James muttered something that Harry couldn't hear.
"If you want Lily to like you, you'd better shape up. She doesn't care who you parents are or how much money you have," Harry declared, wondering idly just who James's parents were and whether they were prominent fixtures in the magical world. "I'm not telling you this because I'm your enemy," Harry continued. "I want to see you become a good, decent person. I wish you well in your ambitions. However, I won't tolerate your pride like this. So, will you agree, at the very least, to treat Snape neutrally?"
"I guess," James said, not making eye contact with Harry.
"Mr. Black? You as well?" Harry asked.
"Call me Sirius," he answered, also nodding that he'd try to do what Harry asked. He didn't seem to be quiet as emotionally vested in Snape-hate… yet. Maybe Harry's efforts would prevent it.
"Great," Harry said, "now on to the real part of your detention. Come out to the classroom with me." Harry led them to the Potions classroom and gestured to the room at large. "The years have not been kind to this room. I would use magic to clean it, but one never knows what the stuff dirtying everything up actually is. I'm sure Filch has plenty of materials in that broom closet down the hall, so why don't you gather some and get to work."
James and Sirius didn't seem too thrilled by this, but Harry didn't really care. He'd served far worse detentions for the Potions professor, and really, the blame for some of them could be traced back to James and Sirius. Further, Harry reckoned that the two needed to build some character. As long as Harry wasn't the one who needed character building, he reckoned it was a marvelous thing.
The two had just returned with supplies and were getting started when Bellatrix made her appearance. "I'm here for my detention, Professor Ashworth," she said in a perfectly innocent, girl-next-door sort of voice. The unnaturalness of it fazed Harry for a moment, but he quickly recovered.
Harry glared at her before pointing to his office. "I'll be in momentarily." Bellatrix went into the office and Harry proceeded to give James and Sirius specific instructions for their cleaning tasks. He concluded his instructions with a warning. "I won't be keeping an eye on you the whole time, but you won't be leaving until I'm satisfied the job is done."
"What is she going to be doing?" Sirius asked, outraged at the potential that Bellatrix might be getting off easier for whatever it was she had done.
"That has yet to be determined," Harry growled before entering his office and shutting the door.
He found Bellatrix sitting at the desk and flipping through one of the time travel books he had borrowed from the library. "Cheeky, aren't you?"
"Whatever do you mean, Professor?" Bellatrix asked innocently.
"Don't you mean Professor Dimwit?" Harry retorted, resuming his seat.
"If you would prefer…" Bellatrix responded absently. "Have you made any interesting discoveries yet?"
Harry studied her for a moment before responding. "Yes, I have. But at this moment, I'm more interested in discovering why you felt it was necessary to brat me into giving you a detention."
"You were trying to claim that we couldn't talk about your unique situation in any public place, and I'm smart enough to realize that you would avoid being alone with me. Now, you don't really have any choice." Bellatrix said smugly.
"What if I sent you out into the Forbidden Forest to collect unicorn dung?" Harry asked.
Bellatrix didn't seem to be very amused. "I suppose I'd have to write my father and complain."
"Don't even try playing that card with me," Harry said drily, reminding himself that as long as he had Orion and Romulus batting for him, he didn't have to worry too much about Cygnus. Even if Cygnus swayed Orion, it was Romulus who had influence on the Hogwarts Board, and he would think sending a student to collect unicorn dung in the forest hilarious.
"All right then, were you going to send me out to the forest?" Bellatrix inquired.
Harry smiled. I wish he thought to himself. "No. It so happens that I did need to see you about the time travel situation. If there's extra time remaining for your detention after that, I'll just send you out to help Mr. Potter and Mr. Black."
Bellatrix beamed at him, thrilled that she was going to get in on a bigger part of Harry's secrets, though she wasn't terribly happy with the prospect of helping James and Sirius scrub the floors and benches. "I can stay around and talk about your time travelling for hours."
"I'm sure," Harry said blandly, "but I'd get sick of it awfully quick." He pulled one of the library books from his drawer and opened it to a marked spot. "My chief concern has been the long-term effects of what I may do here in the past-or even just my simple presence here. When one hears about time-travel stories, the immediate concern is that the travelers are at risk of endangering their very existence by changing the past."
"Obviously," Bellatrix commented, not overly impressed at Harry's logic. "How risky is that for you? Are you parents around here anywhere?"
"Wouldn't you like to know," Harry said silkily, hiding a smirk for the fact that his father was just outside the door scrubbing the potions classroom. With that thought, Harry realized that he should probably put a silencing charm on the door so that he didn't have to worry about being overheard. He drew his wand, flicked it with a small mutter, and returned it to its holster.
"Now, down to business. I want to see your hair ornament." Harry announced.
"Why?"
"I need to perform a couple of tests on it to determine the magic by which it functions," Harry explained, holding the book up. "Once I know that, I can figure out how everything else affects the timeline."
"I don't have it with me," Bellatrix replied, looking Harry in the eyes and daring him to contradict her.
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