Summer Skeletons

The only sound at dinner was the occasional scratch of a fork on someone's plate up until Darla was a brussel sprout away from being finished with her meal. At that point, Edie cleared her throat, drawing all of their gazes to her. It had been so very long since she made any kind of noise in their presence and it was enough to catch their attention when before she used to have to shoot off sparks from her wand if she wanted to be heard over Lottie and Essie's bickering, Calliope's humming, Eileen's questions and Severus's answers, and Darla's laughter at them all.

"I would like me wand back, Darla," she said while staring straight at her.

Darla forced herself to not look at her brother as she pulled Edie's wand from her robe pocket. She held it out for the woman to take. "Of course," she replied as her sister took it from her.

"Why did you have Edie's wand?" demanded Severus.

Coolly, she turned her gaze to her brother. "Essie knocked a glass off the table at breakfast this morning. I needed it to clean up the mess and fix it."

Suspicion and displeasure began to darken his already black eyes into depthless holes of darkness. "Is that so," he said.

"Yes."

He narrowed his gaze and said, "Was there something the matter with the house elves?"

Darla frowned, confused and more than a little apprehensive. "What?"

"Why did you not call for a house elf?"

She managed to dig up enough courage to roll her eyes at her brother and act as if he was the one being ridiculous. "You're the one who tells us to be independent and do things for ourselves! I simply did as you have taught us to!"

Severus looked little appeased by the answer, but not nearly as angry as he did a moment ago. "What compelled you to keep the wand after the mess was cleaned?" he asked.

Darla shrugged. "I didn't mean to. I just forgot; I'm used to carrying my wand on me," she replied.

Her brother's brows furrowed, but he said nothing and instead cast his gaze out onto her nieces. Calliope kept her attention on her food while Eileen nodded at Severus. Only Essie gave away any indication what Darla said wasn't the full truth when she began to fidget in her seat after Darla's brother passed his gaze over her.

"Very well," Severus said. He still didn't appear as if he entirely believed Darla's story, but he also didn't have enough evidence to prove otherwise since none of the girls were talking or giving an undeniable indication that Darla was lying. "I expect for you to call a house elf the next time an accident happens. When I took your wand, I meant for you to have no wand."

She exhaled in a way that she hoped sounded aggravated and disappointed rather than relieved. "Yes, Sev."

-o-O-o-

When Severus laid down beside her in bed, Edie shifted onto her side and propped her head on her hand. Severus turned his face toward her and quirked an eyebrow at her. Edie said, "She was lyin' ter yeh."

He sighed. "Perhaps."

Edie reached over and laid her free hand her husband's cheek. Her voice firm, she insisted, "Darla was."

Severus pulled away from her. Frowning, he demanded, "How do you know? Did you leave the room to check on the girls at any point during the day?"

"No, but—"

He bared his teeth at her in a far from kind way. "Then I shall take Darla at her word."

"Sev," she whispered, hurt.

In response, Severus showed her his back. "Even if Darla is lying and acting up, it is only because you haven't been a proper parent to her in months."

Edie burrowed into her pillow and began to weep in silence.

-o-O-o-

After another day of nannying the Cross children and another brick of friendship built with Harry, Darla chose to linger once Mrs. Cross and Mrs. Hershel returned. She helped them put away the groceries they picked up from the market and put on the kettle for them so that Harry and Gail could spend a moment with their mother. As she pulled the tea from the cupboard, Darla glanced out of the corner of her eye at Mrs. Cross and the children. It was clear she loved the two with all of her with how closely she held Harry to her and in the way she ran her fingers through his thick head of hair while continuously bobbing her chin along to Gail's breathless chatter.

In spite of the life and light her children brought to her countenance, Mrs. Cross looked worse than she had the day before last, than she did last week, a month ago, at the start of the summer. Darla suspected, and it would explain the tension in the room, that Mrs. Cross was not getting better. If that were, in fact, true, it meant she was dying. Darla had never watched anyone languish before. Her experience with death was in the form of sudden demises. She wondered if it was better or worse to watch someone die slowly. It must be painful to watch someone bit by bit become less of themselves as their life escaped them a little more each day, but she also couldn't help but muse perhaps it wasn't all so bad as you knew to treat each moment with them as precious. Slow or sudden, death was still death, in the end, Darla understood.

A loved one was still lost and your life changed forever after.

Darla was drawn from her thoughts by a hand on her shoulder. She looked over to see Mrs. Hershel staring at her with warm regard. "Care to stay for a cuppa today?" she asked.

Usually, Darla would turn down the offer. She had to be home in time for dinner, but, today, she'd prepared. Before she left in the morning she informed Severus she would be having dinner at the Bones's home and then wrote Stephen so he knew about her fib in case it came up in the next couple of weeks when they all went back-to-school shopping together. With the knowledge that she had all the time in the world, she agreed to Mrs. Hershel's offer.

Shortly thereafter they all sat down to drink their tea and made pleasant conversation about the weather and the day's activities. After the tea and plate of sandwiches Mrs. Hershel made were gone, Harry and Gail left to return to their activities before their mother and aunt came home. Seeing the opportunity before her, Darla asked, "Would it be alright if I brought my nieces by on one of my days to play with the children?" She paused as she prepared herself to use the fake names she made up for her nieces. "Ellen and Emmie are just about Harry and Gail's age. I know they'd get on smashingly. Calla's a wee one, but she's quite used to playing with older children and will be just fine."

The sisters exchanged a look. "That… might not… be a very good idea, Darcy…" Mrs. Hershel stammered.

Darla squared her shoulders and did her best to imbued her voice with confidence as she told them, "I haven't run screaming from the children yet. I reckon there's nothing that could at this point." She grinned. "I hope I don't sound too much like a braggart, but I'm rather unflappable— And so are my nieces."

