4. Accidentally Becoming Famous

I followed the instructions laid out in the letter Griselda Marchbanks had sent me and found her waiting for me with a smile on her face. "Ready, dear?"

"Hello, Madam Marchbanks. Yes, I am very ready!" I smiled. "But I did have a question if I saw you again. Would you happen to know if I can get my apparition license early if I am emancipated?"

The old witch grinned. "You are allowed to learn after you attain your majority, which is tested by checking if you have the trace on you. Do you, dear? You aren't allowed to use a wand to apparate otherwise, and that stops most people."

I laughed. "No, I don't. But then, I don't use a wand to apparate."

She nodded proudly. "I see witches like you only too rarely, dear. The current generations don't even realise how shackled they are by their wands, it's a pity."

"It's all Dumbledore's fault, he's purposely keeping the population uneducated." I countered, fully convinced of that fact after my own experiences with a Hogwarts education.

"You see more than most, Miss White. Here's your portkey and be sure to make me proud. Here's your paperwork, keep track of that. To leave, say 'away with me', to get back, say 'take me home.'"

"Thank you, Madam, and I will." I smiled at the nice lady. "Away with me."

Portkey travel still disagreed with me something fierce, and I spewed my breakfast on arrival. "I hate portkey travel." I groaned pitifully.

Laughter greeted my ears as my vomit vanished and someone pulled me upright. "Up with you, Miss. You're the sole English examinee, and we're all anxious to see you perform."

That little comment forced me to the present, and I stood quickly. "Ah, I do hope that doesn't mean anything bad. I dislike dealing with unreasonable expectations."

"Nothing of the sort, Miss White. Don't you worry." He laughed. "Follow me and please hand me your papers. Hmm, those seem to be in order. Do you have the agreed upon payment? Yes, thank you. If you'd scan your wand there at the station. Good, that's in order as well, which leaves us free to proceed."

I was very impressed with the help, and I told the man as much, making him smile. "It's just my job, Miss. I'm just glad you don't seem to be a pureblood. We've had a few of those over the years, and they are usually nowhere near as pleasant to assist. I mean no offense, of course."

That made me chuckle. "Don't mind me, I understand where you're coming from. I'm actually a half-blood, if that helps."

His smile told me it did. "Right, here's the hotel, your room is number five, here's the key, and over there are the clearly labelled examination rooms. This is your schedule right here, and you're expected to present yourself ten minutes prior to the starting time for a cursory inspection against cheating. Should you want to eat or drink, there's a cafeteria on the third floor of the building. Do you have any questions?"

I shook my head. "No, you've been very helpful, thank you."

"No problem, Miss, I wish you luck on your exams."

The first exam was in an hour, so I did a bit of unpacking and presented myself for the Charms portion. Right after would be Divination, and then History, which concluded the day. It would be a long three days, that much was clear, but I felt well prepared.

-..-

Walter Stein was the head of the examination department of the ICW, and he was very excited to test the English student for once. That was unique enough, because he usually didn't like the English, nor would he respect them. Miss White however, had been intriguing examiners left and right, with her wildly dense magic and amazing control of the practical portions.

He would be administering the Wandless Magic exam, and he couldn't wait to see what they all expected to happen. "Hello, Miss White. I'm Walter Stein, and I am your examiner today."

"Nice to meet you, Mister Stein." She grinned. "I'm very curious about this exam, how does it work?"

Their enthusiasm was well-matched then, he grinned back at her. "Well, these days, there are few people who manage anything without a wand, so we had to lower the requirements to any five spells to pass, but even a short century before, we had more stringent requirements. Spells of a certain difficulty level were expected to achieve anything more than an acceptable score."

She seemed to take that in for a bit before chuckling. "Why, so any old spells would do? Let me show you a bit then, and after that you can test me like they did before."

Walter was a man of sixty-one years, and he wasn't easily impressed, but what Miss White was doing easily managed it.

She grabbed a block from the shelf after he gave her permission and proceeded to make it float, change colour, grow, shrink, and harden. Then she banished it and summoned it, broke it and repaired it, before putting it down and creating bluebell flames, normal flames, wind, smoke, the bubble-head charm, the hot air charm, the freezing charm, before finally creating fucking lightning in her hand!

"I think I'm at seventeen spells, do you have any suggestions?" She then asked him with a wide grin.

With a laugh, Walter decided to test her. "A Patronus perhaps?"

"Hmm, never tried that one wandlessly before." She admitted, before raising her hand and attempted to break what was thought to be a law of magic. "Expecto Patronus."

To Walter's growing disbelief, silver light poured from her hand to form a unicorn, only to flicker out as Miss White gasped. "It… It used to be something else."

