Chapter Forty-Six
Early the Next Morning
Davie took Sirius' suggesting of only a few brief hours of sleep to heart, as at around four o'clock, she shook him awake and insisted upon keeping an eye on the sleeping teenagers in the living room. Unable to help feeling good-humored at her motherly protectiveness, especially over Harry, Sirius obliged, albeit groggily.
They stepped outside to find Harry awake but close to dozing, though his expression shifted to one of wakefulness when he saw them. Davie sat down next to him as Sirius stood behind the armchair he had settled into.
"You holding up alright?" Davie whispered warmly, and Harry felt as though he'd been sprayed with ice water at the motherliness of the tone that now, more even than Molly Weasley's mothering tone, made him feel that he was not quite as much of an orphan as he had always thought.
"I'm fine," he said briefly. "I - I just -"
Davie gave his shoulder a pat when he couldn't quite explain what he was thinking, and for a short while, they remained in the living room, sitting in silence until suddenly, the door gave a loud creak, and Molly Weasley appeared in the room, immediately causing everyone to wake from their varying levels of slumber.
"He's going to be alright," Molly explained, looking pleased but incredibly exhausted, and a cloud seemed to dissipate from over the room. "He's sleeping. We can all go and see him later. Bill's sitting with him now, he's going to take the morning off work."
The inhabitants of the room expressed their relief, reclining and exhaling deeply, save for Sirius, who clapped his hands jovially and suggested -
"Breakfast!" he bellowed. "Where's that accursed house-elf? Kreacher!"
No answer.
"KREACHER!"
Davie's brow furrowed slightly when the elf did not respond, but Sirius did not seem at all perturbed by it, instead hurrying to prepare breakfast himself. When Davie saw that Harry had gotten up to help, and to leave the Weasleys to rejoice on their own, she followed them into the kitchen.
At first, they began preparing plates of food in silence, until surprisingly, Harry was the first to speak up in a rare moment of candor.
"If I tell the both of you something, you won't tell Mrs. Weasley or the others, will you?" he asked in a near-mumble. "I don't know if - they might -"
He swiped at the front of his hair in frustration in a manner which resembled James so much that Davie and Sirius could not help but share glance behind Harry's back before he turned to face them.
"I did it," he said suddenly. "I was the snake, I attacked Mr. Weasley."
"What?" Sirius said reflexively. "Alright now, Harry, I know you haven't had much rest, but you're letting your imagination run away with you -"
"No, you don't understand, in the vision - I wasn't only watching. I was the snake," he said, his voice sounding suddenly fearful, both at Sirius' response and Davie's lack of one. "I was the snake," he repeated. "I felt it - I knew what it was feeling, I wanted to attack Mr. Weasley, but I would never - and Dumbledore. For a moment, before we came here, I wanted to attack him, and my scar hurt -"
"You need to rest," Sirius insisted, though Davie still remained silent. "And it was probably only the aftermath of the vision, Harry. Come on," he said, picking up one tray and heading back into the living room, eager to return to all the company he had in his house. Harry, however, lingered behind and glanced at Davie, waiting to see if she would respond. When Sirius was out of earshot, Davie took a few hesitant steps closer to him.
"You don't think I'm - I'm turning evil, do you?" Harry asked, looking genuinely fearful.
"No, Harry. Absolutely not," Davie said in a tone which suddenly gave Harry a sense of ease, even if only temporarily. "But this means you're going to have to be very careful - I'm not going to pretend to know exactly what happened, but I'm not going to hide anything from you. In fact," Davie said, turning and pulling out an amber colored, flecked eagle quill from one of the kitchen drawers, then pulling our her wand. "Give me your hand - I won't make you write lines, Merlin's honor," she added with an impish grin.
Harry extended his hand to Davie, palm facing upward, and he stared in wonder as she began muttering a very unfamiliar set of incantations, swirling her wand over his palm, which suddenly felt quite warm but glowed bright blue. Davie then tapped her wand to the tip of the quill which she had laid on the kitchen counter, which glowed brightly for a moment before turning a very steely blue-grey.
