The Siren's Call (A Draco Malfoy Fanfiction)

99. Dumbledore's Army

Blaise, Draco, Dioleh, and Imani stopped by the Ravenclaw table to see Andre reading while working through his pile of pancakes. Spotting them, he looked up, surprised to see all of them watching him. "Uh, what's up, guys?" he asked awkwardly, glancing between them all.

"Andre, why are there no Slytherin in Harry's little group?" Imani asked, keeping her voice low.

"Uh, I'm not sure," he admitted with a frown. "None were invited, I suppose."

"Are they opposed to having Slytherin in the group?" Blaise asked just as quietly.

"I don't think so," Andre replied. "Why, do you guys want to join?"

"We need an actual education," Blaise said.

"Okay," Andre said. Glancing around cautiously, he said, "The next meeting is day after tomorrow. Just meet me outside Slytherin Common Room and I'll take you guys there."

"Thanks, Andre," Imani said. Glancing back at the others, she said, "I'm eating here today. See you guys later." Taking the hint, the three left to sit at the Slytherin table.

In a more sombre tone than usual, Blaise asked, "Are they a thing or something?"

"Not officially," Dioleh replied, serving herself some sausage and toast. With a small sigh, she remarked, "I wish they served shrimp for breakfast. I miss having shrimp in the morning."

Choking on his orange juice, Blaise coughed out, "Shrimp? For breakfast?"

"Yeah," Dioleh replied. "I used to have shrimp every morning." Grimacing, he went back to his food.

"Dioleh, can you still make the meeting even though you have detention?" Draco asked.

"Yeah," she said. "Umbridge had to cancel that one to deal with interviews or something."

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The following two days passed in a blur of classes, detentions, and sleep for Dioleh. The only good times were the time spent in the Common Room by the fire or in the book nook with Draco, Imani, and Blaise or, if Andre wasn't busy with his friends, they would congregate in the hallway by the Slytherin Common Room. It was the only time of laughter and happiness that any of them seemed to have anymore. Finally, however, the night of the meeting arrived.

After dinner, they dropped off their things and met up with Andre outside Slytherin Common Room where he was waiting with Terry. "Hey Terry," Dioleh said kindly. He smiled awkwardly, not having much else to say as they began to head up to the seventh floor. As they were walking, Dioleh tried to figure out exactly where these meetings could be held but soon Terry and Andre came to a stop in front of a blank wall and began to pace back and forth three times. In the solid concrete, a door suddenly appeared.

"Blimey," Blaise muttered. "It's the Room of Requirement."

"You've heard of it?" Terry replied excitedly.

"Obviously," Blaise replied. "Not just Ravenclaw reads, Boot."

"Right," he muttered. "Well." He opened the door and the group went in.

"We've got new members!" Terry called excitedly as the door shut. Harry, Cho, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Fred, and George, the only ones to have already arrived, looked up in surprise.

"Malfoy?" George cried in surprise.

"Chill, Weasley, it's fine," Dioleh said.

"I can vouch for him," Andre said. The group quickly settled after that and although some of the new people arriving threw him some judgmental looks, the rest of the group was readily accepted after each signing their names to the list of members.

"Alright," Harry called excitedly, clapping his hands together. "Today we're going to be learning about the Patronus. First of all, the most important thing while casting this spell is to be thinking of an extremely happy memory. A Patronus is meant to fight off a dementor and the way it does that is by overwhelming it with an entity that is totally opposite to itself, so a Patronus is a being of happiness and joy so you need to be able to fuel that. The enchantment is Expecto Patronum so let's get to work everybody."

Raising her wand, Dioleh thought of her memories in the hideout with Andre and Imani and cried, "Expecto Patronum!" Only a strange mist left her wand tip. After thinking a moment, Blaise copied her and instantly from his wand sprang a gigantic creature. Everyone stopped what they were doing to look at it. It was a huge winged horse that flew around the constrained room before sparkling into nothing.

"That was brilliant, Zabini," Harry said in shock. "What was that?"

"It looked like one of the horses that French school brought with them last year," Cho said. Andre searched his memories before glancing over at Imani. Casting the spell, he heard a familiar cackling cry of the creature as it began to swim through the air, joining Hermione's otter.

"Dolphin," Imani gasped. Quieter, she added, "I haven't seen one since my tribe's last trip down south." Dioleh and Draco kept working at their Patronus' until finally, another creature sprang from Dioleh's wand.

"What is that?" she asked, looking at the beaked and feathered creature.

"It's a Hippogriff," Draco said with a smile. "I got scratched by one once. Just a scratch, mind you." From over Draco's shoulder, Dioleh could swear she saw Harry smirk and turn away. Dioleh kept working at it as Imani got a large dragon to emerge. Most everyone had now gotten it aside from Draco. Taking a deep breath, he focused all his attention on his memories with Dioleh, Andre, Blaise, and Imani. Finally, a horse-shaped creature emerged.

"It's a thestral," Harry said in surprise, approaching it.

"That's a thestral?" Ron asked.

"Yup," Harry replied as Draco, with sweat on his brow, allowed the image to fade away with a pleased smile.

"Damn that's hard," he muttered, wiping his forehead. "Potter, how do you do that under stress?"

"You manage," he replied slightly shortly. Softening, he added, "It's much harder than what you're experiencing now."

"I'd imagine," Draco replied with a good-natured laugh. Before more could be said, the door to the Room of Requirement opened and closed and a tiny figure ran forward.

Spotting him, Harry crouched down beside him, glancing over at Draco before saying, "Hi Dobby. What's wrong?"

"Harry Potter, sir," Dobby said anxiously, scanning over the students. With a slight start, he said, "Master Draco, sir."

"You don't have to call me that, Dobby," he said quickly. "I'm not your master any more."

"R-right," Dobby said nervously. "Harry Potter, sir. Dobby has come to warn you, sir. But the house-elves have been warned not to tell." Before he could say more, Dobby began to dive for the wall. Draco quickly caught him, catching him up and gently holding him back from hurting himself again as one would hold back a small child intent on seeing if they could fly by jumping off the cliff edge.

"Dobby," Harry began slowly, crouching down beside where Draco was holding him. "What's happened?"

"Harry Potter, she...she," he stuttered.

"Who's she, Dobby?" Harry asked.

"Umbridge?" Dioleh guessed quickly.

When the house-elf nodded, Harry cried, "What about her? Dobby, she hasn't found out about this, about us, has she?" The terror on the elf's little face was answer enough. "Is she coming?"

"Yes, Harry Potter! Yes!" Dobby cried.

Crouching down, Dioleh said, "Dobby, go back to the kitchens where you'll be safe."

"And no hurting yourself," Draco added quickly. The house-elf nodded and disappeared with a snap.

"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?" Harry bellowed. "RUN!"