The Siren's Call (A Draco Malfoy Fanfiction)

135. Precautions

The harsh beeping of Dioleh's watch woke Blaise at eight o'clock the next morning. With a groan, he rolled over, finding himself face-first in sand. "What the-" he muttered, lifting his head slightly and opening his eyes. As the pain from his side bit at his senses harshly, he remembered everything. Looking upward, he said uncertainly, "Daytime?" Instantly, he was blasted with the bright light of high noon. Shielding his eyes, he reached for Dioleh's watch to silence it before getting shakily to his feet with a wide yawn. Looking over the water, Blaise saw that Andre and Imani were below the surface, too far for him to try and wake but Dioleh was about ten feet out, floating on the surface.

Stifling another yawn, he went out into the water and got to Dioleh. After waking her, he went back to shore and dried his clothes while Dioleh got Andre and Imani awake. Dioleh was the first the climb out and soon she was standing beside Blaise in a sweatshirt and sweatpants with her hair tied up and a pair of flats on her feet. Irritably, she looked back towards the water and snapped, "Andre! Imani! Come on!" 

"Coming," Andre grumbled, climbing out and changing back as Imani did the same. After everyone had dried their clothes and bundled up to walk across the grounds, they went to the entrance and climbed out, Andre and Dioleh turning back to help Blaise.

As they started walking back, Imani said, "I think we need to agree that while we're here, we need to never go anywhere alone."

"Agreed," Blaise said. "We'll look at our schedules and figure it out."

"That won't be possible, though," Dioleh said. "I have free periods all the time while you guys have classes."

"Then if you can't be with someone else, you need to be in the hideout," Andre said. "As much as we can manage."

"Alright, let's get some breakfast and then go pack," Blaise said. "We should be safe at least for today. If they considered that a warning, as long as Potter doesn't do anything today, we should be fine. Is anyone going to see him over break, by the way?" They all looked to Dioleh expectantly.

"No," she said. "Hermione is staying here for the holiday and I'm going home."

"That reminds me, is everybody going home?" Andre asked.

"Yeah," Blaise said as Imani nodded.

"Well, at least there's that," Andre said. "We should be safe while we're home."

"I'll speak to Dumbledore about what happened when we come back," Dioleh offered. "We can all speak to Harry, Hermione, and Ron later."

"What about on the train?" Andre suggested. "Not Hermione, of course, but the other two at least." They had now reached the school and were just entering the Great Hall. Glancing over at the Slytherin table, they saw Nott, Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle giving them dirty looks. Changing their direction towards the Gryffindor table, Andre sat down by Harry and Ron as the former ate breakfast and the latter sucked faces with Lavender Brown.

Looking uncertain, Harry said, "Hello?" Ron broke away, giving the group of Slytherins and Ravenclaw a confused look.

"We need to speak to the two of you," Andre said in a low voice, casting Lavender a cautious look. "Later. On the train."

"Okay," Harry said. Getting back up, Andre grabbed a sandwich from one of the piles as the others grabbed some food as well and headed off for the door. After walking Andre to his Common Room, the three Slytherins headed down to the dungeons.

Just before they went into the Common Room, Dioleh asked softly, "Are you going to be okay, going into your dorm alone?"

"I'll be fine, Dio," Blaise assured. "You saw them. They're all at breakfast."

"Okay, just be quick," Dioleh said.

"I will," he promised. They broke apart and headed into their dorms.

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Blaise slowed at the threshold of his dorm, hearing faint shuffling on the other side of the door. Hesitantly, he pushed it open to find Malfoy closing his trunk and laying back in bed. Shutting the door behind him, Blaise went over to his things, never taking his eyes off of Draco. The atmosphere was very tense as he quickly collected his things and stuffed them in his trunk. Closing it, he picked it up and started towards the door.

"I'm sorry," a voice behind him said. Blaise froze, his eyes slightly wide. Turning, he saw that Draco was very red in the face as though embarrassed he had spoken. With an irritable scoff, Blaise turned back around and scoffed, disappearing out the door.

⥖✦✧⦽✧✦⥗

As soon as they boarded the train, Andre, Imani, Blaise, and Dioleh found Harry and Ron and shut the compartment door behind them. After they had taken their seats, Harry asked hesitantly, "What's this about?"

"Blaise was attacked last night," Dioleh said brazenly.

"What?" Ron said quickly, giving them all shocked looks.

"By Nott, Crabbe, Goyle, and Malfoy," Andre added.

"No, not Malfoy," Blaise corrected. "He actually stopped them."

"Regardless, he was attacked because of you," Dioleh said firmly.

"Me?" Harry said in surprise. "What have I done?"

"Look, poke around in Malfoy's business all you want, but can you at least try and be more descrite about it?" Andre said. "They went after Blaise as a warning to you. We're taking proper precausions to ensure it doesn't happen again, but for our sake, try to keep it more on the down low please?"

"Yeah, sure," Harry said. "Er, are you all right, Zabini?"

"Fine," he said stiffly. "A little sore but I'll live."

"What are you going to do?" Ron asked.

"The three of them are moving into the hideout," Andre explained offhandedly. "Sticking together in the hallways as much as possible. That sort of thing. Dioleh's going to tell Dumbledore."

"It's about all we can do," Dioleh said. "But, we don't want those precautions to be necessary so just be more careful, Harry. For your sake as much as ours. Also...if you find out what exactly he's trying to do, please let us know."

"Yeah, of course," Harry said.

"What do you mean?" Ron asked, looking around to Harry. Quickly, Harry explained to Ron about the conversation he, Blaise, and Dioleh had overheard between Snape and Draco.

"Where do you think Snape's loyalties lie?" Harry asked, looking between Dioleh and Blaise. "You heard him. Do you think he's loyal to Dumbledore?"

"I don't know," Dioleh admitted. "I trust Dumbledore but he has been wrong in the past. He could be tricked."

"I agree," Blaise said.