Chapter Thirty-Two

Last Time

But this - his lips and Davie's lips, her weight in his arms, her arms now clinging tightly around his shoulders - was the familiar, stomach-churning, heart-pounding slow burn that he had failed so many times to replicate. The way she so openly received his kiss, the hesitant parting of her lips and the warmth of her breath - if Sirius shut his eyes and forgot he was in his brother Regulus' old bedroom, in the home he so deeply loathed, it all seemed very much correct….

CRACK!

Davie pulled away from Sirius quickly upon hearing the large bang in the receiving room, which meant the others were now arriving by Floo - and suddenly, things came rushing back into perspective. Davie's face reddened as she realized what she'd done, that she'd done what she had tried so hard to convince herself was no longer appropriate. Sirius' frustration was evident on his face - yet he found some unspoken amusement in feeling like he did in school, feeling teased by the girl he desired, of having to chase her. A part of him felt the game in this all over again.

"I, ah --" Davie said squeamishly, carefully groping over the bedside table until her fingers curled around her own wand and touching it to the knee of her own ripped work trousers. "I ought to change out of this, or Molly will start fawning over me again -- Formendi." she said with a weak laugh as her pants repaired themselves and her torn oxford shirt transfigured into a purple turtleneck jumper.

"You kissed me back."

"I know I did."

"So that means --"

But before he could finished, Davie had already stood up and maneuvered across the room to open the door to the remainder of the house; when she emerged from the room, admittedly looking far more put together than she had been the previous night, the reaction to her presence was immediate.

"Oh, Davie dear," Molly trilled. "Thank Merlin you're up."

"Maddux," barked Alastor Moody, who was hobbling towards her with his usual stalking stride. Davie noted that he looked even more frazzled and suspicious than usual, and attributed to what she had heard about Barty Crouch Jr. locking him in a trunk for an entire school term. "Only just heard -- blasted good Auror you turned out to be, just like your mum and dad," Moody hawed genuinely, giving her a sound, congratulatory whack between the shoulder blades, which succeeded in knocking the petite woman stumbling forward a step or two.

"Alastor, you might want to let up on her a bit," Arthur pointed out carefully, raising a finger in lukewarm chiding "You know, after all she's been through." Moody's eye darted in its socket toward him, and Alastor Moody gave a hearty, patronizing laugh.

"Been through!" he guffawed. "If Maddux can handle three weeks of starvation and the Cruciatus, a good pat on the back won't do much more harm, will it Maddux?"

"S'pose not," Davie said with a slightly pained but altogether good-humored laugh - she couldn't grudge anything against Alastor Moody, whom she had first met training as an Auror in Bulgaria. "It's good to see you again, Mad-Eye --"

"-- thumpin' good Auror. One of the best, I reckon," Moody began murmuring to himself as he paced away from the group, which caused them all to exchange glances of marked attempt not to laugh at his eccentricity. "Withstood one of the Unforgivable Curses -- one of my own! Trained you well…"

"Right you did, Mad-Eye," Davie muttered to herself, pursing her lips in humor as she took a seat in the same armchair she'd been placed in the previous night.

"You look nicely cleaned up," Molly said, moving towards her and giving her shoulder a kind rub. Molly Weasley, oddly enough, had always treated Davie as though she were so much younger than everyone else in the Order, and this was something that seemed to have changed very little since then. "Sirius did a fine job, then," she pointed out before adding in a more quiet voice. "We were afraid he might not be able to focus, what with --"

"--how you used to be all over one another, they said --"

"Nympha--"

"It's Tonks," the younger woman said, narrowing her eyes and crossing her arms at Molly in a very comical, childlike pout. "Just Tonks, Mrs. Weasley. Anyway, d;you still remember me, Davie? I did mean to say hello when I went to Bulgaria for a short stint in Auror training, but I wasn't sure."

"You should have," Davie said with a grin. "I think I may have seen you when you were there - your hair was green back then, was it not?"

