Regulus Black was very satisfied with his schedule today. He had completed everything he needed to do and even picked up an extra writing job.
Vico Roland's first novel, The Silver Right Hand and the Magical Dog, would be finished within two months. After that, the plan was to release a new book every two months. The seven-book series of The Silver Right Hand would take, at most, a year and a half to complete.
Each of these was a mid-length work under a million words. If the content turned out well, there was a good chance of adapting them into films or even games.
But while things were going smoothly for Regulus Black, it didn't mean everything was going well for Harry Potter.
The Death Eaters had just relocated to the Gaunt family's old house. Spells like the Muggle-Repelling Charm and the Fidelius Charm had just been put in place, along with several others.
The Order of the Phoenix came to the Gaunt house for a routine inspection. Naturally, the result was that the inspector discovered he couldn't find the house at all. He had wandered nearly the entire neighborhood before realizing that the address he sought had been hidden.
Who would conceal the Gaunt family's home? It wasn't unusual for old wizarding families to use the Muggle-Repelling Charm, but to employ the Fidelius Charm was different. That was something mostly seen during the Dark Lord's reign. Why would the Gaunt house need it now?
Could it mean the descendants of the Gaunt family had returned? But the only remaining descendant of the Gaunts was Voldemort himself, resurrected and whole again.
Which meant the place had likely been taken over by Death Eaters. Realizing this, the Order member immediately fled.
"Master! Should we chase him down and silence him?"
Lucius Malfoy still felt awkward calling Harry Potter "Master," but habits could be learned.
"No need! If you kill him, can you guarantee the message hasn't already been passed on? And if an Order member dies now, it will confirm this is my base. Then you'll have no choice but to move again."
The handsome Harry Potter waved his hand as he explained his reasoning.
"Find the next place for relocation, but keep the protections here intact. I need to return to Hogwarts for now."
Every time the handsome Harry Potter left Hogwarts, he had to act like a thief—avoiding attention, calculating the timing of his return. Even the smallest slip could expose him. Each time he came back, he had to plunge his consciousness into Harry Potter's soul, just as the silver slime in Dumbledore's office demonstrated, becoming Harry Potter's hidden spirit.
Harry, of course, sensed that something was off about himself. But he lacked Voldemort's memories, so even if Dumbledore extracted his memories, all he'd find were blank gaps. Voldemort hadn't done anything of note while at Hogwarts, leaving Dumbledore unable to link the memory gaps to any specific time.
"I'll handle the next relocation. If you wish it, Master, Malfoy Manor will always be open to you."
Lucius Malfoy offered up his home, which made Voldemort pause for a moment.
"Well, that's thoughtful of you. Your place can serve as a backup option."
The handsome Harry Potter gave a graceful flick of his wand and Apparated straight into Dolores Umbridge's home, then returned to Hogwarts via the Floo Network. Nobody else knew of this passage. Regulus Black might have, but he hadn't used that fireplace since the last time. After cautiously checking, the handsome Harry Potter slipped out of the office, walked down the hall, and arrived outside Professor McGonagall's classroom—where Harry's consciousness returned to his body.
"Professor McGonagall! Something's wrong—I just forgot again where I've been!"
Harry panicked as he reported his condition.
"Hahahahahaha…"
The entire class burst into laughter.
"Potter! Come here. You're nearly late."
Professor McGonagall shot him a sharp glare and pointed to the seat beside Ron.
"I brought your book. I couldn't find you earlier, but at least you made it in time for class."
Ron Weasley had already grown used to his friend's frequent memory lapses. If not for Professor Regulus Black reminding him to take extra care of Harry, he wouldn't have bothered bringing the book at all.
"Thanks, Ron."
Harry tried desperately to recall what he had done earlier, but nothing came back. His memory had broken off after the last class, and now it had returned. Over two hours of the afternoon had simply vanished.
Patting his stomach, he realized he wasn't hungry, which meant he must have already eaten lunch.
"Was I there at lunch?" Harry whispered to Ron.
"No. But I figured you must've eaten somewhere else, so I didn't save you anything back in the dorm."
Ron whispered back, drawing another sharp glance from McGonagall.
The two dared not speak again, forcing their attention onto the textbooks.
Meanwhile, Dumbledore kept searching for answers. Things were already vastly different from the original story. In the books, everything about the Horcruxes had required Dumbledore's painstaking guesses and deductions, revisiting the past through the Pensieve every day, combing through memories for missing details.
And this year, the Defense Against the Dark Arts post—finally—landed on Snape.
Replacing Snape as Potions Master was none other than Professor Horace Slughorn, the one who, in the original story, hosted the "Slug Club."
It was also Slughorn who, in the original story, provided the real memory only after Harry drank Felix Felicis.
Back in the day, it was Slughorn who taught Tom Riddle how to create Horcruxes.
That revelation had truly terrified Dumbledore.
Regulus Black, however, looked down on such a reaction.
So what if you killed someone and split your soul to make a Horcrux? Nothing to fuss over.
If soul-splitting weren't such a foolish idea, Regulus might have tried it himself for amusement.
Imagine if all seven Horcruxes were restored—what would happen then?
With the main body, that would make eight Voldemorts. The scene would be unbearably awkward.
Which one was the original, and which were the copies?
Any copy that didn't kill the original would be a "good" copy. Otherwise, they'd all be waiting for their turn to strike at the original.
Regulus believed his own protective charms were far superior to Horcruxes.
If Horcruxes weren't so important in the original narrative, he wouldn't have bothered with such dark objects at all. He could just craft better equipment himself.
But now, Dumbledore no longer needed to worry about Horcruxes, because all of them had been turned into Regulus Black's personal gear. The only remaining one was Harry Potter himself, who had already fused with Voldemort. As long as Harry was dealt with, Voldemort would be finished.
These days, Dumbledore spent most of his time watching the silver slime Regulus had left, monitoring Harry's soul. This greatly restricted Voldemort's actions.
Somehow, Voldemort could sense when the slime was being observed.
Whenever Dumbledore had to step away, that was the moment Harry left Hogwarts to command the Death Eaters.
It was hard on Dumbledore to keep watch, and hard on Voldemort to keep waiting.
Only Regulus Black felt no burden at all. He came and went as he pleased.
He didn't need to monitor Harry, because the silver slime was his own creation.
All he had to do was occasionally intervene to nip potential threats in the bud. Everything else could develop on its own.
Recently, rumors had been spreading through the wizarding world: Voldemort's Death Eaters were recruiting fallen followers in great numbers.
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