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Sunday, April 28, 1974.
After leaving the Headmaster's office, Regulus—who had been successfully dissuaded by Dumbledore from his ambitious idea of a "Parseltongue crash course"—went straight down to the Great Hall for a late lunch.
His schedule was particularly tight today, packed with faction management and academic review.
"Hi, Regulus!" Benny Shafiq waved to him from the Ravenclaw table. He quickly walked over after whispering a few words to his girlfriend, and continued enthusiastically, "Professor Slughorn's massive birthday party is tonight! You must have received an exclusive invitation too, right?"
"Hello, Benny." Regulus smiled and nodded politely. "I received it this morning."
"I knew you'd get a golden ticket!" Shafiq grinned, his chest puffing out slightly. "Sure enough, this time the Professor not only invited the core members of our Slug Club but also all the specific students he admires most—including you younger years with high potential."
Regulus smiled his CEO smile. Not only him, but Severus, Sirius, James, and Lily had all received heavy, embossed invitations via owl.
"You must come," Shafiq lowered his voice and said mysteriously, leaning in close. "I heard from a Slytherin prefect that this time, for the Professor's big milestone birthday ending in zero, he has carefully prepared some incredibly 'good stuff' that you absolutely can't miss—"
Professor Slughorn also prepared party benefits? That's highly interesting news.
Although Regulus had no tactical intention of missing his Head of House's networking banquet anyway, maybe this rumor could be leveraged to attract Sirius, who historically wasn't very interested in pureblood schmoozing.
"Thank you for the intel, Benny." Regulus blinked, extended his fist, and bumped it smoothly against the older boy's knuckles. "I'll definitely be there. See you tonight."
"See you tonight!"
...
A little after seven in the evening, Regulus, wearing sharp, midnight-blue dress robes trimmed with silver, arrived at the entrance hall. He immediately noticed that significantly more older girls than usual had gathered there tonight, giggling and adjusting their hair.
As soon as Regulus and Severus—who was wearing a surprisingly clean, well-tailored set of black robes provided by the Black family—appeared at the base of the stairs, they were instantly targeted by dozens of sparkling, expectant gazes.
However, the two boys—one operating on strict CEO efficiency and the other naturally oblivious to social cues—ignored the ladies' eager anticipation. They walked straight up the sweeping marble staircase, heading towards the Potions Master's office as if they were marching into a boardroom.
The office was much more spacious tonight. Advanced spatial expansion magic had obviously been applied to the stone walls.
The massive wooden desk usually covered with bubbling cauldrons and the dusty rows of Potion ingredient cabinets were completely gone. In their place were exquisitely arranged velvet bar tables. Atop them sat gleaming crystal coolers emitting white, swirling magical smoke. These were filled with various expensive bottles of aged alcohol, alongside crystal pitchers of fresh peach juice and silver platters of small, delicate snacks specially prepared for the underage Little Wizards.
The Professor's legendary wine cabinet, which took up half a wall, was still there, but it was already half empty. The Professor had clearly spared absolutely no galleon expense for this milestone party.
A magnificent, multi-tiered golden chandelier hung from the center of the enchanted ceiling. Glowing golden-green magical vines draped from the crystal fixtures, climbing up and across the four stone walls. The pulsing vines were adorned with colorful, blooming fresh flowers and heavy clusters of tempting, plump fresh grapes.
Both beautiful and practical. Regulus plucked two purple grapes casually from a low-hanging vine and popped them in his mouth. They tasted perfectly sweet and crisp.
The expanded room was full of Wizards moving about and chatting animatedly. Many were unfamiliar, older faces, clearly having Apparated specifically from outside the school to pay their respects. Lively, jazzy music came from a brightly lit corner; it was actually a live performance by a highly popular wizarding band.
Listening to the buzzing, sophisticated voices in the room and smelling the rich fragrance of fresh fruit and expensive fine wine, Regulus suddenly had a distinct feeling of being back at Narcissa's extravagant pureblood wedding.
As expected of the single Professor at Hogwarts who knows best how to leverage luxury to enjoy life.
"Mr. Black! Mr. Snape!" A small house-elf, moving swiftly through the dense crowd, spotted them and immediately trotted over balancing a heavy silver platter. "Creevey has specifically prepared young Mr. Black's favorite iced sparkling water."
Regulus smilingly picked up a chilled crystal glass. Severus hesitated awkwardly between the sparkling water and the bright peach juice for a moment before also picking up the clear water, mimicking his friend.
"Regulus!" Professor Slughorn, wearing a magnificent wine-red satin robe and a matching tall top hat, walked towards them through the crowd from the other end of the room. The pure gold buttons on his bulging robe sparkled brilliantly in the candlelight. "Thank you so much for my wonderful birthday present, my boy! And Severus, my best students, come over here—"
Slughorn surprisingly took them straight to Professor Toke and introduced an elderly male Wizard who looked quite physically similar to the aging Hogwarts Professor. "Boys, this is Mr. Blenheim Toke, a famous Muggle-relations scholar. Two years ago he published Muggles Who Discovered Things, the absolute best-selling academic book that year!"
Regulus immediately bowed respectfully, playing the perfect pureblood heir.
"Blenheim, this is Regulus Black. Ah, he's a true genius, if you don't believe me... just ask Albus! And this is another brilliant student of mine, Severus Snape. His raw talent for Potions is historically high..."
Severus Snape's pale face turned slightly red at the high praise, but he managed a stiff, polite nod.
Another unfamiliar, short male Wizard slowly walked over, holding a crystal goblet. Slughorn grinned broadly, waved his plump hand particularly enthusiastically, and said in a booming voice:
"Damocles!" The proud smile in the Professor's eyes almost overflowed. "Boys, meet the legendary Potions Master who invented the complex Wolfsbane Potion—Damocles Belby! I think you must have read about him in your advanced texts... Dam, thank you so much for coming to my birthday party! I often use your harrowing stories from your school days to inspire the lazy students in my Potions class..."
