"Valeria Malfoy was a kind loving woman. She persevered thought many trials in her life and…"

The droning voice of the old wizard speaking faded for Morgan. She could hardly bear listening to all these speakers. She knew in her heart that none of them had really known her, know how she had changed. How her father's death had made her bubbly, happy mother a nervous wreck. On the bad days she had been barely able to look after herself.

The good days had been rare, but wonderful. Sometimes her mother would actually smile. It seemed if only for a short time, like nothing was wrong. But those times never lasted long. And now there would never be one again. Morgan felt her eyes begin to prickle. 'Oh great,' she thought, 'here come the waterworks again.'

Without any warning, Granna elbowed her sharply in the ribs. She turned, shocked.

Granna leaned over and whispered, "They want you to go up and speak now dear."

"Ah. Joy." Having delivered her sarcastic remark, Morgan got up slowly and walked towards the little alter at which the previous speakers had stood. She wondered how many people had come here to farewell someone, only to have to trudge the length of a seemingly endless hall, every step with feet like sixteen tonne weights.

Finally getting there, Morgan lightly cleared her throat. Her friends had advised her to write something down, but she had decided against it, so she just talked about the first thing that came to mind – injustice.

"In my opinion, there is no justice in this world we live in. Mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers and children all sacrificed for some glorified idea of good over evil." At this, a whispering started flitting about the hall, Morgan carried on paying them no heed. "My mother's life was taken from her by Death Eaters, but not in the way you would think. For ten years she was trapped in a prison of her own fear. They put her there. Then they came and killed her, taking her from me forever." Her voice broke suddenly. "I- I'm sorry, I can't do this."

She ran from the hall, not caring what they thought, just needing to escape. Knowing that the after function would be held at her Great Uncle Ostric's house, she headed in that general direction.


By the time she got there, her two best friends were already waiting for her. They were twins whose parents had moved from America to England. As they were both muggles, that made things a little difficult sometimes. They weren't strangers to the memory charm – but of course they didn't know that.

Morgan smiled weakly. "Hey guys."

The boy, Tremain, put one hand on her shoulder. "Granna says you took off. You okay?"

Morgan couldn't even meet his eyes. "I'm fine." she mumbled unconvincingly.

The girl, Drefinia, wrapped one arm around Morgan's waist and rested her head on her shoulder. "You're not. But we're her for you. Okay?"

Morgan just nodded. She didn't trust herself not to scream if she opened her mouth.

Her friends were always there for her. No matter what went wrong in her life, she could always rely on them. Tremain and Drefinia were not the names their parents had given them, but both of them had come to the conclusion that Goths just don't have names like Samantha and Quentin, so they picked new names for themselves at the age of twelve. Drefinia was actually her fifth name, she kept changing her mind.

"Morgana dear, I need to talk to you." They turned. Granna was there, looking unusually worried. "If you two would kindly wait inside, I would be much obliged."

Morgan ground her teeth. Granna was one of the nicest people around, except for the fact that she seemed to think all Muggles were simpletons. "Anything that you have to say to me, you can say in front of them. They're my friends whether you like it or not!"

Granna's reply was cut off by Tremain. "Hey, that's cool. We'll be inside waiting for you." Both of them gave Morgan's hand a squeeze before walking off in silence.

When they were out of earshot, Granna spoke up. "I'm sorry, but I have to tell you something about your mother and I know how you hate it when I obliterate their memories."

Morgan's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "What are you talking about?"

"You know that I found Valeria in a house that the Dark Lord destroyed before he came to power."

"Yes. But what does that have to do with anything?"

"I told both you and your mother that her parents had been Muggles, but they were actually squibs from an old family, very old." Granna looked at Morgan with tears brimming in her eyes. "I had to protect her. If he had known that she was alive, it would have put her life in jeopardy."

Morgan put her head in her hands, grasping it as if trying to will this to make sense. "I don't get it. Why was she so important?"

For a while, there was no answer. "Not her. You. One of your ancestors took a siren as his bride. Since then all the women have shared the siren's magic. And their song."

"You mean the mermaids?"

"No. The sirens were an older race. They're all gone now. There was a line in a very old prophesy, 'The daughter of the sirens shall break down the barriers of darkness. Without her, the light shall fail and darkness will surely reign triumphant.' The daughter of the sirens is you. We don't know what these barriers of darkness are, but you have somehting to do with it, we know that much."

Morgan swallowed hard. "So I have to face down You-Know-Who?"

"That's not for certain yet. You have to help Harry somehow. At least that's what Dumbledore thinks. I'm sorry I didn't tell you before, but it was just too dangerous."

"And no one asked me?" Morgan whispered. Granna merely looked at her, confused by this question. And then Morgan was up and towering over her in her rage. "I have to deal with all this stuff nobody should have to deal with and then on top of that, you tell me that I HAVE to risk my life for people who could care less about me and won't ever thank me! I don't think so!" She brushed past Granna, going inside and plopping down on the couch next to Tremain and Drefinia.

"What was that all about?" Drefinia asked.

"Nothing." Morgan snapped.

"But-"

Morgan wanted more than anything to tell them everything. But she couldn't. It was just the way it was when you had muggle friends. "Just drop it okay! It doesn't matter!" she snapped at them.

Drefinia sighed but didn't try to ask any further.