Chapter 65: Boundless Wonder — The Patronus
Regulus came away with a sharper understanding of this ancient surname — one that tangibly shaped people's lives.
A stray thought surfaced: 'Have I been too frugal?'
At Hogwarts he never spent a Knut beyond necessities — books and ingredients, nothing more.
But looking at it now, the Black fortune was inexhaustible. He could toss away a hundred Galleons a day for ten years and barely dent it.
How could Muggle-borns and half-bloods possibly compete?
Even some pure-blood houses struggled — families that pinched every Sickle to afford a decent wand — while behind Regulus stood a dynasty commanding an entire supply chain of wizarding industry.
The gap was beyond personal talent to bridge. This was structural advantage, compounded over centuries, rooted bone-deep.
Then another question occurred to him: in the original timeline, who had all this wealth gone to?
Could Sirius, profligate as he was, really have squandered every last holding?