The Hogwarts Express pulled into the station at four in the afternoon.
Regulus stepped off the train with his trunk, and the platform was packed with students returning to school. The noise hit him like a wave.
He headed for the carriages with Cuthbert and Alex.
The carriages looked like they were moving on their own. The front was empty, no animal in sight, but Regulus knew what was there.
Thestrals.
He couldn't see them.
Only people who had witnessed death could see a Thestral, and Regulus had never watched someone die.
So all he saw was empty harness shafts, and a carriage that rolled along the gravel path by itself, the wheels creaking over stone.
It felt like a shame.
Thestrals carried a special weight in magical texts.
They could fly. They could cut through storms and darkness. They could slip past magical barriers. Some books even claimed they could briefly traverse space itself.
More than that, they were symbolic. Only someone who had faced death, who had accepted the truth of life, could see them.
Maybe that was the point. Break through the limits of what you think you know, gain a deeper understanding, and you start noticing what other people can't.
In the wizarding world, symbols and images sometimes were magic.
Regulus climbed into a carriage. Several Slytherin students were already inside.
The moment Cuthbert sat down, he started talking, his voice pitched a little louder on purpose, loud enough for everyone to hear.
"You lot wouldn't believe the Malfoy gathering over break." His face wore that look of someone who knew a secret he couldn't quite share, eyes bright.
"So many families were there. It was massive. Lucius Malfoy hosted personally. The elder Malfoy was there too, only showed his face and left, but still…"
Every word screamed the same message. I was at something important.
As he spoke, he kept glancing at Regulus, like he wanted approval and also wanted to show off that he belonged in the same circle.
Regulus listened quietly, nodding now and then.
Hermes sat in the corner without a word.
He looked even darker than he had before the break, pale, with faint shadows beneath his eyes.
Everything about him said, don't come near me.
Alex sat beside Regulus, listening to Cuthbert, and his face had gone a little white.
He hadn't attended the gathering. He was only a branch of the Rosier family, but he still had a sense of what that kind of event meant.
Pure-bloods choosing sides. Voldemort's influence consolidating.
Hearing Cuthbert describe the details made fear crawl up his spine.
Regulus noticed the way a few older students looked at Cuthbert, their eyes edged with contempt.
None of them said anything. They simply looked away and pretended to be interested in the view outside.
Regulus understood. It wasn't that they didn't want to speak. They were older, which meant they were better at hiding what they thought.
In private, they might talk even more eagerly than Cuthbert ever would.
The carriage passed through the Hogwarts gates, followed the long drive, and finally stopped in front of the castle. Students streamed out and walked into the brightly lit Great Hall.
The start-of-term feast was already underway.
The long tables were piled with food. The ceiling had been transfigured into a starry sky. Candles floated overhead, casting warm light.
Dumbledore sat at the center of the staff table, his long silver beard gleaming in the candlelight.
Once everyone had settled, Dumbledore stood.
"Welcome back," he said, his voice warm and carrying easily across the hall. "Did you enjoy your holiday? I hope you've all had a proper rest, because there's a great deal of work ahead of us."
His gaze swept across the four house tables, and wherever it landed, the room quieted.
"Learning magic isn't only about mastering spells," Dumbledore continued. "It's also about understanding our relationship with the world.
Why do we use magic? For what purpose? For whose benefit? Those are questions I hope you'll think about as you study."
He raised his goblet. "To a new year, to the pursuit of knowledge, and to the things that make us better people. Cheers."
A chorus of "cheers" rose around the hall. Regulus lifted his pumpkin juice and took a sip.
Dumbledore wasn't being subtle. The message was clear. Magic had a higher purpose than showing off, higher than pride, higher than family glory.
He was planting ideas about kindness, justice, responsibility.
Regulus ate his roast chicken in silence. He understood Dumbledore's position, and he respected the man's stubborn commitment to it.
But Regulus had his own path to walk. That path might not match Dumbledore's hopes, and that was fine.
Everyone answered for their own choices.
After the feast, students returned to their common rooms.
