The Siren's Call (A Draco Malfoy Fanfiction)

45. A Pleasant Surprise

The days following the announcement of the four Triwizard Champions were some of the most painful for Dioleh to witness. Hermione, who had told Dioleh about Harry's claim of having nothing to do with entering or winning, was constantly complaining about the fact that Harry and Ron were no longer talking and how neither could grow up and realize the issue was simply Ron's jealousy.

On the other hand, Dioleh witnessed one event that filled her with more joy than she knew what to do with. She had just come down for potions with Imani when she saw every Slytherin wearing badges that said 'Support Cedric Diggory - The REAL Hogwarts Champion!'

"Like them, Potter!" Nott called, pushing off the wall to face him with Crabbe and Goyle behind him. "And this isn't all they do - look!" He pressed it, causing the message to change to 'POTTER STINKS'. Draco, who had been standing back out of sight, saw the irritated expression on Dioleh's face and sighed.

"Good one, Nott, you might have finally beaten Filch with your capability for humour," Draco said, moving to stand by Dioleh. Each of the Slytherins stopped laughing, suddenly torn between the two most prominent Slytherins in their year. Harry and Hermione looked shocked.

"No, not quite yet, Dray," Dioleh countered with a thoughtful expression on her face. Beginning to smirk, she added, "Maybe if he was funnier than a rock."

"Oh, come now, love," Draco said, shooting her a wicked grin. "That's insulting to the rock." Harry burst out laughing along with the rest of the class, covering his mouth when he realized what exactly he was doing. The class went back to talking amongst themselves excitedly as Dioleh smiled at Draco.

"Thank you," she said. "I know he isn't your favourite person."

"No, but he's important to you," Draco replied with a smile.

"Malfoy," Hermione said, approaching them.

"Granger," he replied, not unkindly.

"What was that?"

He shrugged, replying with a grin, "Gave me a chance to piss off Nott." Turning to Dioleh, he added, "I'll catch you later, love. I need to go find Blaise." She nodded and he headed for the other Slytherin boy before Nott appeared again, his wand raised. On instinct, Draco raised his wand in response. The hall went very quiet as everyone eyed the wands at the two boy's throats.

"Put the wand down, Nott before you hurt yourself," Dioleh snapped coldly, gripping her wand in her pocket. She wasn't worried about Draco. He could handle himself. She was, however, very worried about how exactly this would end, for all of them.

Theodore scoffed, glaring at Draco as he said venomously, "I can't believe you ditched us for this bitch, Malfoy." Before Nott could say another word, he was flung back against the wall. Everyone looked at Draco, but he had no idea what was happening. Nott was held against the wall by some invisible force, his feet at least a foot off the ground. A harsh wind seemed to be pinning him in the air, creating a deafening sound that caused several students to cover their ears.

"What the-" he began in shock as everyone looked around, trying to figure out who was doing it. Snape's footsteps came forward and instantly Dioleh looked to see where he was, temporarily forgetting about Nott. Theodore came toppling to the ground, breathing heavily as he glared around at them all, his deadiest for Dioleh and Draco. Draco moved, standing in front of Dioleh and blocking her from Nott's harsh gaze. Snape still hadn't come out yet.

Getting to his feet, Theodore whipped his wand through the air at Draco, shouting, "Flipendo!" Draco was shot back on the ground, narrowly missing Dioleh as he was flung back. Shouting words Dioleh just missed, Theodore shot arrows at her from his wand. Snape stopped just out of their sight, watching with interest.

Thinking quickly, she shouted, "Protego!" The arrows were stopped in their tracks. Draco got back up. Before Theodore could do anything else, Dioleh cried, "Periculum!" The students jumped back as flames burst from Dioleh's wand, shooting towards Nott. They just missed him by inches as he ducked.

He raised his wand to retaliate, but Snape finally drawled, "Enough." Theodore, Draco, and Dioleh all looked up in surprise. Without a word about what just happened, he ordered, "Inside."

⥖✦✧⦽✧✦⥗

The days before the first task grew less and less until it was finally it was two days prior. Dumbledore had asked the three sirens to meet him at the edge of the wood and it was there that they were now heading. "What do you think he wants?" Andre asked as they trooped along. Dioleh shrugged.

"Maybe something to do with the Tournament?" Imani guessed.

"Maybe," Dioleh replied, spotting the man himself as they got closer. "Dumbledore." She had grown far less hostile towards him in the wake of everything he did for them.

He led them deeper into the woods as he explained, "I need to speak with the three of you and Sirius. This was the easiest place." Sirius was standing a good three meters from the edge of the wood so they reached him relatively quickly.

"Harry needs your help to survive this Tournament," Sirius said simply. "We were hoping the three of you could lend a hand. Or a tail." When no one laughed, he said, "What? Was that not funny?"

"No, not really," Imani said.

"But you're like, basically mermaids or merman and-"

"Woah, hold on!" Dioleh said indignantly as Andre snapped, "Excuse me?!" Imani pitched in with, "How dare you!"

Seeing Sirius' perplexed expression, Dumbledore explained, "Sirius, mermaids don't exist. It's considered a very derogatory term."

"Oh," Sirius said, a little bashfully. "Sorry." Dioleh huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.

"So, we need to figure out how to protect Harry," Dumbledore said, attempting to cut through the now mounting tension. "Unfortunatly there is little you can do for the first task, but the second is the one I was thinking more of."

"What's the second task?" Andre asked, a hint of anger still in his tone.

"We'll be putting a person they care a great deal about at the bottom of the lake," Dumbledore explained. "I want the three of you to give Harry a bit of an advantage. You know this lake better than anyone. Help him know what to expect. Just wait until he's solved the puzzle. I was also hoping you might agree to be down in the lake during the task." They all agreed and soon it was time to be heading back.

Just as they were walking back, Andre wheeled around, glared at Sirius and snapped, "Call me a merman again and I will break your wrist."

"Duly noted," he replied. "Sorry."