Harry's full attention was focused on Bellatrix in a heartbeat. Harry's intense gaze nearly caused the Black heiress to recoil from him. Whatever it is that he's expecting, he thinks this might be it, she thought to herself. "I figured you might be interested," she continued, trying to act nonchalant.
"What'd you find out?"
"I've received an… invitation, of sorts. Along with the Lestrange brothers, Malfoy, and a handful of others. We're going into the Forbidden Forest for a little meeting tonight. It's all very hush-hush." At least it would've been if Rodolphus had ever learned to shut his big mouth, Bellatrix thought with a hidden smirk. As it was, she almost hadn't been invited, but after Lestrange had let it slip, she had managed to worm her way into the group. She could almost see the gears turning in Harry's head. Gotcha! This was definitely what he'd been looking for.
"I see," said Harry.
His poker face was terrible, Bellatrix mused, even as he desperately tried to hide how much he was interested. She decided to humor him and play along. "Do you think this might be what you've been looking for?"
"Yes." Harry abruptly returned from his thoughts, almost reflexively bringing up his occlumency shields. It was too early to let in Bellatrix on what was going to happen and what he had planned. Bellatrix watched with interest as his face drained of all expression, as if an invisible wall had suddenly slammed into place and his features turned unreadable. She noted with interest that it seemed more a reflex action than a conscious decision, as he'd been very easy to read at times, whereas sometimes she had no idea what he was thinking.
"I was afraid you'd say that." Bellatrix shook her head and began pacing. "You haven't been invited. I wasn't even invited until I managed to convince Lucius that it would be in their best interest to extend an invitation to a member of the House of Black."
"Can't I just tag along and pretend I got an invitation?"
"Without arousing suspicion? No." Bellatrix shook her head, raven tresses flying. "But I might be able to bring you as a friend."
"And you think that'll be any less suspicious?" Harry asked doubtfully.
"It'll be less so than you just showing up unannounced," she shot back.
Harry opened his mouth to retort when an idea struck him. "I can polyjuice as you and go."
"No. You will screw up if you do." Bellatrix held up a hand to forestall any comments Harry might have made. "Look, you don't know these people, at least not the way they are now. You don't know me very well, and you're likely to blow your cover if you say the wrong thing at the wrong time. Besides, we're partners, so I'm going."
Harry stared at her for a long moment as he considered whether to press the issue. She had a point-he had no idea how she acted around the other potential future Death Eaters, and his acting skills had never been that good, anyway. And she was competent enough with a wand to take care of herself. Not taking her along might just end up in her asking more questions than he had answers for-or was willing to answer at this point. "All right," he finally conceded, "as long as your parents don't find out."
"I'm seventeen," Bellatrix objected. "I'll do whatever I want."
Harry hoped that didn't involve telling her father what she was up to, because of Cygnus or Orion Black found out that he had dragged their daughter into their little investigation against their direct orders, there would be hell to pay. But if she was going to come along, he was going to put his foot down on something .
"As long as you follow my lead. I've got more experience with who we're going to be dealing with than you do," he stipulated. Holding up a hand to stop her retort, he continued. "If this is about what I think it is, then we're going into a potentially very dangerous situation. You don't know who we're dealing with, what he's capable of. You have no idea of the potential long-term consequences one wrong word or move could cause."
"You sound like you're scared." It was clearly a taunt on Bellatrix's part. Whether it was designed to challenge Harry's authority on the matter or to get him to divulge more information, he didn't know. He didn't care, either. Too much was at stake.
"Like I said, you have no idea who we're dealing with."
"And you do?"
Harry remained quiet for a long while. "Yes," he finally said. "And I dearly wish I didn't."
"Who exactly do you think we're dealing with?" Bellatrix didn't like the haunted look that had briefly flashed across his eyes before it vanished again. She just knew there was a story to this, one she would get to the bottom of. She was just wondering whether she would like the way the story ended when she did find out. Something was telling her she wouldn't.
"You'll see." Harry wasn't about to speak Voldemort's name, not yet, anyway. "Now, how are we getting to this meeting?"
Bellatrix couldn't resist getting in one last barb. "I don't know," she replied cheekily, "I'm following you."
Harry glared at her.
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