Sirens

Chapter 7

Isabella's Birthday

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR..."

"Argh!"

Isabella shot up in bed, frightened out of her life. She'd been awoken by a chorus of raucous singing from every girl in her dormitory (a lot). Isabella looked round and noticed that although Millicent Bulstrode, Daphne Greengrass and a lot of Pansy Parkinson's other friends were there, Pansy herself wasn't among them. Isabella was not surprised. Pansy hadn't yet forgiven Isabella for going out with Draco.

"...IZZIE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!"

"You nearly gave me a heart attack," said Isabella, reproachfully. "But thanks for the gesture."

"I got you this," said Carey, who seemed to have established herself as Isabella's best friend, handing her a large box wrapped in green paper. All this green, thought Isabella as she unwrapped it. I wish I'd be Ravenclaw, then it'd be blue.

"Err...wow! Thanks!" she said, hoping that her delight was sincere-looking enough as she brandished an emerald necklace. "It's...really pretty, Carey. Thank you."

She prayed to God that nobody else had got her anything green. She hated the damn colour! She looked terrible in it. There was a whole rainbow of colours to choose from but no, Slytherin house had to choose green.

Luckily there wasn't much more green stuff, apart from a pair of earrings from Daphne. Sadi had bought her a very nice snowy owl quill and ink that turned different colours as you wrote. Tracy and Millicent had both bought her books. She'd also got a nice bottle of perfume from Christina Jones, one of Pansy Parkinson's best friends.

"Cheers," she said, after the last present was unwrapped. "I really like everything."

She looked down at the necklace. It would have been very nice if it hadn't been green. Sort of delicate looking. It reminded Isabella forcibly of one particular birthday in Tuscany.

---

"Happy eleventh sweetie!"

The just-eleven Isabella - a shorter Isabella that looked a lot more like Avalon - smiled up at the unnatural blonde woman that had just handed her a small box wrapped in silver.

"Thanks mum!" she said, eagerly tearing off the paper and opening the box. However her face fell when she saw the contents.

Inside was a silver locket. It was in the shape of a heart and had Celtic knot work patterns on the front. The chain was delicate and silver and it slithered over her fingers, almost like a tiny snake. She prized it open and inside were two photos. One was of Roberto and one was of Isabella and Avalon together.

"Mum..." said Isabella, slowly. "Dad gave you this locket."

"Yes, I...er...I know," said Mrs Giordano, awkwardly.

Isabella looked up at her. Even at eleven she still had that piercing look to perfection.

"Mum," she said. "Are you and dad getting divorced?"

Lou-Ellen Giordano wasn't a woman to beat about the bush. She sat down next to her daughter and said, "I'm afraid so, pumpkin."

"Don't call me pumpkin!" spat Isabella, jerking away from her mother. "How could you even think about giving me this? It's like using me to make it easier for you! Well you can keep your stupid locket!"

She threw the piece of jewellery at her mother and stormed off.

"Izzie," said Lou-Ellen, desperately.

"I have nothing to say to you," shouted Isabella from the stairs. Her voice sounded tearful.

---

"Seventeen, eh Izz?" said Carey as she sat with Isabella and Tracy in the common room. "I'm not seventeen until July. You can do magic out of school now and everything!"

"I know," said Isabella, but the thought didn't make her particularly happy. Roberto had been doing magic out of school for over a year now. The thought was less impressive when your older brother had done it before you. Still, she reasoned. At least Avalon has to wait another year.

She sat back in her chair. She was just about to suggest a game of snap when Vincent Crabbe came in through the portrait hole.

"Isabella," he said. "There's a black owl in the Owlery with a package and Draco says it's yours."

"Aria's come? That'll be mum's yearly offering," she said, getting up.

"Want me to come?" asked Carey.

"Nah," said Isabella. "I'll go alone. Need some time to think and stuff. Be alone, y'know?"

Carey didn't look as if she knew.

"Never mind," said Isabella, smiling. She left the common room and walked up towards the Owlery.

---

"Dad?" said Isabella on her fourteenth birthday. "Has mum sent her present for me?"

"Not yet," said Florian Giordano, the same tight-lipped expression that he always wore at the mention of Lou-Ellen coming over his face. He put his arm around Harriett, his second wife. Isabella glanced towards the cot in the corner, which contained three-year-old Noemie. It was just like her father to get a woman pregnant and marry her because of that.

Isabella's face must have dropped, because Florian smiled at her and said, "Why don't you go into the kitchen and see if that owl of hers has arrived?"

Isabella obeyed, but when she opened the door of the kitchen she didn't see her mother's tawny owl, but a jet black one sitting on the sink, trying to drink from the tap.

