Harry was promptly rewarded with a violet-colored glare.
"Ah. It's good to see Ms. Black make some friendsoutside of her circle at school," the headmaster commented."I amafraid she prefers the isolation of her studies, and even her cousin can't domuch about it."
"Her cousin?" Harry forced himself to ask.
"Young Mr. Black. He was with Mr. Potterearlier," Dumbledore explained. "Speaking of Mr. Potter… are you byany chance related to him? I couldn't help but notice that you looked rathersimilar…"
Harry flushed for a brief moment before he retained hiscontrol. He noticed the suddenly watchful gaze of the young woman next to him,and quietly swore to himself. She hadn't picked up on it yet, but she hadnoticed now, after Dumbledore had pointed it out. Damn, he thought, that's going to be a tough one to explain. I don't supposethey'd fall for the "it's a coincidence" excuse?
"I'm not acquainted with any Potters," Harryreplied vaguely after what seemed like a small eternity frozen in indecision tohim. It was thetruth. "Though, what with the way things are, I wouldn't be surprised ifthere was a vague connection somewhere along the line."
Dumbledore seemed to buy it, but Harry caught Bellatrix'sstill-skeptical look before she quickly wiped it off her face.
There was a brief lull in the conversation, butDumbledore's curiosity soon drove him to further questions. "I'm curiousabout what would motivate a young man such as you to come to England,"Dumbledore commented. "Do you have any job prospects?"
"I'm looking for a position," Harry repliedneutrally. "However, I don't have a specific line of work in mind, and Ijust arrived in town. I'll take some time to get settled before I begin mysearch."
"Really?"
Harry supposed that Dumbledore wanted him to elaborate,but he had nothing to elaborate about-at least nothing that he had establishedfor his assumed identity. Having no other feasible choice, Harry feignedmisunderstanding. "Yeah."
Dumbledore was puzzled. He truly didn't understand why ayoung man would move from Australia to England without even an idea of what hewanted to do. He had an overwhelming desire to ask more questions, but theyoung man opposite him seemed to pick up on it.
"Well, this has been really pleasant, but I need toget going. I still have a few things to do before I decide to call it aday." Harry announced. Bellatrix let out a relived sigh.
"It's been very enjoyable evening. Perhaps we'll seeeach other again," Dumbledore acknowledged.
"They say it's a small world," Harry said in anon-committal tone.
The two younger wizards took their leave and cleared outof the pub, leaving Dumbledore by himself. The headmaster sat in silence forseveral moments, pondering the conundrum that was Harry Ashworth. There were afew things that did not add up with the young man; he realized now that the twohad cleverly avoided telling him how exactly they had met when he had askedthem. There was also the fact that despite his young age, Mr. Ashworth seemedto be a wizard of remarkable ability, if his wordless disarmament of Bellatrixand James Potter was any indication. Thinking back through the conversation, towhat he had beentold, Dumbledore waved over Tom. "A Guinness, if you please, Tom."
"Comin' right up, Professor," the barkeepdrawled. "Though why you insist on drinking that Irish stuff when we'vegot perfectly good homebrewed beer here is beyond me."
Chuckling at the barkeep's ramblings, Dumbledore suddenlyshot upright, as he realized what had been bothering him. "He's from Australia"was what Ms. Black had said. Ifhe's from Australia… why is he speaking with a British accent? Theheadmaster wondered. There was obviously a lot more to Harry Ashworth than hehad been told.
The way he moved and held himself with confidence and theway he deflected questions about himself - giving answers without reallyanswering - told Dumbledore that he was no mere young wanderer lacking guidanceas Ashworth seemed to want people to think he was. No, there was skill andexperience hidden beneath that outer layer of a cheerfully ignorant young man.
With a sigh, the headmaster drained a good part of theGuinness that Tom had placed in front of him. Without any further information,there wasn't much he could do. He hadn't sensed any malice about the young man,and at the moment, Dumbledore had more important things to worry about.
He filed the oddity that was Harry Ashworth away, fornow. It could require further investigation later, but until Mr. Ashworth didsomething that would put him "on the radar," as the Muggles were aptto put it, Dumbledore decided to let it be. Bellatrix deserved to have somefriends.
"Is there a reason why you yanked me out hereinstead of letting me go on up to my room?" Harry asked Bellatrix when shestopped outside of the Leaky Cauldron on the Muggleside of London.
