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Heavy, dark clouds drifted lazily across the fading Scottish sky, the brilliant tapestry of stars slowly shifting and retreating as the earth turned.
Night seamlessly, beautifully surrendered to day.
Tendril-like wisps of freezing, pale mist began to heavily gather on the glassy, dark surface of the Black Lake. It looked exactly like layers of floating, translucent light gauze—ethereal, nimble, and hauntingly beautiful, giving the grounds the atmosphere of an ancient fairyland. Deep within the towering canopy of the Forbidden Forest, the warm, golden morning sunlight gradually began to pierce through the dense, twisting branches and leaves. The sharp, deeply refreshing scent of crushed pine needles and damp earth thoroughly permeated the humid morning air.
Standing on the dew-covered grass in the freezing morning light, Sirius Black put two pale fingers into his mouth and let out a sharp, incredibly piercing whistle that echoed across the quiet grounds.
Late last night, staring out through the thick glass of the Gryffindor common room window, he had clearly seen the massive silhouettes of the golden eagles circling the high towers. So, incredibly early this morning, long before the rest of the castle had even woken up, he completely couldn't wait to run outside, eagerly looking forward to formally greeting them.
"Ahhhh—" James Potter let out a massive, jaw-cracking yawn, rubbing his sleepy hazel eyes. Tucked securely under his right arm was his highly prized flying broom—the ridiculously expensive, naturally best-performing Firebolt 1001. "Mate, are you absolutely sure they'll actually come down? It's entirely too early for this... and I still have exhausting, full-contact Quidditch practice later this morning."
"Just aggressively pretend you're actively searching the sky for the Golden Snitch," Remus advised. He pulled his warm winter cloak tighter around his scarred shoulders and looked up, his amber eyes intensely scanning the sprawling, pink-lit clouds, desperately searching for the massive golden shadows in the sky.
Easily persuaded by any mention of Quidditch, James immediately perked up, his competitive instincts kicking in as he eagerly scanned the horizon.
Before long, James spotted them. A pair of massive, brilliant golden figures were violently flying in from the dark direction of the Forbidden Forest at an incredibly, terrifyingly fast speed. The slightly smaller one (Regina) suddenly, violently accelerated upon reaching the airspace directly above the boys. She folded her wings and entered a sheer, vertical dive, plummeting straight towards the three Gryffindors with an awe-inspiring, completely unparalleled, lethal momentum.
Before their terrified, wide eyes, a pair of massive, incredibly powerful wings—spanning nearly two full meters across—violently snapped open at the very last possible microsecond. The sheer aerodynamic force violently stirred up a massive, snapping gust of wind that whipped the boys' hair back. She swooped aggressively down on them, her terrifyingly sharp, highly intelligent eagle eyes carrying the absolute power of an apex predator, and her massive, razor-sharp golden talons seemed to physically, violently tear through the very fabric of the air itself—
This sheer, terrifying display of raw, aerial power before them was truly, undeniably worthy of the legendary title: King of Raptors!
Too incredibly fast! The three young wizards had absolutely zero physical time to even draw their wands or react. They felt as though the wind had been violently punched straight out of their lungs, leaving them completely unable to breathe. After a split second of pure, unadulterated shock, their hearts began to thump violently against their ribs. All three of them instinctively, terrifiedly stepped back simultaneously, half-crouching down into defensive stances on the wet grass.
The massive golden eagle's talons violently swept mere inches over the top of their heads. She landed heavily on the grass directly behind them, the heavy, muffled thud of her impact clearly audible in the quiet morning.
Did you arrogant little lions play entirely too much last night? Regina cooed softly, a highly amused, clicking sound echoing in her throat.
Sirius spun around. He saw the two massive eagles affectionately, beautifully intertwining their feathered necks, casually glancing sideways at the terrified boys and whispering softly to each other in low coos.
Godric, his highly intelligent, playful mood visibly heightened by scaring the Gryffindors, took another heavy, intimidating step forward. He suddenly, aggressively spread his massive wings to their absolute maximum wingspan directly towards Sirius. A terrifying, incredibly powerful sense of lethal, biological oppression violently rushed at the boy, making Sirius momentarily feel exactly like a helpless, tiny lamb facing down a dragon.
But this time, Sirius absolutely did not flinch. He stood his ground.
"Good morning to you too, Godric. And to you, Regina!" Sirius grinned broadly. He looked completely, fearlessly directly into Godric's terrifying, piercing golden eyes, actually smiling warmly as he greeted the apex predators.
