The Siren's Call (A Draco Malfoy Fanfiction)

129. Tail Tale

Dioleh was below the water's surface, Voldemort's ring clutched in her hands with her eyes closed as she tried to again see into his mind. Although she was seeing clearly enough, the voices were quiet and muffled. She was still focusing when a disturbance of the water caused her to let go of the ring. Looking above the surface, she saw Blaise had arrived and had begun moving his hand around in the water to alert her to his presence. Coming to the surface, Dioleh greeted, "Hey."

"Sup," he replied, taking a seat on the beach and out of range of the waves coming in. "Andre's coming. He just had to go put his books away.

"Okay," Dioleh replied, moving her wet hair out of her face. In the other pool of water, there was a sudden bubbling and from under the surface, Imani and Andre appeared. Imani began to pull herself over the thick glass divider as Andre backed up and sank under the water. Once Imani was out of the way, Andre dashed forward as fast as he could, soaring out of the water and managing to full into a full flip as he crashed into the saltwater, splashing all of them, including Blaise, with water. Andre came to the surface with a triumphant cheer as Imani and Dioleh laughed.

"Yeah, hilarious," Blaise sarcastically, pulling out his wand to dry himself. "Thanks, Andre."

"No problem," Andre replied, unfazed as he leaned back against the divider looking quite refreshed. Despite his rolled eyes, Blaise was still smiling. "So what did you have to talk to us about, Dio?"

"So, you know the meeting I had with Professor Dumbledore the night we got here?" Dioleh asked.

"Yeah," Imani replied.

"Apparently Dumbledore found a Mermish tablet," Dioleh explained. "About me."

"Seriously?" Andre said in surprise. "Dang, and here I thought Potter was the only chosen one among us."

"It wasn't like that," Dioleh countered with a chuckle. "It was an instruction manual made about the same time as you two saved my life."

"Wait, what happened?" Blaise asked with a frown.

"Dioleh was cursed by this token Fudge had given Harry," Andre explained. "The only way to stop the curse from spreading was to send her to our ancestors. They lent her some of their power so she could come back."

"But I had to make them a promise in return," Dioleh said, picking up where Andre left off.

"What's that?" Blaise asked curiously.

"I have to end the oppression of sirens," Dioleh explained.

Frowning, Blaise asked, "How exactly do you plan on doing that?"

"I don't know yet," Dioleh admitted. "They gave me ten years to figure it out."

"Which means you have like seven and a half years left," Andre said.

"What happens if you don't?" Blaise asked.

"I lose all of my power, forever, and with it my ability to do magic," Dioleh explained.

"Like, siren magic?" Blaise asked.

"Any magic," Dioleh clarified. "But I read through the instruction manual and I think I know how to get there."

"How's that?" Imani asked.

"Well, first off, I need to explore and understand all of my new powers," Dioleh said. "But it also mentioned some quest I have to do. I just don't know what it is yet."

"How are you supposed to do something they didn't explain?" Blaise replied. Dioleh shrugged.

"I don't know. I'm sure I'll know when I've done it."

Skeptically, Blaise remarked, "You seem a lot less worried about potentially losing all magical ability in any context than I would expect you to be."

Dioleh shrugged. "Seven years is a long time."

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The new October mornings dawned bright and cold and left the grounds with slight frost on the clear mornings, but on the mornings like that of the first Hogsmaede trip, it was instead rather stormy with seemingly endless fall of sleet that slammed against the windows and roof by the merciless wind. Dioleh was in fact awoken by a particularly loud disturbance of these icy falls. As she jolted awake, she saw in the faint light of the room another figure sitting bolt upright. Pansy Parkinson seemed to be staring at her, unmoving. But when a crack of lighting illuminated the room slightly, Dioleh saw that she was laying down, sleeping peacefully. Shaking it off, Dioleh checked the time and, upon seeing it was six in the morning, got up to change.

The Common Room was not empty as she had expected. Instead, she found Blaise up and reading. Sitting beside him, Dioleh said, "Can't sleep?"

"No, I just woke up early to get some reading in," Blaise explained, not looking up. Marking his place in the book, he added, "Also, didn't really want to be in that dorm any longer than I had to."

"Are they giving you trouble?" Dioleh asked, her brows furrowed in worry.

"Not exactly," Blaise said thoughtfully. "But it just feels uncomfortable. None of them speak to me anymore."

"But they haven't been threatening?" Dioleh asked carefully.

"Not that I've noticed," Blaise said. "Don't worry so much, Dio. I'm fine."

"Blaise, I worry because you're my friend and I care about you," Dioleh countered, pulling out her schoolwork.

"Hey, Andre and Imani said they have too much work to catch up on, but do you want to go to Hogsmaede today?" Blaise asked.

"Sure," Dioleh replied with a shrug. A few hours later after breakfast, Blaise and Dioleh bid Andre and Imani goodbye and headed toward where Filch was letting everyone leave after checking off their names. Dioleh quickly did up her peacoat and tied her scarf tightly around her neck. Once they had gotten past Filch, Dioleh asked, "Where do you want to go?" Blaise shrugged.

"Want to go for a Butterbeer?" he asked.

"Sure," Dioleh replied with a shrug. After they had gotten their drinks, Dioleh and Blaise stood sipping from their cups and talking over classes.

Moving his hand up with the pretense of scratching at the bridge of his nose, Blaise remarked quietly, "Seems Potter's got an axe to grind this morning."

"What do you mean?" Dioleh asked just as quietly. Blaise nodded over to a spot behind them. Turning, Dioleh saw Harry, Ron, and Hermione sitting at a table. Harry was whispering furiously about the Order and something about Mundungus. Finishing off the rest of her drink, Dioleh said slightly louder, "Want to head back?"

"Sure," Blaise replied, draining the rest of his cup as well. After placing the cups back on the bar and thanking Madam Rosmerta, they headed outside.