Summer Skeletons
Darla had wanted to go for a flight alone to clear her head. She and Stephen had just gotten in the worst row in their entire friendship, and all over his jealous, immature girlfriend. She still didn't understand why her supposed best friend had believed Tamsin Applebee when she said Darla purposefully spilled pumpkin juice all over his Muggle studies essay. In what world would Darla do such a thing? She'd never ruined anything of his or anyone else's on purpose before! It had been an accident that happened when she was trying to sit down next to him at the Hufflepuff table to discuss the charms project they were doing together…
Unfortunately, while on her way to go and retrieve her broom from her room in Severus's quarters, she ran into Lottie. Stubborn, can-never-take-no-for-an-answer Lottie. She begged to ride along with Darla and when she told the ten-year-old not on her life, she'd pouted at Darla before she went and got her own broom to ride. On her way to the Quidditch pitch, Lottie had dogged Darla's every step.
When she straddled her broom and kicked off, Darla had sighed with exasperation when Lottie appeared beside her, chattering cheerfully about how nice a day it was to go for a ride on her new birthday broom. Leaning forward, Darla picked up her pace and begun to zip off in the direction of Black Lake, hoping to lose the younger girl as she went. Unfortunately, her niece's obstinance showed itself once again and when Darla looked over her shoulder, she saw the girl was just a broom-span behind her.
Determined to get away from Lottie, Darla went even faster. Lottie kept up admirably. She started to add in zags and zigs and loops and sharp turns. Still, the ten-year-old managed to stay on her tail. The longer it went on, however, the less annoying it was and more fun it became. Soon, the two of them were laughing and hollering at one another as they showed off tricks and maneuvers they knew. Darla almost couldn't remember why she'd wanted to go for a ride alone anymore. After all, this was her and Lottie's thing. Out of all the girls, they were the only two who enjoyed broom-riding in their free-time.
"Watch this!" Lottie cried, starting on yet another barrel-roll.
And watch Darla did, with a wide grin at first, but, then, her niece failed to tuck her shoulder just so and Lottie's roll became out of her control. Then, the ten-year-old's broom began to buck and, suddenly, Lottie was falling.
Her vision tunneled in on her niece's descending form. "Lottie!" she screamed, speeding in the direction of the younger girl. When above the terror-stricken face of Lottie, Darla began to dive down, hand outstretched to grab her niece. "Reach for me!" she yelled at the girl. Lottie started to, but just as Darla's fingers were going to take hold of Lottie's she saw the ground wasn't even a yard away from the tip of her broom. Instinct honed from years of riding had Darla jerk her broom back into the air.
As she soared up, she saw Lottie hit the ground.
-o-O-o-
The day was fittingly overcast when they buried Lottie. Darla even felt she was in one of the gray clouds hanging above as the priest spoke and Edie and the remaining girls wept. All that felt true and present was the hand of her brother resting solidly on her shoulder. Out of the corner of her eye, she stared at Severus. His face was a parlor-white hue and frightfully somber. Of course, he usually wore a stern expression due to his being a professor of the subtle (and dangerous) art of potions, but this one was real instead of just a mask like the ones worn by an actor in a play.
He appeared to notice her watching, as his own gaze, full of pain that mirrored her own, flickered to meet hers and his hand curled around her shoulder briefly, squeezing it. It was awful, selfish, and entirely inappropriate but she was glad. Darla was often sneaking peaks at her brother these days, searching to see if any of that burning, questioning, accusatory light from when Madam Pomfrey first told him of Lottie's death would return to his gaze when looking at her. So far, it hadn't. It was as selfish as the pleasure she'd just felt, but Darla hoped it stayed that way.
Looking forward once more as the priest began to come to a close on his prayers, she reflected on what her brother had told her the day following Lottie's death:
Darla couldn't breathe anymore and all that was left of her tears was a salty, sticky mess coating her cheeks. Staring up at her ceiling she tortured herself by straining her ears to hear the quiet whimpers of the younger girls in the room over with Edie. She'd brought this pain upon her nieces and she didn't deserve to hide her head beneath her pillow to block out the sound.
A sharp knock at her door alerted her to company. Darla lifted her head and called, voice akin to a toad's croak, "Yeah?"
