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Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.

I own nothing but the original characters I make.

"Dialogue"

'Thoughts'

Chapter 173: A Fancy Place

"Where are we going? The Three Broomsticks is that way," Lily pointed out as he walked into the main street of Hogsmeade.

"I know, but it's always filled to the brim with students. I know of a better place to eat, and it should be much quieter during lunchtime," James explained.

"Q-quieter?" Lily muttered.

A few blocks ahead, and after taking a turn to the right, there was a two-floor wooden building with some fancy stained-glass windows and a sign that read The Golden Unicorn

.

"There we are. We can eat here," James said while pointing at the restaurant door.

Lily gasped. "I know about The Golden Unicorn. Isn't it a super fancy restaurant? I listened to some Slytherin girls bragging about eating here one time."

"That's the best thing about it. Students rarely come here. Come on."

James walked into the restaurant and was soon faced by an old man, who was standing behind a small wooden podium with a book on it.

The man glanced James and Lily up and down and furrowed his grey eyebrows. "Do you have a reservation, Mister…?"

"Potter. Is the second floor empty?"

The old man raised an eyebrow. "It is."

"Good, then I will take it," James said.

"Mister Potter, the second-floor tables are reserved for the most distinguished guests. I'm afraid a student will not be able to request a table up there." The man shook his head. "But perhaps, I can arrange a small table for two, here at th—"

"Excuse me, but…" James interrupted. "I didn't say that I wanted a table on the second floor. I said that I wanted the entire floor." He placed a leather bag on the small podium.

The old man scoffed, but still went to open the bag. "If you think that a few galleons will—" He stopped.

"Is something wrong?" Lily leaned closer to James. "We can go somewhere else."

"No!" the old man hurried to say. "Please, allow me to escort you to your table." He pointed at the stairs. "This way." He guided them politely.

"Oh…okay." Lily looked confused by the sudden change in attitude and turned to James. "What was in the bag?"

"Just a bit of money, don't worry about it." James brushed it off as if it wasn't a big deal, because to him…it wasn't.

Though he was starting to run low on actual coins and would no doubt need to visit the goblin bank again during the summer to exchange a few thousand pounds of gold, silver, and other precious metals for wizard currency.

"This is our best table." The old man showed them an elegant large table inside a private room on the second floor. It was meant to host important meetings for the most powerful people in the country, like the Minister of Magic or lords from ancient magical houses.

"This will do," James said. "Make sure no one bothers us."

"I will send the waiter to take your order." The old man gestured for them to sit down.

"No need. Just bring us a bit of everything," James responded.

"As the sir wishes." The old man showed himself extremely polite, turned around, and left them there.

Lily was looking everywhere with nervous eyes. "Isn't this a bit too much? You didn't need to spend so much money…" She had no idea how much James had given the other man, but it must have been a lot to make that old man react in such a way.

Of course, Lily had no idea how much wealth James had at this moment.

With the Philosopher's Stone in his power, he could have as much as he wanted, so this kind of act was completely irrelevant.

"Just wanted a bit of peace and quiet so we could talk." He offered a seat to her before taking one for himself.

The table was big enough for a dozen individuals, so it felt somewhat strange for only two people to be sitting there, although James didn't show it.

"That's good…" Lily said. "There was something that I had been meaning to ask you."

"Go ahead then. You can ask me anything," James told her.

"Don't you want to go first?"

"We have plenty of time. What is it that you wished to ask me?" James said.

"Okay…last weekend when you went missing. Sirius said something that I didn't understand…he said that only Bellatrix Black may know where you were. Also, for most of the year, I have been hearing these strange rumors saying that Bellatrix was sneaking around to meet with…with you." Lily lifted her eyes from the table to look at him. "I never believed them until Sirius said that. But…"

"You wish to know if there is something between me and Bellatrix Black," James said.

Lily nodded.

"I suppose there is no need for me to beat around the bush now that you brought it up." He was originally planning on getting to this point a bit slower. "The truth is that my family and the House of Black have recently formed an alliance. The basis of this alliance is a marriage contract between me and Bellatrix."

"What?!" Lily shouted, her eyes opening wide.

She opened her mouth to say something else, when all of a sudden, the door to their private room opened and several waiters walked inside, carrying large trays of food.

Lily remained seated in a state of shock while a dozen individuals began to set plates filled with delicious-looking dishes on the table.

"That was quick," James commented. He had expected the food to take a bit longer than this.

They had to wait several minutes for everything to be set up.

One of the waiters was about to start explaining each of the dishes, but James quickly asked him to leave as he needed to continue his conversation.

"Sorry about that. We were interrupted at a bad time."

"I don't understand…" Lily muttered as soon as the door closed.

"It's a bit complicated. Give me a moment..." The last thing James wanted was to hurt the feelings of the girl next to him, but that might be unavoidable after all.

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