Masquerade (Discontinued)

Chapter VIII

The Leaky Cauldron, London, England, Great Britain

Saturday the 1st of August 1998

5:00 PM

Daphne laughed as she and Bella emerged from the fireplace, feeling rather refreshed after a few potions and a shower. Tom was currently trying to get in touch with Lois so that she could handle the press. He seemed to believe that she'd be able to and Bella had left him to it, not too concerned by it all. She believed that people would talk and he believed that this would negatively affect their campaign despite the fact that their 'campaign' was essentially being the Dark side of a war.

He had said something about politics but she had simply ignored him.

"That party was wild…was I really that drunk?" Daphne giggled as they moved to a table to get some lunch and Bella nodded, gleefully. They sat down, picking up the menus and ignoring the looks of shock on the faces of the other patrons. A Greengrass tended to eat in high-end places. And Bella Potter had not eaten at the Leaky Cauldron in years.

"You were. I was laughing at you for most of the night. Then you got Neville drunk and you two were walking around, giggling about the weirdest things," Bella snickered. Daphne laughed before clearing her throat.

"What do you want?"

"Just a coffee and some toast. Black."

"The toast?" Daphne asked, her nose wrinkled and Bella snorted.

"No, you daft girl! The coffee. Toast and jam…yes, jam," Bella said, enthusiastically and Daphne nodded with a smile upon her face. She stood and began to walk towards the bar before she froze, staring at the staircase with a look of fury on her face. Bella's eyes widened in shock as she took in the image of Astoria Greengrass and Christine Jackson coming down the stairs in the same clothes as they had donned yesterday.

Astoria was laughing, a look of pure happiness on her face and Christine still to seemed to be in post-coital bliss. The smile of adoration on her face was clear. But, the clearest expression was the rage contorting Daphne's face. Her lips were pressed into a thin line her and eyebrows were pulled down into a frown. Her fingers were curled into claws and she was shaking with suppressed violence.

"Astoria…"

Astoria froze as she heard her sister's hiss and Christine took a step back as she took in Daphne's sudden appearance. The flush from Christine's face drained away, leaving her ashen and Bella stood, slowly.

"H-hello, sister," Astoria said, keeping her eyes on the ground as she waited for her sister's reaction. She tried to memorize every crack in the rickety wooden staircase. Daphne gave a cold smile to Christine whom was unable to move. She was too terrified to do so.

"So, this is where you've been. I thought you had left our hotel room earlier. We were supposed to stay in Italy but I thought you had just gone home. But, you've been here all night and all day. Wearing the same clothes…YOU LITTLE WHORE!" Daphne shrieked and Bella gasped as Daphne lunged forward, her hands outstretched and she grabbed Astoria tightly by the shoulders. Her grip looked so tight that Bella was sure that Daphne was going to hurt her.

Daphne shook the younger girl hard and Astoria looked rattled as she looked up at her sister.

"How DARE you? HOW DARE YOU TOUCH THIS FILTHY MUDBLOOD?" Daphne screamed in fury. Astoria babbled out apologies but Daphne heard none of them as she simply squeezed her sister's shoulders even tighter.