Hogwarts starts its school year on September 1st, just like most other schools in the UK.
As for holidays, they follow the standard school schedule—Easter break begins on December 14th, and Christmas on December 25th. These two holidays are long breaks, lasting around two weeks when combined with weekends. However, Halloween on October 31st is spent at school.
Of course, there are also winter and summer breaks. Winter break is relatively short, lasting from January 31st to February 28th—exactly one month.
But the summer holiday in the UK is absurdly long. That's why Harry is always so frustrated—June, July, and August are all off, and he's stuck spending his birthday with the Dursleys.
Regulus Black managing to reclaim a piece of family property before Halloween at the end of October was primarily thanks to how diligently he worked.
The second reason was the support from a few noble families… who, thankfully, didn't stir up trouble.
Even with smooth sailing, it still took two full months before he finally acquired a family property: a cattle farm located on a small island in the Outer Hebrides, at the far northwest corner of the UK.
It must be said, owning an entire island felt pretty good. The Muggles working on the island didn't seem to care that their boss had changed.
At the same time, Regulus Black joined the Muggle community's beef association under the Ministry of Agriculture. They were thrilled to welcome a noble—this point was repeatedly emphasized by the foundation (the Ministry of Magic) that had been managing the property.
In the wizarding world, noble status isn't granted merely due to age-old heritage or magical prowess.
Rather, it is something historically recognized by the King of England. For wizards, having an official noble title avoids many complications. Even during the witch hunts in history, wizards with noble status were rarely exposed or accused.
Think of those impoverished European nobles who, despite their miserable circumstances, still refuse to let go of their titles—some even renting formalwear just to attend parties.
It's extremely easy for wizards to obtain wealth. Once they have enough money, noble status and social recognition naturally become their next goals. So if all it takes is a wave of the wand to gain a title, why not?
Take Salazar Slytherin, the Black family, and the Malfoy family as examples.
Clearly, the Slytherin lineage has always had a strong desire for noble status.
No wonder they're jokingly said to have "half their people working in the Ministry and the other half vacationing in Azkaban."
To celebrate the recovery of his property, Regulus Black even agreed to Dumbledore's request to donate one cow to the school every day from Easter to Christmas. This gave Hagrid the sense that they had so much backup food they couldn't eat it fast enough. And these were all high-yield dairy cows—if no one rushed to turn them into beef, they could provide so much fresh milk that it might as well replace water during that time.
Naturally, the Hogwarts kitchen's surplus was mostly funneled into Hagrid's stomach—for the sake of his health!
In the Room of Requirement, Regulus Black had already crafted a large number of metal components. From their assembly, one could tell they would form a humanoid female puppet, with baroque-style engraved patterns across the surface. The planned attire included Gothic-style lingerie and a maid outfit.
Under Regulus Black's Level 7 [Puppet Domination] control, the metal pieces automatically assembled themselves.
Over the past few months—aside from his frequent trips to the Ministry—most of Regulus's time was spent crafting these mechanical components. It was all preparation for adding another summoning skill to his arsenal: [Iron Golem].
However, for this [Iron Golem] skill, Regulus Black gave up on the idea of maximizing its size and didn't create a pure golem core.
It wasn't composed of the black sand used in [Molten Beast's Claystone Demon], nor of the corpse blood used in [Blood Familiar of the Demonlord Zac].
With black sand and corpse blood, one could adjust the puppet's size freely, using the core to build outward with magical power and various materials, ultimately crafting a golem as large as a mountain.
But for the [Iron Golem], Regulus intended a more intricate design—allowing him to fully utilize the skill's level by focusing on quantity rather than sheer size.
Because in his previous life, Regulus had been an ordinary gaming nerd, he naturally drew inspiration from the game League of Legends (LOL) when designing the puppet characters. In fact, all the earlier golems had been based on LOL characters.
LOL's robotic champions included Blitzcrank the Steam Golem, Nautilus the Titan of the Depths, and Orianna the Clockwork Maiden.
If the goal were to maximize size, Blitzcrank or Nautilus would both be suitable.
But if the aim was quantity, beauty, and precision, Orianna the Clockwork Maiden was clearly the best choice.
Alright—Regulus Black admitted he had thought of Orianna first, and only came up with all these "reasons" afterward to justify it to himself.
Can't blame him—those other two hunks of scrap metal were just too ugly!
As a noble with taste, creating puppets that aren't beautiful would be a serious insult to one's own status.
In truth, crafting puppets isn't a difficult task in the wizarding world—there are hundreds of stone puppet statues stationed right in front of Hogwarts' gates.
During the final battle, Professor McGonagall summoned them to block the entrance—though they were easily destroyed.
Regulus Black had no regard for those crude stone puppets. Not only were they bulky, but their creators hadn't even bothered to give them faces.
What Regulus Black wanted to create were puppets so intricately crafted they resembled humans—figures that would inspire a sense of closeness in those who saw them.
That's why he chose the Clockwork Maiden, Orianna, as the design base—though even that character setting was still too crude for his standards.
If a puppet is refined to a certain degree, any humanoid figure crafted would be indistinguishable from a real person to the unknowing eye—unless someone was explicitly told it was a puppet. Regulus Black had an unshakable confidence in this.
After referencing movies like Paprika, Ghost in the Shell, Terminator, Transformers, and Chobits, Regulus Black finally decided on the character he truly wanted:
Ayanami Rei from Neon Genesis Evangelion.
Hailed as the goddess of the "Three No's" (no emotions, no words, no expressions), she even had a game called Rei Ayanami Raising Project. Watching a bunch of blue-haired little girls being trained and customized according to one's preferences—what lolicon could resist?
Of course, Regulus Black was absolutely not a lolicon. Definitely not!
Blue hair, red eyes, a slender body, and a disproportionately full bust for her frame.
When the Iron Golem—named [Zero]—opened her eyes, even Regulus Black himself was stunned by her emotionless aura, even colder than his own.
[Clockwork Halloween Iron Golem]: Visual reference—Three-No Goddess Ayanami Rei, blue hair, red eyes.
Standard Configuration: A pair of red-and-blue multifunctional spherical support puppets that can resize themselves, designed for housing, storage, assistance, repairs, mobility, defense, and offense.
Since she was created on Halloween, the skill was officially named [Clockwork Halloween Iron Golem].
Regulus Black planned to make six more in different colors—because a rainbow squad is just too delightful.
Someday, he'd have gold, silver, black, white, red, yellow, and blue Ayanami Rei puppets lined up in a row, all dressed in sexy gothic maid outfits—now that would be a sight for sore eyes!
And today happened to be Halloween. Attendance at the dinner was required. After sending out a letter ordering more materials from the Owlery, Regulus Black leisurely made his way to the first-floor hall.
Once all the materials arrived, he planned to use the quiet period between Easter and Christmas—when things weren't too busy—to finish constructing all seven [Clockwork Halloween Iron Golems] before Christmas.
That time of year was ideal. Many students went home for the holidays, and the curriculum was only offered for the few who stayed behind. As a teaching assistant, Regulus Black would have even more free time.
As he reached the second floor, he suddenly heard the sound of a young girl crying from the nearby girls' bathroom.
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