"You have a bit of an accent now," Tonks pointed out with a grin, noting the way Davie's voice seemed to inflect a bit differently on words after living in Bulgaria for so long. "Say it again a moment -- 'ven you vere there--'"

"Have you had a moment to have a word with Sirius?" Molly asked in a quiet voice. Davie paused, glancing over at Sirius, then at Severus before looking back to Molly and shrugging noncommittally. Molly certainly had her issues with Sirius' brash nature and most definitely did not want him to be any sort of influence on her children, but she did not begrudge him his right to being happy. "You two ought to clear things up before the children arrive - any day now, it ought to be. I suspect there'll be a few choice words exchanged that aren't particularly appropriate for children."

"You know us too well, Molly," Davie replied with a weak laugh. "I-- I do still care for him. It's just very different now."

Molly opened her mouth to speak again, and Davie was more than happy to receive any advice at all regarding the situation, but then, Remus approached, pulling a large leatherbound book from under his traveling cloak - the cover was slightly worn, but Davie and Sirius both turned quickly upon seeing it.

"Remus, are you holding what I think you're --"

"Something I thought would be appropriate to bring along with me, considering this is the most of the gang we're going to have together again," he said with a meager grin - Davie had already scurried over and very eagerly took the book from his hands and opened it to the first page, confirming her guess that it was indeed their old photo album.

Remus sat on the sofa, and Davie sat next to him, holding the album on her lap - it surprised the inhabitants of the room that Davie allowed Sirius to sit on her other side, but no one commented. Instead, the rest of the Order pretended to go about their own business. Things, it would seem, had been relatively calm.

"Oh, look!" Davie said jovially, pointing at a photo on one of the first pages with a much younger Davie in ivory dress robes, being forcibly dragged onto the dance floor by Remus; in this particular photo she was threatening to take off her shoe and fling it at a very amused-looking Lupin. "I remember that --"

"Right before Sirius asked you to dance," Remus laughed, noting Sirius in the background of the photo, occasionally peering in to the frame.

"Oh, right - I was so angry!"

"Bollocks, you came to the dance with me the next year --"

"No, I didn't," Davie said primly, poking a finger in Sirius' direction. "I went with Rom the next year, and you the year after." Sirius rolled his eyes - Davie, meanwhile, shot a glance at Snape, who had briefly glanced in their direction. The dance during which the particular photo was taken, James and Sirius had locked him in a Vanishing Cabinet for days - for him, hearing recantation of their school days held nothing but negative memories.

"Oh, look at that one," Sirius said with a chuckle, flipping the page and pointing at a photo that had been taken in the Potions dungeons during class - Lily and Davie were standing behind a cauldron, with Davie's hair coated in an inky black substance. "You looked like a sea monster --"

"I remember that," Remus laughed. "The one time Lily made a mistake in Potions - I think it was right after James had tried asking her to Hogsmeade."

Again, Davie glanced uncomfortably at Snape, who attempted to appear as though he hadn't been looking or listening to the exchange. Guiltily, Davie quickly turned the page, and let out a loud squeal of excitement.

"These are the best!" Davie said, beaming excitedly, and Sirius couldn't help but stare at the smile that he'd not seen for over a decade - it was almost identical, save for a few extra creases on the woman's face. Davie gestured emphatically to a page of photos taken at edge of the Great Lake - the impromptu picnic they had set up the day that Davie had found out she had been accepted to the Auror training program.

"Well, would you look at that," Remus said with a knowing smile, noting how Davie's eyes lingered on a particular pair of photos, one of James kissing Lily on the cheek, and the other of Sirius holding a very surprised Davie in an exaggerated dip. She smiled faintly, and glanced briefly at Sirius, realizing he had been staring at her the entire time.

"D'you remember what we talked about that day?" Davie asked before she could help herself; her face reddened immediately.

"I remember what you said," Sirius said with a nod, looking much calmer than he had in a great while - the more gentle timbre of his voice caught everyone's attention even more than his usual loud tone. "'Strange things happen when people grow up --'"

"'I think it's a little like dying,'" Davie finished, brow furrowing in surprise at how easily all of their old conversations seemed to come back. She cleared her throat, unsure of what else to say. Remus noted the tension and pointed at a blurry shape at the side of one of the photos.

