Deva was standing in the graveyard, looking around. She was pondering about the fact that it seemed like the stones had multiplied since she was last there. She frowned slightly to herself. She didn't feel so good. Not that it was any wonder. She was visiting her parents after all.

Martin and Helle Smith.

Deva gritted her teeth slightly. It had been so long since she'd been here. Of course, considering how many stones there were, and the people around her, she wasn't standing next to the graves of her parents. She was standing a bit off from them, but she could see the white scraped on the black. She remembered when she had fought her first battle with an enemy at that spot, the one who killed them. But she had finished that woman off a long time ago. No, she hadn't killed her. Deva didn't kill. She hadn't fallen that far.

But it hurt that she couldn't move over to them. Curse you, she thought menacingly, but in the end, cursing someone wasn't helping her. She took a deep breath and felt her anger and frustration well away and being replaced with sorrow. She didn't notice the tears falling from her eyes, but if she had, she wouldn't have cared. A sob escaped her mouth, and she leaned on a stone behind her so she wouldn't fall down. She covered her mouth when she felt another sob threatening to leave her, and let it out silently.

Life was unfair.

Darcie had decided that it was about time that she went to visit Mama in her grave, it had been some time and she scolded herself whenever she remembered that she had forgotten to do it, but with her volunteering at the animal sanctuary and the new professor position Darcie just didn't have the time she used to.

Moving into the gates of the graveyard she made her way with her bouquet of flowers to her mothers grave, when she saw someone that she thought she recognised, and when she looked again she realised that it was Deva! The professor she had met in the quarters not a few days ago.

Debating if she should go over and help, Darcie did so with a kind smile on her face, deeply upset that her new found acquaintance was so hurt by something, death most likely.

"Hey," she said cautiously "Deva are you alright?"

Deva jumped slightly when someone called her name. She immediately straigthened up and pulled herself together, her flow of tears stopping instantly. She blinked.

"Darcie," she said surprised, "What brings you here?"

She then wanted to facepalm herself. She would be on a graveyard with a bouquet of flowers due to losing someone.

"Forget that question. Silly of me... Who did you lose?" she asked instead, very softly, not wishing to sound rude.

Then she let her eyes slip to the stones she was standing by and examined them. None had 'White' as last name, but one of them seemed to be around the age she would've been, and she could easily say that it was a friend. 'Fred Berntly', she memorized, along with the date of death and birth.

Darcie smiled softly when Deva looked up at her, she was a little bit grateful that she stopped crying, she didn't like to see her friends cry, although sometimes it was needed and she was glad to be there for them when she was needed.

"Oh I'm just here to leave these for my Mama, I spotted you and wondered if you were okay, sometimes you need someone there for you when you visit people here...in case you need a shoulder to lean on."

Although it hurt Darcie still, she never let it show, because she was always so happy and focusing on the good things, but she managed to tell people with ease when they asked.

"My mother Veronica, she was a reporter for the Daily Prophet, you might have heard, I think they gave her a nice obituary in one of the issues, which was very nice of them."

Biting her lip, Darcie looked at the stones in front of her and asked softly: "What about you?"

Deva smiled to Darcie. "Thank you," she said softly, "But I'm okay now."

So Darcie had lost a parent as well? Deva took a soft breath.

She then frowned. "I'm really sorry for your loss, Darcie, and yes, I had heard about that," she said lowly.

She then looked around at the stones, her eyes landing on Fred Berntly. She didn't want to lie, not for her own sake, though. She had lied so much during her life that she didn't really care that much anymore. But she didn't want to lie, due to Darcie and the memory of this Fred. She felt guilty, but she knew she had to say it.

"One of my friends. He lost his life, as you can see, when I was in third at Ho- I mean, the school I went to up North, Dragmar," she said softly, wanting to kick herself for almost saying Hogwarts.

She had found a school that would verify that she had gone there for a nice sum of money, and her alibi was now bulletproof, unless she happened to meet someone from that school, an old student or something.

"I knew him through the connection of my family," she said softly.

Darcie smiled lightly when she was told that Deva was okay now, she knew that sometimes people just said that to stop people asking about them, but she genuinely did seem happier, so Darcie decided to leave it for the time being.

