Chapter Seven
December the Eleventh, Nineteen-Seventy-Six
Hogsmeade Village, Late Afternoon
"You know, I don't know what's the matter with that girl," Sirius huffed, still sour after yet another incident during which Davie had qualmlessly brushed him off - it had been something minor, simply that he had offered to carry her books for her outside of Professor Flitwick's classroom; she had refused quite quickly, turning a bright shade of crimson when she realized that everyone had heard.
Today, Sirius and James, closely followed by Remus and Peter, were going through the shelves of new products at Zonko's Joke Shop. "You know, when I took her to Honeydukes last year, she kissed me --"
"Y--you don't g-get so worked up over -- over the other girls you've been snogging. Never," Peter pointed out, earning a huff from Sirius. There were times he wondered why on earth they still hung out with the boy.
"Wormtail's right, you know," Remus chimed in gently. "That Hufflepuff girl you always bring to dances, you never seemed angry that she's finally seeing someone --"
"Well, she was easy to get anyway," Sirius said with a dismissive wave, earning an eyeroll from Remus at his brash attitude towards the girls he dated. He slammed a brightly colored package down on the shelf harder than was necessary. "You don't know what she said -- she told me herself when I took her to Hogsmeade that she had a thing for me, and now she's acting like --"
"Perhaps she was caught up in the moment," James suggested, juggling a packet of Hiccough Sweets between his hands. "You know -- you told her you'd been bringing her the fudge, and she thought it was the right thing to say --"
"You know, mate, you're just enjoying this because I'm suffering along with you," Sirius retorted with a glare at his best friend. "No luck with Evans as of late, am I correct?"
"Yet!" James said, shaking his finger fervently in his friend's direction. "It's like I always say --"
"Timing, is it?" Remus piped in with a smirk, and James playfully chucked a small package at his head; Remus leaned out of the way, but Peter wasn't so lucky. It hit him directly on the forehead and bounced to the floor.
"Sorry, Wormtail," James chuckled. "You should've ducked!"
"Oh, come now!" came a voice in the doorway of the store, sounding rather haughty. "You can't sit and spend the whole day at Scrivenshaft's, how fascinating could quills really be?"
The Marauders looked up to see a boy they knew as Pollux Winward, a seventh year boy with whom they really had no issue until he walked into the store, dragging along two sixth year Gryffindor girls who looked rather uninterested in his company.
"I don't think -- I'd like to --" Lily said unsurely, glancing around but not noticing James or the others at all. "I was looking at something rather important --"
"I need to use the loo," Davie said, quite loudly and unabashed so that people stared quite oddly at Pollux simply for the fact that he was accompanying a girl with so little discretion. "I do, badly," Davie continued as Pollux's gaze became shifty and clearly not quite as confident as it had been moments earlier. "I think that Pumpkin Pasty I ate earlier must have been sitting outside for quite a while and --"
"Right," Pollux said, backing away from the girls. "Well, you know, I'm going to -- I'll just have a look -- over there --Gbye!"
Once Pollux Winward hard walked out of the store and clear out of sight, the two girls began falling all over one another in uncontrollable laughter.
"Davina!" Lily squealed, grabbing her friend my the shoulder's bracingly. "Oh, did you see his face? That was brilliant!"
"Oh yeah, good show!" Sirius said sarcastically, clapping lazily as he walked over towards the girls, eyeing Davie with slight annoyance. "You know, it could have been avoided entirely if you had just come along with me like I'd asked --"
"Well, that's the beauty of asking, isn't it? You don't always get the answer that you want," Davie interrupted, glaring icily at Sirius. Lily sighed, glancing apologetically at the other boys. None of them could explain why, but it appeared that lately, Davie and Sirius could not even be in the same room without getting angry with one another - right when Lily and James could finally be in the same general area without Lily getting angry, something like this had to come up.
"What are you doing anyway? Trying to find Snivellus?" Sirius asked condescendingly. "Since the two of you are bosom buddies now --"
"Oh, you're still calling him that?" Davie asked with a derisive, rather unladylike snort. "You're so mature, Sirius, you've just won my heart, you have! And no, he told me himself --"
"Told you himself!" Sirius barked with a humorless laugh. "How very kind of him!"
"Would you just shut up, Sirius? I don't --"
BANG!
