"They were a motley collection; a mixture of the weak seeking protection, the ambitious seeking some shared glory, and the thuggish gravitating toward a leader who could show them more refined forms of cruelty. In other words, they were the forerunners of the Death Eaters, and indeed, some of them became the first Death Eaters after leaving Hogwarts."
— Albus Dumbledore describes Tom Riddle's gang, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
