Chapter 157: Debts Come Due
Sirius stopped talking.
After that morning's breakfast, he didn't make a scene again.
No more scraping his knife and fork across the plate. No more parading that black T-shirt with the Muggle band logo in front of Walburga. No more firing back every time she praised pure-blood superiority with some quip about how pure-blood meant nothing.
He simply appeared at the table on time, ate, and left.
Like a volcano that had gone suddenly dormant, nothing left but the silent mass of the mountain itself.
Walburga didn't react. If anything, she seemed satisfied.
Regulus saw the way she looked at Sirius now. Just relief. The bone-deep contentment of someone who believed peace and quiet were her due.
As though the household had always been meant to run this way.
Orion said nothing either. He stayed silent, stayed busy. Family affairs, outside affairs.