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For this kind of interactive party game, most of the adult Wizards present just showed a few amused, indulgent smiles, their competitive interest clearly limited to polite observation. The Hogwarts students, however, were enthusiastically engaged—especially James Potter.
He had already started regretting attending this kind of stuffy "adult party." There were simply too many strict Professors hovering around; he couldn't physically let loose and pull pranks at all. If Sirius hadn't casually reminded him that "maybe there's something valuable to win," he would have almost definitely slipped away early with Remus to explore the dungeons.
"Where could it mathematically be?" Severus also started intensely looking around the crowded room. In the blink of an eye, he saw Regulus reaching his bare hand precisely between two heavy bunches of grapes dangling from the enchanted vines, gently picking at empty air.
There logically seemed to be nothing there, but a small, shimmering golden ball suddenly appeared directly in Regulus's hand, materializing from nowhere.
"Ah..." Severus was dumbfounded, blinking rapidly. "How did you find it so fast?"
"The ambient light passing through it is slightly distorted," Regulus said casually, pocketing the ball as if stating an obvious, fundamental truth.
Severus squinted and tried to intensely observe the surroundings, only feeling that the warm candlelight in the room was flickering naturally. Everything was hazy, everything was distorted by the magical smoke from the coolers, and tracking the refractions absolutely didn't look as flawlessly easy as Regulus made it sound.
Regulus looked down at the second small golden ball he had just palmed and found a tiny, hairline crack running along its equator. It turned out to be an exquisitely crafted small box. He gently twisted it—
Click.
A delicate, magical yellow rose popped out of the golden box and bloomed beautifully in his palm. He smiled, his CEO charm engaging, and casually pinned the yellow flower directly to Severus's dark lapel.
Severus looked down at the bright flower resting on his chest with a deeply complicated, slightly flustered expression.
"This is a gift from fate," Regulus said seriously, struggling not to laugh.
"Thank you, Professor!" A sudden, excited shout echoed from the other end of the room.
It turned out that a fifth-year Hufflepuff boy had successfully opened a small bottle of "Wake-Up Potion" about the size of his thumb from a golden ball he caught. He looked at it back and forth with pure delight, his face glowing with an expression that clearly said, "I'm going to become a top student during finals week."
James also quickly made a successful gain. With his excellent Quidditch Chaser eyesight, he spotted a distortion, snagged a small ball, and popped it open. He found a small potion vial labeled "Float to Your Heart's Content." He pulled the cork and drank it down without hesitation—
"Huh?" He suddenly felt strangely light, and looking down in panic, his leather shoes were actually leaving the stone floor.
"Grab him!" Sirius and Remus shouted simultaneously. One on each side, they quickly reached out and firmly grabbed James's flailing ankles, dragging him back down and physically preventing him from floating helplessly up into the golden chandelier.
James was stunned for a second, then saw Lily and Mary covering their mouths and snickering loudly diagonally below them. He rubbed the back of his messy head and started giggling along with them, embracing the foolishness.
Mary's side of the room was also very interesting. She had just casually intended to pluck a ripe peach from the silver fruit bowl, but exactly as her fingertip brushed the fuzzy skin, a small golden ball popped into visibility out of thin air.
Regulus, observing the room, found that the hiding methods of these enchanted small balls were very clever. Rather than strictly testing kinetic eyesight, the game was probably designed more around random luck and proximity.
However, his own eyesight, enhanced by the system, was exceptionally good. In addition to his deep tactical research on various invisibility spells and disillusionment charms, syncing with his eagles must have also contributed significantly to his visual acuity.
The party crowd kept moving, flowing like a tide. Regulus, smoothly mingling among them, soon bumped into Headmaster Dumbledore again near the wine cabinet.
The Headmaster smiled warmly and raised his crystal glass to him in a silent toast, winking his blue eyes at an empty spot directly behind the boy's left shoulder. Regulus followed his subtle gaze and, indeed, the air in the candlelight showed a highly subtle, shimmering indentation there. He skillfully pinched the air, and another golden ball materialized in his hand.
As expected of a true "Legendary Wizard" who can casually see through advanced invisibility. His eyesight is terrifyingly sharp, living up to his historical reputation.
