In the Room of Requirement, a cauldron of Polyjuice Potion had been simmering for over half a month—it could be used to assume another person's appearance.
During a day-trip to Azkaban, Regulus Black successfully acquired a strand of Bellatrix Lestrange's hair. He was preparing to visit Gringotts Wizarding Bank, and the key to the vault had already been found by Kreacher—though it had taken him quite a bit of time. Upon handing it over, Kreacher nearly harmed himself in remorse.
"Kreacher! Stop that foolish behavior right now!"
At the old house on 12 Grimmauld Place, Kreacher felt he had failed his duty. It had taken him more than three months to find the key, and he feared that delay might have ruined his master's plans. So, he believed he must punish himself—severely.
Regulus Black had no choice but to issue a firm command to make him stop.
"Master! Kreacher is worthless. The Lestrange home had magical defenses—Kreacher had to try many methods to find a weakness and slip inside."
Kreacher lowered his head in guilt, speaking softly as he described the entire process of retrieving the key.
"Kreacher, I need you to find one more little thing. Do you know what a Boggart is? Get one for me before Christmas. And I hope you won't freeze up if it turns into me."
Regulus Black understood the behavior patterns of house-elves very well. If they weren't given something to do, their minds would wander. Out of fear of being abandoned, they would rather punish themselves first—believing that if they fainted from the punishment, their master might forgive them. And right now, Regulus knew full well: Kreacher feared him.
"Yes, Master! I'll go find one right away. Boggarts like to hide in cupboards or under beds, then jump out to scare children!"
Kreacher was thrilled to have a new task—it was proof that his master would not abandon him, at least not yet.
At this point, Christmas was less than a week away. Regulus believed Kreacher had the ability to find a Boggart in time.
House-elves were an extremely servile magical species. Regulus Black was certain they must be the creation of some wizard—which meant this vast race of loyal servants had likely been deliberately invented by someone seeking to create the perfect slave.
In the wizarding world of Harry Potter, most wizards never cooked for themselves. In nature, magical plants and creatures contained countless potion ingredients. Even ingredients considered mundane could produce strange and unexpected effects in a cauldron. If one were to experiment deliberately, the creation of magical beings like house-elves would not be at all surprising.
And ever since house-elves had entered the picture, wizard cooking skills had regressed to that of cavemen.
Only a handful of wizarding families still cooked for themselves—for instance, the Weasleys, who didn't have a house-elf. It just goes to show: people only show their true value when forced to rely on themselves.
Regulus brought the finished Polyjuice Potion back from Hogwarts to his family home, fully prepared for his transformation.
That day, Gringotts Wizarding Bank welcomed a noble witch: Bellatrix Lestrange, dressed in full gothic attire, arrived with her vault key and emptied the entire contents of her private vault—leaving not a single Galleon behind.
Witnessing the event was a goblin named "Latch," who later told the arriving Aurors that he was certain the witch was Bellatrix Lestrange herself. Each vault was enchanted with anti-theft curses created by goblins—anyone attempting to steal from them would trigger a magical response: the items inside would endlessly duplicate themselves, making it impossible to identify the originals.
But the Aurors insisted that Bellatrix Lestrange was still imprisoned in Azkaban. She had already been verified via magical examination—there was no doubt it was her. However, during this recent inspection, it was discovered that Bellatrix was pregnant. The Ministry was now investigating who the father might be, and all male Aurors were under strict review.
Regulus Black had stated: as long as the treasures weren't directly touched but instead collected into a small personal charm, the anti-theft enchantments would lose effect once outside the bounds of Gringotts. At that point, all valuables could be freely used.
The Daily Prophet Report Part I:
A major theft took place at Gringotts Wizarding Bank, and the bank shirked all responsibility.
The Daily Prophet Report Part II:
An inside job at Azkaban—an imprisoned witch has become pregnant, and suspicions fall on the Auror guards.
Two consecutive days on the front page. The Daily Prophet had once again sold out completely. For the wizarding world, this kind of news was rare indeed. The Ministry of Magic had begun discussing the issue of imprisoned witches' human rights.
Madam Malfoy visited her sister shortly after and made a formal request for medical parole, which was flatly denied by the Ministry.
Cornelius Fudge had been overwhelmed with headaches lately—so many events were plunging the Ministry into chaos.
Regulus Black's explanation about the Dementor incident was reluctantly accepted—he claimed it was merely an accident, that the Dementors had run into a protective curse and were completely eliminated. However, Regulus refused to reveal the specifics of the spell, stating it would remain a permanent secret passed down within the Black family.
Possessing a spell that could defend against Dementors—not just the well-known Patronus Charm—was no small matter.
Once again, this elevated the standing of the Black family in the eyes of other pure-blood households, who now held them in even greater regard.
Regulus Black knew that if he revealed too much, he might find himself following the same path as Voldemort.
And that was exactly what Regulus didn't want. Better to leave the spotlight to the soon-to-be-resurrected Dark Lord.
Regulus had already obtained the following Horcruxes: Ravenclaw's Diadem, Slytherin's Locket, Marvolo Gaunt's Ring, and Hufflepuff's Cup. The only ones still missing were Tom Riddle's Diary and Voldemort's pet, Nagini.
As for dealing with Horcruxes, Regulus had already developed a highly effective method: extract the soul fragment within and fuse it into a small protective charm—the Voldemort Soul Fragment Gem. Meanwhile, the original magical properties and curses of the Horcrux itself would be preserved, turning them into a source of power for the bearer.
The soul fragments from the Diadem and Locket had already been fused into the Red Nightmare Soul Gem, which had been embedded into Nightmare.
Now that he had the Cup, combined with the Gaunt family's Ring, he had successfully created the Golden Memory Soul Gem.
Regulus was also preparing to find a use for it—after all, what makes a treasure valuable is its function, not its name.
And so, Regulus Black waited patiently until just before Christmas.
Hogwarts was filled with joy and laughter. Students played games in the snow, completely unbothered by the cold.
Hagrid, having received a dragon egg, was now fully focused on incubating it and studying the care of dragons for the future.
The rumors about Hagrid eating a unicorn had died down, much to Peeves the Poltergeist's disappointment.
Hermione had already adapted to life in Ravenclaw. After her experience with the Time-Turner, she found herself increasingly out of place with students from the other three houses. This was one reason Ravenclaw remained so tightly knit.
The day before Christmas, Hermione was pulling her suitcase through the hall, ready to go home for the holidays. She happened to see her Head of House, Professor Flitwick, decorating the Christmas tree. Nearby, Ron and Harry were playing Wizard's Chess—those barbaric pieces insisted on smashing every captured opponent into bits.
"So barbaric!"
Hermione was clearly disgusted by the game.
"It's Wizard's Chess. Don't like it? Don't play," Ron snapped.
Ron had no fondness for Hermione the "traitor." Yes, even if she hadn't gone to Slytherin but to Ravenclaw instead, it was still a betrayal in his eyes. Gryffindor had to draw a clear line between her and them.
"I assume you've already looked up Nicolas Flamel?"
"You're just here to laugh at us. We've checked over a hundred times and still came up with nothing."
"You probably haven't looked in the Restricted Section. Merry Christmas!"
Using classic Ravenclaw cunning, Hermione set the boys up with a major clue—and then quietly exited the scene.
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