Disclaimer:
Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 225: An Elegant Dinner
"Come in," James said after hearing a knock on his laboratory's door.
A moment later, Bella walked inside. She was dressed in an elegant green dress instead of her usual practical robes.
"You don't usually knock on the door before entering," said James while looking at her attire. "New clothes? What's the occasion?"
"I knocked because Nyxaris informed me that you were in the middle of something…" Bella glanced at the opposite corner of the room.
A very large glass container was now occupying what used to be empty space.
It was filled with a dark liquid, making it impossible to see what lay inside it.
However, by now, she had grown accustomed to James' experiments and could easily recognize what this container was being used for.
It was very similar to the ones he had used for Primum and Nyxaris, albeit much bigger.
"Are you making another chimera?" Bella was still looking at the container, wondering what kind of creature James was now in the process of creating.
"This one will not be a chimera, but a homunculus," James stated.
"You are making an artificial human?" Bella looked surprised. All the creatures that James had made until now had been far from human.
If anything, compared to Primum, Nyxaris, and Tertivor, a human would seem boring. James had even created those sentient robes.
James could imagine what she was thinking. "If it comes out the way I want… this specimen will be far from a normal human being."
"Mmm…" Bella didn't seem overly interested in that one. She shifted her attention to the other project, one that she was more familiar with.
A beautiful tiara was resting on top of a metallic device that James had fabricated the week prior.
She was not too clear on what James was trying to accomplish with that artifact. All she knew was that the artifact had some powerful curse on it and that James was trying to get rid of it.
The metallic device was supposed to suppress the curse to some degree and help him analyze it. He had also been very clear that she must never, under any circumstances, touch the tiara.
"How is that going?" she asked.
James glanced back at the horcrux for a moment. "Still waiting on some materials that I require for my next attempt. Can't do much until then."
"That's a shame. It's a beautiful piece." Bella commented while keeping her eyes on it. "If you ever remove that curse… could I have it?"
James tried to hide his surprise at the fact that Bellatrix Black had just requested a piece of jewelry from him.
'She just keeps surprising me, doesn't she?…'
"I'm afraid that is not possible. The tiara does not belong to me, so I cannot give it away."
Even if the piece were to survive the soul extraction, James would have to return it to Hogwarts, where it belonged. He was many things, but a thief was not one of them.
Noticing the look of disappointment in her eyes, he felt compelled to add something else. "If you really like that kind of thing… I could make a better one for you."
Bella's purple eyes became locked onto him. There was a hint of amazement and adoration in them. "You can do that as well? I didn't take you for a jeweler."
"Magic can turn anyone into a master artisan if they know what they are doing with it," said James. "You have yet to answer my question about your unusual attire."
Bella looked down at herself. She had almost forgotten about the dress already. "Oh… actually, this is from my sister Andromeda."
"Really?" James could not conceal his skepticism, given that Andromeda was so well-endowed in the… chest area. And yet this dress was not falling off Bella's body.
"It's an old dress!" Bella huffed as she could tell what James was hinting at. "And I'm only wearing it because she insisted that I dress 'appropriately' for tonight's dinner."
"It's dinner time already?" James looked out of the window. He didn't even realize that the sun had come down.
Bella sighed. "Yeah, I figured that you would be distracted as usual. Your mother sent me to fetch you."
"Right, that makes sense. But you still haven't told me what's special about tonight's dinner," said James.
Bella raised an eyebrow. "Have you forgotten? This is our last night here. Tomorrow, we are moving to our new house. Grandfather has completed the preparations, so we can go spend the rest of the summer there."
"Ah… I mean, of course. I remember. So that's why." James stood up and brushed his robes a bit to clean them, but then he remembered to use a spell instead.
Bella rolled her eyes at his clumsy attempt to camouflage his forgetfulness.
<><><><><><><><><>
"James, weren't you wearing the same robes this morning?" His mother, Euphemia, pointed out right after he sat down at the hall.
"Not at all, Mother. I just have several sets like this one." James
responded with a partially true statement, as he did have several identical sets of robes, but they were also the same ones he had been wearing that morning, so his mother was not wrong.
Most of the members of both families were present, with the sole exception of Pollux Black.
Even Druella and Cygnus were at the table, despite the fact that they never got along with his parents, despite the many attempts from his mother.
Still, they were sufficiently polite at all times, just as one expected from members of an ancient wizarding family such as theirs.
James figured that no matter how little they liked their current situation, they understood that being on the other side of the war was no longer a possibility, as Walburga had already demonstrated.
And right now, this alliance with the Potters was the best thing they had left.
The tranquility of the dinner was suddenly interrupted when a crow flew through one of the windows and landed on the table… right in front of James.
He glanced down at the creature and saw the message tied to one of its legs.
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