What an incredibly remarkable person! Regulus carefully sized up this unremarkable-looking, seemingly taciturn male Wizard. Beside him, literal stars of professional admiration shone in Severus's dark eyes.
"It's nothing, Professor. Happy birthday," Belby picked up a fresh glass of mead from a passing house-elf's tray and gently clinked glasses with Slughorn.
The Potions Professor took a large, greedy gulp of wine, and his round face visibly became redder. For an old, ambitious teacher, having highly successful, famous students voluntarily come back to visit means far more than any vault of galleons.
"Ah, Barty, come over here!" Slughorn waved his empty hand to a pale Little Wizard who was both familiar and unfamiliar to Regulus. "Dam, you should know his father, Barty Crouch Senior from the Ministry of Magic. If I remember my rosters correctly, you two were classmates back then, weren't you?"
"I remember," Belby nodded gently at the nervous young Barty. "When he was at school, Barty's execution of the Polyjuice Potion was excellent..."
The thin, yellow-haired Little Wizard frowned uneasily. He paused for a tense second, then responded silently and politely, showing absolutely no external sign of the extreme, fanatical personality he would tragically develop later in life.
Another brilliant child who deeply dislikes his strict father. Regulus took a slow sip of his sparkling water and happened to perfectly meet Barty's pale gaze.
Young Crouch's expression was wooden, almost dead behind the eyes. It was perhaps a thick protective shell developed by a sensitive child living in an overly demanding, emotionally deprived family life.
I heard a Muggle quote once that a home completely without love is quickly occupied by the desperate pursuit of power.
Regulus seamlessly stepped away from Severus, walking over proactively to chat briefly and politely with this younger Slytherin student, planting the seeds of corporate goodwill.
As expected of Regulus, he acts exactly like a seasoned host no matter where he physically is. Severus admired him silently in his heart while quietly absorbing Regulus's confident, calm, and effortless physical demeanor in these complex social situations.
At a networking party, the most tactically important thing is to fully appear to enjoy the time spent with people. Severus, who had never been taught basic social etiquette since he was a bruised child in Spinner's End, was deeply unfamiliar with such formal, wealthy occasions. But with his confident good friend there setting the pace, he quickly learned to physically relax his tense shoulders and even began to find a little dry fun in the awkward, stilted conversations.
And the dreaded party falling silent, which Severus had deeply worried about, absolutely did not happen. Many older Slytherin students even proactively approached him, asking him specific, technical questions about the brewing details of the Black Family's highly profitable "Black Glory" cosmetic project, making the half-blood feel very proud and validated.
...
Slughorn was indeed a highly qualified, brilliant party host. He constantly, seamlessly introduced influential guests to each other and created massive career opportunities. In just a short, busy while, he had aggressively helped two seventh-year students from the Slug Club secure highly coveted interview opportunities directly at the Ministry of Magic.
Sirius, Lily, Mary, James, Remus... All the school's core Professors were present in their finery. Even the strict Madam Pince was sipping elderflower wine in a quiet corner. After a while, Dumbledore also arrived in his absolute finest attire, and many Wizards present excitedly stepped forward to greet the Defeater of Grindelwald. Of course, the eccentric Headmaster had changed his clothes again, swapping the mint green robe from the morning to a stunning turquoise green robe embroidered with a moving, golden galaxy pattern.
Fashionable, fashionable, the absolute most fashionable.
As the joyful banquet progressed into the late evening, the air was thick with the smell of sweet wine and the warmth of hundreds of bodies.
"My dears!" Professor Slughorn tapped his goblet and conjured a small high platform, stepping onto it with a booming smile. In his left hand, he held a colorful cocktail. His top hat was askew, and his flushed cheeks clearly showed he was already happily tipsy. "Thank you all for coming to this old man's milestone birthday party tonight!"
A loud cheer and warm, genuine applause erupted from the dense crowd.
"Hogwarts, Hogwarts!" Slughorn raised his glass high, toasting Dumbledore from across the crowded room. "This magnificent ancient Castle brings us all together!"
"And you, my wonderful friends—friends are truly the greatest wealth in a man's life—tonight—happiness is the absolute highest good—"
With a flamboyant wave of his wand, a massive group of golden, shimmering small balls suddenly popped into existence in the air, bobbing erratically about the room exactly like Golden Snitches.
A messy tuft of hair on James Potter's head suddenly pricked up keenly like a hunting dog. The previously bored Sirius also instantly became highly interested, his grey eyes tracking the movement.
"To add to the festive fun, I've prepared a little game for you agile youngsters," the Professor said with a wide smile, scanning the Wizards present. "These enchanted little balls will be scattered randomly throughout the party venue. They're not nearly as fast as professional Golden Snitches, but they possess a trick—they can turn completely invisible! So catching them is not just about physical skill, but also sheer luck."
The Professor smiled cunningly and winked a watery eye.
"The person who physically collects the most little balls before the clock strikes half past ten will officially receive a highly valuable small gift I've personally prepared at the end of the night!"
As the younger Wizards whispered happily and competitively among themselves, Benny Shafiq, standing not far away, had already begun making rapid, mock grabs at the empty air, his girlfriend looking at him with deep, embarrassing disapproval.
He was seen leaning in and whispering something secret into his girlfriend's ear. The Ravenclaw older student suddenly widened her eyes in shock, clenched her small fists, and immediately began eagerly searching everywhere with him, her disapproval vanishing.
Their eyes met across the room, and Benny grinned widely at Regulus.
Good luck! Shafiq mouthed silently, pointing to the ceiling.