#savingdavey

       It was one of the rare sunny days in January when James found himself wandering alone across the grounds toward the Quidditch field. One might have assumed he was upset, since James didn’t spend much time alone -- if one of the other Marauders weren’t around, he was usually ensconced in Quidditch players, or walking hand-in-hand with Lily. That afternoon, however, he just hadn’t been able to sit still any longer while everyone else was wading through the massive essay Slughorn had assigned as a ‘welcome back’ present after the holidays. His fidgeting and constant tapping or shifting had gotten him several glares, and finally, James had just excused himself before one of his friends became genuinely pissed at him. 

      The Hufflepuff team was out practicing, their broomsticks whizzing around the boundaries of the pitch, and the familiar sounds Quidditch drew James in before he even realized where he was headed. He ducked as the Seeker flew a particularly low dive, and grinned up at them with a careless wave. Technically, he probably shouldn’t be invading the pitch while another team was practicing, but James didn’t worry too much. Hufflepuff wasn’t Slytherin, after all. He wouldn’t be tempted to use anything he saw against them in their next match. 

    As he climbed the stairs up into the bleachers, James caught sight of Davey Gudgeon, sitting, watching his teammates as they dove and passed high above them. What was that about? The last James had heard, Gudgeon was cleared to fly again -- he’d assumed that meant he would be rejoining the team immediately. The love of the game was something he thought Davey had shared with him, and James couldn’t imagine sitting on the sidelines during practice when he wasn’t medically forced to do so. He would’ve jumped back on his broom the moment the healer gave the go-ahead. (And probably sometime before that, if he was honest with himself, but James was smart enough to know that wasn’t good advice.)

   “Oi, Gudgeon!” James called with a friendly grin, jogging the remainder of the way up the stairs and over to the other bloke’s position. “D’you forget your broomstick or something? Because I’ve heard it’s hard to practice from the bleachers!” He shook his head, mock-despairing. “You better not talk to any of my players -- I don’t want them thinking they can get away with slacking off.”  After years of school together, James was fairly sure Davey knew him well enough to know that he was taking the piss, but just in case, he bumped their shoulders together gently as he sat down and raised an eyebrow in question. “Seriously, mate. I thought you were allowed to fly, now? Why’re you sitting here watching?”

@savingdavey

“I’m lucky enough to have a few close confidants. Emma, Sebastian. Rodolphus, of course, and my sister, Anastazie. My number one person would absolutely be my father, though. I’ve never gone through a personal crisis that he couldn’t talk me through. We’ve gotten even closer ever since my departure from Hogwarts, which means I’ve spent more time sipping scotch in his office with him than I ever got to before. He doesn’t always take everything as seriously as I’d like him to, but I’m self-aware enough to know when I need that kind of balance - a bit of levity - when it comes to important discussions and decisions.”

Gladys felt terrible. She looked absolutely pitiful as she laid on one of the couches in the Hufflepuff common room, not wanting company. Her head was pounding and she had thrown up when she woke up. In front of Amos. She was honestly humiliated, even though Amos had been so amazing and kind, taking care of her. Her cheeks turned slightly pink as she thought about him, and how he had slept on the floor next to her, and had only left when she told him that she was okay, and that he could go to breakfast, or wherever he had to go. He was a good friend, but still, she felt the fluttering in her stomach as she thought about him, and how he had protected her and made sure that she got back to the common room safely, and made sure that she was okay. She knew he was just being a good friend, and she wished that she could say that it was for reasons more than that.

Her eyes were closed, trying to block out the sunlight, debating whether or not she should go back up to her room to sleep this off. She was glad that there were no classes today, otherwise she wouldn’t be going, that was for sure. She had managed to get up a little while ago to change into something more comfortable, and to brush her teeth, but then she had come back down and taken her spot back on the couch. The common room was mostly empty, she thought that most of the other students were probably sleeping in their beds, or they were out at breakfast, but Gladys appreciated the silent.

She felt the cushions on the couch near her feet sink in, and she held back a groan as she opened an eye to see her brother there. She let out a whining noise and then brought her hand up to cover her eyes. “If you’re here to gloat move on,” she instructed him. “We’ll talk when my head stops pounding and my stomach stops churning.” She was grumpy, and she felt terrible, but she immediately felt guilty for snapping at Davey. 

“Remind me to never get drunk again,” she told him.

Walking through the Great Hall, in search of one of his three children. While he would have been happy to see any of them, he was particularly looking for Davey, who claimed he had something he wanted to talk about with him and Gemma. Not the biggest fan of serious conversations, which Gemma supposed that this conversation was going to be, especially when his wife wasn’t around. She typically took on the more serious role when necessary, but that didn’t happen very often, he felt lucky that he had such amazing children who didn’t typically get into too big trouble. Well... besides Davey’s antics.

When he spotted his youngest son’s head through the crowd, a smile formed on Geoffrey’s lips. “There’s my son,” Geoffrey said good naturedly, as he walked up to his son. “Care to take a break and go out on the grounds? Your mother said she’d come join us when she could break free.”

The most embarrassing moment bar none was the entire party his parents threw for him when he finally showed signs of magic. It was customary for pureblood parents - and probably even many halfblood families, though perhaps not as extravagant - to arrange a party for such a tremendous occasion, and the Dolohov-Shafiq family was given a hard choice: either forgo the party for the seven year old and risk more whispers and murmurs about his ability to do magic until he went to Hogwarts, or throw a party and dispel the rumors once and for all; show the rest of society they weren’t going to tolerate such nasty gossip about their beloved boy... now that they were sure he wasn’t a Squib.

Gladys wouldn’t say that she was avoiding being alone with her parents, but that was absolutely what she was doing. She loved her parents, honestly and truly. They were the best parents in the entire world, she felt so lucky to have them. She knew that some people didn’t get to have that, and she felt bad for kids who couldn’t go to their parents with their problems, who didn’t have good relationships with them. But she was afraid of disappointing them. She hated the look that they gave her, it would be a thousand times better if they yelled at her, but instead they just...looked so disappointed. And Gladys couldn’t take it. 

After lunch in the Great Hall with her family, she had sensed that her mum wanted to talk to her, alone, so she had said that she forgot to get a book for Charity, that was apparently dire that she get it to her today, and she had rushed down to her common room. She spent fifteen minutes in the safety of her bedroom, before she thought that it was safe and she left the comforts of the common room.

She had forgotten how crowded Hogwarts got during Parents Weekend, but she loved it. She loved seeing her friends parents, and seeing the different cultures that the other students had come from. Gladys was admittedly distracted, but she nearly jumped when she suddenly saw her mother standing there, a look on her face.

“Mum! I thought you were with Davey.”