He coughed to hide his amazement. "Ah, emotional upheaval or great change has been known to do that. Does that sound familiar?" She nodded. "Alright then, only two left. I'd like you to lock and unlock the door to finish this, if you don't mind."

She did that without issue as well, as he was coming to expect. "Well, Miss White, I don't often say this, but since you've so clearly managed to achieve the requirements, there's no harm in letting you know to expect an Outstanding at the very least."

He grinned. "You might want to consider a Mastery in charms as well, because I'm pretty sure you've a gift for them. Your teacher taught you well."

"Thanks!" She laughed delightedly. "I'm sure my teacher would have loved to hear that, but sadly I'm not going to be able to tell him.

Assuming that the teacher had died, he kept his quiet. "It was a pleasure to work with you today, Miss White, you are excused."

As she closed the door behind her, he let out a sound that could only be called a squeal. "That girl is amazing!"

-..-

After two duels against what I was told were OWL level and NEWT level dummies, it was now time to fight a human. My examiner would be fighting at Auror Trainee level now, and I bowed to start the fight.

He bowed at the same time and cast with remarkable speed. Two silently cast stunners sped my way with hardly any delay between them.

I could have dodged those even with my eyes closed because I could feel the magic coming. A step to the left gave me an opportunity to cast for myself. "Expelliarmus, Stupefy, Expelliarmus, Stupefy." I mumbled one after the other before casting a blasting spell at the man's feet, forcing him to abandon his shield and dodge.

He shot two more spells at me and froze the ground underneath my feet, but I kept casting knock-back jinxes, stunners, and disarming spells as fast as I could. Mentally, I willed my magic to melt my shoes off the floor and it actually worked, though my spells did lose a bit of power from the lesser focus.

His shield held, but I was reluctant to use more force. Instead, I decided to make more use of my magical senses and cast a high-powered smoke spell, which hid the entire space between us sufficiently to make seeing pointless.

I calmly walked off the ice to avoid slipping and ducked to dodge a spell before silencing my feet and walking around the source of the magic I felt in his direction. I dodged another blindly cast spell and cast my own, freezing the floor underneath his feet in a mirror of before.

He yelled in surprise and slipped, which allowed him to see me through the thinner smoke at ground level. My stunner hit him just after he sent his own, and my proximity made it just barely clip my leg, putting me down as well.

I was woken by the referee, and grinned, deciding I had done well enough. "It's a draw, Miss White." He told me after dispelling the smoke.

My opponent laughed and held out his hand. "You sense magic, don't you?" I admitted that with a nod, making him laugh again. "I seriously underestimated you because of your limited spell choices, but I still got hit by your stunner first. If you were willing to use your power and some more damaging spells, I wouldn't have made it past a minute with your obvious magical strength. While it is a draw according to the rules, you would beat me consistently if you had practised just a month longer. Congratulations, Miss White, you've just earned yourself an Outstanding. No distinctions I'm sorry to say, because the rules say you'd have to win, but definitely an Outstanding."

I smiled at that; it was more than I expected. "Honestly, I'm amazed I got as far as I did. I never really had any Duelling lessons, and I've only recently learned the rules. Thanks for a good fight, I had fun!"

He snorted. "No lessons, huh? Way to make me feel inadequate. It does explain your lack of silent casting though, you might want to work on that. I have a feeling you could be an absolute champion if you put some work in it. I really mean that. If you ever decide to come back here for your NEWTs, I expect you'll do a lot better."

"Thank you!" I grinned. "I expect I will be back at some point. I was recently advised that ICW certification carries more weight than British educational credentials do. That makes it a no-brainer in my mind."

"You'd be surprised, Miss White, if you knew how many people from Britain fail to get good scores here and do much better back there. I don't need to tell you what that means, I suspect. These tests might be internationally standardized, but corruption sidesteps that."

That made all too much sense and explained how the Goyle's and the Crabbe's of the world managed to get their OWL's. I would be surprised if Ron passed more than three of his exams, and he so clearly dominated those two in the smarts department, it wasn't even funny. Yet, I knew all three would be back for their NEWT years, no doubt about it. "Yeah, I understand."

"Well, no more talk of Britain, you're free to go! Have a nice day, Miss White."

I once more thanked him and the referee and made my way back to my room to shower and change. After dressing casually, I went up to the cafeteria and ordered some dinner. It wasn't spectacular, but it sure was filling.

Another girl who I assumed was here for her NEWTs on account of her age sat across from me and started eating as well, but she stopped after a few minutes and stared at me until I looked up at her beautiful face. "Yes?"

