Chapter 7: Silver Tongues and Black Dresses
The Silver Tongue was nothing like Lily had ever seen. The place was dimly lit with floating candles above the tables. There were semicircled booth seats curving along the walls and full-circled ones on the floor that had silver-white padding on the seats. The columns were of the same shade of silver-white, as were the table cloths, chandeliers, and small trays that were revolving around the floor.
On closer inspection Lily saw that the trays were being carried by house-elves, little creatures with big eyes the size of tennis balls and flappy, bat-like ears. These elves were dressed in silver-white tunics and their trays were ladened with the customers' food and drinks.
"It's almost like a five-star restuarant," Lily thought, slightly awed.
"Must be where the rich wizarding kids come to eat," Severus thought bitterly, then looked at Lily and saw the awed look in her eyes. "But it won't be too long before it's our turn, my love. I'll make sure of it."
To complete the analogy a tall man with silver-gray hair and silver dressrobes appeared before the group and said, in a Spanish-accented voice, "Welcome to The Silver Tongue. I am your humble servant, Carlos. Ah, Ms. Black, Mr. Black and Mr. Lestrange, how good to see you all today. I see you have brought us some new clients. Please, come on in."
Bowing low he lead them to a table near the back of the room, where it was more private as there were hardly any customers seated there. Seating in a boy-to-girl fashion, with Severus on the right side, followed by Lily, then Regulus, then Bellatrix and finally Rudolphus, the maitre d' sent them all silver-backed menus, much like the ones The Leaky Cauldron had, and left.
"So, Lily," Bellatrix said while she picked out a butterbeer for her drink. "What do you think about your first visit to Knockturn Alley?"
"It certainly is different from Diagon Alley," Lily replied, pondering her own menu. "But it seems to be a lot more spacious than how it appears, and the shops are much more interesting."
Bellatrix's eyes looked over at the others when Lily said this and they simply gleamed with victory.
"Okay, stop it now!" Lily thought frantically. "You can't seriously say you're starting to like this place more than Diagon Alley! This place is packed with shops dedicated to Dark magic, and you're hanging sround a bunch of Death Eater wanna-be's! After lunch, politely ask to leave, head back to Diagon Alley, grabbed the rest of your supplies and get -"
"Have you decided what you wanted?" Rudolphus asked, interrupting her thoughts.
"Oh, um," Lily said quickly. "Actually no. I have never eaten in a place like this before, and I'm not too familiar with most of these dishes."
"Then allow me to order for you," Regulus offered.
"Oh no you don't, cousin!" Bellatrix reprimanded. "I will be in charge of Lily's order. I won't have you order something that will give her a bad impression of the best restuarant in London with your silly choices in food combinations."
Looking at the other girl across from her, she explained, "Regulus has an odd habit of putting together different meal combinations that would make somebody sick for days. Once, he had roast beef ordered with poached quail eggs, smothered with eel sauce, whipped cream and stewed prunes on top."
"That happened when I was seven, and you're still telling people that?" Regulus whined at his cousin, completely embarrassed when everybody else at the table started to laugh.
When Carlos returned everybody placed their orders, with Bellatrix ordering for Lily, and a few short minutes later one of the house-elves came with their drinks laden on its tray, as they all ordered butterbeers. That was when some conversation started.
Regulus began by asking Lily, "Is it true that you from some sort of aristocrisy in the Muggle world? I overheard a few people talking when Professor Slughorn had his usual end-of-the-year parties, but I wan't too sure if it was true or not."
"Actually, yes, I am," Lily said hesitantly. "Though in different ways. On my father's side of the family, I'm decended from a long line of knights so he is constantly away on such businesses that require his services, or he has to teach a fencing class near Buckingham to other knights-in-training. On my mother's side I come from a line of royal dressmakers, and she owns her own dress shop near London."
"Oh, I see," Bellatrix said, intrigued by this new information. "If you don't mind me asking Lily, are you also quite wealthy?"
"Yes I am," Lily answered, then smiled at the violet-eyed girl. "But you will have to wait until I can get a vault of my own at Gringott's before I can pay you back for your hospitality."
Making a shooing motion with her hand she replied, "Oh don't be silly. What I'm spending now is just something extra for making Prefect. Ooops, did I forget to tell you two that? Must have slipped my mind."
"No, love, I believe you didn't tell us," Rudolphus said before running a finger up and down her spine, making Bellatrix giggle madly while Regulus rolled his eyes and shook his head.
While that was going on, Lily turned to Severus and said, "This is just so surreal, isn't it Sev?"
"Yeah, it is," Severus said, pretending to be just as puzzled, but actually enjoying the results of what was transpiring.
"I know Bellatrix is up to something and these two are in on it somehow," Lily continued. "First off, she's actually paying for our school supplies. Next she offered to buy me a pet. Then she helped me get that snake back in its cage, and, finally, her boyfriend and cousin are actually sitting next to us, a Muggleborn and a half-blood, and they haven't said anything insulting about it the entire time."
