"Apolline, my darling, it's been far too long."
"James, you old dog. What brings you to France this time?" smiled Apolline.
"I have recently come across my granddaughter, and I could use your help updating her wardrobe. What she has is atrocious for the circles we used to run in and no one understands women's fashion better than you," said James smoothly.
"How old is she?" asked Apolline.
"About sixteen," said James.
"Let's see what we have to work with then. If nothing else I can use it as an excuse to have a girl's day out with Fleur before she moves to England for her new job," said Apolline.
You could imagine both of their surprise when they found Iris talking cheerfully to Fleur and Gabrielle.
"Apolline, this is my granddaughter Iris. She needs the full work over, as you can see."
"You neglected to tell me your granddaughter was Iris Potter," said Apolline, unamused.
"Is that significant?"
"Considering she nearly drowned to insure my little Gabrielle was out of that horrid lake during that ridiculous farce of a tournament, yes," said Apolline. "It means I won't charge you half of what I planned."
"Grandfather, you didn't tell me you knew the Delacours," said Iris cheerfully.
"I know a lot of people. Just because I don't bother to run in their world doesn't mean I'm unaware of a few contacts in it," said James. "It's amazing how quickly they change their tune once they find out I'm merely a squib, not a muggle."
It was a source of some amusement, seeing the reaction certain factions had learning he was a squib in the know from an old line, rather than a muggle like they immediately assumed. Not that MI6 knew of it, they just knew he had a larger list of varied contacts than most.
Since it appeared that Iris had garnered the positive favor of the Delacour before they knew of her connection to him, and she had already shared that she was on the top of the list when it came to people 'Voldemort' wanted dead, James took a calculated risk.
"Since they apparently know of each other, would you be amendable to the idea of adding her to the ranks of the Sisterhood?" he asked.
"Sisterhood?" said Iris, confused.
"The Sisterhood of Veela. It was made to counteract the power the men held in order to protect women and other parties from persecution...like werewolves for instance," clarified Fleur. "Our faction is on equal strength to the Goblin Nation, if not more so since it's mostly made of women."
Apolline looked thoughtful.
"You are of those Bonds, correct?" she asked.
"Yes, though Iris is the first who might be able to properly claim the title. Her mother died before it could be passed on to her properly," said James.
"Then I foresee the Elders being amendable to the idea of her joining the Sisterhood as more than an exterior member. It would be good to have a Bond among us."
Iris looked confused, as did the two sisters.
"What's so impressive about a Bond?" asked Gabrielle.
"The Bond family is known for two things. One is their habit of pushing out children who obtain a Mastery in one field or another, whether it's muggle or magical. The other pertains to their family magics, which make them particularly effective acting as witnesses to magical oaths," said Apolline.
"What do you mean?"
"It used to be tradition to have a Bond present when someone was sworn in to any important offices, such as a Minister for Magic," said Apolline. "Unfortunately with the unexpected decline of the family, that fell out of favor despite the fact they were an excellent neutral party known for being brutally fair to both sides."
"Why?" asked Iris.
"Because their family magic is known to be particularly harsh towards oathbreakers. The phrase 'my word is my bond' was created because of them," explained James. "I'll explain the full details later, but our family was considered one of the best people to have when swearing oaths or making a magically binding agreement."
"But first, I believe there's the matter of a complete wardrobe remodel?" said Apolline.
"Wait, what?!" said Iris.
The gleam in the eyes of the Delacour women was particularly terrifying.
Worse, it would take Apolline three long, arduous days before she or her daughters were satisfied by the change in Iris' wardrobe. James already had most of what Iris had to wear out before they came, leaving only sentimental items like the Weasley sweaters she got almost every year out.
"No, no, no...it's step, step, turn, step, twirl. Try it again."
"Remind me how long your 'vacation' is supposed to last again?" said Iris. Her feet were murdering her.
"Officially I've taken a month's leave. I have more than enough time off saved up to do such a thing and since they've taken me off active duty they aren't likely to bother me. Unofficially were are going to spend a considerable amount of time getting you up to the bare minimum of what would be needed to start my special training course."
"And that involves dancing?"
"You'd be surprised how often my missions involve social interaction, particularly dancing beyond the gyrating you'd find in a club," said James flatly. "At the very least I want you to feel comfortable enough to not become a complete wallflower at social events. Apolline has kindly agreed to act as your sponsor, once you've been deemed acceptable."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"While muggle Britain has more or less allowed the practice to fall to the wayside, it's still fairly common among the magical communities to hold debutante balls as a way to introduce their daughters and heiresses to polite pure blood society," said James bluntly. "As the de facto heiress to the Bond family and the head of two ancient and noble families in England, it would look better for you to be introduced by a witch with strong political connections rather than your squib grandfather."
"Is it really that important?" asked Iris. She clearly wasn't pleased with the idea, but wasn't outright opposing it.
"Quite a few of the people I've gone up against have considerable connection to rich, influential people. The sort of people who often instinctively know who belongs and who doesn't. One of the things that made me so successful as an agent is the fact I could slip into the role of an 'acceptable' member of the group. There's also the fact that if you can pull this off, then the odds of Dumbledore treating you like an errant child once he discovers where you've vanished to will diminish considerably."
James was not pleased at the unusual attention Dumbledore was giving his granddaughter. He wasn't family and he had long since overstepped his bounds when it came to acting as the headmaster of her school. No proper teacher should show that much interest in a single student, or force them to continue living in an abusive situation without giving an adequate reason to why beyond the 'greater good'.
