"Harry!"
Harry turned, his brows rising the moment he noticed Draco's stern expression. Without needing his urging, Ron turned to the woman they had been speaking to before—presumably one of the people who were to take the body—to finish their conversation as Harry took a step closer towards them. "Did something happen?"
"Yes, actually," Draco said at once as he moved to the side, letting Harry's attention fall on Bada. The confusion on his face only made her feel more guilt, even though she knew she couldn't have done things differently. Today was turning out to be a rather unpleasant day.
"Not here," she murmured, gaze wary as she looked left and right. "In my apartment."
"Now? Can't it wait?" Harry wondered, his confusion heightening when Bada shook her head. After some hesitation, he nodded. "Give me a moment."
He left to exchange a word with the woman he had been talking with before, leaving Bada, Theodore and Draco on their own. The moment he was gone, Theodore turned to her.
"I know you couldn't have killed all these people since you were with us. But how did you know we should look at the sea shells to find a common link between the crimes?"
"I can explain everything," she replied as she turned to face him, expression pleading. "It's just...It's a long story."
"We are ready," Harry's voice was heard before Theodore could reply, and as Bada turned to face him, she saw Ron was by his side, as confused as Harry was.
"Hold each other," she asked softly, "I'm taking you to my apartment."
There was no need for any further prodding, and with the five of them joined, she turned on the spot, apparating in an alley by her apartment. She didn't waste a moment to walk forward, to the direction her apartment was, and even though none of them said a word, she knew they were following her closely. It didn't take her long to reach the building she lived in and not long later she was ascending the stairs to the first floor, opening her door and ushering them inside.
"Should we take off our shoes?" Ron asked when he noticed her taking off her shoes. At her nod, all of them complied. With the door closed, they got deeper in the house. Unaccustomed to having company at such a time, at the sound of them arriving both Jakda and Geomeun appeared from the corridor that led to her bedroom.
"Would you like a glass of water?" Bada asked softly as she headed to the kitchen. "Perhaps some tea?"
"I would like some tea," Ron admitted, and as no one else spoke, she assumed he was the only one who needed something.
"One of the women we were asking in case she had seen anything saw a suspicious vehicle in the area with a couple inside, a man and a woman. She hadn't noticed how the man looked but she said the woman looked just like Bada," Draco spoke, not wasting a moment to share his findings.
"Couldn't it be she got confused?" Harry asked, and even with her back turned on them, Bada could make out the hesitancy in his tone. "After all, she was with us when we got the distress signal."
"I thought so too. But when I turned to her she had that look on her face like she knew something."
Silence followed Draco's statement as Bada cleared her throat lightly. "Please take a seat."
She heard the chairs moving as they sat down and not a moment after they had sat, Harry spoke up. "You've been hiding things from us? You knew something about the case and didn't let us know?"
"I had an assumption, yes," she admitted, Harry's hurt tone like a punch in her gut she chose to forget for now, knowing things would only get worse if she didn't explain what she knew. "My hunch proved to be correct by what the woman said today."
She turned around with Ron's tea at hand. She placed it in front of him on the counter as she sat down on the chair left. The moment she had sat down, Geomeun jumped on her lap and made himself comfortable. Bada took a look around the room to ensure Jakda was near—he was curled up on the couch—and absentmindely started stroking Geomeun's fur.
"I can explain everything."
"Go on," Draco spoke, expression betraying no emotion. "You need to start somewhere."
"That's the difficult part," she chuckled, although there was no humour behind it. "There are some things you don't know about me. I never planned on telling you either but it seems like there's no other choice now. I'll start from the beginning.
"My grandmother, the one I took the kittens from, is a pure siren." She looked up, gauging their reactions, taking in their various states of surprise before she continued. "My grandfather is a wizard. They had a son, and because the siren genes always prevail, he is part siren, part wizard. My mother is a muggle and together with my father, they had me and my twin sister, Hae. We are both witches and sirens. Do you know what sirens can do?"
Harry shook his head at once as Theodore spoke up.
"Their singing can put you in a daze."
"That's correct," she nodded, "we can also compel others to do what we want. Our abilities can't be used against other sirens but on anyone else they are effective without doubt."
