บท 39: Harry Gaunt - Chapter 39
It was a curious thing as Harry and Bellatrix walked the streets of muggle London, they'd found several restaurants that were to Bellatrix's liking, but none that had let them in.
No reservation.
Fully booked.
Too young.
"Too young." Harry muttered as he held Bellatrix's hand. "We're confounding the next one." He was at the edge of starvation now as they turned left at the street's end. "Or we could cook?"
"We're not cooking Harry." Bellatrix said with her eyes carefully scanning the shops. She'd never been on a dinner date before. "We're doing this."
She pulled him along.
"And why didn't you before then?" she posed while dodging the many muggles. Harry hadn't even tried to protest. "I liked that Italian one."
Maybe Harry was a picky eater.
He sighed. "If we're not wanted, why bother?" He stepped around a bundle of bags across the pavement. "I've spent enough time not being wanted. I won't beg."
It put a bad taste in his mouth. Bellatrix seemed to understand as she pulled his arm towards her side. "You're right. We'll find somewhere else." She stayed close to him as they walked, she didn't like being close to the muggles.
Harry notice it. He whispered in her. "I've got a better idea. Hold tight."
"Wh-"
Harry grinned as he took them away with a silent crack. There was a place he hadn't been to in ages, somewhere hidden far beneath the ground. It was a week day too; the line would be quiet at this time.
"-at?" Bellatrix blinked as her feet touched the platform. "Where are we?" The air felt stale as she looked around the gloomy tunnel, then to a ding as Harry opened a door behind her.
It was a café - underground?
"This isn't exactly what I had in mind," she griped as Harry held the door for her. "But alright."
She stepped inside as Harry followed her in. The café had hardly changed from how he remembered it, the same chairs and fresh fruit stacked on the counter. The sandwiches were the same too, all lined up within the large fridge.
"Hello dears." There was an old lady behind the counter, she smiled at them happily as she dried a mug. "Dinner snacks?"
She glanced between them. Then as Harry stepped forward, her eyes settled squarely on him. It was as she'd thought; his eyes were an unnatural green.
"Sandwiches please, two each. Tuna, cheese, ham-" Harry chuckled in excitement. "-whatever's best please."
He felt Bellatrix step up beside him, her curious gaze peering down through the glass.
"That's a Sausage Roll," explained Harry as he went through the options. "Good but not enough. Have a sandwich, and that." They had pasties.
"We can toast them too." The lady offered. "Do you like Tuna?" She looked at Bellatrix kindly, who as well held a peculiar beauty. "Most do."
She watched her touch the young man's hand, appearing unsure of what to choose before he did so for her. They ordered everything.
"Everything?" She parroted. "You mean, to try?"
Harry nodded. "Like a buffet. I'll pay for it all, if that's alright?" He reached into his robe and retrieved his muggle money, a stash that he'd brought with him before coming to Hogwarts. "Here."
He passed her several pounds. It was a lot more now Harry was in the seventies.
"Thank you, and yes of course, it'll only go bad anyway." The lady offered them a seat from behind the counter, meaning for them to pick whichever they wanted while she prepared the food.
There was no-one else here. Harry went straight for the table he usually sat in, one close enough to the window so he could see the people whizzing by in the tube.
"People actually get inside that thing?" Bellatrix sat beside him. She wanted to watch as well as a tube came whizzing past the window. She put her hand in his lap. "There must be a better way."
"It's definitely unpleasant," agreed Harry. "But still, it works. And if it's not completely packed, it's fun." He'd enjoyed it with Hagrid on their trip to the alley. "We can try it out if you want."
Harry was smiling already at how Bellatrix would find it.
"No thank you," she laughed. "I much prefer Harry Transportation, not London." Bellatrix patted his leg like he was a horse. "You still have to teach me that spell, by the way."
The smell of food was beginning to waft over. She'd been pondering how it would feel to turn herself into smoke.
"The thing I didn't have a name for?" Harry confirmed.
Bellatrix nodded. "And everything else. The wards, that Patronus Charm." She shifted so she could face him. "What even was that? It seemed alive almost, could it understand me?"
It had certainly felt that way when she'd looked into its eyes.
"It became that way over time," confirmed Harry. It could think to a degree. "But it first seemed to happen when I cast the Patronus Charm in Parseltongue, it changed its form and became like other snakes. After that it was just practice, then getting it to work in English when I wanted."
Harry could make it into a few different forms. His favourite though was the one he'd used with Bellatrix - it could do magic, spells.
"Are there any other spells like that?" Bellatrix asked. "One's you've modified."
Harry nodded. A few. "It's mostly just for Wards and Healing, though I've yet to truly explore the latter. No books you see." Harry scratched his head. "We can have a look when we get back though, may as well."
