Chapter Thirty

July the Thirteenth, Nine Hundred Ninety-Five

When Davie finally awoke the next morning, she was still in the armchair, covered by a rather heavy wool blanket that was almost unpleasantly warm in the hot summer weather; the summer was, as the Muggle paper proclaimed it, one of the hottest that had been seen in the region in decades. The sun was already high and bright enough to creep through the closed shutters. Davie rubbed her eyes, glancing around tiredly. It appeared the house was empty, except for --

"You're up then," Sirius said, stepping out of the kitchen still clad in his nightshirt, effectively startling Davie with his sudden appearance - he, however, seemed unaffected by her jumpiness; he had a look about him that had either already had a bit to drink, or was still under the influence of what he had been drinking the previous night. "Molly left some food, but no one's going to be back until this evening."

"Mm." Davie nodded tiredly, sitting up carefully and taking the blanket off of her shoulders, looking down at herself and her torn clothes, still stained with blood from her wounds. The tender feeling running down her back suggested that those wounds, however, were still in the process of closing.

"The washcloset's down the hall."

"Mm."

"You're still a mess."

"Mmm."

"Well. I'm going to the kitchen then, since you're such a brilliant conversationalist." Sirius sneered almost childishly at Davie's blank responses. "I swear, you used to be summat' of a morning person."

Sirius then tromped into the kitchen, taking his time scarfing down an entire platter of pumpkin pasties, setting a plate of turkey wings for Buckbeak on the table for Kreacher to take, then pouring himself a drink. That, he felt, was more than enough time for Davie to get her eyes accustomed to the sun, stretch her sore limbs - whatever else was necessary for her to begin acting with the least bit of normalcy. Sirius was, however, very quickly disappointed when he returned to the receiving room and Davie was still in the same chair, not having moved an inch since his departure minutes earlier.

"You --" Sirius said in sudden frustration, slamming his tankard of pumpkin juice down on the table between them, sitting across from her. "Do you have some sort of problem that you refuse to even talk --"

"I've just been tortured, in case that evaded your recollection," Davie sneered hoarsely, her voice weak from days of disuse. "My sincerest apologies if I'm not feeling particularly chatty --"

"Not even glad to see me!" Sirius continued with hardly a pause, standing up and gesticulating upwards rather carelessly, so that his sobriety seemed even more questionable. "No, 'I missed you Sirius,' no, 'you look good considering you've been in Azkaban --"

"Well, what do you expect? You've let yourself go --"

"Look who's talking!"

"What part of 'I've been tortured' is so hard for you to understand?!" Davie said shrilly, holding a hand to her forehead as though she was nearly to the point of ripping out her own hair. "I don't want to talk."

Sirius froze, stooping forward and leaning across the table to face Davie. "Why not?" he asked with a humorless smirk. "I'd have expected you to at least do me the courtesy of a nice speech about feelings change and --"

"You know, I did my share of talking and feeling while you were in Azkaban."

"Is that what this is about?" Sirius said, throwing his hands up furious again. "Do you know what Azkaban in like? Do you --"

"Do you know what I did?" Davie asked shrilly, her forehead wrinkling in attempts to keep from crying in frustration; she leaned forward across the table so that she was just inches away from Sirius' face. "I was pathetic and lovesick and desperate -- I almost killed someone! I thought if I got myself thrown into Azkaban and we were there together, we could escape, and I --"

At this point, Davie froze, and the sudden openness towards Sirius fizzled away into nothing. Sirius shifted, grabbing her tightly by the shoulders.

"Davie," he said, looking eerily desperate to get through to her. "I heard you. Every time you came to Azkaban for me, I did, I --"

"I understand, now can we just --"

"Fifteen years and you still can't stop interrupting me," Sirius grumbled, and for a brief moment, it almost seemed like the natural reaction to laugh. "It wasn't about hurting you or forgetting you - I had to survive. I couldn't let myself realize it was you, Davie. I couldn't let that be another memory for the dementors to --"

"I said that I understand --"

"--take away from me. That was a memory I couldn't let them ruin --"