"We need to talk before I leave you on your own forthe day. What I've got to tell you isn't something Dumbledore needs to hear,and did you really want him to know where you live? Not to mention what he'dsay if he saw me follow you up to your room?" Bellatrix said.
"Good point," Harry conceded.
"I figured," Bellatrix said with a smug grin."Now look, I don't have time to hold your hand as you go about gettingyour documentation. I've got a few contacts down in Knockturn Alley. I'll onlytell you this once, so listen, and listen well. Go down Knockturn Alley. Keepgoing until you pass McNarth's Magical Mistresses. Turn right at the nextcross-roads and then turn right again. There's a small back-alley, with a dingyold store. The sign is almost impossible to read, but if you squint, the dirtstain on it will look a bit like a boar's head. That's where you go."
Harry blinked rapidly as he tried to keep up with herdirections. "Okay. So… go down till McNarth's, right, right, to the placewith the dirty sign that looks like a boar's head. Got it."
"No, no, no!" Bellatrix shook her heademphatically. "Go down to McNarth's, right, right, then you go to the place with thestore."
"How's that different from what I just said?"Harry scratched his head in confusion.
"There's a right at the crossroads after McNarth's,and then there's a tiny little alley that goes off to a different right!"Bellatrix explained in annoyance.
"So I take that right?"
"No! You take the otherright!" Bellatrix shuddered as she suppressed the urge to slap him."You go on the mainright, you moron! Thenyou pull into the alley!"
"Would you stop calling me that?" Harry growledback. "Why are you always calling me an idiot or a moron, anyway?"
"What do you mean, 'always'? I've barely just metyou!"
Harry clammed up when he realized he'd slipped up.Trading insults with Bellatrix in his time had become something of a familiarritual, and she seemed inordinately fond of calling him an idiot and a moron…much like Snape, now that he thought about it. This Bella hadn't insulted himyet, aside from their brief spat when he'd suddenly appeared in the vault."Nothing," he muttered.
Bellatrix eyed him carefully. "Oh, I don't think so,Ashworth. But I've got to head home soon, or Auntie is going to startwondering, so listen up." AndI will find out what you are hiding yet, she thought to herself. You are definitely related toPot-for-brains, or know him, or something in that future of yours… and you knowme. And I want to know what exactly is going on.
"Fine."
"All right," Bellatrix started again,"passing off forged magical documents is hard, but passing off forged foreign magical documents isgoing to be even harder, and costly. More importantly, they take time. A fewweeks, at least. So, for now, I suggest that you get some Muggle documentationfirst - that's easy enough to arrange. You'll need a passport and a birth certificate."
"Aren't those easier to forge?"
Bellatrix groaned in frustration and lightly slapped himupside the head. "That's the point, moron!"
Harry stared at her blankly for a moment, before shakinghis head. She filed that oddity for later use, as well. When he pouted, sheraised her hand as if to slap him again, causing him to cringe.
"Stop doing that!"
"Then stop acting like an idiot!"
"I hate you…"
"You can hate me all you like," Bellatrix shotback, "but you'll answer my questions yet. You've got no idea how annoyingI can be!"
"I think I've got a pretty good idea," Harrymurmured to himself.
Bellatrix looked at him strangely, then jolted when anearby clock chimed the full hour. "All right, now the most difficultthing to forge that you'll want ASAP-"
"Why would you want a sap?"
"ASAP," Bellatrix hissed."As-soon-as-possible! It's a Muggle expression, dummy! Now shut up, stopasking questions, and let me finish, by Merlin's beard! You'll want anapparition license as soon as you can get one, if only just to get around.That's going to be expensive, and hard to get. You've got three choices there:a forged Australian one, a forged British one, or you can go take the test hereat the Ministry. A forged license will take quite a while, but in order to takethe test you'll need documentation. Whichever you want to do, it's up toyou."
"All right."
"Oh, and when you get there, ask for old manFalschmann. Tell him Bella sent you. And for goodness sake, make sure thoseboneheads date the documents on a work day! I remember Siri wanted to get aMuggle ID once to get into a pub when he was underage, and the morons theredated it as issued on a Sunday…" she trailed off, then shrugged with aslight smile. "Oh well, serves Siri right."
"All right…" Harry tried to keep everything shehad told him straight, allowing himself a small smile at her mention of Sirius.That sounded like something he would do, all right.