"You are Miss White, yes?" She asked me with a clearly French accent that was even sexier than Fleur's. I nodded. "I'm Clarisse Laval, nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you as well." I responded brightly, getting more curious by the minute. "How did you know my name?"

God, I sounded so chirpy! I was actually crushing on the very first girl to talk to me, a clear sign that I was craving human contact of the female kind. It had clearly been too long, my only saving grace was the fact that she wasn't expecting me to be into girls, allowing me to keep my cool.

She smirked. I ate with an instructor this morning and heard some gossip. They say you can do all charms without a wand. Is this true?"

I tilted my head before shaking it. "Not completely accurate, I'd say, but maybe? I could do any charm at least once, yes, but some are so inefficient to make them not worth casting unless you have magic to burn. Why do you ask?"

"I want tips, of course! My exam is this very afternoon, so whatever you can tell me would be welcome." Clarisse smiled. "Right now, I can barely summon my wand from the ground twice before I'm drained. How do you do it?"

Seeing no reason not to help her, I explained. "That's because summoning is not an ideal spell to do wandlessly. You don't want to have to do magic at a distance, because your magic is so much thinner further away from you. Think of it like this, you carry a cloud of magic around you, much like an aura, right? When you push it or get emotional, the aura expands, but that won't do much and will only drain you faster. What you want to do is cast only those spells you can fit inside your aura, and you'll notice that it hardly takes any magic to do it. For instance, take this plate." I vanished my leftovers and cleaned it with two wandless spells before I handed her my empty plate.

"Keep it close to you and change the colour."

"Ah, I've never done that spell wandlessly before…" Clarisse protested, but she sighed as she met my glare. "Alright."

She tried and was surprised to see immediate results. "Huh, that was easier than expected."

I grabbed the plate and moved it exactly two times as far from her as before. "Try it again."

"That was much harder!" She complained after complying.

"Exactly!" I nodded knowingly. "This was twice as far from your body and thus at least four times harder. If you want to do more spells when you take your exam, keep it within your aura at all times. I suggest asking for a light and small prop to perform a bunch of spells in your hand, like this." I demonstrated by holding the plate up close to my breasts, before continually switching it through a bunch of colours.

Clarisse met my eyes with her beautiful brown ones and smiled gratefully. "That is the single most helpful suggestion I've ever heard anyone give about wandless magic, ever. Thank you, Miss White. You have probably raised my grade by a full point."

I grinned. "No problem, and please, call me Iris."

"Then you can call me Clarisse." She nodded. "So, how are your exams going?"

That was the perfect way to get me talking, even though I kept it well below Hermione levels of enthusiasm. "Oh well, I'm doing great on the practicals, but I'm probably only scraping Acceptable's on the theory. I also decided to try my hand at Duelling, and that was amazing fun! Why, I even won twice against the dummies before fighting to a draw with the examiner, surprising myself as much as him. It was brilliant."

She snorted. "Try your hand at Duelling you said? That must have hurt their pride."

I nodded with a little smirk. "Yeah, but he took it pretty well."

"Hah!" She laughed, "you have to respect that, at least. Why, you look positively innocent, Iris, are you sure he didn't just badly underestimate you?"

"He did! He even admitted it!" I giggled for real and didn't even mind it. "The reason I did so well was different though, I could feel his spells coming under the smoke I conjured. It's quite the advantage."

"I bet!" She gasped. "Mon Dieu, Iris! You must be very talented."

"Oh, I don't know about that, I was just blessed with strong magic. Luck of the draw, so to speak." I tried to dismiss her praise, but she wouldn't hear of it.

"Non, you definitely have talent." She patted my hand, making me blush badly. She was staring right at me as it happened too, which made her smirk. "Are you embarrassed, Iris?"

What the hell was I supposed to say to that? "No?"

That turned her smirk positively predatory. "Non? If it's not embarrassment, I can only assume you are attracted to me, is that it per'aps?"

"I-I… Yes." I lowered my eyes as I admitted it, lying would not have helped at this point.

Clarisse giggled, before leaning over the table, grabbing my face and kissing me softly on the lips. Her lips were glorious, and oh, so, soft. My mind blanked.

I froze for an instant before letting out a low moan that was enough to snap me out of it, but she was already retreating. "That was a thank you, Iris White. Something to remember me by." She smiled. "For your information, I happen to like girls as well as boys."

"Ah…" My brain was clearly coping well. I had absolutely no hope to calm my raging heart, which made containing my nuclear blush a pipe dream. What the hell was wrong with me? "Would you mind if I sent you a letter?" Oh, yes, that would help.

She simply nodded. "Oui, Iris, I would gladly trade letters with you. I should get ready for my next exam. Shall I see you for dinner?"

