Chapter Twenty-Six
"Sirius, Davie, get up -- Dumbledore's just been in touch, we need to go --"
"What?" Davie said, rubbing her eyes sleepily and sitting up in bed, wearing a pair of corduroys and a nightshirt to combat the unusual chill; she shook Sirius awake next to her before she got up, slipping into her shoes and awaiting an explanation from James, who was standing in the doorway alone; he spoke in a hushed voice, and Davie could already tell that he was doing so to try and keep this from Lily.
"Just the three of us - we'll leave the others with Lily," James said urgently. "It's Voldemort - in a town not far from here. Just -- come on."
Davie barely had time to roll up the sleeves of her flannel nightshirt as she and Sirius dashed off quietly after James out the door - James by broomstick and Sirius with Davie on his motorbike, they proceeded to take off, not even noticing a figure in the doorway upon their departure.
"Why did we leave Lily?" Davie yelled over the roar of the wind, just barely making herself audible to Sirius as she clung tightly to him from behind on the seat of the bike. He didn't speak, but Davie felt him shrug his shoulders, just before they spotted James on him broomstick starting to descend; Sirius followed sharply - they found themselves landing in the plaza of a wizarding town, though there was something very strange that they spotted, even only with the light of the Dark Mark in the sky.
In the middle of the plaza was a large statue that was unlike anything they had ever seen before - it was solid black, and glinted eerily. The statue was one of a man, with a large stone placard at his feet.
GELLERT GRINDELWALD
Purity Will Set Us Free
The statue itself was intimidating, ominous - but it was not evident why the erection of a statue would warrant sending up the Dark Mark in the middle of the town. Davie was the first to notice the strange oblong shaped littered at the feet of the statue - in the dark, from a distance, they looked a bit like large rocks. Seeing no harm remaining in the situation, James began taking a few steps forward before Davie, whose eyes were squinted in the darkness, shot an arm out in front of him to stop him. "Draw your wands. Merlin --"
Davie's breath hitched when just the right glint of the light made it evident to her what the shapes were -- they were bodies. The clothing they were made it clear that they were Muggles. Davie turned to Sirius, mostly to check that he'd drawn his wand, but before she could speak to him, a loud whirr and a violent black blur rushed past them, and the familiar hooded figures formed a line in front of them, facing them ominously.
"Don't move," one voice hissed - by now, it was of little consequence to differentiate between them. "The Dark Lord has been awaiting the opportunity to speak with you --"
"Go to hell," Davie spat venomously, her wand arm outstretched despite the fact that Sirius tried immediately to pull her back. "We don't want to speak to your Lord, you bag of --"
But, with a loud yelp, she was hoisted into the air by her ankle at the nonverbal spell of one of the Death Eaters - and a flash of eerie red light in their midst made it evident who had arrived. The figure that appeared compelled the rest of the hooded figures into silence - Sirius' jaw clench and he immediately raised his wand to reflexively protect Davie, but Davie, still dangling in mid-air, waved her wand and disarmed him. He looked up at her in a strange mixture of fury and fear and confusion.
"It is a shame," came the high-pitched, inhuman hiss that they recognized immediately; even as the blood was rushing to her head, Davie felt her skin prickle. "The Madduxes were an exceptional bloodline - and now, because of your cheek," he hissed, stepping dangerously close to Davie with his wand pointed lazily at her, "It may very well one day be brought to an end. Cruci--"
"FLAGRATE!"
Everyone turned at the sudden appearance of another female voice - James looked equal parts relieved and horrified when he realized that Lily had somehow pinpointed their location and apparated after them - the plume of flame that issued from her wand spliced through the red beam of the Cruciatus curse, and at the same time, momentarily blinded the figures enough that Davie was released and fell the ground on her back; Sirius scrambled over to her to make sure she wasn't hurt. The long string of fire continued to swirl until it rebounded in its course and sliced through the midsection of the statue; the top half fell and shattered as it hit the ground like a block of black ice.
"Lily!" James yelled over the rumble, "Merlin's sake, you aren't supposed to--"
"Silencio." Voldemort hissed calmly at James, not even showing a single sign of being perturbed at having the Muggleborn witch stop his spell. Instead, he pulled down his hood and looked back and forth between the Potters with a cruel, animalistic smile.
"Twice, you have directly defied me," he continued to grin as he stalked towards them. "And twice, you have found your defiance fruitless in halting my rise. Understand this --"
Voldemort tucked his wand away in a strange gesture, instead pointing a gnarled finger towards them - Sirius had an arm wrapped around Davie in a gesture that was not comforting, but one the was keeping her from lunging forward and doing something stupid again.
