Early summer, 1973.
The air around the Black Lake was thick with the scent of damp earth and blooming heather. A crisp afternoon breeze swept across the glassy surface, fracturing the reflection of plump white clouds into playful, glittering ripples. It was a rare, unequivocally perfect day in the Scottish Highlands, and nearly half the student body had abandoned the castle walls to take advantage of it. Pairs and small groups dotted the lush banks, taking their lunch break to read, practice spells, gossip, flirt, or aggressively show off.
"Lily! Did you hear?" Mary Macdonald came skidding to a halt, her Gryffindor robes swishing wildly around her ankles. Her tone was entirely too cheerful for the news she was bearing. "Regulus Black from Slytherin is going to jump from the Astronomy Tower!"
Lily Evans immediately dropped her Charms textbook, her delicate brows knitting together in genuine alarm. "Regulus? That quiet little Black? Is something bothering him?" She scrambled to her feet, hastily brushing grass from her skirt. "Jumping from the Astronomy Tower? That's madness—we have to go help him!"
"Lily, don't forget where we are. We're witches and wizards." The carefree Mary clearly felt absolutely zero psychological pressure regarding the situation. She waved her wand in a flippant, airy arc and flashed a cheeky grin. "I bet three silver Sickles he bounces right back up."
Despite having been immersed in the magical world for nearly two years, Lily still shuddered. Sure, she was used to people rocketing around at high altitudes during Quidditch matches, but that was only fifty feet in the air on a broomstick. The Astronomy Tower was easily four times that height. The thought of a body hitting the stone courtyard below sent a phantom ache through her bones.
Across the lawn, gossip spread as if it had sprouted wings, fluttering straight into the ears of Sirius Black. He sat lounging by the lake, looking equal parts rebellious and utterly bewildered by the whispers circulating around him.
"Jump from the Astronomy Tower?" Sirius scoffed, his silver-grey eyes narrowing as he stared up at the distant spire. "No, Remus, my family certainly didn't teach us any advanced Levitation Charms as a parlor trick. I really have no idea what he's doing."
Remus Lupin leaned forward, the faint scars on his face tightening with mild concern. "Do you think he was cornered? Was your brother bullied by the other Slytherins?" It was a cautious suggestion; Regulus, thin and quiet, always carried a fragile demeanor that made him look painfully easy to pick on.
Hearing this, Sirius's jaw clenched. The most handsome boy at Hogwarts—and a self-proclaimed embodiment of justice—frowned deeply, impatiently brushing a stray lock of wind-blown hair out of his eyes.
"So, what's your little brother playing at, Padfoot?" James Potter asked lazily. He tossed a stolen Golden Snitch into the air, catching it with a sharp smack of his palm. Seeing Sirius's tense, brooding silence, James shoved the struggling golden sphere into his robe pocket and simply hauled his best friend to his feet. "Come on. Let's go watch the show."
Remus silently stood up to join them.
"Watch what? If he's going to jump, I can't exactly catch him from down here," Sirius grumbled, stubbornly dragging his feet. Yet, despite his protests, he willingly let James pull him along, his eyes locked nervously on the towering stone structure.
More and more people were swarming the base of the Astronomy Tower. In the central courtyard below, a massive crowd of students hungry for a spectacle had already formed a tight ring, pointing up at the sky.
High above the bustling courtyard, the wind howled like a caged beast, tearing at the emerald-trimmed Slytherin robes of Regulus Black. The thin, dark-haired boy stood on the very edge of the precipice, looking down at the sea of tiny, upturned faces. With his back perfectly straight and his hair whipping wildly in the gale, he bore a striking, aristocratic resemblance to his older brother's handsome arrogance.
But the thoughts racing through his mind were completely un-aristocratic.
Transmigration? A System?!
He had a perfectly good life before this! He had both of his parents, he wasn't forced to live under the stairs by wicked relatives, and he certainly didn't have a tragic backstory waiting to be avenged.
Why him?
As a modern soul suddenly shoved into a fictional universe, he was shocked, but mostly, he just felt deeply annoyed.
Was it because his Steam username was xuan yuan xiv? If he had known logging in was going to yeet him into 1973, he would have at least named his account 'Sirius' just to experience what it felt like to be a ridiculously attractive heartthrob on easy mode.
And honestly, if the universe insisted on tossing him into the Harry Potter timeline, shouldn't it have been during Harry's actual era? He knew that plot inside and out! He could have bought some Apple stocks, achieved early financial freedom, and retired on a beach somewhere while the Golden Trio did all the heavy lifting.
But 1973? This was the eve of Voldemort's absolute peak. The terrifying era where even Dumbledore was walking on eggshells around the Dark Lord. As Regulus Black—the guy canonically destined to drown in a zombie-infested cave—he was officially panicking.