He had the Lord's ring now, even if he'd never actually be Lord, it just allowed him a few small privileges while he was custodian.
"Harry, what are we going to do about…" Bellatrix shifted uncomfortably beside him. "Arcturus might not survive. And with Sirius as the heir, who knows what he'll do once he becomes Lord."
Bellatrix felt weak at even the though of it. It was well-known how much Sirius disliked their family, she half-expected him to try to dissolve it, or worse, tarnish its name beyond all repair. "Hm?"
She noticed Harry reach into his pocket. Bellatrix stared as the ring was revealed. "H-he gave it to you?"
Harry nodded sadly. "For safe keeping," he showed it to her in the palm of his hand. "Arcturus is still Lord, but since he's relinquished the ring and is incapacitated…"
Bellatrix realised. "Sirius is Lord now, in all but name," she looked away in thought, this meant Sirius had the power, but not the title until Arcturus actually died. "But only if he has the ring."
Harry was now custodian of House Black, her entire family. Arcturus has trusted him that much. "Harry-" Bellatrix scooted up to his side. "This is perfect. You can-"
Harry shook his head. "No, that's not how it works Bellatrix." He was slightly amused that she'd even thought about it. "The ring goes to Sirius. I cannot be Lord nor can I change who the heir is. Besides," he added as he slipped the ring away. "Sirius will make a great Lord. I've a good feeling about him."
If he hadn't been sent to Azkaban and House Black effectively falling to pieces after Arcturus's death, Harry felt sure things would have been very different in the future if Sirius had become Lord.
"He's Potter's lacky." Bellatrix huffed. "And that's not the only reason. There's more."
Harry looked at her.
"Another matter." She swallowed. "I didn't tell you."
It may as well be now given the change in circumstance.
"What matter?" Harry probed. Bellatrix held onto his leg. "You can tell me, it'll be fine."
"It wasn't my choice but," whispered Bellatrix. "Cissy and I are engaged." She looked away. She'd tried to forget they existed.
"Engaged?" Harry sounded disbelieving for a moment, but then he remembered. "No, not him. Lestrange?" He sighed and kept his thoughts to himself. "We'll ask Sirius. He'll annul them."
Sirius would be all too happy to do it. Bellatrix didn't deserve to have that hanging over her head, Cissy neither as Bellatrix hugged him. "Thank you Harry." She let out a breath against his neck. "I didn't know how to tell you. I- I'd hoped they'd just go somehow."
She snuggled in beside him. She couldn't tell him what she'd really hoped for, especially since Harry probably already knew as the food came over.
"Here we are," said the lady as she arranged her little trolley. "Lots to eat. I hope you're both hungry!"
She happily placed plate after plate of interesting foods across the table, some of which even Bellatrix recognised.
She tried to whisper into Harry's ear. "That a Pump-"
"Thank you so much," smiled Harry to the sweet little woman, who smiled happily back. She reminded Harry of Mrs Figg. "A real treat."
She clapped her hands together. "If you need anything else, just call. Enjoy!" She hurried off to tidy up, leaving Harry to turn back and observe Bellatrix. "What are you doing?"
Bellatrix was poking the Pumpkin Pasty with her finger. "It looks real. But it can't be." She picked it up and took a nibble. "Oh, it is!" She glanced back towards the counter. "Amazing, she must know about us. Who would have thought."
She looked back across the other snacks that had been reheated, each of them the sort of thing they kept on the Hogwarts Express because they lasted longer.
"She must be a squib," offered Harry as he took a bite from a sandwich. "I didn't notice it before. I wonder which family she's from."
Squib's didn't usually travel far from where they were born, nor their family if they even knew who they were.
Bellatrix didn't seem to care that much though, Squibs had long been a taboo among the Purebloods. "You can ask her later," she offered before trying a sandwich. "But for now, I have questions about the Dark Lord."
Harry coughed a little on his sandwich. "What questions?" He glanced around in a paranoid way. "Not here."
"It's just one question really." Bellatrix whispered to him, forcing him to wave his hand like he'd done before. "Why hasn't he revealed himself yet?" She asked. "He needn't wait, he could have done it months ago and forget all this…" She seemed to mimic someone hiding. "Is he waiting for something?"
It set her ill at ease to picture this man simply biding his time, waiting to jump out at them.
"I expect he's being cautious," mused Harry over a mouthful of delicious sandwich. "He won't act until he's absolutely sure he'll succeed. Which for us is good news, it means he's unsure over something - but what, who knows."
Harry had tried to avoid diving too deeply into Tom's mind in the future, more so because it was becoming difficult to differentiate between who's was who's, especially when it came to casting magic. "Perhaps it's something he didn't foresee," he added, something occurring to him as Bellatrix fiddled with the trousers she'd for him. "Something unexpected."