I managed a "Yes, good luck, Clarisse," before reality hit me. Everyone around me had been watching, and they were chuckling good naturedly, encouraging me with smiles and I even got a thumbs up. I stood and bowed with a small smile, eliciting an honest to goodness catcall, before I waved and left to gather my bearings in private.

Closing the door behind me, I laid down on the bed and stared at the ceiling. "What a day." I whispered incredulously. Analysing my feelings and comparing them to my 'crush' on Cho came up with a glaring discrepancy. These feelings were at least three times as powerful, and I was feeling woefully underprepared to deal with them.

It wasn't all bad, of course, this was probably one of the greatest experiences of my life, even if I was mortified multiple times in the span of probably only two minutes, but that was just it. Another great change that followed my rebirth. Again, I found myself asking the question what the driving force behind this change was, the change in gender, or losing my scar?

But honestly, did it matter? My feelings were stronger, my life was infinitely better, I felt like the blushing virgin I was, and one who just kissed for the first time no less! Cho obviously didn't count. This was brilliant, this was great! I shouldn't be doubting this!

Thinking back on how angry and bitterly disappointed I was all last year, there was no comparison. I'd pick this life over my old one every single time. That was what mattered, and nothing else.

And now I was going to be writing to a beautiful, older, and sexy French witch! "Argh!" I groaned into my pillow before smiling widely. With a snort, I sat back up and glanced at the clock. My next exam was in half an hour. It was just boring old History, but even that couldn't dampen my spirits. What a beautiful life this was.

-..-

My exams were over, and I was being escorted to the portkey leaving area by the same man that helped me when I arrived. He was smiling. "I had a good feeling about you when I met you, and I'm glad you've proved me right. I'm not supposed to say this, but you should expect good results, even if two subjects probably fall below the rest."

"Thanks." I said, "I don't care about Divination and History in the first place, but I had to try. I know I did pretty well with the rest though, and I have to say I'm proud about my performance, no matter the grades."

"That's a healthy way of looking at it, I suppose." He agreed. "We're here, have you got your portkey?" I nodded. "Then I wish you a bon voyage, as the French say."

Did I detect a glimmer of amusement? Definitely. But I didn't mind, the people who saw me act like a love-struck fool never teased me about it too much, and I couldn't fault them for their amusement. "Goodbye and thank you. Take me home."

The ride was predictably awful, and I only barely managed to keep from vomiting as my body bounced on the stone floor. "Wow, I've never seen anyone land that badly. You're lucky the floor is cushioned."

I groaned and looked up to see a stranger, probably an employee of the travel department. "I know. Is there a trick I should know for using portkeys? Because I'm desperately in need of a way to make that suck less."

The guy laughed. "I'm sorry to say I don't have the answers. The only time I heard about this bad of a reaction, it was a guy who was so powerful he overloaded the magic in transit. If that's your problem, you're out of luck with portkeys, little Miss. On the other hand, having lots of magic with this as the only downside, sign me up!"

It took me a bit, but I managed to get standing. "Never thought of it that way, I suppose. I'll keep that in mind when I next dent the floor." I shook my head. "Can you please point me to the exit?"

"The nearest floo is to the left, just follow the red line on the floor. Have a nice day, Miss."

"Thanks, you too." I started to walk along the red line. Then I noticed something and changed course. "Excuse me, but can I schedule an apparition test?"

The man behind the desk blinked. "Mind if I test if you're eligible, Miss?" I nodded and allowed him to cast a spell on me. "Huh, so you are. Well, if you're not busy, I can put you down for ten o'clock, which is in five minutes. My colleague should be done with a customer right about then."

"Sure." I shrugged. "That's way faster than I dared hope."

"Yeah, we don't really do large classes and prefer a loose walk-in structure for testing." He grinned. "Ah, there he is. Anton, I'm taking her for testing, yeah?"

"Yeah, sure." Anton replied easily. "Have you checked her yet?"

"She's clean." My examiner said, "Come along, Miss. So, tell me, how confident are you?"

"Never splinched before, but that's because I don't use a wand for this. It helps with the control. I'm told it makes side-along a risky proposition though, so I'm not confident there."

"Huh, that's rare, that is." He muttered. "Well, if you can hop along those circles, I'll believe you. Try changing your position when you've done that."

I didn't wait and immediately wrapped myself in my magic and kept it there to allow for very fast back-to-back apparition. I hopped through all the circles in five seconds, turning direction on the last hop, before blindly apparating next to the instructor, who startled badly. "So, what did you think?" I laughed.

"Merlin's beard!" He cried. "You pass!"

I pumped my fist and laughed. "Thanks."

