Regulus of Hogwarts: Lord of the Stars

The stars outside the window filled the sky, and the crescent moon had moved from above the Forbidden Forest to the west side of the castle, almost invisible in the distance.

After resting for about fifteen minutes, Lily tightened the lid of the kettle and put it back on the windowsill. Catching her breath, she felt refreshed.

"I have something to tell you," she said, shifting closer to Regulus, her voice soft but slightly pouting, her brow furrowed. "I ran into that megalomaniac again last month, Potter."

Regulus raised an eyebrow.

"I was walking down the hallway when I saw Potter and Sirius tormenting a Slytherin boy," she pouted. "He looked like a first-year. His backpack was all over the place, and his things were scattered all over the floor. Potter was just laughing and joking around."

"I yelled at him to stop, and when Potter turned around and saw it was me, he smiled broadly—"

She mimicked Potter's nonchalant tone, drawing out her words: "Hey, nosy Evans, what brings you here again?"

She rolled her eyes dramatically: "I told him to release them, and he said he didn't lay a hand on them, he was just watching. Sirius didn't really do anything, he was just leaning against the wall staring at the ceiling—"

Regulus asked, "And then a fight broke out?"

"I struck first," Lily said, raising her chin slightly. "I used a disarming spell on him. He wasn't on guard and almost got hit. The way he dodged was really awkward."

She mimicked an exaggerated dodging posture and laughed at herself.

"Then I activated the Extrasensory Charm. The first few rounds went pretty well. I could see in advance where his staff tip was pointing, and I saw all the signs of his attacks. I dodged three of his Disarm Charms and even managed to throw a Tripping Charm at him. It almost hit him, and he jumped up in a panic—"

At this point, her tone slowed down, and she pouted, "But the Extrasensory Charm couldn't hold up. After about thirty seconds, my head started buzzing, and the information became increasingly blurry, making it impossible to distinguish which information was useful."

When Potter got serious, his spells were so fast I could see them, but my body couldn't keep up. I held on for a while, but he pinned me against the wall and disarmed me.

She spread her hands, shrugged, and said something that sounded neither frustrated nor aggrieved, but rather somewhat resentful: "After the wand flew away, he started showing off again and said a bunch of pointless things that I couldn't be bothered to remember."

She looked at Regulus, her green eyes filled with a serious, defiant spirit: "But I think if I practice a little more, I can beat him. I'm just a little bit short."

Regulus looked at her and said gently, "It's already quite impressive that you made Potter take it seriously before beating you."

Lily blinked.

"You're improving, and he's improving too, but it's taking him longer and longer to beat you," Regulus continued. "Last time he played casually and you won, this time he had to go all out for you to lose, what about next time?"

Lily replied quickly, her voice crisp: "Next time, even if I make him go all out, he still won't win!"

"Very ambitious!" Regulus nodded, praising him first, then changed the subject: "Potter's quick reflexes are innate. You can't catch up to him in terms of speed and spell power in the short term, but you can make him uncomfortable and make him work much harder than he works against others. This is a very good start."

As Lily listened, her pouting lips slowly relaxed, and the corners of her mouth began to turn up.

"Then I'll keep practicing." She clenched her fist and waved it in front of her to encourage herself.

"Keep it up," Regulus said with a smile. "If you can keep up with your stamina, the Sense8 spell will last the whole game. His speed won't be able to keep up with you. Your brain works better than his. As long as your body can keep up, he can't beat you."

Lily's green eyes suddenly lit up, making her whole face light up as well.

"real?"

"real."

Lily nodded vigorously, her ponytail swinging back and forth behind her head.

"Then I'll start running tomorrow!"

"Um."

"Run a lap around Black Lake!"

"Um?"

Lily laughed out loud: "Half a circle."

"...Um."

Once she started talking, she couldn't stop. After finishing her story about Potter, Lily veered off into the topic of summer vacation.

"Oh, right, Marcia said she wanted to invite Susan and me to stay at her house for a few days during the summer vacation," she said, her tone becoming relaxed and expectant. "She said her garden is really big, and there's a very beautiful bird called Silver Star. It's very beautiful, with silver-blue feathers, but it's a picky eater. It only eats imported French magic nuts. She's mentioned it many times, ever since first grade. I've always wanted to go see it."

"The Foley family?" Regulus asked casually.

"Hmm," Lily tilted her head, "Do you know Marcia's family?"

"Not very familiar with each other."

We're not really that close. I've only met him at gatherings in the purebred blood community, and we're just nodding acquaintances.

The Frey family, pure-blooded, isn't among the top, but they've always consciously moved closer to the core.

After the Christmas dinner, Orion received a letter from old Foley, the wording of which his father had relayed to him: "The Foleys' words are very solicitous, almost like a marriage proposal."

This family knows how to choose sides, what direction to take, and who to align themselves with.

However, the fact that the Foleys were able to raise a daughter like Marcia, who befriends Lily, a Muggle, and invites her to their home, shows that their parenting style is not extreme. At least they allow their daughter to have her own social space, and their stance is relatively moderate.

There's nothing wrong with being a guest; the Foley family manor has protective magic, and the rules for entertaining guests in pure-blood families are very clear: the safety of guests is the dignity of the host family. But outside the manor, it's hard to say.

In the latter half of 1974, Death Eater activity intensified, the atmosphere within the pure-blood circle tightened, new events were reported in the newspapers every week, and the Ministry of Magic's response became increasingly slow.

Next year will only be worse; the situation is worsening faster than most people realize.

"Go ahead, that's fine," he said casually, adding naturally, "Just stay in the manor, don't go too far out, and be careful when you go out."