Godric huffed. He indeed smoothly folded his massive wings back against his body, and a highly distinct, intelligent hint of deep, predatory approval flashed in his sharp eagle eyes. He turned his majestic head to look at his mate and cooed very softly—
These little lions aren't entirely cowards. They can handle it.
Remus and James were already standing back up, utterly stunned by the interaction.
"Merlin's beard, Sirius... Godric and Regina are absolutely, unbelievably amazing!" James gasped. His eyes didn't even blink, completely full of absolute, raw reverence for their speed. He gave an awkward little wave. "Uh, also... hi!"
Regina clicked her beak in acknowledgment. She walked elegantly forward, gracefully lifted one massive, razor-sharp claw, and allowed a small, tightly bound silk package to slip smoothly from between her lethal talons onto the wet grass.
James immediately darted forward and picked up the package. He tore open the silk binding and completely couldn't help but lift the contents high into the air in sheer, unadulterated surprise—
The priceless, legendary Potter Invisibility Cloak shimmered with a beautiful, ethereal, translucent glow in the morning sunlight.
"Sweet Merlin! It's my Invisibility Cloak! Regulus actually returned it!" James grinned completely foolishly, jumping up and down. He yelled excitedly at the birds, "It was literally delivered by the Golden Eagle Express! That is so brilliant! Thank you, thank you!"
"I actually have a highly practical, tactical idea—" Remus muttered, heavily rubbing his chest, his heart still beating violently from the sheer terror of the dive-bomb. "What if we could somehow actively, regularly invite Godric and Regina to physically train with us on the pitch?"
James's hazel eyes immediately lit up like fireworks. "Brilliant! If we dodge them, then absolutely no one at Hogwarts will ever possess a faster physical combat reaction speed than us!"
Rapidly, mathematically weighing the terrifying, blurring speed of the eagles' dive in his Quidditch-obsessed mind, James added fiercely: "If I can successfully track them, catching the Golden Snitch during a match will be an absolute piece of cake!"
"And it can also aggressively, heavily build up our raw physical courage," Sirius said softly. He casually reached into his inner pocket, pulled out a highly polished, expensive solid-silver comb, and fearlessly stepped directly forward. He began to gently, meticulously comb the thick, golden feathers on Regina's massive neck.
Regina clicked happily. She lowered her lethal head, completely, habitually enjoying the luxurious grooming, exactly as she used to do on the high slate roof at the Black family home.
From the terrifying encounter at the London Zoo, to the high balconies of Grimmauld Place, and now here at Hogwarts—Sirius had honestly, almost completely forgotten that Godric and Regina were, fundamentally, incredibly dangerous, highly domineering apex raptors who could snap a man's neck with ease.
"Wait a minute... maybe Regulus is absolutely already aggressively doing that specific physical training with them!" James suddenly blurted out, his face falling with sudden, massive competitive worry. "His physical combat reaction speed on the dueling platform yesterday... mate, it was terrifyingly, impossibly fast... Honestly, I'm actually starting to get a bit deeply worried about the upcoming Quidditch match against Slytherin..."
Fortunately, James reasoned internally to calm himself down, Slytherin's current, highly experienced Seeker hadn't officially graduated yet, and Regulus was currently only relegated to playing as a backup substitute.
"I absolutely need to train vastly harder." James gripped the polished handle of his Firebolt 1001 incredibly tightly. He looked fiercely up in the direction of the tall, sweeping hoops of the Quidditch Pitch, and suddenly didn't feel the slightest bit sleepy anymore.
Remus chuckled softly at his friend's absolute obsession and affectionately patted his shoulder.
Meanwhile, safely inside the castle walls.
Holding the freshly acquired, highly official signed permission note from Professor Flitwick tightly in his hand, Regulus casually walked past the heavy ropes into the Restricted Section. He moved smoothly under Madam Pince's incredibly stern, vulture-like glare, a highly strange, deeply amused smile currently playing on his lips—
Hey, Regulus thought smugly, who could possibly blame him for smiling? He had just flawlessly watched Godric's terrifying, calculated prank on the three Gryffindors through his passive Eagle Vision. He had also clearly seen the massive success of the highly efficient "Golden Eagle Express" delivery service he had specifically arranged for James—it was indeed greatly, joyfully loved by the Potter heir.
Even the usually cautious Remus was now aggressively intending to use the lethal apex predators to actively train their combat reaction speeds. Ah, the classic, grueling Gryffindor version of the legendary martial arts novel "Condor Hero" was genuinely just around the corner, Regulus chuckled internally.
Hey.
