"This cloak doesn't fit," Harry complained in a muted whisper. They were standing at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, waiting for the rest of the invited guests to appear. From there, someone would lead them to the actual meeting site, at least according to the instructions Bellatrix had been able to garner from the Lestrange brothers.
"It's the right size, isn't it?" Bellatrix replied, peering over her shoulder at the castle. The hood of her cloak hid her expression in the dim moonlight. She shifted, and Harry could tell she was nervous.
"It's the right size, but there's too much cloth in some places, and not enough in others. And it's short." He tugged at the shoulders of his cloak irritably, trying to alleviate the strain of the material there.
Bellatrix snickered, causing Harry to look up at her sharply. I know I'm going to regret asking this, he thought to himself. "What'd you do this time, Black?"
"Oh, it's Black now, is it?" Bellatrix smirked.
"Where'd you get this cloak? And just answer the question," Harry snapped irritably. He could tell she was enjoying this.
"I waltzed into the boys' dorm rooms and went through their things until I found one that would fit." Harry didn't need to see her face to know that she was just about laughing at him. "It's one of my cloaks, all right?"
"A girl's cloak?" Harry's voice rose dramatically. "You gave me a girl 's cloak?" He could only imagine how ridiculous he looked. No wonder it had been tight in the shoulders and only came to his calves.
"Shush! Don't shout!" Bellatrix muttered, indicating at the dark figures that were slowly emerging from the castle, several hundred feet away.
"You could've just had me bring one of mine," Harry complained.
"And have you looking like a bum off the street?" This time, Harry knew she was insulting him. Maybe it was payback for giving her grief about coming along. Whatever it was, she was enjoying it. "I may not know who called this meeting or who or what we're ultimately dealing with, but give me some credit. From what I gather, only purebloods were invited, and only those in Slytherin. Rich kids whose parents frittered away their fortune. Your cloak would stand out like a sore thumb. And for your information, it's a woman's cloak."
Harry bit back a retort as he spied the figures moving closer. "How many were invited total?" He silently counted the approaching figures. Twenty-seven .
"I don't know. The only reason why we had no trouble sneaking out of the castle is because you're a professor. No one questions what they do. Everyone else is going to have to be a lot more careful than we were, but they did tell us to be on time, so I reckon that's all of them."
It only took a few more minutes for them to close in. "Send the signal," Harry whispered.
"And if it's not the right people?"
"It won't matter. They won't even know what it's about and assume it's something else going on."
Bellatrix glared at Harry for a moment, about to retort. Was he really willing to take the risk of some curious soul coming to investigate the signal they were about to send if those weren't the people they were here to meet? With a shrug, she closed her mouth and drew her wand. Seconds later, a small shower of red sparks erupted from its tip, drifting to the ground in front of her. The group coming from the castle halted for a moment, before there was an equally brief shower of red sparks from the person leading the procession. The group changed direction and headed for Harry and Bellatrix's position. As they came closer, Harry was able to make out the three in the lead. He could tell two of them were the Lestrange brothers by their burly gaits. He assumed the third was Lucius Malfoy.
"It's them," Bellatrix confirmed. "I recognize Lestrange's strut. Let me do the talking and stay quiet. Try and act like you don't care about anything."
"I know."
"Then show it!" Bellatrix hissed. "I don't know if anyone's ever told you this, but your acting is terrible. I can tell how much you're interested in this meeting, but if anyone finds out just how interested you are, it could blow this chance."
Then the time for their private conversation was over as the group came within earshot. "Bellatrix," one of the trio in front greeted, confirming by his deep baritone that it was, indeed, Rodolphus Lestrange. "I don't recall telling you to bring anyone else."
Bellatrix tilted her head defiantly. "If you get to bring friends," she gestured towards the group behind him, "then so do I. Besides, who are you to deny an heiress of House Black, hmm?"
Lestrange barked out a laugh. "Heiress of House Black? I don't think so, Bellatrix, at least not for a long time. Your noble house of Black is going down the tubes."
"I don't recall the Lestranges doing any better," she shot back acerbically. "In fact, I don't know how you even managed to worm your way into this, Lestrange, considering that everyone around here except for you is part of one of the Old Families."
Lestrange was about to reply angrily when one of his companions restrained him with a hand on his arm. "Let it go," Lucius Malfoy chuckled. "She's got spunk, I'll give her that. Much more than Narcissa."
"Who's your friend?" the third one asked, revealing that he was the other Lestrange brother.
"You're the one who insisted on all the secrecy," Bellatrix smirked, "so how about you stop announcing to everyone within a quarter-mile who I am and start telling us why we're here?"
Lestrange trembled, and for a moment Harry wondered if he was going to reach out and hit her. Harry felt the inside of his sleeve for his wand, but he needn't have worried. The arrival of another group preempted him from doing anything.
"I think that's all of us," Malfoy announced. "How about we get going?" Without waiting for a reply, he turned and started into the forest, the rest of the group following him. Harry and Bellatrix waited until they were at the very end of the column and then did likewise. Falling back a bit so that they could talk, Bellatrix leaned over at him.
"You nearly screwed us up," she hissed angrily.
"What're you talking about?"
"You nearly drew your wand!" Admittedly, he'd done so in a rather subtle way, and if she hadn't known that he carried his wand inside the sleeve of his robe, she would never have been able to guess that he was reaching for it, but the fact was that she had been able to tell.
"Reflex," Harry apologized.
Bellatrix eyed him for a long moment. "You better work on that. That must have been an interesting time you came from, if you picked up reflexes and a combat style like that."
"That's one way to put it," Harry replied dryly.
They covered the remaining distance in silence, both of them studying the area around them as they tried to figure out where Malfoy and the Lestranges were leading them. It appeared odd to Harry that the Lestranges seemed to be the ones in the know in all of this, as they hadn't ever struck him as very bright in the future. Malfoy, he could believe, if only because Lucius Malfoy was a scheming, manipulative bastard in the future who, despite his superiority complex and dismissal of muggles and muggle-born wizards, had actually had some semblance of intelligence. Harry suddenly realized that they had passed one particular clearing before.
"They're going in circles," Bellatrix muttered quietly.
"No, he's doubling back. But he's doing it very well, I almost didn't notice." Harry glanced up. "Wherever we're going, they don't want anyone to follow us."
"Or they don't want any of us to be able to get out," Bellatrix suggested. She really didn't like the look that passed through his eyes at that statement. "You don't think this is a trap, do you?"
Harry shook his head. "No, it's too early for this to be a trap. I reckon it's a… recruitment drive."
"Then why'd you freak when I said we might not be able to get away? And don't tell me it's nothing, because I saw that look, Ashworth."
Harry mulled over what he was going to tell her for a moment. "Let's just say that you might not like the… initiation into this particular group."
Bellatrix looked at him oddly. "Then we better hope there won't be any of that tonight."
....
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