Chapter 296: The Christmas Banquet [bonus]
The main hall dwarfed the foyer.
Cold buffet. Long tables lined the walls, draped in dark cloth, set with silver candelabras and platters.
Servants in dark uniforms wove through the crowd without speaking, without meeting anyone's eyes, lifting a glass from a silver tray at intervals and placing it before whichever guest's hands had come up empty.
House-elves were nearly invisible, flickering from corners only when a tablecloth needed changing or fireplace ash needed clearing, gone again the instant the task was done.
No fixed seating in the hall. Guests stood in scattered clusters, wine in hand or hands empty, talking.
Regulus paused near the entrance and scanned the room.
Somewhere north of a hundred guests tonight. The sound was a steady hum, laughter and pleasantries and the clink of glass on glass all blending together.
Orion had taken Sirius deeper into the hall to make the rounds with the other Heads of House.
Walburga had already found the wives' circle.