"You are not dead," Voldemort continued in a tone that appeared almost as though he was trying to hold back laughter, "because I have not yet found enough reason to kill you. You are no exceptional power - you are mere nuisances upon whom I do not wish to waste the effort in obliterating."
Voldemort lowered his arm and stared piercingly at Lily and James, a cruel and humorless smile curling on his lips. Then, he turned with dark sort of grandiosity to his followers, and with a single motion, singled them all to apparate away before there was time for any rebuttal.
"Haven't you figured out what happens when you bloody open your mouth at times like these? Every time, ever since we were in school!" Sirius said, his voiced mixed with fear and outrage as he held Davie by the shoulders, looking as though he were about to shake the petite young woman. "And you must be bloody mad, taking my wand when --"
"I can't believe you left me!" Lily said shrilly, jabbing a finger into James' chest, though he voice shook in understandable anxiety following this encounter. "You think I'd be afraid of some bloody statue? You thought I couldn't --"
"Can you blame me, Lily?" James said loudly, sounding genuinely perturbed for one of the very few times ever. "Can you blame me for wanting to protect my wife? From that?!" James roared, jabbing a finger in the direction of the broken statue, though his gaze never left Lily's. "They want to kill witches like you --"
"Witches like me!" Lily said shrilly, throwing her hands up and turning away from James. "You and Sirius really are best mates! Just alike, you are! I was the top of our class, and Davie's an Auror, and you're treating us like children -- come on, Davie," Lily said, striding over and yanking her friend out of Sirius' grasp. "We need to -- we need to do something about these people," she said pulling Davie over to the bodies of the dead Muggles at the feet of the statue - most of them, as was now evident, had been killed by the Avada Kedavra; they were dead with their eyes wide open.
"I don't know how we're supposed to -- to sort through this," Davie said stiffly, kneeling next to the body of a woman and closing her eyes with the tips of her fingers. "There have to be at least two dozen - we couldn't possibly identify them all and bring them - Lily?"
A muffled sob next to her signaled Davie to stop speaking and look at her friend, who was crying profusely while looking at the corpses. Davie felt insensitive for not being quite as affected as her friend, and she paused next to Lily, reaching out and touching her friend's shoulder.
"We have to bring them home. Someone -- someone deserves to know what happened to them. They deserve to be able to -- to say goodbye," Lily stammered shakily, rubbing her eyes, and suddenly, Davie felt incredibly dull for not thinking that Lily may be reminded of her parents, who had never been found. Davie let out a breath, a pained expression crossing her face.
"We'll -- we'll do the best we can," Davie assured weakly, though she wasn't sure what they could do for a bunch of dead Muggles. Even if they could be identified, what could they do to explain the deaths without breaking laws about keeping the wizarding world a secret? "We'll try --"
"No. You won't." James said, and suddenly, he and Sirius strode up behind the two girls with their arms crossed, looking a bit like bodyguards in their posture. Both girls were momentarily speechless, and then, both turned to face them incredulously.
"You two are going to go home before anything worse can happen," Sirius said, raising his eyebrows as he spoke as though he were reprimanding a younger child. "And Prongs and I will handle --"
"You expect me to let you handle it?" Lily said, standing up at facing both of the boys despite the fact that they were considerably larger than her. "You expect me to just go home and -- and --"
"I expect you to take care of yourself, if not for your own sake, then --"
"Then for whose, James?" Lily said shrilly, turning directly to her husband, her green eyes glinting angrily. "For yours? I'm supposed to give up everything I've been fighting for just for you, because I married you--"
"FOR OUR CHILD!"
The silence that fell over the four youth was thick and nearly suffocating as the words set in. Davie stood up from where she had been kneeling and placed a hand on Lily's shoulder, turning the red-haired girl gently to face her.
"Lily," she said gently, unsure of how to approach her friend in this delicate situation - indeed, Davie looked at her best friend as though she were liable to spontaneously combust. "You're -- you're --"
And suddenly, Lily's face reddened, as though she had suddenly become very embarrassed about something. She placed her hand on her forehead, sighing heavily, then looked back at Davie - it seemed Davie was the only one among them she could manage to look in the eye at the moment.
