Regulus of Hogwarts: Lord of the Stars

The first shop they entered had no sign; only a string of dried bats hung on the door frame.

The bat's eyes were replaced with some kind of luminous ruby, which looked like bloodshot eyeballs in the dim light.

The shop was darker inside than outside, and most of the items on the shelves were not clearly visible; only the shadows of bottles and jars could be vaguely discerned.

Behind the counter stood a male wizard who was as thin as a skeleton, with sunken eyes, pale skin, and long, thin fingers like bird claws.

He saw Orion, grinned, revealing a mouthful of yellowish-black teeth.

"Mr. Black," the wizard's voice was like sandpaper rubbing against a wooden board, "this month's shipment is ready, the usual."

He pulled a black leather suitcase from under the counter and opened it a crack.

Regulus glimpsed dozens of glass jars neatly stacked inside, each containing some kind of organ.

It has eyes, a heart, fingers, and even a whole baby embryo in a jar, curled up in a murky liquid, its skin so white it's almost transparent, and its blood vessels clearly visible.

Orion didn't touch the box; instead, he handed over a cloth bag full of Galleons. The wizard took it, weighed it in his hand, and nodded in satisfaction.

"Let me know in advance if you need anything next time." The wizard closed the suitcase again: "Supplies are tight lately, the werewolves are causing a ruckus, and the Ministry of Magic is cracking down hard."

"Understood," Orion replied briefly, then turned and left.

Regulus followed behind, observing everything without changing his expression.

The second shop sells items related to dark magic; several items are displayed in the window.

A magic wand carved from human bones, its shaft covered with densely packed curse runes.

A mirror that reflects the deepest fears in a person's heart; the frame is made of pieces of an infant's skull.

There was also a set of ceremonial daggers, with dried bloodstains on the blades and painful memories embedded in the hilts.

The shopkeeper was a witch in a black robe with a pure white mask on her face. The mask had only two eye holes, and two will-o'-the-wisps seemed to be burning inside them.

She saw Orion, stretched out her gloved hand, and pointed to a pile of things covered with a black cloth in the corner.

Orion walked over, lifted a corner of the black cloth to take a look, nodded, and handed over a bag of Galleons.

The third shop was even more hidden, tucked away at the end of a dead-end alley. There was still no sign at the entrance, only a distorted symbol drawn in blood on the wall.

Orion stopped in front of the symbol, drew a reversed pattern in the air with his wand, and the door slid open silently.

Inside was a small room with chains and shackles hanging on the walls.

A half-human, half-beast creature huddled in a corner; it could be a hybrid of some kind of creature and a human, or it could be the product of some failed transformation.

It saw someone come in and growled threateningly, but the chains restricted its movement.

A hunchbacked old wizard came out from the inner room, carrying a thick ledger in his hand.

"Mr. Black, the accounts for this month," the old wizard said in a hoarse, rough voice, "There's been a problem with the smuggling chain. Two shipments were intercepted by the Aurors, and the losses need to be factored in."

Orion took the ledger and flipped through it, his brow furrowing. "Why was it intercepted?"

"Someone tipped us off," the old wizard spat. "It's been dealt with, but the goods can't be returned."

"This is a one-time exception." Orion signed the ledger: "If anything goes wrong again, you'll have to make up for the losses yourselves."

As Regulus left the shop, he noticed a half-human, half-beast creature staring intently at him from the corner, its eyes filled with hatred, pain, and a hint of desperate pleading.

He looked away and followed his father out of the store.

As Regulus browsed through the shops, he saw many things he had previously only read about in those dangerous books in the forbidden section.

There are magical instruments that can extract souls, candles made from baby fat, and skins that were peeled off living magical creatures and are still wriggling to this day.

There are crystal balls storing the painful memories of others, as well as various experimental records and results that clearly violate basic ethics.

None of the Black family's shop owners in Knockturn Alley looked like decent people.

The skinny skeleton wizard in the first shop exuded a strong aura of death, and there were corrosive marks on his finger joints from long-term contact with preservatives.

The white-masked witch in the second shop had chaotic and distorted magical fluctuations, as if various different types of black magic had been forcibly mixed together.