Lily looked up at Regulus's face, her green eyes flashing.

The words themselves weren't anything special; they were just a natural expression of concern. But she understood what they meant.

He is the heir to one of the most prestigious pure-blood families in the British magical world. He knows what's happening outside, and he wouldn't say these things without a reason.

She nodded, very firmly: "Mmm!"

A gust of wind blew in from the window, stirring up a small clump of dust on the windowsill.

Lily unscrewed the copper kettle, took another sip, screwed the lid back on, hugged it to her chest, and leaned against the windowsill.

After a moment of silence, night birds flew in from the direction of the Forbidden Forest, skimming over the spire of the tower, and with a whoosh, flew away.

Regulus looked at the stars outside the window, while Lily looked at Regulus's profile.

He casually asked, "How are things between you and your sister?"

Lily paused for a moment, then laughed.

"I sent Penny some pictures of Knox a while ago. They were taken in my dorm room. Knox was lying on the windowsill sunbathing, and Marcia was trying to tease him with a quill pen, but he ignored her."

She turned to the side and tried to imitate Knox's curled-up posture, but she didn't quite get it right because she didn't have a tail. After she finished imitating him, she laughed at herself for a while.

Regulus looked at her gently: "What did she say?"

"Nothing," Lily shrugged, her tone devoid of disappointment. "No letters back, not a single word."

She switched the kettle to her other hand and tilted her head: "But she sent a package over."

Lily took a crumpled little paper bag out of her handbag, opened it, and showed it to Regulus.

A bag of Kit-e-Kat cat food, bought from a Muggle supermarket. The packaging has an orange cartoon cat printed on it, and the colors are all over the place.

"And there's that old mat Knox used to wear at home," Lily gestured to show its size, "It was washed very clean, folded neatly, and shipped wrapped in kraft paper."

She took the small paper bag back, a smile curving her lips upwards.

"Knox won't eat the cat food, he thinks it doesn't taste right, he sniffs it twice and walks away, but he really likes the mat. As soon as it's placed on the bedside table, he curls up on it, rubbing his nose for a long time and purring."

Regulus looked at the smile on Lily's face.

The relationship between the two sisters is already improving.

Knox was a gift from him to Lily; it was a French civet mixed breed, targeting the high-end pet market.

This cat has now become a link between the two sisters. Lily sends photos to them, and Penny sends cat food and mats back. The cat understands and accepts both sides.

There was a wall separating the magical world and the Muggle world; Petunia stood on the outside, and Lily stood on the inside.

Knox had been on both sides of the wall and carried the scents of both.

pretty good.

It's almost 10 o'clock, the crescent moon is no longer visible, but the stars are still there.

Lily shifted the topic from Penny to the final exams, talking about her study plan.

She wasn't worried about Potions, but her cross-transformation in Polymorph was still a bit lacking. She planned to study Charms with Susan, and she was most confident about the practical part of Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"Speaking of which, Knox's gotten fat lately," she suddenly changed the subject, her tone tinged with accusation, "I suspect Marcia's been secretly feeding him treats—"

She thought I didn't know, but now Knox rubs against her whenever he sees her, whereas before he only rubbed against me.

Susan said Knox would get as fat as a cat ball if things continued like this, and I said no, I have to control his diet. Then Susan said that she herself sneaks biscuits every night, and I said that's different—”

Regulus seized the opportunity: "You ate cookies last night?"

"Occasionally," Lily blushed slightly, but said matter-of-factly, "I get hungry really fast when I'm studying, I get hungry after practicing the Extrasensory Charm, and I get hungry after practicing the Patronus Charm. I suspect there's some direct correlation between mana consumption and stomach capacity. You could look into it—"

He stopped abruptly before finishing his sentence, a smile playing on his lips: "I'll imitate something funny for you, guess who it is."

She cleared her throat, straightened her upper body, raised her chin slightly, touched her stomach with one hand, and made a pinching motion in the air with the other.

"Oh, Lily, my dear, your Hellfire Potion is a work of art—the color, the consistency—you absolutely must try this new batch of jackfruit, it's so much sweeter than the last one—what? You don't eat sweets? How can you make good potions if you don't eat sweets? Taste is a potion master's second wand, come on, have a piece, just one—"

Lily couldn't hold back her laughter after finishing the lesson. She bent over laughing, one hand covering her stomach, the other waving wildly in the air for a while before finally managing to brace herself against the windowsill.

Regulus's lips twitched. "You do that in front of Slughorn too?"

"Of course not, I'm especially well-behaved in front of him," she straightened up and wiped the tears of laughter from the corners of her eyes with her sleeve. "Every time he gives me candied fruit, I say thank you, Professor, and then I put it away to give to Marcia and Susan when I get back."

Marcia likes pineapples, and so does Susan—actually, Susan likes everything; she's not picky.

The night birds outside the window flew back and landed on the spire of the tower.

Regulus glanced at the sky outside the window, straightened up from the windowsill, and pushed the window shut: "That's about enough. I have class tomorrow."

"Hmm—" Lily drawled, slid down from the windowsill, dusted off her robe, slung her satchel over her shoulder, and stuffed the copper kettle back in.

She took two steps toward the door and turned around.

The torchlight shone in from the corridor, illuminating her face, her red hair cascading over her shoulders, and her green eyes curving into two crescent moons.

Good night, Professor Regulus.

Goodnight, Lily.

Lily smiled, turned and walked away, her footsteps light and bouncy, heading towards the Gryffindor Tower, getting farther and farther away, turning a corner and disappearing from sight.

Regulus looked at the empty corridor and turned to walk towards the cellar.