Minerva turned to Severus, a pile of scrolls in her arms, "Could you go and collect Darcy? I need to drop these off in my rooms before I take her over to the Weasley's."
Severus gave a nod as he finished piling up the papers before heading out the door. Knowing his goddaughter, she was probably over at Hagrid's. Darcy and the half-giant had hit it off extremely well the last time she was at Hogwarts. They were both unusually fond of magical beasts.
After a long walk he made it to Hagrid's hut. He knocked on the door and waited impatiently. He heard the big oaf fumble around inside. Just because his goddaughter liked him did not mean that he himself had to.
Hagrid opened the door a crack to see who it was. When he saw the black clad professor standing there, he opened it up all the way, "Ah Severus, 'ere for Darcy?"
"Yes, I figured she would end up here." Severus said as he looked past the half-giant into his home. He saw Darcy fast asleep on Hagrid's bed. He raised an amused eyebrow and looked to Hagrid in question. He knew it was late, but Darcy was also a night owl.
"We talked about Norse creatures fer a bit, then it was like all 'er energy disappeared all at once. Put 'er 'ead down fer a sec and just passed right out. Moved 'er to the bed, thought I'd be more comfortable."
Ah that would make more sense, her adrenaline must have finally worn off. He nodded to the giant before walking past him. He squatted down next to her and shook her shoulder lightly to wake her up.
Darcy blearily opened her eyes to see her Uncle Sev giving her an amused look, "Ugh." She groaned into the ginormous pillow. She had a bit of a headache, "Is it time to go?"
"Yes. I know its late and your tired, but you'll be at the Weasley's soon. Time to get up." He answered her. He watched as Darcy's snake peaked his head out of the collar of her shirt. It hissed at him in an almost annoyed manor before disappearing back under her shirt.
Darcy giggled at whatever the snake had hissed at him before turning her head back to her Uncle, "I'm too tired to move." She whined. She wasn't just being a whiney little eight-year-old. Her entire body felt as heavy as concrete and she didn't have any motivation to move it.
"None of your laziness Darcy." He chided her.
"I'm not lazy, just completely exhausted. Seriously, my body is super heavy Sev." Darcy sighed tiredly. Honestly, she just wanted to go back to sleep.
Severus sighed internally, "Very well then." He swiveled a bit to show her his back, "Climb on then."
A tired, but happy, grin appeared on her face, "Thanks Uncle Sev." She murmured sleepily. She managed to sit up and latched her arms around his neck. As he stood up, she made sure to wrap her legs around his torso. She grinned into his back as she waved goodbye to her friend. She felt bad that she fell asleep on Hagrid while they were talking, she made a mental note to send him a letter later. She hugged Sev a little tighter as he walked through Hagrid's home. She absolutely loved it when her uncle carried her around. He always tried to be so standoff-ish around people. She was trying so hard to make her uncle open up to others like he did with her and Draco.
"Let's get you to your destination so you can go to sleep for real." Severus said leaving the hut behind without another word to Hagrid.
As Minerva was waiting at the front gate for her goddaughter to show up she let her mind wander. It was a wonder how the girl had come to be both herself and Severus's goddaughter to begin with. Not only did she not know the girl until she was six, but she lived in America as well. She had met her when she got the job to tell the family of a half-blood muggle raised witch about the wizarding world. It had shocked her that a child whose location of accidental magic put them in Chicago in America. At first, she had no idea why a kid in America was on the Hogwarts attendance list. Then after she looked up how she got in the list she saw that it was the daughter of Maria Lewis. She remembered Maria, though she preferred being called Mary. She had been a sweet girl. The Lewis family had moved to America in Mary's eight year to escape the terrors of the dark lord. She remembered Albus mentioning the letter Mary had sent when she found out she was pregnant. She had wanted her child attending school at the same place that she had. She had requested that her child be put on the attendance list and paid off her entire schooling right off the bat.
When she had port-keyed to Chicago to find Mary's daughter and explain about the wizarding world to the father she had never expected to see what she did. It had been a crash course into Shield and the life of Mary Lewis's daughter and husband. She had cast a notice me not charm and simply watched her surroundings. It looked like the aftermath of a battle, the whole city block was taped off. She followed the magical signature to a group of four. A man with dirty blond hair was sitting on the trunk of a car and he was covered with blood. Standing on either side of him was a man and a woman. The man seemed to be a typical business man, though he seemed to be giving the blond man a lecture. The woman was a stunning red head who was giving the blond a death glare. The final one over there was a six-year-old little girl with long brown hair. She was bandaging up a cut on the man's arm.
"You should have been more careful daddy. I got really scared when you stopped responding." The child said, there were tears in her eyes. That was her first view of Darcy Lewis and she was appalled. No child should be surrounded with stuff like this.
Hours later after much yelling on both sides they had actually come to an understanding. There had been some misunderstandings and some heated words, but Minerva finally got around to what she had come to do in the first place. Clint had been fascinated, apparently Mary had never gotten around to telling him about being a witch. She had liked living as a muggle apparently. She would guess that once the child started showing signs of magic was when she planned on telling her muggle husband. Minerva, worried about the safety of Mary's child, kept in touch with the family. A few months after Clint had contacted her and admitted that he needed some help with all this magical stuff. Knowing that she had known his deceased wife he asked her if she would become Darcy's magical godmother. She had honestly been touched by the gesture and agreed. This allowed her to become even closer with Darcy.
Severus had not met Darcy until she was seven, after that unfortunate kidnapping incident. During the few months she had to stay in Hogwarts she got so attached to the man who had saved her that it was Darcy herself that asked him to become her godfather. Clint had simply gone along with the request. She was very surprised about how attached Severus had gotten to her with only knowing her for only a short amount of time. She was sure that Severus would say no to the request, but to her surprise he had said yes.
