Cygnus nodded. "I like it."
Harry showed his approval by slipping the ring onto one of his fingers. "I assume I'll feel a jolt when you need to speak with me?"
Romulus nodded and tapped his ring. Almost immediately, Harry felt a small tug on his hand.
"Excellent," observed Harry. "Now, I must really return to Hogwarts. I haven't arranged for anyone to teach my classes today."
"Right," said Malfoy. He nodded to Cygnus. "I too must be going."
Harry and Romulus left Cygnus alone at his desk, exited the office, and made their way down to the elevator. While they were waiting for the lift to come and fetch them, Romulus again put his hand on Harry's shoulder and looked him in the eye. "I don't want to scare you, Harry," Romulus said, "but these rings are very important-not just one of my flights of fancy. Cygnus's life could be in danger. In fact, all of our lives are in danger."
"I understand that," Harry said blandly, returning the Malfoy patriarch's gaze.
"Good," said Romulus. "Now, Harry, starting today, I want you to spend every free moment drilling on your magical fighting skills. Focus on the easiest and most potent spells you can. Develop some patterns for shooting off spells in quick succession, but don't become locked into the patterns. When you're bored, develop some more fancy spells that might be used to surprise someone in a duel. Press yourself to the limit. Understand?"
"Of course," said Harry, mentally reminding himself that he would definitely need to step things up a notch.
"Good," said Romulus. "I'm going to do some training myself. I'll see if I can't sharpen up my old dueling skills."
.....
The Saturday morning that arrived a number days following Orion's death found Harry at his desk grading essays. Exhaustion weighed heavily on him. He had obeyed Romulus's advice and had spent as much time as possible after classes each day drilling in the Room of Requirement. He had required the room to do its best to simulate some of the worst battle scenes he had witnessed in the future. The room had created hundreds of practice dummies with the ability to shoot stinging spells and had set those dummies to swarming around Harry-some of them trying to target him, others fighting imaginary targets.
The sheer volume of magic Harry had used to neutralize the dummies, the focus required to pick out specific targets or enact intricate charms, and the repeated stings from dummies that had gotten through had left Harry quite exhausted. His only comfort was that he was getting better. Admittedly, dummies weren't the real thing, but the stamina required was real, and Harry's was growing.
Bellatrix had been strangely absent for most of the week. She had greeted the news of Orion's death with suspicion and a few words that Harry though could have been sadness, but had seemed too otherwise occupied to sit down and be depressed. Harry assumed that the fast-approaching end of term had burdened her. There was a month or so left before the summer holidays. Harry knew that Hermione would be well into her revisions by this time in the school year.
Interestingly, Harry had felt rather lonely without her constantly in his office or lounging on his couch. He had even gone so far as to inviting her to a practice duel in the Room of Requirement. She had seemed pleased with his new training regime, but had declined his offer, saying that she was preoccupied for the week.
Thus, when Bellatrix opened the door to his office and strode in with a medium-sized carrying case, Harry felt rather pleased. "Ready to go?" she asked, closing the door behind herself.
Harry looked at her, feeling rather puzzled. She was dressed in black robes, though they were not the standard school robes. These were decorated with black velvet. "Go where?" he asked.
Bellatrix sighed. "I was afraid of that. Aunt Walburga didn't invite you, did she?"
Harry frowned, trying to logically deduct what Bellatrix was talking about. "You mean to the funeral?"
"Yes," said Bellatrix. "Orion's funeral is today. I strongly suspected that my aunt would not invite you, but there was always hope."
Harry shrugged. "I wouldn't want to intrude anyway."
Bellatrix snickered, "I wish I had that excuse. No disrespect for Uncle Orion, but it sounds like Aunt Walburga is going to make this a family affair. I can't say I'm excited to attend. She's going to want to establish herself as the head of the Black family-the matriarch if you will. The poor man won't have a chance to settle in his grave."
Harry abandoned his essays and sat back in his chair, thinking. "Shouldn't Sirius be the one to inherit everything?"
"Normally, yes," Bellatrix said. "However, Aunt Walburga was already a Black when she married Orion. It was a clever move on her part. By marriage she became closest, Black blooded, relative Orion had. She has every right to believe that she's the head of the Black family, now."
Harry squinted suspiciously at Bellatrix. "Theoretically, I'm a head of the Black family, or Lord Black, as some would say it. You're a Black, and you're constantly talking about a marriage between the two of us. Sounds like you're a pretty clever witch yourself."
Bellatrix shrugged, maintaining an extremely casual expression. "I won't deny it, though I would like to say that's not the entire reason I want to marry you. But moving on, there's no point talking marriage until we see how things end up with regard to the affairs of the Black family. You needn't get overly worried about marriage yet."
"I'm happy that there's no pressure," Harry said. "Good luck with the funeral."
"Actually," said Bellatrix, "I was hoping you would escort me to the funeral."
"I seem to recall that I was not invited," Harry observed, glancing at his stack of essays and reminding himself of all the productive things he should be doing.
"You aren't," Bellatrix confirmed. "I would appreciate you at least taking me as far as cemetery, though. After that, I have some errands I was hoping you'd run for me. We can meet afterward for you to take me home."
Harry mulled over his options. Did he want to grade papers or get out of the castle and spend a little time with Bellatrix? A number of months ago, the answer would have been grading. Now, it seemed like Bellatrix was a better bet for enjoyment. "All right, I'll go," said Harry.
....
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