Everything You Are

Chapter Fourteen:

"It hurts... oh god, make it stop. Make him stop cursing me, please. Daddy, help me!" she mumbled frantically in her sleep and tossed about, kicking off all the sheets. She continued, nearly reaching a scream until...

Thud.

She hit the floor, rather harder than usual, and her eyes shot open. "God damnit..."

"What the hell was that?"

"The only one up there is Sirena."

"I'm telling you... sometimes, she's a bloody mental case, that one..."

"Flaming mad."

"You shouldn't say that... she could kill you all."

"And so she may," Sirena added, watching from the stairs. A few gasped and a great deal more just sat and looked alarmed. She slunk down the stairs, surprisingly cat-like for someone who had so much wolf in her. "Exactly what do you all mean by talking about me behind my back? You can't honestly think I don't notice it even when I'm NOT in the room."

She looked to each of the three girls in turn, two of which were senior to her, the third being Pansy Parkinson. "I'm s-sorry, Sirena. W-we were only just joking and..."

"Save it, Pansy," she said coolly. "And for reference, I'm not after your boyfriend. Draco and I have a strict business friendship and nothing more. If your brain had room for more than petty gossip, you'd understand that." She looked to the other two, a pair of seventh years. "Bella Nott and Morgana Avery..."

"Sirena, I didn't..."

"I know you didn't, Avery. I was here, remember? As for you, Nott..."

"I..."

"I don't want to hear it, Bella. What I WILL say is that I know enough about your nighttime exploits with a certain member of the Crabbe family to have you either mortally embarrassed in front of the whole school or expelled and shamed in front of the staff, not to mention your family and the rest of the... cozy little group your parents hang out with. Possibly both. I'd stop questioning the sanity of my superiors if I was you," she said silkily. She turned to the shorter, lighter haired girl. "As for you Morgana, thank you for knowing your place. I like loyalty in a person, and I'm hoping it was loyalty rather than fear, though fear is just as well. I won't forget that quickly," she said, making sure the other two caught the remark as well.

She turned on her heel and went back up to the dorm with a long sigh. "I'm a mental case. Ha," she muttered. "They don't even know the half of it."

Sunday was spent lazily for most of Hogwarts, as Indian summer had hit hard and no one had really had the energy to do much of anything. Sirena, for once, was no exception and was easily found by her father, despite her attempts in hiding amidst the rocks by the lake. Upon spotting her, he ran all the way from the North Tower, where he'd been looking out at the grounds, down to the lake, and caught his breath before walking up behind her as quietly as he could.

He found her sitting in the grass 'studying' the Marauders' Encyclopedia, to his amusement. Her body seemed to say that she was relaxing, but her face showed an expression of the utmost concentration. "Draco, if that's you, I swear I'll get Macnair to behead you so that I don't get blood under my nails doing it myself," she growled upon hearing the footsteps, looking up.

Remus jumped, slightly surprised that she'd heard him, and no less so at her rather graphic depiction of violence. "Are you always this pleasant to visitors, love?" he said, trying to keep the mood light.

She turned to face him. "Only when I'm in a good mood," she replied, dryly. "Now if you'll excuse me, I was just about to throw myself in the lake for a bit of a tangle with the squid."

"Would you really rather drown yourself than talk to me?" he sighed tiredly, nearly positive he didn't want to hear the answer.

She snorted. "Let me think about this..." She stood and turned back to the lake, dipping her foot in the water. It was then that Remus noticed she wasn't wearing any of her typical accessories... except for her mother's necklace.

He caught her arm before she went any further. "Sirena, please."

She faced him again. "What? What do you want?" When he didn't reply right away, she placed her free hand firmly on her hip. "Do you realize that if you were anyone else I'd probably have blasted you to oblivion by now?"

He wanted dearly to make a sharp reply, but bit his tongue. "I want nothing more than to have a civil conversation with my only child. Is that so much to ask?"

"Depends on what you want to talk about. And if you plan on letting me go before I do something we'll both regret."

"Only if you promise you won't leave until we've gotten through a conversation," he said, braver than he felt. His mind raced. 'Since when did parents have to answer to their children?'

"Since you helped in the creation of me," she mumbled, jerking her arm away after tapping into his mind. "What do you want to talk about?" she said, perching herself on a rock.

