Ch. 60

It was Hogsmeade Weekend. For some reason, Harry wasexcited even though he technically had the ability to visit Hogsmeade any timehe so wished. Harry had already bundled up in a winter cloak and was on his wayto the village, passing Filch and the long line of students with permissionslips in hand. Technically, their names were on the list, but Filch was sostingy that sometimes they had to wave the pieces of parchment their parents(or friends) had signed under his nose.

Harry absently wondered whether Bellatrix would beirritated with him for leaving the castle without her. It wasn't as if he hadcommitted to go to Hogsmeade with her, but she had taken to sticking around himon a fairly regular basis. At least an hour of her daily homework was spent onthe end of his desk while he graded papers and desperately tried to planlessons. She didn't always say much, but her facial expressions were enough.She wanted to know about his future and she wanted to practice dueling. Fortunatelyshe had been too busy for the latter and for the former, only resorting totrying to guilt-trip him. Harry didn't think Bellatrix would ever be able tosuccessfully guilt-trip him-especially if she ever found out about the 'youkilled my godfather' that was hanging over her. Would it ever be fair to tryand guilt-trip her over something her future self had done? Harry shrugged andshelved the question. He had arrived at his primary destination.

According to an owl-dropping splattered businessdirectory Harry had found in the owlery, Zimon's was the mostly likely placeonce might find a wand short of going to Diagon Alley-also the only place shortof shelling out the better part of a month's pay for a wand. Harry supposed hewould have to pay Ollivander a visit eventually, but for some reason, he justdidn't feel like going all that distance so he could be dissected byOllivander's mystical, gray eyes.

Harry entered Zimon's and eyed the bell that hadannounced his presence. It kind of looked like it might have been made frombone. Could bone even make a ringing noise? Apparently so-it had woken up theshopkeeper who was presumably Zimon. The place didn't look prosperous enough tohave any employees.

"What are you in the market for, son?"

Great, Harry thought, he's marked me as a Hogwarts student. "I'm looking to browse through your collection of used wands,"Harry announced, looking around to see if he might discover where to lookbefore the man gave him directions. Used clothing, books, and other articleslittered the shop. He supposed this must be the sort of place the Weasleyfamily was accustomed to shopping at. Harry pushed the thought out. He didn'tneed to get all worked up about losing his friends from the future.

"Over there," the proprietor yawned, gesturingvaguely.

Harry nodded his thanks and made his way in the directionZimon had pointed. On a shelf next to some expired potion ingredients he founda box of wands. Harry picked up the box and began rummaging through it. Therewere all sorts of wands and each had a price tag attached to one end.Eventually, he found two that seemed to feel right-a very pale one whose touchhinted at stickiness and a darker one that had probably been used by someonenot used to washing their hands. Harry couldn't make up his mind about which tobuy, so he ended up buying both of them for a few sickles, rationalizing tohimself that it was only wise to have a spare on hand, at least until he couldget to Diagon Alley and buy a proper wand.

With his new set of used wands, Harry wandered down thestreet to the Three Broomsticks. The visit to Hogsmeade had created in him adesire for some butterbeer. He stepped in from the cold, winter air to find thepub filled with Hogwarts students and the occasional adult. Most of thestudents were conversing, filling the room with a somewhat loud babble. Harryordered at the bar and was able to find a small booth where he could sit inpeace. He wasn't so sure that trying to sit down with any of the students wouldbe a good idea.

For entertainment, he contented himself with trying toname as many of the students as possible. Technically, he had the vast majorityof them in his classes. He ended up doing pretty well, some names came moreeasily. James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter were sitting at a table laughingmerrily. Harry wondered how it could be that Peter had found himself betrayinghis parents in the future. It certainly seemed like his fellow Marauders weretreating him well enough.

Harry wondered where his teenage mother was. Surely shewasn't the type to skip a Hogsmeade visit. He soon received the answer to hisquestion when he overheard a girl talking in a booth not far from him, but outof eyesight.

"I bet I know who Lily fancies!" said onerather high-pitched girl.

"Who?" squealed another.

"It's Professor Ashworth, of course," said thefirst.

"You don't know that!" came Lily's voice.

"She's blushing!" squealed the second in aneven more high-pitched voice.

Harry didn't know whether to laugh or go to the bathroomand throw up.

"Butterbeer too strong for the likes of you?"

Harry looked up and discovered Bellatrix standing abovehim, her arms folded. Apparently, she had found him. "Err… no, it's fine.I love butterbeer," Harry said.

"So what's bothering you?"

"Nothing," Harry lied. "I just need to getout of here. It's a little too crowded."

"I haven't even ordered anything yet,"Bellatrix said.

"You don't have to leave," Harry said as hestood and prepared to abandon his booth.

With a frown, Bellatrix moved to follow him. "I'lljust follow you," she said.

Harry felt kind of sheepish, but nevertheless, he madehis way to the door with Bellatrix. "I was thinking you might have takenthe opportunity to get in with Lestrange or something," Harry saidcasually.

"I did," Bellatrix said, "but Lestrange,his friends, and I only stayed together for a little bit. We kind of gotseparated."

"Oh," Harry said as they stepped out into thestreet. Apparently she had been trying to do something useful. He now felt kindof guilty. Last week, he had beaten the snot out of her, and then this week hehad practically hustled her out of the Leaky Cauldron before she had been ableto order anything. He supposed he owed her something. "Why don't we gosomewhere else," Harry suggested. "There's got to be more than onepub in town."

"That would be nice," Bellatrix commented. Shewas looking toward the tea shop that Harry knew would in one future day benamed after the infamous Madam Puddifoot.

"There?" he asked, wincing.

Bellatrix snickered. "Not unless you want to getfired for trying to romance a student."

Harry suddenly felt the probability of his being sickskyrocket. "Do you know a good place?"

"Sure," Bellatrix said. "I think there'ssomething down this way." She nodded toward a side street and the twostarted walking in that direction. "There's another, smaller commercialcenter of town. If you're a student and want to sneak out of the castle for avisit to Hogsmeade, it's wiser to go there than to the other shops that knowfor sure that you're a student."

"Clever," Harry said, wondering why he had notsneaked out of the castle more often when he was a student.

Bellatrix seemed to read his mind. "Did you sneakout of the castle often when you were a student?"

"Not really," Harry said.

"I see."

....

Join my P@treon and get 60+ advanced chapters.

Link: p*atreon.com/0LordSilvere0 (Remove the *)

Free members get 2 chapters free.

Join Right Now