The Siren's Call (A Draco Malfoy Fanfiction)

54. Unlikely Alliances

Draco was sitting in the book nook in the Slytherin Common Room with Blaise when Imani rushed in and to her dorm. Draco stared after her, wondering if she knew why Dioleh seemed to have fallen off the face of the planet. His pride would not, however, let him actually talk to her and ask. Turning back to Blaise, Draco saw that he had stopped looking at his essay and was sending him something of a glare.

"What?" Draco sighed.

"If you really want to know what happened to her, just ask Kanumba. It's not that hard," Blaise said irritably.

Rolling his eyes, Draco replied, "I can't."

"Well, figure something out because you've been moping for days," Blaise said, turning back to his essay. "She's been gone how long now?"

"Four days," Draco muttered.

"Exactly, get over it," Blaise said harshly. Draco shot him a glare. "Look, I know I'm being harsh, but you've been wrapped up in this girl for too long. I'm not saying she hasn't changed you for the better in some ways, but you're not even your own person, Draco. You're just trying to be good enough for her, not for yourself."

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Imani rushed up to the dorm, thankfully finding it empty. Facing Dioleh's bed, she muttered, "Please forgive me, Dio," before beginning to go through her things. An hour later, she had gone through everything, finding nothing, to her memory, gone aside from her mother's necklace and the two gifts from Draco. With a sigh, she fell back on her bed and rubbed her eyes tiredly.

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Andre dropped down into the hideout, looking around for anything. Seeing nothing on the beach, he dove into the water and looked around. Nothing but sand and water. He reemerged, dried his clothes, and began to climb out of the hideout before he stopped. There on the grass glittered a ring. Pulling himself the rest of the way out, Andre picked it up. It was a black-gold ring. He rubbed some dirt off of it and saw the two stones, diamond and emerald.

Stowing it in his pocket, he headed back into the castle. Stopping by the Slytherin Common Room, he spotted Imani. "Any luck?" he asked. She shook her head.

"You?" Imani asked hopefully.

"I found this," he said, holding up the ring. "Can you see if Draco is in there? He's the only one who can say if this is the ring or not." Nodding, Imani went back inside to find Draco doing schoolwork with Blaise.

"Malfoy," she said. He looked up. She gestured for him to follow her. Draco hesitated, glancing at Blaise who wasn't paying attention. Setting down his quill, he followed after her to find Andre waiting.

"What's this about?" Draco asked uncertainly.

Pulling out the ring, Andre asked, "Is this the ring you gave Dioleh?"

Taking it from him, Draco looked at it and replied, "Yes. Why?"

"She never took it off," Imani said.

"Well clearly she did," Draco said stiffly. Imani rolled her eyes.

"Dioleh has gone missing, Draco," Imani snapped.

"What?" he replied, his tone suddenly sharp as he looked up at them.

"She never took off that ring and yet Andre found it in the woods," Imani snapped.

Brows furrowed, Andre said, "Wait, no she would take it off."

"What do you mean? She was always wearing it," Imani countered.

"No, no," Andre said excitedly. "She has really bad anxiety. She would fiddle with the ring all the time. That's probably part of the reason she never took it off. It helped soothe her."

"So, you think she was anxious and fiddling with it and that's why it was lost?" Imani guessed.

Shrugging, Andre replied, "The necklace is still missing, right? Clearly however mad she was after the fight wasn't enough for her to get rid of them."

"You forget my father was a jeweller. I have a great appreciation for the beauty of such pieces as these."

"I don't think her keeping them had anything to do with me," Draco said. They looked at him with question in their eyes. "She told me once that her father gave her an appreciation for finely-made jewellery. That's probably why she kept them. And you said she has anxiety, right? The ring probably acted as something she could mess with to help cope, like you said."

"He's got a fair point," Imani said. "Arran and Alurina raised her making jewellery. She knows the work it takes to make stuff like that."

"If they were wizards why would they be jewellers?" Draco asked. Imani and Andre ignored him.

"So, what does this all mean?" Imani said, looking at Andre.

"It means that something's happened to Dioleh," Andre said. "And whatever happened, it happened in the Forbidden Forest."

"What do we do?" Imani asked.

"Tell Dumbledore what we've learned," Andre said. "We have no idea how this happened. She could have just been walking along and had a bad anxious day and got taken, she could have even witnessed something she wasn't supposed to, or she could even have been taken by-" Andre broke off, remembering that Draco was there. "Well, you know who I'm talking about."

"I want to help you," Draco said, shaking off his confusion at Andre's last statement.

Raising an eyebrow, Imani said, "I thought the two of you weren't on speaking terms."

"I don't care," Draco snapped. "It was just a stupid argument, that's all."

Andre rolled his eyes but chose not to respond about how stupid arguments don't leave people in tears. Instead, he looked at Imani and said, "We could use the help, Mani." With a sigh, she nodded.

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Dioleh knew a week had almost passed. She could feel her body weakening. With as much of her strength as she could muster, she brought more water into the trunk, enough for water to cover the entire bottom of the trunk and make a small, very shallow, pool. Seeing there was enough room, she transformed, but she knew it wasn't working as well as it should. She put her head underwater, breathing in as she placed her gills in the water as well.

Pulling her head out of the water, she gasped, "I won't survive like this. I'll lose all my powers." Moody didn't respond, but his mind was whirling.