Chapter Forty-Four

"Miss Maddux? It can't be -"

Davie felt quite discomforted when brought to face the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, immediately upon entering the gala, considering the fact that the last time she had conducted any sort of conversation with him personally was arriving on Azkaban, with him insisting that there was no mistake in arresting Sirius Black, and Davie quite nearly threatening him at wandpoint. Needless to say, his view had not changed - but his position in the Ministry had.

"You were counted among the casualties on that raid in Bulgaria, if I'm not mistaken," Fudge said with mild suspicion. "I don't -"

"That is my fault, unfortunately, Minister," Kingsley interrupted, placing a hand on Davie's shoulder; it was clear he had thought this through, and that their story had been well-planned; Davie need only play along. "I saw her in Bulgaria during the raid and was worried for her safety - we were good friends when we first became Aurors and I couldn't find it in my conscience to simply leave her with strangers. She's been taking sanctuary with me, I've kept it mum for the sake of protecting her safety."

He reached out and wrapped his arms protectively around her shoulders, making sure this was very well-noticed, and Davie leaned into his shoulder obligingly.

"Ah," Fudge said, looking quite surprised, but at the same time quite convinced - he eyed Davie and Kingsley with a grin that made Davie feel a bit sick. "I must say, it's wonderful to see that you've come to your senses," he said, raising his eyebrows and making eye contact with her specifically. "I believe it's safe to say that the last we met, I found it quite lamentable that such a bright, charming young woman was throwing her life away."

"Suffice it to say, I've - come to see people for what they really are, Minister. I've gotten quite good at it," she said with a deceptively saccharine smile, so unnatural that it was surprising that Fudge didn't catch on. However, Cornelius Fudge was too smug following what he considered a major victory against Albus Dumbledore and noticed absolutely nothing out of the ordinary. Someone who did find something amiss with Davina Maddux's presence, however, was quickly approaching.

"Wonderful gathering, Minister," came a smooth voice, approaching from behind Davie. She and Kingsley turned to find themselves face to face with Lucius Malfoy, who eyed Davie with a glint of suspicion behind his rehearsed, feigned grin. "Well," he said, clapping his gloved hands together gently. "I couldn't help but overhear. It's a pleasure to finally meet you. I'm not sure we've been formally acquainted. Our time at Hogwarts overlapped briefly -"

"A pleasure indeed," Davie replied in a lofty tone, resisting the urge to dry heave mockingly when Lucius reached for her hand and placed a kiss on the back. Kingsley, in keeping with their charade, shifted his hold around her to a tasteful location at her waist in a protective gesture at her obvious discomfort towards Lucius's gesture.

"It's an honor to be in the presence of the Ministry's prodigal daughter - no one thought you could have survived being hostage in Bulgaria. Imagine, the only survivor," he said, and suddenly, Davie saw something shift everso slightly in his expression that signaled that this conversation, right in front of the Minister, had a hidden agenda. Lucius Malfoy, no doubt, had a hand in kidnapping of the Aurors, and he knew there were never intended to be survivors.

"A survivor on par with Harry Potter - a pity what happened to the boy, isn't it?" Lucius asked, raising his eyebrows. Though imperceptible, Davie stiffened in a manner which was evident at least to Kingsley, whose hold around her tightened in warning that she had to hold her temper at this crucial moment. Lucius, however, continued.

"You were quite friendly with his godfather as well, weren't you?" he inquired, his brow furrowing as though he did not know the answer. "It's terrible how the both of them turned out. It must be terrible for you. Unable to do a thing."

"I prefer not to judge Harry for his choices, however different they may be," Davie replied with missing a beat, though she skirted the mention of Sirius entirely. "I think we were all a bit misguided in our youth - some of us more than others - but we all change, don't we?" she asked with a smile, turning the question towards Lucius, whose Adam's apple moved visibly as he had not expected her to manage a retort of any kind. For a moment, the pair stared one another down menacingly. Fudge, oblivious to it entirely, clapped Lucius firmly on the shoulder and chuckled.

"Well, you two seem to have plenty to discuss, then," he guffawed. "I'll leave you to it then. Must meet with our other guests. I hope you'll have a moment to greet Dolores before you and Kingsley depart - though I do understand how it is to be in love, and I wouldn't blame you for leaving early," he said with a mildly lascivious smirk. "But I do hope you'll give her your regards."