He closed his eyes, calling out once more to the glowing, holographic "Steam" system that had latched onto his soul when he arrived in this world:
[Quest "Leap of Faith": Host, please jump from the Astronomy Tower of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry] [Quest Reward: Partial skills from the Assassin's Creed series] [Quest Progress: 0/61] [Witnesses: 144/976]
Hey, hey, hey! he screamed internally. This is Hogwarts! If you're going to give me a cheat code, shouldn't it at least be Hogwarts Legacy?! In that game, he was a walking god of destruction, rolling through Death Eater camps like a magical combine harvester. Stepping on Voldemort's face would have been a dream! At worst, he would have settled for a Quidditch Championship system.
Although, looking down at the crowd of physically fragile, squishy wizards, he had to admit: highly lethal assassin skills might actually be a lot more practical than diligently memorizing wand swishes.
He still had no idea what the "Witness" metric was about, but he had purposely stalled up here to draw a massive crowd. If he was going to perform a spectacular Leap of Faith, he wanted maximum return on his investment. After all, why do so many people take the crooked path? Because it's shorter.
But as he stared down at the lethal drop, he worried his 'faith' might not be quite strong enough to keep his legs from shaking.
The icy wind bit at his cheeks, and Regulus made his choice. He had to trust the System. Life was a grand adventure, and fortune favors the brave—or at least the incredibly reckless! He slipped his wand securely into his inner robe pocket and took a deep, steadying breath. Succeed, or become a very thin layer of wizard paste.
Anyway, life is just falling down—whether it's up here, or down there.
"Make way! Filch and Madam Pomfrey are coming through!" a panicked voice echoed from the stairwell behind him. "And Madam Hooch! Professor Slughorn!"
The students on the viewing deck hastily parted, creating a path.
"Ahem—pant—Rolanda, Poppy, do calm down," Horace Slughorn wheezed, his massive chest heaving violently as he gripped the stone archway. "I remember perfectly well... the Astronomy Tower has been charmed with protective spells! It prohibits students from self-harm. He physically cannot jump, you can rest ass—"
Slughorn's pompous reassurance died in his throat. His watery eyes bulged so far they threatened to roll right out of his skull.
"Merlin's saggy beard!!"
Without a backward glance, Regulus struck a cool, dramatic pose, stepped off the ledge, and dove headfirst into the abyss.
For some inexplicable reason, a sharp, piercing eagle cry echoed across the empty sky.
[Quest Progress: 1/61] [Quest Progress: 2/61]
Absolute chaos erupted on the balcony. A group of terrified teachers and students threw themselves against the edge of the stone parapet.
Several frantic shouts of "Arresto Momentum!" and "Wingardium Leviosa!" rang out simultaneously, flashes of magic shooting toward his plummeting body.
Every single spell missed. Regulus was entirely unaffected by the magic. Guided by the bizarre, supernatural grace of the System's blessing, his body contorted mid-air. He executed a flawless, physics-defying 270-degree front flip, perfectly aligning his back with the rapidly approaching earth—
The numbers on his retinal display spun into a dizzying blur!
(Somewhere out there, a muggle high school student is frantically calculating the terminal velocity of this fall.)
[Quest Progress: 60/61] [Quest Progress: 61/61]
Faith, it turned out, was significantly heavier than reality's gravity. The sickening thud everyone in the courtyard was bracing for never occurred.
Regulus plunged perfectly into a dense patch of low, decorative bushes out of everyone's line of sight, slipping through the branches as smoothly as a fish entering water. A tiny sparrow, meticulously preening its feathers on a nearby twig, paused, gave him a dull glance, and went right back to cleaning its wing.
Deep in the leafy shadows, Regulus lay perfectly still, realizing his heart was hammering against his ribs like a trapped drum.
Holy crap. That was exhilarating!
With slow, deliberate movements, he calmly drew his wand. Pointing it at a single leaf hovering near his nose, he whispered, "Wingardium Leviosa," purely to keep up appearances.
Then, he calmly stood up, brushing twigs and dirt from his pristine robes. He had just plummeted from a lethal height and didn't have a single scratch on him.
[Quest "Leap of Faith" Completed] [Passive Skill Unlocked: Stealth (Proficiency 0/100)] [Passive Skill Unlocked: Climbing (Proficiency 0/100)] [Unlocked: Eagle Vision (Proficiency 0/100)] [*System detected that the host does not have an eagle. This skill is temporarily unavailable.] [Unlocked: Teleportation Point "Hogwarts Astronomy Tower" (Cost: 10 Witness Points)]
Stepping out from the foliage, Regulus raised both arms in a casual 'ta-da' gesture, a brilliant, triumphant smirk spreading across his face as he looked at the stunned audience.
High above, the terrified students on the Tower could only see a tiny black dot waving at them, while the crowd of people gathered on the ground let out one massive, collective gasp of disbelief.