Okay, someone asked me why I refer to her as "Lyna" and "Iris" at the same time. The simple fact is that Lyna understands names have power, and that she didn't feel like correcting everyone when they call her Iris. She's gone five years under the name Lyna Inverse and it's what she personally identifies as. However, she acknowledges the fact that "Iris Potter" is far too widespread to disappear completely and some people won't acknowledge her new name, so only those close to her actually call her Lyna.
Also, someone asked where the name "Lyna Inverse" came from. The first half is short for "MerLYNA" and the other half is a reference to the Slayers anime and it's main character Lina INVERSE.
Lyna put up with Lockhart's nonsense for one class, before she decided to scare the ever living hell out of him.
"Professor, can I bring my dog with me to our next class?" asked Lyna innocently.
Padma gave her an odd look, having read up on Cwn Annwyn after Hermione identified Lyna's odd pet. There was no way the teachers would let that thing in the school, even if it was mostly harmless for a faerie.
So you could imagine the horrified/amused looks of the class when Lyna brought in a suitcase, opened it and whistled.
When the first massive paw appeared, half the class (including Lockhart) screamed. When the rest of it came out, all three heads drooling slightly and looking very intimidating, there was a mad rush to the door. Lockhart quite literally pissed himself before fainting out of horror.
Padma, used to her friend's antics by now, twitched a bit.
"Iris...where on earth did you find a half-grown Cerberus pup?"
"His name is Fluffy. Hagrid noticed how good I am with dogs and he didn't really have time to train him, so he said I could have him as an overdue birthday present. Isn't he adorable?" said Lyna innocently, scratching the nearest head.
Padma pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Where did Hagrid get a Cerberus, and WHY?"
"Bought him off a Greek chap two years ago. He used to be guarding the third floor, but the poor dear was so lonely that Professor Flitwick helped me charm up a case to keep him in since I don't live anywhere near the mundane," said Lyna without hesitation.
"Of course he did," sighed Padma. "What did the teachers say about this?"
"Flitwick was too busy laughing when I explained about having permission to bring Fluffy to Defense class, and said he would give Ravenclaw thirty points if I made Lockhart faint," said Lyna.
Coincidentally the Charms teacher gave her thirty-five because he pissed himself once the teachers reached the classroom.
Lyna was politely asked to keep Fluffy outside the castle, and to clean up any droppings when she took him for walks.
"Iris, did you really have to bring...Fluffy...with you to class?"
"Well, I asked him if he wanted a real creature to show the others and he agreed to it without asking what it was first...so..." said Lyna wickedly.
Hermione had a deadpan stare on her face.
"You're going to be making his life hell by bringing in things that will traumatize the rest of us under normal circumstances and scare him to the point he faints all year...aren't you?" she asked.
"Considering he wet himself over a clearly trained Cerberus puppy, yes. I'm going to be practicing my illusion magic this year!" chirped Lyna happily.
The teachers almost felt sorry for Lockhart...if he wasn't such a raging moron.
Some time later...
"What are you reading now, Iris?" asked Hermione.
"A textbook," said Lyna without thinking twice about it.
Hermione looked...and stared.
"Why do you have a medical textbook?"
"Is that what that is?" said Padma, mostly in relief. She had thought it was a healer's textbook.
Lyna finally looked up from her book.
"Well the magical ones here are boring, and Master suggested I try something more difficult than normal," said Lyna calmly.
Healing was harder than killing, and it was an interesting way to kill time. Besides, it took years to become a medical doctor and required far more skill and practice than a lawyer. Not to mention that being temporarily apprenticed to Madam Pomphrey sounded far more interesting than the other trades.
"Again, why?" said Hermione.
Lyna rolled her eyes.
"Just because I can use magic to solve problems, doesn't mean I need to use magic all the time. And again, this is mostly to kill my boredom," said Lyna.
"So...you're planning to be our designated healer slash heavy hitter?" said Padma.
"Pretty much. Mixing medicine just sounds like a fun hobby, you know? Like cooking."
"This coming from the woman with the massive sweet tooth," joked Lavender. Lyna always had some sort of sweet on her, usually of the baked variety.
"I like cooking and the elves don't mind letting me use the kitchen. Besides, the recipes here are as dated as the fashion," sniffed Lyna.
"Ugh, tell me about it," said Parvati with a groan. Lavender nodded in absolute agreement.
"You know there's something I never understood...if you have a Master, then why are you attending Hogwarts? I thought you would have been exempt from being made to attend," said Padma.
"Because in order to get my full inheritance, I have to attend five years and pass my OWLs," said Lyna in annoyance. "Unfortunately while my Master is a very powerful woman who is very good at teaching magic, she doesn't know enough about the current curriculum for me to pass the standard exams set by the Ministry."
"Seriously?" said Hermione, incredulous.
"While the goblins might, might accept my claim as the head of the Potter family, the Ministry wouldn't because I never passed their tests. It was easier to spend five years bored out of my mind for exams I never cared about than argue with hidebound morons who wouldn't last ten seconds against an actual threat."
Well that and the Mage Association wouldn't accept an Enforcer under the age of fifteen.
"Why not try for healer then?" said Padma.
"Ugh, no thanks. The oaths they take are really restrictive," said Lyna making a face. She closed the book with a bored expression on her face.
The other girls, barring Luna, immediately became wary of this. Iris Potter and Boredom did not mix.
"Iris...what mad scheme do you have planned this time?" said Hermione twitching.