Harry shut his eyes. Of course.
"What is it Harry?" She asked. "What-"
"It's me," he said. "It's me that changed his plans. I became Lord Gaunt." Harry laughed a little, Tom must be scratching his head trying to understand it. "Ironic really."
Harry was now more an heir to Slytherin than Voldemort was.
"You've lost me," he heard Bellatrix say. "I know you're related to him, you told Arcturus in the Ministry. But surely he'd have known you were heir to House Gaunt before now?"
Bellatrix didn't see how either of them could have been unaware of the fact. Harry knew they were family, and so presumably did the Dark Lord. They'd known each other for 'some time' as Harry had said in the car, and their was clearly a history between them so…
"It's complicated." Harry brushed her off with another bite from his sandwich. "We're both Parselmouths, but for a long time it was believed to be because of something else. It's too much to explain."
Harry looked off towards the tube station. Another train zoomed past.
"It's a rare gift Harry," stated Bellatrix. "But I suppose even before Salazar there were others who could speak it."
She let it go.
"Exactly." Harry was glad she let it drop. It was too confusing to make up an excuse for her, he was even becoming a little confused himself at what everyone knew. "But anyway, me being Lord Gaunt now may have affected his plans, so he's waiting. He probably plans to meet with me somehow too."
Which with a school full of Death Eaters, couldn't be all that hard for him.
"We'll just have to wait and see, we can't plan what to do until he makes his move." Bellatrix set her sandwich down. "Have you added to your plans yet?" She'd been thinking about the Horcruxes.
Harry nodded. He had actually. "Research. I need a way to safely collect and destroy the Horcruxes without him noticing. And that's just the start, then I need to actually kill him."
He'd come close before, but always just short of ripping him apart.
"Tricky. But doable I think, the hard part will be finding them, or do you-"
"Not all of them." Harry couldn't count on them all being where they'd been. "But some, we'll see I suppose."
He still didn't want her involved in that bit, it was too dangerous. "You can still help me Bellatrix," he said when he felt her hand begin to poke. "But not with that. You've no idea what he's capable of."
Bellatrix sighed. "Fine, but if you think about dying, I'll-"
Harry laughed and pulled her into a hug. "Of course, you can come and rescue me." He felt her hands wrap around his middle. "We can still practice magic, it never hurts."
She murmured into his chest. She liked the sound of that. "When can we speak to Sirius?" she asked as she looked up. "Cissy's engaged to a man named Brown, they've never even met."
"I'll speak to Greycup first, my Account Manager. There may be something at Gringotts we need to sort out before Sirius can do it. Not to mention the fuss your family is going to make once they realise what's going on."
And that they were locked out their home, one of many no doubt given their wealth.
"Walburga can stuff it." Bellatrix sat up straight. "Sirius should cast them all out, my father included. Or better yet, keep him locked up and away from it all. That'll annoy him even more."
She chuckled evilly. She was very upset with her parents.
"Sure, just say the word. I don't care either way." Harry was ready to leave now, he wanted to speak to Cygnus before the night was over. "Let's go."
Bellatrix nodded. She took a sandwich with her.
Crack.
~~~~~~~
Cygnus woke up to a smell of sewer and grime in a dark room. Something squeaked beside his feet, tickling his leg. "AH!" He scrambled up from the dirty floor. "A mouse!"
He hated mice. Rats, birds, pigeons. Everything considered a pest Cygnus hated with a passion. "Where…" He looked around at the dark metal cells. "They put me down here then. Kreacher!"
Cygnus knew of Walburga's hold over him. "Kreacher! Get in here!" He kicked the metal bars like that of a cage. "KREACHER!"
"He won't come." Harry stepped softly from the shadows outside his cell. "He's dead."
Cygnus recoiled.
Harry laughed. "Did I scare you, Mr Black?" Harry's eyes seemed to glimmer within the dark. "My apologies."
This was still Bellatrix's father, he didn't wish to offend him - much. He'd enjoyed waking him up with the mouse though.
"Who are you supposed to be?" demanded Cygnus as he composed himself. "Whelp. Open this door right now!" Cygnus came close and rattled the metal bars.
Harry shook his head. "You know who I am Mr Black. And it is I that has questions for you." Harry stepped closer to his cell, seeing fear grow within Cygnus's eyes. "But I'll save us both some time."
Harry raised his hand and summoned him against the bars of the cell, the shock winding him as Harry's magic pried his eyes open.
"N-no-NO-" Cygnus tried to struggle. "-bastard!"
Harry invaded his mind.
"AAAAAH!" He screamed, thrashing as memories burned through his head.
Harry smiled. Time to find out what Tom was really up to.
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