"I -- I suppose this was stupid after all, then, wasn't it?" Lily asked hesitantly, to which Davie responded with a soft smile. "I just didn't want to be left behind while you were all out here, and Remus told me --"
"Remus told you where we were, eh? Convenient." Sirius interrupted brusquely, and Davie looked at him on the verge of exasperation - in recent months, he had become so paranoid, so possessive, so watchful, especially when it came to Remus - as if the boy had given them a reason to revoke their faith in him. "Did Moony know about your condition --"
"Sirius, stop it," Davie said, stepping in front of him. "I don't know why you don't trust Remus, but --"
"You don't know why? When he's been conveniently absent or tardy whenever we've --"
"We're not going to talk about this now, Sirius," Davie said resolutely, her eyes narrowed. "Let's take care of them and go home. We ought to be happy --"
"Don't expect me to forget that you came out here too, and you did something stupid --"
"I'm not going to argue with you right now, Sirius," Davie harrumphed. "If you want to --"
"Just lay off her for tonight, Padfoot," James said, clapping his friend on the shoulder. "She's right - let's take care of this and go back home." James stopped, and turned to Lily. "But you'll stop this, won't you? You'll listen to me once in a while, won't you?"
"I -- I will," Lily assented, wrapping her arms around her husband. "James -- I'm sorry. I oughtn't have come at all, you're right, but nothing happened."
"And nothing will happen," James said, holding Lily out at arm's length and planting a kiss on her forehead. "I swear to you, Lily, the only way Voldemort will ever touch you is if he steps over my cold dead body --"
"James, don't say --"
"-- and even then, I can't guarantee that my ghost will let him pass," James finished with a familiar, winning smirk. At this, Lily finally managed a weak laugh, which in turn garnered a small chuckle from Davie; the sound of Davie's laugh was finally enough to garner a smile from Sirius as well.
***
July the Thirty-First, Nineteen Eighty
"Everyone," James said, coming into the living room with a small bundle of receiving blankets in his arms - Davie and Sirius, Remus, Peter, Frank, Alice, and the McKinnons were all gathered in the room, waiting intently; Alice was already holding her infant son as well, whom they had named Neville. "I'd like you to meet my son -- Harry James Potter."
"Look at that hair," Davie said with a quiet laugh, immediately cooing over the small, sleeping baby boy. "He's going to take after his daddy and his godfather - the both of you are going to teach him to muss his hair up before the poor boy can even read. In fact, I'm sure Sirius is fixing to give him his first tub of pomade --"
"Don't be silly," Sirius chuckled, walking over as well and rubbing his hands over Davie's shoulders as though he were anxious about something as he was looking at Harry. "It's far too early for that, maybe --"
"How's Lily?" Davie chirped excitedly, interrupting Sirius by giving him a playful swat on his arm. "I thought you'd need to pry Harry out of her arms just to bring him out to see us."
"She's sleeping, that's the only way I got her to put him down," James said with a chuckle, but with the quiet volume of his voice, Davie didn't even need to wait for the shift in his tone to know that there was something he had to say to her.
"You know, I don't see why you and Sirius couldn't be godparents as a pair," James said gently, though they had previously had a very delicate conversation on the subject. "I mean, I know what you said, but if we're being impartial, I'd choose you to be an example for my son over Sirius -- no offense, Pad foot --"
"None taken --"
"James," Davie interrupted carefully, taking a glance around at everyone in the room before continuing. "I told you -- it's not that I don't want to. I'll always be here for you and for Harry and for Lily, in every way I can, but -- Sirius can tell you how reckless I am. If anything happens to me over the course of all this, well," Davie cleared her throat, scratching the back of her neck. "It'd be easier to not have to explain to him that his godmum's kicked the bucket --"
"Don't say things like --"
"I'm just being careful, Sirius - you know better than anyone I can't help myself when I get reckless," Davie said, trying to keep her expression even - this was a happy day and she didn't want an argument to taint it in any way. "Besides! You're Harry's godfather, and I'm your fiancee, I think that's good enough - heaven knows I'll be doing more of the babysitting anyway. You might mistake him for a Quaffle."
**
A/N's
Harry's here! Alright, so he's a newborn and can't talk much, but still - that means the story is progressing! It also means that even sadder times are ahead though, so I hope everyone is prepared. Enjoy everyone in their twenties while you can as well, because the time jump is coming!
Thank you to my new readers and subscribers: kitcool, passingwhisper, mika599, lilmisspurplesunshinee, Hikari no Hoshi, and Ithilya, and, especially to kitcool, Ithilya, and to dancingqueensillystring (who has been reviewing since near the beginning) for their positive feedback! Always makes my week brighter! I've been having a stressful time in real life, so getting feedback from my readers always puts a smile on my face.
The next chapter, we're heading for same very big changes, and I'm hoping to try and update more often, as school is slowly letting up and giving more time to write. Until then, cheers!