Lightheaded and yearning, Harry and Bellatrix continued to kiss one another fiercely even as the sun slowly vanished, leaving London to shiver beneath the cloudless winter sky. Finally, slowly breaking the kiss, Bellatrix took a deep breath, smirking as she exhaled. "That would be a much better way to spend this evening."
Harry smiled broadly before shrugging wistfully. "Duty calls, my darling wife." Looking at the windows of Grimmauld Place and glancing at his watch, Harry added, "In five or ten minutes, you'll be fashionably late. It looks like the lights are on inside the dining room." Pausing, Harry touched his wand to his glasses, activating an enchantment, which allowed him to perceive assorted forms of magical activity. "And if I can in fact believe my eyes, it would appear that the coast is clear."
"Wonderful," Bellatrix declared regretfully. "Where's the cake?"
"Right over there," Harry said, gesturing to a bench on the edge of the sidewalk, roughly five meters away from their position.
"Why did you put it there?" Bellatrix whined, shaking her head as she walked to retrieve the cake, before refreshing the warming charm upon it. "Someone could have sat on it."
Harry shrugged. "I guess I could have put it on the road and let it get ran over by a lorry."
"Maybe you should have," Bellatrix said lamely, wincing internally at her witless riposte. Pausing briefly in thought, Bellatrix turned back to face Harry with a mischievous glint in her eye. "Did you ever think about going back to Privet Drive and harassing the Dursleys?" Bellatrix asked.
"Er… not really," Harry said, confused by the apparent non sequitur.
"Bothering your Aunt Petunia would not be very fun, but Vernon and Dudley… that could be a barrel of laughs right there," Bellatrix observed. "Emphasis on the barrel, of course."
"Sure," Harry said, still confused. "Terrific. I'll have to take the opportunity some time."
"It may come sooner than you think," Bellatrix smirked.
"What do you mean?" Harry asked nervously.
Bellatrix held up her hand, looking at her wristwatch as shushed him, heading toward Grimmauld Place as she said, "You are about to make me unfashionably late." Kissing her husband goodbye, Bellatrix asked, "What are you going to do while I'm in there enjoying the company of your esteemed friends and family?"
"Probably stop off for dinner at your favorite restaurant," Harry responded cheekily, laughing at the annoyed expression on his wife's face. "Maybe go terrorize some Death Eaters."
"I hope your mother is a good cook," Bellatrix said grouchily.
"How should I know about my mother's cooking? I'm an orphan," Harry shot back, smiling brightly.
Bellatrix rolled her eyes. "See you later," she said. "And do not terrorize Death Eaters. We cannot pass it off as something I mighthave done if I was having dinner with a bunch of witnesses."
She turned her back on Harry, making her way across the street and up the steps to the front door of 12 Grimmauld Place. Shifting the cake and its platter into one hand, she rapped on the door of the home that should have been hers were it not for her husband's total and complete aversion to the place. If Harry thinks we are going to live in that flat forever, he had better think twice, Bellatrix grumbled silently to herself.
Bellatrix was still shaking her head as she thought of the loss of Grimmauld Place even as the front door opened to reveal Sirius Black. "Dear Cousin!" he exclaimed exuberantly. "Be welcome to our humble home."
Bellatrix stared at him blankly. "I did not sign up for dinner with you," she said suspiciously.
"I'm the deal sweetener," Sirius said before being shoved aside by Lily Potter, who had appeared from the hall leading to the kitchen.
"We're so glad you could make it," Lily declared, smiling more broadly than Bellatrix thought she ought. "It's been so long since we were together at Hogwarts, and I've also wanted to thank you for everything you did to help Molly and me."
Bellatrix held out the cake. "I thought we might all enjoy this after the meal," she said.
"It's wonderful," Lily exclaimed just as Sirius's wife, Cassie, entered the front hall from the dining room.
"Did you make it yourself?" Cassie asked.
"Of course," Bellatrix replied, silently thanking Aunt Petunia for forcing Harry to learn how to cook well.
Lily and Cassie further complimented Bellatrix on the quality of the cake before leading her towards the dining room with Sirius trailing behind. In transit, they found James Potter and Albus Dumbledore examining some of the Black family relics.
"Mrs. Black," Dumbledore said graciously as he walked over to greet Bellatrix.
"Professor Dumbledore," Bellatrix replied, her tone the paragon of civility.
"I hear from my sources at the Ministry that you have been busy," Dumbledore observed.
"Pardon me?" Bellatrix asked, masking her confusion.
"He's talking about the ghost of Ashworth harassing Death Eaters," James Potter snapped, sounding very skeptical of Bellatrix in general.
"Oh, that ."
"Yeah, that," James said. "Do you really think that it's a good idea?"
"Yes."
James was about to retort, but Lily intervened. "Please, James," Lily said. "We are going to have a nice dinner."
"James is jealous," Sirius told Bellatrix conspiratorially. "He always wanted to be a masked vigilante when he was growing up."
"Maybe I should teach him how to raise Harry's ghost. He could take his turn one of these nights," Bellatrix said.
"Look at her," James retorted, speaking of Bellatrix in the third person. "She's a young girl that the Death Eaters would hurt quite badly if they got their hands on her."
"Just you remember, young man, that she is older than you," Bellatrix snapped.
"How old are you?" Lily asked innocently. "It's been so long since we've seen each other that I can't remember when your birthday was."