Thursday night's Astronomy class took place atop the Astronomy Tower, the highest point of the castle.
The late September night sky was clear, and the air of the Scottish Highlands was cold and transparent.
"Tonight, we shall learn to locate the dominant ruler of the night sky: Sirius." Professor Aurora Sinistra's voice was as soft as a night breeze.
She was an elderly witch, her silver hair neatly pinned behind her head, her robes embroidered with tiny constellations that seemed to carry starlight as she moved.
"Sirius is not only the brightest star in the night sky; in a magical sense, it is also regarded as a symbol of guidance and loyalty. The positioning of many ancient seafaring spells and long-distance communication magic relies on its observation."
The students worked in pairs, operating telescopes on brass stands; Regulus was paired with Alex Rosier.
Avery claimed he had zero interest in staring at a few points of light all night and had long since huddled in a corner with a few Slytherin boys, yawning.
"First, calibrate the level on the base," Regulus whispered, guiding a somewhat fumbling Alex.
"Right, keep the bubble in the center, then release the vertical lock and point the tube toward the southeast, at an elevation of about twenty degrees."
Alex followed the instructions and looked through the eyepiece: "It's all blurry."
"That's because you haven't adjusted the focus." Regulus reached out and gently turned the knob on the tube. "Take it slow, look for a very bright star with a bit of a blue-white tint."
Alex adjusted for a while before suddenly letting out a soft cry: "I see it! It's so bright, like a blue-white gemstone. It's truly beautiful."
"That is Sirius." Regulus leaned over to his own telescope.
He skillfully completed the calibration and focusing, and the star appeared clearly in his field of vision.
Under the magically enhanced astronomical telescope, he could see an extremely thin halo surrounding it, pulsating like a breath.
This was a sight a Muggle telescope could never see. Although there was no empirical evidence, the magical world considered it the magical glow emitted by the stars.
"Very good, Mr. Rosier." Professor Sinistra drifted over to them. "Now, record its position using the coordinate grid on the star chart, paying attention to the ecliptic reference line."
Once the professor moved away, Alex whispered, "How are you so skilled? It's like you've used one many times before."
"There's a similar one at home," Regulus replied. The Black family did indeed have an antique astronomical telescope, though he had never used it.
"So what's the point of Astronomy anyway?" Alex muttered while clumsily recording coordinates. "Besides the stars being pretty…"
"It's more useful than you think." Regulus looked at Sirius through the eyepiece, recalling what he had read in his family's collection of books.
"The preparation of many high-level potions requires precise lunar phases and stellar positions. For instance, many key ingredients for Felix Felicis must be harvested according to specific lunar and astral alignments.
Certain variants of Ancient Runes have magical strengths that fluctuate with the positions of constellations."
He continued, "Not to mention, many ancient magical contracts, family rituals, and even the castle's protective magic have power levels tied to the cycles of the stars.
Understanding the starry sky is, in a sense, deciphering the hidden clock of the wizarding world."
Alex listened, looking a bit stunned. "These… aren't in the textbooks."
"Because that's material for higher years, or," Regulus said flatly, "part of certain family heritages."
Professor Sinistra clapped her hands then, drawing everyone's attention. "Now, shift your telescopes about fifteen degrees to the left and lower the elevation by five degrees.
You will see three bright stars lined up almost equidistantly. That is Orion's Belt. Record their positions and relative angles."
Regulus did as instructed. When those three stars appeared in his field of vision, his movements paused slightly.
It wasn't just because of their beauty, but because of that specific alignment.
Three stars: Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka.
In Muggle astronomy, they were just three stars hundreds of light-years from Earth, completely unrelated to each other, happening to line up due to visual projection.
But under the magically enhanced telescope, Regulus saw something different.
Even though they were so far apart, the magical glows emitted by the three stars were not entirely independent.
Extremely subtle, spider-silk-like streams of magic flowed slowly between the three, forming a very thin triangle of energy.
He quickly recorded the coordinates of the three stars on the star chart, connecting them with dashed lines and marking the angles.
The line of Orion's Belt was nearly a perfect straight line, but there was still a negligible arc—insignificant on a cosmic scale, but potentially crucial in the application of magic.