Just like that, Regulus wandered smoothly through the dense crowd with his sparkling water. While skillfully exchanging polite pureblood pleasantries with influential people, he also pricked up his ears, carefully eavesdropping on the older Wizards' hushed conversations, especially targeting those who had arrived from outside the school—
"Lucius Malfoy also told me he was definitely coming, but somehow, he didn't receive an official invitation in the end..." a former classmate of Lucius whispered to his friend, leaning close. "That logically shouldn't be the case; we were all top members in the Slug Club together..."
Regulus's heart stirred, validating his tactical theory. He had noticed early on in the evening that older Wizards with known Death Eater tendencies or blood-purist sympathies logically seemed not to have been invited to this specific milestone party.
On the other side of the room, an elderly Ministry Wizard was speaking in a low, worried voice to his colleague: "Did you read the latest internal memos? That radical organization calling themselves the 'Death Eaters' has been making vastly more noise in the underground recently..."
His colleague took a large, dismissive gulp of wine and jutted his chin towards the Headmaster chatting near the fireplace. "What's there to be afraid of with Dumbledore around?"
Indeed, The Daily Prophet had recently started publishing frequent, small articles on political matters related to "defending pure-blood traditions" and the shadowy "Death Eaters." Although most were just ambiguous, buried news snippets, Regulus knew in his gamer heart that nothing in the lore happens without a specific narrative reason.
Regulus, who was flitting smoothly through the crowd like a social butterfly, physically bumped into Sirius, who was still wandering around the room aggressively hunting for small balls.
His older brother blinked his grey eyes, looked around to ensure no one was watching, and without a single word, directly stuffed the two golden balls he had caught into Regulus's robe pocket.
"You'll definitely win the prize this time," Sirius said with unshakeable certainty.
James thought for a moment, grinned, and also secretly handed over the two golden balls he was holding.
Regulus chuckled softly and accepted the faction tribute without ceremony.
"...Ah, Lucius simply doesn't have the free time to come tonight, business at the Ministry and all that," Professor Slughorn was heard saying not far away. He pulled out a silk handkerchief to nervously wipe the sweat from his forehead. "Let's absolutely not talk about depressing politics; this is my latest vintage..."
Moving on, Regulus met Lily and her group of Gryffindor girlfriends. As soon as some of the older girls saw him approaching in his sharp dress robes, they huddled together and giggled softly, adjusting their hair.
"You logically can have this one too," Mary said, blushing fiercely, as she shyly stuffed her only small ball directly into his hand.
"Thank you, Mary," Regulus said softly, offering a devastatingly polite smile.
Severus, who witnessed this blatant favoritism from the side, was once again shocked by the sheer social mechanics of the situation.
...So, this competitive game can logically be played through sheer charisma?
Even though Regulus hadn't seriously looked for the targets at all, just effortlessly greeting his friends in a wide circle, he already had more than a dozen heavy golden balls jingling in his hand now...
Many people only managed to find one or two small balls. Since they had already received the small, randomized gift inside, they figured it was tactically better to give the empty balls to their popular friends and also passively gain some social goodwill.
It mathematically turned out that this game not only tested eyesight and luck, but also raw social capital and popularity.
"Regulus," Benny Shafiq walked over with a triumphant grin. "I've found four! How about you?"
Regulus rubbed his nose, suddenly feeling a little embarrassed—
He was starting to tactically suspect that everyone was secretly competing to see who could give him the most balls as tribute...
"It's going okay," he said modestly, but the heavy golden balls in his deep pocket made quite a loud jingling sound as he shifted his weight.
Shafiq paused for two long seconds, staring at Regulus's bulging pocket. He supported his forehead with his hand, then gritted his teeth and simply stuffed his hard-earned four balls over to Regulus as well.
"Forget it, I logically don't have a mathematical chance to win anymore—" Shafiq first apologized to his girlfriend, then turned back to Regulus. "Take them! Make the Professors completely dumbfounded during the count later!"
"Thanks, mate!"
Just like that, almost all the core members of the HP syndicate gave their small balls to Regulus. And Severus Snape, watching the operation unfold, also began to believe vastly more in the sheer tactical power of the group.
Ultimately, Regulus Black won the game by default, completely without suspense.
"Friendship! True friendship!" Professor Slughorn, flushed deep red with drunkenness, stood unsteadily on the raised platform. He looked almost moved to genuine tears by the display of unity. "Tonight, I officially declare—Regulus Black—the Party King of Hogwarts!"