She shook her head to get herself back to the present and looked at her watch, it was nearing eleven already. It really was getting late and she should get her to the Weasley's. Molly was probably working her way into a fret. She heard a set of footsteps coming towards her, as she turned as she saw Severus come into view. For a moment she was confused when she didn't' see Darcy with him. Then she noticed a head, completely asleep, on his shoulder. A fond smile appeared on her face as Severus stopped next to her.
"It would seem her excessive use of accidental magic plus her adrenaline rush crash equaled her too tired to move." He said with amusement in his voice.
"Well it doesn't appear she was lying. How far did she make it before passing out?" Minerva asked.
"Not even halfway here." He said with a roll of his eyes.
A small smile found its way on her face as she plucked her goddaughter from the back of her godfather. Darcy unconsciously wrapped her arms around her neck.
"I'll be back soon. I'm just dropping her off at the Weasley's and coming right back." She informed him as she got a better grip on Darcy. Severus nodded in acknowledgment before walking back to the castle.
Minerva started walking down the path towards Hogsmead. As soon as she got far enough away from the Hogswart barrier she could activate the portkey to the burrow. She shifted her hold on Darcy once again. The girl was almost getting too heavy to carry. Darcy murmured in her sleep, saying something about Thor? Minerva shook her head at her, this child honestly had so many people wrapped around her finger and she didn't even know it.
She was startled slightly as a snake's head poked out from underneath Darcy's shirt. She remembered from Darcy's letters that this would be Callum, Darcy's coral snake. The snake was staring at her very intently. She wasn't sure if the snake would be able to understand her, but…
"Hello there. My name is Minerva; I'm Darcy's aunt, of sorts. I am currently taking her to the Weasley's so there is no need for concern." She didn't want to take any chances. The snake was most likely just making sure his friend was safe.
Callum tilted his head slightly before simply blinking at her and disappearing back under Darcy's shirt. She gave a small sigh, she had a feeling if she would have had any ill intent towards Darcy the snake wouldn't have been so passive.
After a few more minutes she finally made it to the edge of the barrier. With a tight grip on Darcy she activated the portkey. The two disappeared from the outskirts of Hogwarts and appeared outside the gate of the Burrow. She opened up the gate and made her way tot eh ever-growing home. It was well after eleven o'clock so she hoped she wouldn't be waking anyone up. It truly was much later than she had meant to get Darcy here. Determined to get the girl to a proper bed, she knocked.
Molly fretted around the kitchen in a worry. Clint had floo called hours ago that he was sending Darcy to the house a few days early. Something about an emergency and Darcy being reckless. She was very worried about the girl she has come to think of as a daughter. Shouldn't Darcy be here by now? It was past eleven already! All of the others were sent to bed an hour ago, she had to force the twins into their room. Arthur was in the living room tinkering with some stuff Darcy had brought him the last time she had come over.
"Stop pacing Sweetie, you'll wear yourself out." Arthur called out to her.
She looked behind her expecting to see her husband. When all she saw was an empty door frame however a small frown appeared on her face, "How did you…?"
Arthur chuckled, "We've been married for nineteen years. I know what you do when you're worried. Relax Mol, I'm sure Darcy is fine. Minerva's meeting probably ran long is all."
Molly let out a sigh, he was probably right. Her eyes lit up as she heard a knock on the door.
She rushed to the front door and opened it up to see Minerva, holding a passed-out Darcy.
Minerva must have seen the worried look on her face because she quickly reaffirmed, "She's fine, just completely exhausted. She has a few scrapes and bruises, but Clint said not to heal them. His exact words were if the consequences of her actions disappear immediately she will never learn not to be so reckless. I'm afraid I have to agree with him."
Molly let out a resigned sigh, "That girl will never learn. She has a hero complex as deep as the lake at Hogwarts."
Minerva let out a laugh in agreement, "Well unfortunately I do have to get back, it really is late."
Arthur grabbed Darcy from their friend, "I'll take her up to the boy's room." She always slept with the twins. They had first tried bunking her up with Ginny but she would always end u pin the twin's room. She would sometimes go there herself, but other times the twins would go in and grab her themselves. It had been comical one night seeing the twins carry an asleep Darcy down the hallway. One twin had her under her shoulders, the other had her legs. It had taken everything in him to hold in his laughter.
"Have a good night and take good care of our little trouble maker." Minerva said before she apparated away.
"I'll take her to the room, why don't you go to bed sweetie. It's been a long day." Arthur suggested as he headed up the stairs.
As he opened up the door to the twin's room two identical heads popped off their pillows. They had been very worried for their friend when Clint had told them about the attack. Especially about how Darcy had been right in the middle of it. Poor girl was too young for that.
"Is Darcy alright?" they asked in unison.
She's fine, just really tired. Fell asleep at Hogwarts while waiting for Minerva. She should be back to herself by the time she wakes up." Arthur reassured them.
The boys hopped out of their beds and waited eagerly. A fond smile found its way onto his face. These three are going to be a trio forever. Like every time Darcy slept over, after they realized they were going to share a room no matter what, he transfigured their two twin sized beds into one king sized one. They didn't like fighting over who's bed Darcy shared with, so Arthur came up with this solution.
He laid Darcy down in the middle of the bed while Fred and George climbed on either side of her.
"Good night Dad." They chorused.
"Night kids." He whispered to the three before closing the door. The next few weeks would be nice. Without a doubt hectic, but nice.