Chapter Six

July the Fourteenth, Nineteen Hundred Seventy Six

Davina Maddux loved her parents dearly - loved them more than anyone else, it was safe to say. Her parents were the only people who made her feel like she was excellent in every way, that she was better than average. However, as much as she loved them, she hated when her parents were called out of supper for work - she hated having to eat dinner alone at home, considering she was only home for the summer and only had time to spend with her parents during the summer. Sometimes Davie jokingly accused her parents of doing it on purpose every time she volunteered to try and cook something at home. Tonight, she had tried making a roast turkey in celebration of her OWL scores that had arrived early that morning.

"We'll have an enormous dinner tonight!" Emerson Maddux had said excitedly, giving his daughter's hair an affectionate ruffle. "And maybe tomorrow, we'll go to Diagon Alley and get you a brand new owl, I think we have enough saved up."

"Oh, Emerson, don't be such a tightwad," Celesta laughed, hugging Davie tightly. "It's a bit tight, I know, but OWL scores are a once in a lifetime milestone, Em."

Emerson and Celesta Maddux were indeed loving, attentive parents - but they were also Aurors, and being an Auror's daughter often meant being home alone.

Evenings like these when her parents had to depart in the middle of a special occasion made her particularly grumpy, and she was right in the middle of penning an owl to Lily to express her displeasure when she heard a knock on the door. She rolled her eyes - her mother must have left the key behind, or dropped it while they were working. It had happened more than once, after all.

"When you're fighting Dark Wizards, you don't have time to think about where your keys are," Davie recited in a singsong voice as she scurried towards the door, recalling the excuse her mother always used when Davie opened the door for them. She sighed with a small laugh, resting her hand on the door handle. "Honestly, Mum, Dad, what would you ever do without me? Can't even -"

The smile faded when she opened the door and found, not her parents, but a pair of other Aurors - Davie did not know their names, but recalled having them over for dinner quite a few times.

"Mum and Dad running late?" she asked curiously. They merely stared at her for a moment with unreadable expressions - Davie noticed that they smelled like smoke, and their robes were faintly smudged with something dark red, almost brown. Blood…

"We're very sorry, Davie," one of the men said. "There was nothing we could do…"

September the First, Nineteen Hundred Seventy-Six

"Davie!" Sirius called out, darting through the crowd on Platform 9 ¾ after spotting a familiar head of long, dark hair bobbing its way onto the train. Truth be told, he had wanted to contact her all summer, but had either been busy arguing with his mother - things were getting particularly bad with her lately, to the point that he'd run away to stay with the Potters - or he simply didn't know how to speak to Davie about what he had heard about her over the summer.

It was all over the Daily Prophet, day after day, nearly for the entire summer - Celesta and Emerson Maddux had been killed in a Ministry raid on a suspected hideaway for a band of Dark wizards who called themselves Death Eaters; the hideaway had burned to the ground with Davie's parents inside. Sirius hadn't really felt right writing Davie an owl about his own complaints about his mother and his brother and Kreacher when her summer had clearly been far worse.

"Davie!" he repeated at the top of his lungs - which, for Sirius, was really quite loud. "Davie -" but she had already disappeared into the sea of people on the platform.

"Won't talk to you either?" James asked, approaching Sirius from behind. Sirius turned to face his best friend, who was staring at him with his arms crossed. "She won't talk to Lily either, not all summer -"

"How d'you guess that?" Sirius asked. James gave a slightly lopsided grin.

"She's been writing me this summer - nothing big," James admitted. "But you know, I live a few towns over from Davie, and Lily hadn't heard from her after seeing her in the paper. She wrote Remus too, quite a bit actually. Lily knows about his furry little problem now, actually. But nothing about Davie, so Remus suggested she ask me -"

"'Oh, my knight in shining armor!' was it?" Sirius imitated in a high pitched voice that sounded nothing like Lily - he grabbed the handle of his luggage cart and tugged it sharply. "She'll talk to me." And with that, he tromped purposefully onto the train to find where she had gone off to. It took nearly ten minutes to find her, sitting alone in a rickety, empty cart near the back of the train. He sat down next to her, using his wand to close the door and lower the shades.

