The Search Is Over,
Chapter 118, High On The Hog
They dropped Dora's things off in a guest room before apparating to the Hog's Head. The three Lestranges were waiting outside for them, Bella with her wild black curls pulled back into a long tight braid. To Regulus's surprise, that slight change did alter her appearance immensely.
Regulus supposed that was one of many tricks they'd learned in working black ops when it came to quick and simple disguises. The two Lestrange men weren't nearly as noticeable as Bella with her wild hair, but both wore long, heavy cloaks with the hoods up to shadow their faces. Granted most patrons of the Hog's Head wouldn't give a damn if the Lestranges were out about and alive or not, but being cautious and not drawing attention was wise.
"Thanks for being on time, Prats," Bellatrix drawled.
The three Lestranges greeted Dora exuberantly, openly friendly to the person who'd saved Regulus without hesitation. The Lestranges were loyal above all else, and that meant a lot to Regulus.
"Are we waiting for Dumbledore and co out here," Rabastan wondered and Regulus shrugged.
"I suppose we could, but I'd rather not attract too much notice to you lot."
Bellatrix nodded.
"We'll go inside then."
The place was cleaner, which was a feat in itself, considering the centuries of grime it had built up. Ariana had spoken of redecorating, and that hadn't happened yet, but the place being clean was a start as it already made it look quite different. They took seats together in a cluster at the end of the bar furthest from the door. The Lestranges ordered drinks, and of course the vampires did not. Aberforth served them, nodding silently in greeting and giving Bellatrix's braid a skeptical look.
Regulus asked Aberforth to tell Ariana that he'd arrived with some people for her to meet.
"She wished us to come and visit," he explained and Aberforth nodded gruffly.
"Ariana," he bellowed.
"You have company."
Before long Ariana came down the rickety stairs that led to the second floor. She wore a long gray woolen dress with a matching shawl wrapped around her shoulders. She looked pretty and vibrant in spite of the mildly severe attire. At sight of Regulus and Kreacher a warm smile broke over her face.
"You came to see me!"
Her glance swept the group, smile faltering slightly.
"Hi everyone...Where is Grindelwald?"
"Gay so he won't be dating you," Rabastan proclaimed.
"I'm single, though."
Ariana's lips twitched.
"Not sure I can trust sleeping beside one of Voldemort's best and brightest," she quipped.
"You don't need to be meetin' Gellert bloody Grindelwald," Aberforth growled at his daughter.
"He's not worthy to be in your presence. And you won't be waking up beside any men under my roof. Men will treat you with respect or they shall answer to me."
"It was a joke, Dad," Ariana said.
"And what's the matter with Grindelwald?"
"How did you know I was...who I was," Rabastan asked Ariana, eyes darting about in mild agitation.
"Oh one of the ghosts that haunt this place told me," Ariana answered Rabastan before turning back to her father, obviously waiting for him to answer her question concerning Grindelwald.
Aberforth heaved a sigh.
"I don't want to talk about it."
"He isn't coming," Regulus said of Grindelwald, uncertain whether he was speaking to Ariana or Aberforth on the matter.
"Good," Aberforth growled.
Turning to Ariana he added, "He's a bad man and that's all you need to know to stay away from him. He's got nothing you need."
Ariana opened her mouth to protest, then closed it again. Regulus caught the fleeting thought from her mind that she planned to ask him about it later, but of course he didn't know. Ariana felt that as Regulus seemed to like Gellert, there was more to understand. In the end, she would be loyal to her father, but she had questions that she wanted answered. Uncomfortable seeing into her private thoughts, Regulus intentionally shifted his focus to Kreacher, who was wondering how hard the fire would fly when Albus arrived. Regulus wondered the exact same thing.
"Your Uncle Albus is coming to meet you, though," he told Ariana, hoping to assuage her disappointment over not being able to meet Grindelwald.
"He's bringing some more of my friends with him, Severus, a potions master, and Mag, a wand maker. She uses gemstones rather than wood as crystals make the wand twice as strong."
"Ooh," Ariana said eagerly.
"I am indeed eager to meet all of them."
Regulus turned to Aberforth before the older man could speak.
"Albus was reluctant to come, feeling that you would not want him here, but many of us felt he had the right to meet Ariana," he said carefully.
Aberforth snorted.
"That's up for debate. As she's not an Obscurial, though, at least he can't do her any harm with his selfish needs to help."
