{*—/—*}

A few days passed, all of which were painfully quiet and uneventful. It wasn't like the Hogwarts Harry missed, it was the one that he now knew. A little over four years ago, the term had started for the first time without Draco Malfoy. To say it was a bad thing was a massive lie, more people got better grades and overall, the school as a whole was happier. Another reason for that was, Snape had taken a rather long leave of absence. He was gone for almost three terms, coming back the fifth year. Though, it was almost like the Potions Professor never really had come back from his leave, not really. He had become a jumpy and quiet man, his lessons a lot easier and mostly filled with tracking potions or potions that could be used for the same purpose.

"Harry!" A voice, a feminine one that shook him from his thoughts, making Harry jump a little and look over. Hermione was sitting on the end of his bed, her large brown eyes wide and scared. "Did you even hear a word I said? Harry, are you sure you're doing okay?!"

"I'm fine Mione, better off than most people these days," Harry replied simply. He was here, sitting on a plush bed that fit him almost perfectly and was always made when he came back to the dorm at night, yet there was still grieving for a lost boy that no one has seen or heard from for four years.

"Harry is this about Malfoy again? Its been four years, let it go."

"That is the problem though Mione!" Harry yelled, "He has been gone for FOUR YEARS! No one has done a thing to find him!"

"But Harry, no one has any leads. How do you expect anyone to find him without even a place to start looking!" Hermione snapped, slightly fed up with her friend.

"Then they should try harder!" Harry hissed, standing up and trying to walk away, only to be stopped by Hermione.

"Harry listen to yourself. You are smarter than this. Please take a deep breath and calm down," the frizzy-haired witch pleaded, the worry showing through her normally calm and collected features.

"Let me go, Hermione. I don't have time for this." He pushed away from her and started walking out the door.

"Oh Harry, what has the world done to you..."

What had happened to the world Hermione knew? What happened to the Golden Trio? Ron was pissed off at pretty much everyone and had shut himself off. Harry had become even more so temperamental and angry all the time that even she couldn't have a decent conversation with him anymore. This was getting to be too much...first it was Draco, Pansy, Blaise, then Snape and now this...it was all too much. The frizzy-haired witch closed her eyes, leaning against the door to the Boy's Dormitory. She thought of her conversation with Ms Malfoy, how desperate the woman looked to hear something about her son. She had hung on every word that came out of Hermione's mouth and told the young witch everything in amazing detail that showed that she had been looking back at every memory of her son she had for years. It was a sad memory for a million different reasons. Everything was so frustrating, it seemed as if Hermione knew nothing and that just annoyed her even more! She should have figured this out by now, she should have!

"I will get this all figured out for you...I promise." Hermione vowed, not only to Ms Malfoy who had lost her son but also to Harry, who was feeling just as helpless as she. And to Ron, who hadn't been himself for the longest time. She would bring smiles back to all of their faces, she had too.

The water was cold and lonely, so lonely. The pain overtook the boy, tears falling from his eyes and becoming part of the dark waters that surrounded him. Thoughts filled the boy's mind as the sound of snapping bones echoed around him. His mother, oh how he had never wanted to leave her, not now, nor ever. She was everything to him, so kind and gentle, even when he was a baby. Even when he wouldn't shut up or do what she asked, she was always kind, her eyes shining with pain and love as they always did. What a wonderful woman...

"Darling, you must wake up. Your father will not be pleased if you don't." A sweet voice filled his mind, kind eyes taking up his vision and locking it onto a beautiful woman. She had blond hair with large eyes and a kind smile even though her features shown with sadness that she tried to hide but, one can only hide so much...

The moon shone brightly on the starless sky as Harry walked side-by-side with Luna down to the Black Lake under his Invisibility Cloak. The song that he had heard four days ago still filling his mind. The song was so beautiful, filled with more emotion then Hermione's romance novels. The only reason he had asked to come was so he could hear that song again, even if all he would get was just a few seconds.

"Harry, we must be careful. Sirens are dangerous creatures despite their beauty and kind nature." Luna whispered, her voice quiet and relaxed. Harry nodded, trying his best to take the words to heart and do what Luna advised but, for some reason, he couldn't. Her words meant nothing to him anymore, they just seemed like a joke, more teasing and playful then kind and strong. They didn't mean anything, not anymore.

"What are we going to do? It's not like we can walk up to it and ask it not to sing." Harry tried to sound like he was worried, scared even but, whether or not he pulled that off was questionable at best.

"Well, who knows," Luna said simply, making a small smile flash across Harry's lips. Of course, she had no plan, Luna was a go-with-the-flow kind of person anyway.

Almost on cue, the song started. This time though, the song was more lonely, painstakingly so. It broke Harry's heart to hear and took all of the happiness that he felt a moment ago away.

Out of the corner of Harry's eye, he could see Luna frowning. Something wasn't right. "Harry!" she called over the song, "Cover your ears!" He looked over at her, frowning as well.

"What did you say!"

"Cover your ears!" Luna cried again desperately. The song was taking control of Harry, flowing into his ears and weaving a layer of need. It would surely kill Harry if he didn't snap out of it!

Before she knew it though, Luna was helplessly watching Harry walk forward, unable to pull him back without letting the song tangle her mind. "Harry!"

Ginny Weasley was almost done with her master plan. She had finally found the thing that would hurt and embarrass Harry just as much as he did her! It turned out all Ginny needed to do was ask Ron, her dearest brother, to help. He now sat beside her, cutting snake-eyed fangs into small chunks and adding them into a large cauldron of boiling greenish liquid as she stirred and called out what they would be needing next in a hushed voice. Snape would surely be proud!