An explosion in the street resounded before Davie could even finish her statement - the crash was so loud and forceful that it shattered the windows in the shop. Lily and Davie, closest to the door, were blown straight off of their feet, but immediately shared a glance with one another, pulling out their wands and scrambling to their feet.
"No, you two, back!" James said authoritatively, grabbing both of the girls by the arm and pulling them back towards Remus and Peter while he looked at Sirius and nodded towards the door. Lily exhaled and stayed behind. Davie, however, ran behind them and crouched under the sill of the shattered window. The windows all over the street had been shattered, and people were scrambling about, many of them looking as though they'd been hurt or hexed. The only thing missing from the scene was a possible culprit - all they could really see was a strange, powdery mist in the air that made everything look slightly fuzzy.
Suddenly, a voice that sounded very distant yelled out an unfamiliar incantation, and a beam shot out from behind a nearby cluster of trees - it swirled and twisted in the air until it formed the gruesome shape of a skull with a long, twining tongue in the shape of a snake. Davie's breath hitched in her throat, and the straight, wet hiccup sound was what made Sirius turn around and notice her just as she sunk to her knees onto the ground amidst the shards of broken glass.
"Davie," he said, rushing over to her and shifting her, keeping the glass from cutting into her legs too deeply. He shook her slightly, perturbed by her black, skyward stare. "Talk to -- talk to us," he said hesitantly as everyone settled around her.
"That," she said, pointing shakily at the sky. "It's --"
Her mind wandered back to the night her parents were killed…
"We're very sorry, Davie, there was nothing we could do…"
"Where are my mum and dad?" Davie cried shrilly at the men who were standing at her front door, stepping out of the door and not caring about the fact that she had no shoes on, and was not dressed for any sort of company. "Take me to them, take me to them now!"
The two men shared doleful looks, then each took a hold of Davie. With a crack, they had apparated with her to an unfamiliar location - they were standing in front of what had obviously been a very large, very beautiful house, but it was now little more than smoky, smouldering rubble.
"My -- my parents aren't in there, they can't be," Davie said, shaking her head, though even then, tears were already starting to roll uncontrollably down her cheeks. She shoved the men away when they tried to restrain her in case she tried to ruin towards the ruins Things like this didn't happen to her - her family had always been happy and whole. They weren't rich, but they weren't poor. Davie had never had anything to complain about at home. Everything had always been wonderful - and now they were gone --
Davie's gaze turned upward, and squinted to focus her eyes on a symbol in the sky that was already beginning to fade. It was some sort of monster, something evil and gruesome. She would never forget it…
"It's them," Davie continued, her grip on Sirius' arm tightening. "The ones who killed my mum and dad, they're back. They're here and they're going to --"
"Davie, listen to yourself," Lily pleaded, crouching next to her friend and trying to get Davie to look her in the eye. "They aren't going to come after you, we're going to --"
"Children, are you alright?"
All of them except for Davie looked up to see Madam Rosmerta running over to them through the strange mist. "You all need to come with me -- your Headmaster has just contacted me by Floo, the students are to stay at the inn for the night --"
"Why can't we just go back to the school?"
"Because you won't be protected," Rosmerta said carefully, not wanting to scare the children. She gestured towards the unfamiliar mist in the air. "This is Nixaserum - magic cancelling mist. You won't even be able to defend yourselves until it clears on its own. It won't be until morning. Come on now."
The woman quickly walked off, however, to try and round up the other students. James, who right now looked far more authoritative and grave than any of them had ever seen him, glanced at Sirius, who was still holding an almost catatonic Davie.
"Alright, then," James said, standing up straight; he was so focused on helping everyone, he didn't even notice the admiration in Lily's eyes for the poise with which he was suddenly conducting himself. "Remus, Peter, Lily -- come with me. It's sure to be crowded and we need to find a place to stay at the inn. Sirius, can you handle Davie?"
"I have her," Sirius affirmed sturdily, not taking his eyes off the girl who was still staring at the sky. "Davie," he said, shaking her again slightly once the others had left. "Can you walk?"
