Summer Skeletons

Toweling her hair as she came out of the bath, Darla nearly bowled over Eileen in the process. Stumbling back after stepping on her niece's toes, she grumbled, "Eileen!"

The girl stared up at her, unperturbed by the fact she'd nearly been flattened. "Where did you go today?" she asked.

Darla stiffened. She let the towel she was using fall around her shoulders and craned her neck to glance into the drawing room. Severus was busy reading Calliope's bedtime story to her and Essie and Edie were nowhere to be found. Perhaps Essie was laying down with Edie, she'd taken to doing that in the last week since Edie rarely had the interest or energy to be out of her and Severus's bed for long. She snagged her niece by the wrist and pulled her into her bedroom. Once there, Darla directed Eileen to take a seat on her bed as she went to her armoire to pull out some jimjams. As she slipped out of her dressing gown and pulled on the shorts of her jimjam set, she turned back around to see Eileen picking at a loose string on her duvet.

"You can't tell Sev or Edie, alright?" Darla warned while buttoning up her top.

Eileen looked at her with furrowed brows. She'd always had a striking resemblance to Edie – even more so than Lottie – but it was when her niece made the same faces her sister did that Darla was reminded just how much Eileen was Edie's daughter. It didn't stop at appearances and for that, Darla was glad it was Eileen asking her this question and not Essie.

Essie couldn't keep a secret for the life of her, unlike Eileen. Her oldest niece was surprisingly (and worryingly) good at keeping her mouth shut.

Though she didn't look terribly happy about the request, her niece nodded her head, agreeing to Darla's terms (for now, anyhow. She'd probably press after she got her answer). "Alright," she said.

Darla sucked in a breath and considered how much of a lie she was going to tell. She could say something utterly untruthful, like she was seeing a boy she knew Severus didn't like (and were there a lot of those these days), or settle for something nearer to reality. Considering how well Eileen knew Darla and her ticks, a vaguer, more truthful fib would have to be told. "I'm watching a pair of siblings for a housemate," she explained. "She asked for me to come by and help a couple of times a week so she can sneak off to assist a friend her parents don't approve of with his sick mother." She pulled a face at her niece. "Their reason for not liking him is quite idiotic as you can probably imagine."

"He's a Muggleborn?" Eileen inquired in a tone that implied she was really just looking for confirmation.

She shook her head. "His mother is, however."

Her niece flopped back onto Darla's bed. "Slytherin Purebloods are all dunderheads."

"Hey! Watch how you talk about my house!" Darla chided, but she was smiling as she did so. There were a lot of pricks in her house and everyone knew it – even if it pained Severus to admit sometimes as he was very proud of how successful his students were.

Eileen giggled before she rolled over to look at Darla. "Can I sleep in your room tonight?"

"Of course," she said. "But why?"

Her niece's gaze dropped to the duvet. "It's too quiet in my room now."

Darla's heart twisted. "Oh," she whispered. Dropping the towel from earlier on the floor, she joined Eileen on the bed and brought her into her arms. "If you like, I can ask Sev and Edie about moving your bed in here for the rest of the summer."

"Please?" mumbled Eileen as she buried her face in Darla's shoulder. "I know I should be learnin' to sleep alone, but it's scary."

She ran a hand through her niece's wavy hair and made some soothing sounds when warm tears began to soak into her shirt. "It's okay," she said, "you can take it all at your own pace. No one will be upset with you."

Eileen peeked up from her shoulder with red-rimmed, grateful eyes. "Thank you," she warbled before burying her face back in Darla's front to weep a little more. Darla continued to comfort her niece as the thick, metallic taste of blood filled her mouth with the force she was using to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from sobbing herself.

This was all her fault. It was because of her that Eileen was being forced to grow up far faster than she should have to and yet… her little niece was still seeking Darla out for comfort. She'd let Lottie, her twin, die, but Eileen still loved her. Darla didn't deserve her. Strengthening her embrace of Eileen, Darla carefully laid them down on her bed and prayed for when the day came that her niece realized what Darla had done to her she wouldn't be too cruel during the subsequent confrontation.

-o-O-o-

"So, Gail's off at a birthday party I hear."

Harry didn't look up from the book he was reading, just bobbed his head in agreement. Darla exhaled and walked over to the sofa where Harry was scrunched up at one end with his novel. She sat down on the other end and slipped out of her shoes. Lifting her legs onto the sofa, she used a foot to poke Harry's shin. "Hey, I'm talking to you."

He looked at her from behind his book. "I don't need a minder. I'm almost eleven. Since Gail's not here, you can do whatever, I'm fine reading here."

Darla prodded Harry again.

This time he put his book down. "What?"

"Have you considered that perhaps I'm speaking to you because I want to do something with you?"

Harry blinked. Then he cocked his head and asked, "What could you possibly want to do with me?"

She shrugged. "What do you like to do for fun around here?"

He lifted his book so she could see the cover a little better. There were three green circles with white silhouettes of people inside decorating it and the words A Wrinkle in Time printed in the left corner. "Read," he replied.

