Chapter Ten – Unsavoury Characters
The accommodation at Hog's Head Inn was far from glamorous and the fireplace had been coughing out coal dust onto her suitcase ever since she came into her room. The dirty stone floors matched with the old bedding, bobbling from overuse but luckily stainless after Eris charmed as many bodily fluids and food stains off it as she could. But it far surpassed her home in one regard, she felt safe. She had spent the last few weeks alone and only leaving her room to attend work or eat. The occasional angry letter was owled to her at work but her father's penmanship only uttered hollow threats.
Now, she sat alone at an aged wooden table downstairs in the bar. Her face was lit only by the stubby candle under her face as she sipped at a gillywater. The dank bay windows hid the view of a dark starry December night. Its coldness had sept into the pub as the fire was only embers. Eris felt the hair on her forearms rise in the cold under her sleeves. She listened to the quiet murmurs of regular customers, all cloaked and unfamiliar faces to Eris.
The thick oak door flung open as a group of men disrupted the sombre tone of the room. Evan Rosier, his ivory white skin and auburn hair. Lucius Malfoy, his flaxen hair tied back. Severus Snape, as pallid and miserable as always. They walked past her to the bar without as much as a single acknowledgement.
"I require some drinks in as a way of celebration," Lucius drawled at the barman.
"I'm afraid you'll have to pay, sir," said Aberforth as he continued to polish a glass by hand.
Rosier leant into the bar, "I'll buy us a bottle of firewhiskey then, Lucius. And give us three glasses, would ya Aberforth?"
Lucius turned around and had finally realised that Eris had been overlooking this entire scene. He raised an eyebrow, "Well, Belby, care to join us?"
Eris nodded and clumsily left her seat before following them to their own larger table.
Lucius began to pour his two companions a generous portion of firewhiskey. "Since the Dark Lord has dealt with that little problem at the Ministry, we're free to celebrate."
Eris looked at Lucius in confusion and he continued, "The Dark Lord has won, Belby."
Eris whispered, "Are you sure?"
"There's no need to whisper about it now, Eris," Rosier smirked.
"He's infiltrated the Ministry," Severus added.
"I thought he did that already."
"Well he finally went ahead and did it, he's got in a new Minister. All the more supportive of his choices," Rosier explained.
"So, does it mean that he's definitely won?"
"After Rookwood convinced him to stop worrying about that stupid prophecy, he moved on to more important things," Lucius said as he began to sip his drink.
"The prophecy on row ninety-seven?" Eris whispered.
Rosier smiled, "Rookwood just told the Dark Lord to go ahead and do it. Can't believe that bastard was scared off a newborn baby even if it's the son of aurors."
"Then again, it's just those blood traitor Longbottoms, I wouldn't give them much credit," Lucius smirked.
Eris looked at Severus, he had finished his second serving of firewhiskey already. She looked at her empty glass, "Hey, Evan, can I have some of your firewhiskey?"
"On a first name basis now, Eris? I thought after sixth year, you'd never speak to me again."
"Well that would a suitable punishment for disappointing sex," Eris smirked as she poured herself some firewhiskey. Lucius let out a cold chuckle while Severus scowled at her in disapproval.
"Is he always this prudish?" Eris asked, gesturing her glass towards Severus.
"Pretty much. Doesn't even want a night with a Knockturn Alley bird. Probably not got enough galleons for one though, have you, Snape?" Rosier guffawed.
"Why pay when Belby will do it for free?" Severus dryly noted.
Eris tightly gripped her glass of firewhiskey and shot him a look laced with venom, "I'd have to charge in your case though." He seemed unfazed by her anger and continued to stare at her while finishing off his third glass of firewhiskey.
"Now, now, children," Lucius mockingly cooed, "it's time for celebration. Our time has come to rejoice under the light of a new regime. A time to claim our superiority as wizarding kind. A time to vanquish over any obstacles in our path to-"
"What are you, Malfoy? A fucking politician?" Rosier laughed into his glass.
"Hopefully one day," Lucius replied.
"And will daddy bribe your way into power again?" Rosier snickered.
"Don't talk about my father," Lucius hissed as he leant closer to Rosier.
"So what the old man's dead," Rosier dismissed, "I just don't want you being the Minister of Magic because you're some rich aristocratic bastard. Wizarding kind's had enough of those in power."
"Just because you're jealous of my wealth and prestige, Rosier…" Malfoy drawled.
"No, I'm not. The Dark Lord came from nothing, he might be a descendant of Slytherin but Malfoy he ain't. He worked hard to get where he is today. Don't you agree Severus?"
Severus replied, "He's not exactly a typical politician, is he Rosier? I don't picture him being the figurehead of the new regime. Even I find his appearance unpalatable."
"If you need to be a pretty boy to be in power, then Malfoy could do a good job," Rosier gesticulated towards the haughty looking wizard.
"There's nothing wrong with looks, Rosier. Just because you resemble a constipated clabberbert…"
Eris coughed up some of the firewhiskey back into her glass, her throat burned from the spirit running down into her airways. She spluttered into the table in front of her and saw both Lucius and Severus smirking at her.
