THERE WAS SOMETHING different, something more heartwrenching to Davina, about being on the outside of the asylum and knowing that she could not return to Hogwarts. As she walked the platform among the ranks of the rest of the Order, who were maintaining a discreet circle around Potter, she peered past the drooping hood of her emerald-green cloak to view the muggles bustling to and fro on their commutes. They were only a few platforms away from Platform Nine-and-Three-Quarters, but Sirius -- in his animagus form of a black dog -- ambled into an empty reception room to speak to Harry in private. Davina stared longingly at the closed door for a moment until Nymphadora approached her from behind.
"Are you alright?"
"I'm better than I was last week or last month," She replied vaguely.
Nymphadora chuckled breathily and walked into her line of vision so that she was forced to look at her. "I'm sorry you can't attend school this year with your brother and friend. Maybe next year, when this all blows over-"
"-There won't be a next year. Not for me, at least. Even if I do intend to return to Hogwarts, it won't be the same."
"How do you mean?" She lowered her voice, glancing around them to make sure no one was listening.
Davina's eyes darkened and she set her jaw. She recalled last week when she reunited with Draco and Theo, and they told her of their impending induction ceremonies. Lucius made it a point to have it done after Draco's sixteenth birthday in June, and since all of the kids their age usually had their ceremonies put together in the honor and presence of the Dark Lord, Theo would be getting his around then, too. She had so little time to try to think of a way out of this for them. She contemplated fleeing to America and starting new lives there at the Ilvermony School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, or going into hiding until they came of age and were no longer under their parents' control, or even having them join the Order. Each scenario brought with it its own pros and cons, and each of them would be fairly difficult to accomplish. Just the thought of it all made her head spin.
"My father plans to induct Draco into the ranks of the deatheaters by next summer -- before he's even of age. I suppose it's to compensate for disowning his eldest child." Davina replied bitterly. "My first and most important priority is protecting my little brother from any who wish to harm him. I will do that, Nymphadora, no matter the cost. I won't let him suffer that fate."
The older woman bit her lip. "And if you can't stop it from happening?"
Davina averted her gaze and set her jaw once more, leaving her question unanswered. Nymphadora maintained her steady stare, waiting for a response, but Harry emerged from the room a moment later and they were on the move again. Once they shuffled through the crowd of muggles and passed through the barrier, Davina parted ways with them to find Draco and Theo while they escorted Harry onto the train.
It didn't take long for her to find them. She spotted Draco's tall, thin figure and platinum blonde hair over the bustling crowd first. Beside him, Theo was loading his trunk onto the train. Both of them wore their usual impassive, even unapproachable expressions that was usually customary of Slytherins. Davina inched up beside her brother.
"Hello, boys." They could hear the smile in her voice. "Did you really think I wouldn't see you off?"
Theo whirled around and Draco gaped at her. He pulled his sister in for a hug and a small smile broke his otherwise cold expression.
"What are you doing here?" Theo exclaimed. "What if you're seen?!"
"Promise me you'll make this year count." She ignored his questions and brought his face into her hands. He was momentarily surprised by the affectionate action and the coldness of her hands. His dark brown eyes flashed with doubt -- how could they have a good year at Hogwarts without her? -- and she noticed it. "Don't worry about me. I'll be just fine knowing that you two are alright. Make memories, send me shit from Hogsmeade, and tell Blaise and Pansy I love them."
"We will." Draco nodded, putting his hand on her shoulder. She turned to him. "I'll write to you every week, I promise."
"So will I."
"I think I'd prefer gifts more."
Draco chuckled and rolled his eyes, but Theo simply smiled. He missed Davina's sense of humor and her caring blue eyes; he missed her laugh and her gentle touch. He didn't think she had any idea how much being there meant to him -- to them, the boys whose parents didn't care enough to do so themselves.
"Listen, boys... Something terrible is going to happen this year. I don't know what or when, but I have...I have this feeling. I need you both to promise me that you'll do your best to stay the hell away from whatever trouble begins to stir up, alright?"
Draco's eyes darkened as he read the anxiety carved into her youthful face. "And what about you? What are you going to do?"
The Hogwarts Express whistled, indicating that they had exactly one minute until the train began to leave the platform. Davina was thankful for the intervention. She motioned the boys onto the train, plastering a reassuring and bittersweet smile onto her face as they reluctantly boarded.
