Chapter Twenty
Davie was sitting in her dormitory room, on her bed, for what was probably the last time she would ever see it. Mary Macdonald and Lily had already gone downstairs, but Davie sat and stared a short while longer.
It was the night of the graduation celebration for the seventh year students, which consisted of a ceremony by the lake, followed by a short carriage ride down to a banquet in Hogsmeade. The trunks in the dormitory were all packed and lined up at the foot of their respective owners' beds, and would be brought by the House Elves downstairs so that the students were not forced to take care of them the next day - the seventh years were given the option of staying at the school and taking the train, or, since there were going to be off of school grounds for the evening, apparating home. Davie would be returning to her family's home this summer while she waited for her NEWT results, the first time she would be spending time in the house alone. Lily had already asked her parents if she could stay with her friend this time around, and Mr. and Mrs. Evans graciously agreed.
Davie sat and stared at herself in the mirror for a bit -- she knew that Sirius would give her a hard time for being so sentimental, and so, she decided to let it all out beforehand. Davie was surprised how different she looked when she first arrived at the school -- she didn't look nearly as bug-like anymore, she'd learned how to wear her hair, she looked…more tired.
So much had happened over the course of seven years at Hogwarts, and the thought that they were still young and that more was bound to happen yet was something that Davie thought about more than most, after having lost so many people she had cared about.
***
"She's always late. Always the last one out," Sirius grumbled, staring up the staircase to the girls' dorms from his seat on the common room couches. "Always --"
"Sorry!" came Davie's voice from upstairs -- and seeing her, Sirius found his anger dissolving yet again. The years at Hogwarts had been transformative for all of them, but Sirius had never really thought of how much Davie had changed until now, when it hit him right in the face. She had left her hair down in waves that were nearly to her waist now; she was clad in a dark purple garment which draped gracefully over her shoulders, but most notable to Sirius was the fact that instead of brushing the floor loosely the way she had always opted for in previous years, the skirt of her dress stopped short of her knees, hugging her hips.
Davina Maddux was most definitely no longer a child.
"That bad?" she asked with a small laugh, tucking her hair behind her ear as she nearly pranced down the staircase.
"Yes. Terrible. Maybe you should just take it off, right now," Sirius said with a husky laugh, placing his hand on his girlfriend's waist and ducking as she took a wide, playful swing at his head for his comment - that, Sirius was relieved to tell himself,was clearly the same Davie he had always known.
The pair were surprisingly quiet when they were walking down the stairs toward the Entrance Hall - there were no staring eyes tonight. Everyone seemed to have retired to bed except for the Seventh Years. In fact, they seemed to be the ones doing most of the staring, occasionally pointing out a spot along the way that held some sort of memory -- the spot where Davie had hit Sirius in the nose with a hex, the spot where they'd argued after Davie set off a firecracker in Sirius' rear pocket -- so many of the memories, they noted with mirthful laughter, had involved them fully believing that they unequivocally loathed one another.
They reached the chairs set up outdoors where the students were seated in alphabetical order; Davie's heart sank slightly at the sight of an empty seat two seats away from Sirius and right next to Lily, left unoccupied in memory of Romnic Digby, whom they all assumed to be dead with how long it had been since he had gone missing.
"Finally out of here, then," Mary Macdonald said happily, taking her assigned seat next to Davie. "Going to be nice, isn't it?"
Davie was thoroughly enjoying the ceremony -- it was unlike anything that she had ever seen, with candles floating everywhere, and Professor Dumbledore's voice magically magnified everywhere. Each student was given a pin signifying their best class by its respective professor, and when Davie was called up for to receive a pin for Defense Against the Dark Arts, she gave her friends an elated wave. Remus, James, and Sirius had excelled in Transfiguration, Lily in Potions, and Peter in Charms - though calling anything Peter's best subject was not saying much.
Once everyone had settled back into their seats, Dumbledore's voice rang out yet again.
"I do not think any of you would disagree," he boomed warmly, "that none of us would be precisely where we stand today if not for our families. And so, I have a very special surprise."
Dumbledore clapped his hands together, then raised his hands towards a spot somewhere behind all of the students. They turned around and gasped a bit to see a sea of people holding candles, filing up the center aisle towards Dumbledore's podium to fetch medals that were hanging from thin air.
"Mum!" Lily said excitedly, spotting Mrs. Evans in the crowds - Dumbledore had invited members from everyone's families to the ceremony to participate. When Dumbledore requested all of the students to line up at the front of the setup the way they had lined up in the Great Hall for their Sorting Ceremony over seven years ago, Davie's heart sank. She didn't even need to scan the crowd to know that there was no one at the ceremony for her - she would be standing there alone, in front of everyone. Everyone would be staring at her again, just as she thought she'd escaped it.
All of the parents walked up and placed a medal with the Hogwarts crest around their children's necks. Both of Lily's parents attended, placing a proud kiss on their daughter's forehead. Remus' parents gave his sandy hair a ruffle, gazing at him with pride. The Potters embraced their son fondly -- their only son, their pride and joy no matter how much trouble he managed to get himself into. Peter's parents, an older couple as rotund and red-faced as their son, were present to beam at their son with extreme joy. Even Snape's mother, a thin, sickly, tired-looking woman, was there to place a medal on him with an awkward, reserved sort of affection.
