Screams

Ten

Calliope took a deep breath and knocked on the front door of the Doge household.

It had been almost four months since the young girl had left the house in the dead of night with her mother, who had offered her no opportunity to explain anything to her grandfather, rather demanded that they leave at once.

Calliope could only imagine that her grandfather had been going mad with worry, and she was ready to explain everything to him and beg for his forgiveness. However, she would not pretend that she was sorry for going, because it had allowed her to understand many things about herself and her abilities that she never would have learnt if she has stayed at home. She could understand what the whispers were telling her and could block out the white noise that led to the overwhelming need to scream when she didn't want to scream.

The front door was opened, by an extremely tired looking Elphias. The moment he saw Calliope standing there, wearing similar robes to the ones that banshees were often depicted wearing, and with a slightly dirty appearance, he let out a small scream and jumped backwards.

"Calliope?"

"Hello Granddad," she waved sheepishly.

"Where on earth have you been?"

"It's a long story, can I have a bath first?"

********

Once Calliope had bathed and changed into some clean clothes, she returned downstairs and recounted the entire story of where she had been for the past months.

She noticed that Elphias had a tired look about him, which she felt largely responsible for. He wasn't as young as he used to be, and the months of worrying about her couldn't have done his health any favours.

But he seemed understanding of why she went and was mainly grateful that she had returned in one piece. He scolded her, as she had missed three months of school, which added into her missing her entire third year due to being petrified meant that she was gaining a bit of a track record for missing school.

Unwillingly, at the end of the Christmas holidays, Calliope boarded the Hogwarts express along with the rest of the students who were returning home from the holidays.

Almost immediately, Calliope found herself being tackled in a hug by Natalie.

"Merlin Callie, where the hell were you? I've been so lonely! It was like last year all over again, but this time I couldn't just come and visit you in the hospital wing because you weren't there-" Calliope placed a hand over her friend's mouth, and dragged Natalie into an empty compartment.

"I'm going to tell you something, and you're going to promise not to freak out."

"I promise not to freak out," Natalie stared at her friend, "is this about why you missed three months of school?"

Calliope nodded, she took a deep breath, steeling herself for what she was about to do, "I'm half banshee, my mother is a banshee. The past months I've been with her, learning how to, uh, how to control my abilities so that I don't hurt anyone else."

Calliope had decided to confide this all in Natalie, mainly because Natalie was her best and only friend. Natalie had been her friend for the entirety of their Hogwarts career, and although Natalie could be annoying, and she could talk someone's ear off given the chance, Calliope knew that Natalie could be trusted with such a secret, and deserved above anyone else to know this vital piece of information about her best friend.

Natalie stared at Calliope, for the first time in her life seemingly lost for words. Her mouth hung open, and Calliope had to resist the temptation to stick her finger in her friend's mouth, as the situation was clearly far too serious for such a thing.

Eventually, Natalie seemed to put the pieces of the puzzle together, and a look of realisation dawned upon her, "last year in the dorms-"

"I was overwhelmed," said Calliope, "I didn't mean to hurt anyone."

"You kept it a secret all this time?" Natalie continued to stare at Calliope as if she had sprouted an extra arm.

"Well, my Grandad knew, and Dumbledore. But apart from that, yes I kept it a secret," Calliope admitted.

"Merlin Callie," Natalie said again, shaking her head, "you're really quite the screamer aren't you."

"What?"

"Well, you put me in the hospital for a week, if that's not a scream and a half, I don't know what is."

This set the two girls off laughing. Clutching their stomachs, laughing far too much, as the joke really wasn't that funny. Calliope clutched Natalie's shoulder and laughed until her throat hurt, feeling incredibly happy that she had finally confided in Natalie her greatest secret.