The Siren's Call (A Draco Malfoy Fanfiction)

44. Eye of the Storm

"Sirius, what's going on?" Dioleh asked, crossing her arms over her chest to fight the cold. "Why are you back here?"

"Harry saw Voldemort," Sirius said.

"What?" Andre exclaimed. "He went after Harry?"

"No," Sirius said. "He saw through Voldemort's eyes while he killed someone."

"Geez," Dioleh said, sitting down and leaning back against a tree. "That's bloody brilliant."

"What did you want to meet with us about?" Imani asked.

"Dumbledore told me Voldemort is interested in siren magic," Sirius explained. His eyes fixing on Dioleh, he added, "He also told me a certain one of you was being rather uncooperative." Dioleh scoffed, rolling her eyes.

"Oh yes, just blame me for not being able to trust someone, forgive me," she snapped sarcastically.

"Look, I want to help the three of you," Sirius said. "Dumbledore finished construction of the building. Come on." He led them through the woods and to the edge. Sirius pointed out to them a vivid blue rock on the edge of the woods and went about two feet back from that spot and pointed his wand at nothing. Suddenly, from the tip of his wand, something began to spread. They could see more and more revealed as it widened until it was a square, large enough for them to get through.

"Merlin," Imani said, dropping inside. It was huge, far larger than it could physically be with the space it was on. On the far side, two bodies of water lay. One, Dioleh knew, had to lead out to the lake while the other was-

"Saltwater," Andre cried, jumping in without a moment's hesitation. He swam around before coming back to the surface and crying, "Mani, there are currents!"

"What?" Imani cried excitedly, rushing forward. She dove into the water as well, her excitement lighting her ebony cheeks with colour. Dioleh smiled. She hadn't seen Imani and Andre so happy in a long time.

"Aren't you going to join them?" Sirius asked. He had dropped down with them and was watching the two sirens in the water with a warm smile.

"Well I would but that moment looks perfect without me," Dioleh said with a smirk. Sirius chuckled. Dioleh took the chance to look at the rest of the place. Both bodies of water were quite sizable but there was still room at the edge for a beach. The lights beat down like the sun on a beautiful summer day in July or late June. Dioleh closed her eyes, her face to the sun and smiled.

"This might be the only place in the world sirens can be free," Dioleh said softly. She had a sad, wistful smile on her face. "If only it could look like nighttime." The words had scarcely left her mouth before it changed and Dioleh's eyes began adjusting to the sudden lighting difference. Looking up, she could see hundreds of thousands of stars all dancing around the moon. "Mom would have loved this. Dad too. They both loved the stars."

"I'm sorry," Sirius said. At her surprised expression, he explained, "Harry might have mentioned..." She nodded, words she might have said caught in her throat. "Well, I'll leave the three of you to your fun," Sirius said after a pause. "Look after Harry for me, yeah?" Dioleh nodded and soon he was gone.

"Dioleh! You coming?" Imani called, emerging at the surface.

Her smile coming back, she replied, "Coming!" She broke into a run, diving as soon as she was deep enough and joined the two of them. It seemed so long since she had been in saltwater. It felt so familiar. Going to the surface, she looked up at the stars and remembered a song her mother used to sing to her. Closing her eyes, she hummed the melody, memories of her mother playing in her head.

⥖✦✧⦽✧✦⥗

The stolen moments in their hideout became the source of most of Dioleh's joy as she went through school, the work piling more and more on top of her and the others as the days continued to go by. It began to become difficult when, at the end of October, students from the other two schools arrived. Dioleh was not present when they arrived as she had decided to go for a swim and try, finally, to figure out what her new powers were.

She drew in a deep breath as she sat down on the beach, the water rushing over her body as she transformed into her siren form. Fixing her eyes on the water, she stopped a wave in its path with ease. Okay, nothing new there. She let it go, allowing the water to crash over her scales. After trying a few different things, she groaned in frustration, falling back against the sand.

The false sun beat down on her, causing her to become slightly drowsy. Opening her eyes, she sat back up and slipped into the saltwater. Opening her eyes, she saw at the bottom a bracelet. Frowning, she went down and grabbed it from where it lay on the sand. Dioleh blinked, briefly shutting out the world. The moment her eyes opened again, she closed them, frowning. To her shock, she saw the last thing she expected.

Dioleh seemed to be sitting in the Great Hall, looking with apprehension over at the Ravenclaw table where Andre was sitting with a woman in pale blue robes. She had dark brown hair and, as Dioleh could hear, a French accent. Looking down, Dioleh grabbed onto a fork and began to eat irritably. Only, instead of Dioleh's tanned, bronze skin, the hand that grabbed the fork was dark as ebony.

Dioleh opened her eyes with a gasp, dropping the bracelet. Without touching it again, she examined it. Studying the charm, she realized it was a small shark tooth. Imani. Picking it up again, Dioleh waited, her eyes open. Nothing happened. Closing her eyes, she saw through Imani's eyes again as she looked down the Slytherin table to see Draco and Blaise talking. Even though she was seeing and hearing all of this, she couldn't feel anything. All she felt was the slight pull of the current around her.

Opening her eyes, she held onto the bracelet and swam back to shore, turning back the moment she was on solid ground. After checking first to ensure no one was looking, she left the hideout and headed back to the school under the cover of darkness.