He raised his eyebrow. "You sure you don't want to try side-along?" I shook my head. "Oh well, your choice. Let me just state, young lady, that I've never witnessed anything like that before. Not even Dumbledore would be able to do that as fast and smoothly as you did, nor could I, and I've been doing this job for about thirty years now. So, what name should I fill in on the certificate? Oh, and you do need to pay the ten galleons fee."

"Iris Lily White. Here's the gold, Mister."

"Well, Miss, that seems to be in order. Here's your pass, and the paperwork is done and logged. Have a nice day."

"You as well!" I grinned. This had been another really good day.

I took the floo home and asked for the papers if there were any interesting ones. Dobby handed over two editions, and I started reading while he made me a nice lunch.

Apparently, they had finally tried Rita, who was now sentenced to life in Azkaban with a lot of public outcries. I couldn't bring myself to feel sorry for her though, it was her own fault for spying on people's private business. Next up was a short announcement that someone named Slughorn was taking over Potions at Hogwarts, while DADA was still very much in need of a professor. Finally, I found an amazing article about the life and adventures of Harry Potter, detailing 'truthfully' his life since his birth right up until his death, including the glorious childhood he had lived being tutored by Albus Dumbledore himself, and a slew of secretive tutors. What utter horseshit!

The next paper was more interesting, because it detailed the downfall of the Malfoy family. Draco had almost pulled something beyond stupid when he realised the Black fortune would never be his, and he tried to use the Imperius curse on a goblin. Tried was the key word there, because he failed miserably. Not a wisp of light had left his wand The goblins retaliated by trying to use the treaty to full effect, sending him over to the Wizengamot to be tried to the fullest extent of the law in order to prevent an interspecies war. The emphasis on war had convinced the Wizengamot to act logically for once, and they had perused the treaty and the laws. The fullest extent meant death, and because the use of the veil for capital punishment had been banned ten years back, a move ironically pushed for by the dark faction, it meant that Malfoy should have received the Dementor's Kiss instead. That hadn't happened though, because the goblins couldn't prove he had cast the spell, which by law meant he wasn't guilty. His failure to cast it allowed the Wizengamot to break the case completely, though everyone knew he was very guilty.

The article continued by explaining how the various families owed money by the Malfoy's had then quickly tried to cash in only to find that the Malfoy's were broke, which now meant they were thousands of galleons out of pocket themselves. This mostly impacted the Darker Families, so again, I didn't feel very bad about it. Narcissa was now a pauper, I assumed, but that was just what her choices had brought her.

Drinking the tea with the scones Dobby had prepared, I wrote a short letter and sent it off immediately to Garrick, before starting on another, much more personal letter.

Garrick,

I'm back, and I did well. I'm now available three days a week. Let me know when to show up.

Iris.

My letter to Clarisse was much harder to put in words, and I couldn't help thinking back to our last encounter. She had dragged me to her rooms and pulled me on her bed, before snogging me for all she was worth. "Merci, Iris! I got an Exceeds Expectations! Now it is my turn to teach you something new. Will you exceed my expectations?"

I was happy for her, of course, but I was even happier when she dragged me on top of her and started molesting me, dragging my hands on her tits to show me it was okay if I molested her right back, which I did happily.

We never pulled off our clothes that afternoon, but I learned quite a bit about snogging and boobs, her and my own, and it was all good things!

Dear Clarisse,

I'm back in England and have to thank you for teaching me just as much as I taught you. Morgana that sounds so lame! I absolutely loved it though, I promise! You confirmed for me something I already knew for certain. I fancy girls, and you were right, I instantly crushed on you the moment I saw you. The positive reactions all around us did a lot to make me feel more comfortable about it, and while I realise any sort of relationship would be difficult in our situation, I will always cherish those memories.

You said you like both girls and boys, so I was hoping you could give me advice on the girls front. I've never really been socially active, or around other kids that much, and I have no idea how to spot if a girl likes me. I do of course realise how my actions gave me away, and you were refreshingly direct, but surely that can't be the only way to know! If you have anything to teach me on that front, please let me know.

If we're going to be pen pals, I should tell you a bit about myself. I am currently both studying for my NEWTs, mostly the practical courses, and learning how to be a wand maker. Three days a week I work with Ollivander, the premier wand maker in England. Nobody knows it, and I don't know if I will ever take over his shop as he seems to want me to, but I have a talent for it, apparently. Should I decide I like it, he is willing to let me gradually take over. For now, I'm just helping him gather materials, which is great fun in its own right!

That's my life in a nutshell, what about yours? I happily await your reply.