Iris didn't like that, but accepted it.
"Why don't you tell me about the family magics? Like why Apolline was so eager to have a Bond in the Sisterhood?"
"Very well, I suppose we can take a small break," he agreed.
Iris sat down gratefully. Her grandfather had allowed her to wear comfortable flats to practice dancing it, but he had made it clear she would have to eventually learn how to get used to high heels, regardless of how uncomfortable they were to someone who wasn't used to them.
She was still getting used to the boots Fleur had insisted would complete her new favorite outfit. She had already banished Iris' previous pair of shoes, which were getting a bit threadbare.
"'My word is my bond'. Have you ever heard that particular phrase?"
Iris nodded.
"It's an altered version of the actual oath, which our family is well known for. There are two simplified versions of it. The first is the informal 'On my Word as a Bond', which is a looser pact between two or more parties. The more formal one, which is the preferred version to use when swearing a far more serious agreement such as a magically binding oath, is 'On my Oath as a Bond'," said James. "When it is uttered the magic present in the one speaking the oath insures that the agreement will be carried out. We are the Oathbound, those that oversee and uphold magical agreements. It was a Bond that first oversaw the oaths sworn to the Queen when the magical world began to separate from the mundane, and it was a Bond that swore in the first Wizangamot."
Iris was riveted as her grandfather explained how the family magic worked...including a little known fact about the reason very few attempted to break any agreements made before their family.
"Wait, so you're saying whenever someone breaks an agreement sworn before our family, part of their family magic gets taken away as recompense for violating it?" said Iris astonished.
"The greater the severity of the oath, the more of their family magic is taken," said James. "For example when smaller promises are broken, like a forgotten date or promise of a gift, a small amount of personal magic will be lost. Not much, usually about the same as the excess a wizard or witch naturally generates over the course of a week. However if one were to break an oath such as a marriage bond or commitment to a certain cause, the damage done to the family make of the one breaking it is considerably more severe."
"How severe?"
"The reason we became known as Oathkeepers is because there was an incident where the heir to a royal family was ill because of a traitor in their midst and a magical doctor was called in to heal them. He swore an oath to do everything in his power to save the prince, but in reality he was a plant by the family who arranged for the prince to be poisoned in the first place and he attempted to violate his oath as a doctor by allowing the man to die. One of the family was there, to act as witness since we had become known for our part as neutral parties between two people swearing magical pacts."
"What happened?" asked Iris, fascinated.
"The doctor was instantly killed the second it became clear he wasn't going to actually save the prince. Magic was so angered over his actions that it not only killed him, but rendered his newborn son and the next five generations into squibs...the resulting stolen magic saved the prince...and it secured our family as the Oathkeeper family."
"What exactly is our place in noble society? You made it seem as though we had a title or something."
"We did, originally. Officially we rank the title of Count, but due to the nature of my work it's fallen by the wayside. On a related note, the Potters are ranked as Duke and the Blacks are ranked as Count respectively."
"So...what does that make me?" asked Iris.
"Since you're attempting to separate yourself from your image as the 'girl who lived' and the nonsense that comes with it, you would most likely be presented as a countess," said James.
Since they had a brief rest, Iris dutifully rejoined her grandfather on the dance floor. She was determined to get this right.
Especially since he had made it clear he intended to carefully break her away from the image she hated so much. Some people might enjoy the 'fame' that came from being known as the girl who lived, but she despised it.
Though not as much as the fact that the adults around her (outside of her grandfather and Apolline Delacour) insisted on treating her like a child, despite all the nonsense she had gone through. If she wanted to be treated as an adult, she had to cast aside some old habits and make some new ones.
At least she wouldn't have to deal with her yearly headache at Hogwarts this year. Due to some rather obscure (and what some might consider sexist) laws, Iris had removed herself in favor of home tutoring. Her grandfather had set things in motion with help from Apolline and her rather vindictive husband, citing "safety and security issues" as to why Iris was really leaving the school.
By the time they returned to Britain (which would be another two weeks) it would be front page news that Iris Potter had "no confidence" in the security of England's supposedly secure magical school. She would happily submit any number of pensieve memories or sworn statements collected with Veritaserum present about the number of hazards she had to deal with...despite being a minor and having several capable and more importantly TRAINED adults to deal with it.
The Delacours had been appalled at the memories of her first year alone and it had only gone downhill the more they saw.
If it wasn't for the fact she planned to take her grandfather's place in MI6, she might have seriously considered taking the Delacour's offer of sanctuary with the Sisterhood.
Since there was no way for them to train Iris up for her first real appearance as an 'adult' among the magical communities in only a month, James agreed to allow Fleur to stay at his home to help instruct her.
This was a bonus for Fleur since she could save on living expenses and help a soon-to-be member of the Sisterhood. The fact she was already starting to see Iris as a second little sister didn't hurt either.
James' hope was that by the time Iris reentered the magical world, no one would recognize her as a mere 'child', but as a fully competent witch. Something Fleur was more than happy to assist with, mostly because he could care less if she molded Iris into a strong, confident woman perfectly capable of putting men in their place when they tried to tell her what to do.
Considering having such a personality would only benefit her with an agent, he was actually encouraging the idea. After all, he fully planned to introduce Iris to MI6 as his possible replacement by the time she was 18 or 19.