Date: Thursday, 22 January 2002 Location: Langdale Time: Evening Characters: Bellatrix Lestrange, Artemis Laidlaw, and Barty Crouch
It was a decidedly pleasant change of pace, spending more time in her own skin. The risk was manageable. Artemis was trustworthy enough and Bella never let her locket stray beyond an easily accessible pocket of her shirt. With her wards in place she'd have plenty of warning before there were Aurors swarming about her. Not that such a concern had much cause. One could never really be too careful, however, and the knowledge that she had at one point been taken in against her will did little to encourage her to relax about it. A little paranoia, after all, had its uses.
The house elf was clearing away their crumb-lined plates, leaving them once again to the privacy of the parlor. Using the formal dining room had seemed rather unnecessary, especially since Regulus was out doing whatever it was Draco had him up to these days. The idea of his having a traditional job still made Bellatrix laugh a little, but at least it seemed to keep him amused. Really, the more time Regulus spent around Draco the more likely he was to have some good influence on the boy. Draco would be far more pleasant if he could manage to be a bit more like his cousin.
"Well, the symphony from Transylvania is coming next month and they can't have gotten any worse since the last time I hear them," she was saying, even if she was a bit skeptical.
Still, the last time she had seen them it had been 1971. Surely enough of its members had died off and been replaced by better musicians. Its previous incarnation had been decidedly underwhelming. Music was for getting swept up in, carried away with, not an exercise in tedious monotony. Maybe it wasn't worth the investigation. Then again, maybe Artemis was completely uninterested. Regulus would go with her, likely even if he thought it was going to be miserable. Sometimes it was worthwhile to endure terrible things if only to better appreciate the good things when you had them.