The Siren's Call (A Draco Malfoy Fanfiction)

34. Malfoy? Normal? Nah.

Once they were out of earshot of Lucius, Dioleh remarked awkwardly, "Your father is..."

"Yeah," Draco said slowly. "I wish you could've met my mother though. She's a little less..."

"Yeah," Dioleh said. After a moment's awkward silence, she let out a small laugh. "Parents are interesting." Draco nodded, smiling at her.

"Thanks for your letters, by the way," he said. Dioleh smiled. It was funny to her to see just how awkward he was around her compared to when she saw him around his friends or classmates. Now his pale cheeks had more colour than normal and his eyes were light. His usual smirk was replaced by a genuine smile.

"Yours as well," Dioleh said with a small laugh. "Made the summer a bit more interesting. Did you get the books I sent you?"

His smile widening, he replied, "Yeah. I had to hide them the minute I got them, but they're in my room."

Frowning, Dioleh asked, "Why did you have to hide them?" Suddenly realizing what he had said, he froze up, his eyes wide. Remembering what Hermione had told her about her only interaction with Lucius, she said, "Oh, right. I forgot." To break the awkward silence, Dioleh asked, "Did you get a chance to read them at least?"

"Yeah," he replied, falling back into his more relaxed state. Getting excited, he said, "I can't believe Carrie just killed everyone!"

Dioleh laughed, "Can you blame her?" He hesitated, thinking it over.

With a sigh, he admitted, "No."

"Which of the three books was your favourite?" Dioleh asked brightly. "Carrie, The Hobbit, or Les Misérables?"

Thinking it over, he replied, "Well, I haven't finished Les Misérables yet, but out of the first two, I liked Carrie the best."

Smirking, Dioleh replied, "Told you you'd like Stephen King."

Under his breath, Draco muttered teasingly, "Always has to be right." Dioleh, who had heard him, playfully hit his arm, causing him to laugh and cry out, "Hey!"

Unbeknownst to them, Harry, Ron, and Hermione, who had gone to fetch water, were watching them with confused expressions. "Is it just me or does he seem..." Hermione began.

"Happy? Normal?" Harry remarked, watching as Draco's cheeks flushed red and he dodged another hit from Dioleh, his rich laughter reaching their ears.

"Normal? Malfoy?" Ron scoffed. "I still don't know how Dioleh is friends with him."

"Well," Hermione said hesitantly, watching as the two started laughing together after Dioleh brought up how she had gotten one of the riddles in the cavern scene in The Hobbit wrong when she had tried guessing the answer the first time she read it. "If he acts like that around her..."

"How did you miss that one?" Draco said, talking through peals of laughter, his accent strengthening in his humour. "The riddle was...'This thing all things devours; Birds, beasts, trees, flowers; Gnaws iron, bites steel; Grinds hard stones to meal; Slays king, ruins town, And beats mountain down.' What else could it have been other than time?" Dioleh couldn't answer as she was laughing far too hard.

When she could speak, she asked, "How did you memorize all that?" He shrugged, the warmth of laughter still in his eyes.

"I've always been good at remembering stuff," he explained.

Raising an eyebrow, she challenged, "Then recite the other four riddles." As he opened his mouth to respond, she added, "And their answers."

Smirking, he replied cockily, "Challenge accepted, love." After thinking for a moment, he said, "Alive without breath/As cold as death/Never thirsty, ever drinking/All in mail never clinking. And the answer to that one was..." He closed his eyes, trying to recall. Excitedly, he snapped his fingers and said, "Fish!"

Trying to hide how impressed she was, Dioleh said, "Okay, yeah. Another one."

He stayed silent, thinking, before he said, "'Voiceless it cries/Wingless flutters/Toothless bites/Mouthless mutters.' And the answer was...wind. Then 'What has roots as nobody sees/Is taller than trees/Up, up it goes/And yet never grows?' That one was a mountain. And the last one was..." He stopped, struggling for a moment. Dioleh opened her mouth to prompt him, but he interrupted, "No! No! Don't tell me!" She smiled, holding back the laughter threatening to erupt from her throat. Suddenly animated, he cried, "I got it! 'It cannot be seen, cannot be felt/Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt/It lies behind stars and under hills/And empty holes it fills/It comes out first and follows after/Ends life, kills laughter!'"

With a laugh, Dioleh said, "You're really proud of that, aren't you?"

"Yes," he said, also laughing.

"Okay, then what was the answer to the riddle?" she asked, suddenly wondering if he would actually get all of them. He thought back over the riddle, his hand perched at his chin as he thought.

"Er," he said finally. Teasingly, Dioleh opened her mouth to say it. "No, no, give me a minute to think."

"One, two, three, four," she said with a wide smile, beginning to count. He began panicking, racking his brains for the answer as he got more and more anxious trying to find the answer before she finishing counting. "Ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen." Dioleh's smile widened more and more as he became more desperate. Finally, she said, "Fifty-six, fifty-seven, fifty-eight, fifty-nine." She paused, looking at him for an answer. He sighed, knowing he was beaten. "It was darkness, Dray," she laughed.

"Oh bloody-" he said irritably, running a hand through his blond locks. "How did I miss that one?" Dioleh shrugged.

Letting out a small laugh, she said, "Hey, but that was still really impressive. I couldn't have done it. If you read me the riddles I can get the answers, but I couldn't remember all of them word-for-word." Before they realized it, they had come to the Weasley campsite, just out of sight of the people in it. Harry, Ron, and Hermione had already gotten back and were sitting around a roaring fire. Dioleh blushed. "See you around, Dray. Thanks for walking me back."

His cheeks reddish, he replied, "Yeah. If you have more book recommendations, let me know." She nodded. "See you later, love." Once he was gone, Dioleh sat down by the campfire, trying to ignore the looks she was being shown on every side.

Finally, she sighed, "Yes?"

"Nothing," Hermione said quickly, cutting off anything the others would have said. Thankfully, the awkwardness was interrupted as Percy, Bill, and Charlie appeared. Soon they were eating lunch and enjoying watching as witches and wizards appeared and disappeared in the forest beyond the campsite.