The only one other than Davie, it appeared, who had no one present for them was Sirius Black, who was trying quite hard to look unaffected by the fact that his mother had made no effort to even come tonight, even though Dumbledore had no doubt sent her an owl about it. She would have no doubt, Sirius mused, come for Regulus.
Steeling her resolve, Davie walked over to the podium where the medals were, plucked one from the air, then walked over to Sirius, giving him a watery smile.
"You'll have to settle for me, then," she said, standing on her tiptoes and placing the Hogwarts medal around his neck. His expression was unreadable for a moment - he stared at her as though he didn't recognize her, but in that moment, with a lopsided smile, he realized that he completely and unequivocally loved this girl. He reached over for one of the medals and placed it around Davie's neck as well, wrapping his arms around her tightly -- Davie didn't expect him to say anything, of course. Such sentiment would be very un-Sirius indeed. It was more of an unspoken pact that each was all that the other had. Dumbledore had his gaze locked on them even more than the other students with a twinkle in his crystal-blue eyes.
"I have seen with my own eyes," Dumbledore began, calling everyone's attention back to him, "that all of you first came to this school so much younger and so much more moldable. All you entered this school, not knowing what you would become."
"I am filled with nothing for pride in all of you, whatever you have chosen," Dumbledore said gently, his gaze resting especially on certain students, including Severus Snape. "You will not be judged, or ridiculed if ever you wish to return here. You are still safe here, and welcome here, should you ever seek refuge. Should you find your path is more cruel than you expected, you may rest assured that you will find safety here, as you always have."
"I see many of you are shedding tears tonight, and understandably so - this is both the end and the beginning of a very important journey. For seven years, you have all walked along one wide road together. Now, that wide road breaks off into dozens of forking paths, the strands of which approach one another, bifurcate, intersect or ignore each other through the centuries--embrace every possibility. (1) And that is precisely what you must venture forth believing - your paths will cross if they are meant to cross. They will divide if they are meant to divide. It is not our place to say which will happen, only to do what is right, and wish one another well all the same."
"But you've heard enough from me, I'm sure," Dumbledore said with a chuckle. "You're anxious to enjoy another night with one another -- and so at the end of this commencement ceremony, I invite your new lives to -- commence."
Immediately, Davie rushed over and pulled her best friend away from Sirius, hugging her tightly - Mr. and Mrs. Evans held something out to her as well, wrapped in light blue paper. She thanked them warmly and accepted the present, unwrapping the package to find a small leatherbound book - it was a book of Muggle poetry that Davie had been enthralled with during her visit to the Evans' home the previous summer.
"Oh, I -- thank you," she repeated, hugging her best friend's mother and father happily. " It's wonderful!"
She opened the book to the first page she came across, and glanced at the words on the page, smiling as she started reading them in a quiet voice to herself. "The glory and the freshness of a dream -- it is not now as it hath been of yore --"(2)
"Mum, Dad, I want you to meet someone!" Lily said, grabbing James by the arm and yanking him over when he passed -- Davie looked up from her book and closed it over her finger to mark the page. "This is -- well, I've told you about my boyfriend, James," she explained carefully. "James, this is my mum and dad,"
"Ah," Mr. Evans said, reaching his hand out and firmly shaking James' politely outstretched hand. "Our Lily's told us about you. A bit of a troublemaker, I've heard --"
"Dad, he's Head Boy," Lily said, placing over her hand over her father's, which was still clasped in a vice on James' hand; James Potter looked elated beyond belief, however, that Lily Evans was actually standing up for him. For him! "And his marks are outstanding and --"
"I've been keeping an eye on them, Mr. Evans!" Davie piped up, for which Lily gave a grateful smile. "He's been on his best behavior, I promise."
And then, he smiled.
"A bit like me when I was young, then," he said with a chuckle, glancing over his shoulder at Mrs. Evans, who was demurely watching the entire scene in good humor. "Alright, you lot -- have a good time. Lily will be by to see you soon, yes?" he said, clapping Davie fondly on the shoulder.
As the teenagers all came together and started heading towards the carriages, Sirius slung his arm affectionately over Davie's shoulder and did not remove it the entire way down to Hogsmeade village - they could hear the music playing for their reception from quite a few meters away.
However, when they had sat down at the tables in the cleared high street of the village, Davie seemed surprisingly quiet, glancing around with a sort of melancholy expression on her face. When Sirius saw her gaze wander towards a table where some of the Slytherins were gathered, he gave a slight huff, placing a hand on her arm.
"You're sad because Digby couldn't be here," Sirius said in an unusually calm voice, but Davie still looked up at him with guilt in her eyes nonetheless. Sirius chuckled, shaking his head. "S'alright," he said, giving her arm a squeeze.
"You know, if he hadn't ended up in Slytherin, you may have been friends," Davie said with a short laugh before falling silent again. Noting that she wasn't really enjoying herself the way Sirius was accustomed to, he grabbed her hand, tugging for her to stand up.
