"Congratulations," Harry said, imitating her prior sarcastic remark. "Why don't you use it in our practice duels?"
Bellatrix frowned. "It wouldn't be a good idea, Harry." She desisted from carving the corpse, set down the knife, and removed the pair of gloves she had been wearing. "Let's get to the business at hand. My father's funeral is on Saturday."
"Will it be private?" Harry asked, curious about the quirky practices of the Black family.
"Hardly," Bellatrix replied, grabbing her wand and transfiguring a small rock into rocking chair on which to sit. "It'll be a state affair at the cemetery next to the Ravenbourgh ruins."
"Does that mean I'm invited?" Harry asked, still feeling guilty about not attending the funeral of Orion and wondering vaguely whether there might be a Malfoy funeral.
Bellatrix nodded. "You're free to come, but I recommend against it. If you do, try to avoid being noticed by the authorities or my family."
"Why is that?" Harry asked, feeling that in order to maintain the proper balance in the conversation he too should sit, even though it was just his image standing in the chamber. His real body was resting peacefully in his hotel room.
"I'm concerned that you could become a target of the dark lord. I think it would be better if you tried to stay in the periphery. We don't need anyone wondering if you control the Black fortune. There's also the fact that unless we need to strain for political capital, we should avoid reminding anyone that you were closely involved with my father."
"The dark lord is already after me," Harry said. Briefly, he explained about the incident in Diagon Alley and how he was now going to be careful about where he stayed and for how long.
Bellatrix was not thrilled. "You're going to have to take steps to get these people off of your back," she mused. "Offensive steps-not your hiding, defensive tactics."
"I've got some ideas," Harry said.
"Oh really?" Bellatrix said, the tone of her voice making it clear that she wanted details.
"I'll tell you later," Harry said, not wanting to reveal what he had up his sleeve. She probably wouldn't approve-at least that's what his friends from the future would have felt. Harry revised his thoughts and realized that instead of disapproving, Bellatrix would insist on participating. He didn't want that.
Bellatrix set her jaw and looked away from Harry, clearly annoyed that he was making plans without her. "Yeah, tell me when you feel like it," she said quietly.
"Just don't think about it," Harry said. "You're here in school. You don't need to worry about it."
"Whatever," she said, thrusting herself up out of the rocking chair. "I want to get this job finished. I've told you what I wanted you to know. If you want, you can stick around and watch… or you could go home."
For one reason or another, Harry opted to stay. Maybe it was because he was lonely in his hotel room or maybe it was because he enjoyed her company. Perhaps it was because he sensed that she was lonely. He wasn't sure which it was or which he wanted it to be, but he accepted it. "I'll stay for a while," Harry said.
"Great," said Bellatrix, acting noticeably more cheerful. "Maybe you can help."
"The spell is kind of limiting," Harry reminded her. "I'm not much good except for being your eyes and ears."
"Maybe you could do the phoenix fire spell," Bellatrix pressed. "If it is similar to the image projection spell, you're already halfway here."
Harry realized that he should make an attempt at the spell. Quickly, he reviewed the steps for the spell in his head and then combined those thoughts with the information he knew about the image projection spell. If he had everything correct, there was only a few steps missing.
"All right," Harry announced, "I'm going to give it a try."
Bellatrix nodded and stepped back a little bit.
Harry closed his eyes and attempted to focus his mind on both his image in the Chamber of Secrets and his body back in the hotel. He strained to draw a stronger connection between the two, a more substantial connection. Slowly, Harry thought he could feel his body on the hotel bed moving, but he stopped straining as soon as he realized that he was closer to casting a disastrous summoning spell than making the phoenix fire work. The thought of phoenix fire reminded Harry that the fire was to be channel of transportation. He focused on causing fire to absorb his body and projected image.
Warmth enveloped Harry and he felt his head clear, almost as if his body and projected image were no longer separated. This led to the realization that he must have succeeded. Before he could open his eyes, however, several gallons of cold water splashed over him. Supremely annoyed, Harry opened his eyes and glared at Bellatrix.
"You were on fire," she deadpanned.
"Hilarious," Harry growled.