"As long as you're sure, I'm always here if you need me."

When Deva apologised to her about the loss of her parent, Darcie smiled slightly wider and looked at the grave that was a little way away, you could tell that it was tended to often, as Darcie tried to come here at least once a week.

"Thank you, although I am sure that she's in a better place now, I did always tell her that she shouldn't be going over to France but, she didn't listen" she sighed.

As she listened to Deva's explaination of why she was here, Darcie nodded slightly, looking down at the grave of the friend that she knew, it was always hard to lose people be it friends or family, and she hoped that inside Deva was coping okay.

"I see, it must have been hard to lose a friend, especially one that you are close to...I don't really have that many friends so I've never had that problem." she said with a smile.

Deva gave a genuine smile to Darcie. "I appreciate that, Darcie, truly. Thank you," she said solemnly.

Deva was glad that Darcie smiled a bit more when she apologized about her mother. That meant that she was dealing with it in a healthy and true way, very much on the contrary of what Deva was doing, as she couldn't even tend to the graves. She'd make sure to come back one midnight when no one was around. Hopefully.

"She was killed?" Deva asked, her voice horrified; she never imagined she'd be able to relate so much to Darcie.

Deva felt rotten to the core after having lied to Darcie, but she managed to smile a bit.

"Well, that's about to change. Soon you'll have to worry about me," Deva said with a small grin.

She knew that she and Darcie could become close friends, of course, only if Darcie let her, but she wasn't about to give up anytime soon either.

Darcie smiled slightly, it seemed as if Deva was really happy that someone was going to be there for her, and she would do all she could to make sure that she was that person.

When she looked horrified when Darcie implied what had happened to her mother, she smiled reassuringly, she didn't want her to be upset about it, not when Deva had been so upset already.

"Yes she was off undecover doing a secret report for the paper and then her glamour charm failed and she was spotted...and well...then it happened. But it's okay, she died doing what she loved, which is what she would have wanted." Darcie smiled happily, although it was tinged with sadness.

If possible her smile got wider when Deva said what she did:

"Really? Y-you would like to be my friend?"

Deva frowned gravely at what had happened. "That's awful," she said solemnly, "but I'm glad you feel that way. I mean, that you feel she was content in doing what she was before she died."

Deva's face then couldn't help but blow up in a smile. She couldn't believe that Darcie would think that she wouldn't want to be her friend.

"Oh, please, Darcie! You see me, and walk over to see if I'm okay. You then stay and chat, even with that flower in your hand that you want to lie on your mother's grave. You confide in me what happened to your mother, and you try to make sure I won't take it too heavily by smiling reassuringly," Deva said in a sort of happy tone.

"To me, that already makes you my friend," she concluded in all earnest.

Deva had always been good at reading people, especially because of her education as an auror. It had been required of her to pay much attention to the world and the people around her due to how she could read people, and others had improved that skill within her greatly.

Darcie smiled happily and was glad that Deva understood her, after all, she of course was still upset about the loss of her mother but she used the fact that her mother was doing what she loved the most when she passed as a sort of comfort blanket.

Blinking slightly when Deva told her all of the things that she had noticed Darcie couldn't help but giggle happily, after all, she had hoped that she wouldn't have been so obvious with the last point.

"You're really good at picking all of these things up, it's amazing, and it's no bother to stay and talk to you, I like it very much, and I'm sure that it would be better to help out a friend for a few minutes than to just ignore them." she smiled lightly.

Unable to hide the happiness that she felt in her heart Darcie smiled broadly, she couldn't believe that she had made such a lovely friend! The thoughts of her being alone at Hogwarts dissappearing.

"This is amazing, I was so worried that I would have no friends at Hogwarts and I am so glad that I was wrong."

Deva shook her head. "It was all a part of the training to become an auror," she said calmly, "And if you know what to look for, anyone could do it. It's all about deducting what is right in front of you."