"Something I picked up in Bulgaria, only Dumbledore and maybe Severus will be able to get past it," she explained. "Anything I write to you with this quill can be disguised as anything else, and only the touch of your hand will decode it. This way, if anything urgent needs to be said, I can still reach you past that horrid Umbridge woman. I promise," Davie added. She tucked the quill safely back into the drawer, and gestured for them to rejoin the others. When Harry came back into the sitting room, however, he was immediately met with Molly Weasley sweeping into a hug. With a pleased smile, Davie squeezed past them, placing the tray with the other breakfast plates on the table in front of the children.
"I don't know what would've happened if it hadn't been for you," Molly sobbed into Harry's shoulder. "They might not have found Arthur for hours, and then it would have been too late…"
"What did you tell him? Sirius whispered to Davie as Molly continued to thank Harry. Davie merely shot him an impish grin, which only made him more curious about what conversation had taken place between his godson and his fiancee. He had no time to press her further, however, before Molly wheeled around and immediately wrapped an arm around both of them.
"And thank you both for watching over them all," she sobbed, shaking her head. "Oh, Merlin - I don't know what we could've done if we'd had to wait until morning to get them out of Hogwarts."
"Don't be silly Molly, I'm glad to have them," Sirius grinned. "You all can stay for as long as you need to."
"Oh, Sirius," Molly continued, pulling away from the pair of them and rubbing at her eyes. "I'm so grateful - they think he'll be there a little while, and it would be wonderful to be nearer…Of course, that might mean we're here for Christmas… I don't know what this does for yours and Davie's plans…"
"We hadn't even had a chance to speak with Harry yet," Sirius said, and suddenly, Davie remembered precisely what they were talking about. "Haven't had a chance to bring up the wed-"
"Sirius, now's not the time to talk about it," Davie interrupted, and his expression suddenly turned to one of questioning. Why did Davie not want him to bring up their wedding, he wondered, now that Harry and the others were all here, and they knew Arthur was going to recover. For Sirius, he could see no better time. Molly, however, seemed to have other issues in mind, and she placed a hand on Davie' forearm.
"We'll need your assistance, keeping with the story Dumbledore gave to Umbridge," Molly explained gently. "If you could come to St. Mungo's with us -"
"I can't intrude that way," Davie interrupted gently, shaking her head. "This is time your children deserve with their father, and I'd really rather not leave Sirius."
"We couldn't take the chance of exposing the fact that Dumbledore knew before the Ministry, so we've said that Kingsley was the one who told Bill," Molly explained. "And if they all believe you're staying with Kingsley, they'll expect you to know as well."
"You ought to go. You've been itching to get away, haven't you?" Sirius piped in, sounding suddenly a bit more sullen at the mention of Kingsley and Davie, paired with Davie's reluctance to mention the wedding. "Since it's what the Order needs."
Davie exhaled heavily through her nostrils, but did not attempt to argue with Sirius this time, merely glancing at Molly and giving her a curt nod.
After sleeping awhile, Harry, the Weasleys, and Davie departed for St. Mungo's, which left Sirius alone inside of Grimmauld Place for the first time in a considerable while. He hardly acknowledges Mad-Eye Moody and Tonks when they arrived to escort the group, looking visibly sulky.
Davie was nonplussed by the sight of St. Mungo's - it was nothing new to her, in any case, though the children had never visited the location. She had after all been just here a few months ago. She briefly wondered if Romnic had shown any changes, any progress whatsoever, but she quickly pushed the idea from her mind. They were directed by a bored-looking witch to the Dai Llewellyn ward on the first floor., the wing especially for serious bites. It was a bit ugly, compared to the more prominent wards, and housed only three patients. The only one of interest, however, was Arthur Weasley who happened to be sitting up and looking surprisingly healthy, given the circumstances.
Davie stood back from the Weasleys, who had crowded around his bedside as they pressed him for more details about where he had been and why he had been there - Davie and Molly shared a glance, and for once, Davie agreed that it was still not the time for the children to know about the Order was hiding from them.
"You were guarding it, weren't you?" George asked in a conspiratorial whisper. "The weapon? The thing You-Know-Who's after?"
"George, be quiet!" Mrs. Weasley said, reaching out and giving her son's ear a tug. Finding that talk about current events were doing nothing to change the subject, Arthur quickly shifted to a subject that Davie was not quite prepared to address.
"I don't suppose this ruins your plans, you and Sirius," Arthur said, and each redheaded face was immediately turned to face Davie, as well as Harry, who seemed immediately curious as to what his godparents were possibly planning without anyone knowing. "The children know the news, don't they?"