"Dad!" she cried, happily. "Is she mine?"

"Of course she is," said Florian, ruffling his daughter's hair. "She's all yours."

"YES! I love you, dad, I really do! I love you sooooooooooo much. And Harriett. And Noemie."

This was a big thing. Generally Isabella had made no pretence at not liking Harriett or Noemie. Harriett seemed incredibly pleased.

"I'm going to call her Noemie," she said.

"Don't go overboard," said Florian, laughing. "Go for something birdier."

"Cielo?" suggested Isabella.

"Er...no, that's what Avalon plans to call her cat," said Florian.

"She doesn't have one."

"She will do on June 2^nd."

"Dad!" said Isabella, laughing. "You're going pet crazy."

"Just name the bird, Izzie!"

Isabella thought for a moment.

"Aria," she decided.

---

Isabella smiled as she saw the black feathers of her owl. Aria was special to her because she reminded her of her first - and last as it turned out - birthday staying at her father's house. That had been a good birthday. It had almost been as if her parents divorcing hadn't been so bad.

Well, that had lasted about ten seconds. She had gone right back to her mother and hadn't spent any time with her father since. The most she got was a card on her birthday and at Christmas. Her father was a really lousy dad.

She took the large package from Aria, petted her and opened it.

Out fell a light blue dress. It was made of silk and was the sort of thing you wore to a ball. It was quite slinky and it slithered over her hands in a pleasing way. Why her mother had sent it to her she didn't know, and quite frankly didn't care.

She opened the letter that had come with the dress.

Dearest Isabella,

I hope your birthday is perfectly marvellous. Jeremy sends his love. This is a lovely dress that I thought would look superb on you. I hear from Avalon that you're currently with a nice young man named Draco Malfoy. I hope you're having a nice time with him.

All my love,

Mother

Not even a lousy kiss, thought Isabella sourly shoving the letter into her bag. Bat. She didn't even send a card.

She headed back to the Slytherin common room feeling pretty dejected. She loved both her parents, but as people she really didn't like them. Lou-Ellen was too much of a bimbo and Florian...well, he was too much of a bimbo-lover. Isabella shuddered. She couldn't stand shallow people. Shame her mother was one.

She got in, managed to hide her present from the prying eyes of Carey and Sadi and went into her dormitory, which was mercifully empty. She shoved the dress under her bed and hoped never to get it out again.

---

"Draco."

Draco jumped. He looked up.

"Oh, hello gorgeous," he said, seeing it was Isabella standing over him.

"Draco, do you even know the significance of the twelfth of March?" asked Isabella, arms folded.

"Not really," said Draco. "Have I forgotten something? Our two month anniversary?"

"No," said Isabella. "I don't keep track of stuff like that, I haven't got time. It's something slightly more important. To me, anyway. If you want to celebrate an anniversary that's fine by me."

"What is it then?" asked Draco.

Isabella cursed inwardly. The last thing she needed - what with these stupid feelings for Finnigan turning up at an awkward moment - was an inattentive boyfriend who couldn't even remember her birthday.

"Well, Draco, how old are you?" asked Isabella.

"I'm seventeen," said Draco, looking at Isabella like she was mad.

"That's right. And how old am I?"

"Sixteen."

"Wrong."

"What? You're...oh my God! It's not your birthday?"

"Got it in one."

Isabella looked slightly put out. She had a right to be. Her friends could remember her birthday; her boyfriend should certainly have remembered it.

"Izzie, I am so sorry!"

He jumped up from his seat and hugged her. Isabella found herself melting. She returned his embrace, despite the filthy looks she knew Pansy Parkinson was undoubtedly giving her. Draco wasn't the best boyfriend in the world, but she did like him.

"D'you want to go somewhere...quieter?" he asked, pointedly.

"Alright," Isabella smiled, and they went through the portrait hole together.

---

"Izzie!"

Isabella looked up.

"Hi, Gio."

Isabella hated spending her birthdays in school, and that day just happened to be her sixteenth. But neither of her parents could take her for the day. Her boyfriend - Giovanni Magri - was the only perk.

"Happy birthday," he said, handing her a small box. Isabella smiled at him and opened it. There was a pair of sapphire earrings inside.

"They're beautiful," she said, putting them on. And she meant it, too.

"Glad you like them," said Giovanni.

He rocked backwards and forwards on the balls of his feet for a few seconds, evidently uncomfortable.

"I heard about your mum," he said, sitting down next to her. "Bad luck. Do you have to go and live there?"

"Yeah," said Isabella, sadly. "I can't go with dad, not with Claudine around."

"Claudine?"

"Wife number three. Well, four technically, but third after mum."

"What's she like?"

"I haven't met her. From the letters Noemie writes apparently she's French."

