The Siren's Call (A Draco Malfoy Fanfiction)

112. The Hall of Prophecy

"Keep your wands out," Harry said softly. Dioleh clutched hers tightly. They headed right, noticing the numbers on the end of each row. Once they reached row number ninety-seven, they each came to a stop, looking down. "He must be farther down."

"Harry," Dioleh whispered but it was too late. He was already heading down the row. Dioleh followed behind with the rest until they had reached the very end. There was nothing. As Harry began frantically searching, Dioleh felt a pit form in her stomach.

"Harry...I don't think Sirius is here," Hermione said tentatively. Ron was looking along the rows when he suddenly frowned.

"Harry?" he called.

"What?"

"Have you seen this?" he asked.

"What?" Harry replied eagerly, rushing over to see what Ron was talking about. Blaise cast Dioleh a dark look as he noticed that they were analyzing a prophecy.

"It's got your name on it," Ron said hesitantly.

"Potter-" Blaise began.

But before he could say more, Ron asked, "What is it? What's your name doing down here?"

"Harry, don't touch it," Dioleh said sharply.

"Why not?" Harry replied. "It's got something to do with me, hasn't it?"

"Harry, don't!" Dioleh cried fearfully.

"Potter-" Blaise started again but just as the word left his mouth, Harry's fingers closed around the glass orb.

Instantly, a voice from behind them said in a dark, drawling voice, "Very good, Potter. Now turn around, nice and slowly, and give that to me." Dioleh felt the very blood in her veins freeze.

"Lucius," she whispered, an overwhelming wave of relief rushing over her that she had forced Draco to stay at Hogwarts. Dioleh scanned her surroundings without turning. Dark, hooded figures were emerging seemingly from thin air all around them.

"To me, Potter," Lucius repeated. When Harry still did nothing, he hissed, "To me!" Dioleh backed up and away from the Death Eaters to stand with Andre, Imani, and Blaise.

"I'm sorry for getting you into this," Dioleh whispered.

"Shut up," Andre retorted.

"We stick together, Dioleh," Imani said.

After a short pause, Blaise added, "Always."

"Where's Sirius?" Harry demanded. A harsh, shrieking laugh sounded from their left.

Still cackling, the woman cried, "The Dark Lord always knows!"

"Always," Lucius replied slowly. "Now, give me the prophecy, Potter."

"I want to know where Sirius is!" Harry yelled.

"I want to know where Sirius is!" the woman mocked, ending with another of her shrieking laughs.

"You've got him!" Harry cried desperately. Dioleh could tell that he was panicking. "He's here! I know he is!"

"The widdle baby woke up fwightened and fort what it dweamed was twue," the woman mocked. She let out another cackle.

Ron shuffled to move but Harry said lowly, "Don't do anything. Not yet."

"You hear him? You hear him?" The woman was practically screeching with laughter. "Giving instructions to the other children as though he thinks of fighting us!"

"Oh, you don't know Potter as I do, Bellatrix," Lucius said softly. Dioleh's eyes widened as she fixed the woman with a new look. "He has a great weakness for heroics; the Dark Lord understands this about him. Now give me the prophecy, Potter."

"Answer the question, Malfoy," Dioleh ordered calmly, her voice breaking ever so slightly as she said his name. "Is Sirius Black here?" Lucius' lip curled.

"You don't need me to answer that," he said firmly. "You already know that he's not." Turning back to Harry, he said, "Now give me the prophecy or we start using wands."

Raising his wand, Harry retorted, "Go on, then." Ten wands were now raised on the group of twelve Death Eaters.

"Hand over the prophecy and no one need get hurt," Lucius said. Instantly, Harry let out a humourless laugh.

"Yeah, right!" he retorted, still laughing. "I give you this, prophecy is it? And you'll just let us skip off home, will you?" Just as the words left his mouth, Bellatrix attempted to summon the orb to herself but before it had moved farther than Harry's fingertips, he raised his own wand, shouting, "Protego!"

"Oh, he knows how to play," Bellatrix mocked. Her voice had lost some of its mirth, but still there was a touch of insanity to her tone. "Little Baby Potter. Very well then."

"I TOLD YOU, NO!" Lucius shouted, shoving her wand arm down. "If you smash it-!" She rolled her eyes before stepping forward and lowering her hood. Bellatrix Lestrange looked nothing like her sister Narcissa, nor did she look anything like Draco, but the relation suddenly made Dioleh feel more uncomfortable with this encounter.

"Need more persuasion?" she drawled. "Very well then. Take the smallest one. Let him watch while we torture the little girl. I'll do it." Instantly, Neville and Luna circled around Ginny, prompting the others to follow suit.

"You'll have to smash this if you want to attack any of us," Harry said, stepping in front of Ginny and hiding her from sight. "I don't think your boss will be too pleased if you come back without it, will he?" Bellatrix froze, watching him with a cold, calculating eye. "So...what kind of prophecy are we talking about anyway?"

"What kind of prophecy?" Bellatrix repeated, the grin sliding off her face. "You jest, Harry Potter."

"Nope, not jesting," Harry replied. "How come Voldemort wants it?" At the sound of the name, several low hisses sprang up from the Death Eaters. If it had not been such a potentially dangerous situation, Dioleh would have laughed at the cat-like sound.

"You dare speak his name?" Bellatrix said, her voice a low, dramatic stage-whisper.

"Yeah," Harry replied. "Yeah, I've got no problem saying Vol-"

"SHUT YOUR MOUTH!" Bellatrix shrieked. "You dare speak his name with your unworthy lips? You dare besmirch it with your half-blood's tongue, you dare-"

"Did you know he's half-blood too?" Harry cut in. "Voldemort? Yeah, his mother was a witch but his dad was a muggle. Or has he been telling you lot he's pureblood?"

"STUPEF-" Bellatrix began but before she could finish the spell, Lucius blocked it and began yelling at her as the spell hit several feet above them, shattering the glass balls. Pearly-white figures appeared and began speaking. Their voices blended together, distorting each one. Dioleh's eyes widened. In the distraction of Lucius yelling at his sister-in-law, Harry quickly whispered to Dioleh next to him.

"When I give the signal, smash shelves," he ordered. "Pass it on." She quickly turned to Blaise and told him. By the time Lucius focused back on them, everyone had gotten the message. Harry kept talking to distract them but a plan of her own was formulating in Dioleh's mind. If she got enough cover, she could blast all the prophecies off the shelves, rendering them practically unseen. As Lucius was in the middle of speaking, Harry shouted, "NOW!" Instantly, the others began blasting shelves but Dioleh ran to the front.

Glancing back, she saw that several of the shadowy figures were around them. Drawing in a deep breath, she opened her palms.