Darla pursed her lips. "Surely there's more you like to do?"

"No," he answered. "Not really."

Her brother often complained about her inability to let something go (which always used to make Edie laugh because he's the exact same way), but it's in situations like these she's glad for the trait. "Not really, huh?" she repeated. "That means there's something else you like to do! Come on, Harry, tell me!"

He scowled. "Just leave me alone!" he snapped. As if to emphasize his point, some of the toy ponies Gail liked to play with flew off their "pasture" (the desk) and at Darla. Used to dodging the occasional bird or stray bludger, she ducked her head. When she was certain she wouldn't be pelted with plastic horses anymore, she lifted her head.

Harry was staring at her, eyes big and scared. "I," he stammered, "I didn't mean–"

She laughed. "That was a good one!" she exclaimed. "My niece, Lottie, when she was three or four she threw the worst tantrum about eating her parsnips at dinner and managed to upturn everyone's glasses when she started screaming. That was a lot of glasses too since we were eating in the Great–" Darla stopped. She was sharing too much. Not just about Hogwarts either.

"You're not… very cross with me?"

Darla shook her head. "No, should I be?" She narrowed her eyes in mock-suspicion. "Did you do it on purpose?"

"No!" Harry denied.

She nodded. "Then there's nothing for me to be upset about." She smiled at him. "I would hope you'd apologize if one had managed to hit me, though."

"I would have," Harry assured fervently.

They were quiet for a moment. When the air felt a little calmer, Darla leaned forward and rested her arms on her knees. Putting on a kind expression, she explained, "These incidents won't happen so much in a couple of months. I imagine it's only so awful now because you're under a lot of stress from your mum being ill and not feeling very happy because you don't have many friends."

He snorted. "Try no friends."

Darla pouted. "What? Are we not friends? And Gail? Is she chopped liver?"

Harry snickered and, briefly, he looked like a normal little boy instead of the sullen one she knew him to be. "You're my nanny and she's my sister!"

"Can't we be your mates as well? I know I think of you as more than just the boy I look after," she persisted.

Harry bit his lip. "I… guess," he relented.

She grinned at him. "Wicked!" she exclaimed. Jumping up, she grabbed Harry's elbow and dragged him off the sofa. "To celebrate, let's head to the bakery I saw in town. We can get some biscuits or perhaps some treacle tart! Anything sweet! If Gail's having cake without us, we'll have something without her too."

The boy laughed and followed her to the entryway to put on his shoes and grab an umbrella to combat the rain outside as she opened the door for them.

-O-

Twenty minutes later when they began the walk back to Harry's home, he was licking the frosting from his biscuit off of his fingers while she brushed the crumbs from her scone from her hands. Between licks, Harry glanced at her. Finally, after several looks, he started, "Earlier, you said 'it' was only so bad because of everything that's going on right now." He looked up at her, eyes curious and desperate. "Darcy, what is 'it'?"

She froze. Darla knew she'd messed up. She'd let him know too much. She took a deep breath to calm herself down. Regarding Harry with a bland eye, she asked, "Harry, how much about your first parents have your mum and dad explained to you?"

"A bit. They told me my mum was Dad's cousin and they were killed trying to protect me from a madman who died too." He lifted his fringe and gave her a good look at his famous scar. "That's how I got this funny scar too."

Darla nodded along to this explanation. "I see."

"They said there's more to it than that, but they have to wait until I'm eleven to tell me."

"Hmm…"

Harry huffed. "So, are you going to tell me or do I have to wait until I'm older for this too?"

"No, no," reassured Darla. "I'm going to tell you, I'm just considering how." She didn't want to tell Harry too much or anything too incriminating that would have her caught by Harry's parents or whoever came to deliver his Hogwarts letter to him. Finally, an idea came to her. "Do you know how you told me you made spiders attack Lauren Clark?"

"Yes."

She nodded. "Right, so, that happened because of the same thing that made Gail's ponies fly at me: it was magic."

"Magic's just for books!" Harry argued.

Darla laughed. "For normal people, perhaps." She crouched down so they were the same height and smiled at him. "But you and me, we're not normal." She tilted her head and side-eyed him. Tone light, Darla remarked, "But I bet you a clever boy like you knew that already."

He flushed. "I… A little, I guess. You've been different from everyone else from the start."

She nodded. "We're magic, you and I."

"Can you tell me more? About magic, I mean."

Darla puckered her lips with thought. "A little," she agreed. "I don't want to give away too much. It'll spoil all the fun you'll have soon if I do."

"Okay," he replied. As they began to walk again, he inquired, "Are there a lot of people who do magic?"

"Yes," Darla answered, "There are millions all over the world who can."

Harry nodded at this information. "And in England?"

She turned her gaze skyward. "That's a little tricky to answer…"

How do you like the way things are progressing with Darla and Harry? Did you enjoy the one-on-one scene with Darla and Eileen? Is there anything you didn't care for?

Thank you all for reading!