The Siren's Call (A Draco Malfoy Fanfiction)

28. Dangerous Half-Breeds

Hermione's eyes widened as Dioleh fell to the ground. "What the hell?" Dioleh hissed breathlessly and with a groan of pain, glaring up at Harry. "What did you do to me?!"

"Dioleh-" Hermione breathed. She groaned, rolling over onto her back and gasping for breath.

"Harry, what did you do to me?" Dioleh gasped, watching as the curse spread up her arm.

"Fudge," he said, looking at her with a look of betrayal. "He told me he thought more sirens were here. He gave me this." Harry held up a charm with flames etched on the back.

"Yo- You cursed me?" she gasped, scrambling away weakly from him toward Sirius. The curse had gotten up to her mid-forearm. It was getting hard for her to breathe.

"Siren?" Hermione repeated. "Dioleh-"

"Oh, enough," Sirius croaked irritably, although he cast her a worried look. "Your sister is a siren, get over it." Pointing Ron's wand at them, he said, "Expelliarmus." Once he had their wands, Sirius said, "I thought you'd come after your friend. Your father would have done the same for me. Brave of you, not to run for a teacher. I'm grateful it will make everything much easier." Harry darted forward, but Ron and Hermione held him back. Sirius seemed not to notice as he crouched down by Dioleh who was growing paler by the minute.

"No, Harry!" Hermione gasped.

"If you want to kill Harry, you'll have to kill us too!" Ron shouted, still holding Harry back although his face was losing colour from the effort of standing on his damaged leg.

"Lie down," Sirius said softly to Ron, looking up from Dioleh. "You will damage that leg even more."

"Did you hear me?" Ron said, trying to keep his voice strong. "You'll have to kill all three of us!"

Sirius sighed, requesting, "Could one of you hand me one of those pillows and the duvet?" None of them moved. Finally, Hermione grabbed them and threw them at him. Shooting her a half-glare, he lifted Dioleh's upper body to lay her head on the pillow and covered her in the duvet. "You have no idea what you've done, Harry," Sirius sighed, looking regretful. Harry was still being held back by Ron and Hermione and seemed like he was about to snap. Standing, Sirius explained, "She's as good as dead now unless we can get her to more of her people. They're the only ones who can heal her." In a split second, Harry broke free of the other two and lunged at Sirius, managing to wrestle the wands from his hands just before Hermione dragged him back. Before they could say anything, there was a low creaking sound from downstairs.

Sirius' head snapped in the direction of the sound as Hermione called, "We're up here! We're up here! Sirius Black, quick!" The door burst open to reveal Professor Lupin and Imani, the former pale and bloodless as he surveyed the scene and the ladder with a worried expression on her face as she anxiously scanned the room.

"Dio!" Imani screamed, making a move to rush forward, but Lupin held her back.

"Expelliarmus!" Lupin shouted, disarming Harry of his wand and Hermione of hers and Ron's. Catching the wands with ease, Lupin moved into the room, nodding at Imani. She instantly rushed to Dioleh. The curse had spread up to her shoulder, leaving her as pale as death itself and covered in a cold sweat.

"Oh my god," Imani whispered, her eyes filled with tears.

"Where is he, Sirius?" Lupin asked in an odd tone. Sirius stared at him for a moment before pointing in Ron's direction. "But then..." Lupin muttered. "Why hasn't he shown himself before now? Unless...unless he was the one...unless you switched...without telling me?" Sirius nodded, very slowly. Lupin lowered his wand and helped Sirius up to his feet and embraced him.