This drew a chuckle from the women. Mrs. Cross then reached across the table to place her bony hand atop Darla's. "I am sure your nieces are as delightful as you are, Darcy. However, it's more for Harry's sake we hesitate. In the past few years, interactions with other children have rarely gone well and we'd hate to put him through more pain than we have to when times are what they are."

She nodded. "I understand." Darla licked her lips and chose her words carefully. "Harry and I have talked about him and the other children here in Sudley. When we go to the park…" She shook her head. "It makes me so sad. I want to bring the girls by for his benefit so he can see he can make friends with children his own age." She wondered a moment if she was about to reveal too much, but, in the end, couldn't help herself. In the vaguest way she knew how, she continued, "It will be good practice for when he meets new children who haven't known him for the past ten years of his life."

Mrs. Hershel appeared as if she wished to argue a little more, but Mrs. Cross's illness-dulled eyes sparked. For a moment, Darla feared she was found out. Her fears were quickly alleviated, however, when she said, "You're right. It will be good preparation for the coming years and the new children he'll meet in secondary school."

"Lynne…"

The woman waved off her sister. "Darcy is right. How else is Harry going to learn?"

Mrs. Cross's sister sighed with defeat. "Perhaps I can have Connor and Camden pop by to help supervise…"

"We'll be quite alright, Mrs. Hershel," Darcy promised. "I'm rather used to watching over four children at once. I imagine five won't be too different."

"Four?" Mrs. Cross echoed, lips parted with confusion. "I thought you had three nieces?"

Darla's smile stayed stubborn affixed on her face. "One of my nieces passed rather recently in an accident."

"Oh my, my condolences," Mrs. Hershel gasped.

She wanted to cry, but she pushed the urge away and nodded her head. "Thank you."

After, there were a few more minutes of shoptalk and assurance on Darla's part that all would be well before Mrs. Cross agreed to let her nieces visit next week. Once done, she thanked them both once more before leaving. As she walked the now familiar streets to her destination for magical travel, Darla felt particularly drained, but also very victorious.

It was an odd combination, but a pleasant one, she decided.

-O-

Upon returning home, she ushered all of her nieces into her room under the pretense of a nail varnish party. Severus smiled at her as she swung Calliope up on her back to carry her into her and Eileen's bedroom, but, Edie, who was sitting on the sofa in the drawing room for the first time in weeks, looked at her with suspicion. Darla ignored it and her. She was too joyful from her earlier success and too tired from the fight for it to care why her sister was side-eyeing her.

Once she had the girls settled on either her bed or Eileen's, she pulled out her collection of varnishes and let them pick. As was typical of them, Eileen picked a purple that morphed into a yellow hue when touched by sunlight, Essie insisted on a sparkling red and lurid orange she wanted to alternate her nails with, and Calliope wanted a bright pink that smelled like icing. As for Darla, she chose to do a layer of black followed by a layer of dark green that would crackle to show the first shade beneath.

For a moment, they speculated about what Lottie would have chosen. They agreed she would have picked gold after some minor debate. It was then Eileen suggested they all paint one nail gold for Lottie and, readily, all of Darla's nieces agreed. Darla wasn't so sure she wanted the constant reminder on her finger, but she was afraid if she refused her nieces would ask her why. If that happened, she would have to try and explain the enormous amount of guilt, regret, and sadness she felt about Lottie's demise to them. She didn't feel prepared to do that right now – if ever – lest they end up agreeing with her that it was her fault that Lottie had died.

She wasn't sure she'd be able to bear them blaming her as she blamed herself (even if she would deserve it).

As they finished up their little party, Darla said, "I talked to my new friends today about meeting you."

"What did they say?" Essie asked while her sisters watched Darla with interest.

She grinned at her nieces. "They said yes!" she proclaimed. "Now, there's just one big thing you'll all have to do that might seem a bit strange."

"What's that?" Calliope inquired, leaning forward.

Darla slowly looked from one girl to the next. Then, she told them, "You'll all have to go by code names."

Eileen puckered her lip and demanded, "Why?"

"You'll see when I take you," Darla said, evading the question. She wasn't sure how to explain the sensitiveness of the situation Darla had put herself in or why such precautions were a necessity. She did, however, believe Eileen would understand everything she was doing the moment she met Harry and realized he was Harry Potter.

Her oldest niece glared at her and opened her mouth as if she was going to say something snide and accusing, but, before she could, Calliope bounced in between them and asked, "Do we get to pick our names? I wanna be Honey!"

She laughed at the girl's suggestion. "Sorry, Calliope, the names are already picked." Reaching out to take the little girl onto her lap, she explained, "I picked ones close to your names so it would be easy for you to remember and respond to them." She tapped the girl's nose and told her, "Your name is Calla."

"That's pretty!" delightedly exclaimed her youngest niece. "Can I be called it all the time an' not just when we meet your new friends?"

It was a lot of work for Darla to hold her smile in place as she replied, "We'll see. For now, however, it will just be when you meet my friends next week."

Calliope sighed. "Okay…"

"What's my name?" Essie demanded as she scooted in closer to the two of them.

Darla replied, "It's Emmie."

"That is really close to Essie," she remarked thoughtfully. "I can remember that."

Darla beamed at the girl. "Aces, Essie. Thank you." She looked at Eileen. "Would you like to know your name now?"

Eileen's expression was displeased and wary, but she agreed, "Please."

"You'll be Ellen."

"Ellen," she repeated in a measured tone. "I suppose it will do," she said.

She snorted. "I'm glad you approve," she returned, tone dripping with sarcasm. "Now that you know your names, there are a few other small things I need to go over with you…"

How did you all enjoy the chapter? Your favorite part? Least?

Thank you a ton for reading!