Regulus could construct precise geometric models of constellations in his mind, simulate stellar positions, and even calculate orbital trajectories.
Just now, he had subconsciously deduced the relative position changes of the three stars a hundred years into the future based on their current positions and known proper motion data.
He thought rapidly; stars are in motion. Though slow, the three stars of Orion's Belt each had their own directions and speeds within the Milky Way.
Was this motion also part of their magical properties?
He immediately decided to use absolutely precise calculations and spatial visualization to incorporate the actual movement of constellations into his meditation.
Just then, Professor Sinistra's voice interrupted his thoughts: "I see many students have already finished their recordings.
Remember, the significance of Astronomy lies not in memorizing the names of a few constellations, but in understanding the eternal rhythm contained within the movement of the stars.
Class dismissed."
*Eternal rhythm.* Regulus packed away his star chart, the phrase echoing in his heart.
In the early hours of the morning, the dormitory was silent.
Regulus sat cross-legged inside his four-poster bed, the bed curtains drawn, and a silencing charm quietly in effect.
Closing his eyes, he sank into the depths of his consciousness.
He performed his magic guidance circulation and starry sky meditation simultaneously.
Inside his body, magic flowed like a gentle stream, beginning its cycle along the now-familiar paths, nourishing every inch of flesh.
This was the tempering of the physical body, the foundation of foundations.
Meanwhile, at the highest level of his consciousness, he constructed a model of Orion's Belt.
Based on the astronomical data in his memory, the subtle offsets he had observed, the calculated trajectories, and the motion of the stars themselves, he gave these three points of light an extremely slow but specific directional movement.
A static framework, and a dynamic trend.
Then, he began trying to make the rhythm of his internal magic circulation match the dynamic trend of those three points of light in his mind.
It didn't go smoothly at first; the circulation of magic in the physical body was a concrete and perceptible flow.
The movement trend of the stars, however, was an abstract and almost static tendency. The two seemed to exist in different dimensions.
But Regulus was patient. He concentrated all his mental energy on that dynamic model, feeling that almost non-existent yet very real kinetic tension.
Then, he began to make extremely minute adjustments to the speed of his internal magic circulation, causing a subtle change in the tone of the entire cycle, making it more solemn, slower, and more constant.
Time passed in the silence—ten minutes, twenty minutes, thirty minutes.
Suddenly, a certain alignment occurred.
It wasn't that the magic literally drew constellation patterns inside his body.
It was a deeper synchronization: the state of existence of his internal circulation and the essence of the movement of the stellar model in his mind reached a harmonious resonance on a spiritual level.
In that instant, Regulus felt two distinct types of improvement happen simultaneously.
The originally gentle and nourishing magic circulation seemed to be infused with a firmer, weightier quality.
Wherever the magic flowed, it brought not just nourishment, but a wonderful sense of consolidation, as if his muscle fibers and bone density were being reinforced more effectively through this synchronous resonance.
A new sense of power slowly rose from the depths of his limbs and bones.
Moreover, maintaining the dynamic model was already an exercise in extreme mental focus, but the moment he truly synchronized with the stars' movement trend, he felt his consciousness become anchored, clearer, and more stable.
The cluttered daily thoughts, the omnipresent messy whispers of magic in the castle, and even that sense of detachment and loneliness belonging to a transmigrator deep in his heart were all smoothed over by a grand and peaceful imagery.
It was as if his soul had found a solid pedestal, becoming more tranquil and harder to shake.
This was a qualitative change.
Regulus remained in this state, carefully experiencing every subtle change.
As magic circulated in this synchronized state, not only did its recovery speed increase, but the magic itself seemed to become more condensed and disciplined.
He realized he might have unintentionally touched upon some deeper magical truth.
Body, mind, and magic were never an isolated trinity; they could be integrated to promote each other and sublimate together.
He named this new integrated method in his mind: **Star-track Guided Meditation**.
From then on, physical tempering and mental meditation would no longer be performed separately, but would become a complete practice of seeking synchronization with oneself as a whole.
With this, the foundation was complete.
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