Iris
By Crying in the Rain
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Chapter 3
Forever Red; Where Insomnia Dwells; Wake Up
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Red woke with the familiar darkness of her side of the dorm. She loved waking up on this side of the bed. From this side, the early morning sunshine was not burning into her eyes. The dorm had two windows; one between Lily and Lorina's beds, and another between Red and Lily's beds. Red and Lily fought constantly over closing the window's curtain or not, but Red always settled on keeping them half way closed. Red suddenly realized something; there would be no more window fights. Lily was gone.
Red rolled over to see Lily's old bed collecting dust already.
Lily wasn't really gone, she just wasn't in the dorm telling Red to go back to sleep. And for once, Lily wasn't here to tell Red that waking up at five am wasn't necessary. But now Red wanted to hear Lily say those things in which Red once hated hearing her say. "Go back to sleep, Red!" and "It's five-fifteen... in the morning!" and "You can't be that much in a hurry to get to breakfast!"
Red rolled off of her bed, and crawled over to the window. Last night was the first night, in Red's history of Hogwarts, that the curtain was drawn all the way closed, and now it seemed wrong in a way to fully close it. Red open the curtains for a second, screamed, and quickly closed them.
"The light," she said rather loudly. "I've seen the light! The all glorius light! And it burned my eyes to a bloody plup!"
Red quieted, and glanced at Lorina's bed through the unclosed hangings of Lily's old bed. 'Good,' she thought. 'She didn't hear a thing.'
Red crawled to her trunk, gathered some clothes, and went to take a shower.
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The day went as predicted. Red had indeed been the first one at the Gryffindor table for Breakfast, had indeed spent most of the morning re-exploring the Hogwarts grounds, ate lunch with the other seventh year Gryffindor, woken Lorina up and unpacked some after lunch, got not one, but two books from the Library, and was now eating dinner with the others.
"What book ya got there, Red?"
"Oh, since when do you care 'bout books, James?" Red asked.
"Just answer his question," Lily advised, already tire of James' own voice.
"He wouldn't be interested," Red answered, taking another bite of her roasted chicken.
"That means it's some trashy romance novel," Sirius joked.
"Aa, su desu ka. Sirius Black, anata wa shonen baishunfu no baka desu. Anata wa chibi dobutsu-hiki o ni zankuko na desu. Aitsu," Red said very calmly, nodding her head at the last part. (1)
Sirius stared at her, his mouth wide open. "Wha?"
Red just smiled at him as Lorina answered their question. "For all of your info, these books are entitled: Many Ways to Hex your Annoying Male Friends by K. T. Haggarens, and One Hundred and Seven Ways to Bewitch the Mind by Rokin Crokking."
"Annoying male friends?" James and Sirius both asked.
"That's what I'd call you two," Lily replied giggling.
Just then a International Post Owl came flying into the Great Hall.
"Who would get mail this late?" Remus questioned.
"Who would send mail this late?" Lorina questioned at the same time. The two glanced at each other and blushed, causing Lily to giggle, Sirius to smirk, James and Red to laugh and Peter to smile. "What the bloody hell is wrong with you people!" inquired Lorina.
The International Owl suddenly swooped down and landed on Lily's head. "GET IT OFF!" she yelled panicking.
"It's just a bird," Red said as she took the letter and package from the owl. With the packages removed, the owl took off. "Must have been pre-paid."
"Who's it for?" Lorina asked.
"Me," Red answered, pocketing the letter and package.
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Later that night, Red sat on her bed and Lorina was already asleep. In front of Red, on the bed, was the letter and Package. Both were addressed, with blue ink, like so:
To Iris Rina-bleu Kikaiko Lupin
Great Hall
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Near Hogsmeade
North of London, England
United Kingdom
Red knew who had sent them: her parents. They always sent stuff to her. Her presents are how she got Koto-kun.
