The Siren's Call (A Draco Malfoy Fanfiction)

107. Shooting Stars

After dinner that night, the students were again confined to their books to study for the Transfiguration exam the next day. However, despite her past struggles with Transfiguration, Dioleh felt it could have gone much worse than they went. She went into her Herbology exam much more relaxed than she had expected. Between that and her DADA exam, she couldn't help but feel she was doing well enough to at least pass on to the next level of each of the classes.

Ancient Runes as well she felt had gone reasonably well, but Blaise was not so sure. "I forgot about half the translations," he groaned irritably.

"I'm sure it'll be fine, Blaise," Dioleh assured as they walked back to the Slytherin Common Room. "Besides, worst comes to worst, you can just drop the class."

"I guess," he replied with a shrug.

They spent most of their weekend studying for the upcoming exams the next week. Andre, Imani, and Dioleh spent most of it preparing for Potions while Blaise and Draco were forced to spend more of their time on Astronomy, trying to not envy their siren friends who had been learning the subject like a second, or in their case fourth, language since they were infants.

Monday's Potions exam was the only exam thus far that everyone seemed to feel they did well on. In fact, they were feeling rather confident until they came to Wednesday. All of them, aside from Draco, had Tuesday off as it was just Care of Magical Creatures, but Wednesday was Astronomy and the practical. There was quite a bit of rumbling about the first exam Wednesday between Draco and Blaise but the other three, who had enjoyed an easy exam, were each ready to relax until the practical as none of them took Divination.

As they headed out of the exam, Dioleh said, "We should all probably get a nap before tonight's exam so we're not too tired tonight."

"Oh yeah," Andre said. "I forgot it was at eleven tonight."

"Imani, you going to take a nap?" Dioleh asked.

"Yeah," she said. "See you boys later."

"See you," they replied tiredly. Draco and Blaise headed off to the library to study for the practical while Andre headed for his dorm to get some sleep.

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Darkness cloaked the Hogwarts grounds as Dioleh, Imani, Draco, Andre, and Blaise made the long walk to the Astronomy Tower for their exam. They quickly claimed the good spots and waited for the rest of the students to show up and to be handed their blank star charts. As soon as Dioleh was handed her chart, she set to work on filling it in, glancing up at the sky every now and then, not always referring to the telescope. After about half an hour, she was halfway done while others in her class had only marked a few.

However, as she was working, the large front doors of the school burst open, flooding the grounds with warm light. Five or six large shadows crossed the threshold as the doors began to swing shut again. For some reason she could not explain, her heart began to pound. Nonetheless, she continued working on her chart, trying to ignore the six people that began walking across the grounds.

She had gotten through another fourth of her chart before she heard a distinct knocking in the distance. Her head shot up as she realized that the group of people had stopped at Hagrid's cabin. While personally she had never really interacted with him, she knew he was a dear friend of Hermione, Ron, and Harry's. The entire occurrence began to make her feel rather uneasy. Drawing in a deep breath, she went back to her chart.

Just as she went to look in her telescope, she jerked her head back up as a gigantic roar reverberated across the grounds and to their ears as clearly as if it was right beside them. She and several others had looked up, casting their curious gaze over at the cabin. "Try and concentrate, now," Professor Tofty said softly. "Twenty minutes to go." At that, Dioleh quickly went back to her chart, filling out the last two or three formations she needed.

Just as she finished, there was a deafening bang from the grounds and when she looked up, she saw Hagrid walking out of his hut as the six people who had entered the grounds attempted to stun him. "NO!" Hermione cried.

"My dear!" Professor Tofty scolded. "This is an examination!" Despite her protests, no one was paying attention anymore. Hagrid was still furiously fighting off the wizards and witches attacking him when the front doors opened again and from the Entrance Hall, Professor McGonagall ran forward.

"How dare you!" she cried, sprinting toward them as fast as she could. "How dare you! Leave him alone, I say! On what grounds are you attacking him?"

Dioleh was on the brink of rushing down to help but Draco quickly took her hand in his as he leaned close and whispered, "There's nothing you can do."

McGonagall was still shouting. "What has he done to warrant such-" Before she could say more, four stunners shot directly at her chest. Dioleh and three of the other girls screamed as she was momentarily suspended in the air before shooting back and crashing into the ground. Dioleh began struggling against Draco as she tried to leave the tower, but he quickly wrapped his arms around her, whispering in her ear to try and calm her. Hagrid, after taking out the last of the men, took up his dog who had been collateral damage of the spells and ran into the Forbidden Forest.

After the exam ended, Dioleh and her friends settled in the hallway outside the Common Room along with Terry Boot. "I can't believe she would do that," Imani said. "Trying to sneak up on Hagrid in the dead of night?"

"Maybe she wanted to avoid a scene," Terry suggested.

"Maybe," Andre said. "I'm just glad he's okay. I'd hate for something else to happen to another teacher."

"Other than McGonagall, you mean?" Draco replied humourlessly.

"Yeah," Andre said quietly. There was a long pause.

Shakily, Dioleh asked, "S-She'll be okay, though, r-right?" No one had an answer for her.