章 45: Harry Gaunt - Chapter 45
Bellatrix sat beside the lake in a conjured chair, one that was cushioned and upholstered with a strange fur. Harry had assured her it would be warm, even if it seemed very keen to lift off and wrap around her.
Splash.
Harry was skimming stones again, but this time he'd paddled out into the shallows. He looked so calm and serene in the sunshine, that Bellatrix hadn't realised how stressed he'd been before. She'd never known the weight he'd been carrying around day after day.
Splash...
She heard him chuckle, one of the rocks had bounced high off the lake.
It came down with a mighty plop. Harry did seem to enjoy the little things as he laughed merrily.
"Harry, can I ask you something?" Bellatrix watched as he levitated more stones from the shore. "It's a small thing, sort of."
Harry nodded. He hadn't shown her everything as he skimmed another stone.
"Is your goal to, you know, kill everyone like you were doing before?" Bellatrix tiptoed towards him before stopping at the water's edge. "Or is it different now? Because, I might have a suggestion."
Far be it from Bellatrix to tell Harry how to fight a war, since she honestly knew little about it. But what she did know, was people, and it was people that fought in wars.
Harry seemed to know already though. "I won't be killing anyone unless I have to," he said as another stone skimmed across the lake. "It's not like before where things were too in motion to stop, I was firefighting." He looked back at her. She knew what he meant. "But now? Well, you must see what I've begun to do."
Trimble. Snape. Phyllida. And soon to be Sirius once he accepted Harry's help.
"I thought so," said Bellatrix relieved. "Killing Purebloods won't work, so we'll have to use other means to pull support from Tom. Have you made any other allies?"
Harry shook his head, laughing a little at the prospect. "I didn't exactly want to be allies with House Black, at least at the time." He levitated two more stones in his hand, then sent them together across the water. "I'd always planned to just kill him, cut the head off the snake and be done with it. The rest really isn't my problem."
Wizarding society had long been biased towards the Purebloods, and unsurprisingly, Harry didn't particularly care if every house with a name disappeared overnight. They were all just witches and wizards, right?
"Ow. Bellatrix." She'd thrown a pebble at him as he looked behind. "You disagree?"
She nodded firmly, and with a flick from her wand, conjured a pair of wellies that came up to her thighs. "Look Harry, you may not have been a Pureblood for very long, but I've lived my whole life as one." She trudged carefully towards him, he'd gone quite far out.
Harry grinned.
"Ah!" Bellatrix wobbled as she became weightless. "Harry." She then proceeded to drift through the water to his side. He made it look effortless. "How do you do that? Did someone teach you?"
Bellatrix got herself settled. She used his arm for support.
"A bit. But after Ron and Hermione died, it just came naturally." Harry held her hand. He knew she liked it. "But you were saying?"
She'd introduced a tangent, that had always been Harry's thing. "Oh yes, right. What I mean is we should be trying to make Pureblood's more applicable in today's society, more responsible. Everyone just seems to think that all we're here for is to exert our power over others, like we're corrupt."
Bellatrix shook her head. The sacred families were supposed to protect Wizarding Society, not try to kill off more than half their population.
"But people don't like Purebloods," said Harry as he hovered a final stone above the water. "And for good reason. They call everyone Mudbloods, half-bloods; half-breeds."
Bellatrix winced.
"Can you really blame them?" Harry sent the stone skimming away. "Because I wouldn't. I was always called a filthy half-blood before."
But Harry didn't agree with what Moody seemed bent on. Not every Pureblood was the same.
"I am sorry Harry." Bellatrix leaned against him. "But it's been my life, we're Pureblood. If that all ceased to matter then where would I be? You wouldn't be Lord Gaunt either."
There must be a way forward for them, some way that Pureblood families like hers could be respected again.
Harry seemed to think about it. He'd run out of stones. "Maybe I could…" He glanced at Bellatrix. "Kill a Dark Lord? Do what Dumbledore did only for Purebloods instead of half-bloods. And in fact, this is all really his fault." Bellatrix blinked as Harry looked away. "He just can't help meddling with things, the old goat."
She felt the water push against her wellies. It felt warm, but Bellatrix hadn't seen anything about Dumbledore. "I suppose you might be right there." She shuffled carefully around him in her wellies. "They don't call him a muggle loving fool for no reason."
Bellatrix put her arms around Harry's waist. "We'll think about it," she said optimistically. "But for now, we'll try to gather allies and make friends, if only to keep them from joining the movement. And what about the Horcuxes?"
"Still the same," sighed Harry. "Only now we have a chamber with a Basilisk in, which doesn't like you by the way. You're not a Gaunt." Harry felt he ought to mention that before she demanded to come along again.
"It doesn't like me because we weren't introduced." Bellatrix stated. "And it will like me, one way or another." She looked at Harry pointedly. They'd yet to speak about anything like that though.
Harry cleared his throat. "I think House Potter would make a good ally," he offered with an innocent smile. "You'll like my Grandmother. She's quite the character."