It truly wasn't that amazing. It was fairly easy, it was just that people didn't really think about it. But when they heard the reasoning or explanation of why someone knew, most people would blink and say that it was so obvious that it was hard to tell. Only problem with the deduction lessons when becoming an auror was that the auror wouldn't get any privacy from other aurors. Deva couldn't tell how many had figured out that she wasn't who she said she was, but they never found out who, of course.

Deva grinned at Darcie. "Oh, don't even worry about that for a second! I'm sure you'll get more friends than just me, after all, the staff seems wonderful! But I'm glad I've got a new friend as well," she said with a big, big smile.

Darcie truly seemed like an amazing and caring person that could tell the difference between wrong and right and who knew things about life that others had never thought about. She seemed almost philosophical. Deva was glad that she could call Darcie her friend, because Darcie seemed happy, truly happy. Parker and Pyxis weren't that happy, and Alcyone... Well, she hadn't had the chance to really speak with her yet.

Darcie smiled lightly, she had wondered what it was like to be an Auror and a part of her thought that she wouldn't have been able to do it herself, she didn't think that she would like having to analyse people's emotions instead of just experiencing them and helping them through it.

"Was it difficult being an auror? Do you still do it in your spare time or doesn't it work like that? I've always wanted to meet an auror properly, and I guess now I have done. So thank you." she said with a happy smile.

Thinking about how normally she was so shy, Darcie shook her head a little, she didn't think thats she would get very many new friends at all although she was over the moon with just having one, Deva, that hopefully she could stick with when it came to meals and in the staff quarters.

"I'm sure that we will both make lots of new friends! After all you're very nice, and I like to think that I try to be nice, so perhaps that will help." Darcie suggested, trying to make Deva feel better about herself.

Deva shrugged. "Yeah, it was, but it sort of came natural to me, the spying and deducing things. But it was extremely hard. Being an auror... Well, many have to hide their identity to keep from being recognized or murdered and stuff like so. As for still working as one... Well, I don't really work for them, but I keep my eyes open. Any sign of something being off, and I report to them instantly. I'm not a spy, just someone who wants to make sure everything is okay," she said with a smile. Then she added: "You're very welcome, but we're not as special as many of us seems to think."

She knew one too many of stuck-up aurors who thought they changed the world every second of every day. She was pretty sick of them.

Deva then chuckled. "You are very nice, Darcie, you just need a confidence-boost. And believe you me, being my friend... Well, you're gonna need it. I tend to be teasing and sarcastic, you see," she said innocently, scratching the back of her head.

"But I never mean anything serious about it," she added, now being very serious, "Honestly, I just let things slip out of my mouth that I don't mean, because I'm horrible at giving compliments you see."

She really was. She could be blunt and say that people were very kind and generous and stuff, but complimenting others on what they wore, what decisions they made... It really wasn't her strong suit... She hoped that would be all right with Darcie, because she seemed like a keeper when it came to friends.

Darcie smiled lightly, it seemed as if Deva was the second person that had something that they could do from the start of their career, she knew that the only thing that she was really good at was caring for people and animals, so it seemed natural that she would look into that as a career.

"It must have been awfully exciting at times, you must have some stories to tell, if you're allowed to tell them that is...I can imagine that it would all be very secrative..."

Pondering on this Darcie hummed lightly, hoping that she would at least hear a few of them, if she was allowed, but of course she would understand if she wasn't allowed.

When Deva said that she was usually very teasing with her comments, Darcie knew that she would be able to handle it because her Papa had sometimes been like that before he became the way he was now, and in truth she missed it.

"OH don't worry about that at all, I can handle that no problem as long as I know that you don't mean anything by it, it's all friendly between us two yes?" she asked with a grin.

Deva grinned. "Most of the missions are secret, but I've got a couple or more I can tell," she said happily.

She enjoyed speaking with Darcie; the girl was so happy and something about her creature was just so ... honest and true. It was very uplifting to Deva.

She was very glad when Darcie also said that she didn't mind the teasing Deva was doomed to lay out sometimes. She hoped she wouldn't be too much of a tease, of course, but she always managed to stop before it became personal.

"I swear I would never say anything to deliberately hurt you," Deva said dramatically, placing her right hand over her heart. She then winked. "Nah, but seriously, it's definitely friendly between us two," she said happily.