Bad Romance

Chapter 145

Chapter 145: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

The next month passed swiftly, mainly due to it being uneventful. As it turned out, the Lestranges found making the Draught of Life rather simple. Everyone was more than happy to breathe their last into a tiny glass bottle if it made the torture stop. Dolohov was permitted to pass from this world once all the names he'd given them were found, confirmed, imprisoned, and allowed to give their lives so that others might live longer. Considering they'd served Delphini, the Lestranges considered it the very least they could do to apologize.

Arthur was slowly wrappinging things up in the States for his inevitable move to London. Though he wouldn't be moving for a few more months, he enjoyed visiting with the Lestranges at least once a week, usually on the weekends. During those visits, they showed him about, allowing him to get a feel for wizarding society and the magical side of things. They even went as far as to introduce him to the Malfoys, mainly to annoy and horrify Lucy. This was smoothly accomplished by bringing him to Sunday tea at Malfoy manor.

For her part, Narcissa treated him like some novelty, a rare animal cultivated from a far land and turned into a well-trained pet by the Lestranges. Fortunately the interaction seemed to amuse rather than offend Arthur.

"So you are able to be Apparated without feeling too frightened or angry," Narcissa asked him, her blue eyes fascinated.

Arthur grinned. "I never experienced those feelings when it came to magic, actually. It's more a sensation of being in a dream, or on some weird trip, but it all turns out to be real. That sort of state of mind is becoming less and less frequent, though. I suppose I adjusted rather quickly."

"What is a... Oh, is a trip some sort of Muggle thing," Narcissa asked, struggling out of pure politeness not to wrinkle her nose, though it did twitch.

Arthur flashed a perplexed look to the Lestranges. "No...anyone can trip if they take the proper substances. It's not a thing I care for much, in truth."

"It's our thing, though," Rabastan, always willing to share information with trusted sources, spoke up.

Narcissa nodded, expression smoothly, politely blank. "I see." Turning to Bellatrix she suddenly smiled. "Bella! I nearly forgot to say...we're having a party for you, myself and Mother, that is. It was my idea. After all, you did with that Muggle car to help bring down Delphini! It was so heroic."

Bellatrix blinked in surprise. "I... Well, that's...that is...thank you, Cissy."

She didn't feel heroic, but the pride in her little sister's eyes as she smiled at her was nice. It felt good. She knew she and the Lestrange men had made enough mistakes, and that their families weren't likely always proud. They'd turned that around in the past twenty years, but, in part, that was not specifically their choice to do so. They hadn't sought out work in Shadow Ops, but rather it was forced upon them for their freedom.

Narcissa smiled. "Good. Because I've had Mother write Mr. Grindelwald for a list of your friends from the Ministry so I can invite them too."

Did she have friends, Bellatrix wondered. There were people she did not hate, and even said hello to when she passed them in the halls now, but were Gori and T. Valdez actually friends?

"I assume the two of you shall be kind and give Lyra her verbal invite from me as well," Narcissa said, turning to Rod and Rabastan.

"Of course," Rabastan said. "It's not just girls, is it? As in we can come, yeah?"

"Of course you can come," Narcissa said. "Bella never goes far without Rodolphus, and I'd never make it an all-girls event anyway. Bella doesn't get on with most women well enough to make it more than a party of four or so, which is far too small for the celebration I have in mind."