I want to live where soul meets body
Characters: Barty, Padma Summary: Barty begins to build himself a new life
Barty had decided that enough was enough. While the risk of Bella discovering him was still very real, he couldn't continue as he had been. He was imprisoning himself in his own home. There was no point to his freedom from Bella's madness if he just shut himself away. Bella had done him one favour, after all. She had given him a second chance at life, and he wasn't going to continue wasting it.
The problem was, it wasn't just Bella who might discover him if he ventured outside. There were the enemies Bella had told him about, and while he knew some of their names, he was at a distinct disadvantage when it came to recognising them on the street. He had been incredibly lucky, he realised, that he hadn't been spotted already. Thankfully, his thinking was calmer nowadays and he applied himself to the problem by practising his glamours.
Unfortunately, his magic was playing up again, probably due to the recurring nightmares he was having about what Bella might do to him, and about his imagined past. In the end he gave up, and decided that he would just have to keep his wits about him and be willing to run at the first sign of somebody realising who he was. Hopefully, the fact that the wizarding world believed him to be long kissed and buried would make any enemies doubt who they had seen. He also hoped that by visiting Hogsmeade instead of Diagon Alley, there would be less people about.
He took the floo to the local pub there, rather than risking his magic on an Apparation, and was relieved to find the place mostly empty. Stepping out into the street, he kept the collar of his coat turned up to hid his face and scanned the shop fronts. Spotting the nearby book shop, he wondered if they would have anything useful about the connection between a person's soul and their magic. Crossing the street swiftly, he pushed open the door, and stepped inside.