"Are they here?" she asked airily as thought Sirius had not asked her anything at all. "Are they? The ones who --"
"Davie, there's no one else here," Sirius insisted, trying to pull her to her feet. "Come on, now, you need rest --"
"I'm going to wait here for them --"
"No, you're going to come with me even if I need to --"
"THEY KILLED MY MUM AND DAD!" Davie yelled tearfully, glaring at Sirius inexplicably. "They killed them, and I'm going to be next, I'm --"
"Davie," Sirius said in a low voice, the concern in his voice rising with every word he spoke to her. "You're going to listen to me this time, even if this is the only time. I'm not asking you to a bloody dance or to be my girlfriend, I'm asking you to let me bring you somewhere safe --"
"I want to --"
"DAVIE!" Sirius bellowed, making the small girl flinch and immediately freeze. Mutely, she got to her feet, looking Sirius in the eye with a very strange, unreadable expression. He thought that perhaps she was going to say something, but instead, she simply fell into tears, almost collapsing hysterically against Sirius.
"Shush -- come on, now," he said, sweeping one arm under her knees and picking up her now cooperative form with ease. He was so concerned for her, he couldn't even relish in the fact that everyone could see her with him like this. He simply walked until he reached the inn room that James had managed to find before they were all taken.
"Well, who wouldn't give up a room for the Marauders?" James joked weakly as Sirius set Davie down on the bed where Lily was sitting - James was standing near an armchair, while Remus and Peter sat at the edge of another bed. Davie was no longer crying, but yet again sitting and staring silently.
"You should've seen her," Sirius said, scratching the back of his neck. "Couldn't stop saying she wanted to find who killed her parents --"
"That's terrible," Lily said, reaching out and placing a hand soothingly on her friend's back. "No child should ever feel that. Having to be faced with the people who killed your parents -- I can't even imagine it."
"Me either," James said, leaning against a chair and looking on in concern, his arms crossed and his forehead wrinkled. "Davie -- are you alright?"
Davie sat still, not speaking, and simply breathed quietly, staring at a spot on the floor without showing any sign of knowing what was happening.
"Remus, maybe you should talk to her, she's more receptive to you, isn't she?" Lily suggested; Sirius looked briefly affronted, but nodded in assent. Remus slowly came forward, kneeling in front of Davie.
"You can't keep on like this, Davie," he said, patting her hand gently. "This wasn't anyone coming after you, it was just a bunch of gits in hoods who aren't brave enough to even show themselves, trying to get everyone riled up. Your parents wouldn't want you to be this scared - they'd want you to be brave. They were Aurors --"
"Yeah," Davie said weakly, shifting her gaze slightly upward. "Yeah, they were. And that's what I need to be --"
"I thought you were going to be a teacher?" Sirius chimed in. "Isn't that what you're taking all those useless classes for?"
"Well," Davie said quietly, wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her jumper and looking at everyone else in the room. "I've only just changed my mind. That's all."
Nobody honestly wanted to make Davie feel worse right now, and so, they thought it best to simply go to sleep. After everyone had settled into bed, Sirius woke up to the sound of the door creaking - he had always been a light sleeper, mostly because he hated being disturbed by their house elf, Kreacher, when he had still been living in his mother's home. The elf often tried to sneak into Sirius' room and take down the Gryffindor pennants on the walls while he slept; Sirius had come to wake up just in time to stop him.
This time, however, it was not a house elf trying to get in that roused Sirius from his sleep, but a dark-haired girl trying to sneak out. Sirius waited a few moments before stepping out after her, following her to the empty Three Broomsticks pub situated downstairs. A line of tankards still remained on the bar, presumably for students who were unable to sleep.
"Could you pour me a butterbeer while you're at it?" Sirius asked from the doorway, causing Davie to jump in surprise. "'S just me," he added, stepping a bit into the light.
"Oh. S-sure," she stammered, still slightly shaken. "Have a seat."
Davie filled two tankards with the frothy amber liquid and brought them to the booth where Sirius had sat down.
"Budge up a bit," she said calmly when she approached, and vague surprise registered onto his face when instead of sitting on the other side of the table, she sat on the cushioned seat next to him, nudging her slightly with her hip to make room. The pair of them sat quietly for a short while, sipping at their butterbeer and not really speaking - Davie was embarrassed with herself for the scene she had made earlier, and the fact that Sirius had been the one who needed to take care of her.
"You scared me," Sirius spoke up, his voice coming out in a near-grumble as though he wasn't quite sure about how to start a conversation without joking. "And I'm -- I'm not trying to make a move on you, Davie, you scared the wits out of me and you -- why are you laughing?!"
It turned out that when Davie looked up at the sound of Sirius' voice, the first thing she spotted was a thick layer of butterbeer froth lining his upper lip; she was now trying desperately to hold back a fit of giggles, shaking her head at Sirius.