With love,

Iris White

I put down the letter and let it dry in a ray of sunlight. It wasn't even lunchtime yet, and I had the whole day in front of me. Perhaps I should decide what NEWTs I'd take. The ICW had lots of brochures, including for a mail-order bookstore that catered specifically to people that wanted to take the ICW tests. So, all I had to do was pick what I wanted to learn and send off a letter with my orders.

Wandless Magic was done, because it didn't have OWLs and NEWTs, just a single test. That left ten courses. History, Astronomy, and Divination got scrapped without a single thought. Care was possible, but difficult to study from home, so I'd have to ask Garrick if he thought I needed it. Herbology had exactly the same problem, and I really didn't like Potions enough to go through the trouble of learning them, so I'd ask Garrick about those as well.

That left Duelling,Defence, Charms, and Transfiguration as definite picks, a very short list indeed. Garrick did say I could use Runes and Arithmancy, so perhaps I should look into studying for those OWLs as well.

Looking at the clock made me snort. That took me about fifteen minutes, and now I really didn't feel like doing anything today anymore. I followed the beam of light coming through the window to see a brilliant summer day and decided promptly to try out the pond.

That little idea made me realise I didn't have a swimming suit… Naked it was.

This area was completely private, and even Garrick didn't have permission to use the floo without announcing himself, so I felt completely safe from prying eyes. Dobby and Winky didn't count, as they had seen her naked plenty of times before and never seemed to care.

I walked outside and summoned a towel as I went, dropping my robe and my shirt in short order. That left only my jeans and my underwear, which I took a bit more care in disposing of, leaving me fully naked with the sun on my skin.

It felt weird of course, trying something new always did, but I reminded myself of my privacy and lay down on the towel in the grass. Sunning myself like a cat was good for a bit, but I did want to try the water. Cautiously entering it for fear of any junk sticking out of the floor proved unnecessary, and I was submerged before long. The water was cold, and I could feel my nipples harden, but it was a good feeling nonetheless.

I drifted and swam around for five minutes before drying myself and laying down again, using a wandless spell to protect me from the sun. Yes, this was the life. Feeling so unencumbered, warm, and free almost felt criminal to me!

The rest of the day was spent just like that, with only Winky coming out to bring refreshment in an obvious attempt to prevent any embarrassment. I did appreciate it, even if Dobby had stopped bothering me when he popped in on me in the shower for the third time. It helped that he never seemed to notice anything but my face, of course.

That night, when I went to sleep, I thought to myself that nothing could mess this up. I should have realised that taunting the fates like that never works out well for me.

-..-

The next morning's paper came right after Garrick's letter, telling me to show up the next day. I was shocked to see who one of the gossip columnists was going on about.

English Witch Gets Outstanding in Wandless Magic in ICW Tests!

The actual records are not yet available, so there is no name available to be linked to this incredible feat, but word has gotten out about a witch who has gotten an Outstanding on her ICW tests. A short investigation showed that the last British Magical to get this honour was a man called Bertrand Rookwood sometime three centuries ago. The actual requirements have gone down over the years, but the rarity of the accomplishment makes it very impressive regardless. We are curiously waiting to hear which witch managed it and will probably try to contact her when we learn her identity.

This could be bad, potentially. No matter how distant it seemed to me, there was still a war on, and both sides would no doubt be interested in having me on their side. After all, conventional British knowledge said that I had to be powerful because I knew wandless magic. The fact that it was true was not important, I just really didn't want my new life to be uprooted.

Perhaps I could talk to Griselda on what could be done to prevent my name from spreading. Hedwig was gone, so that meant I had to visit her at the Ministry in person. If it turned out to be impossible to contain, there were other things I might be able to do in order to stay safe. Redirecting my mail was a good start, I realised.

Plans made, I finished my breakfast and dressed accordingly. The floo spat me out in the atrium and I briskly walked towards Griselda's office. Luck was with me, because she was waiting for me. "Ah, I had suspected a visit would be coming, dear."

I agreed with her that it wasn't a bad assumption to make. "Is there a way to keep my name out of the papers?"

She shook her head. "You know this place is corrupt, right? Even if the Malfoy's no longer hold Fudge's leash, there are plenty more people with deep pockets who are willing to bend the rules for a bit of gold. Even a simple letter from a business asking for your transcripts claiming to have you applying for a job without naming you could be enough to get the word out."

That made me sigh in disappointment. "Of course it is. Do you have any suggestions to improve my security? I really don't want to be approached by anyone who doesn't know me."

"There is a mail-sorting service that guarantees privacy via contracts. Their shop is found at Logic Alley, and if you can afford it, I can recommend it."

"Thank you. I had already thought of that, but I didn't know where to go for it." I smiled weakly.