"I would like nothing more, Minister. I'll be sure to," Davie replied with a smile, inwardly musing that she would like nothing more than to embed the heel of her shoe in Dolores Umbridge's skull. The thought of it brought a genuine grin, however inappropriately, to Davie's face as she waved Fudge away to speak with other guests in attendance. Lucius Malfoy, however, did not depart.

"Mr. Shacklebolt, I hope you would not begrudge me a dance with the lovely lady," he asked with a toothy smile. "I find her story - intriguing. I would love to have a moment."

For a millisecond, Kingsley and Davie glanced at one another - this, most definitely, was not included in their plans, and Sirius would without a doubt have someone's head for it as we no doubt was watching their every move through the brooch on Davie's robes. To refuse, however, would be an admission of guilt, and Lucius Malfoy was in a position to ruin all of them. They all knew it.

"You're lucky I'm allowing her out of my sight for a few moments - I'm parched, you see. Would you like anything?" Kingsley asked with a grin, though the question was laced with concern that Davie could not handle this on her own. Davie, however, was foolhardily willing to meet Lucius Malfoy head-on. A waltz had just begun, and Davie stepped out of Kingsley's hold and nodded slightly for him to get a drink. There was briefly something like reluctance, but he obliged, leaving Davie to step into Lucius Malfoy's hold, placing his gloved hand firmly on her waist.

"You're looking rather well," Lucius said as they began maneuvering with a deceptive level of grace across the dance floor, weaving easily through a few other dancing couples. "I must say, I'm surprised. I'd heard terrible things about the hostage situation in Bulgaria - so fortuitous that Shacklebolt found you when he did. He took you in straightaway, then?"

"He did."

"You've had an illustrious lovelife, if I'm not mistaken," Lucius continued nonchalantly, which made Davie all the more uncomfortable in his grasp. "You were involved with Romnic Digby at one point as well, weren't you? It's a pity what happened to the young man," Lucius added with an unconcerned shrug. "He showed such potential, all lost - you were the one to find him, if I recall correctly. He's still being kept in St. Mungo's, isn't he? Confunded?"

"He is," Davie said simply, and for the first time in a good while, she thought of Romnic, who was only in the position he was in because he had wanted to help her in their seventh year at Hogwarts. "I've been to see him."

"And Kingsley doesn't mind you constantly being in the company of a former sweetheart?" Lucius asked, his voice laced with ulterior accusations - Romnic was not the only former sweetheart in question. Davie fought the urge to strike Lucius hard across the face in front of everyone.

"Kingsley and I trust one another completely," Davie said with utmost honesty, as she did place her trust in Kingsley as a friend and member of the Order. "He has no reason to question me, just as I've no reason to do the same to him."

"I suppose you managed your fairy tale after all, Miss Maddux. Funny, though," he said, and his grip on Davie's hand tightened slightly. "I've been working closely with the Ministry for a good while - since before you departed for Bulgaria, I believe - and I had never been under the impression that you and Shacklebolt were close by any means. I was under the impression that you departed out of - grief, was it not? Over Sirius Black's incarceration?"

"I was also only twenty years old - I'm sure there are a few people in this room who at that age were guilty of far greater wrongdoing than falling in love," Davie replied airily - it was no secret, after all, that she was sharing the ballroom with at least half a dozen Death Eaters. This was the Davie Maddux that had made a name for herself years ago, who paid no heed to warnings to censor herself, deigning to offhandedly assert opinions that could very much be perceived as accusations - it was why Mad-Eye Moody had grown somewhat fond of her. The same could not, however, be said for Lucius Malfoy, whose jaw momentarily clenched, not having expected the remark - nor the one that followed.

"I don't suppose you're a stranger to wanting to escape choices you've made in the past, are you, Lucius?"

He discreetly drew her closer as they danced so that he was practically staring at her down the bridge of his nose, his expression unreadable, and while Davie refused to allow her expression to give it away, she felt a slight pang of worry that she might have gone too far, which was not good for either her or Kingsley - or Sirius, for that matter.

"I do hope you're very careful where you step, Miss Maddux. I have heard there are a few of the wrong sort on the loose lately," Lucius said coolly, taking her into an abrupt three-point turn on the dance floor. "I wouldn't want you having another run-in with anyone who would want to do you harm."

Another.

The word, however cryptic, stood out in Davie's mind for all things it could possibly mean. Was it a simple warning to stay out of his way? Or a warning that he knew more than he let on?