The door opened and in slipped her brother. He stared at her with his own red eyes and she felt the urge to hide. She'd made her brother cry. She'd killed one of his babies. He frowned after a moment, head tilted in the direction of the wall separating Darla from Edie and the younger girls. Going over to it, he waved his wand, and suddenly, the room fell utterly silent.
"You didn't have to do that, you know," she told Severus. "I deserve it. I should have to listen to the pain I am causing them."
He sat down on her bed and put one of his hands on her knee. "No," he rumbled, "you shouldn't."
Darla frowned, not understanding. Why not? Was she finally going to be punished properly rather than told it was all just a horrid accident?
Her brother sighed and ran his hands through his hair. "Darla, Lottie— It wasn't your fault—"
"—It was so! I wasn't fast enough to catch her!" she decried, tucking her knees beneath her and away from Severus's reach.
He was quiet for a time and she wondered if the honest to Merlin truth was sinking in for him and he was going to turn on her and make her pay for what she did—
"Do you know it was I who told the prophecy of Harry Potter to the Dark Lord?"
She gaped at him. "What?" she whispered. Everyone knew Harry Potter's story and Severus's version was more accurate than anyone's, but she'd always thought it had to do with him being a spy and a keener sense for what was and wasn't bullshit. Darla had never imagined it was because Severus passed on the prophecy to the Dark Lord himself…
He nodded, shoulders falling limp and defeated as he stared far into the past. "Me. It was me. I'm the one who told him of it and then he— Then he killed Harry's parents." Severus turned his head and made her meet his gaze. "Is it my fault the Potters died and Harry was made an orphan?"
"Of course not!" Darla declared vehemently. How could Severus have known the Lord would take it so seriously? Or that he would insist on killing Harry Potter's parents to get to him? There was no way! "You didn't know he would go so far to try and beat the prophecy."
Severus nodded. "I know that," he told her. "Here, anyhow," he amended, tapping on his head. "But here…" Severus moved his hand to rest over his heart. "Here I think it is I who caused their deaths. If I had never told him of the prophecy or done a better job of foiling the Lord's plans, perhaps Lily and James Potter would still be alive and Harry would live in Godric's Hollow with them." He chuckled. "Lottie and Harry would have been the best of friends, I reckon. She was brave and daring as any Gryffindor and I have no doubt that Harry is just as much a lion as his parents before him."
Darla's throat closed up and tears she didn't know she still had began to itch behind her already sore eyes.
Severus took her face in his two potion-stained hands and stared into her eyes. "You had no way of predicting Lottie would mess up on her barrel-roll or that her broom would pick then to misbehave."
"I almost had her!" Darla babbled, "if I hadn't flown up—"
He moved one of his hands to cover her mouth. Firmly, Severus told her, "No. I am glad your training kicked in and that you did. Otherwise, I fear I wouldn't have just lost a daughter yesterday, but a sister too." He pressed a kiss to her forehead. "I'm not sure I would have survived the news."
Darla fell into her brother's chest and began to cry anew. While she sobbed, he held and rocked her as if she was a little girl again. Clinging tighter, Darla felt so very thankful to have Severus. To have someone who not only didn't blame her, but understood.
Even now Darla was inordinately grateful for Severus and the knowledge he didn't blame her for Lottie's death. It was a relief, no matter how small, to know he would stand by her in the coming years and fight anyone who tried to lay the fault of her niece's death on her shoulders. She glanced behind herself at Edie and the younger girls. They'd said little to her these past days and while Severus assured Darla not one of them blamed her either, she didn't quite know if she believed her brother.
Darla was drawn to look forward once more when the priest closed his Bible and announced it was time for them to step forward. Following his direction, Darla moved forward, Severus by her side, and dropped the lily in her hand into the grave holding Lottie's casket. Severus followed suit and together, they then stepped aside and watched as Edie and her nieces repeated the process, followed by Severus's colleagues and Edie's friends, then by Darla's mates and classmates.
Soon, Lottie's casket was hidden by a sea of white lilies. 'She would have liked that,' thought Darla, though, the observation brought her no comfort; only a new ache to her already suffering heart.
Thoughts on the first chapter of this second multi-chap installment? It's going to focus quite heavily on Darla and has quite a bit of Harry in it too as well as Severus and the rest of the Snapes, of course.
Thanks a million for reading :)
