Mark of Slytherin

Chapter 9

They hadn't even got as far as the borders of Yemen before Harry was regretting it. Regretting all of it.

Due to the currently escalating unrest in Yemen (and consistent with Harry's luck it was centring around their destination, Al Ghaydah) there had been no way for Harry to find a flight which would take them directly there. Truthfully, even if there had been a flight he doubted they would have been able to afford it. As it was Harry had been forced to use money from his parent's account – money they had earmarked for his studies and for which he had held out a vain hope to actually use for the intended purpose – and he'd been forced to pawn the necklace he had found in the Slytherin ruins. Pawned it, because the idea to part with it completely hadn't sat right with him.

The one piece of luck Harry had was that Bellatrix still had loads of family money to spend, and she had been so exited to go on the trip that she had readily contributed for her part. And a bit of Harry's, honestly.

But that was the only thing that had been lucky. Harry sighed, pushing down on the gas pedal and hoping to get there just a bit faster. Just a bit. Bellatrix was, well, annoying. Infuriating and a bloody handful. Not to mention psychotic. How anyone had decided to keep her around for longer periods of time was a mystery. Bellatrix talked and she ran around. She sang and called him annoying nicknames. She was a bully to everyone around her and she wouldn't let go of the idea that Harry fancied her. And that, inevitably, always ended up with a lecture on how they could never be, because her Lord would never accept it. Harry could do without the constant reminder of Riddle.

On the other hand she hadn't been puking her guts out while on the boat from England to the mainland. Not like Hermione would have. So that was good, Harry supposed. But it was a small mercy when they still had hours to drive until the border of Yemen and hours still in Yemen to cross the country.

Furthermore, Bellatrix was the most active road tripper in existence. Even now she was singing, when she should be using the time to sleep. Because she could drive and Harry was making damn sure that they switched shifts so that he could get a bit of rest during the journey. They didn't exactly have an abundance of money, unless Bellatrix decided to chip in more funds but after her initial excitement the interest to be generous seemed to have diminished, and Harry figured they would cut the costs of travelling by taking as few stops as possible. Bellatrix had been expectedly horrified over the thought of sleeping in the car. When Harry pointed out that he was certain she had slept in worse conditions considering her old profession she had given him a grim smile.

"But then there were never any shortage of supple bodies to rest on."

Harry did pointedly not ask whether these bodies had been alive or dead at the moment. It wouldn't surprise him if there had been both, but ignorance is bliss.

It was however becoming clear that Harry might have been a tad hasty in deciding to bring Bellatrix along. And not bringing Hermione with him, instead leaving her a short note to explain his absence. She would never have let him go off on his own if he had told her. Which would have been a good thing. Bellatrix hadn't seemed so scary when assigned as his guard, and he still wasn't afraid of her. Not for himself. However there had been that instance on the boat when everyone was in a panic because a man had just disappeared during the night, soundlessly. And Bellatrix had given a performance seeming over the top upset over these news. It was suspicious, but of course she didn't confess to anything.

She did enjoy telling Harry the tales of her and Greyback. A particularly lovely story had been the one where they had suspected that their bounty was hiding out in a small village in the British countryside. The townsfolk had sworn they had never seen the man. Greyback didn't believe them so, acting like a pair of rational lunatics, they had systematically arranged for one person to be publicly executed every day until someone talked. No one did, because the man had never been there. They only left when one of their contacts reported that the man was spotted at the opposite side of the country.