"Oh, Merlin -- I'm sorry, I know you weren't kidding, but --" Davie laughed, reaching out and using her thumb to swipe across the top of his lip. Sirius, however, caught her hand mid-motion and stared somewhat mutely.
He couldn't help but think that she looked terribly pretty, even in the dim lighting. She'd taken off her collared shirt and jumper in favor of the camisole underneath, much more comfortable for sleeping. The reddish light cast by the antique lamps in the pub laid shadows on her milky white skin.
"If you don't want me to kiss you, I'd suggest you speak up now," Sirius said in a hoarse voice, still holding Davie's wrist lightly. She said nothing. After a brief pause, he leaned forward, pressing his lips to hers - when it registered in his mind that she was actually reciprocating, he released her hand, which came to rest at the back of his neck, gently but quite tangibly pulling him closer. Briefly, Sirius considered that perhaps he had finally succeeded in changing Davie's mind about him. However, at the sound of something small - it might have been a mouse or a lizard skittering across the floor or the bar - Davie pulled back as though she had just been doused with ice water, glancing around nervously.
Sirius groaned, running a hand through his hair in exasperation. "Davie, how's about we be completely honest, yeah?" he said, glancing up at the ceiling trying to compose himself. It was evident that the more physical effects of kissing a pretty girl spared no one, not even Sirius Black. "Do I embarrass you? Is that why no one's allowed to even think that perhaps --"
"Sirius, can you keep your voice down?" Davie snapped, unintentionally confirming what he had just asked without directly answering the question at all. "If this is about the incident last year --"
"The incident!" Sirius laughed harshly. "Is that what you'd like to call it? You know, I was under the impression that you fancied me as well, but --"
"That was before!" Davie retorted. "that was before last summer, before my parents died! Or were you hiding under a rock while I was plastered all over the papers?"
"What does that have to do with --"
"It has everything to do with this!" she said in exasperation, standing up and beginning to pace back and forth. "I'm tired, I told you at the beginning of the year on the train. I've never been known for anything except being Lily's best friend, and now all of a sudden, I'm known for the fact that my parents are being dead, and I'm tired!"
Davie froze, running her hands through her hair with her back turned to Sirius. "I'm tired of being stared at like a museum exhibit -- and what are they going to do if I'm with you? What's everyone going to do if they see me with one of the most popular, most handsome, most sought-after boys in our year? They'll stare, and they'll talk -- so no matter how much I want to --"
"So you want to!" Sirius said, standing up and tugging Davie by the arm and forcing her to turn around. "You do feel something --"
"Of course I feel something, what kind of question is that?" Davie hissed furiously. "Why else would I get into situations like this with you? Why would I make things this complicated?" Davie exhaled deeply, pushing away from Sirius and started running out of the pub, into the night, clear past the mist left by the Nixaserum to a clearing near the edge of the forest where the mist was gone. Davie kept running until she felt herself run into something - someone -and stumble backwards.
"Err -- All right, Severus?" she asked hesitantly, not sure whether it was a greeting, or a genuine question; when she had run into him the hood of the cloak he had been wearing fell away, revealing his face even in the limited light that peered through the twisted tree branches overhead. "You said you weren't coming to Hogsmeade, what are you --"
"Keep quiet," he growled, very audibly trying to keep his voice from shaking as he drew his wand on Davie just as she was getting to her feet. "I don't want to have to hurt you, but I can't be seen by anyone. No one can know I'm here. Oblivi--"
"Expelliarmus!" Davie yelped, drawing her own wand quickly - her spell knocked Snape's wand away, and she quickly caught it in her hand. Davie was surprised even with herself - Severus Snape was perhaps the fastest with his wand in their year, and certainly had a way of avoiding being disarmed. Why was he so distracted, Davie wondered.
"Severus," she began shakily, tucking his wand into the pocket of her trousers while her own remained trained on him - maple and dragon heartstring, if Severus recalled correctly. Excellent for hexing. "You promised you'd be safe, whatever you're doing. You haven't been in Hogsmeade all day. What are you doing here now?"
"Are you that thick, Maddux?" he sneered, though it wasn't as cold as the sneer he saved for Potter and Black. There was a different feeling behind it. "Are you telling me you haven't figured out what I am? That mark on my arm you helped me hide --"
"You're sixteen!" Davie said shrilly. "Severus, you can't be -- we're children --"
"Potter, Black, yourself, maybe," Snape sneered. "Some of use haven't had the luxury of being children for long."
