The ink of Ariston's cursive writing faded as soon as Devery read the short note.

"Dev?" Sirius nudged her shoulder in concern and his brow furrowed when she kept staring at the small note with trembling lips?

Sensing that something was immediately wrong, he went into full investigative marauder mode. Devery didn't stop him from taking the note out of her hands and he frowned when he saw the piece of parchment blank on both sides.

Perplexed even more, he tries to coax Devery to look up at him. He was about to say her name again when Lily beat him to it when she appeared by his side.

"Devery?" Lily said her name with urgent green eyes and Sirius was taken back when she glanced at Lily with watery eyes.

Her best friend knew the significance of Ptisi and when her family used him.

"I have to go home," she signed and Lily's face fell which was never a good sign. At this point, Sirius had enough of being out of the loop.

"What do you mean you have to go home?" He demanded and Devery finally glanced his way.

"I have to see Professor Dumbledore," she stood up to leave and Sirius stopped her by grabbing her wrist.

"What the hell is going on here?" His voice grew stronger and Devery surprised him further by yanking her arm away and storming out of the Great a scowl, he followed and so did, Lily.

In the distance, James watched all of this bizarreness unfold and he moved to nudge Remus but he didn't have too. His friend saw too. In fact, most of the Great Hall did. That giant hawk drew a lot of attention.

Remus was out of his seat to follow before James could ask if they should and James quickly moved to catch up with them all.

The only person that didn't follow was Peter. He just thought Devery was having one of her wacky mood swings and left it at that.

In his opinion, the sooner Sirius dropped her, the better it would be for all of them.


The trek to Professor Dumbledore's office was excoriating with Sirius breathing down her neck, every step of the way.

He wouldn't let up with his questions and she really did not have the energy to process an answer. Her mind was spinning in a thousand directions.

Was it the Dark Lord? Did he find them? No. Severus would've told her if he knew. She decreed it!

Lily on the other hand, knew not to push it until they got more answers.

"Goddammit Devery!" Sirius started to shout in frustration and the urge to rip off her necklace to get answers was growing stronger.

"Go back to breakfast," Devery finally communicated back to him with trembling hands.

"I am not going back to sodding breakfast while my girl is having a crisis," he growled and Devery stopped her frantic pace suddenly.

"Go!" She mouthed.

"No!" Sirius argued and Devery looked like she was about to hit him, which in Sirius's opinion was an improvement. It was better to be mad than sad in his book.

"If you want me gone, you're gonna have to hex me, Leafwood," he bit out and Devery pushed on with a flinch.

Her last name only came out of Sirius's mouth now when he was really pissed off at her.

Sirius grumbled about stubborn witches while he continued to follow and he barely gave Lily a glance.

Devery was his entire focus. When they reached the griffin that led to Professor Dumbledore's office, Sirius climbed them three steps at a time and with his longer legs, he managed to beat the girls up the windy staircase.

Professor Dumbledore was not surprised to see Sirius Black walk into his office first and his student would've launched into an interrogation if he didn't have another guest in the room.

Sirius quickly lost his frown when he spotted the other aging wizard that sat across Professor Dumbledore at his desk.

In comparison to his headmaster, the wizard looked a tad older in his black and green silk formal wizard robes and he was a lot taller and more agile on his feet despite the fact that he needed a cane to get to his feet.

The wizard oozed command, power and unshakable authority that his presence nearly engulfed Professor Dumbledore's office usual cool and collected atmosphere.

Sirius stilled like the wind when the wizard pinned him with an ice cold glare it felt behind his rounded black sunglasses.

Unlike his headmaster, this wizard did not have a long white beard. Instead he had a moustache and his long white hair was kept back in numerous braids.

Then those black lens of his, cleared to reveal ancient hazel eyes that were identical to Devery and that was when Sirius noticed a black tie with an ebony jewel rest against the old wizard's throat.

The wizard stopped his cold perusal of him and his gaze flicked to Devery and Lily behind him. He tapped his cane against the carpet once and Sirius watched Devery obediently walk to the wizard's side without another word.

That was when Sirius saw that the wizard had a series of black seashells decorate his cane.

Devery to Sirius's further surprise kept her head bowed low and she continued to stare at the floor. Professor Dumbledore stood from his chair and he looked like he was about to say something when the wizard tapped his cane again.

This time the thump echoed a little louder through the office and the wizard stretched out two elegant hands covered in lavish rings.

