Bellatrix sat in the tea shop with her back to the wall of the room's darkest corner-not that the room was all that dark. It was a ladies tea shop, after all. She smirked as she observed Alastor Moody warily enter the shop, hostilely eying the clientele who were fearfully staring at his magical eye. He picked his way across the room, fending off the attentions of the hostess, and sat down at Bellatrix's table-not across from her, but to her side, so that he too had a view of the entire room.
"Miss Black," he said gruffly, "or is it Mrs. Ashworth?"
Bellatrix smiled. "It's Mrs. Black, actually. Harry was, or perhaps even is, Mr. Black."
"So you married Mr. Ashworth, eh?" Moody said, glaring at a server who arrived to take his order.
Bellatrix smiled at the server and ordered a basic assortment of tea and sandwiches. When the server left, she continued the conversation. "I did marry him," she said. "As you may have guessed, we then assumed control of the House of Black's assets. You could say that was the main purpose of the marriage. The marriage contract provided that I would have sole power over the House of Black in the event that Harry should die."
"Did Harry die?" Moody asked.
"Define die," Bellatrix said, smiling because she knew that Moody would be irritated.
Moody thumped the table. "How about you cooperate with me?"
"I am cooperating," Bellatrix retorted. "I am sitting here enduring your questions, aren't I?"
"Did you kill Walburga Black," Moody asked suddenly.
"No," Bellatrix said. "I did confront her and order Kreacher to not allow her to leave the house. I intended to milk her for any information I could get on the Dark Lord. Annoyingly, the old biddy did herself in."
"Where have you been for all of these years?" Moody inquired.
Bellatrix shrugged. "The years passed by in a blur. To be honest, I cannot account for my whereabouts."
"What did you do? Overdose on potions? Get locked up in the St. Walpurgis Magical Maladies Ward?"
Bellatrix was not amused. "Why did you want to meet with me?"
"I'm here to tell you that Dumbledore wants to meet with you and discuss things," Moody said.
"You could have relayed that via Kreacher," Bellatrix snapped.
"You are perceptive," Moody said, complimenting her, albeit a little bit backhandedly. "I'm mostly here to confirm your identity prior to us arranging a meeting between you and Professor Dumbledore."
"Well, here I am," Bellatrix said. "What more proof do you need?"
"Perhaps you could explain why it is you still appear to be only seventeen or eighteen years old at the most," Moody suggested. "If you really were Bellatrix Black, you would be about forty years old by now."
Bellatrix quirked a small smile. "The potions I overdosed on were of the de-aging variety. I was obsessed with maintaining my youthful appearance."
"Don't feed me that tripe!" Moody barked. "I can see that your body is still underdeveloped as if you were still in the very late stages of puberty. De-aging potions aren't that good."
"The maladies ward had the most wonderful skin care spa," Bellatrix continued, seemingly oblivious to Moody's anger.
"How many times did you kick Lucius Malfoy in the crotch before I stopped you, the last time I saw you and Harry Ashworth?" Moody demanded.
"It was Rodolphus Lestrange, dimwit," Bellatrix retorted. "And the answer is once."
"Very good," Moody said, desperately trying to think of obscure questions to which only he and Bellatrix would know the answers. However, he had not associated with her often enough to provide him material, so he came up dry.
"Maybe you can tell me why he's already on the loose," Bellatrix said.
"Bureaucrats," Moody grumbled absently. "I need more proof of your identity," he told her.
"Do you trust the verification methods of Gringotts?" Bellatrix asked.
Moody rubbed his chin. "Yes, at least as far as it relates to disbursement of money."
"Good," Bellatrix said, grabbing her purse and removing her wallet from inside. She wrote out a bank draft, payable to Moody and then handed it to him. "Cash that and buy yourself something nice. It should establish that I am Bellatrix Black and that I have control over the Black assets." She then removed some Muggle cash from her wallet and set it on the table just as the server returned with the tea and sandwiches.
"Aren't you going to eat anything?" Moody asked.
"It would be far more fun to imagine you eating alone at this table in a ladies tea shop," Bellatrix replied. "We'll make arrangements for my interview with Professor Dumbledore via Kreacher," she told him before leaving the restaurant.
.....
Moody sat at the table contemplating the tea and sandwiches. He was not alone for long, however. James Potter and Sirius Black joined him after Bellatrix had been gone for a few minutes. Sirius grabbed one of the sandwiches and scarfed it down.
"Looked like Bella to me," he commented. "She's the mirror image of the Bella I knew back then."
"Yeah, that's the problem," Moody groused, taking a sandwich and prying the bread apart. Unable to overcome his suspicion, he left it that way on the plate, having decided not to eat it. "That woman could be an imposter going off a photograph from Bellatrix's school days."
He picked up the bank draft Bellatrix had left and examined it. It was made from a stiff, gray parchment. Above the Black family crest was inscribed the phrase, "The Most Noble and Ancient House of Black." Beneath the inscription for the amount of twenty galleons was Bellatrix's signature. It was a well-practiced signature. Indeed, aside from the two B's of Bellatrix Black, there was little that was readable, except for maybe the 'x.' However, beneath the signature line, the bank draft's security protections had recognized the signature and proclaimed it as belonging to Bellatrix.
"Let's get over to Gringotts and cash this," Moody declared.
"Sure thing," Sirius said as he and James gathered up the sandwiches and prepared to depart.
....
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