"What's that?"

"It's your finger, Remus," Davie laughed, bumping him with her shoulder in amusement. "You were never much of a photographer, were you?"

The three of them indeed seemed quite content in looking through this particular set of memories, until they reached the last photo in the set - the four boys, Lily, and Davie all sitting on the picnic blanket. Lily and Davie were chiding James and Sirius respectively, James for ruffling his hair, and Sirius for trying to eat another Mallowpuff as the photo was being taken, while Remus and Peter both laughed before they all finally set up for a proper photo. Underneath the photos was a small passage of writing in Davie's loopy, ornate penmanship.

"Though nothing can bring back the hour of splendor in the grass, of glory in the flower," Davie read in a slightly dazed voice. "We will weep not, rather --"

"That's from that poem, wasn't it?" Sirius interrupted, "from the book that Mr. and Mrs. Evans gave you as a graduation present?"

"Yeah -- look! There they are," Davie laughed, flipping the page to a set of photos from their Hogwarts graduation, the first of which depicted Lily's parents posing with them for a photo; from this one, Peter was absent because he was taking the photo, and inwardly, the three of them thought that his absence made the photo ten times better, because they could pretend he had not been there.

"Oh," Davie said with a small gasp when she came across a photo of herself and Lily - she felt a slight pang at the sight of her best friend. Davie had so many times in their youth wished she could be Lily, be as naturally intelligent and as poised. It had taken Davie years to come into her own and be a real best friend instead of a shadow to Lily. That was part of what the desire to become an Auror stemmed from, which took many years for Davie to realize.

Sensing her discomfort, Sirius reached out and flipped the page himself, and now, it was his turn to feel a stab when he came across a pair of photos just of himself and Davie. The first was a shot someone had snapped of Davie placing a medal around Sirius' neck during the graduation ceremony in his parents' absence - the moment, Sirius remembered that he had resolved to himself that he would never lose her at any cot. The second was one a close-up shot of Sirius and Davie - one of them must have just held out the camera to take a picture of themselves - stealing a kiss and smiling brightly. Sirius glanced at Davie, who went slightly pink in the face at the sight of the photo, but for once, he could manage to say nothing.

They went a few more pages, and reached a page with even more photos than the rest of them - Lily and James' wedding. By now a couple of the others had come to the back side of the couch and started looking at the album as well - Severus Snape, however, excused himself to the kitchen.

"I remember that," Davie said with a weak laugh, glancing over at Sirius as she gestured to a photo with Sirius standing, raising a glass of champagne, his hand gesturing lazily in testament to the fact that he'd already had a few too many glasses. "'To Lily and James -- may you share many, many, many years of happiness, and may James come up with a far more touching toast --"

"-- at mine and Davie's wedding," Sirius finished matter-of-factly, and Davie froze, feeling suddenly awkward at the fact that every single one of these memories were of a time when Davie and Sirius were undeniably and unequivocally smitten with one another, and had every intention of spending the rest of their lives together. It seemed surreal, recalling all of this after being apart for over a decade.

"Oh, look," Molly laughed, gesturing at the same photo as Davie reached up and pinched Sirius hard on the arm, yanking him downward and back into his seat. "It looks like she heard you."

After a while, the pages of photos grew more and more sparse - and Sirius noticed many photos of times which seemed unfamiliar to him. Remus noted the shift in his expression, and Davie's sudden discomfort as well and took it upon himself to explain.

"These were -- after Lily and James died. Quite a while after, Frank and Alice had already…" he explained, his voice trailing off in reference to the Longbottoms, who had been tortured to the point of insanity. "We tried to get the Order back together, stay close in case something happened - it didn't work so well, obviously. Everyone ended up going their separate ways anyway."

Davie, however, had her eyes on a page where a picture had obviously been removed, and when she looked up at Remus, he gave her an almost imperceptible nod.

