spell.

He watched Sirius frown, then saw the awkward disappointment on his face, before James nudged him, and he turned back to talk to the group.

Regulus stood there, watching quietly.

Hagrid didn't stop them at first; he thought it was no big deal for the young wizards to bicker.

These kids are young and hot-tempered; it's perfectly normal for them to bicker a bit when they run into each other.

It's also possible that he's just a slow-reacting person, and by the time he came to his senses, the fire was practically burning up.

Avery replied slowly, but James raised his voice so high that he was about to take action, and Hagrid finally realized what was happening.

"Shut up, all of you!"

That shout was rough and muffled, like a bear roaring in its throat, making both sides tremble.

Frosty's ears perked up in fright, and she tucked her tail between her legs and hid behind Hagrid's legs.

"You didn't cause enough trouble yesterday, did you!" Hagrid glared at Gryffindor first, his tone harsh but his temper was good.

"Jaime, it's you again! How many times have I told you to stop causing trouble! It's only been a day, your injury hasn't even fully healed, and you're at it again."

Then he turned his big face to the Slytherin group, and his words became very harsh.

"You lot, if you dare cause any more trouble, I'll send you all back to Professor Slughorn right now, and I'll tell him everything you did!"

Avery pursed his lips but didn't say anything more, and Alex pulled him back.

Hagrid looked up at the sky. The sun had completely set, and the canopy of the Forbidden Forest cast a dark silhouette on the horizon. The clouds overhead had changed from gray to dark gray.

He turned back to Avery and the others, his tone curt and businesslike: "You lot, go with Frosty and find the Moonlight Moss."

He pointed west with his thumb: "There's a dry ditch to the west. At the end of the ditch, there's a scree slope. The crevices at the bottom of the slope are full of scree. Don't go too deep. Watch out for the dogs. When the dogs stop, you stop too."

"Once you cross that collapsed old stone wall, you're in deep trouble. No one is allowed to cross. If anything happens, send sparks into the sky; a red one is a distress signal, and I'll see them."

Avery grunted through his nose, barely moving his chin.

On his way here, he was still talking about the hunting ground guard. He's such a big guy, living all by himself on the edge of the forbidden forest, raising dogs and chickens. The whole forbidden forest is his territory. Just thinking about it is exciting.

Now that I've run into Haig's face, all that curiosity has vanished.

Avery wasn't stupid; he could certainly see through Hagrid's attitude—the difference was too obvious.

The Slytherin members' expressions turned cold.

Hagrid turned around, and his tone towards James and the others immediately warmed up again.

"You guys follow me to the east, that's where the luminous mushrooms are growing the most."

Hagrid slapped James on the shoulder, making him stagger.

James steadied himself, raised an eyebrow at Avery, and grinned smugly.

Avery and the others just watched coldly, and no one responded.

James frowned and quieted down.

Hagrid continued, "Pee-kun, don't you dare wander off, you hear me? If you get separated from the group, I can't keep up with finding you all in the woods."

"Let's go."

Hagrid waved to James and the others, then turned and headed east toward the woods, his heavy footsteps making the ground feel dull.

James caught up, Peter jogged after him, and Lupin glanced back at Slytherin.

Frosty, being led by Alex, reluctantly moved in the opposite direction, looking back every few steps.

Sirius walked at the very back of the group. After taking a few steps, he looked back at the empty space, but there was still nothing there.

He stopped looking, raised an eyebrow, as if he was annoyed that his awkwardness just now was unfounded.

He shook his head, turned back, caught up with James in a few steps, put his arm around James's shoulder, and put that vague thought to the back of his mind.

On the other side of the dry riverbed to the west, the canopy of the forbidden forest closed even more tightly overhead.

Dusk seeped through the gaps, casting the last few gray-blue patches of light on the ground; the air was more humid than outside.

Alex crouched down, wrapped the leash around his wrist, patted Frosty's head, and Frosty's tail wagged upwards.

Avery followed, Hermes followed behind, and Lena and Samuel walked side by side at the back.

Regulus followed at the back of the group, heading west into the Forbidden Forest.