"Oh really." Bellatrix was unenthused as she took a hold of his hands. "We'll see. Fleamont and Euphemia Potter are known eccentrics, she's always in everyone's business. Arcturus can't stand her."
Bellatrix saw nothing of similarity between Harry and his Grandmother, remembering the few occasions when she'd met the nosy woman. "Wait, does she know as well?" Bellatrix looked up in alarm.
Harry looked back at her. "Of course not. We got off on the wrong foot really."
"Good, you'll tell no one else." Bellatrix gave his stomach a gentle poke. "You don't want the Unspeakables coming after you."
"I wasn't planning to," said Harry. "Ever. That's why I've been avoiding James and Lily, that and it's just too strange to be around them."
"True."
Harry's feet were getting cold now. He prompted them back to the shore. "You're good at Transfiguration," he noted as Bellatrix sloshed through the water in her wellies. "I recognise them."
They climbed out onto the shore. Bellatrix must have visited quite a few muggle stores to be able to make them.
"Thank you." She retrieved her wand and vanished them. "Cissy and I tried them on once, this exact pair." She watched Harry dry his legs and slip his shoes on, the act far easier with a wave of his hand. "Back to Hogwarts?"
Bellatrix expected classes to be over soon.
"Yeah, but we need to find Sirius. He'll be with James if classes are finished with."
"More than likely," agreed Bellatrix as they begun their walk back to the castle. "Harry, are you an Animagus?" she asked suddenly. She couldn't help but be reminded of his memory as they passed a thicket of trees. "I wonder how Sirius learned it."
Harry's was probably an enormous snake, or maybe even a Dragon that spoke Parseltongue-
"No, I am not." Harry hopped up upon a fallen tree, then helped Bellatrix as she did the same. "I never had time for it. Nor did I really need to transform into an animal."
They hopped down. Bellatrix's eyes lit up. "We can learn together!" She almost knocked him over with how she jumped in excitement. "We can use the chamber, or the tower, it's perfect!"
"Hardly," recovered Harry with amusement. "I can already fly. And fight with or without my wand." He continued their walk across the grassy path. "You do it, I'll help."
Harry honestly didn't want to become a deer.
"What? Harry, you're sure to have a form given your heritage, you must do it." Bellatrix would sort it all out for him as she squeezed his hand. "It'll be great. Leave it to me."
"Fine, do as you will." Harry let it be as they arrived at the empty green. Seems the flying lesson was over, maybe that would be a good way to make allies, give everyone a discount on a Firebolt.
"Harry?"
"Hm?" Harry hadn't been listening. "Oh, sorry."
Bellatrix had asked him a question. "Was your father an Animagus? I assume since Sirius was, then James would be too."
Harry nodded. "A stag. Pettigrew was the rat, who might tragically be eaten very soon." It would be easy. Harry would just have to wait till the full-moon and send a snake out. "Hm?"
Bellatrix was poking him. She'd asked him another question. "Sorry, I get lost when I think about this stuff."
"Clearly." She sounded concerned. "It'll get better. And is that why? You think you'll be a useless deer?"
"Well yeah, it had crossed my mind. That and everything else I said."
Bellatrix huffed. "You've clearly neglected even researching it, haven't you?"
"I told you," said Harry clearly. "I don't and didn't need to become an animal. I've already read more than enough about how it works." It was Bellatrix that misunderstood, she didn't know that when a form revealed itself through the potion, it nagged in your subconscious to be set free.
Harry didn't want to turn into a deer. Or be reminded of his father throughout the day.
"You won't be a deer Harry," placated Bellatrix as they approached the castle door. "Trust me." She opened it first and let Harry through, something that seemed to perplex him as they arrived in the empty corridor. "Now, let's go find Sirius."
She tugged him along. She knew he secretly enjoyed it.
~~~~~~~
Lily was with Mary as they headed back to the common room after final period. They'd have a few hours before dinner, which the pair had decided to spent studying in the safety of their dorms. There weren't any tormentors in Gryffindor, luckily, but only if you discounted James and his best friend Sirius.
"What do you think happened this morning?" asked Lily as they arrived by the enchanted stairs. "Sirius didn't come back. He missed Potions."
Mary and Lily had helpfully explained his absence to Professor Slughorn, who seemed very put out that he hadn't been told. That and the fact Gaunt wasn't present either made for a rather taxing lesson on the Finger Growth potion.
"I did speak to him," offered Mary with a hand on the banister. The stairs took them over. "But he didn't really say, just that it was something unexpected." They stepped off. "He had a very nice ring though."
Girls noticed those sorts of things, and Mary was sure she'd never seen it before.
"All Purebloods like wearing rings," said Lily with an eyeroll. "Even James has worn them, but not for long."
The portrait was just ahead now.
"So you noticed then?" Mary teased with a cheeky smile. "I thought so."
"Thought what?" Lily tried to make it sound like nothing. "Very funny, but no." She turned and faced the fat lady.
"Password?"
"Pixie Pie." Lily wrinkled her lip as the portrait swung open. "Who gets to pick these things, it can't be anyone sane."
Mary followed her in, thinking that there she went again, judging everything. "We had it at Halloween."
