The Siren's Call (A Draco Malfoy Fanfiction)

123. Lie, Lie, Lie

Fred and George's shop, although brightly coloured and rather exciting, did nothing to lift Dioleh's mood as she looked around. She eventually wandered in a darker, less crowded room. Absentmindedly, she read the labels.

Fred and George, who were showing Harry around, noticed Dioleh's sombre mood and quietly asked, "What's up with Slytherin Granger?"

"Malfoy," Harry explained quietly.

"He broke her heart already?" Fred remarked irritably. "I expected another few months at least."

"What did he do?" George asked.

"Called Hermione a you-know-what," Harry explained, his voice nearly silent as they were coming closer to her. "I expect she'll dump him next time she sees him. I can't see her putting up with that."

"Nope," Fred replied. They had come upon her now. "Interested in Instant Darkness Power, are you?" Fred asked, noticing the box she was looking at.

"What? Oh, I guess," she replied distractedly.

A short blond woman poked her head in through the curtain and said, "There's a customer out here looking for a joke cauldron, Mr. Weasley and Mr. Weasley."

"Right you are, Verity, I'm coming," George said. "Harry, help yourself to anything you want, no charge. Dioleh, you get to pick one thing for free."

With a wink, Fred said, "We call it the beautiful woman discount." Dioleh smiled and even let out a small chuckle. "But seriously, one free thing. Consider it a late birthday gift."

"Thanks, guys," Dioleh said. She followed after them into the main part of the shop and began looking along the shelves. Finally, she decided on a set of extendable ears and headed over to Mrs. Weasley who was chatting with her sons.

Eyeing the box she had selected, Fred said, "Excellent choice, Dioleh."

"Well, I figured I might as well pick a good gift," she replied with a shrug.

At Mrs. Weasley's questioning look, George explained, "We never gave her a birthday present. We told her to pick something from the shop."

"Oh, how sweet," Mrs. Weasley replied with a warm smile.

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As Harry, Ron, and Hermione rushed back towards Fred and George's shop under the invisibility cloak, Hermione quickly forced them to a stop. "Wait," she said. "I need you both to promise me something."

"What?" Harry asked.

"Don't tell Dioleh what Malfoy was up to," Hermione requested.

"But what if she tries to still be with him?" Ron countered. "She needs to know."

"No, she doesn't," Hermione snapped back. "Hasn't he caused her enough pain? I guarantee that unless he has a hell of a good explanation for what happened in the shop, she's going to dump him. They're over either way. Don't tell her. It will only hurt her more." Harry and Ron shared hesitant looks. "Promise me," Hermione snapped.

"Yeah, fine, we won't tell her," Harry said.

"Fine," Ron agreed.

"Good," Hermione said. "Now, let's get inside before they notice we're gone."

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The moment they were back at the Burrow, Dioleh retreated up to her spot in Ginny's room and began looking through her books, trying to forget what happened with Draco. After a few minutes, the door opened and Dioleh became vaguely aware of Hermione as she set her books in her trunk and then crouched down beside her. "Hey," she said gently. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," Dioleh said. To Hermione's surprise, her voice did not sound dismissive or harsh but instead, she sounded far off.

"What are you going to do?" Hermione asked cautiously. Letting out a sigh, Dioleh leaned her head back against the wall and closed her eyes.

"Can we please not talk about this right now?" she asked. "I really would just rather not talk about it. I'll deal with it."

"Okay," Hermione said quietly, getting to her feet.

As there was only a week left until school started up again, most of their time was spent getting laundry done and packing their trunks. The night before their departure, Dioleh had carried down her trunk to the first floor and set it out of the way. Before heading back upstairs, she opened it to dig for her large bottle of melatonin gummies and drew one out. After popping it into her mouth and shut the trunk and went up to bed.