The Siren's Call (A Draco Malfoy Fanfiction)

145. Flight

With a strangled gasp, Dioleh jolted awake, her eyes wide. Before she could help it, tears came to her eyes not for the Draco who killed her but for the Draco who tried to save her. Closing her eyes, she shook her head slightly, drawing in deep breaths to try and cast the image from her mind. Wiping away the few tears that had escaped, Dioleh got to her feet and moved over to her closet. From their hangers, she pulled off a pair of white sweatpants and a black v-neck. After she had changed, Dioleh headed downstairs to find Andre and Blaise were already awake and discussing their attack on Umbridge today over two plates of pancakes.

As Dioleh sat down, Andre passed her her own plate as he said, "But we have to make sure we aren't seen. If she sees us it's all over. The first thing she'll do is track us here."

"Or you could just erase her memory," Dioleh countered, cutting into her pancakes and giving them both a raised eyebrow look. "But I mean, if neither of you know how to do it, I could always come along."

"I can do the spell," Blaise snapped back irritably. "I've been able to do it since third year. So, we hit her with the leg-lock curse, take the necklace, alter her memory to think she got mugged by some random muggle."

"Works for me," Andre said. "What time does she usually come home?"

"She leaves at five," Blaise said. "But usually disguised. I only recognized her because of her stupid pink cardigan."

"Then we should be ready to leave by five," Andre said. "What are we going to do with it once we have it anyway?"

"Destroy it," Dioleh replied.

"How?" Andre asked. "I can't imagine a Horcrux can just be hit with a little incindio and suddenly be nothing more than a molten mass of metal."

"Let's just get it first," Blaise interrupted. "It doesn't matter how we destroy it if we don't have it."

"Let me know when you're leaving," Dioleh said, picking up her plate and dropping it off in the sink. With a small sigh, Dioleh took out her mirror from her pocket and began to walk to the large library as she whispered, "Hermione?" The reflection fluttered slightly before revealing the inside of Hermione's beaded bag. "Hermione?!" Dioleh called. The top of the bag opened and Dioleh could see through the small opening the familiar dark hair of Harry.

Pulling out the mirror, he turned his head and said, "Hermione. Dioleh's trying to reach you."

"I don't want to talk right now," she replied. Instantly, everything Dioleh had been thinking about rushed from her mind as she heard that Hermione was crying.

"Give her the mirror," Dioleh said. With a small sigh, Harry took a few steps and set it down by Hermione's side. After a few moments, Dioleh could hear the tent flap as Harry left to keep watch. "Hermione, what happened?" Dioleh asked gently.

"Ron left!" Hermione snapped shrilly. "He got sick and tired of waiting around for some Horcrux to appear and he's gone. He left last night. Harry made a stupid, stupid comment about how Ginny getting sent into the Forbidden Forest as punishment wasn't that bad and Ron just exploded on him and left. He tried to get me to go too but I just couldn't." She was sobbing by now.

"It's okay, Hermione," Dioleh said gently, her own anguish over not being able to wrap her arms around her sister and take the pain away causing tears of her own to come to her eyes. "It's going to be okay. It's going to be all right."

"I just thought-" Hermione began before breaking off as more sobs shook her. The tent flapped open again and Dioleh could just see Harry come over. Hermione's sobs became slightly muffled and Dioleh assumed Harry was trying to comfort her. They were silent a long time before Dioleh said the only thing she could think of to possibly help.

"Blaise and Andre are going after the Horcrux today," she explained quietly. "I'll let you both know when we have it. Speaking of which, Andre was wondering how do we destroy it once we have it?"

"We were just discussing that earlier," Hermione said thickly. "Dumbledore left the Sword of Gryffindor in his will to Harry but because it's a historical artefact, it can't be given to him. But we overheard a group of people talking, including a goblin who used to work in Gringotts. The sword in there is a fake. The real one is gone. We've been trying to figure out where he could have put it."

"We'll hold on to the locket until you figure that out," Dioleh said. "Then we can meet up somewhere to pass it off."

"How are things with Andre and Blaise?" Harry asked.

"Fine," Dioleh said, although her overly airy tone gave her away.

"What happened?" Hermione asked.

"I guess I'm just lonely," Dioleh admitted. "I love Blaise and Andre but without Imani, it's just...hard. And, as much as I hate to say it, without Draco."

"I saw him after the attack at the end of last school year," Harry admitted quietly. "He was a wreck after he watched you...well, die, I suppose. Snape had to force him to come along."

"I keep seeing him in my dreams," Dioleh admitted. "It's always the same one. I'm in the water surrounded by coral and fish and there's the human-form of me with this other form of him that's killing me. Then there's the Draco I thought he was trying to get the other Draco to stop hurting me. And then...once she dies, I wake up. I've had it every night since we left school."

"Maybe you just hope that he blames himself," Hermione said quietly. "Because if he does, then that means he did once care."

"Maybe," Dioleh said softly. "Well, I need to go see what the boys are up to. I'll contact you both again once they've come back with or without the Horcrux."

"Talk to you then," Hermione said.