The Malfoy family's castle on the cliff was especially cold that night.
Outside, fierce winds drove raindrops tirelessly against the narrow windows.
There were no lamps lit in the main hall. Only the green magical flames burning in the fireplace cast wavering light and shadows.
Voldemort sat in a high-backed armchair.
His pale face looked grim in the green light, his red eyes narrowed to dangerous slits.
His long, slender hand tightly gripped a book with a gaudy cover.
Had any Hogwarts students been there, they would have recognized it as Professor Douglas Holmes's bestselling novel from a Muggle publisher-Magic Apprentice.
"Absurd... utterly absurd!"
Voldemort slammed the book onto the dust-covered oak table.
Its pages fluttered, stopping at the chapter where the protagonist exchanged "system" currency for a divine artifact.
"Lucius!"
His hoarse shout echoed through the empty hall, shaking a few wisps of dust from the ceiling.
Lucius Malfoy, who had been standing like a statue in the shadows, shuddered. He immediately hurried forward and dropped to one knee before the long table.
"Master, I am here."
Lucius kept his head very low. The long platinum hair he had once taken such pride in was somewhat disheveled, and these past few days had been no easier for him than for the prisoners of Azkaban.
"This is the information you found? Everything about that Holmes?"
Voldemort pointed at the books piled into a small mountain on the table-Witch Blood Boils, Dark Wizard Rules, Blasphemy... there was even a Muggle novel called A Song of Ice and Fire.
"Yes, Master."
Lucius's voice trembled. He did not dare raise his head to meet his master's eyes.
"These are all the works available on the Muggle and Wizarding World markets under the name The Banana-Loving Honey Badger-that is, Holmes himself. There are also