Oh, so Holden was muggleborn? That was interesting to know. Not that it mattered. Heath didn’t care one bit about blood status, but it did put things in a different perspective… unless Holden was just lying through his teeth to make everyone feel better. But Heath didn’t think he’d do that. It was admirable that he could see past the Black family’s blood supremacist ideology, but Heath didn’t think he had that in him, not after all he’d suffered because of that same ideology.

He glanced at his parchment as the answers were given, unsurprised to see he had them all right. Most of it was common knowledge; the rest came down to process of elimination. He considered Holden’s next set of questions carefully, zeroing in on the one about Regulus in particular because he saw most of himself in him. If Heath had to guess, he’d say Regulus probably changed sides for the same reasons he himself had stopped trying to please Rosier. He saw firsthand the pain that kind of ideology caused and realized that he no longer wanted the approval of people who would support it.

Before Heath could give his answer, his thoughts were derailed by that. You’re so right, he thought darkly, biting his lip to stop himself from scoffing. Holden had asked the wrong people, or person in this case. How could that know anything about loyalty? Heath’s face betrayed no sign of emotion, but inside he was seething, especially when he saw Evan’s hand tightening around his quill and Ash staring at her desk. Usually he would just keep quiet because he knew that was only trying to get a rise out of as many people as possible, but this time he had to say something!

“I agree with Quinn,” he said after raising his hand, his tone flat and devoid of emotion. “It’s great to think outside the box, but sometimes there are no shades of gray. Sometimes there’s only one interpretation of right and wrong…” He paused a moment before tying that into Holden’s question. “...and maybe that’s why Bellatrix Lestrange remained loyal to Voldemort. Maybe growing up with the blood supremacist views of the Black family didn’t equip her with the moral compass to see how wrong his cause was. Maybe she stayed because she never had to witness the pain the Death Eater ideology caused. Unlike Narcissa, who saw her only son recruited, or Regulus, who saw his family house elf used for Voldemort’s purposes. Or maybe it wasn’t the cause itself that drew her but the chaos and division that came with it. Maybe if not for Voldemort, she would’ve found another taboo cause to join simply because she liked causing trouble.”

He’d almost said, because she was an instigator, but that seemed a little on the nose. He’d said his piece, so he’d leave it there.