"It's hardly news," Davie murmured with a weak chuckle, scratching the back of her neck. "But you know, Arthur, it's really not the time."
"News?" Harry asked, brow furrowing. "Is something going on? You're not leaving, are you? Not because of what's been in the news about people knowing where Sirius is hiding?"
"No, no" Davie said, shaking her head. "We're not going anywhere, Harry, not to worry. We really oughtn't be talking about other things at the moment."
Molly and Arthur, however, were glancing at one another dolefully at Davie's reaction, and Molly glanced around the room at everyone.
"Children, could you step outside, your father and I need to speak with Davie a moment," she said gently, and a slight uproar arose among them, wondering what needed to be kept a secret. Molly, however, shooed them out the door and shut it behind them.
"Davina," Molly continued, reaching out and placing a hand on the woman's shoulder. "You can't honestly be considering putting off the wedding again."
"Well," Davie said, feeling a bit like a child as well at the moment while she was being chided. "Look at what's happened. I'm sure Sirius will understand. I just don't feel like it's the right time."
"I seem to recall a twenty-year-old girl saying the same thing fifteen years ago," Arthur said, and Davie was surprised that he, not Molly, was the one to mention it. "If this shows you anything," Arthur continued, looking at Davie as he reached out for Molly's hand, "it should be that the things we dread - they won't wait for the time to be right."
"I disagree with Sirius, many time," Molly added on, squeezing her husband's hand tightly in a display that made Davie's heart twinge longingly. "but the both of you have waited a very long time, and I don't think we can allow you to make the same mistake a second go-round."
Davie fell silent - she didn't want to admit that after fifteen years, she was still making the same excuses, but in the pit of her stomach she knew that Molly and Arthur were right. She cleared her throat, slightly uncomfortable.
"When I get out of here," Arthur said with his characteristic grin, "I'm going to wed you and Sirius, even if I need to confund you into saying your vows. Understood?"
"Mm," Davie said with a weak, noncommittal laugh. "I - I'm going to check on the children," she said, skittering out of the room before the pair could stop her. Molly looked at Arthur and sighed as Davie disappeared through the door.
"Not excused yet, Missy - Order business," came Moody's voice, before he and Tonks entered the room, bringing Davie back inside with them.
"There's news then?" Davie asked, crossing her arms over herself, her voice stiffening to the stark, professional tone that she reserved for strictly business. "About -"
"-they searched the whole area but they couldn't find the snake anywhere, it just seems to have vanished after it attacked you, Arthur."
"But You-Know-Who can't have expected a snake to get in, can he?" Molly asked.
"I reckon he sent it as a lookout," Moody growled. "'cause he's not had any luck so far, has he?"
"Shouldn't we expand our efforts, then?" Davie asked, forehead creasing in worry. "Stay in pairs. If Harry hadn't seen what happened and anything had happened to Arthur, then You-Know-Who would have been able to see everything."
"We only have so many people that we can place in the Ministry," Moody said, shaking his head fervently. "Arthur, Kingsley, you - the rest of us are too suspicious to have wandering around. Potter says he saw it all happen?"
"Yes," Mrs. Weasley replied in a low, nervous voice. "You know, Dumbledore seems almost to have been waiting for Harry to see something like this -" but Moody cleared his throat and jerked his thumb toward Davie, who's eyebrows leapt upward incredulously.
"What?" Davie asked, taking care to keep the volume of her voice down - she was in shock both at the fact that she was much more out of the loop than she had expected, when she had thought she was in the middle of things so much more than Sirius, and the fact that Alastor Moody, who had once so adamantly sung her praises as an Auror, was so fervently encouraging everyone to hide things from her.
"It's not because we don't trust you," Molly said, noting the color draining from Davie's face. "But - you and Sirius are a volatile combination, and we don't know if he'll keep his head straight if he finds out. And we know how badly you want to build a relationship with Harry, with how close you were to his mother -"
"That isn't the point," Moody interrupted brusquely. "There's something funny about the Potter kid, we all know that -"
"There's nothing funny about him," Davie hissed in protest. "Honestly, Mad-Eye, how are we going to protect Harry properly if even you assume that something's wrong with him?"
"I know he's your godson, but -" Mrs. Weasley began carefully, "you have to consider, even Dumbledore seemed worried about Harry when I spoke to him this morning."
