The Siren's Call (A Draco Malfoy Fanfiction)

95. Requisition

With an irritated sigh, Blaise sat down next to Draco, tossing his bag on the floor beside him as he groaned, "Do teachers just hate us?"

"Maybe," Dioleh replied, not looking up from where she was looking over Imani's essay. "It would explain a lot."

"I can think of one teacher that definitely hates a particular two of us," Blaise remarked. Dioleh and Draco both rolled their eyes. Her fixation on the two of them had only grown worse over the last two weeks and as Dioleh's list of occurrences grew steadily longer and longer, Umbridge seemed to redouble her efforts until they were forced to walk separately to classes.

"I don't get it," Imani said irritably. "Why does she care so much? What did you do to piss her off?"

"No idea," Draco sighed, handing Dioleh back her essay. "Your conclusion needs work. I wrote explanations for each of the things I marked."

"Thanks," Dioleh replied, handing Imani back her essay before turning to her own.

"I can't handle this year," Imani grumbled. "Do you guys want to go to Hogsmeade together with Andre, of course?"

"Uh, I can't," Dioleh said, awkwardly glancing at Draco. "I've got a date."

"What?" Imani exclaimed, looking at her in surprise.

"Sorry, I forgot to mention in the midst of...everything," Dioleh replied with a small smile as she looked back to her essay. 

"With who?" Imani demanded happily.

"The blond weirdo over there," Dioleh replied, not looking up from her essay. With an amused smirk, Draco crumbled a piece of parchment before tossing it at her head. "Rude," she replied. Glancing up, she saw he had just thrown her a sly grin. 

In a whisper, Imani stated quietly, "We're so talking about this later." 

"Duly noted," Dioleh replied. 

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The morning of the Hogsmeade visit, Dioleh found herself inexplicably nervous. It was only after she had done and undone her hair three times that Imani stepped in, taking her brush from her and beginning to work on her hair. "So, what are you guys going to go do?" Imani asked. 

"No idea," Dioleh admitted. "Dray said he wanted it to be a surprise." Imani hummed in reply as she finished with a long fishtail braid and began to take out small portions of it to curl. "Is it weird that I'm nervous?" 

"I don't know," Imani said with a shrug. "I mean, have you ever gone on a date before?" 

"No," Dioleh admitted. "But I shouldn't be nervous, it's Draco. We've hung out hundreds of times." 

"I wish I was going on a date," Imani sighed irritably. 

"I'm sure Blaise would be down," Dioleh replied. "You must have noticed the way he looks at you." Imani shrugged, opening Dioleh's trunk to pick out Dioleh's outfit. 

"I guess I don't want to go on a date with just anyone," she admitted slowly. 

"No?" Dioleh replied with a smirk. "Just with a certain friend of yours." Imani's eyes widened as she rounded on her. 

"Dioleh!" she cried in shock. "Is it really that obvious?" 

Smiling, Dioleh replied, "To me it is, but I'm also your best friend." With a sigh, Imani went back to searching. From the pile, she drew out a white turtleneck sweater and a pair of black jeans. As Dioleh changed into the sweater, Imani threw herself on her bed with a sigh. 

"Do you think he feels the same?" she asked. 

"I honestly have no idea," Dioleh replied, jumping slightly to get the pants high enough to fasten. Sitting next to Imani, she said, "I know he cares about you, but I honestly don't know in what way." 

"I just wish he would say something about it," Imani admitted. 

"Well, maybe talk to him just about what he thinks about even being in a relationship right now," Dioleh suggested. "And maybe if it's something he's interested in, you can consider telling him how you feel." 

"Okay," Imani said. "I'm going with him, Blaise, and Terry to Hogsmeade so maybe I can talk to him then." Shoving her slightly, she said, "Now go. Have fun on your date." 

"Thanks, Imani," Dioleh replied. "I'll see you later, okay?" 

⥖✦✧⦽✧✦⥗

As Dioleh joined Draco in the line of people being checked out by Filch, Draco interlaced their fingers and greeted, "Hello, love." 

"Hey, Dray," Dioleh replied. Looking down the line, she felt her jaw drop as she saw a little bit ahead of them Harry with Cho Chang. "Dray, do you see what I see?" 

"What?" he asked distractedly. 

"Little Harry got himself a date," she said with a grin. 

"Good for him," Draco said as they got passed Filch. Leaning down slightly to kiss her cheek, he said, "At least that means he's not still interested in you. I know you said you were worried it would ruin your friendship." 

"Yeah," Dioleh said, unable to help the smile that crossed her face as she didn't hear the jealousy she might have expected from someone else. 

They had just gotten past the gate when a burst of shrieking laughter reached their ears as Pansy Parkinson screeched, "Potter and Chang! Urgh, Chang, I don't think much of your taste. At least Diggory was good-looking!" Harry and Cho had stopped, their expressions rather awkward. 

As they passed by, Dioleh said, "Ignore them, guys. Parkinson is just jealous because she can't get a boyfriend." Cho smiled, letting out a surprised laugh. As they walked away, Dioleh shot an encouraging wink at Harry and turned back to Draco. "So, where are we going?" 

"You'll see," he replied. "Be patient, love." 

"I don't like being patient," she grumbled. Draco let out a laugh. Farther down High Street, Draco came to a stop. "The Three Broomsticks?" 

Suddenly worried, he said, "What? Do you not want to go? We can go somewhere else, I just-" 

"Dray," Dioleh laughed, cutting him off with a quick kiss. "I'm just surprised. You were being so secretive about it, I thought you were taking me somewhere I'd never seen before." 

"Oh," he said embarrassedly, his cheeks slightly flushed. 

"But this is perfect, Dray," she said, kissing his cheek. 

"Well, great," he said awkwardly, opening the door for her. A wave of warmth instantly hit her across the face and she felt her cold cheeks begin to thaw as she stepped inside, Draco behind her.