Regulus Black the Potions Master

Capítulo 44

Harry Potter

How everything ended up in some kind of mess in which Harry was always involved is somehow beyond the boy's comprehension. He prefers not to get into trouble, even though sometimes he ignores it and other times the trouble just comes after him.

However, when it came to the fights between Ron and Hermione, he decided a long time ago not to get involved unless his opinion was asked for.

Now the two are arguing again about her new pet. Crookshanks is a half-breed, an animal that looks a lot like a cat with a scrunchy, its orange fur looks a bit like the Weasleys' shade of hair, but Harry will never say that out loud. Hermione bought him in Diagon Alley in August, when they got together to buy their school supplies for the year.

Since then Ron has complained about Crookshanks constantly trying to devour his rat Scabbers.

Harry had a good summer, if you disregard the frightening moment when he stabbed those Founding Fathers' relics with all that ugly, noisy dark magic. Harry will never be able to tell anyone about it, or Hermione will flay him when she finds out he's destroyed something like the Ravenclaw diadem or the Hufflepuff Cup, no that's a story to take to the grave.

Apart from that evil little setback, the rest of his summer was very pleasant. He spent almost every day at Hogwarts between June and mid-July, helping Professor Black turn the remains of a basilisk into potions ingredients. It wasn't exactly fun, but it was certainly a learning experience, not only about potions and their components but also about his own family. Mr. Black knew a lot about the history of the Potters and told him many things.

For example, how several members of the family were excellent potionists - despite Harry's mediocre skills - and created some potions that are renowned and still used today, such as Skelego, which Harry had the misfortune to try the previous year, when Lockhart made the bones in his arm disappear by pronouncing a spell wrong. There was also a potion that could turn the most unruly and difficult-to-handle hair into something neat. This second potion, by the way, was made by Harry's grandfather, and it is from the patents on these potions that much of the fortune in the Potters' vault came from.

Mr. Black also recounted some of the things he had seen his father do when he was at school, although he made it clear that they were not even close to being friends, and that there was a silent enmity between his father and Black, the professor admitted that James was a good player and that he had given him headaches in some matches, even though he assured that he — Black — had won more than he had lost matches for Gryffindor at that time.

As for his mother, Mr. Black didn't know much. He had more contact with his father because of Quidditch, but Lily was neither a player nor as ardent a fan of the sport as his father. What the professor did know was that she was one of the best students in her year, much calmer than James, despite having a stubbornness worthy of Godric Gryffindor, she was also kind to people but also stood up to others to protect the less fortunate. A red-headed hurricane when angry, according to Black.

Harry also discovered that contrary to what he thought, his parents were together for most of his time at Hogwarts, Lily and James only started dating at the end of his sixth year.

Black also revealed that he knew of Aunt Petunia's existence. He commented that Lily had been friends with a boy from Slytherin since she was a child and that they lived nearby, so this boy — Black never gave his name — knew the Evans family, including her aunt.

This made Harry wonder, on the day he realized that all the work had been done, if he would return to the Dursley house, not that he wanted to, he would rather stay in the boring company of ghosts forever than go back to his aunt and uncle's house.