In the Slytherin common room, silver and green decorations caught the firelight and threw back a cold gleam.
Narcissa stood near the fireplace talking with a few seventh-year girls. When she saw Regulus enter, she gave him a small nod.
Regulus walked over. "Cousin."
"Regulus." Narcissa smiled. "How was your holiday?"
"Not bad," Regulus said. "I met a lot of people. Learned a few new things."
They traded a few brief pleasantries, all surface-level, all polite.
Then Lucretius Burke approached.
The Slytherin prefect wore immaculate robes and a practiced smile.
He bowed slightly to Narcissa first. "Apologies for the interruption, Narcissa. May I borrow Regulus for a moment?"
Narcissa nodded. "Of course."
Then she turned away with her usual graceful ease.
Lucretius led Regulus to a quieter corner of the room.
"I saw you in Knockturn Alley during the holiday," Lucretius said without preamble, voice lowered like he was sharing something private. "With your father. Inspecting the shops."
Regulus nodded, saying nothing. He hadn't been trying to hide. Being spotted was normal.
"Next time you go, you should stop by my family's shop," Lucretius offered. "Borgin and Burkes, Knockturn Alley thirteen B. There are things you might find interesting."
Regulus understood. The Burkes were extending goodwill. Not exactly recruitment, more like planting a favorable connection. With the elder Burke's reputation, it made sense.
And Borgin and Burkes was one of the biggest dark artifact dealers in Knockturn Alley. There would be plenty worth seeing.
"I will," Regulus said without hesitation. "Over break."
Lucretius smiled, patted Regulus's shoulder, and walked away.
Regulus stayed where he was, a thought slipping through his mind.
He wondered if the Vanishing Cabinet was already in the Burke shop.
The pair of cabinets that would one day connect Hogwarts and Knockturn Alley would become an important piece on the board.
But it was too early for that. Draco Malfoy hadn't even been born yet.
Regulus wasn't in a hurry.
By the time he returned to the dormitory, it was nearly eleven.
Cuthbert was still excitedly telling Alex about his holiday, even though Alex very clearly didn't want to hear it.
Hermes had already drawn his bed curtains shut. A faint, unstable pulse of magic leaked through. Regulus glanced once and recognized it for what it was.
Dark magic, but not the darkest kind.
Regulus didn't join the conversation. He washed up and went straight to bed.
He closed his eyes and let his awareness sink deep.
Star guided meditation began to turn. The four stars of Orion lit up in his mind, silver-white, tracing the constellation's outline. Magic flowed in a looping cycle along the path of those stars.
But tonight felt different.
A dull pressure throbbed in the depths of his awareness, like his head was too full, like his mind hadn't finished digesting what he'd taken in.
Taking two inheritances back to back had strained him more than he'd expected.
Verdant Magic demanded an understanding of life's essence. The Space Anchor Charm demanded control over spatial structure. Both were advanced magic, both required a vast foundation of knowledge and extremely precise manipulation.
All of that information had crashed into his consciousness like floodwater. It would take time to absorb, to understand, to integrate.
Regulus could feel it clearly. If he tried to take a third inheritance now, it would probably fail.
His mind was close to saturation. Forcing more ancestral memory into it could mean confusion and tangled understanding at best, and real mental damage at worst, memories shifting out of place.
Time between inheritances was necessary.
His ancestors hadn't sealed a lifetime of knowledge into crystal so their descendants could swallow it all in one bite.
That was like trying to eat a year's worth of food in a single meal. You wouldn't survive it.
Inheritance required digestion.
It required practice.
It required turning someone else's experience into your own understanding.
There was no rushing that process.
Regulus adjusted his meditation, easing the flow of magic into something gentler.
He stopped chasing speed. Instead, he focused on consolidation. The four-star model needed to be steadier. Magic Circulation needed to be smoother. His mental barriers needed to be stronger.
Once his mind fully recovered, once Verdant Magic and the Space Anchor Charm had both settled into him properly, then he would try to light the fifth star of the star guided meditation.
That would be a new breakthrough.
But that was for later.
For now, he needed rest.
A new school year had begun.