Red's parents, Rozanald and Kathy Lupin, traveled. A lot. From the time she was four until she was seven, Red and her parents lived in different parts of Japan. That's were she learned to speak Japanese. When Red was two and three, they lived in France, and in Spain when she was younger, but Red was born on vacation in Egypt. Once she was seven, they visited family in Liverpool. After that her parents dumped her off on her aunt and uncle, Remus' parents.
Red couldn't remember much before then.
Her parents sent her money and gifts. But all the money, which came more often then the gifts, was put in a savings account. And the gifts were, well, most of the gifts were things of no interest to Red, so she just put them in her trunk and never took them out until she got home. Once she was home she put them in her closet.
Remus was the only one who knew about the presents, everyone else thought it was gifts from guys around school.
Red re-read the address. To Iris Rina-bleu Kikaiko Lupin. Yes, her real name was not Red Lupin, it was Iris Lupin. Rina-bleu was Red's great-great-grandmother's name, on her mother's side. And when in Japan, an old lady who lived near by called Red 'Kikaiko,' meaning 'weird child.' It fit Red, so her parents made it part of her name.
Her parents were somewhere in Brazil right now, or maybe it was Chile. She didn't even know which country. As far as Red concerned, they weren't her true parents. Her aunt, uncle and Remus were her family.
FLASH BACK
A ten year old Red held onto her Auntie Jane's hand while walking along a deserted, dirt road, trying to catch up with Uncle Shane and Remus. "Auntie?" she called, looking up into the face of her aunt. "Can I call you mum?"
Auntie Jane stopped walking and turned to Red. After a moment of thought, she slowly answered. "No, honey, I don't think you should."
"But..."
"No butts, dear, it's not lady like. Iris, just keep calling me Auntie." And the two stared walking again.
FLASH FORWARD
And for all Red cared her name wasn't Iris either. It was Red. Iris was the girl her parents wanted her to be. Red was who she wanted to be. Red, Red, Red.
FLASH BACK
In first year when Red introduced herself and Remus to James, Sirius and Lorina, two of them looked at her funny.
"Iris? What's so special about your eyes?" Lorina questioned.
"You don't look like a plant to me, Red," Sirius said smiling.
"Red?"
"Yep! It's cause of your dark red hair, Red" Lorina said sarcastically.
After that she was forever Red.
FLASH FORWARD
Red reached forward and opened the package. Inside she found a crystal figurine shaped like an upside-down goblet. Inside the goblet were two golden fish, stuffed of course, moving around by magic. Fake bubbles moved to the bottom of the goblet. There was a card tie to the figurine. "Send me a stupid paper weight," Red mumbled, turning it around in her hand. She stopped turning in only to read the card. It read: 'Iris, dear, we love you. Mommy and Daddy.'
Her face became one full of apathy. She stood without thinking of her actions. Silently she walked to the door, opened it and went onto the landing just outside. Before she closed the door, she checked to make sure Lorina hadn't awakened. Red placed the eight inch tall figurine at the top of the stairs. Placing her foot against it, she whispered to the crystal with an emotionless voice. "You love me? Then why did you leave me?" And with that she gave a small kick and returned to her bed.
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Sirius sat up in his bed. It was nearly midnight and once again, he couldn't sleep. At all. It wasn't because of Peter's muttering as Wormtail slept, or because of Remus' constant turning. It was because James wasn't here, snoring his head off. Or so Sirius told himself.
Truth was ever since Sirius could remember, the only time he could do what he want to do was at night, while his parents slept. The insomnia seemed to carry on while he was at Hogwarts.
Having nothing better to do, he climbed out of bed, pulled his robes on, and went down to the empty common room. He sat down on the sofa by the fire. Gazing into the flames, he thought about himself.
By day, or with the Marauders, he was Sirius Black the Bad Ass. He was the hottest guy in school. He was the lady's man all the girls loved. He was the egotistic jerk most of the guys at school envied. And above all he was the arrogant enemy of all the Slytherins.
But at night when he was alone, he was simply Sirius. He was the man-boy with a troubled past, who hated his family, who was a little insecure.
