Regulus Black the Potions Master

Capítulo 41

Harry Potter

He's not exactly sure what he expected when Headmaster Dumbledore asked him to stay at Hogwarts for part of the summer, to help with the secret chamber - considering he's the only one who can open the passage - anything to avoid having to spend his time with the Dursleys, especially now that they know Harry can't do magic outside the school.

In any case, standing in front of some of the Founders' relics wasn't what he'd expected at all.

He stared at the table, which had been lowered into the chamber and returned to its natural size, with Salazar Slytherin's medallion - the main cause of all the problems he'd had this year, alongside Voldemort - a golden goblet that matched Helga Hufflepuff's portraits and Rowena Ravenclaw's centuries-old missing diadem.

Truth be told, he wouldn't have recognized any of it if it hadn't been for Hermione, she and her obsession with all things Hogwarts, because it certainly wasn't his attention to History of Magic lessons with the ghostly Professor Binns that imprinted something on his memory.

Next to these items, there was a gold ring with a black stone in the shape of a diamond, it looked old and expensive. And next to them all was a yellowish basilisk tusk.

The creature that had almost killed him had now been reduced to several piles of potion ingredients. When Professor Black first saw the reptile, he looked shocked, but then his eyes began to shine as he babbled to himself about how many extremely rare and powerful potions he could take from the dead animal, and how his stockpile would be replenished for the rest of his life.

Harry found it very confusing, but who was he to complain, surely turning a dead basilisk into potion ingredients is more fun than working as a slave for your uncles and cousins.

Besides, Mr. Black was good company most of the time. He made sure that Harry had had a good breakfast before they went down to the chamber, so every two or three hours at most the adult insisted that they go outside for some fresh air and maybe something to eat.

Harry ate more that summer than he had in years with the Dursleys. It was good, and Mr. Black told him that it would be good if he ate more, it would help him have more energy to play Quidditch.

As for sport, on Sundays Black said that they didn't go down to the Chamber, instead, Harry spent some time with Hagrid and the others flying.

The professor even played a bit with him on one of those days.

It was certainly one of the best summers of his life.

And to make matters even better, Mr. Black, unlike other adults, answered Harry's questions bluntly and without hesitation. Only a few times did he say that Potter was too young to know that yet, or that he didn't know the answer. But the man gave Harry all the information he had about his parents.

He even told him some of the more banal facts about them, things that no one had ever mentioned to Harry, and that he hadn't given much thought to.

"Was my mother afraid of flying?" he asked in confusion when Black told him that.

"I'm not entirely sure," the professor said, "but considering that she set your father's broom on fire when he took her flying once, I'd say so."

Harry nodded, it made sense, Ron had once told him that most muggle-borns didn't like flying on broomsticks very much, and Hermione was one of them.

The other day Harry asked the professor a much more personal question. He'd been wondering about it for a while, he only knew what Ron and the other Gryffindor boys had said about the professor's past, so he decided to ask him personally.