He pointed at Lily and signed. "Go to class, dear. Deveral will catch up with you later."

Sirius quickly put one and two together then and he eyed the wizard in a new light. He was a Siren too.

Lily took off with a nod and closed the door behind her. As soon as she was gone, the wizard put Sirius right back under his cold scrutiny.

He tapped his cane again twice and with two loud thumps, the black tie around his throat vanished. He moved to open his mouth when Devery yanked her necklace off and yelled for him to stop.

"No, Papou-Ariston!"

Ariston clenched his aging jaw line at being yelled at and Devery immediately hung her head in silent apology.

"Sit down," he instructed his great-granddaughter and he eyed Sirius with obvious displeasure.

"You too, boy."

Sirius frowned at the label and he moved to sit down on the nearby couch with Ariston's eyes pinned on his every move. Devery sat next to him. It was strange how his legs felt compelled to sit down.

"So, boy, you are the reason why my great-granddaughter took longer to get here. She is usually a lot faster to see what all the fuss is about when I write."

"Papou-

"Silence," Ariston quickly ordered and Professor Dumbledore tsked at his old friend's temper. Ariston frowned his way.

"You are just as responsible for this mess, Albus. You should've told me sooner that she was fooling around with a Black. But no, you had to let me find out from pathetic pureblood gossip."

"True but I didn't neglect to tell you that Mr Black knows about your family's many gifts when you arrived out of the blue," Professor Dumbledore uncaringly retook his seat. To him, it was no big deal.

Ariston scowled in his direction.

"He is a Black!" He thundered in great disappointment. Not that he wasn't against his great-granddaughter dating at this age, he just wished it was with a certain other boy in Devery's life already. It would've made things so much easier on them all.

Meanwhile, Sirius immediately took offence to that.

"My mother blasted me off the family tree, effectively disowning me! I refuse to follow their ways! I am not a Black! I am my own person, I just bare their name!" Sirius snapped and Professor Dumbledore moved to play meditator when he saw Ariston's nostrils flare.

"Ariston, be reasonable. You cannot fault the child for their father's sins," he scolded but Ariston ignored him.

Instead, he send a disapproving glare at his great-granddaughter.

"I am being reasonable Albus. In fact, I am probably the only one that has young Mr Black's best interests at heart."

Confused by his words, Professor Dumbledore glanced at his other student for answers. Sirius, on the other hand, frowned.

"If this is about Devery being a Siren then I don't care, I love her," he said and Ariston made a harsh sound in the back of his throat.

"It seems you do not know everything about my family, Mr Black and my great-granddaughter has been cruel to withhold that information."

"Because that is not my fate, Papou!" Devery finally broke her silence and Ariston shook his head.

"No Black has ever been a descendant of Odysseus and his crew. They are too inbred," Ariston retorted and Sirius looked at Devery in alarm and she was still visibly shaken but now angry.

"I will not marry someone I do not know!"

Bitter silence enveloped the room and Sirius did not know what to say while Ariston's booming voice continued to thunder over them all.

"As with every Siren that has been born, you are born betrothed to marry a descendent of Odysseus and his crew and you will start courting after your seventeenth birthday on Halloween. You have known this since day one, Deveral and yet, you dare to meddle with this poor boy's heart."

"That is not my future!"

"It is our way and the way of the gods! They made it so! To refuse this is to declare yourself rogue!"

"I would rather die!"

"Don't be foolish! End this now and let him go!" Ariston pointed at Sirius's now fallen head in his lap and Devery felt her chest snap in half as her tears blinded her vision.

"Be ready to leave for a few days on Halloween. Your parents will collect you from Hogsmeade."

"I will not leave Hogwarts!"

Ariston simply frowned at his great granddaughter's continued defiance.

"Do I need to remind you what happened to the last Siren who defied our ways and traditions?!" He thundered and Devery quickly grew tongue-tied.

"What happened?" Sirius spoke up and Devery cried out harder when she saw unimaginable hurt flash through his grey eyes.

Ariston ignored her sobbing and Professor Dumbledore looked conflicted. A part of him wanted to defend his students but another part of him knew he couldn't intervene. This was a family matter.

"The last Siren who turned rogue didn't last a week before they were burned at the stake. They couldn't get by and they used their voice out of personal gain. And it didn't take the ministry long to notice.