Before she could say anything, her watch began to beep insistently.
"What's the alarm for?" asked Padma.
"It's to remind me of when the practice exams for my extra lessons are about to go live," said Lyna, pulling out a laptop.
This was actually the first time Hermione had seen it, and her mouth dropped.
"No way, how in the name of Merlin did you get that to work here?" she asked.
Lyna once again had to bite back a laugh at the 'swear'. She knew her brother Merl got a good chuckle out of it too.
"I bought it? Honestly, the Japanese figured out how to work around magic years ago after computers became more wide spread. The real pain is paying for the subscription and the online courses," said Lyna.
Honestly, she was only getting a medical degree out of boredom at this point. She had to do something to keep herself from going completely bonkers, and this was an efficient way to kill time. Not to mention once she completed enough of the course work she could legitimately become a real doctor.
Hermione stared at her.
"If you agree to join me in light exercises in the morning I'll get you one by your birthday. Deal?" said Lyna.
"Deal."
Hermione would regret this agreement, as what Lyna considered "light exercise" was akin to a military drill sergeant from hell. To add insult to injury, Luna who was a year younger than her and had never gone through a single gym class in her life, was outpacing her with ease. Her sides ached as she tried to breath.
"Come on Hermione, only three more laps to go," said Lyna cheerfully.
"We've already done twenty-two!" she wheezed.
"I know, normally Luna and I would have done thirty by now," said Lyna.
Hermione looked ready to throw up. Lyna had zero sympathy for her.
It would take two months before Hermione was even remotely at the same level as Luna was that day, to her utter embarrassment.
Halloween was the most boring holiday in existence, in Lyna's opinion. Her little Luna had cheerfully dressed up for the occasion, to her amusement. So you could imagine her confusion when, as everyone exited the feast, they found an ominous message on the walls written in what appeared to be blood and the petrified form of Mrs. Norris.
Lyna leaned forward a bit to read the message.
"The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the Heir, beware," she read silently. Lyna couldn't help but scoff at that. "Seriously? Who thought up this pathetic joke?"
"Enemies of the heir beware? You'll be next mudbloods!" said Draco gleefully.
"Daphne, if you would be so kind?" Lyna called out.
Daphne Greengrass took inordinate pleasure in smacking Draco upside the head.
Daphne didn't often interact with the group Potter was creating, mostly because she had to keep up appearances. Granger was semi-intelligent, yes, but she had the worst habit of putting her foot in her mouth in polite settings. Add in the animosity between Slytherins and Gryffindors, and it was safer for her to be part of the secondary group than the primary.
Mostly she kept Iris up-to-date with the latest pureblood rumors and the goings on of Slytherin house.
Draco sputtered, mostly from the shock of the slap.
Lyna sauntered forward, looking at the cat a bit closer.
"Miss Potter..." started Professor McGonagall, but Lyna cut her off.
"Mystic Eyes of Petrification...really weak too. Considering the circumstances I'm guessing we're dealing with a basilisk," said Lyna.
Dead silence.
"A...what?" said Snape, having reached them.
"A basilisk," repeated Lyna calmly. "Annoying pests to be sure...having to clear them out is always such a nuisance because of those stupid eyes of theirs."
"Don't be stupid, no one in their right mind would put a basilisk in the school," countered Snape.
However everyone was watching Iris Potter with intent, because she was far too calm about the possibility of a snake that could kill with a glance.
Lyna snorted at that.
"Well unless you have a Gorgon wandering around without anyone noticing, which I highly doubt, the second most obvious culprit is a basilisk. Especially since this cat has clearly only been clipped by the effect...if it were someone competent it would have been turned to stone already," said Lyna flatly.
Within days, rumors spread about the school of a potential basilisk roaming the halls.
Lyna, obviously could care less. There was no point worrying until the thing showed up properly, and by that point she fully intended to kill it. Those things were a serious nuisance and Scáthach had thought it amusing to send her student against younger, weaker beasts as training so that she would learn to fight without the use of her eyes.
That particular poison and venom resistance training had not been fun in the least, as her teacher had been very annoyed having to track down fresh phoenix tears to dose her student with before she could even hunt.
Some time later...
Lyna had to scoff at the way everyone treated her like the Heir of Slytherin, likely because she had used pure common sense to deduce the actual cause of the attack.
Honestly, she could care less if she was.
It didn't help that she had some skill with speaking languages no human could...case in point, she had a limited ability to speak dragonic, which made taming Norberta much easier.
It sounded enough like hissing that everyone mistook it for parseltongue. Which, she did happen to know but honestly didn't care for it in the least.
The only ones who had a snit fit about that ability were the British, and that was mostly because of Riddle's abuse of the tongue. Everyone else either revered the ability to speak to snakes, or didn't give a damn.
With how inbred the local gene pool was, Lyna wouldn't be surprised if she shared Slytherin or one of his cousins as a common ancestor.
Something she pointed out loudly without giving a damn about who heard her. And then pointed out that other people outside the Slytherin house could have founder's blood in their ancestry as well, as most witches and wizards didn't bother to practice protection in those days.
All in all it was a good thing that she had her mundane exams to concentrate on in between her intense gaming sessions, otherwise she would have lost her patience long ago.
Oh and mandatory Luna cuddle sessions of course. The blond was ridiculously huggable and Luna seemed to thrive under the attention.
Even if Hermione kept having this weird mental image of Lyna presenting Luna to her Master with the words "She followed me home, can we keep her?" every time she saw them interact.