"One word! One sign, anything!" Davie said shrilly, her voice cracking as she finally succumbed to the harsh urge to cry while being faced with a situation she had avoided for years. She shoved his hands from her shoulders with as much force as she could manage. "You couldn't give me one single moment --"

"You think I wanted to --"

"No! Instead, you let a twenty-year-old girl think she'd lost everything in her life that was supposed to help hold it together--"

"I KNEW!" Sirius bellowed, reaching into the pocket of his nightshirt and pulling out a long, glittering object - the necklace he had given her in school, which she had returned to him the last time she had paid him a visit in Azkaban. This was clearly something she had not expected to see - her shoulders shook as she was momentarily unable to respond. "Every time, I knew you were there - but I couldn't bear for every memory of you I had to become a midday snack for a dementor, even if it meant I didn't get to remember them myself. I couldn't bear to lose you to anyone --"

"Well, you failed there, didn't you?

"What?"

"Do you realize," Davie said, her eyes clenched shut and her teeth gritted as she inhaled deeply, trying not to get carried away in the situation as she did so many times while fighting with Sirius before. They were no longer children. They were adults with issues to resolve so they could move on with their lives, Davie thought to herself. "That it broke my heart to pieces every time I walked through those doors, and you were begging to be let out, and I had found nothing that could help you? I remember every moment, every bloody moment will haunt me for the rest of my life because I promised I'd help you but I couldn't - I couldn't show myself to you after --"

"You haven't changed at all!" Sirius barked, his face still livid. "Did I realize how you felt? Not in the least - because you expect me to know everything you're feeling without being told, you expect me to read your mind!"

"I never--" Davie began after a brief pause, opening her mouth to speak before her gaze suddenly went unfocused; the sudden rush of emotion, the sudden exertion proved to be too much, too fast and she fell into a dead faint before Sirius could ever hear what she had started to say.

***

A/N's

Very short chapter, sorry! It was actually the beginning of a longer chapter, but after some thinking, I decided to divide them because it made the next chapter a bit too long.

Also, to any of my reviewers who have the time, I wanted to ask you guys which scene of the story so far has been your favorite, or which scene you've found most memorable. I just want to get a good idea of what sort of scenes my readers like most, so I can keep it mind during the editing process.

The last chapter, I was super excited to get a bunch of reviews so quickly, within the first hour or so of the chapter being posted.

To dancingqueensillystring, they can be really dull at times, can't they? I'm just giving Davie and Sirius a bit of the runaround, but of course, they still care about one another. Just dealing with a very dysfunctional relationship. And Harry will make his return in a few chapters as well - though if you'll recall, he wasn't a very cheery person in OOTP. To Ithilya, yes! I hope to have them sort things out soon too, though I'm trying to make sure not to rush it. It's sort of my pet peeve with some stories when everything feels rushed, so that's what I'm trying to avoid. Wateranddarkness666, thanks for all your feedback - I was hoping people wouldn't be too disappointed about the lack of a super happy reunion - Davie's been through a lot, as will be revealed, mostly through a lot of flashbacks in chapters to come. To lilmisspurplesunshinee, it was a bit sour of Sirius to walk out, but the poor guy didn't get the happy reunion he wanted either. They'll be warming up to one another again soon though! To passingwhisper, Davie was planning on doing something desperate, but she didn't go through with it - the reason will be revealed soon as well.

Also, thank you to Tristan's Lady Meg,tonidepp16, and Jordanjinxxer for favoriting and/or subscribing, and thank you to everyone for sticking with the story this long so far. I have a lot planned, and the story is almost completely planned out, it just needs to be finalized. I'm not sure if the story will hit fifty chapters, but it might cut it close. Hopefully it won't take too long! I also got a couple of people expressing interest in the AU story I proposed last chapter, so I might continue brainstorming on that one.

I also got a private message from a reader asking if there was any way to contact me apart from FFNet to bug me for quicker updates. If anyone would like to do so, during those stints where I take a bit longer than usual to update, my name on Twitter is vickymarie if you feel so inclined.

Anyway, for all of you rooting for Sirius and Davie, next chapter will contain some parts that I think you will be glad to see. That's all the hints you get! The next chapter should be posted up by the end of next week if I get plenty of feedback, wink wink nudge nudge! Cheers!