"Excuse me," Davie said, clearing her throat again, standing up from her seat. "Remus, will you come with me to the hallway for a moment?"

Davie scurried away, much to Sirius' confusion - everyone else did not seem quite so surprised, and indeed a slight air of guilt filled the room as Remus got up to follow Davie into the front hallway, shutting the door behind him.

"Remus, I --"

"I didn't think Sirius was ready to know," Remus nodded. "I left the more… incriminating photos in my study."

"It's not important," Davie said, shaking her head fervently, raising her hand to silence Lupin's concerns. "It was a couple of months - some of the hardest months of my life, and I made some of my worst decisions. Sirius doesn't ever need to know."

"Davie," Remus chided, taking a few careful steps towards Davie. "I understand you. I know that you were right, and we were all wrong about Sirius - but Sirius may not be so understanding. He never said goodbye to you. In his mind, you and he never ended things."

"That's ridiculous."

"That's Sirius for you, isn't it?"

Davie gave a forced laugh that sounded a bit like a cough, shaking her head and letting out a breath. "Thank you for covering up for me, Moony," she said with a lopsided grin. "I suppose -- I suppose I'm not ready to revisit all of it either. Maybe eventually."

"When you're ready to speak about it," Lupin said simply. "Then I am prepared to apologize for it. I ought to have been a better -- a better friend. You'd have been far more loyal to me, had the tables been turned."

Remus gave a knowing nod, reaching out and patting Davie on the shoulder and smiling before returning to the receiving room to join everyone else. Davie, however, remained in the hallway, crossing her arms over herself, deep in thought. She stood there for minutes, hardly noticing anything around her. She didn't even hear someone approach her from behind until Severus Snape spoke up, causing her to flinch as she turned around.

"Are you ever planning on telling Black?" he said, crossing his arms as well. "About why your brilliant plan to join him in Azkaban never came to fruition?"

"No. I'm not planning on telling him," Davie said sharply, discomforted by the knowing expression of Snape's face. "He doesn't need to know anything that's happened to me in the past fifteen years."

"I suppose not," Snape said vaguely. "He doesn't need to. But imagine his chagrin, upon hearing that you and Lupin could have both told him the truth, but instead --"

"Severus, do not --"

"He'll go mad if he knows," Snape said with a vague, cold smile. "And I would honestly like nothing better than to see him lose his mind, but for the sake of having nothing against you --"

"Let's not bother with niceties, Severus," Davie said stiffly, squaring her stance as she looked Snape in the eye - something about this exchange was tense, uncomfortable. "You've only ever considered my feelings because of Lily."

"My reasons are not important - we agreed many years ago, the how and the why are no longer of significance, did we not?" he asked vaguely. "All that concerns you is that I am keeping your secret."

"What concerns me," Davie said sharply, taking a few steps backwards towards the door to the receiving room without taking her eyes away from Snape, "is that my secret is in the hands of someone with nothing to lose."

Davie turned quickly back into the room, and while she attempted to appear normal for the rest of the evening, there was a tangible sort of stiffness to her demeanor. Sirius had attempted to speak with her - surprisingly, at Molly's insistence - to no avail. He went to his room to sleep as everyone else was retiring as well, and for a good thirty minutes, he sat in his worn down four-poster, glancing as he always did at the posters, photos, and Gryffindor pennants that were permanently stuck to his wall, for better or for worse. He took some comfort looking at old photos of his life, before he had run away from home, except for the ones that contained Wormtail. What was not comforting for him was the fact that none of the photos on his walls contained Davie - he hadn't been able to procure any of his own photos of her from their younger years, and he had never fancied the vulnerability of asking anyone for them.

All of this thinking, he decided, warranted a fresh bottle of fire whiskey. He stood up, not bothering to button his nightshirt, and stepped out of his bedroom. All of the lights were out, and for the sake of safety, the shutters were all drawn, casting the house in almost complete darkness. He walked casually to the kitchen, pulled a bottle out of a hidden cabinet, and made his way back to the living room - he made sure not to make any noise, even though the living room was empty. If he woke Molly Weasley, she would no doubt give him a harsh reprimand for consuming more alcohol than food.

