Davina | hp. ✓

23 | A Black Through and Through

DAVINA MALFOY WAS going to hell, she was sure of it, and so she decided that she wasn't going to wallow in self-pity or misery anymore. She was going to strangle out of herself all of the emotions that made her weak and vulnerable. She was no longer a child, and she no longer belonged to anyone. She was a woman whose bones were made of steel embers, whose eyes burned with molten ash, and whose fingers now dripped crimson with the blood of those she'd slaughtered. Perhaps now she was more of a monster than her father ever was. All she knew was that she existed in spite of him. She didn't really care how that ended up for her.

Draco, Pansy, and Blaise may have been inducted into the society of the deatheaters, but they only had a taste of the darkness that Davina and Theo were now engulfed in. While they were studying for their exams and spending their days in classes, Davina was spending her nights stealing lives from unwitting victims.

It wasn't easy. God, it was far from it. Davina wished that it would get easier every time she did it, but she knew that this was just the beginning of her penance for the evils acts she was carrying out. She knew that just because she started out with a noble cause didn't mean she wouldn't turn into a dark, cold-hearted bitch later.

"Are you ready for this?" Theo murmured down her neck as he hovered closely behind her, his wand at the ready.

Davina narrowed her eyes and silently unlocked the door. They stepped inside of the unfamiliar manor. Their target, Pius Thicknesse, was enjoying his dinner by himself in the dining room when they walked in. He jumped up like a spooked cat, scrambling for his wand. Theo swished his wand through the air, muttering an incantation that bound the man to his chair. Davina hadn't moved since she stepped into the doorway except to snuff out all of the lights in the house with her wand.

"P-Please! Please, d-don't kill me!"

Theo would have been lying had he said that it didn't bother him that he was recognized as a deatheater almost instantly. His dark mark wasn't exposed nor was he wearing the mask, but he supposed that there was a menacing air about them that gave their identities away.

He masked his discomfort well. He managed a stony facade and stared at the man. Thicknesse was a tall and slender man with a long, sallow face and dark hair that wasn't unlike the way Lucius Malfoy had his hair. His brown eyes gleamed with fear and apprehension as Theo neared him.

"Why would we kill you?" Theo inquired, twirling his wand. "We're here because we need you, Pius."

Pius stared incredulously back at him. Davina shuffled through the darkness, lowering the hood of her cloak to reveal her sharp features to the darkness. Pius' fearful gaze shifted from Theo to the true threat.

"The Dark Lord has taken a personal interest in your future in the Ministry -- so much so that he tasked me with getting rid of your competition."

Theo couldn't help but turn his gaze to Davina as she sat down in the chair across from the man. In the darkness, her eyes were sharper and colder than he'd ever seen them -- they were like shards of blue sea glass yearning to draw blood with their edges. A chill ran down his spine and his fingertips went numb with how hard he was gripping his wand.

"I have no business with the You-Know-Who!"

"No, but you will." She stood up and walked over to the open windows to stare out at the moonlight. "In exchange for your life, you will abide by the Dark Lord's wishes whenever he may ask something of you."

"Why would the Dark Lord want anything from me?"

"By this time tomorrow, you'll have been appointed as Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement." Theo continued, strolling around the back of his chair. Even in the darkness, he could see the perspiration shining on the back of his neck in the moonlight. "As you well know, that position will make you a likely candidate for Minister of Magic."