Harry stopped at the Leaky Cauldron, fetched his case of wands from the barkeep, and then under disguise, made his way back to his hotel. Harry decided that he would have to start switching hotels more frequently now, though he decided that one more night of luxury wouldn't hurt anything. He entered his room, set the case down on one of the tables and went to freshen up.
Just as he was wondering what he should do next, the Malfoy ring twitched on Harry's finger. It startled him slightly, but he calmed himself, realizing that it was probably Bellatrix requesting him to come for a chat. He focused his senses on the ring, and this fact was confirmed. The scant detail available to him through the ring indicated that she was in the Chamber of Secrets, as promised.
Harry drew his wand, ensured that the door to his room was bolted and magically locked, and then went to cast the image projection spell for the second time that night. He stopped short, however, realizing that perhaps he did not have to stand while casting it. He was likely to spend as much as a half hour talking with her. To stand erect all that time, motionless, would be somewhat taxing for Harry.
Feeling experimental, Harry strode over to his hotel bed and laid down on it, shifting until he felt comfortable. He then adjusted his wand arm so that his wand wasn't pointing into the bed or trapped under a pillow. "Ego exertus! " he whispered.
Abruptly, he felt his conscious mind zoom away from the hotel room. It felt rather like he was flying, though everything around him was a blur. Effortlessly, he felt his presence weave through London. Unbidden, the memory of Moody's lamppost came to mind, and Harry realized that he had forgotten to check it. He moved his senses toward it.
As he approached it, Harry slowed down. The blur that had been his surroundings coalesced into the street with the lamppost. Wasting no time, Harry glanced at it to discover that nothing had changed. There was no signal from Moody. Without pause, Harry resumed his travel and felt acceleration as his senses zoomed toward Hogwarts.
The countryside passed by beneath him. Soon, he found the railroad tracks used by the Hogwarts Express and followed them the rest of the way. In total, the journey took him about half an hour before he spotted Hogwarts. Relying on a previous guess that the Chamber of Secrets was near the bottom of the lake, Harry zoomed down into the ground, feeling rather strange as he passed through the solid matter. Though he didn't find the chamber immediately, a little crisscrossing got him there within a few minutes.
He coalesced directly into the Chamber of Secrets where he discovered Bellatrix carving the hide off of the basilisk carcass. The sight was disgusting. Bellatrix had flayed approximately half of the monster, leaving most of the meat and guts intact. The front half of the snake didn't look like much of a snake anymore.
Bellatrix herself was too occupied to notice Harry's arrival, so Harry opted to surprise her. Remembering that there was a possibility that he could project images and sounds that weren't completely true to his nature, Harry attempted to imitate Professor Dumbledore's voice.
"I didn't expect to see you down here, Miss Black," Harry said.
Bellatrix froze before turning around, holding a rather large knife. Harry relished the appearance of her violet eyes which had widened as a result of her being startled. As soon as she saw that it was only Harry's projected image, she glared. "Hilarious," she said, turning back to her task. "It only took you a decade to get here. Congratulations."
"Apparently I can only move my image so fast," Harry said, returning his voice back to normal. Quietly, Harry watched her work on the carcass for a few moments. "So, how have things been?"
"Same as always," Bellatrix retorted.
"Really?" Harry asked.
"No," Bellatrix replied. "I hate Slughorn."
"Why?"
"He isn't you," Bellatrix mumbled, jabbing her knife deeply into the basilisk's carcass as she attempted to separate a portion of hide from the fat and muscle. "Even the other students are sad to see you go. They all think Slughorn knows potions better, but they realize that you were a lot more… companionable."
Harry snorted. "Did I tell you that Dumbledore says I can come back and teach someday, but not potions?"
Bellatrix snickered. "Well, you weren't that great at teaching potions. I'm pretty sure that even I know more about potions than you do."
"I know more about Defense than you do," Harry said, feeling like he needed to defend himself.
"That is true," said Bellatrix, grinning evilly, "but I know more about the dark arts than you ever will. Maybe even enough to outdo you at Defense."
"Congratulations," Harry said, imitating her prior sarcastic remark. "Why don't you use it in our practice duels?"
Bellatrix frowned. "It wouldn't be a good idea, Harry." She desisted from carving the corpse, set down the knife, and removed the pair of gloves she had been wearing. "Let's get to the business at hand. My father's funeral is on Saturday."
"Will it be private?" Harry asked, curious about the quirky practices of the Black family.
"Hardly," Bellatrix replied, grabbing her wand and transfiguring a small rock into rocking chair on which to sit. "It'll be a state affair at the cemetery next to the Ravenbourgh ruins."
"Does that mean I'm invited?" Harry asked, still feeling guilty about not attending the funeral of Orion and wondering vaguely whether there might be a Malfoy funeral.
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