"I'm sure it will be fine, dear. For what it's worth, I'm sorry. Is your place warded? More importantly, is it registered in your name?"

That was a good question. "It is warded, but how would I know if it is registered in my name? I found out about the place via Gringotts, would they know?"

"Yes, they should be able to tell, but it is almost certainly in your name, unless it is under the name of your family. I don't know a White family, so I'm guessing you're out of luck." Griselda commiserated. "If nothing else, the goblins offer superior warding. You might want to upgrade your wards via them if you can afford to. Unplottable wards take care of tracking charms and such, so those would be a good idea, at the very least. While the mail-service would take care of those on your mail, you could always be tagged yourself."

My lips twitched as my expression flitted between relief and amusement. The Black Barn would certainly fall under the Black Family, so at least that was still a safe place. This was definitely a load off my shoulders, but I would visit Toothpick anyway, just to make sure. "Thanks, Griselda. I'm off to go check that out. Have a good one!"

The elderly witch seemed reassured and let me off with a wave.

Next stop, Logic Alley, which could be found by taking a right at Gringotts. Ten minutes later, I found the shop I needed and entered. The woman behind the counter smiled in greeting. "Hello there, I've heard you offer a mail-sorting service, can you tell me more about it?"

"Oh, certainly. We cast a personal ward on you that sends all mail that isn't on the exception list or delivered by your own familiar if you have one straight to us. Then we disable all harmfull magic including compulsions, scrying anchors, and tracking charms before sending it on to you via a small vanishing box, which is an untraceable method of delivery. If your property is under unplottable wards, there is no earthly way for someone to trace the mail to you. We guarantee that every bit of mail that comes through that box is safe to touch and read, and our contract prevents us from discussing your mail or your person with anyone that is not under the same contract. It is an expensive service with a base rate and a variable rate depending on your volume of mail. If you are interested, I have the going rates here for you to peruse."

I took the list and glanced over it. It all made sense, and I ticked off all the boxes. If I was going to do this, I wanted every single check to be done, plus all the security possible. It would cost me a whopping two hundred galleons a year, but the expense was necessary for my safety and thus negligible. "I'll take it, please. How do we proceed?"

That turned out to be fairly simple. I signed a contract that was countersigned by the receptionist and the owner of the business who also signed for the fact that all employees would sign a contract that had all the important bits. From then on, I could pop back in to change the exceptions list whenever I wanted, and that was all.

For now, Clarisse, Garrick, and Gringotts were on the list, no more. I was not expecting to have to change that anytime soon, but stranger things had happened.

Next, I visited Toothpick, who assured me that the property was in the name of the Black Family and warded well enough to ensure lasting privacy. He assured me the investments were going strong and that I could expect a healthy profit at the end of the year. I didn't particularly need more money but saw no need to mention that.

A visit to Flourish and Blotts got me all the books up to OWL level for Runes and Arithmancy, and I read the introductions when I got home. It looked interesting enough, particularly the bit about wards. I was quite eager to learn more about them.

-..-

"I saw the news." Garrick greeted me. "If you don't want me to, I won't register you as my employee, which should help you with your privacy."

"Not sure if that helps." I shrugged. "Couldn't you get in trouble by doing that?"

Garrick smirked. "You think they would try to mess with the only Ministry approved wandmaker? I have my doubts, but even so, it wouldn't be much of a problem, I'm sure."

"Nah, you can register me." I decided. "I haven't gotten my OWL scores yet though, so perhaps you could wait for that. Anyway, what are we doing today?"

"Today, we're starting you on wandless transfiguration, a very specific form of it that requires no spell and should only change shape, not weight or volume." Garrick glanced towards a block of wood. "This is the basis of wand making, because there's no room for error. We start on muggle processed wood to practice, and when you get the weight consistent, I'll let you try it out with wand wood. There's a scale over there to check your work. Don't bother about decorations yet, I just want you to practise making a weight equivalent wand. Feel free to divide the block up to pieces of your desired weight first."

That started out as a very frustrating afternoon. While I did manage to transfigure wood wandlessly, the weight equivalency was insanely hard to manage. Garrick said there was no trick to keep weight constant, so I was going to have to come up with my own.

Surely, I could trick my mind into working on scale, or to only shape instead of change? I would not get anywhere close before Garrick sent me on my way, but he was grinning proudly anyway. "You've made more progress than I had suspected, Iris. Do not be discouraged."

Easier said than done…

When I was ready to leave, he had one more remark for me. "Do check the paper when you get home."

Dobby had it ready upon my arrival, and I immediately sat down to read it.

Wandless Wonder Witch Named Iris White!

