Chapter 22: Starlight Meditation
Mid-September. The morning mist over the Scottish Highlands had not yet fully lifted, but the History of Magic classroom on the third floor was already packed with drowsy first-years.
When Professor Binns drifted through the wall, hardly anyone looked up.
Hogwarts' most senior professor began the day's lesson in his invariably dry monotone: "Today we shall continue our discussion of the Goblin Rebellion of 1612. The uprising began at the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade, where the goblin leader..."
Regulus studied the professor himself.
Binns was translucent — when sunlight passed through his body, it cast the faintest of shadows on the floor below the lectern.
What interested Regulus was the magical signature.
Other professors' magic felt like flowing flame, vibrant life force, or deep, still water.
Binns's magic was almost nonexistent — or more precisely, almost imperceptible.
Regulus closed his eyes and focused his magical perception toward the lectern.