Chapter 34: Blood, Stance, and Reality
A corner of the library. Candlelight cast a warm glow over thick pages.
Lily Evans could hold back no longer. She set down the hefty Potions reference and turned her earnest green eyes to the boy across from her.
"The duel in the Slytherin common room — against a fifth-year. I heard about it." Her voice was low, carrying pure, unprejudiced curiosity.
"They say you only used basic spells, but the results were completely different — as if we aren't studying the same textbook. How is that even possible?"
Regulus raised an eyebrow in mild surprise. He hadn't expected her to bring it up, though on reflection it made sense.
Slytherin's internal affairs never leaked in detail — that was an unspoken consensus among all Slytherins. The Dark Magic that surfaced at the welcome tournament, for instance, would stay inside those walls.
But Travers's humiliating defeat after picking a fight? That made for perfectly good gossip. Nobody was going to cover for him.
He looked up at her. There was no probing or hostility in Lily's curiosity — only fascination with magic itself. That made him willing to say more.
"The spells themselves are from the book, yes." He answered evenly. "The key is how you use them."
"You mean there's a trick to it?" "Understanding, mastery, body, awareness." Regulus flicked his wand and set a Silencing Charm around them.
He continued: "Understand the spell's essence — what type of magical property it mobilizes, what substance or energy it acts upon, what change it seeks to achieve.
Mastery means countless repetitions, until the spell becomes near-instinct — incantation, gesture, and magical output perfectly synchronized, without a shred of waste or hesitation.
Body — a duel isn't standing still and reciting incantations. You need to move to dodge spells, adjust angles for better casting positions, and maintain balance to react to anything. A strong physique and sharp reflexes are themselves part of your combat power."
Regulus considered, then added: "That is a point many wizards overlook."
"And finally, awareness." His grey eyes looked particularly deep in the candlelight. "Predicting your opponent's intent, calculating spell trajectories and points of intersection, making optimal decisions in the blink of an eye.
In many duels, the contest of awareness precedes the clash of spells."
'Of course,' he appended silently, 'this applies only to conventional dueling, not higher forms of magic.
Nor does it apply to everyone. Voldemort, Dumbledore, Grindelwald — and in time, me.'
Lily sat stunned. She had never heard anyone dissect a wizard duel so clearly and systematically.
At Hogwarts, professors taught the incantations and wand movements, stressed the importance of practice, but rarely connected spell-craft so deeply to the caster's holistic abilities.
She felt herself dimly touching the edge of a profound gulf separating Muggle-born students from peers raised in ancient wizarding families.
She opened her mouth, wanting to say: 'Isn't that unfair?
Pure-blood children are exposed to these deeper principles from birth, while we...'
As if reading her thoughts, Regulus shook his head slightly. "This has no necessary connection to being pure-blood.
Family legacy does provide earlier access to these principles, but that only means 'knowing.' The journey from 'knowing' to 'doing' requires personal study, practice, and thought.
Many pure-blood wizards never progress past 'knowing' — and some grow lax out of arrogance.
My own level comes more from what I've put in."
His words fell like a splash of cold water, dousing the flicker of grievance in Lily's heart.
She thought suddenly of Slughorn praising both her and Severus for their talent — and they had earned their grades through their own hard work.
Resources might be unequal, but effort and intelligence belonged to everyone.
Regulus was not defending pure-blood monopoly; he was emphasizing the decisive role of individual effort. Paradoxically, that made it easier for her to accept.
Lily nodded thoughtfully.
But she hadn't considered: was there any other pure-blood who would tell her these things?
Without either of them noticing, the conversation plunged deeper.
Lily hesitated, then voiced the doubt that had circled in her mind for some time: "Lately, I keep feeling that the atmosphere at school is... strange.
Especially in Slytherin, and among some upper-year pure-bloods in other houses too.
They whisper about 'that person' or 'the remarkable wizard' — with such fervor. What's happening out there?"
Regulus was silent for a beat.
He knew Lily had grown up in the Muggle world and had limited insight into wizarding society. But her perceptiveness had picked up the irregularities.
Clearly, critical information was not shared openly with someone of her background.
Still, he didn't mind sharing a little.
"The wizarding world... stands on the eve of upheaval." He chose his words carefully, avoiding the name itself.
Lily could learn the name elsewhere. It must not come from him.
"A powerful wizard who champions pure-blood supremacy is rising. He has attracted the support of many ancient families.
He believes pure-blood wizards ought to re-establish absolute dominion over the wizarding world and cleanse it of impure elements."
Lily's green eyes went wide. "That's absurd! Just because of birth?"
"Whether it is absurd depends on where you stand." Regulus's voice remained level. "For many ancient families, they hold the vast majority of the wizarding world's wealth, knowledge, and power. That dominance has endured for centuries — even millennia.
They consider it a natural entitlement of blood. The growing proportion of half-bloods and Muggle-borns, in their view, dilutes and threatens that entitlement and purity.
This wizard's platform aligns precisely with their anxieties and ambitions."
He looked at Lily squarely. "The pure-bloods you've encountered in other houses — Potter, Longbottom, Prewett, Weasley — their families may be more progressive, or more content with the status quo.
But Slytherin, and many of the families closely linked to it, are different."
Lily bit her lip and looked at him, her voice very soft. "Then what about you? You must... support that view, right? You're a Black. That's practically a synonym for pure-blood."
Regulus didn't answer immediately. He turned to the window and the deepening night beyond it, as though he could see past the castle walls to the turmoil they held at bay.
"Blood," he began slowly, "is like an ancient key. It opens certain sealed doors and grants access to resources and perspectives others can scarcely reach.
It represents tradition; it also represents vested interest. I cannot deny that I enjoy — and make use of — everything it provides."
He turned back, meeting her gaze with candor. "But blood cannot represent wisdom. It cannot represent character. And it certainly cannot define a person's entire worth.
Throughout history, many wizards who advanced magical knowledge were not pure-blood. Attributing everything to lineage is lazy and narrow-minded.
The stance of many pure-blood families, rather than being a creed, is more accurately... a defense of existing interests and dominion.
They monopolize knowledge and resources, intermarry, and form a closed and powerful class."
At that point, a private thought flitted through his mind: 'In my past life I owned a dog — pedigree as pure as they come. But aside from being good-looking and high-maintenance, it wasn't noticeably smarter than any mutt off the street.'
Lily listened to this near-clinical dissection, heart jolting.
She had not expected someone from the most eminent pure-blood house to view pure-bloodedness itself in this way.
He was neither fanatical nor defensive — he simply laid out a calm analysis rooted in history and interest.
It made her wonder: was Regulus Black perhaps not the stereotypical pure-blood supremacist she had imagined?
Had she asked aloud, Regulus would have told her: he could be, or he could choose not to be.
For the remainder of the session, both turned their attention back to their books.
Regulus hunted for references on dermal-adhesion potion carriers, controlled-release magical substrates, and runic-inscription media stability.
The texts he was consulting already exceeded O.W.L. level and ventured into N.E.W.T. territory.
Lily had been curious at first about what he was looking for, but when Regulus occasionally murmured questions or incisive commentary on the denser passages, she found herself stunned once more by the depth of a peer's knowledge.
She guessed Regulus was working on an exceedingly niche and advanced project.
"What are you researching?" she asked, unable to resist. "These materials are... really specialized."
Regulus looked up and thought for a few seconds.
Lily's Potions talent was acknowledged by both Slughorn and the original author. She was sharp-minded and intensely curious — potentially a valuable collaborator.
But the true purpose could not be revealed.