The hunchbacked old wizard in the third shop had cloudy yellow eyes with pupils as narrow as snakes, and he always looked at people with an expression as if he were assessing the value of the goods.

Regulus knew in his heart that his father had brought him to Knockturn Alley not just to inspect the family property.

Orion wanted him to experience the real magical world, beyond the classrooms of Hogwarts and the shops of Diagon Alley, the cruel, dark, bloody, and chaotic parts hidden behind the light.

I wanted him to know that the wizarding world is not just about Quidditch and banquets, but also about smuggling chains, dark wizards, werewolves, illegal experiments, human trafficking, and organ trading.

These things exist entirely outside the mainstream social discourse, yet they are real.

In some areas, the lines are blurred, with light and darkness intermingling, and the boundaries between legal and illegal blurred.

The shops in Diagon Alley may also be selling illicit goods, and the dark wizards in Knockturn Alley may have the protection of the Ministry of Magic.

But Regulus is not a real child; he understands the rules of how society works.

The Muggle world has slums, black markets, and underground trade; the Wizarding world has Knockturn Alley. Essentially, they are not much different.

They are all shadows beneath the light, chaos outside of order.

Even though he had never been exposed to this aspect of the wizarding world before, the principles are the same: where there is demand, there is supply; where there are prohibitions, there is a black market; and where there are laws, there are loopholes.

So he was calm, without shock or fear, and without any moral discomfort.

He simply looked intently and observed carefully, as if he were studying an unfamiliar ecosystem.

Orion kept an eye on her son's reaction.

From the moment he entered Knockout Alley, he had been watching Regulus's expression closely.

Regulus's face remained expressionless when he saw the organs preserved in glass jars, the human bone wand and the baby skull mirror, and the half-human, half-beast creature locked in the corner.

He showed no discomfort or aversion; he was simply watching.

Orion breathed a sigh of relief, but at the same time, a complex mix of emotions welled up inside him.

He certainly hoped that his son would be resilient and unmoved by external things.

In a place like Flip-Flop Alley, any weakness or hesitation can be a fatal flaw.

Regulus's performance was impeccable: calm, rational, and focused, perfectly befitting the qualities of a Black family heir.

On the other hand, seeing his son remain calm in the face of such darkness, Orion couldn't help but feel a pang of emotion.

An eleven-year-old child should still have innocent fantasies about the world and believe in the clear distinction between good and evil and the inevitable victory of justice.

But Regulus was not like that from a very young age. He saw things too clearly, thought too deeply, and understood the complexity of the world and the cruelty of reality early on.

This reminded Orion of his guardian spirit from yesterday.

The star kite, a legendary and magical creature, symbolizes freedom, exploration, and overcoming all obstacles.

That represents Regulus's deepest desires for light, positivity, and hope.

At the same time, he could calmly face the darkest and dirtiest side of Knockturn Alley, walking past those jars soaking organs and those magical items made from human bones without changing his expression.

Light and darkness seem to coexist in this child's heart.

Orion didn't know if this was a good thing or a bad thing, but he was certain of one thing: Regulus would become a very, very special wizard.

So special that it may surpass all the ancestors of the Black family, so special that it may achieve greatness.

His opinion of his son rose again; "excellent" was no longer enough to describe it.

As Regulus emerged from the seventh shop, he sensed something was amiss.

The alley was still the same alley, dim, dirty, and sparsely populated.

But there were a few more gazes in the air, filled with undisguised malice.

Those gazes came from different directions, scanning back and forth between him and Orion.

Regulus did not turn his head to look immediately.

He maintained a normal pace and posture, following half a step behind his father. His magical perception spread outwards, and he quickly locked onto several locations.

Ten meters to the left front, in a corner piled with discarded wooden crates, two sources of magic power are hidden there, faint and murky.

They used the Disillusionment Charm, but their spellcasting was poor; their body outlines were still visible in the dim light, with visible twists and ripples along the edges, and their footprints were left in the dust on the ground when they moved.

Two other people stood in the shadow of the porch of a crooked building at the far end of the alley.

One of the magical fluctuations was erratic and unstable, with a wild, beast-like nature, most likely belonging to a werewolf, and possibly in the process of transforming.

The other magic is even colder.

The four people were clearly working together, with two tracking from close range and two providing support from a distance—a typical ambush formation.