Chapter 44: The Bloody Baron
The Halloween feast arrived on schedule.
The Great Hall's ceiling had been bewitched into a roiling mass of thunderclouds and lightning — yet not a drop fell upon the banquet below.
The long tables groaned under the weight of food: sausages that leapt into your plate, fizzing purple drinks, and an array of ghoulishly shaped desserts that tasted absolutely divine.
Regulus sat at the middle of the Slytherin table, eating in silence.
Avery was beside him; Alex a little farther off; Hermes sat opposite, wordlessly cutting his steak.
The mood was reasonably peaceful — until a second-year Slytherin ambled over, goblet in hand.
Rabastan Lestrange. Younger brother to Rodolphus Lestrange. Bellatrix's future brother-in-law.
The Lestrange family's unwavering devotion to Voldemort was an open secret.
Rabastan wore it as a badge of honor; his face permanently carried a look that mingled fanaticism with hauteur.