Everything You Are

Chapter Two:

  Sirena rushed into the classroom with minutes to spare. As it turned out, the class was only a few rooms away. She walked in and put her things down at the only open desk, right in the front, and looked around as her fellow classmates chattered. She sat down and looked up when she sensed her father's eyes on her. "Sirena," he muttered, gesturing for her to go talk to him.

She sighed miserably and walked up. "Can it wait until the end of class? I don't feel like being reamed out in front of the entire fifth year, thanks."

"That's not what I meant to--"

She cut him off bitterly. "Of course not. You never mean it," she growled. No one looked up.

"Sirena..." he warned, his temper starting to kick in.

"See?" she said, crossing her arms and looking at him defiantly.

He sighed. "You look just like your mother when you do that. Fangs and all. It's remarkable."
  
"Can we PLEASE leave my mother out of this?" she said. "You always say that and yet I can't even have a picture to see what she looks like. We're better off not bringing her, or anything else, up if we want to keep up this happy family act, daddy dear."

"It doesn't HAVE to be an act."

"Oh LOOK who's talking!" her voice went up a few notches. A few heads turned as the bell rang. She narrowed her eyes at him.

"After class," he muttered as she stalked off to her seat.

Defense Against the Dark Arts was painfully slow for Sirena, as she knew she'd never need any of the things that were taught. As the Dark Lady, she could already do, and undo, all the curses, remedies, and other defenses they were being taught, without breaking a sweat. In addition, the vampire blood she'd gotten from her mother made her immune to nearly everything, though it made her much more vulnerable to the vampire haters, such as Albus Dumbledore.

While her father droned on about remedies, Sirena zoned so far off into space that she almost didn't hear the bell ring. Sirena gathered up her things quickly, in a futile attempt to make an escape with the rest of her class. "Why don't you just Apparate away, if you want to leave so bad, Sirena?" she heard her father say, once everyone was gone and he'd shut the door.

'Damn! And I was almost out...' she thought, bitterly. She picked up her bags and looked at her father. "Because everyone knows normal people can't do that wouldn't wanna give myself away." She paused and her lips curled into a sneer. "Wouldn't wanna take all your fun away from you"

"Sirena," he sighed. "You know I wouldn't..."

"Bullshit," she said, plainly. She took several deep breaths, keeping her voice even and emotionless. "You've had no problems letting your loyalties to Dumbledore surpass your loyalties to me in the past, dad. I'm not stupid- I figured that out the first time you let him go after me."

He sighed again, his eyes looking very tired. "Sirena, that wasn't the case"

"Sure, okay"

He shook his head, looking slightly defeated. "I wanted to talk to you about Snape. How was potions class?"

"He had us make wolfsbane. He defended me." She smiled bitterly, her eyes cold. "Which is more than I can say for you."

"Sirena, we need to talk."

"I have nothing to talk to you about," she spat. "Just stay the fuck out of my way and I'll do the same for you. We can fake a nice loving relationship if you think it will help your image, but I want nothing to do with you otherwise, understood?"

" I...fine," he said, defeated for the moment. "But don't think this is it, Sirena," he sighed. "You ARE my daughter."

"Funny how flesh, blood, and bone mean so little these days, huh dad?" she said, rolling her eyes as she walked out the door and off to lunch.

She sat down at the Slytherin table across from a pale boy she remembered as Draco Malfoy.

Draco smiled at her. "Two years, Ms. Lupin? Seems an awful long time to be making an album." He shot her a cheeky grin, as he knew full well that making the album took all of two months.

"It's grueling work, Draco," she returned his smirk. She sighed and stood up, getting a good look around the great hall for the first time since she left Hogwarts in her second year. "This place really is amazing." she said quietly, as she sat back down.

Draco shrugged. "I suppose so."

"All the details..."

"Since when did you become so easily amused, Lupin?"

"When did you get so thick, Malfoy?" she teased

He smirked. "I suppose I just haven't been the same ever since the most beloved of all Slytherins decided Hogwarts wasn't good enough for her," he said, dramatically.

"Oh, bugger off, Draco!" she laughed. "So, when are you going to start with the... extracurriculars?" A manic spark appeared in her eye when she thought of life outside school.

Draco shrugged, getting a bit quieter. "Father says that he'll let me start going when he gets word from either you or 'our friend Tom.' After his last episode with you, dad doesn't want to take any chances."

She snorted, trying not to laugh too hard. "I don't want you repeating this, but I wasn't ABOUT to kill him. He's too useful to lose in a power struggle." She lowered her voice considerably. "I dueled to make it to the top, yes but I wasn't about to kill everyone I needed on the way up. I only killed a few who would have ended up hindering us anyway. It worked as a scare factor. However, truth be told, your father put up a rather enjoyable struggle."

"I daresay a few other struggles were less enjoyable?" he said, raising an eyebrow.

She was about to reply when she felt someone's eyes on her. She looked up at the High Table to find Dumbledore's icy blue eyes glaring down, watching her every move. She turned back to Draco. "Some struggles I've had with Dumbledore have been downright terrible, Draco, but they were only as bad as they were because I was much younger. He wasn't fighting me for the things I'm associated with now. He's against me for my breed, but I don't expect much more difficulty with that now." She picked up her things and stood, saying goodbye to Draco before leaving for her dormitory.