He sat on one adjacent to her. "Several things. One of the top ones being our relationship... or lack thereof."

"We might have had a relationship if you weren't so busy aiding in the schemes for my death."

"See, this is what I don't understand. Where are you getting this, Sirena? Why all this need to blame me?" he asked, concern flashing in his eyes.

"You were there every time. You never did anything about it. I don't feel the need to do anything about this," she said, managing a thoroughly disaffected tone.

"Did you ever think I could have just ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time? Better still, has it ever occurred to you that your nightmares," he stood and ran his hand over her cheek gently, "might be just that? Nightmares?"

"I know what I saw," she said, staying stoic.

"So did all those people who 'saw' Sirius, sweet. I know you listen to him. You might consider asking him how misunderstandings like that come about and hurt people," he said, keeping his tone even. "I know things haven't been easy. Being back here can't be much of a comfort to you, but you're not doing anything for yourself, what with these... destructive behaviors you've acquired."

Her eyes flashed angrily. "And which destructive behaviors might you be referencing? Would these be the ones I've started in attempts to keep myself from draining each and every student I see of any blood they might have? Or perhaps the ones I've developed to get myself the power necessary and the protection I desire to make me feel safe going to sleep at night? Or maybe..."

Remus watched her hand grasp at the silver star pendant she wore around her neck. "Sirena, I swear I'll hire forty personal security trolls if that's what it takes to make you feel safe," he said, his hand reaching out to touch hers. "I'm worried. I'm not deaf and I do hear things around the castle."

"And?"

"And they don't sound good," he said, his voice barely above a whisper. "You're my little girl, Sirena. Despite all you think you know so far, you're still a child and I don't want to see you learn anything the hard way if it can be avoided."

"I've done plenty of things wrong and I've learned plenty of things the hard way," she said, her voice deadly calm, "but this time I feel like I'm right." She looked straight into his eyes. "I've spoken with one of mom's sisters."

Panic registered over his face briefly. "Which one?"

"Aria," she said, still holding the star in her hand. "It seems that there is a lot of information that you've delicately chosen to not tell me."

He looked slightly relived at hearing 'Aria,' but he tensed up again at her second statement. "Such as?"

"Such as the fact that I'm the rightful heir to the Silver bloodline?" she prompted. "I've never known half of my family and the instant I come into contact with one, it's like I'm someone else. I didn't know any of this. And YOU not telling me..."

"I didn't want you to worry like your mother did," he said, taking her hand tightly. "After Dumbledore found out she was the heir, she worried every day and every night about what could happen to her. I don't want you to have that responsibility. Your mother's side of the family also tends to be a... competitive bunch," he said, choosing his words carefully. "Some of them might object to you being the heir. Many of them have a state of mind on purity of blood not unlike Salazar Slytherin himself."

"But they don't have much of the power to back it up, now do they? Besides mind reading and other blood bonding techniques that I have just as strong as the rest of them, they have no powers. No innate magic at all," she said. "And even then, Aria said..." she paused, realizing she couldn't give away the exact details of her plan. "Aria said that many of them were looking forward to meeting me and that my so-called 'blood impurity' could provide them with an ideal leader as far as power goes."

"Perhaps," he said, looking at her for some time. "Your mother made herself some enemies with her old crowds, you know."

Sirena let out a frustrated sigh. "Dad, you're failing miserably at scaring me out of my current lifestyle," she said, her expression hardening slightly.

"Oh, Sirena..."

"I don't know who could have sent you to do it, because I'm pretty sure Dumbledore doesn't know yet... unless there was another memory charm put on me in a pathetic attempt to cover everything up," she said, her tone sounding very businesslike. "If that is the case, you would do well to let him know that they only work for so long before everything starts to resurface."

He sat silently for a moment, examining Sirena's expression and tone and trying not to smile in the realization that she was exactly how Flayme would have wanted her. Smart, strong, and stubborn as can be.

Despite her resistance, Remus leaned down and kissed his daughter's forehead. "Sirena, if nothing else, please have a talk with your godfather. Maybe he can help you more than I can."

And with that, he walked off, leaving her with the 'Encyclopedia', wondering how long it would take her to figure things out.