"Let's dance," he suggested, nodding towards everyone else, and with a smile, Davie obliged. Before long, she felt much better -- possibly because the sight of Sirius dancing was comical enough to dispel any sort of worry she had.
"I never got to tell my dad he was right," Davie laughed as Sirius gave her a clumsy sort of spin under his arm. "I hated you when we were kids -- and I told him everything! I told him how much you irritated me, and you know what he said?"
"Hex that boy right between the eyes," Sirius suggested as he wrapped his hands back around Davie's waist. "Let him feel the wrath of those skinny little knees of yours, right where it hurts --"
"No!" Davie laughed, giving him a light, playful shove. "He told me, 'Davie, that boy fancies you!' and I laughed for nearly a week straight -- but look at us now --"
Davie froze at the sight of a sudden shift in Sirius' expression, looking at a spot behind Davie's head; she turned around and froze in surprise at the sight of Severus Snape, looking almost sick to his stomach at having to approach then, with good reason. There had never been a direct confrontations following the incident in the woods, but the hatred and tension any time there were in so much as the same corridor bubbled over quite tangibly.
"May I have a moment?" he grumbled.
"Not this again. Listen, Sniv--" Sirius began, but he was hushed by Davie's grip on his arm. Briefly scrutinizing the expression on her face, he cleared his throat. "Alright. A moment. Singular," he said, almost snarling at Snape before walking away. Once he was out of earshot, Davie turned to Snape with her arms crossed.
"What's this about?" she asked gently, trying to avoid any sort of scandal. "We both know we're not friends." Severus, however, looked at though he couldn't even justify coming over to speak with her in the first place.
"Give this to Lily," he said after a short while of hesitation, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a piece of parchment that was folded a few times, creased so heavily that Davie was surprised it hadn't torn. "Anytime over the summer - I don't care if I never receive any response. Make sure she reads it."
"Done," Davie said disimissively, plucking the note from his hand, her gaze remaining rigid. "Now that I have leverage, tell me -- are you the one who killed Romnic?"
"Me? Kill Digby?" Snape said, visibly snarling at Davie. "You're barking --"
"Are you?"
"No."
"Alright then," Davie said, stepping away from him quickly and nodding. "Goodbye, Severus."
Meanwhile, about a meter away, Sirius stood with Lily and James -- they hadn't seen Davie take the note from Severus, they didn't know what she had tucked away into the pages of the book she had received from Lily's parents.
"Oh," Lily said, looking quite perturbed at the sight of Davie with her former friend. "James, d'you think --"
"I think," James began, gripping Lily's forearm in assurance, "that Davie know what she's doing. She's alright."
"I don't trust him around her," Lily continued, shaking her head. Sirius was standing with his arms crossed, and he grunted in agreement. "He's very good at pretending to be trustworthy --"
"Davie!" James called out, holding up his hand in greeting as Davie approached. The petite girl ducked around Sirius and immediately hugged him around the waist; Sirius reflexively placed his arm around her shoulder, this time gripping her a bit tighter than usual as though to keep her from scurrying away. "We've been talking, and we want to be there when you get the results of your NEWTs -- all of us."
At this, Davie's face burst into a broad grin - she was absolutely elated at the idea of having company, of not having to be alone in her family's old home. She looked up at Sirius for confirmation.
"So, what do you say?" he laughed, beaming and resting his forehead against hers. "D'you mind if we invite ourselves into your home sometime this summer?"
"No! Of course I don't mind!" Davie squealed, letting go of Sirius with one arm and reaching out to hug Lily and James as well. "It's -- it's probably a complete mess since I've last been there --"
"D'you think we mind?" Remus asked with a chuckle, coming up from behind Sirius. "Better than the Shrieking Shack, that's for sure."
Davie continued smiling, though she had to dab at a tear in her eyes -- it was not so much the prospect of graduating that was making her cry, but the prospect of starting this new life with friends who saw her as herself, just herself -- and just-Davie was something that even Davie herself was not completely familiar with yet.
The Marauders, they were sure, were one group of friends that would never be split up. This was one friendship, they decided, was not going to change.
***
A/N's
(1) from "Garden of the Forking Paths" by Jorge Luis Borges - this is an AMAZING short story I read in a World Literature course last semester.
(2) from the poem "Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood"; Note the title! This poem (which I first heard in the movie "Splendor in the Grass" with Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty) is one of my sources of inspiration for this story. The poem will come up again later!
So back to the story, it's goodbye Hogwarts! The Hogwarts years were so fun to write because there's so much basis, and the structure for how things happen is so more clear - after Hogwarts, everything gets a bit more hazy, but that's where we're headed next!
Thank you to amrawo, Azulish, and dancingqueensillystring for your feedback! I'll keep this one brief and hopefully update soon! I'm working on proofreading my chapters, but it's been a bit slower lately with school and everything. I'm just so glad so many of you have stuck with me this far! I appreciate it a lot!
Next update, you'll have a whole lot more reading to do! I would expect it to be up on Friday perhaps, or Saturday at the latest! Until then, cheers!