In the deeply stuffy, dust-choked, incredibly oppressive atmosphere of the Restricted Section, Regulus slowly, methodically walked towards the specific dark aisle containing the book on Soul Power.
In his right hand, he held a highly specialized, thick alchemical crystal filter that continuously emitted a soft, pulsing, pale purple light.
As absolutely every single senior student knew, during her long, terrifying tenure managing the library, Madam Pince had obsessively cast thousands of extraordinary, highly complex security spells and physical wards on the library's books. (As specifically noted in the Foreword of 'Quidditch Through the Ages', by J.K. Rowling).
Not to even mention the undeniable fact that many ancient books inherently, biologically possessed bizarre magical properties of their own—such as The Invisible Book of Invisibility, which utilized its own highly frustrating, permanent hiding effect; or Hagrid's beloved, terrifying The Monster Book of Monsters, which violently, aggressively bit the fingers of anyone who touched it. And those were merely the standard, highly regulated mass-produced books!
Let alone the horrific, ancient books locked deep within the library's Restricted Section—almost every single cursed book here was an entirely unique, handwritten copy. They were completely hard to find anywhere else in the world, true one-of-a-kind artifacts. Every single heavy parchment page, every single inked word, was heavily, deeply imbued with the terrifying wisdom, the blood-sweat effort, the raw volatile magic, and even the massive fortunes in Galleons of ancient, dead wizards—
Rather than simply calling them mundane 'books,' it would be vastly more accurate and scientifically precise to say they were highly advanced, highly lethal alchemical items possessing massive magical heritage!
Each specific, cursed book possessed its own myriad of terrifying, highly complex protective measures and unique structural designs, violently, aggressively rejecting any unworthy reader who attempted to casually browse them. Spending any amount of actual time reading in the Restricted Section meant dealing with endless, highly lethal puzzles to solve just to turn a page.
For example, the copy of Strongly Protective Enchantments and Shifting Forms that the Gryffindors had previously "borrowed" to photocopy actively required the reader to successfully, flawlessly Transfigure a specific silk ribbon on the book cover directly into a living, breathing spider. Otherwise, the magical lock wouldn't open at all, and it would likely curse your hands.
Some of the older books also possessed heavy covers entirely inlaid with cursed jewels, massive security clasps on the spine forged entirely out of pure Goblin gold, and pages meticulously written with the absolute most precious, highly conductive liquid silver ink, making them look incredibly, breathtakingly magnificent—
However, the true, terrifying value of an ancient book absolutely never lies in its beautiful physical appearance, but always, entirely in the lethality of its content!
For example, the highly unassuming, completely plain book on Soul Power currently sitting in the shadows before him. It didn't even possess a proper, bound leather cover, looking entirely plain, rotting, and highly regrettable—
There was absolutely only a thin, deeply faded line of blood-red Latin title stamped on the cracked spine: Potentia Animarum.
(Honestly, having absolutely no flashy cover art at all? If this specific dark magic manual were serialized on Qidian today, it would be an absolute, undeniable flop at first glance,) Regulus joked internally, his CEO mindset analyzing the terrible packaging.
Regulus chuckled softly in the dark. He stood still and placed the heavy alchemical filter completely upright in the center of his pale palm. He closed his eyes and deeply felt the subtle, invisible flow of ambient alchemical energy swirling around the heavy oak bookshelf.
The transparent purple filter began to rotate slightly on his skin, hovering on a cushion of magic. Its pale purple, highly concentrated glow started to violently angle and concentrate directly downwards, acting exactly like a laser pointer, seamlessly guiding him towards a highly specific, damaged target on the bottom shelf.
As a highly dedicated, budding alchemist under Uncle Alphard's tutelage, he was aggressively learning exactly how to scientifically discern the internal quality and structural integrity of magical items. And the specialized filter currently sitting in his hand was the absolute best, most expensive diagnostic tool money could buy—
Excellent, perfectly preserved alchemical creations absolutely always utilized flawless internal alchemical arrays to tightly, securely lock their own raw magic inside, entirely preventing it from easily leaking into the environment.
While inferior, or violently, physically damaged items would undeniably suffer from massive, highly noticeable, bleeding magical fluctuations.
And at this exact, quiet moment, the dark book resting on the bottom shelf was violently emitting a faint, yet completely, mathematically undeniable leakage of raw, bleeding dark magic into the air from its torn spine.
Regulus's lips curved slightly upwards into a cold, predatory, highly calculating smile.
Perfect.
Now, he even possessed a perfectly flawless, legally undeniable academic reason to demand to open this restricted book.