The Siren's Call (A Draco Malfoy Fanfiction)

117. An End

"Dray," Dioleh called, attempting to catch up to him as everyone began loading onto the train. He stopped, turning back to face her. Dioleh felt her heart constrict slightly as she saw his stony expression. She couldn't help but feel slightly timid as she asked, "Want to go find a compartment?"

"I actually was going to sit somewhere else," he said coldly.

"Oh, okay," Dioleh said meekly. "Well...then have a good summer, Draco." Without replying, he turned on his heel and got on the train. Dioleh waited a moment before loading onto the train and pulling her trunk along until she found the compartment in which Hermione, Harry, and Ron had grouped up in. Opening the door, she asked, "Mind if I sit?"

"Oh, of course not," Hermione said at once, although as Dioleh's back was turned she cast Harry a confused look. A few moments later, Andre and Imani joined with Blaise. Dioleh took her seat by Hermione and instantly lay her head on her shoulder as Hermione began reading from the newspaper. Imani, Andre, Dioleh, Hermione, and Blaise remained rather quiet during the ride as Harry and Ron played round after round of wizard's chess.

After they had gone on for perhaps an hour or so, Hermione finally asked tentatively, "Where's Malfoy?"

"Hell if I know," Blaise scoffed.

"Don't say that, Blaise," Dioleh said. By the tone of her voice, you'd think she hadn't slept in years. "He's just going through a lot right now." Harry got rather quiet.

"I feel bad for getting Lucius locked up," he admitted finally.

"Why?" Ron scoffed naively. "He tried to kill all of us."

"He was still Draco's dad," Harry replied dismissively.

"Can we please not talk about this," Dioleh requested thickly. Instantly, they shut up. The rest of the train ride passed in almost complete silence until finally, they reached the station. When Dioleh stepped out of the barrier and saw her adoptive parents, she was shocked at the sudden relief she felt. Breaking into a run, she rushed towards them. Both adults embraced her as she hid her face to hide the tears threatening to fall and Hermione joined in the hug. The Granger family stayed like that for a few moments until Dioleh knew she wouldn't be able to hold herself together any longer.

Pulling away, she went to Imani and Andre whose parents were greeting each other and their children. Embracing Imani, she said, "Have a great summer, Imani. I love you."

"I love you too, Dioleh," Imani replied. Dioleh lingered in the hug before pulling away to embrace Andre.

"Stay safe," he said. "We need to be more careful than ever now."

"I know," Dioleh said, pulling away. Glancing over at Imani, she said, "We're going to get through all of this. Together."

Approaching them, Blaise said, "Keep in touch, guys. We need to stick together to get through this."

"Agreed," Andre said. "It was good to get to know you this year, Blaise."

"You too, Andre," he replied with a grin.

"Blaise," a woman behind him called. Dioleh turned to see a tall woman approaching them. She had dark skin much like her son and she was so beautiful Dioleh couldn't help but wonder if there was some siren or veela in her. "You ready to go?" she asked as she came to a stop by them.

"Yeah, just a minute, Mum," Blaise replied. "Uh, this is Andre, Imani, and Dioleh. My friends from school."

"Nice to meet you all," she replied with a smile. "Blaise, we need to go."

"Yeah, all right," he replied. "Have a good summer, guys."

"Bye," they chorused.

"Dioleh," Jean said, turning to her other daughter as Hermione returned from saying goodbye to Harry. Dioleh quickly went to give Harry a hug, ignoring his aunt's judgmental looks for her hair, and grabbed her stuff to followed after her family to the car.

Despite the chapter name, this is not ending just yet. Because the sixth year is going to be rather complicated, I'm going to get a lot of it written before publishing any of it. That will also mean I can make more updates during this coming semester despite how busy I'm going to be. Thank you to all of you that have made it this far. I'm eternally grateful to you all. 

More to come soon.