Davina | hp. ✓

18 | One Snowy Night

DAVINA THOUGHT SHE had known true chaos before, but she had never experienced more chaos than she had in her heart on the day Sirius Black died. She watched her older cousins -- her mentor and friend for all intents and purposes -- die at the hands of her estranged aunt. She dueled her father and half a dozen deatheaters to protect her schoolmates. She saved Gideon Peverell from an avada when unforgivables were supposed to be unavoidable. Any of that wold have been enough to cripple a person, but she was running on pure adrenaline -- running on the catastrophic chaos that seemed to trail her like a shadow.

When the Minister of Magic and his reinforcements stormed the Ministry and saw Harry Potter and Dumbledore face down the Dark Lord with their own eyes, all hell broke loose. The Order members snatched up the teenagers and apparated the hell out of there before they could be seen. Davina was still in her own state of shock when William grabbed her and Gideon and apparated out of there, so when the pull of the apparition ripped her away from the chamber, she was hit by a wave of nausea.

She wrenched out of his grasp as soon as her feet hit solid ground and found herself standing in the sloping fields of the Burrow. Her heart sunk to the bottom of her chest as she realized why they were there. Sirius was dead, and Grimmauld Place was no longer open to them without a head of house. They were the last ones to apparate in and she watched with unfocused eyes as Mad-Eye carried an unconscious Potter into the towering Weasley house with a crying Remus following at his heels.

"Davina..." William broke the tense silence.

Davina slowly turned to face him. "Are you going to explain what happened back there?"

Gideon shook his head, aghast. "If anyone should be explaining, it should be you. You're the one who stopped that killing curse! You -- you saved me from an unforgivable, Davina. That's shouldn't be possible!"

"YOU THINK I DON'T KNOW THAT?!" She screeched, raking her hands through her hair and pulling. She turned on William with a crazed look. "I SAW THE LOOK IN MY FATHER'S EYES WHEN I STOPPED THAT CURSE! HOW DID I KNOW TO DO THAT? HOW IS IT POSSIBLE?!"

Nymphadora motioned for the other Order members to go into the house. William set his jaw and regarded Davina with glossy, pained eyes as she stared desperately, vulnerably, at him. When everyone had gone, Nymphadora stepped forward and reached out to her younger cousin.

"Davina, perhaps you should calm down-"

Davina drew in a deep breath and shut her eyes as she saw her reach out to her in her peripheral vision. She fought to keep her voice calm. "-I love you, Tonks, but it'd be best if you didn't touch me right now."

She opened her eyes and dragged her hardened, piercing gaze back to William. Gideon and Nymphadora exchanged mutually bewildered and concerned looks. When William opened his mouth to say something and his jaw only quivered, Gideon realized Davina was right -- he knew something they did not.

"Dad? What is it?"

He took a step forward and lifted his hand as if to reach out to Davina, to comfort her, but he let it drop to his side as he struggled to find the right words. The dread which she had seen in his eyes the night she told him about her powers now filled the pit of her stomach as her mind ran wild. She read the fear in his eyes and realized that it was not the same fear as the others; he didn't fear that she would hurt him, but rather that he would hurt her.

"I... I suspected it the moment you told me about your affinity to Death. That ability has only been bestowed upon a few witches and wizards in history, and all of them were part of the same bloodline." William fought to keep his voice steady. "A bloodline touched by Death."