There is only one sentence for using your voice and that is death. As soon as you declare yourself rogue, you are exempted from the treaty that protects us. You are labeled a traitor and are also stripped clean of all your possessions. Wand, family and wealth included."

Sirius took all of this in with a heart full of fear and he knew what he had to do even though it was going to kill him.

He stood up tall and looked into Ariston's commanding gaze.

"For Devery's sake, I will let her go."

Ariston immediately looked pleased at his answer and Sirius fought back tears when he heard the girl he loved let out an enormous wail of despair.

"No, Sirius, no!"

He flinched when Devery reached for him from the couch in desperation and he couldn't look at her when she tugged his arm.

Ariston shook his head at the overdramatic display his great granddaughter was pulling and he glanced at Professor Dumbledore. He stopped shaking his head as soon as he met Professor Dumbledore's steel blue eyes.

"You have overstayed your welcome, Ariston," he retorted.

"Make sure she's ready to leave on Halloween, Albus or so help me but if she isn't, Hogwarts will have to look for a new Headmaster."

Professor Dumbledore calmly took that threat in and he tilted his head to the fireplace for Ariston to go. He grimly watched the ancient Siren take his leave through the floo network.

Sirius couldn't take anymore of Devery's sobbing when Ariston vanished into a circle of green flames and he forcefully made Devery let go of his arm.

In her desperation to keep a hold on him, she falls hard onto the rug and as soon as her hands leave his robes, Sirius is running for the door.

But the doorknob doesn't work when he reaches for it.

"Given up already Mr Black?" Professor Dumbledore fired at his back and Sirius finally felt the torrent of his emotions snap in half at that question.

He whirled around with light fire in his grey eyes and the mere sight of Devery again, ripped him to shreds.

His Headmaster was now helping his girlfriend, no ex-girlfriend retake her previous seat on the couch and he passed her a long white handkerchief.

"She's bloody engaged to someone else!" Sirius let loose with his anger and he damned this whole situation to hell and back.

"This is news to me too."

"Well, I'm glad to know I'm not the only fucking fool to be left out in the dark!"

Devery cried out harder against the handkerchief and Professor Dumbledore tried to keep her calm with a hand on her shoulder.

"Language, Mr Black," he scolded his student and Sirius clenched his fists, fighting hard against the urge to break everything in his Headmaster's office.

"Sorry, Professor," Sirius mumbled. Professor Dumbledore moved to a nearby table and opened a small cookie jar. He encouraged Devery to take one and he held the jar out to Sirius.

"Have a biscuit Mr Black."

But Sirius shook his head. He knew what was in those biscuits well. Professor McGonagall made them and she had been using them to calm down her students for years.

"They are not from Professor McGonagall," Professor Dumbledore caught this line of thinking and took out a biscuit to take a bite out of it.

"They are merely chocolate chip from the kitchens."

Well, in that case. Sirius moved closer to take one and he swallowed this whole thing. It was just a biscuit, he rationalised.

"Ariston might seem like he is all knowing but he doesn't know every wizarding family tree off by heart."

Devery immediately lifted her head up at Professor Dumbledore's words and Sirius grew still at the endless possibilities.

"You mean… he doesn't know for sure if a Black can be a descendant of Odysseus and his crew?"

"It is a possibility until we know for sure."

Hope flashed across both of the teenager's faces and blossomed in their chests. Sirius was the first to glance at Devery and her blood red eyes, undid him. He had to touch her and he did by reaching for her hand.

Without words, Devery knew he went back on his promise to leave her alone and she breathed out in relief.

"And if I'm not a descendant?" Sirius stressed with a heart full of dread but it was Devery who spoke up next.

"The gods might have lost contact with most of this world but they still like to keep a close eye on us, Sirens," she looked to Professor Dumbledore and something akin to excitement bubbled up behind those spectacles.

Now, he had a good excuse to make contact with the gods if the occasion ever called for it and this time, he would have no one to stop him.

A/N: Happy new year! Thanks for reading and for all of the lovely reviews!

Devery's arranged marriage with a descendent of Odysseus and his crew was pretty much her motivation to lose her virginity to Sirius super quick before she turned 17 so she could seem less desirable. And yes, Devery has technically already met her intended betrothed. He knows but no one else does.

Professor Dumbledore is still curious about power and coverts it in his old age but unlike his younger days, he has no desire for more of it since he technically already possesses the Elder Wand.

Odysseus's run-in with the Sirens was what inspired this fanfiction in the first place.