"I agree, there is something suspecious about all of this," Severus nodding. Then he asked something Lily has been asking herself since the beginning of all of this, "If you do feel strongly about all of this, then why not leave? You could have made up a good excuse and got out of here in the first place. So, why not?"
Biting her lip she replied, "I'm not sure. A part of me, the part that is conditioned by my mother's etiquette lessons, is saying 'it is rude to leave somebody if you already made plans with them in the first place'. That somebody is you, Sev.
"Another part, the part that was trained by my father's fighting lessons, is saying 'keep your guard up, and let your opponet make the first move before deciding on your next course of action'. At first, I thought it was that part that's been telling me to let it all play out."
"So, what part are you following now?" Severus asked, trying to keep the hope out of his voice.
"The one that's telling me 'stay with them, and enjoy yourself in someone else's group of friends'," Lily said, blushing a little.
"Who's group is that?" Severus pushed gently.
Looking at him full in the eyes she confessed, "Your's."
Then she smiled geniunly for the first time that day, and Severus' insides were jumping for joy.
"She's staying for me," Severus thought happily. "She's actually enjoying herself, with me! This must be a sign. We're meant to be Death Eaters, and we're meant to be together."
When the food finally got to their table they each grabbed their orders, which were being bore by its own elf and going to their designated owners.
Bellatrix had ordered Lily, and herself, a bubbling black stew with whole, opened oyster shells making their way to the surface. The biggest ones were in the middle, still closed and their shells were a glistening silver.
"You may want to take your's out, Lily dear," she said, removing her own with a flick of her wand and settling it on a silver-white napkin. "You can open it after your meal."
Nodding, Lily followed suit and dipped her spoon into the strange concoction, tasting it. It was surprisingly good. The stew was thick, creamy, and was not as hot as it looked.
"This is quite delicious," Lily commented as she took another spoonful.
"I'm glad you enjoy it," Bellatrix replied with a smile. "The Silver Tongue is quite famous for its Mirum Cortice Obscuro. The best part of it is the shells. Each one has a little surprise inside each one, and the prize depends on what interests you."
"Interesting," Lily said. Then, unbidden, something came to her mind of what she saw back at Tatters and Tattings.
"No, that can't be," Lily thought, then dismissed the notion and continued eatting.
After the filling lunch they all began to go their separate ways, but not before Rudolphus put a hand on Lily's shoulder and said, "Lily, you never told me what you wanted my father to get you. Are you sure there is nothing you want?"
Again the image of what she saw in the robe shop popped into her mind, but Lily shook her head and said, "No. There's really nothing. Tell your father I said thank you, but I don't require anything."
Shrugging, Rudolphus and Regulus were about to leave the unlikely trio when Bellatrix piped up, "Oh! Before you both go, let's see what Lily and I got with our stews!"
"Right," Regulus said, in a rather bored voice, almost like his older brother, Sirius'. "You first cousin."
Smiling Bellatrix took her oyster, which had cooled down during their meal, and opened it like a jewelry box. From inside she pulled out a golden necklace, with deep purple teardrop gems hanging on it.
"Very beautiful. Just like you, love," her boyfriend said while putting it on her neck.
Kissing him appreciatively on the cheek she replied, "Thank you, dear heart. Now, let's see what Lily got," she said in a playful tone.
Hiding her excitement as best as she could, Lily opened her oyster the way Bellatrix had. But instead of finding a necklace or another piece of jewelry, there was a folded piece of parchment with spiky hand writing that had her name on it, propped up by a black silk lump.
Taking the letter and handing the opened shell to Severus, Lily unfolded it and read:
"Ms. Lily Evans,
This is your repayment for what happened earlier in my menagerie. My client saw the whole thing and has asked me to present you with this, as a token of his esteem for handling his pet as delicately as you did.
We sincerely hope you enjoy it, and good luck at Hogwarts this year.
Many thanks,
Claude Lestrange"
Pulling the lump gently out of the shell, Lily gasped. Holding it close to her, she saw that it was the dress from Tatters and Tattings.
It was a form-fitting, low-shouldered, black silk dress with green cloth at the chest and at the bottom, fanning out between the black silk. The inside was done in the same green fabric. The sleeves were green and pointed into an arrow inside the black silk, which was slit at elbow length. The outline of the shoulders and green sleeves were trimmed in silver, while the waist was stitched with a band of silver.
"Wow!" Severus thought, while imagining what Lily would look like in the dress.
"Very nice," Bellatrix said in a silky voice. "It looks very Slytherin, and it goes so well with your eyes and hair, Lily."
"You think so?" Lily asked, looking at the dress fondly.
"Well, I guess I better go and let father know you liked the gift," Rudolphus said. "Let's go, Reg. You're starting to drool."
"I am not!" Regulus exclaimed while they walked away from the others.
Shaking her head, Bellatrix grabbed Lily's dress and placed it in her bag. Then she took her arm in hers, like she did before, and they went to the nearest bookstore, Severus following and watching the two girls as they made their way through the crowd.