"Had enough of the sunshine for one summer?" he joked lamely.

Davie merely sniffled sadly in respond, turning away from him.

"Davie, you can't keep hiding like this," he pleaded uncomfortably, trying to get her to even acknowledge him. He reached out and tilted her chin upward, and was caught by surprise to see faint dark circles appearing under her eyes as though she had not rested at all in weeks. "Davie -"

"Would you just shove off already?" Davie groaned weakly, pushing his hand away from her face. "Why can't everyone stop bloody staring at me? I'm just so - I don't want -"she let out a muffled sob and leaned into Sirius' shoulder, hugging him tightly. Taken aback, Sirius gave her shoulders a hesitant pat - how did one deal with crying girls? Giggling girls, sure. Swooning girls, even. But Sirius Black hadn't the slightest idea how to deal with them once they started crying.

"Well, I don't think your parents would have liked seeing you this way," he said - when the shaking in her shoulders stopped suddenly, he became worried that he had said the wrong thing. "And, you know, we're all still here, if you want to -"

"I just…" Davie began, sitting up straight and going slightly red in the face as she realized that she'd just been blubbering all over Sirius Black. "I don't know why everyone looks at me so strange because I'm not acting normally - how can they expect me to?" Davie asked, running a hand through her messy hair. She was terribly embarrassed to say the least - but, as Davie saw it, it couldn't get terribly worse. She leaned over, hugging Sirius again and sighing. "The whole time I've been at school, I never cared that no one noticed me when I wasn't with Lily. I didn't care. Now I'm all over the Prophet and everyone knows everything about me. They even know my middle name is Aurelia -"

"Well, I don't read the paper, it bores me - I still didn't know your middle name, if it helps at all."

"Git."

"That's normal, isn't it" Sirius retorted with a smirk.

Davie sighed sadly, adjusting herself and still remaining close to Sirius, something she had never done before. "Just the way everyone looks at me keeps me reminding me that nothing is normal," she said resignedly.

"Well," Sirius said with a light laugh as she rested her head gently against the inner concave of his shoulder. He couldn't honestly say he didn't enjoy this particular aspect in Davie's shift of attitude. Perhaps, he thought as he rubbed her back warmly, she just might start fancying him enough to be his girlfriend. "If you want, I can try to be as much of a git as I usually am. All the time. That usually makes you feel better -"

"-shut up," Davie laughed, shoving him lightly; her eyes brightened slightly at the unfamiliar sound of her own laughter.

"And." Sirius continued, "I think I know exactly where we can find a compartment full of people who would be more than willing to treat you normally."

Davie first gave Sirius a watery smile, then allowed him inexplicably to put an arm around her, leading her out of the car - some third years who wear passing at that moment snickered, seeing the pair of sixth-years emerging alone from a dark, locked car.

"Now we've done it," Sirius chuckled to himself, though he didn't call attention to it in order to avoid making Davie feel uncomfortable. He led her over to the cart where Remus, James, and Peter usually would be found, and both were surprised to see that although she looked slightly uncomfortable, Lily Evans had also joined them.

"Davie!" the red-headed girl said, running up to her best friend and hugging her tightly. "You've been so scarce this summer - I've been trying all month to ask you about your OWL scores!" Lily said enthusiastically, and immediately, Davie felt that things, as far as her friends were concerned were quite normal. "But, you know, I understand that you need time -"

"I just - let's not talk about it," Davie said with a small smile. "I just want to feel normal again, have things go back to how they ought to be. If my parents knew I was letting my marks slide, they'd never forgive me. Means you need to keep a closer eye on me," Davie said, nudging her best friend lightly.

As per Davie's request, the train ride continued as it usually would have. Sirius, however, looked unusually grump when Remus settled down next to Davie, and the two began cajoling one another with anecdotes. James looked equally as irked when Lily joined them, and they all began swapping OWL results.

"Davie!" Lily said in delight. "You got an E in Charms - your worst subject too! And all those O's except for - well, you didn't need Herbology anyway, did you?"

"You've got straight O's!" Davie said, staring at Lily's results in disbelief. "Though I shouldn't be surprised."

