"I haven't been around," Harry said, attempting to make his voice sound slightly deeper.
"Why not?"
"Azkaban," Harry muttered, turning his back to the bar and leaning against it. "Before that, I was in Liverpool."
This seemed to satisfy his new friend for a few moments, but curiosity eventually reared its head again. "What's your name?"
"Dursley," Harry bit out. "Dudley Dursley. My friends call me Big D."
The tough-looking wizard looked Harry up and down. "You ain't big."
"Was before Azkaban," Harry said, taking a sip of his firewhiskey.
"I hear you," said the wizard.
Harry didn't respond.
"My friends call me Thorpe," the tough wizard finally admitted when he saw that Harry wasn't about to make the next move.
"Thorpe," Harry said by way of greeting, raising his whiskey glass a centimeter or two, only barely meeting the requirements of civility. He needed to establish friends, but he definitely didn't want to leave anyone with the impression that he was desperate.
.....
Firelight danced in Bellatrix's eyes as the basilisk corpse burned. Burning the carcass after removing the hide and extracting all usable potion ingredients had seemed very practical and easy in the first place, but Bellatrix was now annoyed. The stench was awful, and the carcass wasn't burning well. She cast several cleaning spells on herself and then another round of fire charms for the carcass.
Briefly, she considered fiendfyre before dismissing the thought as she glanced at her stack of potion ingredient cases stacked uniformly. If she made a mistake, they and the small fortune of basilisk parts inside would be reduced to ashes. Thus, she had been forced to settle for a less potent magical fire. At least it didn't put off too much smoke.
The potion ingredients on her mind, Bellatrix walked over and examined them again, making sure each case was secured. She then turned and sat down on one of the small stacks before casting another round of fire spells. Just as she finished casting the spells, Harry's image appeared in front of her.
"Bella, it's four in the morning," Harry groaned.
Bellatrix smirked as she examined Harry's appearance. It was clear that he was exhausted. "Stay up late?"
"I went to a pub called the Serpent's Fang and made some new friends," Harry yawned.
Bellatrix vaguely considered feeling guilty for bothering Harry, but quickly shoved the remorse aside. "You made good time," she pointed out. "It only took you a few minutes to get here. You're getting better at the image projection spell."
"Nope," said Harry. "I apparated to just outside of the Hogwarts wards before doing the spell."
"Cheater."
"You didn't have to wake up the next morning after casting that dumb thing across the country," Harry mumbled. He turned and surveyed the burning snake. "Looks like you've been busy."
"I have been," Bellatrix affirmed. "That actually brings us to the topic of why I asked you here."
"Oh, really?" said Harry.
"Yeah."
"Okay, so why am I here?"
"Well, ah, hmm," said Bellatrix. "Do you want the long story or the short story?"
"Short story, please."
Bellatrix smiled as sweetly as she could. "Today is the day I leave Hogwarts."
"The term isn't over," Harry quickly pointed out, slightly confused and suspicious.
"I take it you'll need the long story, then," Bellatrix said briskly, waving her wand and renewing the fire charms on the basilisk carcass.
Harry shook his head negatively. "I think I can piece it together. You're done harvesting the basilisk ingredients and then, this past evening, you had a big spat with your mother and aunt."
"You came to the funeral, didn't you?" Bellatrix accused him, though deep down, she was rather grateful to know that Harry had cared enough about her father and even perhaps her.
Harry shrugged. "I felt guilty at the thought of missing it."
"My mother and aunt want me to marry Rodolphus Lestrange, which probably isn't very surprising to you," Bellatrix informed Harry.
"Yeah, I wouldn't recommend doing it," Harry said sleepily. "However, I don't see how that means you should now leave Hogwarts and move in with me before summer even starts. You need to finish your schooling."
Bellatrix set her face into an expression of sweet, victimized innocence. "They might try to force me to marry Rodolphus," she said. "It would be better for everyone involved if I was under your protective influence."
Harry snorted.
"This is serious," Bellatrix growled. "They might try to force me."
....
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