Bellatrix pouted, "I bet you don't even know what you should be researching."
"Of course I know what I'm researching," Harry defended. "My major concern is preventing a rift in the space-time continuum," Harry explained.
Bellatrix began to laugh quietly, though uncontrollably. "Space-time continuum? Someone watches plenty of the telly."
Harry wasn't amused-especially because he realized she was probably right. Quickly, he cast about and found something clever to say. "Sounds like you watch plenty of television yourself," he retorted.
That stopped Bellatrix dead. "No I don't."
"Could have fooled me," Harry pressed.
"You know what?"
"What?"
"Shut up."
"Okay," Harry agreed, not even trying to hide his triumph.
Bellatrix glared at him and began to produce her textbooks and some parchment from her satchel. Soon, she was doing her homework as Harry perused his collection of time travel books. Frustratingly, most of them seemed to deal with how time travel might occur. Harry was more interested in the theory and consequences of it. It seemed that no one really had thought or written about anything beyond making it happen in the first place.
"Are you a Muggleborn?" Bellatrix finally asked.
"No," Harry replied.
Silence resumed and eventually, Bella had nearly finished her homework and Harry had concluded that there were approximately three books he was actually interested in checking out and taking back to his quarters.
"Did you find anything?" Bellatrix asked.
"Maybe," Harry replied.
"We could talk about it," Bellatrix asked, almost pleading. "You need someone to sound your ideas off on. It's not as if you have anyone else."
Harry looked around and smiled, "Even if I wanted to, do you think it would be such a great idea to talk about it in the middle of the Hogwarts library?" He gathered up all of the books, left Bellatrix sitting at the table, and returned them to an empty shelf in the Restricted Section. He picked out the three books he was interested in and took them to Madame Pince who perfunctorily checked them out to him.
He made to exit the library, but found Bellatrix waiting at the door for him. It seemed that she intended to continue making her case. "The halls aren't any better than the library," Harry told her in a matter-of-fact voice.
"Look, Harry. What you're doing is big. I want to be in on it. Surely there's something useful I can do." Bellatrix said.
"I'm not sure it's the best idea," Harry commented as they proceeded down the corridor.
"I already know enough to cause you and your plans trouble," Bellatrix retorted, beginning to get angry.
Harry stopped short and looked at her coldly. Bellatrix was startled enough by the expression in his eyes to step back. However, before Harry could say anything, the sound of raised voices came from around the corridor. They were intelligible, but soon, one of them was loud and annunciated enough for Harry and Bellatrix to make out what was being said.
"Leave him alone, Potter!" Lily Evans shrieked.
Laughter that Harry instantly recognized as belonging to James and Sirius followed. "Just great," Harry muttered with disgust. "Come on, let's break this up," he said to Bellatrix. Harry shifted his books and discreetly drew his wand.
When they rounded the corner, they discovered Lily, Severus, James, and Sirius alone in the corridor. James and Sirius had their wands drawn and were looking far too gleeful for their own good. Lily was standing between them and Snape, a look of fury painted on her face. Snape's expression, as often was the case, was unreadable.
Harry didn't need an explanation to understand what was going on. He knew about the dynamics that existed between the four too well. With a quick snap of his wand, James and Sirius were disarmed and their wands summoned to Harry's hand.
"Would you care to tell me what you've been doing this evening?" Harry asked James and Sirius coolly.
James and Sirius were spared formulating an answer. Lily took it upon herself to explain. "Professor, they were teasing Severus!" She then launched into an explanation of how she had decided to walk toward the library and how she had discovered James and Sirius harassing Snape. By the time Lily was through, Harry himself was beginning to feel slightly guilty, even though he had done nothing.
"I think you should take fifty points from Gryffindor!" Bellatrix declared with relish.
James and Sirius glared at Sirius's cousin. Sirius then quickly retorted, "How fortunate that you're not the professor here!"
"You're just jealous," Bellatrix cooed, further infuriating Sirius.
Harry let out a disgusted sigh. Now that Bellatrix had suggested it, he simply couldn't take points from Gryffindor-and there was the fact that Lily, a Gryffindor, had stepped in and tried to protect Snape. "You know what?" Harry said, "Detention for both of you."
"Fine," James retorted, glaring at Snape and trying to avoid Lily's eyes. "What time?"
Harry cursed silently. The problem with assigning detentions was that one had to supervise them. That took time. He quickly tried to think of his weekly schedule and also attempted to anticipate when he would next need to visit the library before deciding. "Thursday evening, at eight o'clock," he decided aloud. "Both of you. In my office."
There was a short silence. Snape was giving James and Sirius a dirty look while Lily looked triumphant. Bellatrix had a thoughtful expression on her face. Harry ended up breaking the silence first. "You will all have to excuse me, I have things to do." He stalked away and made his way to his office, trying to figure out how he was supposed to carry out a detention for his own father and godfather.
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