"You wanted to be teacher, didn't you?" Sirius interjected, scooting in next to Davie and trying to break into the conversation.

"Hm, I think so," she nodded noncommittally - it was what she had always expressed an interest in, ever since they were only starting in school. "That's why I want to take NEWT-level Ancient Runes. You know, the last thing we covered last year were the ritual sites of the ancient Greeks and Romans, and -"

"If you'd pay half as much attention in Charms as you did in Runes, you might just top the class," Lily joked.

"You girls need to slow down with all of this school business," James chuckled nonchalantly. "School hasn't even started yet, Mads," he laughed, flicking a tiny wad of parchment in her direction. "So, anyone for a game of Exploding Snap?"

October the Eighth, Nineteen Hundred Seventy-Six

"This is disgusting," Davie whined, up to her knees in water - Professor Slughorn had his NEWT-level Potions class wading in the lake, collecting tadpoles by hand. Davie had rolled up her sleeves and was swiping her jar through the water to little avail.

"You're such a girl," Sirius laughed, giving up on catching tadpoles and using his jar to splash water in Davie's direction; Lily and James looked on in amusement as well. Lily was slowly coming to tolerate James' company, though she justified it by saying that she just enjoyed how at ease Davie seemed around Sirius, and that she merely put up with James Potter as part of the package.

"Really? A girl?" Davie laughed, using her entire forearm to push a rush of water in Sirius' direction, so much that his hair was now wet and plastered to his face; his white shirt had started clinging to him in a way that seemingly attracted the attention of every girl in the class - except, to Sirius' chagrin, for Davie. Not receiving attention, as it turned out, brought out the worst in Sirius. He rubbed his hands over his wet hair, pressing it onto his face.

"Oy!" he said in a loud, taunting voice. "Remind you of anyone?" he nodded toward Severus, who was off on his own, and incidentally, filling his jar with more tadpoles than anyone else rather than messing around. Davie glanced at Lily, who had now taken to ignoring Severus Snape after the events of the previous year. Still, even without Lily to back her up, Davie glared at Sirius.

"Really, can't you be mature about -"

"About what?" Sirius chuckled, relishing in the attention he was receiving from everyone else, and, whether or not it was positive, from Davie. "About-"

"Sirius!"

"Oh, alright," Sirius laughed dismissively. "I won't bother - who'd want to start with him, all the Dark Magic he's gone and -"

SPLAT!

Davie's mouth hung open in surprised when she saw a large cake of mud and pond scum hit Sirius flat on the back of the head, with Snape glaring at him from a short distance away.

"Sirius, don't even," Davie said, wading quickly towards Sirius and trying to hold down his wand arm, glancing briefly at Severus, who hadn't moved - but Sirius was clearly much larger and much strong than Davie and extended his wand arm, yelling, "Diffindo!"

The spell hit Snape right in his left shoulder and the ripping of the material of his shirt was audible - for Davie, the scene appeared to happen in slow motion. Even from under the wet fabric of the shirt sleeve, Davie spotted something - was it a bruise or some sort of tattoo? - that she felt wary about. Before the ripped sleeve could slip off of his arm and onto the water, she did the first thing that came to mind.

"Flipendo!" Davie said loudly as she quickly drew her wand towards Snape - even Lily looked taken aback by her action, as Davie had never, ever personally taken part in doing anything of the sort. Snape went flying backwards into the water - but when he sat up again, he looked rather less angry - clutching the soaked sleeve to his arm, he ran off towards the castle amidst pointing and jeers,

"Well, look at you," Sirius guffawed, elbowing her playfully. "You couldn't help yourself either -"

"Oh, go get stuffed, Sirius!" Davie retorting, shoving him backward so that he nearly fell into the water. "I just did it because you'd look bad if you were the only one picking on him. Look! Even James is laying off of him -"

"That's sweet of you," Sirius said with a haughty grin, tipping Davie jokingly under a chin. Davie rolled her eyes in disgust, shoving him again unexpectedly so that he finally fell onto his back in the water as Davie, sopping wet and all, ran back up to the school in Severus' wake.