"'Course he's worried," Moody snarled, leaning forward so that they were all in a strange sort of huddle. "The boy's seeing things from inside You-Know-Who's snake…Obviously, Potter doesn't realize what that means, but if You-Know-Who's possessing him -"
But at this, Davie stormed out of the hospital room, seeming very much like her old stubborn self as she allowed the door to slam behind her. She was too perturbed to even notice the teenagers outside scrambling to shove something back into Fred and George's hands, she simply walked over to Harry, who looked rather pale and almost ill. He looked up at her with a strange sort of confusion which Davie did not yet connect with him possibly having heard what was happening inside.
Davie did very little speaking as they left St. Mungo's, taking the train ride back and making their way to Grimmauld Place - Davie was still feeling a strange sense of shock as it sunk in that she wasn't nearly as important as she wished she could be in the Order. She was being purposely kept out of the loop, just like Sirius, just like Harry. Sirius and Harry were the closest she had to true family now.
When they reached the patch of grass outside of the house on Grimmauld Place and walked through the door, however, Davie stopped Harry by placing a hand on his shoulder and gently tugging him backwards as the Weasleys made their way inside.
"Could I have a moment?" Davie asked him, and there was a glimmer of fear in Harry's eyes, as though he expected to be given bad news, or asked to leave. However, Davie gave his arm a placating squeeze and shook her head. "It's nothing to be afraid of. I just wanted to share some news with you I should've mentioned a long time ago - it just never felt like the time, I suppose."
"What's going on?" he asked, brow furrowed in confusion. "Is this - it's not about -"
"It's about your godfather and I - we've wanted to tell you for a while now."
"You're not leaving, are you?" Harry asked, suddenly looking quite desperate. "You can't leave -"
"No, Harry," Davie said, laughing and shaking her head gently. "Sirius and I wouldn't leave you, especially not now. But - with your blessing, we're going to get married."
"That's brilliant!" Harry said, his expression lightening for the first time that day. "Why do you need - my blessing?"
"We'd meant to speak with you a long time ago about this, but your approval matters to us - your dad would have been Sirius' best man, your mother would have been my maid of honor. We'd all promised one another a long time ago," Davie said, feeling her throat tighten slightly, her eyes starting to prickle a bit. "It would mean a great deal for you to stand for both of them."
"I'd - I - of course I will," Harry said, looking completely caught off guard and shocked. "You're really going to -"
"Come on, we shouldn't be seen out here for long," Davie with a lopsided smile, nodding towards the door. Obligingly, Harry went ahead of Davie through the door, and she shut the door behind her. They entered the sitting room to see Sirius staring at the both of them curiously, clearly wondering what had kept them - the vague smile of Davie's face did nothing but to give him more questions, until Harry hurried over to him and, for the first time in perhaps the whole year, embraced him with fervor.
"Congratulations, Sirius," Harry said, grinning broadly, and it immediately dawned on Sirius what Harry and Davie had spoken about outside. She'd told him - Harry knew about the wedding. This entire time, he'd been sure that Davie was going to back out again, but she had told Harry. Sirius stared at Davie though he was still being hugged by Harry, and Davie simply smiled placidly. Sirius found himself unable to suppress a lopsided grin.
"'Wos goin' on?" Ron asked, glancing at his brothers and Ginny, who all seemed equally confused at the sudden show of emotion. Molly, however, glanced at her children and clucked her tongue warmly.
"I hope you lot won't be too tired of celebrating after Christmas," she said with a broad, jovial smile. "Because we're planning - a wedding."
A/N's
You heard 'em! We're going to be celebrating a wedding! The wedding will actually take place over the course of two chapters because I want all of us to relish in some fluff and happiness before the story gets even heavier.
To fruityloops156, thanks for your review! I've gotten so many reviews wanting to spare Sirius - and they've come close a couple of times to getting me to change everything. However, even though I'm going to be following canon, it won't be the last time Sirius appears in the story. You'll all just need to wait and see for now!
Thanks to padfootlover109, Ashlyyy1234, Candyflutter, shopgirllaura, Befham, swantongirly, and Hyperidiot for favoriting/subscribing, and to Justine for always being so supportive of this story on Tumblr!
I want to get the wedding chapters posted soon, but I've had a lot on my plate lately. I'll do my best! In the meanwhile, reviews are always, always, always an incentive! Until next time, cheers!