"What's a pure siren?" Harry asked, immersed in her explanation. Even Draco was starting to lose some of his animosity while listening to her talk.
"A pure siren is a siren that was born with two parents who both are sirens. Their abilities are the same as ours but the difference is that their eyes are a deep blue, like the ocean. Our looks aren't affected by our abilities."
"I heard that sirens are exceptionally beautiful and have a rather calming, soothing and mellifluous voice," Ron shared, talking mainly to Harry even though he didn't take his eyes off of Bada once.
She nodded, "It's true. We can walk on land like anyone else, do all that you do. We get weak when we spend a while out of sea water, though. I, for one, should have found a way to reach the ocean weeks ago."
"You should take care of yourself," Draco spoke, expression still icy. "What-"
"Have you used your powers?" Harry cut him off, his eyes never leaving Bada's. "Have you compelled anyone after coming to London?"
"I've used them twice," she admitted softly. "Once, when we were fighting those men who were wrecking a village. He had disarmed me and you were heading my way to help me, Harry, but before you could, he hesitated and I tied him up, do you remember?"
Slowly, he nodded, his eyes widening in realization. "I do. So he didn't hesitate."
"He didn't," she admitted, "I made him stop."
"And the other time?" Ron asked, and now she bowed her head, unable to look Harry in the eye.
"On the first day I arrived at the Ministry, I wanted to find Vance but didn't know where to look. I found Harry on the way, asked him to show me where it was. He refused. I compelled him to show me where it was anyway."
"I knew it," Harry whispered, eyes wide in realization. "I almost got in trouble that day."
"I helped you out of it, though," she pointed out as she looked up, eyes wide. Before Harry could say another word, Draco spoke up.
"What does your being a siren have to do with the case?"
Bada briefly glanced at Draco before she looked at Geomeun snuggled up against her. She didn't lift her gaze.
"I left Korea because I had no other choice. I liked my job there and I liked my life with my family and the ocean within reach. Hae and I never had a good relationship but I could survive that, it's been going on our whole lives, anyway.
"A while before I left, Hae told mother there was a guy she liked. I didn't know him and I didn't attempt to get to know him either, Hae and I look alike so much even our parents can't tell us apart. I didn't want to risk him seeing me and thinking I was Hae. Time passed and Hae had gotten to know him somewhat but had never spoken to him once. I was in my room, singing to myself when he was walking by. He heard the singing, didn't pay attention to where he was going, got in the street and got hit by a car."
Stunned silence followed her story but she still didn't look up. She missed the looks exchanged between the four men, their surprise mirrored in each other's faces.
"Hae blamed me for his death," she continued, her voice getting lower, so quiet it was hard for them to listen to what she was saying. "She said it was my fault and she kept on threatening me. My parents thought it would be best if I left home for a while, just until she saw sense and realized I didn't do it on purpose. So I asked from my boss to be transferred to England, contacted my grandmother to find me an apartment to stay at and I started my life here.
"I hadn't thought anything had changed back home until Harry and I found ourselves in the crime scene of Victoria's murder and noticed the sea shell in her pocket. It was the exact same sea shell Hae always wears around her neck."
She reached for her neck, took out the necklace she always wore, let the pearl rest in her palm as she looked up at them. "My grandparents left England during the second war to survive since my grandmother was in danger, being a siren and all. When she came to live with us, she gave me this necklace with the pearl and she gave Hae a necklace that is exactly the same, only instead of a pearl it has a sea shell. We never take our necklaces off. Sirens always wear something from the sea on us when we are on land as a means to separate ourselves from the rest of the people but to also comfort ourselves. That sea shell is Hae's personal signature the way a pearl is mine."
"So you thought your sister had commited the murder," Draco spoke, his expression no longer as icy as it had been before. "That's why you asked Harry to ask Vance for our team to take over the case."
