Chapter -6.
Hearing the words of Tom, the bar owner; the only thing that came to mind in Bellatrix, who had been trying to avoid attention, was, "Did he perhaps recognise me?" Even though her older self, which was in Azkaban at the time, looked different, there was still a chance that someone would recognise her immediately, and the likelihood of that happening seemed much higher as she recalled the crazy stunts her old self from this timeline had performed.
While this was going on, Theodore noticed Bellatrix become a bit alarmed as her eyes began to go blank as well. He couldn't help but sigh since he never imagined that one of the most psychotic psycho killers in wizarding history wasa able to show signs like this; before going totally insane.
"Oh her; my apologies, how could i forgot to introduce her, she's my fiancée Bella Demaria." Putting his hand on Bellatrix's shoulder and drawing her to him in a gentle embrace, Theodore remarked.
"Fiancée? that's great news, but don't you think that warrants a celebration?" Tom, the proprietor of the tavern, gave Theodore a wink in an attempt to tease him.
"Haha, why not; but you see right now I'm here to buy some robes and books in preparation for my new job, so definitely next time; now if you'll excuse us." Theodore broke up the chat with the pub owner, who had provided him with financial support in numerous ways, after noticing Bella had somewhat calmed down in his arms; and headed towards the dining seating and ordered two steak and kidney pies and two servings of the leaky house soup.
As soon as the food was placed in front of him, Theodore, who had not eaten since the morning, started gorging himself on it; at the same time letting Bellatrix be herself, who still did not seem in the mood to talk and was simply staring down at the steak and kidney pie as though she intended to eat them with her eyes only.
Meanwhile, Bellatrix's thoughts was in turmoil: 'He genuinely didn't recognise me; neither did the other who had looked at me; maybe surviving in this world despite the existence of an old criminal persona of mine won't be as difficult as I had imagined.' But then she looked at Theodore, who was wolfing down the food without demonstrating proper manners, and her heart fluttered again as she wondered herself, 'He could've said anything; but why did he have to declare that I'm his fiance? Sigh, why am I now feeling hot?'
She was well aware of her beauty from an early age and had received numerous courtship letters and even in-person proposals, but none of them had ended well because she had taught them all a valuable lesson—more specifically, an unforgettable lesson—for having the audacity to think of her in that way. Now, however, her body was exhibiting odd symptoms.
Since she had never encountered such a situation before and was unsure of how to interpret it, she decided to ignore it. She wasn't in the mood to eat at such a shabby restaurant, so she started eating to divert her focus from a meaningless issue.
However, as she began to eat, her long curly hair began to disrupt her meal time by falling in front of her face, and before she started to grow dissatisfied with them, Theodore, who had already finished his meal and had cleaned his hand with magic, reached his hand forward in order to help her in adjusting her hair, and then said while looking in her eyes, "alright, now these unruly locks won't bother you anymore."
But what happened next surprised Theodore, as Bellatrix began to gulp down the food in an unkempt manner as well, while her cheeks flushed red for some reason
....
"Wow, I didn't realize you could eat like that. I have to say, I'm quite impressed." As they walked through Diagon Alley, Theodore continued, trying to tease Bellatrix.
"Weren't you eating in the same way a bit ago?" Bellatrix replied, her face still flushed.
"I was just really hungry, that's all."
"Same here; I was hungry too."
"But didn't you say that...." Theodore observed that Bellatrix was behaving quite brazenly and intended to mention it, but she interrupted him, saying, "Enough with the pointless chatter; can you explain why we're strolling down Diagon Alley and what new job you discussed with that old tavern owner?"
"Oh, that? I just got a new job as a professor at Hogwarts, so I figured it was best to do some shopping before heading there," Theodore clarified, feeling there was no need to hide anything.
"A professor? A young guy like you? Has Hogwarts really gone downhill so much in the past two decades?" Bellatrix seized the chance to tease Theodore, but when he didn't respond and continued walking, she could only click her tongue in frustration.
"Well, my dear Bella, do you want to buy any dresses or something similar? I'm not sure you'll find anything suitable to wear at home," Theodore said, spotting Madam Malkin's shop for all-occasion robes in the distance. He paused and looked back at Bellatrix, who was glaring at him with daggers; seeing which he couldn't help but ask feigning ignorance, "what's wrong? are you hurt somewhere?"
Since she had tried to tease him, it was only fair to do the same to him, and calling her that name had left a taste of sweat in his mouth anyway.
"No, i'm not." Bellatrix was a little angry this time though, because once again he was trying to indirectly call her his fiancé; but at the same time she thought he was probably saying it to avoid people's suspicious eyes; she couldn't help but calm herself down; but it wasn't like she was going to let him go that easily anyway, so with a dangerous smile on her face she said, "I was just thinking about how I'm going to repay you for all the help you're giving me?"
"Oh, so it was just something like that?" Theodore was surprised, because he couldn't read what was going on in Bellatrix's mind; but either way he said, "Anyway, there's no need for you to do that, because I'll get what I want eventually."
"Huh? What do you mean?" Bellatrix asked, seeing Theodore once again returning to his incomprehensible comments.
"It's nothing, you'll understand it eventually; anyway, let's go buy ourselves some nice clothes first, shall we?" Theodore said, ignoring her question and walked off towards Madam Malkin's shop, with Bellatrix following him silently.
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