"Have a good year, boy. Try not to miss me too much."
"You didn't answer my question!"
"Remember the gifts!" Her cloak swished behind her as she disappeared into the dense crowd, becoming just another blob of color.
Davina walked to the back of the platform by the barrier, turned, and watched with bitter sadness as the train rolled out of the station. Her gaze naturally fell upon the compartment Theo, Draco, Blaise, and Pansy had taken up. Through the open window, she watched as they began to start a conversation. When Blaise and Pansy shot up to peer out of the window, she knew that the boy had told them about her being on the platform. Like Theo and Draco, both of them had grown so much in three years. Davina sighed and turned her back to their hopeful faces as they searched the crowd of faces for her, finding it to hard to see how more of her loved ones had grown since she left the world.
She passed through the barrier and onto the muggle platform once more. She was supposed to meet the Order to reconvene and learn of the posts they would take to protect Hogwarts and Potter, but she figured that she didn't need to be there anyway. She would be going back to 12 Grimmauld Place to stay with Sirius indefinitely -- both of them miserably in hiding when their freedom was long overdue. She didn't have anywhere to go now besides the Tonks residence. She was alone again.
Sirus, who was once again in his animagus form, joined in stride alongside her, and Davina swallowed a lump that was forming in her throat. As they rejoined the others, Nymphadora and Mad-Eye turned to them with questioning expressions.
"Where have you been?" inquired Mad-Eye.
"It doesn't matter," Davina replied curtly. The frown on her face and glossiness of her eyes didn't go unnoticed by her comrades, and they didn't push her on it. "Let's just go home."
Sirius barked in agreement.
******
The Order held another meeting that night to discuss strategy and tactic where Harry Potter was concerned. Nymphadora parted ways with them at the station to see to it that Harry made it through the gates of school, but both of her parents were in attendance that evening. Davina sat beside Sirius at the far end of the table as usual, but she didn't engage in the conversations or make any sly comments. In fact, she remained completely silent and stared at the tabletop for most of the evening as Sirius and Andromeda watched her with concern. Mr. William Peverell was the only one of his family in attendance this time, and he also noticed the girl's forlorn demeanor.
After politely excusing herself, Davina slipped out of the kitchen and slowly climbed the stairs to get to her bedroom. She knew that right now, all of her friends and classmates were sitting down at the annual homecoming feast, listening to the quirky speech of Headmaster Dumbledore, and being introduced to the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor -- a position that was seldom filled by one person for longer than a year. She didn't care for the food, or the table chatter, or even the castle itself. She just missed her friends. They were always all she'd ever had, and knowing that they were off without her while she willingly stayed in hiding was torture.
Davina had just reached the second landing when she heard crying. Someone was weeping behind the closed door to the study -- one of the rooms Sirus and she had not yet touched. She knocked on the door before opening it to check on whoever was inside, and was astonished by the sight spread out before her.
Mrs. Weasley lay with her back pressed up against the wall in the corner, poising her wand with a violently trembling hand as tears streaked down her cheeks. Her horrified gaze was fixed on the middle of the room where the dead body of her son, Ron, lay with his eyes open and unseeing. Davina's throat constricted at the horrific sight and she peered at the woman. Mrs. Weasley choked back a sob as she uttered, "R-Riddikulus!" The spell didn't work. There was a snap, a flash, and instead the corpses of Fred and George lay face down on the floor, one with his arm over the other -- together in life and death.
"Mrs. Weasley-"
"Riddikulus!"
She was staring at the body of her son Percy now -- a son that Davina had only known from a distance when he was prefect in her early Hogwarts years.
Davina inched into the room and slowly drew her wand out of her back pocket. Mrs. Weasley was facing a particularly nasty boggart and her fear -- the deaths of her family -- was crippling her into submission.
"Mrs. Weasley, get out of here!" Davina shouted as the woman weakly shouted the incantation, turning the boggart into the corpses of Ginny, Arthur, and finally Harry.
She streaked across the room, grabbed the trembling woman by her wrists, and hauled her to her feet just as Remus, Sirius, and Arthur bounded up the stairs. She led Mrs. Weasley toward the door just as the boggart took notice of her presence and began to shift according to her worst fear. She turned on the nasty boggart as her worst fear manifested itself before her very eyes. She didn't realize what it was until she saw it play out in front of her.