Regulus exchanged a look with Ariana, giving a slight shrug to her raised brows.
"I don't want to cause you any trouble, Father, but I would like to meet Uncle Albus. I was shocked to even discover I was related to someone so famous."
"Don't go fawnin' over him too much," Aberforth warned gruffly.
"His head is already the size of a giant melon."
"I think I'll have a drink with the rest of you," Ariana said, giving the Lestranges a quick smile as she moved behind the bar.
"I'm probably going to need it."
"What ghosts are here," Rabastan asked.
"I don't see any, and you mentioned a ghost telling you who I was."
Kreacher's lip curled in open disgust, his mind surely returning to the concept of Muggle ghosts that he could not see.
"Kreacher thinks that Rabastan truly will not want the answer to that question," he said firmly.
"But," Rabastan began, and Kreacher held up a hand.
"Some things, Rabastan can never unknow," he warned with a pronounced shudder.
"It's Muggle ghosts and they can't be seen, so they could be anywhere," Regulus said, seeing that Rabastan's curiosity was too great to let it drop.
Rabastan's eyes widened, then he grinned over at Kreacher.
"Yeah, you were right. I should've listened. Gonna have fucked up dreams tonight for sure."
"Kreacher told you," the elf muttered darkly.
Before more could be said on the topic of Muggle ghosts the door swung open with a creak to admit Mag, Severus, and Albus. The older man brought up the rear, looking admittedly reluctant.
"Here they are," Regulus said, smiling as he stood unnecessarily to wave them over.
Hopefully if everything started out friendly, things could be smooth, or at least civil between Albus and Aberforth. Suddenly Regulus was struck by just how different the Dumbledore brothers were from the Lestrange brothers. All four being here, together in this room, was somehow nearly surreal. The Lestranges were supposed to be 'bad and the Dumbledores, by most requirements were supposed to be what was termed 'good. However what did it say when the 'bad ones got along so much better?
/Interesting,/ Kreacher spoke into Regulus's mind intentionally for the first time.
Regulus grinned in pleasure. The even closer than usual connection of sharing thoughts with his friend added yet another intimate dimension to their relationship and he liked it.
/Did you do that intentionally,/ he asked, silently speaking into Kreacher's mind as the elf had done to his.
/Of course,/ Kreacher replied.
/If Kreacher can hear thoughts, and Master Regulus can hear thoughts, Kreacher assumed that thinking those thoughts to one another ought to be simple. It seems that Kreacher was correct./
Regulus grinned.
/Always./
With no spells involved, their private mental conversation could never be detected, which was another benefit.
"Thank you for coming, Uncle Albus," Ariana said, after downing half of the drink she'd just made for obvious fortification during this more than odd situation.
"Would you like a drink? Mine is helping me quite a lot," she confessed with a grin that plainly said the liquid spirits were hitting her.
"You grew up in Germany, then," Albus noted and Ariana nodded.
"That shall surely show in my accent for life, as I'm quite dreadful at trying to change it."
Albus chuckled.
"A drink would be wonderful," he said as he crossed the room to the bar.
Reaching across he gave Ariana an awkward embrace which she returned with a shy smile.
"I reside in Bulgaria now myself," Albus told her.
"It's a lovely place."
The two chatted while Aberforth scowled on in silence. He and Albus hadn't exchanged a single word, but Regulus supposed if they were unable to be civil, mutual silence was probably a good thing.
Though he didn't understand why the Dumbledores couldn't get on as neither was a bad sort, he likened their avid dislike for one another to his relationship with Sirius when the git was still alive. Albus introduced Mag and Severus to Ariana,and the conversation flowed smoothly from topic to topic. Though she was polite to the Lestranges, she seemed to have far more to say to Mag, Severus and Albus. Dora fascinated her as well, for she'd never met a two thousand year old vampire before.
"I've met quite a lot of vampires, but none of them were older than forty or so," she said.
Then she proceeded to ask Dora questions about ancient Rome, and Dora asked her equally as many questions about ghosts and zombies. What each could be used for, the abilities of each, and so on.
The various conversations were all interesting, and Regulus, Kreacher and the Lestranges were content to listen as the talk stretched long into the night. The drinks flowed for those who could have them, and the outing, all in all, seemed to be a success to Regulus's mind. The only drawback was that when the evening finally drew to a close, it was far too close to sunrise for Regulus and Kreacher to have their alone time before sleep would claim them.