He grumbled something about being ordered around in his own home, and let his legs go slack, expecting to sink comfortably into the cushion of the sofa - he was not, however, expecting to meet with a harder, oddly shaped surface.

"Ouch," came a quiet, groggy moan that Sirius recognized as belonging to Davie. He stood up quickly, hastily placing the bottle down on the table.

"What are you doing out here?" he asked gruffly. "I thought I'd set you up in --"

"Regulus' old room," Davie nodded. "It was a bit awkward - Kreacher popped in a few minutes ago, and I think he was fondling one of your brother's old Wellies. I didn't want to risk the little bugger trying to smother me to death for getting my blood traitor germs on his master's old bed," she added with a weak laugh. This, Sirius thought, was the shrewd, snarky, but altogether well-humored Davie he knew.

"What brings you out - never mind," Davie said, beginning to ask the question before her nose caught a familiar whiff. "I suppose a bottle of Ogden's Olde gets you a better night's sleep, then?"

"Better than I've had in years, in fact," was Sirius' tongue-in-cheek response.

"Ah, well." Davie nodded. "I suppose you don't want any company if you're looking to sleep, so I'll go kip on a kitchen counter or something. It can't be worse than being chained to a wall," Davie laughed quietly. "Well, good night, then --"

"Are you that determined to avoid me?" Sirius asked plainly, sitting on the armrest of the sofa next to Davie, also raising his arm to block her from standing. "All these years, I don't think a civil conversation is too much to ask."

For a moment, Davie was silent - the she sighed, raising her wand and pointing at a nearby candle. "Incendio," she muttered, casting a small plume of light into the darkened room. With the light, however, Sirius noted something he hadn't yet noticed since Davie's arrival: in the candlelight, a gold bracelet glinted on her wrist. Immediately, he reached out and held her wrist so quickly that in her surprise, she dropped her wand with a clatter.

"Fancy this old thing still fitting you after about fifteen years," Sirius said, locking eyes with a very surprised Davie as he recognized the bracelet he had given her the Christmas of their seventh year. His emotions at the site were mixed - the fact that she had worn it all this time, had kept in on her person even during days of being tortured, all of it seemed to say that he did stand a chance; the only thing that said he did not was in fact, Davie herself. "What are you trying to prove --"

"I'm not trying to prove anything," she said, yanking her wrist away and sitting on it as though hiding it undid anything that had transpired. "I have a life --"

"As an Auror?" Sirius interrupted heatedly, and suddenly his temper overcame his desire to make things right between himself and the woman he loved. "In Bulgaria? Is that the life you're talking about Davie? Because that life is over now, so how does it --"

SMACK!

Davie's palm collided with Sirius' cheek, and he silenced himself immediately.

"Bloody -- Davie, I shouldn't have said that," he groaned; Davie glared at him darkly, her breaths heaving and furious. "But honestly, you know you can't go back to what you've been doing all these years --"

"I don't need you to tell me that," Davie retorted, standing up and storming out of the receiving room, back to Regulus' old room; even a night spent at the risk of being murdered by Kreacher, Davie was sure, had to be better than this.

A/N's

Uh oh, everyone's keeping a secret from Sirius about their pasts, and I think we know that keeping secrets is not something that bodes well. Though I think many of you guys will be able to tell what Davie's secret is - don't be angry with me!

Anyway, this was a really long chapter of reminiscing and fluff before anything really good happened, but I hope it wasn't too painful for you guys to read. Sorry for the delay - final exams prep has been killer. There might be one more long delay before my next chapter, but after that, I should be all clear with summer vacation!

I want to get this posted quickly, so I'm going to hold off on the review responses this time around. So I hope you enjoyed this chapter, even if it didn't end in a very Sirius-friendly manner. Until next time, which I hope will be less than a week from now, cheers!