The room was filled by people who weren't really there. Draco, Theo, Pansy, and Blaise were lined up beside her, staring dutifully forward in all-black robes. Across the room, her parents stood behind the hideous, ghastly creature that was the Dark Lord. Lucius smirked as the Dark Lord silently motioned one of the teenagers forward, and Draco obliged. As he approached him, he rolled up his sleeve and extended his forearm out to be marked. A single tear rolled down Narcissa Malfoy's cheek as she slowly turned her head to look at a new manifestation: Davina herself, screaming and thrashing in horrible silence as she tried in vain to stop her brother. No one helped her, no one stopped him. The Dark Lord raised his wand and, with a wicked smile and horrible gleam in his slitted red eyes, he pressed it to Draco's flesh.
Before Remus or Sirius could step in to intervene, Davina raised her wand and uttered the incantation with venom in her voice, staring hatefully and horrifically at the sight as it disappeared and the intangible figures turned into butterflies flitting around the room. Arthur guided Molly out of the room, leaving the other two men staring after Davina with concern.
"I'm fine." She spoke, staring at the place where the mirage of her brother willingly took his dark mark. She turned her head ever so slightly toward the door, "You can return to your meeting."
They seemed reluctant, but when she didn't turn to them or speak again, they obliged. Davina stalked toward the window and opened it. Conjuring a shield, she back the butterflies one by one until they were outside of the house and into the open world. Rounding them up took a few minutes and she was glad for the distraction. Imagining the ceremony was one thing, but to see it come to life like that haunted her more than anything she could have imagined. She shut the window and leaned against the sill, drawing in a deep breath. Then she drew in another, and another, until her chest rose and fell rapidly under the sudden, burdensome weight of the world on her chest. She sunk to her knees and was surprised when a pair of hands grabbed her arms.
William knelt down in front of her with pure concern in his icy-blue eyes. "Breathe, dear girl. Breathe. Slowly now."
The spots that began to cloud her vision slowly ebbed away and her breathing began to return to normal. The images of the imaginary ceremony swimming through her head at an inhuman rate began to slow down as she focused on the clear, startling blueness of his eyes. A small, reassuring smile tugged at his lips as he helped her sit back on the floor. After a few moments, she found it within herself to speak.
"You'd think having visions of death and all things horrific would have prepared me for a fucking Bogart, right?"
William's eyebrows furrowed with bewilderment. "What did you say?"
"I see dead people." She chuckled, but he didn't smile, so she added, "Well, I see their deaths."
As she stared into his startling blue eyes, she watched as the kind concern morphed into horrific dread. The waves in his eyes crashed violently against each other as his mind raced, staring upon the young girl who was only sixteen years of age. She thought that perhaps her confession had astonished him, or even frightened him, but she had a feeling that this was a man who did not scare easily. He reminded her of a war general -- stony-faced and hardened when necessary, but compassionate nonetheless.
His lips parted as he sucked in a breath of air. "How long have you been able to do that?"
She stared at him with bewilderment, suddenly feeling the need to rise to her feet. "Almost four years. Are you alright?"
William rose to his feet, never breaking her gaze. His eyes seemed to gloss over in the darkness, but she dismissed it as a ray of moonlight pouring through the window. He helped her to her feet and stood there for a long moment, his gaze sweeping across her face as she stared unsurely at her. As if sensing that she was unnerved, he broke his stare and flashed her a small, unconvincing smile.
"You should get some rest."
Davina didn't speak. She simply nodded and strolled out of the room. She spared him one last glance, but his gaze was fixed on the floor as he fell into deep introspection. Davina shuffled off to her room as she originally intended, but instead of dwelling on the horrible sight that the boggart manifested for her, she couldn't help but shake William's expression of concern and shock from her mind's eye. Something about that charming, seemingly godly man unnerved her from the day she laid eyes on him and his family. And yet, as she sat crippled in his arms back there, she couldn't help but admit that it was the first time in a long time that she felt safe and secure. William Peverell was an enigma and she intended to figure him out. But first, as he said, she needed rest from the emotionally exhausting events from that day. She retired to her bedroom with that last thought. When she rolled into bed and allowed sleep to claim her, her dreams were plagued by moving trains, dark marks, and a man with startling ice-blue eyes she couldn't help but feel were familiar...