"No." Davie said resolutely. She had suspected what he was suggesting ever since the incident at the lake, but for the sake of her previously good opinion of him, she had pushed the idea to the back of her mind. She had considered him a friend, and now…
"I'm a Death Eater, Davie."
That was enough, Davie wordlessly turned on her heel with every intention of running away - she had broken into a steady walk when she heard Snape's voice again.
"There's more," he said gravely. "There's a reason I don't deserve your sympathy. You remember when I told you that, don't you?" Davie froze, turning around and squinting through the darkness at him.
"I killed them," Snape said in a low tone, the expression on his face conflicted as though he didn't know why he was even revealing this to Davie. "I killed your parents."
For a brief while, silence was the only response Davie could manage. Then suddenly, she walked back to Snape in purposeful strides; her hand flew threw the air so quickly that Snape could have sworn that it had whistled before striking him directly in the face, colliding with his cheek so hard that it snapped his face to one side.
"Do you know how they died?" Snape asked through gritted teeth, not turning his face back to Davie who fully expected him to strike back. He could hear her breaths heaving furiously, and he saw her hand still clenched into a fist.
"The mansion was burned down, I saw it. Fiendfyre," Davie said simply, her voice shaking in anger. "That's all they knew. All anyone knew -- why did you --"
"It wasn't what I meant to happen," Snape interrupted, his eyes snapping upward to meet hers furiously - did she not understand? Did she think this had anything to do with what he wanted? "What was I supposed to do - they left me to watch the house alone. I was to protect what they were hiding at all costs. They'd kill me if I failed. Your parents were the first into the house -- they broke down the doors, and all I could think to do was destroy the house. It was supposed to come down on me!"
"BUT IT DIDN'T!" Davie retorted coldly. "It came down on my parents -- it killed my parents, you ruined my life!"
"You have my wand, I'm unarmed," Snape said coolly. "You could easily do the same. You could easily take from me what I took from them. With my own wand. No one would ever even know it was you if you were quick enough --"
"DEPRIMO!"
Davie's wand immediately shot out a strong wind, which shot by Severus' head, missing by only a few centimeters and whizzing past, knocking the limb clean off of a tree; it landed a few meters away with a loud crack. Snape's face twitched in confusion when he looked back at Davie - she couldn't have misjudged her aim from so short a distance, she had missed on purpose.
"I'm not going to kill you, Severus," Davie said in a blank voice. Her eyes were dark and sad, "And I won't tell anyone what you've done. The worst they can do is put you in Azkaban and be done with it. You chose your path -- the worst punishment you can be given is to be forced to follow it. Wherever it takes you, and we'll see --"
"This," Snape said, extending his arm and rolling up his sleeve, revealing the Dark Mark to Davie, "is the only way for me to be respected. You -- you and Black and Potter -- you've never had to wonder what respect felt like --"
"So I've gotten what I deserved!" Davie said in a shrill, humorless laugh, evidently starting to cry judging by the way her breath hitched in her throat at the mere effort of forcing herself to laugh. "Now I get to live through everyone's pity and their scrutiny --"
"This was never meant to affect you." Snape said coldly. "It's nothing to do with you."
Davie's heavy breathing was the only thing that broke the silence between them. For quite a long while, even in the cold, they simply stood in the same place, staring at one another blankly until finally, Davie threw Snape's wand into the dirt between them.
"Alright, then," Davie said coldly - the coldness in her eyes, in her voice, and in her words, while not as meaningful to Severus as Lily's, was equally as frigid, and equally as harsh. The words sounded so much like Lily's. "This is your life, Severus. You've made your choice -- my life is going to get better, but if you keep on this way, I can assure you, yours won't." She vehemently kicked more dirt over the wand, then turned her face away coldly. "You'd best leave."
***
A/N's
Phew. Drama! And if I'm not mistaken, the longest chapter so far, so thank you to anyone who sat through it! From here on out come the changes we have everyone going through, slowly but surely - we're going to get started on actual romances soon, but also, obviously dealing with the introduction of Dark Magic and Death Eaters.
Thank you to Melora for the reviews! I took a peek at the site you linked me to and it looks interesting! I'm the admin on an RP site myself. Will consider it! Anyway, until my next update everyone! Cheers!