Isabella sighed. The only contact she had with her father these days was with her five-year-old half-sister, who liked to write letters to her sisters. (Although Isabella strongly suspected they were dictated by Florian.) Isabella had grown quite fond of Noemie, especially considering she had detested her at first. She had been right to suspect Noemie of being Florian's favourite child, but to be honest she didn't care any more. She no longer cared if Florian saw her or not.

Giovanni sighed.

"Izzie," he began. "I don't really think this is going to..."

But Isabella shushed him.

"I'm going in three weeks," she said. "I know what you're about to say. I agree. I can't stand long-distance stuff. We shouldn't tie ourselves to each other. I'm only just sixteen after all. So let's say we make the most of these three weeks and say goodbye then, ok?"

Giovanni smiled.

"Ok," he said. "Have they arranged another school for you yet?"

"No. I'm going to be home-tutored for a while, I think, so I can settle into the house. Then I go to school."

"Wow."

"It's frankly stupid," said Isabella, stretching. "Avalon agrees. First thing we've agreed on since...well, ever. I think they should just send us to school and have done with it. Stop us being social outcasts and all that."

"I don't think you'll ever be a social outcast, Izzie," said Giovanni, laughing. "At least, not in the wizarding world."

"Oh Avalon disagrees. We're all divided over Jeremy though. I like him; he's really sweet. Avalon can't stand him because he's too 'sickly' apparently and Roberto...well, Roberto can't physically think so we don't ask him. We've come to the conclusion that his age is higher than his IQ."

Giovanni laughed.

"I really like you," he said. "It's going to be hell letting you go."

He put his arm around Isabella's shoulders. She leant up against him and put her head on his shoulder.

"It's going to be hell going," she said.

---

Isabella and Draco returned to the common room looking slightly more dishevelled than usual after an enjoyable hour by the lake. Isabella had already told Draco that he needn't buy her a present now, but he still seemed wracked with guilt. Good, thought Isabella, secretly. Maybe having a boyfriend that actually makes an effort will banish bloody Finnigan from my mind.

She still hadn't got over the fact that she had a crush on Seamus Finnigan. She knew that old thing about always falling for your enemies, but she didn't know it actually was true. She just thought it happened it books. It was quite a shock to find out that it had happened to her.

Carey scooted over to Isabella the second she go in.

"What happened?"

"I went down to the lake with Draco," said Isabella, a tad smugly.

"Did you get laid?"

"No."

"Was there...?"

"Carey, I'm not giving you the sordid details."

"Sordid?"

"Ok, the slightly grubby details. I'm hungry. Let's go and get some dinner."

"Tell meeeeeeee!"

"No! Come on."

The pair made their way up to the Great Hall. Carey was still trying to persuade Isabella to spill the beans when they ran into...

...Seamus Finnigan. Of all the luck, thought Isabella bitterly.

He scowled at Isabella, who treated him to her stoniest expression. Inside, however, it felt like someone had grabbed hold of her heart and put a knife in it. She was all for passing by without a word, but Carey, however, appeared to have other ideas.

"Good match on Thursday," she said, with a sneer. "Must have been great to know a girl thrashed your whole team."

"She played dirty," said Seamus, crossly.

Carey laughed and twisted one of her gold curls around her finger.

"You just hate to admit your house sucks," she jibed. "Even Harry Potter is admitting that Isabella's good. But you didn't even play and you have too much pride to admit to sucking."

Seamus flicked her the V-sign and stormed off.

Carey laughed.

"He's sooooooooooo easy to torment," she said, easily. Isabella felt awkward, so kept schtum.

They had reached the Great Hall by that time. They both sat down at the Slytherin table and enjoyed beef stew. Suddenly Isabella felt a hand on her shoulder. She jumped.

"Oh. Hello," she said.

"I know this is a bit nonconformist, me coming to this table, but I've been trying to catch you all day to give you this," said Avalon, handing Isabella something long and thin wrapped in purple paper. Isabella laughed secretly at her bad use of the word nonconformist and unwrapped it.

"What's she given you?" asked Carey, peering over Isabella's shoulder.

"Death on the Nile," said Isabella. "Thanks Avalon."

Avalon smiled.

"I hate those crappy murder mysteries, but I know you like them, so I thought it'd be good. And you'll actually enjoy it. So see you around," she said, and sauntered off to the Gryffindor table.

Carey watched her go with contempt on her face.

"I think that's a bit bad of her," she commented, dislike etched all over her face. "Some Muggle paperback. It's obvious she didn't spend a lot on you, or put much thought into that present."

Isabella looked down at the book and smiled. All in all, she thought it was the most thoughtful present she'd received all day.