Swan Manor was handsome and large, a rose garden surrounding it. Stones resting on overgrown grass lead the way to the entrance, where two willow trees guarded the door. The sea was not far away, and the sound of waves crashing against the shore reached the residence. After all, the sea was the Swans' real home, and the manor just a temporary place for them to dwell.

The whole family lived there, but never were they all in the house, for some watched over the hospital's patients at night, and others cared for them during the day. The youngest Swan had just turned three years old, the oldest 119, the twenty others in the house aging somewhere in-between. The time they did not spend at the hospital, they wasted by the sea, for everyone except two in the family were women, and had therefore the Siren curse placed upon them.

Darya had gone to the ocean after her daily rounds at the hospital, and salt-water was still dripping from her golden hair when she entered the manor. She had spent too much time with the waves, and she felt guilty, for she had promised her mother to come home early to help her make dinner. Clutching her locket, biting down on her lip, she entered the living room, ready to put up with any outcries.

Luckily, her mother had still not come home from her rounds at the hospital. In the living room, where walls had been painted light blue, seashells were resting on crooked tables and sunlight covered like a blanket, sat the oldest Swan, her sister, and her cousin.

"You're late," said Valerie, almost irked. But Darya had needed all the time in the world by the ocean today. Her head was filled with questions about Riddle.

"Did the ocean give you the answers you wanted?" Darya's grandmother Cordelia asked. She pushed her white, thin hair out of her face with her shaking fingers to get a look at her.

"No," Darya answered and walked to kiss her cheek, "perhaps it will tomorrow."

Her cousin, who was only ten, but had the courage of a lion, burst out, "Can I join you tomorrow?"

"Not safe!" Darya quickly replied. "You can't even swim properly yet, Jada!"

Jada sighed and crossed her arms in front of her chest. Turning to Cordelia, she asked, "What kind of curse makes us like this, but still won't help me swim?"

Cordelia leaned back in her chair. Darya knew which story she was about to tell. Cordelia was always the one who told it, for it was about her mother.

It was her mother who the Siren curse had firstly been placed upon. She would usually not tell the story before the listener had turned eleven and gotten their Hogwarts letter, but she knew well that Jada's curiosity would never die.

"A curse created to make women suffer," Cordelia began. "Placed upon my mother while our family still lived in Greece."

"She must have done something terrible, then," Jada said, "to deserve a curse to make her suffer."

Cordelia slowly shook her head. "No. Ashera did nothing wrong." She took a deep breath before continuing, "She was forced to marry; promised to a 40-year-old man when she was only 14. He was a traveler, and let her live in despair while he traveled the sea. One spring, she fell in love with another while he was gone. It was the only love she would ever get to live through. She hadn't expected her husband to come home and find them together."

Jada sat down in front of Cordelia's chair, pulling her knees up to her chest. "What happened so?"

The old woman threw her hands up in the air. "Well, he got furious! And at the night of Beltane, he took her to his ship, where he and his sailors bet her until she stopped breathing. After that, they threw her body into the ocean."

Ashera Sedna; every tear Darya cried was for her. She carried her sorrow and pain inside her bones.

When someone with a great love for the ocean dies, they become a Mermaid. Their death is peaceful, and they feel ready to enter the afterlife. However, when someone with great hate or fear of the ocean dies, they become a Siren. Their death is very violent, and the reason for the hate or fear of the ocean is that they either due to drowning, or they get thrown in the ocean after their death, and their body is to travel with the waves for all eternity. The night of Ashera's death, she had fallen into the blue, and therefore become a Siren. The Siren blood was now in their bloodline.

"Ashera lived in water after that. Every day and night, she traveled the seas and cursed the ships she could see. She wanted sailors to suffer as much as she had done, and the waves were always wicked and on her side when she cried out in pain. Blessed with a beautiful voice, she began to sing when she swam."

A Siren's singing voice is impossible to resist and will result in a fatal end for the listener. When you hear her song, you will be drawn to her and follow her into the ocean. Her song, though irresistibly sweet, is no less sad than sweet, and lapped both body and soul in a fatal lethargy, the forerunner of death and corruption. A Siren can drag anyone to their end.

"Sailors were lured by Ashera's singing, and she avenged her death, in the morning counting the dead. Eventually, the townsfolk caught her. But she was excused, for she was with child. When they let her go free, her face grew dark as death. She cursed the life of every sailor, and woe the men who sail close to a Siren be dashed upon the rocks before the night is out. Suddenly, the sailors were a sorry lot. Ashera laid them low before they could harm her. With her lover, she fled the country, and they had me. But let it be known, her mistake had been made, for her beloved was a man who had approached a Siren. She had doomed him to die. He died in pain, and she lived the rest of her life in misery."

Because of Ashera's anger, every man who fell in love with a Siren would die.

"I don't want... I don't want to hurt anyone," whispered Jada when the story had been told.

"Neither do I," answered Cordelia, "which is why I taught myself to use my powers for the good. After my mother's death, I spent years learning what this curse truly meant. Now, we can heal - and not harm."

Jada nodded slowly.

"The luring..." Valerie whimpered, "we're still able to lure, aren't we? So technically, we can still hurt and kill easily?"

"Yes," Cordelia said after a moment of silence. "Yes, we can. But we don't do it. It's dangerous, not only for the sailors, but also for us. The Ministry gave us protection in this country only if we stayed to help. If we harm..." She took a deep breath, "Merlin knows what they will do..."

Valerie only seemed more intrigued, spite the horror in Cordelia's face. She leaned in closer to the daughter of the Siren Queen. "How did she lure them? How can a young girl be the death of a thousand men?"

Cordelia began, "She called upon Aglaopheme, Parthenope, Ligeia, Peisinoe, Thelxipeia and Leucosia, just like we do when we heal. They assist us, whether we wish for love or hate."

The beautiful Sirens had been the first Sirens in the world, and every time another was born, they sang with their lament voices, bright and clear, affecting the mind. They were the calm ocean's heart.

Peisinoe had been called upon just a few hours ago by Darya when she had healed Riddle's wound. If Darya had asked her to make his head roll instead of repairing his cracked skin, she would have slain him within seconds. But Darya did not wish to abuse her powers.

"You need rest, Nan," Darya said softly. She reached for a blanket. "I'll change and make dinner while you sleep."

The elder didn't protest: she closed her eyes at once. Jada set off, presumably going to the rose garden to play, and Valerie found a book to distract herself with. Darya walked up the stairs to the second floor and hurried into her bedroom.

Standing in front of her round mirror, she tried to use magic to dry her hair. That was when she saw the reflection of her bed, where a large gift box lay.

Confusion grew in her as she walked to the bed and reached to take off the present's bow. The wrapping was dark green, the bow silver, its ends looking like heads of snakes. Was it from someone in her old house?

She took off the lid of the box. The first thing she saw was a letter. Opening it with shaking hands, she noticed that the handwriting of the person that had written the letter was elegant, every letter stretching far like the pen had danced around the paper.

𝔉𝔬𝔯 𝔗𝔬𝔪𝔬𝔯𝔯𝔬𝔴.
- 𝓥

V for Valerie? Darya tossed aside the paper and reached into the box, for inside it laid a special gift for her. It was a dress, ocean blue and gracious, short puffed, with a string of pearls on the bottom of it. Such a dress, you would wear at a ball or a dance, but she never went to such happenings.

Her eyes widened. Tomorrow would be the height of Midsummer. Was Valerie planning on celebrating it this year?

By the time Darya had run downstairs again, her sister has disappeared. She didn't get the chance to ask her why she had given her such a gift.