"Severus?" she called out, reaching the Entrance Hall and hoping that Mr. Pringle, the caretaker, didn't catch her tracking water onto the carpet. "Severus, my shoes are filled with pond scum, don't make me run after you any more, I couldn't think of anything else -"

"I understand." Severus stepped out from an alcove behind a statue once he had made sure no one had followed Davie inside. "You didn't need to help me."

"I know. And I'm not sure why I did," Davie said honestly, recalling how this time, not even Lily had stood up for him against Sirius. "But I can tell you're hiding something, and if you're not ready to tell it, it's no one's place to make you if you're not hurting anyone."

Snape paused, eyeing Davie with a strange level of suspicion before grabbing her by the forearm and pulling her into the nearest empty classroom.

"What did you see?" he said in a simultaneously infuriated and mortified voice, slamming the door behind him. "What did you -"

"I don't know what I saw," Davie said stiffly, crossing her arms and narrowing her eyes. "But I don't need to. I can tell you're hiding something, and I know it's probably dangerous. That's why you're worried," Davie deduced. 'Severus, you're not hurting anyone, are you? You're not hurting yourself -"

Severus inexplicably slammed his fist onto the nearest desk, effectively silencing the girl. His gaze on her was cold and cemented, but otherwise unreadable. His next words would not be of any more help.

"Don't feel sympathy for me. Don't help me anymore," he said stiffly. "I don't need anyone's sympathy, and I don't deserve yours -"

"Severus, you're not making sense," Davie interrupted, reaching out and touching his hand the way she had in the infirmary years earlier. Did she not understand, Severus wondered, that he was trying to get her away? "I don't know what you're on about, Severus," she began carefully, "But - well, try not to hurt yourself. I worry. We're sort of friends, aren't we?"

He bristled, yanking his hand away from hers, and to Davie's great confusion, strode out of the room without another word.

"What? Severus?" Lily asked, her eyebrows rising so high in incredulity that they nearly disappeared into her scalp. She and Davie were seated at a sofa in the common room, discussing something Davie had brought up about her encounter with Snape earlier that day. "I'm sorry - you think he fancies you?"

"Well, you didn't see how he was acting earlier," Davie asked, looking equally as confused. "I only asked him if he was keeping any secrets and he started acting like he couldn't wait to get away from me. It's very strange, and I can't think of any other reason for it."

"But I know Severus," Lily mused uncomfortably, then added, "I don't think he's the sort to fancy anyone, even you -"

"Snape? And Davie?" came a voice approaching from across the room. Davie's expression tightened when she saw the Marauders had already entered through the portrait hole. It was Sirius who had spoken up, clearly perturbed at the conversation he had walked in on. "Blimey, Davie, is that why you won't date me?" he taunted. "Moved on to - browner, wilted, greasy pastures -?"

"Oh, go get knotted," Davie said, rolling her eyes and giving Sirius a shove when he tried to sit down next to her, though this was admittedly much more good-natured than the way she had shoved him at the lake.

"You can't resist my charm forever," Sirius chuckled, slinging his arm lazily over Davie's shoulders. The dark-haired girl simply rolled her eyes.

"Well, look at the two of you," Lily laughed, too amused to even protest when James started leaning on the back of the couch right behind her. "You do make a handsome couple, don't you?"

Davie's eyes shot upward, shoving Sirius' arm away - she smirked at Lily, then crossed her arms. "Almost as handsome a couple as you and James, don't you think?"

"Oh, please!" Lily laughed, shaking her head. "James knows I'm simply tolerating him for the sake of civility - don't you, James?"

"Mm," he said noncommittally - and even Lily was surprised at the absence of a witty retort on his end. What had happened to him?

A/N's

Another chapter! I know I really haven't written much of the Madduxes, but as characters, I did feel quite attached to them because I'd imagined them as such nice people. But you know - for the sake of a good story, someone's always got to be the first to go.

Thank you to Jokegirl for making her presence known via review again! At the risk of beating a dead horse, I love repeat-reviewers! Hint!

In any case - I've been on an updating streak for a good while lately, but the next couple chapters are going to need a bit of reworking - the next chapter contains a few big things that I want to make sure I've done completely to my liking. It's just going to mean that you'll have a two days wait or so between chapters, rather than new ones every day.

Cheers!