Moaning Myrtle was hovering over their heads, asking what they were doing and if they had seen Harry for he had not come to visit her yet that year. She started to cry when they told her to leave them, asking her to find someone else to bother. What rude people these two were! How dare they speak to her in such a manner!

Ginny rolled her eyes at the crying ghost, sighing as she let her mind wander to the potion. It would hopefully do the impossible and either make Harry fall deeply in love with her or something-or should she say someone worse. She would rip his heart out of his chest and as long as he never came in contact with water, her plan would succeed! No one would hurt her again! She would be in the paper, oh how Ginny could see the headlines! 'Weasley girl breaks the heart of the Savior!,` 'Ginny Weasley refuses Harry Potter's Affections!' She would be the star of the Wizarding World! Yes, this was shaping up nicely.

The library was calm and quiet despite the time it was. Though, Hermione didn't necessarily mind being as she was a lot quicker at combing through books and researching things when it was quiet. She knew there had to be something the Ministry and the Malfoy's were missing, there just had to be! Iceland itself was known to have a lot of magical creatures, most of them a kind of troll or pixie but, both of those seemed very unlikely to take a human being, much less a pureblooded wizard away from his family. To be honest, Hermione was about to give up when she saw a book that very well could hold the answers she was looking for! A Siren Sea, By Aron Nòvinson an Icelandic wizard that had a gift for elemental magic. She had read a few other books by him, finding them wildly intriguing and filled to the brim with facts! So naturally, she pulled the book from its place and rushed to sit at a small table, getting out a parchment and quill so she could take notes.

A Siren Sea

Written By: Aron Nòvinson

Not much is known about these "ship sinking" creatures of the depths. They are rarely seen and even if they are, it tends to only be in a sailor's dream. Sirens are very private creatures, tending to keep to themselves and only cause harm to humans or magic users if they feel threatened. Most stories one hears about these creatures are untrue or unproven.

Sirens are a species of Mer that tend to like colder waters, despite tending to have a lot smaller tails and fins then Silths or merfolk, their beauty makes up for their size though. They have sharp fingernails and fangs which they use to hunt and gather food as well as amazing eyesight. Small scales dot the top of their bodies in unique patterns, their more human-looking half that is. These scales tend to be able to glow on most Sirens, allowing them to speak to one another by simply flashing those scales in a series of taps and holds-a lot like morse code. As for gender and population information, little is known. Most Sirens tend to be female, living in pods of six to seven members. There are only three known pods in the world, each carrying their unique characteristics to help identify the members. For example, the Black Dragon pod, who swims along the coast of Iceland have shorter tails with larger fins and their scales tend to be grey or silver with little hints of white, dark purples, greens or blues.

Hermione was shocked, closing the book to take in all that she had learned. She might have found her answer but a lot still didn't make sense. Sirens don't attack unless provoked so something must have provoked them and though Hermione could easily imagine Malfoy doing just this she knew he would have had to have seen them first. Nothing added up! This was going to be harder to crack than she would have ever thought, even if she had already thought it was going to be hard to crack in the first place. Oh, Merlin help her!

The Malfoy Manor just wasn't the same. Not really, anyway. Even though Draco had always been a shyer kid the manor seemed too quiet without him Narcissa Malfoy nee Black could hardly stand it. All this grief was giving her wrinkles and had she cared enough about herself to care about that, she surely would be losing her mind. Ever since Hermione Granger had said she may have some leads, Narcissa had grabbed onto that small thread of hope she thought she had lost long ago and held it tight.

Her husband on the other hand, not so much. Narcissa knew how much he loved Draco, despite how he showed it. As soon as it got into his mind that Draco could never come back, he banned his son's wing from everyone including himself, hoping to stop the pain. To stop the constant darkness that threatened to take away the only thing he had left, his beautiful wife. Narcissa and his's marriage may have been a forced one, made only to climb ranks and gain money but, somewhere in their marriage, he had fallen in love with her.

Tonight was a family dinner, something both Lucius and Narcissa agreed to keep alive even if their son wasn't there. Just in case he came home one night. They always made sure to set his place on the table, keeping his memory alive was the most important thing in the world to them right now.

"Narcissa, darling. Tell me you haven't been keeping in contact with this mudblood girl you speak so often about?" Lucius asked gently, taking a small bite of the roasted duck on his plate, Draco's favourite.

"Lucius! What did I say, you should respect her, she is the only hope we have got now...please don't use that dreadful word." Narcissa said, using what little snap her voice had left to tell off her husband.

"Right. Sorry my Dove, force of habit." Lucius apologized, trying to stay on her good side. "So, have you been in contact with her?"

"Why yes I have...she owled me last night. She says that she may have found a lead! Isn't that wonderful Dear!"

"It sure is! But are you sure we can trust her? I know she was not a great friends with our son...more like a great enemy. She punched him, Cissa!" Lucius hissed, still a little caught up in the old times.

"Why yes! She is a Gryffindor Lucius, why would she need to hold a grudge against our baby boy when he hasn't even said anything rude to her in four-Oh Lucius! I'm afraid too but, if this is true I cannot turn my back on it...I need to see my son again! I know you miss him just as much as I do!" Narcissa cried, lifting her napkin to wipe her wet eyes. "This may be our only chance."

"I am afraid you are right Narcissa, I am afraid you are right..."

{*—/—*}

Author's Note:

Hello everyone! I'm sorry for how long this chapter took me to get out and how bouncy it is. I am not liking this chapter so I may redo it shortly. I have been very stressed lately and my mental health isn't the best but, I promise I will try to get chapters out quicker and hopefully better than this one! Now, I cannot go any further in this Author's Note without thanking my lovely editing team. You all are amazing and this story would not be anywhere near as good as it is without your magic! As always, leave a comment telling me what you think and a favourite/follow if you liked this story!

-Növa/Moony