But like hell was Sirius going to admit that!
Yes, he knew people thought he was hot, egotistical, and arrogant. But no one knew he was silently insecure and misunderstood. And no one would ever know!
No one would ever know how bad it was for him, growing up! No one would ever know how he had been locked in his room and refused food! No one would ever know how he had been beaten, day in and day out, by his mother and father! No one would know of the numerous curses place on him by his own mother! No one would ever know because they wouldn't understand!
Sirius was pulled from his thoughts at the sound of something rolling down the stairs making a 'thunk' noise. He turned his head toward the sound. It continued of a few seconds the stopped.
The black haired boy stood, still looking toward the girls' dormitory stairs. At the bottom of the stairs laid something glass, or maybe crystal. He walked forward, and picked it up. It was some sort of decorative figurine with fish swimming inside it. Noticing it had a card attached, he read it.
Iris, dear, we love you. Mommy and Daddy.
Who would through away a gift like this? Esp. when it said that their parents loved them? 'Wish I had parents like that,' Sirius thought to himself. But who's name was Iris? Such an odd name... Padfoot knew he had heard it somewhere before, but where?
Shaking his head he went back up to the dorm. Once there he placed the statue on his bed side table.
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Lily woke at seven am the next morning. She could hear James getting ready for the day. He was singing some strange song that Lily was sure she had heard Red singing before.
"Come 'ere baby
You know you drive me up the wall
The way you make good for all the nasty tricks you pull
Seems like we're makin' up more than we're makin' love
And it always seems you've got something on your mind other than me
Girl, you gotta change your crazy ways - you hear me"
His voice came drowning into her ears from the Head Boy and Girl common room. Lily put her pillow over her head in an attempt to go back to sleep... but it didn't work.
"Say you're leavin' on the seven thirty train
And that you're heading out to Hollywood
Girl, you've been givin' me that line so many times
It kinda gets that feelin' bad looks good"
He actually had a good voice, but Lily wasn't going to admit that while it was keeping her awake. As the second verse came to a close, She could hear James starting to walk dramatically up the stair to her dorm. 'Oh, God, no!' she thought. 'Is this how the Marauders always woke up?'
"That kinda lovin' turns a man to a slave
That kinda lovin' sends a man right to his grave
"I go crazy, crazy, baby, I go crazy
You turn it on - then you're gone
Yeah you drive me crazy, crazy, crazy for you baby
What can I do
Honey, I feel like the color blue"
Suddenly James opened the door to her room. Lily glared at his form standing in the doorway. "James," she groaned. "Get out." But he just kept singing.
"You're packin' up your stuff
And talkin' like it's tough
And tryin' to tell me
That it's time to go
But I know you ain't wearin' nothin' underneath that
Overcoat and that it's all a show"
"James Potter, get out of my room," Lily whined as he walked over to her window and opened it, singing to the sunrise.
"That kinda lovin' makes me wanna pull down the shade, yeah
That kinda lovin' yeah, now I'm never, never, never gonna be the same
"I go crazy, crazy, baby, I go crazy
You turn it on - then you're gone
Yeah you drive me crazy, crazy, crazy for you baby
What can I do
Honey, I feel like the color blue"
He turned around and sung to Lily, who was staring at him through sleepy eyes.
"I'm losing my mind
Girl, 'cause I'm goin' crazy
I need your love, honey, yeah
I need your love"
James walked over to her bed and dropped down onto the floor next to it. Now he was singing eye to eye to Lily. "James," she whined, "out!"
"I go crazy, crazy, baby, I go crazy
You turn it on - then you're gone
Yeah you drive me crazy, crazy, crazy for you baby
What can I do
Honey, I feel like the color blue
"Okay, James, I'm awake!"
"Good, cause its breakfast time," the ebony haired boy said as he stood and walked to the door. He paused in the doorway to say, "and we're having all your favorites."
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Translation- Oh, I see. Sirius Black, you're a stupid male whore. You are cruel to small animals. Damn you.