"Exactly," she nodded, "I hoped it wasn't Hae, really. I sent a letter back home to ask how they have been and I got the reply today that Hae left a few weeks back to Chicago, where an old childhood friend lives. And today the lady said the woman driving the car looked just like me and it can't be anyone but Hae. The people she kills are around the same age the man I killed was, she leaves sea shells in their pockets, the way they die couldn't have been done in any way unless they did it themselves which means she compels them to do it-"
"Bada-"
"It's all a message directed to me, isn't it?" she insisted, her eyes widening as another thought hit her. "I need to tell grandpa, he might be in danger-"
"Why would your sister want to do all that?" Ron cut her off, his brows furrowed. "She's your sister."
"We never had a good relationship," she admitted, "she was always jealous and I enjoyed to do well in all I did just so I could be better than her, spite her and get all the attention. She thinks I killed the one she liked on purpose and now she is striking back. She wanted to get my attention. She is a reporter, she knows how to write a story so that people will believe her, she can tell anyone about my past and my life will be completely ruin-"
"Bada, we'll find a way to get you out of this mess," Harry assured her, cutting in her spiel.
"How?" she asked, the despair she felt leaking in her voice. "I can't tell anyone about this or they will know I'm a siren-"
"Would that be so bad?" Ron couldn't help but ask.
"Yes!" she exclaimed. "Some are afraid of us because of our powers and if I'm viewed as a siren I will be fired at once and no longer be seen as a witch. I'll be doomed, not just me, my whole family, my father, my grandfather even though he doesn't have siren blood but because he married one. I can't just announce it."
Silence fell in the house as they let the weight of her words sink in. Geomeun, sensing her anxiety moved impossibly closer, as if attempting to mold himself against her. Bada's heart fluttered in her chest at the realization as she continued petting him. His purrs were even louder than before now and gradually, she started to calm down.
"We're going to find her before she does anything to you," Harry promised her.
"She won't tell anybody," Draco decided, "if she tells she will ruin her life as well. It wouldn't be in her best interest to expose you."
"You should tell your grandparents to be wary, though. Even better, have them stay with you," Theodore suggested, "or better yet, with us. We have space to put them in and she won't think we've hidden them."
She frowned, "I can't make you-"
"You aren't," Draco assured her, "I can let your grandparents stay in my Manor. Just until Hae is caught."
"The lady you asked today said there was a man in the car with Hae," Ron thought out loud, his gaze on Bada. "Do you know who that could be?"
"No," she frowned, shook her head. "But I think that if we find Hae we'll find him as well."
"We'll find them," Draco assured her, already standing up. "We need to get back to work. But, just in case, I think you should take the day off."
Her brows furrowed at once. "I can work-"
"He's right," Harry agreed before she could utter another word. "Go to your grandparents, stay with them until they reach Malfoy Manor then return home and spend your day with your kittens." He paused for a moment to send a fond smile at Geomeun. "This one especially seems to need you around."
"We'll tell you everything about the case tomorrow," Theodore assured her as he stood up. Ron mirrored his moves. "Get some rest."
"Fine," she conceded, defeated. "You really don't mind I'm a siren?"
"We are not quite the same people we used to be," Draco replied with a tiny smile sent her way, already walking away. "See you tomorrow. Harry?"
"I'll find you in the office," he replied, still unmoving from his seat.
One by one, they left, until only Harry and Bada remained in the flat. For a while, both of them were quiet. Then she spoke up.
"I shouldn't have compelled you that day."
"I'm not mad about that. After all, you did cover for me in the end." He sent her a smile just to prove he wasn't indeed mad at her before he continued. "I only wanted to let you know I am here for you if you need me. Even after this case is finished and things return to normal, I would like to know of all that's troubling you. I mean-"
"I appreciate it," she cut him off softly with a smile. "I stand by what I said when I first joined. Teams are supposed to move as one and its members need to be close and you can count on me with anything you might need."
"Thank you," he muttered, slightly flustered before he cleared his throat. "I'll be going now. Enjoy your day off."
"Thank you," she echoed as he stood up. She watched him as he awkwardly left the apartment, allowed herself to chuckle once he was gone. Now alone, she turned to Geomeun.
"I'll be back before you realize it."
He seemed reluctant to part with her but in the end, she managed to leave the apartment. She hurried away, right to her grandparents' house. It was time she acted.