He loudly led the applause, and then, amidst the clapping, he solemnly reached into his inner pocket. He pulled out an exquisite, tiny crystal bottle, holding it high under the golden chandelier.
The thick liquid shimmering inside the glass bottle looked exactly like molten, liquid gold. The noisy crowd appropriately quieted down in awe.
"This is the grand surprise for tonight—" His gaze swept proudly across the crowd, and Potions Master Belby had a knowing, respectful smile on his face.
"Wow, it's Felix Felicis!" Lily exclaimed excitedly in a low, breathless whisper. "The brewing process is incredibly complex, and if absolutely anything goes wrong, the toxic consequences are unimaginable!"
"Yes, little Lily! Gryffindor gets two points for excellent knowledge!" Slughorn nodded in deep satisfaction. "A small bottle is mathematically enough for exactly twenty-four hours of perfect, flawless good luck! Of course, Regulus, I don't logically need to remind a brilliant boy like you; you tactically know exactly when to properly use Felix Felicis."
Regulus smiled brilliantly as he stepped up to take the small, heavy bottle and bowed respectfully. "Thank you, Professor! Happy birthday again!"
For a fleeting moment, the highly perceptive Regulus suddenly felt that the ambient magical environment in the room felt a little strange, the air growing uncomfortably thick—
Just then, the warm, comforting orange candlelight was suddenly, violently replaced by a sickly, eerie green light. The joyous atmosphere in the room changed abruptly, plunging into freezing dread!
Just as everyone was looking around in confusion, trying to determine if this was just a poorly timed, spooky little prank arranged by Slughorn, the large stone fireplace in the corner suddenly erupted in a blinding pillar of green light, exactly as if someone was violently trying to force their way through the Floo network.
Immediately after, a massive, terrifying green skull face emerged directly from the roaring flames, its jaw unhinging as a thick, green snake darted out from its mouth like a grotesque tongue—
Almost simultaneously, a blinding silver Patronus shaped exactly like a massive Phoenix, as large as a crane, appeared out of thin air, trailing a dazzling, magnificent tail of pure light. The sudden clash of magic drew terrified gasps of astonishment from the crowd.
It was the incredibly quick-thinking Headmaster. As soon as the Dark Mark skull face began to form, Dumbledore had immediately brandished his long wand.
The skull face instantly vanished without a trace, swallowed by the silver light. The green flames died out, the normal candlelight returned, the fireplace crackled with orange embers, and absolutely everything returned to normal.
If it weren't for everyone seeing the sheer, pale confusion and tension mirrored in each other's wide eyes, they would have almost logically thought that the terrifying green light had never actually appeared.
Regulus's grey gaze narrowed into a deadly squint, his Assassin's focus engaging, and he began to rapidly, meticulously search the dense crowd for the caster—
Most of the younger students didn't fully understand the dark lore of what had just happened. They started giggling nervously again, wrongly thinking it was some kind of edgy, Slytherin-themed birthday prank.
Many of the older Slytherins, however, showed deeply thoughtful, pale expressions, while Barty Crouch Jr. still looked wooden, betraying absolutely no emotion.
Among the adults, there was vastly more fearful inquiry, more subtle shifting of positions, and many terrified eyes turned instinctively towards Dumbledore and Slughorn for protection.
However, the two powerful Wizards didn't seem to show too much outward fear.
Cold sweat once again heavily beaded on Slughorn's pale forehead. He forced himself to physically remain calm as he smoothed his satin robes. His right hand was already resting firmly on his wand handle hidden in his pocket, acting exactly as if he had sobered up instantly.
Dumbledore slowly lowered the crystal goblet in his hand. He was still smiling pleasantly, but the cold, calculating look in his blue eyes was vastly more serious than ever—
Although this physically seemed like just a low-level, cowardly little trick, probably logically achievable with a pinch of specialized Dark Potion powder disguised as Floo powder thrown into the grate.
But the political message it conveyed, exactly like the previous cowardly attack on the Muggle-born Mary Macdonald, was clear—
It was not funny at all.
The Headmaster calmly waved his wand again, and the massive silver Phoenix Patronus hovering in the air dissolved, transforming into countless sparkling points of warm light, scattering gently throughout the room, shimmering like falling silver sequins.
Was this Voldemort, arrogantly speaking to him from the shadows? Regulus thought, his hand moving closer to his hidden revolver.
...
If so, what exactly was he trying to say?
... ...