Chapter 8: Echoes of the Universe
Spring 1969. Regulus was eight years old.
The room on the east side of the third floor at 12 Grimmauld Place had been officially converted into his bedroom and study.
Orion had given him more space — an entire wall of bookshelves, a heavy oak desk, and an east-facing window.
But what Regulus wanted most right now was to get into the storage room buried deepest within the mansion.
That room sat at the end of the kitchen corridor, permanently locked. Walburga said it held nothing of value — relics of disowned family members, too awkward to destroy yet unfit for display.
Inside were the possessions of Alphard Black, sealed away in 1960.
Alphard — disowned a few years earlier for collecting Muggle objects and showing open sympathy toward Muggles. Regulus had only ever heard the name in Walburga's curses.
After years of study, Regulus had finally managed to dismantle the protective enchantments on the room's door — far more complex than a simple Unlocking Charm.
There were no magical artifacts inside. Only Muggle things — an old vacuum-tube radio, several issues of National Geographic dated 1950, a stack of copies of The Times, and a few hardcover notebooks.