Chapter 227: The Real Blacks [bonus]
Guests trickled in until the courtyard held roughly thirty. They settled into chairs, voices low, the air warm with anticipation.
Ted's parents sat in the front row. His mother was still fussing with her skirt. His father held her hand and murmured something meant to calm her nerves.
A cluster of Ted's Muggle friends occupied the back rows, trading jokes under their breath. The young witches and wizards sat off to the side, in the corners.
Regulus watched their faces.
They were smiling, clapping and offering every outward sign of celebration. But underneath, in the quiet of their eyes, there was something heavier. A kind of solemn courage.
Their presence here was itself a declaration.
Every one of them knew what the House of Black was. Knew what Andromeda had walked away from. Knew how much uncertainty hid behind this happiness.
They'd come anyway. They smiled anyway.
Regulus looked away.