"Well it's a terrible password," rebutted Lily. "And it's two words, not one."
They arrived in the common room to a roaring fire, empty chairs and single sofa with a person sprawled across it. It was Sirius, he was staring at the fire.
"Sirius?" said Mary.
"Mary, hello." Sirius sat up a bit, glancing calmly at the pair as they watched him. "I guess lessons are finished the, nobody else is here yet." It was nice seeing the two of them.
"Yes, just now." Mary stepped towards him with a smile. "How are you feeling?"
"I am fine now." Sirius shrugged and looked back into the flames. "Just waiting for James really, if he even bothers to show up. You wouldn't happen to have seen Gaunt, would you?" He looked keenly back at them both. "I need to speak to him."
"No, I haven't. He wasn't in Potions either." Mary was apologetic as she came and sat beside him.
"I see." Sirius shifted over to give her room. She had an enormous- "Book bag?" Sirius flicked his eyes at the thing set between them. "What are you reading?"
There must be every book they were studying in there.
"Potions!" She smiled happily as she rummaged to retrieve her book. "Slughorn's a great teacher. Lily and I are brewing the Finger Growth potion."
"The Finger Growth potion?"
"Yes, the Finger Growth potion." Mary shuffled in excitement. "It's for wizards who lose a finger, but it's notoriously tricky. A bit like the Living Death really." She'd not got the hang of it yet.
"It's strange how nobody seems to get that one right," agreed Sirius, idly wondering why Lily was just standing there, watching them. "It's usually the instructions," he determined. "May I?"
Sirius gestured politely for the book within her hands. She had such dainty hands. "S-sure." Mary handed it over. "Thanks."
"Don't thank me yet." Sirius chuckled as he scrutinised the page. "To be frank, Potions isn't one of my strengths. That'd be DADA."
But he'd still managed to brew the Animagi potion with Remus, and that was hard.
"You know, you spent all that time teasing Severus for dotting notes in his books, yet here you are doing exactly the same." Lily piped up when Mary handed him her quill. "I think you should apologise."
Mary scowled. Lily just didn't get it.
"I'd rather eat deer droppings," said Sirius. James's deer droppings to be precise, while a dog. "But what about you? Has Snape finally apologised for what he said?" Sirius looked up from the book. "No? Didn't think so."
He looked back and corrected the number of seaweed stems with a mark in the margin. Mary had actually already made a few notes herself. "You were right," he said suddenly. "Less moon flakes. They're too reactive."
"Exactly!" She wiggled over so she could see the page with him. "I'd add them, then almost straight away the potion would bubble - then poof!" She mimicked a shower of rain with her fingers. "Ruined."
Sirius chuckled. "Ruined." He looked up into Mary's eyes. She did the same. "Here." He passed the book back to her. "Run it by Slughorn, just in case."
Mary nodded, then thanked him again as Lily stomped across the fireplace. "Can we wait with you?" she asked. "We were going to study anyway." And Lily too was curious about the ring on Sirius's finger.
"Sure, feel free." Sirius shuffled back and stared into the fire. He'd been thinking, wondering what he should tell his closest friend.
Mary took a quick glance at Lily as she found a chair along the side. You couldn't study here, it would be noisy soon. "Um, Sirius." Sirius had shut his eyes. He was sure Mary would look out for him. "Maybe we should go somewhere else to study? People are already coming in." She took a look around at the students walking in. "Huh? Is that…"
Sirius blinked his eyes open. He followed her gaze. "What the - Bellatrix?"
Lily snapped up from the book she'd begun to read. She saw Bellatrix looking around. "Ohhh no." She wasn't happy about this as she jolted up towards the searching seventh-year. "Ms Black, how did you get in here?"
"I used the password." Bellatrix turned to face her. "Pixie Pie. It's a good one." Bellatrix ignored whatever look seemed to pass Lily's face and instead focused on the fireplace. "Finally."
"What?" Lily was politely excused as Bellatrix swept around her. Bellatrix arrived beside Sirius and the McDonald girl. "Sirius, let's go." She gestured him up.
"Excuse me?" Mary swivelled to his defence. "That's very rude. Sirius is busy."
"It's all right Mary," assured Sirius as he rose to his feet. "Family stuff. Is he outside?"
Bellatrix nodded, noticing how close she was sat to him. "Have you informed anyone else yet?" she asked him quietly. Sirius shook his head. "Good, now, if you'll excuse us."
Bellatrix took Sirius by the arm and led him away, the action more affectionate than many might assume. They disappeared out the door. Mary wasn't happy though as Lilly arrived in a huff.
"They just do whatever they want," she complained as she flopped beside her on the sofa. "Purebloods. They're a nightmare."
"Sirius isn't a nightmare." Mary angrily packed her book away. "He's not like the others. And neither is Lord Gaunt."
Lily shouldn't say things like that, not here and not anywhere else as Mary got up with her heavy bag. So much for their plan to make friends with them, Lily clearly couldn't stand them.
"Mary, Mary wait."
Mary hurried off. Lily had to grow up already.
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