"I heard you have left your childhood home, Belby," Severus drawled.
"Temporarily," Eris replied as she started to regain her breath.
"Always thought you and daddy were tightly-knit," Rosier teased, "he's not very pleased about it according to Rookwood."
"Damocles keeps sending Rookwood howlers, he's most displeased," Lucius added.
Eris gave them all a bemused look, "I thought he was only sending me angry letters every so often."
"No, I think your father is convinced you have absconded with Rookwood," suggested Severus.
"Don't give me ideas," Eris gulped down more alcohol before continuing, "I might run out of galleons eventually."
A cloaked figure caught the corner of Eris' eye. A thin tall male frame walked towards the bar, she saw a sparkling wand leave his burgundy sleeve and then… BANG! Her vision was obscured by a piercingly bright light and she collapsed onto the filthy stone floor. She looked up and a swarm of cloaked wizards had entered the room and the barman had disappeared. Rosier dragged her from the ground and threw her behind the bar. Her head banged against an overhanging shelf. She felt her skull crack and warm blood pour down her forehead and into her eyelashes.
In between the limbo of consciousness and blackness, she heard rapid wandfire and pained yelps. She stumbled from the ground as green smoke filled the room, her blood pouring onto the ground. Her hand gripped her wand as she wiped the blood from her face with her sleeve.
"Belby!" she heard a male voice cry but unfamiliar to her. She couldn't find him among the putrid smoke, "What are you doing with bloody Death Eaters?" She didn't reply. She followed the voice as her eyes winced shut from the agonising gas in the air.
Between blinks, she saw a black haired wizard, the older brother of Regulus Black. Sirius paced towards her and she kept her wand up in the air. He yelled again, "What are you doing, Belby?"
Eris' blood continued to drip down her face and she lifted her wand higher. Still silent.
Sirius shrieked, "ANSWER ME, BELBY!"
Another wizard ran behind Sirius Black. Tall with messy dark hair. His glasses steamed up from the noxious gas in the air. "She's just had a confundus charm done on her. Poor Ravenclaw. Stuck in a pub filled with snakes." James patted his friend on the shoulder, "Patch poor Belby up. She wasn't really known for her booksmarts anyway."
Sirius laughed and agreed, "Heard she was a total slapper."
Eris' eyes narrowed and she hissed, "Stupefy!" James had collapsed onto the ground. Within a blink on her eye, she turned to Sirius and growled, "Everberus." A mistral fist flew out of the tip of Eris' wand struck one of Sirius' cheeks. He look aghast at his knocked out friend and his red cheek. Unaware that Eris had whispered, "Anakatus." His eyes lost their mischievous glint and he fell down next to his unconscious friend.
Eris' waved the poisonous air away from her as she reached for the door. Her eyes still shut, she felt the piercingly cold but refreshing air outside. Her lungs were burning inside her chest. She ran from the cobbled streets into the bushes behind the pub where she found a crouched down Severus.
She looked around for any more of the cloaked attackers but no one was in sight. She knelt down beside Severus. His face appeared uninjured but a shred of panic had cracked through his icy persona.
"What are you still doing here?" wheezed Eris as her grip loosened around her wand.
Severus snapped, "Damn Potter casted an anti-apparation spell on me."
"Don't worry. Knocked him out with a second year spell. Poor boy."
"Not for long though."
"I'll distract them while you head off. They don't know I'm one of you," Eris pounced from the ground and made her way back towards the Hog's Head Inn.
A hand clawed the front door open and a pale-looking Cathy emerged. Her eyes bulged upon setting sight upon her old friend, Eris.
She limped towards her friend and croaked, "Eris!"
"Cathy, what are you-"
"I'm d-doing my best, Eris," Cathy coughed and paused to catch her breath.
"Why are you here?"
"I was helping out a raid with the order," Cathy stood up straight and looked deeply into her friend's eyes, "why are you here?"
"I-I was staying here since I fell out with my dad… but then t-this…"
Cathy offered her friend a sympathetic look, "I'm sorry, Eris. Sorry you got caught in something you're not involved in."
"Well, I wasn't planning to be a part of an order raid but-"
"Not that, Eris!" Cathy hissed, "I mean you're not one of them. Those Death Eater bastards."
"No, Cathy. I'm not."
"Good," she smiled and stepped aside before apparating. Her body vanishing in front of Eris' eyes.
The galleons did not run out before Eris decided to return home. The Hog's Head Inn had become progressively louder in the past few days as various wizards seemed to be getting merry on alcohol night after night. Whispers of changings brewing in the ministry turned into murmurs and eventually into late-night duels resulting in misfired shots shattering windows downstairs.
With her suitcase in hand, Eris apparated back outside her home in the dark December morning. Frosty grass crunched under her feet as she walked towards her doorstep. She quietly opened and closed the front door behind her.
Her bald father strode towards her with open arms, "I'm so pleased to see you, Eris," and his arms squeezed around her lithe frame. She let out a single audible squeak as her father squeezed out any breath left in her lungs. "I'd knew you'd never leave me."