The exchange of cryptic threats was cut short, however, when Davie felt a hand on her shoulder, and felt immense gratitude to turn around and find Kingsley interrupting the dance, gently pulling her away from Lucius.

"I hate to interrupt, but Davina will need to return home shortly - she's still on regular doses of potions for her injuries," Kingsley added, addressing Lucius directly before returning his attention to Davie. "Are you ready to go?"

"I suppose I am," Davie said with a calm nod, still looking at Lucius. "Mr. Malfoy, it was a pleasure speaking with you this evening. I do hope I have the pleasure of meeting with you again."

Especially it involves putting you in shackles and throwing you in Azkaban. I would love nothing more…

With that, Kingsley put a protective arm around Davie's shoulder's and after the obligatory farewells, they left the gala and followed the exit plan they had designated - returning to Kingsley's home in case they were being followed, and take a Portkey back to Grimmauld Place, hidden under thick trees opposite the house. They glanced around to make sure no one was loitering around the street to see them before darting across to the opposite walk and opening the front door.

Immediately upon entering, Sirius descended upon them, grabbing a fistful of Kingsley's robes at the shoulder and yanking him rashly away from Davie, his eyes glinting angrily.

"You handed my fiancee to Lucius Malfoy. Like a bloody birthday present," he growled ferally, giving Kingsley a hard shake as Remus hurried over to pry them apart. "It didn't occur to you that he might want her slightly, you know - dead -"

"There's no might, Sirius - I don't think there were many people in that room that wouldn't wish me ill, and I'm sure they want worse for you. And in case you forgot, they're after you." Davie interjected, stepping closer. "That was the point of going, to confront them and cover our tracks. You agreed to this."

"I didn't agree to you being groped by Lucius Malfoy."

"Is that really all that matters to you? Did you even hear him, Sirius?" Davie said, running a hand through her hair and pulling out the barettes pinning it in place. "I don't know how much he knows, Sirius, but at least now we know to be careful -"

"Now that we've cleared the Minister's suspicions about Davie, I can go through with the plan to say that you're hiding in the mountains of Albania," Kingsley pointed out calmly, straightening his robes. "Your hiding place will still be safe -"

"Oh joy. I can stay here, then. Excuse me while I express the measure of my relief." Sirius interrupted flatly, at which Davie reached out and gently grabbed his arm. Sirius, however, did lot allow himself to be assuaged. "You're not going to shut me up this time, Davie, that's what you've always done - talked me into letting you do things that are going to get you killed -"

"I've been doing this for years! Just because you haven't seen it -"

"Oh, right, sorry! My fault!" Sirius sneered snarkily, and Kingsley glanced at Remus as though he could provi"de some sort of solution to the situation. Remus knew very well, however, that any conversation was futile until the pair had said everything they had to say. "I told you years ago that you never had to be afraid because I was going to protect you - well, it half came true because all of a sudden you're not bloody afraid of anything, with or without me -"

The argument, however, was interrupted by a loud crackle from the fireplace, where Mundungus Fletcher's face appeared in the embers. Everyone moved over to the fireplace quickly, forgetting the issue momentarily.

"News, Dung?" Davie said, nudging past the taller men to make sure she had an alright view of the fire. "You weren't meant to be checking in yet."

"Harry and his friends - the Hog's Head -" he panted tiredly, though the slight drawl in his voice indicated that he'd been having a few mugs himself. "I'm on my way there, hold on -"

"No, you bloody idiot, you're going to tell us now -" Sirius growled, but before a threat could be made, Mundungus disappeared from the fireplace. Sirius growled angrily, and Davie clapped a hand to her forehead, turning to face Remus and Kingsley.

"You know, I knew it was a mistake to keep him on the job," Davie said, livid. "If he walks through that door and tells us something's happened to Harry on his watch again, the both of you need to hold Sirius back because I want the first shot at him - and he may be in too pieces for anyone to take a second."

And at that moment, there was a loud pop outside, followed by the entrance of the short, stubble-covered man. As he noticed the four others converging upon him, Mundungus held his hands up defensively.

"Oy, oy!" he yelped, and the instant he opened his mouth, the whiff of firewhiskey clouded around him, causing Davie to wrinkle her nose in distaste and sneer quite openly. "I only came to tell you, Harry and his friends have something up their sleeve - I was in the Hog's Head earlier today -"

"You? Drinking? Fancy that," Davie interrupted.

