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After a few days, things in the castle had mostly settled down... ignoring the basilisk that was probably still hidden somewhere in the school; the chickens that still wandered through halls and classrooms as if they owned the place; the fact that whoever had painted the 'Heir of Slytherin' message back in October had never been caught; the attack on Fluffy in November; and... Well, everyone seemed at least to have gotten used to what was going on in this castle.
Iris was uncertain if everyone in the castle had a short attention span, or if the student body as a collective just wore through topics quickly and moved on.
It was probably the second one. After all, there's a point in a discussion where things just can't go any further, where you've left rationality and sanity behind and nothing and no one can contribute to the conversation anymore. A point where it's not so much a conversation as it is just piles of words that sound like they could make coherent ideas when put together.
It was a point reached on the second day after the Dueling Club, where people ended up discussing how a future Iris was going to go back in time to trick Lancelot into having sex with a transfigured nundu, then jumping forwards in time to specific points where she could control the breeding of the line. All with the intent of producing an eventual perfect Dark Minion in the form of Shirou.
The conversations had stalled there, as apparently no one could come up with something to top that level of idiocy.
And now, a few days later, there were only two groups still working to perpetuate the rumors of Dark Lady Iris Potter.
The first, and more annoying, was Wendy and her stupid clique, who were using the rumors and a series of mean-spirited pranks as a chance to strike back at Rin for getting them in trouble earlier in the year.
The abuse wasn't limited to Ravenclaw either. Wendy had friends in all the houses, and they made sure to spread the unpleasantness around.
Iris, Hermione, and Sakura tended to stick together when they could, so they could cover each other from reprisal. They had been worried about Neville as well, but he hadn't been seen with them enough to have become a target.
Rin and Luna traveled together when they could.
No one in their right mind wanted to fuck with Shirou after Dueling Club, and it was arguable whether you could even convince a Hufflepuff to turn on a member of their own house, so he was okay.
Illya was actually having the most trouble. Being the only one of the group in House Slytherin was isolating already. In addition to that, members of the house already didn't like Iris, and were more than happy to pick on one of her friends with little in the way of incentive.
After a brief discussion within the group, during which Hermione and Shirou had been heavily outvoted, it was decided that retaliation was in order.
Which brought her to where she was now, making her way towards Gryffindor Tower while flanked by the other group trying to keep the myth of 'Dark Lady Iris Potter' alive.
"Make way!" George Weasley called out from her left. "Make way for Lady Kickface!" He turned his head left and right so that people on both sides of the hallway could see the black boot print painted onto his left cheek.
"You there!" Fred called out from her right as he bore down on a rather tall Hufflepuff. "Don't think you can dismiss our ladyship just because you're so tall. I'll have you know that Lady Kickface can kick above her own height. And if she still can't reach you... well, she has ways of bringing your face down into kickable range."
He then pointed to his eyes and back at the other student a few times as he backed away slowly.
Eventually, he had to turn around and jog to catch back up with Iris and George, but he kept making the "I'm watching you" gesture towards random students as he did it.
Iris just sighed at their antics. Being called a Dark Lady wasn't exactly comfortable for her, but the Twins had probably done more to dispel the rumors about her by treating it as a joke than she had managed to accomplish by defending herself to the various House tables.
"So," she said as they moved into a less populated section of hallway. "What do you think?"
"Irs Iris Iris," Fred said chidingly. "Of course we will have your back."
"You're our friend, and our oh-so-important Seeker." George grinned at her, distorting the boot print on his cheek. "We wouldn't leave you hanging in the middle of a prank war."
"That said..."
"We have a couple of conditions."
"Oh?" Iris looked between the two brothers.
"The teachers are a bit biased against us," George explained.
"So we would appreciate it if you performed your pranks in a way that doesn't implicate us in any way," Fred picked up where his brother left off.
"Of course, in the unlikely event that you get caught, you can't tell the teachers who provided you with the materials you use."
Iris nodded along with the Twins back and forth discussion.
"And finally." Fred paused and looked across at his brother.
The two watched each other nervously for a bit.
"And finally?" Iris prompted them
"And finally," George responded, "many of the items we produce require us to acquire materials that aren't easy for a couple of fourth years to get... They aren't necessarily expensive... but..."
"You want me to pay you for the pranking materials?" Iris asked.
