"Esteemed Mr. Moriarty, my dear friend!" Lucius stepped forward and bowed deeply. "On behalf of the Malfoy family, who have belonged to Slytherin House at Hogwarts since the eleventh century, I pay my respects to the great Slytherin!"
Lucius Malfoy had given Moriarty ample face, and Moriarty responded solemnly, "As the current head of Slytherin, I accept the Malfoy family's respects on behalf of Salazar Slytherin."
Lucius raised his head arrogantly, his gray-blue eyes fixed coldly on Moriarty, though his words were sweeter than honey. "Mr. Moriarty, I have yet to congratulate you on winning the All-Europe Wizarding Duel Competition. I heard from Mr. Fudge that you frightened the pure-bloods in France half to death."
Moriarty glanced at him, then swept his gaze over the other pure-bloods. "In fact, after receiving your letters, I hurried back from Paris at once. In the notes and documents left behind by my ancestors, I found records concerning the Twenty-Eight Pureblood Families."
"Ingo!" Moriarty called.
The goblin lazily snapped his fingers, and twenty-eight black boxes appeared before them in a neat row.
Moriarty waved a hand, and every box opened.
"Inside are proof that your ancestors studied at Hogwarts, your family trees dating back to the Middle Ages, and your family crests."
The children stepped forward to peer curiously into the boxes, while the adults grew more wary and remained where they were.
Ingo sneered inwardly. Cowardly wizards!
Still, he introduced them at the right moment. "After Hogwarts was founded, Bloody Baron was among the first batch of Slytherin students. Once Bloody Baron reached his seventh year, a Black became a first-year student of Slytherin House!"
At this point, he was pleased to see that the Black family had not sent a representative. Other pure-blood wizards having bad luck always made him happy.
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