After examining his scar in the mirror for a bit, Harry toddled back to the bedroom and took a seat on the edge of the bed. From a drawer in the room's desk, Harry withdrew a small sheet of parchment and a self-inking quill.
Dear Bella,
Still no sign of Pettigrew.
Harry stopped writing and frowned. How was he to explain the next thing he wanted to say?
If you find work for the ghost of Ashworth, be careful. I have reason to believe that Rodolphus Lestrange will be either following you directly or trying to understand the magic behind the ghost. Don't let your guard down.
With love, Harry.
Harry finished and folded up the note, leaving it on the table so that he would see and remember to mail it on his way out. Reluctantly, he got dressed and prepared for the day. If what he had seen was any sign of things to come, Lucius would be getting a sharply worded letter from his wife. It might even compel him to leave the Morina castle and make some token effort to search for Pettigrew. If that was the case, Harry needed to check his strategically placed forest wards and talk to as many snakes as possible before Lucius and Draco stirred from the castle.
.....
"And to go along with my hot cider, I shall have a helping of fried fish," Rose Potter informed Madame Rosmerta.
"Will there be anything else?" Madame Rosmerta asked, eyeing Rose sideways.
"No, I believe that will suffice," Rose declared, producing a pair of sickles and placing them on the counter.
"Very well," Rosmerta said, her eyes moving from Rose and settling on Leo. "What will yours be, sweetie?"
Leo grinned amiably as he handed over a sickle. "Just butterbeer, thanks."
Madame Rosmerta accepted the sickle and then reached under the counter to fetch a bottle of butterbeer and fill a mug of hot cider. "The fish will be out in a bit," she told Rose as she handed over the bottle to Leo and the cider to Rose.
"Good," Rose said absently as she scanned the room.
"Which way did Ginny go?" Leo asked.
"I am not sure," Rose said, frowning.
"Wait, there she is," Leo said, pointing to a booth in one of the darker rooms of the Three Broomsticks. "I'd recognize that hair anywhere."
They made their way across the room to the booth and discovered that Ginny was not alone.
"Surprised?" Bellatrix asked. She was holding a blood lollipop and grinning at them from behind white teeth stained by red streaks. Interestingly, she had donned Slytherin robes and was lounging in them just as if she was a student. Leo had no doubt that she would go unnoticed by the students.
"Do those even taste good?" Leo asked, setting his butterbeer bottle down on the table and sliding into the booth, seating himself next to Bellatrix. Ginny had sat in the seat opposite Bellatrix. Not a fan of Bellatrix, Ginny was in the process of using her own butterbeer bottle to hide the sour expression on her face.
"They are an acquired taste," Bellatrix explained as Rose sat opposite Leo.
"You fit into your old school robes remarkably well," Rose observed in a neutral voice as she stared Bellatrix in the eyes.
"I bet your mom wishes she still fit in her old school robes," Bellatrix shot back.
"For all you know, she may still fit in her school robes," Rose argued.
Bellatrix looked at Leo. "Do you think Mrs. Potter still could fit into her old school robes?"
"Uh, no comment," Leo said smoothly.
"And how is your husband these days?" Ginny suddenly cut in.
Bellatrix narrowed her eyes and shot a chilling stare at Ginny before lazily drawing her wand and casting some privacy wards. "He is doing well," Bellatrix replied. "For all you know, he has his wand pointed at you this very instant."
"I doubt it," Rose said. "He knows we are friends and would sit with us if he was here, though he would probably use a disguise so as to ensure that the Order and Death Eaters remain confused about whether he is alive or not. Thus, given his absence at this table, he probably is not even in the vicinity of Hogsmeade."
"To be logical is not necessarily to be all-knowing," Bellatrix said flatly. "There is always the piece of information you do not know or the human emotion that defies logic."
"It gets me far enough," Rose replied, ignoring her hot cider and not even noticing as Madame Rosmerta walked by the table and slipped her tray of fried fish onto the table. "The fact that you are here indicates that you are prepared to let us assist you in your husband's fight against the Dark Lord."
"It is my fight, too," Bellatrix snapped.
"Phrase it as you will," Rose said dispassionately, suddenly discovering the presence of her fried fish and taking a bite.
"What can we do, then?" Ginny asked in a slightly sharp tone of voice.
"I am in the market for more things like that diary," Bellatrix said.
"We don't really run across You-Know-Who memorabilia that often," Leo told Bellatrix.
"True," Bellatrix admitted. "However, you are uniquely situated. You parents are members of the Order. You might hear things that I would find interesting."
"We are not going to spy on our parents for you," Ginny declared.