"You're our friend," Fred replied hastily, "so if you can't afford it, we'll still—"
"No, no," Iris interrupted. "I'm good for it. I guess I'm just used to you both sending me a bucket of pranking items for Christmas or my birthday."
"Well..." George hedged, a grin returning to his face. "If you're willing to wait a few weeks, I'm sure we can give you a Christmas discount for the things you've asked for."
Iris shook her head. "I'll pay for it now, though I'd like to know what ingredients you have the most trouble getting."
"Sure." Fred nodded his head, an excited laugh escaping from his mouth. "We have a notebook back in the dorm with our recipes, ideas, and the costs of various materials."
"Yup." George joined in with his brother's laughter. "Give us a minute once we're in the dorm." He nodded to the portrait of the Fat Lady as it came into view. "And we can get you prices and details right away."
"There's no rush," Iris informed them, interrupting herself to call out the password for the dorm. "We'll want to scope out our targets and figure out their schedules... What's going on here?"
The three of them stepped into the Gryffindor common room only to run into a wall of people clustered around the bulletin board.
"Did Lockhart post the date of the next Dueling Club or something?" Iris asked aloud, though her voice didn't carry over the muttered conversations of the other students.
"Oh shit," Fred said, all sense of joviality gone from his voice.
"What is it?" Iris looked up at her companion, his height clearly giving him an advantage in seeing what was going on at the bulletin board.
"There's a banner up top." George scowled as he spoke. "It says: 'The Demented Dreams of Dark Lady Potter'."
Iris surged forward, ignoring cries of alarm and pain as she shoved her way through the gathered crowd until she stood before the board itself.
With no one in the way, she could see the banner itself. A long sheet of parchment with the title of this cruel prank written out in bold ink strokes.
Below it was over a dozen pieces of vellum, the edges of each frayed where they had been torn from her dream journal before being posted to this wall.
With a cry of alarm, she reached forward to tear them from the wall, but they stuck fast to the wall. Her fingernails couldn't even get purchase beneath the edges of the papers.
A thought flashed through her head, and her wand was in her hand a moment later.
"Finite Incantatem!"
The pages all simultaneously dropped from the wall, and Iris snatched them from the air deftly, stuffing them into her pockets without care for how wrinkled they became.
"Wait," a male voice called from behind her. She didn't recognize it. "Was that stuff actually yours? What the hell, Potter?"
She closed her eyes as her emotions roiled within her. She could feel them spilling out into her bonds, causing Hedwig and Fluffy to start panicking in their respective locations.
The feel of her magic mixed with the nausea rising within her as people pelted her with questions. Her breathing became quick as she tried to collect her emotions enough to stop Fluffy and Hedwig from lashing out at the world around them.
Iris turned quickly from the board, and began to shove her way back out of the crowd, ignoring all cries and questions.
Someone jostled her as she neared the edge of the crowd and she tripped over another's foot.
She threw her left hand out to balance herself, and regained her footing just as her hand came in contact with a hard surface.
A sudden warmth suffused her, and she glanced up to see her hand resting against the cover of a small, black, leather book.
She glanced up further to meet the surprised, concerned eyes of Ginny Weasley.
The girl gave her a soft, supportive smile before the book in her arms burst into flames, and she began shrieking.
A moment later the entire room was pandemonium. Some people were running away, while others tried to get closer.
Ginny had dropped the book to the ground and was trying to beat the flames out with her hands.
The Twins were there a moment later, waving their wands to conjure water onto the book, soaking it completely and putting the fire out.
Ginny stopped hitting the book as she stared, aghast, down at the steaming book, water seeping out into the puddle around it and a handprint still smoldering on the cover.
"I—" Iris stuttered out. She had no idea what to say, let alone what had just happened. "I—"
Iris stepped forward, uncertain of how she could help, but wanting to offer it anyways. Ginny looked up at her as she approached, and shrank back from her, fear and confusion in her eyes as she cradled her red, blistered hands.
Iris looked to the Twins, but they had eyes only for their injured sister.
The rest of the room was staring at her, distrust and derision set in their eyes.
If she had wanted to set the idea of her being a Dark Lady in their minds, attacking one of her housemates was probably a pretty good way to do it.
"I—" She tried again, no words coming out. "I didn't— I don't know what happened."
The collected students began to mutter to each other, glancing her way with suspicion in their eyes.
Iris turned and fled from the Gryffindor Dorm.