Davina | hp. ✓

43 | Curses of Thy Parents

IN THE LAST few days before the final battle, everyone was strung high on nerves. The fear and anticipation of the bloodshed crept upon them in the night like a cold draft, seeping under their blankets and swallowing them whole. Theo hadn't gotten a good night's rest since he found out Davina was pregnant. He would wake up from a horrible nightmare in a cold sweat and jump up to check on her -- to check that she was still with him, by his side, still breathing.

Frightened didn't even begin to describe the horrible feeling that had sprouted roots in the pit of his stomach. Words couldn't describe the sensation of horror that seeped into his bones and turned his blood cold whenever he closed his eyes and allowed himself to wander into the dark recesses of his mind.

He dreamt of strange things that night.

He was walking through the halls of Grimmauld Place, not quite aware of himself and his surroundings as he followed a strange sound. It was a pitiful sound -- soft, faint weeping muffled through the walls and many closed doors. He felt pulled forward by a force at his navel, dragging him unwillingly along a certain path. The farther he walked, the louder the sound became until he realized that he recognized who the pitiful sound was coming from.

Davina.

He was no longer being forced forward. He broke out into a run, scrambling to open the millions of doors that appeared in his path until he was running right through them like mist. He collided with the last door -- a solid, dark red door that barely muffled the cries. He closed his hands around the knob and it burned white hot. He didn't care. He let it burn his hand as he turned it and forced the door open.

It was a bathroom. Everything was white -- the walls, the floor, the vanity, and the pale face of his wife as she sat crumpled on the floor. There was blood everywhere. It marked the walls and the mirror, it seeped into the grout of the tiles, it stuck to the bottom of his shoes as it crept to the doorway. There was so much blood, and it was coming from her.

"Davina?" He couldn't hear his own voice, but she did.

She looked up, her trembling hands covered in her own blood. Her bloodshot, tear-brimmed eyes met his and she wept, "Gone."

It repeated like a mantra in his head. Gone. Gone Gone. Their baby was gone. Dead. It never had a chance. He dropped to his knees on the floor. She reached out for him, but when he reached to take her hand, he fell through the floor. He screamed her name, clawing at the dark void around him. He couldn't hear anything over the echo of her heartbroken, cracking voice in his ears. Gone. Gone. Gone.

"DAVINA! DAVINA! NO! DAVINA!"

The darkness swallowed him whole. He was screaming into nothingness, and couldn't see his own hands in front of him as he flailed around. It was a free fall he couldn't stop. He needed to get back to her. He needed to help her. He screamed until his throat burned but never heard a sound. He was helpless. The darkness was too much. It had claimed their unborn child, and now it had stolen him away from her. He had to get back to her. He had to help her. He had to-

He hit solid ground with a painful thud. The air was stolen from his lungs and he lay in the pitch darkness, gasping for breath. Suddenly, a faint green glow began to slowly illuminate his surroundings. He sat up, hid head spinning, and found himself sitting in the middle of the empty dining hall in Malfoy Manor, though it was twice as big and seemed as though it was situated under the Black Lake like the Slytherin common room back at Hogwarts. The murky green water cast the green glow, and a single light in the center of the room shone down on him.

A few dozen feet away, a small boy sat on the floor, fiddling with something. He rose unsteadily to his feet and staggered closer to him, until he noticed a larger figure -- a dark-featured, robed man, emerge from the shadows. The nearer he drew, the more he could make out. The little boy was playing with wooden blocks scattered out in front of him. He couldn't have been older than five or six years old by the size of him.