Ch. 63

One week later, Harry sat in his private apartments, slumped in an armchair.

"You're going to wrinkle your dress robes," Bellatrix reprimanded him.

"Like it matters," Harry mumbled. He picked up the Daily Prophet and looked at it aimlessly. In it was a follow up story on the antique shop fire in Hogsmeade the previous Saturday. The owner had recovered and somehow, though his shop was nearly all ashes, managed to come to the conclusion that nothing had been stolen by whomever it was that had attacked him. He had not seen the arsonist nor had Harry and Bellatrix told the Ministry anything they knew.

"I bet they're lying," Bellatrix said.

"Why would they lie?" Harry asked, wadding up the newspaper and throwing it into the fire. He didn't want to look at it again. "If something was stolen they'd be looking for it and making lots of noise, hoping to find whoever was responsible."

He turned and looked at Bellatrix. She stood immaculate in black dress robes. The robes accentuated her figure, and her hair had been done up. At the moment she was carefully examining the dinner table she had arranged to have brought to his apartments. For the third time, she was ensuring that each name card was in the right place. In the week leading up to the dinner with the future Death Eaters and other influential purebloods with slightly darker sympathies, they had often discussed the best way to arrange the seating-or rather, she had discussed and he had agreed with whatever she said. However, Bellatrix kept changing her mind about the seating arrangements.

"Yeah? Well, why did Rodolphus and his henchmen even bother? They didn't kill the guy and they didn't steal anything. Sounds like a waste of time." Bellatrix argued. "They must have done it for a reason."

"Maybe you can find out for us," Harry said.

"I'm working on it," Bellatrix replied primly, deftly picking up a few name cards and moving them to different locations.

Harry was thinking of what to say next when the flames in the fireplace changed to green and Orion Black stepped into the room.

Orion Black was not one to show surprise on his face, but Harry was willing to wager that his blank gaze at Bellatrix was him being surprised. It was short-lived however, he turned to Harry purposefully. "I need to speak with you alone."

"Err… right," Harry said, looking around. He had two options: ask Bellatrix to step out or invite Orion into the bedroom.

Bellatrix made the choice for him. "I'll be right back," she said, gliding to the door and disappearing into the hall.

Orion drew his wand and shut the door with a quick jab. "You were present when that shop burned down, weren't you?"

"Yes," Harry admitted. "How did you find out? I told the Ministry that I'd rather not have my name appear in any official reports."

"Don't worry about that," Orion said. "Do you know who is responsible for the fire?"

"I have a pretty good idea," Harry replied carefully, wondering just what sort of contacts Orion had in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.

"Would you care to share your thoughts?" Orion asked.

"It was a Hogwarts student," Harry admitted. "I'm pretty sure that this particular student can lead me to what we're looking for."

Orion paced back and forth across the room purposefully, deep in thought. "I've been hearing rumors, Ashworth. The thing that happened at the antique shop was more serious than most people know."

"Would you care to explain?"

"Not right now," Orion said, looking toward the door that Bellatrix had exited through. "You need to increase your efforts, Ashworth. I need to know exactly what is going on!" Orion declared. "You've got to dog this student until you can get information."

"I'm working on it," Harry said, trying to sound confident and competent.

Orion seemed to accept Harry's statement. He glanced at the dinner table that had been set for about a dozen people. "What's this about?"

"It's part of my… uh, investigation. I'm hoping to ingratiate myself with some of the suspect students."

"You've got Bella working with you." Orion said. To Harry it sounded like both an accusation and a question.

"She volunteered to handle some of the details," Harry admitted. "Her expertise is valuable."

"Whatever," Orion mumbled. "Just don't get her killed or something. Once you find out what's going on, I want to know immediately-even if it is the middle of the night."

"Right," said Harry.

Orion nodded and strode to the fireplace. He grabbed a pinch of Floo powder from the pot on the mantle and turned to Harry. "I'm serious about this, Ashworth. This isn't an idle curiosity for me anymore. There is something wrong in our world."

....

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