The Siren's Call (A Draco Malfoy Fanfiction)

41. Again

Upon looking back, Dioleh could remember little about the classes from fourth year apart from Defence Against the Dark Arts. For the first lesson, Dioleh sat in the back of the class next to Imani. She would have sat with Hermione, who was in the same class period as her, but she and her friends had elected to sit in the front of the class and Dioleh preferred the back. Draco sat next to Dioleh, leaving her between him and Imani.

Next to him sat Blaise Zabini. Crabbe and Goyle, Dioleh noticed, looked rather lost and were sitting together with Theodore Nott who was glaring back at Draco and Blaise. The two boys pretended not to notice. Clanking into the room, their teacher, Professor Moody, said, "You can put those away. Those books. You won't need them." Picking up a piece of parchment, he read through the class register, his magical swivelling eye focusing on each person as they raised their hands.

Once he had finished, he said, "Right then. I've had a letter from Professor Lupin about this class. Seems you've had a pretty thorough grounding in tackling dark creatures. You've covered boggarts, red caps, hinkypunks, grindylows, kappas, and werewolves, is that right?"

"But you're behind, very behind on dealing with curses," Moody resumed. "So I'm here to bring you up to scratch on what wizards can do to each other. I've got one year to teach you how to deal with dark-"

"What, aren't you staying?" Ron interrupted.

"You'll be Arthur Weasley's son, eh?" Moody remarked, smiling at Ron and effectively twisting his scars making him just a bit more menacing. "Yeah, I'm staying just the one year. Special favour to Dumbledore. One year then back to my quiet retirement." Getting bored, Draco pulled out the same book he had been reading before. Glancing at the top of the page, Dioleh couldn't help but be surprised to see he was about a thousand pages into Les Misérables. Before she could see what part he was at, Moody shouted, "Malfoy! Granger!" Dioleh and Draco both flinched, looking up quickly.

"Yes?" Dioleh replied. Striding toward them, Moody snatched the book from Draco, shutting it without letting him put in the bookmark. Going back to the front of the room, Moody slammed the book on the desk, the title clear for anyone to see. Harry, Ron, and Hermione, from the front of the room, looked back curiously.

Once the class continued, Draco muttered irritably, "He didn't even let me put in my bookmark." Dioleh attempted to hide her smile.

Quietly, she whispered back, "That might be the nerdiest thing I've heard you say since-"

"I quoted most of an entire scene from The Hobbit?" he guessed, also in a whisper. He glanced over to see that Dioleh's happy expression was quickly replaced by a saddened one as she remembered what she had said less than a week ago. Looking back to the front of the class, Draco began paying attention again.

"So," Moody said. "Do any of you know which curses are most heavily punished by Wizarding law?" Moody called on Ron first. Dioleh, who had never heard of any of the Unforgivable Curses before, couldn't help but feel sick as her eyes remained glued on the spider as it moved around the room, got tortured, and finally...died. The moment she saw the flash of green, her heart jumped in her chest and she drew in a sharp breath, her eyes tightly shut.

Arran held Dioleh tightly in his arms as he swam as fast as possible through the water and away from the wizards and witches coming after them. Riamina, Dioleh's classmate, was ahead of them, leading them to an empty beach a few miles off. Suddenly, without warning, a green flash of light sped past Dioleh and Arran, hitting the young siren. Instantly, her red hair swirled around her dark face and she began floating to the bottom.

Dioleh was brought back to the present as the class was dismissed. She hadn't realized she was crying until Imani said softly, "Dio, are you all right?" Dioleh shook her head. Not even caring some people were still in the classroom, she began to sob, hiding her head in her hands.

"Dioleh," Hermione said softly, crouching in front of her. Looking at her through her hands, Dioleh saw that Imani, Hermione, Ron, and Harry had hung back, making sure she was all right. "What is it?"

"I-" she began before breaking off. "My best friend was killed with that curse."

"During..." Hermione said, trailing off and throwing an anxious look at someone just out of Dioleh's sight. Dioleh nodded. Hermione wrapped her arms around Dioleh while Imani moved her hair out of her face.

"Everything all right?" the growling voice of Moody said. Dioleh jumped, looking up at him through her tears.

Her voice suddenly much stronger, she snapped, as best she could in her wobbly voice, "Fine. We should go." Quickly, she grabbed her stuff and the hand of the person closest to her. It was only once she had gotten out of the classroom that she realized it was Draco. The others were following closely behind.

"You okay, love?" Draco asked. "Can I do anything?" She shook her head, not seeing the surprised looks being cast by the others, even Imani who had been told about the argument.

"I should get to our next class," Dioleh said feebly. Harry, Ron, and Hermione, seeing she wanted to just move on, left for their class while Imani and Draco walked with Dioleh.