"-and he and his schoolmates were meeting. They're - they're putting together a secret group - a - a -"

"A secret group," Sirius repeated, looking intrigued as well as confused at the statement. "Like what? A chess club? An Exploding Snap tournament?"

"They - they're going to do things - things that -" Mundungus struggled to say, punctuated by suppressed hiccups. "Thing that they can't - things -"

"Oh, they're going to do things!" Sirius said, clapping his calloused hands together and giving a bark of a laugh. "Of course, that's far more dangerous than doing nothing, isn't it?"

"I didn't want to have to do this, Dung, but since we need you to straighten out," Davie said, pulling out her wand and pointing at him. "Perculsus."

A small burst of light that looked like a tiny bolt of lightning hit Mundungus in the stomach, and he gave a grunt, stumbling backwards a bit. However, when he straightened out, he shook his head vigorously, and the alcohol-induced stupor seemed to have subsided at least somewhat.

"Didn't need to be so harsh," he sneered, narrowing his eyes at Davie and rubbing the spot where the spell had hit him. "Potter and the others are forming a secret Defense Against the Dark Arts group. They call themselves - Dumbledore's Army -"

"Brilliant!"

Three heads turned in surprise when, completely unplanned, Sirius and Davie had spoken up in unison. The pair, in turn, turned to look at one another and felt the wedge between them from the earlier argument dissipate slightly.

"You - you actually think -"

"Well, of course, it's risky the way they've done it," Davie added, scratching the back of her neck gently as she thought momentarily about the fact that they had conducted this business out in the open. "But we weren't much more legitimate when we formed the Order, were we?"

"We had Dumbledore," Remus pointed out.

"So do they. Dumbledore will stand by the whole lot of them, I know it," Davie explained, and Sirius felt his heart well up with pride at the fact that Davie was for once defending something they both agreed upon. She quickly glanced at him and gave him a small smile before turning back to the others. "I'll have Sirius speak with him, tell him to be more careful - but as - as his godparents, neither of us is going to discourage him."

Sirius felt the sides of his mouth curl into a smile at the reference to Harry as their godson - for all the anger he had felt only minutes earlier, this brief reminder of the old Davie was enough to dissolve it completely.

"Did we expect him to just go along with that Umbridge toad? James Potter's son, take orders from an amphibian?" Sirius asked as though there were no question to the issue whatsoever.

"Sirius and I will speak with him," Davie repeated as Remus still looked skeptical with Sirius' reasoning. "I'm sure he can handle himself, Remus - he's a smart boy, and his friends wouldn't let him get himself into any trouble he couldn't get out of."

And finally, a smile was shared between Remus, Sirius, and Davie - they were no stranger to that sort of friendship.


A/N's

So, I know it may seem like nothing of great consequence happened in this chapter, but there is a small bit of foreshadowing as to what's going to happen a good while down the road.

IslingtonAngel, don't feel bad about laughing at work. I've worked writing a bit of this story while at work and had inexplicable facial expressions. People get used to it. AddictedToPotter, good to see you back reviewing! EmilyRae92, I'm unfortunately still following OOTP as far as what happens to Sirius, but he still is in the story and makes and appearance at the end - not as a ghost. You'll have to stick with the story in order to see! My heart breaks every time I think about having to actually write Sirius dying, and all of the reviews have admittedly made me waver a couple times, but I'm trying to keep my nerve.

Also to those who favorited/subscribed: Lulu14168, thecompletebookworm, Edwardlvr2317, nightworldangel, fruityloops156, and Newbie37.

I hope to hear from more reviewers this go round as well, since it's the weekend. The next chapter will be up between Sunday and Wednesday, depending on when I feel happy with it. That chapter will have some bits directly out of OOTP, except with Davie's presence added.

I'm also still considering doing an AU sort of story after I finish this one, detailing what would have happened if Davie had married Sirius way back when he'd first asked, when Lily and James were alive. I'm still considering writing it, but I'm not entirely sure how interested readers would be. I know I mentioned this a while back and received a few positive responses, so I thought I would let you all know that it's still a possibility. I've been posting hints about updates and whatnot on my Tumblr account now and again, so if you'd like to be in on that, my username is "vickytorious".

Also - last note! I'm going to watch the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie tomorrow! I know that's completely out of this fandom, but I'm quite excited. Anyway, I hope you're looking forward to the upcoming wedding in the next few chapters! Until then, cheers!