Our sources finally tracked down the witch I wrote about last week, the one who scored an outstanding on her ICW Wandless Magic Exam. Her name is Iris White, and she is a mere sixteen years young. We have sent her a letter but have received no response as of yet. Many people wish to speak to her, including some very high up, such as the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge. According to Ministry workers, he has been unable to locate or contact her either. If Miss White is reading this, we would dearly like a response to print. I personally ensure it would be printed verbatim, so long as it fits this column.

There was little to no reason to respond, but I decided to check out the forwarded mail first.

The box was filled to capacity, and I quickly skimmed them to put them into stacks. Ninety percent would go unanswered without a second thought, as it was just random people asking for my secrets- like I would just give them! The other ten percent, which were four letters, required a more thorough reading.

Cornelius Fudge and Dolores Umbridge had both written letters, both equally smarmy and vaguely insulting. The only thing I realised about that was that I still needed to make them pay. A letter to Madam Bones with memories from the 'late' Harry Potter was written up immediately, to be sent to her anonymously via Dobby express.

The reporter who had written both pieces had sent a letter genuinely asking for a short statement to show her readers. She was very earnest in her desire to spread whatever I thought. My response to her would be last.

That left the letter from Albus Dumbledore, who inquired about her circumstances and past, and urged her to meet up with him for a spot of tea. I would sooner jump off a cliff than do that, so I wrote a short but polite letter refusing his invitation, saying I had no interest in meeting with him or his organisation. It was public enough for Iris White to know of it, after Voldemort's reveal party in the Ministry, so I felt secure in mentioning it.

Dear Mrs. Scuttlehorn from the Daily Prophet,

My name is Iris White, and I absolutely hate the fact that my name was plastered over the pages of the national newspaper. Now, I don't blame you in particular, but I do ask you to stop mentioning me. To answer your question for a statement, feel free to put this in:

Dear people of Britain, I was under the impression that my OWL scores were private information. The fact that the newspaper knows more about my scores than I do (since I haven't even gotten them yet) is what I consider to be a severe breach of privacy, not to mention ministry protocols. I'm not going to tell you what I'm going to do from this point on, or anything about my life at all, but I am going to ask you to leave me alone. I've seen what happens to famous people in Britain's newspapers, and I have no intention of being slandered or praised for no reason at all. Yes, I can do some limited amount of wandless magic, and no, it is not that special. I'm sure my scores in History, Divination, and Astronomy and such are only Acceptable at best. I am no prodigy, nor do I wish to be treated like one. Please consider my feelings on the matter and leave me be. That said, I encourage you to try wandless magic for yourself. My one and only tip, keep it in your aura for greater ease of casting. For example, put your hand on your belly, lift a finger, imagine a light emerging from it, and say Lumos. That should be the easiest way to cast anything and should tell you if you are capable of casting without a wand.

Again, I don't blame you for my name getting out, but please stop mentioning me.

With regards,

Iris White.

-..-

I was checking the trees in the vicinity of my house for magicality and actually found several. There were no magical critters like Bowtruckles announcing them as a magical tree on any of them, which could be because they weren't very powerful magically. On the other hand, it was difficult for Bowtruckles to survive exploration this far from other known magical places, I imagined. If not for my highly developed magical sense, I wouldn't have noticed these trees in the first place, perhaps I should introduce the Bowtruckles myself? Something for later, I decided.

It was no hardship pumping some of my magic into them directly, and I planned on doing that some more whenever I could, leaving one tree of every species alone as a direct comparison to prove my theory. Garrick was going to be impressed, I was sure. Nothing would likely change in the next few months, but this study would likely take years, and it wasn't like I had to travel very far to see them, either.

The Daily Prophet arrived during breakfast, and my letter was posted.

Mrs. Scuttlehorn did take some of my words to heart, going by her words.

Miss White made a good point about the availability of private information in the Ministry, and I implore the Ministry to check their procedures to find out what went wrong in this case. That said, I will no longer drag Miss White's name up in my column unless she asks me to. I hope she will allow me to thank her though, because two of the Prophet's employees tried out her advice on wandless magic and got some results. Miss White was right, it seems, in that Wandless Magic is not as hard as we thought! I sure do hope our readers will try this at home, because I'm very curious to hear about more positive results.

Her column ended up taking up half the page, but I'm sure her editor didn't mind it for once. Two more articles went more in depth about Ministry regulation regarding private information, and the perplexing disappearance of Wandless Magic in Britain Education.

I could only bet that Griselda was happy with me because of that last one.

Ollivander had advised me to study Care without the actual creatures and to drop Potions immediately. Herbology again wasn't needed, and he didn't think it could be done without practical experience. Arithmancy and Runes came highly recommended though, so I had immediately sent off my orders for the books.