The Siren's Call (A Draco Malfoy Fanfiction)

P2. London

One Year Later

"Dioleh! Come on, we need to go!" Arran shouted, moving to shout up the stairs.

Hastily pulling her vibrant hair into a messy bun, Dioleh called back, "I'm coming! Just give me a second!" She got up from her window seat, checking over her room. Arran had insisted it be cleaned before they left. It was a small room, but nice in its own way. The bed was pushed up against the back corner out of the way with a small nightstand next to it, covered in books.

At the foot of the bed, there was a desk and chair covered with more books. On the other side of the room, there was a window seat looking over the city where it was currently raining. Between the seat and the bed, there was also a large, fluffy rug over the wooden floor.

Grabbing her bag and shoes, Dioleh rushed down the stairs. In the shop below their apartment, there were numerous shelves and a large glass case, all filled with many pieces of fine jewellery made from all sorts of different materials. Pearls, diamonds, rubies, emeralds, sea glass, silver, gold, bronze, copper, cord. The business had done well over the past year and Arran had been able to hire an employee.

"Going on your trip, Mr. Marlow?" Evangeline asked, looking up from where she was situating everything to be able to open.

"You know how it goes," he replied. "Dioleh and I will be back around seven. Just keep the shop open for the usual hours."

"Yes, sir," she replied with a kind smile. Evangeline was a university student so she only came into work on the days she didn't have classes, but she had become part of the family in a way. The Marlows had her over for dinner when she was working and she brought them sweets she would make every once in a while. She was beautiful and many of the customers bought the pieces while also trying to win a date. It wasn't hard to see why.

Evangeline was a beautiful coffee colour, her eyes were the colour of chocolate, and her hair was a glorious mess of curls that she kept in several braids most of the time. Her real passion was to own her own store and sell her pastries, candies, and cakes, but Arran paid her so well she was going to have enough by the time she graduated to open her own shop. "Bye, Evangeline!" Dioleh called. She smiled, waving back at the young girl. As soon as they were out in the city, they caught a cab and had them drive them out of the city. From there, they used the car they had parked out there in a garage to drive to the beach.

They had made an exchange with the owner of the garage where they would make and give her one of their pieces once a year in exchange for being able to park there whenever necessary. Soon the two had gotten out of the car and moved towards the water. Dioleh, always too excited to wait, broke into a run, sprinting for the water. The moment she dove in, she put all her willpower into changing forms.

Her legs moulded together and scales sprang up all over her as her lower half elongated and a brilliant tail appeared. Her clothes were gone and her chest was covered by more scales. Breaking the surface, she saw her father coming in after her. Without waiting another moment, she let out a joyful squeal and dove back into the water to swim around.

After the two had both gotten out their excitement of being in the water again, they set out on their weekly mission. The major reason the business did so well was that they did not have to buy as much of the precious gems and pearls as other jewellers. Over half of theirs came from weekly hunts around the water. Really they just had to buy cords, silver, and gold as the kind found in the water had to be purified. Cutting the stones was easy for Arran but he was never able to purify metals.

After several hours of hunting, they had collected all they needed and returned to the shore. Changing from human form to siren was easy, but going back was the hard part. It took so much force of will that when Dioleh was younger, her father had to often hide the tail and carry her back to their condo in America, but in England, there was no such option.

After straining for a moment, Dioleh saw that it had worked. She splashed out of the water, shivering slightly. Getting back to the car, Arran handed her a towel which she quickly wrapped around her shoulders and got in. She spent the rest of the car ride moving the water out of her hair and from her body and clothes. Once they got out of the car, they came back into the city to see Evangeline talking to a customer.

He was tall with a long white beard and electric blue eyes. He was also rather oddly dressed in a purple suit. The two sirens came in, said hello to Evangeline and began to head up the stairs before the man asked in a surprisingly strong voice considering his age, "Are you the owner of this shop?"

Turning back around, Arran replied, "Yes, but this is my day off. My employee is more than capable of handling any questions you may have for her."

"American," he remarked with a flicker of interest. "Well, I think it best if I come back tomorrow. I still need to decide and it is getting dark." He left, a seemingly knowing look on his face. Dioleh frowned.

"Who was that?" Arran asked, looking at Evangeline.

She shrugged, looking after him curiously as she replied, "No idea. I had never seen him before. It was strange, he just seemed to be curious as to who owned the shop and less about the actual jewellery." Arran suddenly had a rather alarmed expression on his face.

Quietly, he said, "Dioleh, go up to your room."

"But Father-" she began, wanting to know what was going on.

"Now, Dioleh," he ordered. Begrudgingly, she nodded and headed obediently up the stairs to her room.