The Siren's Call (A Draco Malfoy Fanfiction)

36. Past? Present? Who Can Tell?

"Get up!" a loud voice shouted, causing Dioleh to jolt awake. Looking around, she saw Mr. Weasley in full panic as he shook Ginny awake. Dioleh got up, glad she had not changed to sleep. Grabbing her wand, she rushed out behind Hermione. Outside the tent, Dioleh looked over to see three people suspended in the air. No-Majs. Beginning to feel ill, she followed after the younger Weasleys into the woods, her breathing beginning to pick up.

"OUCH!" Ron cried. Dioleh stopped, looking to see what the trouble was.

"What happened?" Hermione asked anxiously. "Ron, where are you? Oh, this is stupid. Lumos."

"Tripped on a tree root," Ron fumed as Harry joined him. Dioleh stayed back, scanning the crowd for Fred, George, and Ginny.

"Well, with feet that size, it's hard not to," a drawling voice said. Dioleh turned to see Draco leaning against a tree. He seemed to be watching what was happening through the trees, his demeanour completely and totally relaxed. Dioleh's heart sank.

"Piss off," Ron retorted.

"Langue-" Draco began before spotting Dioleh. Instantly his entire demeanour changed. Pushing off the tree, he approached her and said in a lowered voice, "Dioleh, you need to go. Get deeper into the woods, yeah?" She scoffed, not looking at him. Brows furrowed, he said, "What?"

"Oh, don't act like you care so much now, Draco," she said irritably, pain in her voice.

Growing more confused, he said, "What? I ca-"

"Then why are you treating my friends like trash!" she shouted, taking a threatening step towards him. Harry, Ron, and Hermione awkwardly looked away. Draco stood his ground. "Why do you continue to treat my sister as lesser than?"

"Dioleh, just go deeper into the woods, okay?" Draco said, his eyes briefly flashing with hurt at her words as he looked over toward the camp. There was a sudden explosion, causing Dioleh to flinch. Grabbing onto her shoulders, he pleaded, "Please." Dioleh was so shocked at his plea she nodded and followed after Harry, Ron, and Hermione who had been attempting to get her to leave with them.

After they had been going for about five minutes, Harry exclaimed, "I can't believe it, I've lost my wand!" Dioleh got out and lit her wand, holding it high over her head so as to illuminate the ground around them. Hermione and Ron did the same. It was nowhere to be found. Before they could try and do anything, there was another harsh banging and Dioleh screamed, covering her ears with her hands as her heart pounded in her chest and her breaths caught in her throat and her eyes slammed tightly shut.

Dioleh woke up to see the body of her teacher in front of her, her blue hair swirling in the water around her lifeless face. She instantly shot back, letting out a scream.

Hermione pulled Dioleh to her feet, dragged her along behind the other three as her harsh gasps ripped through her lips parted in a single expression of terror. They eventually got to a secluded spot and Dioleh instantly collapsed, tears streaming down her cheeks as her mind ran away from her. Hermione was crouched in front of her, her arms wrapped around her only for once Dioleh felt like she was suffocating, unlike her usual panic attacks where she didn't mind the physical touch.

Noticing it was getting worse, she let go, trying to get Dioleh to breathe. Harry and Ron, not good with dealing with these kinds of emotions, awkwardly hung back as Hermione tried to help Dioleh through it. Her heart felt like it was skipping a beat every few seconds, a cold sweat had sprung upon her forehead and was making its way down her cheeks, adding to the wetness from her tears. She was trembling so badly she looked like a frightened animal hiding from a vengeful hunter and her heart was pounding so hard her chest began to hurt.

Softly, Hermione said, "Dioleh."

Before she could respond, a voice behind them screamed, "MORSMORDRE!" A large green shape appeared in the sky, causing multiple all over the wood to scream. Dioleh's heart hammered harder in her chest.

Shaking Arran awake, Dioleh flinched, hearing desperate screams from all around them as wizards using gillyweed murdered them one by one. A figure darkened the entrance to their cave.

Dioleh was brought back to reality as dozens of popping sounds appeared and Harry screamed, "DUCK!"

"NO!" Dioleh screamed as the wizard approached the two of them, his wand raised. She raised her arms in an x, sending the man backwards. He went flying back, his head hitting the top of the opening with a loud cracking noise. Grabbing onto her hand, Arran rushed the two of them from the cave.

Dioleh screamed as more than twenty stunners shot all around them. "Stop!" Mr. Weasley shouted, running toward them at full speed. "STOP! That's my son!"

"Which of you did it?" Crouch snapped, glaring around at them all. "Which of you conjured the Dark Mark?"

"We didn't do that!" Harry cried. The shouting caused Dioleh's head to pound on top of her heart hammering in her chest as she gasped for breath.

"We didn't do anything!" Ron added. "What did you want to attack us for?"

"Do not lie, sir!" Crouch shouted. "You have been caught at the scene of the crime!"

"Where did the mark come from, you four?" Mr. Weasley asked. Harry and Ron answered but Dioleh was still suspended in terror and unable to process let alone respond to any sort of questioning. As someone went over to the spot Harry pointed out, Mr. Weasley crouched by Hermione and asked, "What's going on?

Hermione said, "I don't know what to do, Mr. Weasley. She's had panic attacks before but this is nothing like that. She won't calm down. Nothing is working."

"I can lower her blood pressure," Mr. Weasley suggested. "Calm her down." After hesitating a moment, Hermione nodded. Mr. Weasley quickly muttered a spell and Dioleh began breathing normally again but after just a few seconds, her eyes fluttered closed and she passed out.

After checking her pulse, Hermione said, "She's just fainted." There were tear streaks down Hermione's cheeks.