AN: I know most of you are reeling from the shock of realizing that yes, this is THAT kind of story, but I'd really appreciate it if you don't quit my story after the events of chapter one. I know it's not okay to give you a taste of our good friend Tom and then take him away, but needs must. Everything is planned. Some of you who've been here since I first published this story will find it rather annoying, but if you've read the author's note on Chapter 17, then you should be fine. You're completely caught up, this chapter and chapter 1 are the only ones to reread, you don't have to comb the others for signs of Tom.

PLEASE stick with me on this. Chapter 19 is where you begin to see hints of Iris's friend of a few minutes.

Enjoy!

Story recommendation: Basilisk-born, by Ebenbild. Complete and a Harry Potter fanfiction classic!

Word count: 2135

A child's mind works in rather peculiar ways, one of the many demonstrated in little Iris Potter, who neither thunk of nor remembered her friend of two minutes, the Cold, or Bitter. It would be many years before she gave him even a second thought. And so, if an onlooker were to gaze upon the grassy fields where Iris had been regularly bullied, they would have seen a long-haired man with locks of silver kneeling to speak to a small, skinny redheaded girl, as if they were equals, of all the strange things.

If the onlooker decided to move within eavesdropping distance, as most onlookers do, they would hear the young redhead speaking in a tone filled with malice.

"Wait," she said, smiling cruelly.

"Yes?" Lucius raised his eyebrows, a bit surprised at the intensity of her expression.

"I think I want to pay my dear family a visit..."

About five minutes later...

Iris stepped through the threshold of the house, her hair fixed, the same cruel smile on her face. "I'm ba-ack!" She said in a singsong voice.

"Where've you been, Freak?" Whale Sr. came lumbering out, his big belly protruding. "It's time to make dinner!"

"No," Iris said softly. "I don't want to. Whale," she added.

"What did you call me?" He yelled.

"What did you call me?" Iris mocked.

"Now see here-"

"Now see here-" Iris grinned.

"CUPBOARD!" Vernon yelled.

"Again.." Iris flicked her hand, rage swelling in her eyes as she ripped her Uncle's beard off with magic, "I. Don't. Want. To."

Vernon paled. "You stop that- that unnaturalness right now! Get out!"

"Gladly," Iris grinned. She pulled her hands into a fist and Vernon's tie was ripped off. Iris danced out of the house, calling back, "don't forget to write!"

As soon as she exited the house, Lucius appeared. He had been watching the whole exchange invisibly. "You did amazingly!" He praised. "Put that filth in their place!"

"Thanks," Iris preened.

Lucius was proud. "Now would you like to come to my house to work out the problem that is your accommodations?"

"Yes, sir." Iris nodded, instantly serious.

Lucius took her hand and they Apparated. Iris felt a sensation like she was squeezing through a tube. It was rather uncomfortable, but on the whole Iris wasn't too against trying it again.

They appeared in a finely made room with chairs and pillows. Iris thought it might be larger than Dudley's bedrooms put together.

"Oh." She said faintly.

"It is a beauty, isn't it?" Lucius smirked slightly.

Iris noticed a young boy about her age, standing in the room with an older woman beside him, clutching his hand.

"Who're you?" He asked snottily.

"I'm Iris Potter, who're you?" She shot back.

"Iris Potter?" The woman asked, her brow furrowing. "Lucius..?"

"I felt a burst of magic, and luckily I was in the area, because apparently the Ministry heard some man talking all about the Wizarding World, and a Muggle heard him, and I found Miss Potter. Apparently the meddling old goat thought it would be smart to send her to live with her Muggle relatives.." Lucius started, and the lady whispered in horror, "no," and then Lucius continued, "and that's not all, Cissa! Apparently they locked the poor girl in a cupboard and starved her."

Iris lowered her eyes to the floor miserably.

"So I offered to let her stay here until we figure out what to do." Lucius finished.

"Poor child." Cissa said sadly.

"Yes, I know." Then Lucius turned to Iris. "Miss Potter, this is my wife, Narcissa. And this is my son Draco."

Iris nodded. "Nice to meet you." she sort of whispered to them. "Mr Malfoy?" She looked up and addressed Lucius. "What was - that thing that happened to me at the park?"

"As I was saying to Cissa and Draco, you had a burst of accidental magic and it exhausted your magic."

Lucius explained. "Oh," Iris said. "And what's.." she screwed up her face in concentration.."Hogworts?"

"Hogwarts, Miss Potter, and Draco will explain."

"Yeah!" Draco grinned. "C'mon you need to see my room! We can take a picture and play with my toys and everything!"

Iris was a little uncertain, but she followed him anyways. Draco's room was amazing! It was green and silver all over, and he had so many toys.."I-I this is so cool!" Iris yelled.

"I know," Draco said a bit smugly. "I'm so bragging to Blaise about this, Iris Potter thinks my room's cool!"

"Who's Blaise?" Iris asked, a bit annoyed, her new friend was talking about other friends while talking to her.

"He's my best friend." Draco explained.

"Oh." Iris said to him, a rather sick feeling coiling up in her stomach. She hoped this Blaise wasn't anything like Dudley. Whenever she made a friend at school back with the Dursleys, Dudley would bully them relentlessly until they were too scared to even glance at Iris for fear of her cousin's fists.

"What d'you wanna play?" Draco asked.

Iris shifted uncomfortably. "I dunno. Then she saw a tiny broom in the corner. It was a very sleek one, too. "Why do you have a broom?" She asked him. "Do you use it to clean?" She was very used to cleaning. It was part of her morning work back at the Dursleys.

"Ha, no..don't tell me you've never flown a broomstick?" Draco looked at her incredulously.

"No...wait...you can fly?!" Iris was alarmed.

"Well, duh! I mean I only have a baby broomstick, ugh, Father, but you can try it." He said.

"D'you think I should-"

"Yes!" Draco encouraged.

"Alright...I'll try." Iris relented. She cautiously approached the broom as if she expected it to bite her.

She picked it up.."What do I do?" She asked nervously.

"Sit on it, and imagine it flying, and just..feel it." Draco tried to explain.

"O-okay.." Iris sat on it. She imagined it lifting off the ground, and soaring over Draco's hea- "AHHHHHHHH!" She yelled as the thing leapt into the air.

She grabbed the wood instinctively and it seemed to be bending to her will. She maneuvered it left and managed a graceful landing.

"That. Was. EPIC!" Draco shrieked. "I've been doing this since I was three and you're better than me! How did you do it?!"

"I just...grabbed it...and it worked." Iris was just as amazed as Draco.

"Yeah.." Draco said softly.

"What's wrong?" Iris asked him.

"It's just..when I go to Hogwarts..I want to be the best on a broom.." He sighed.

"It's okay, Draco." Iris comforted. "I'll help you..hey, wait, what's Hogwarts?"

"You don't know Hogwarts?!" Draco nearly screamed. He stared at her like she was an alien or something. "B-but you're famous! You're Iris Potter, how can you not know about Hogwarts?"

Iris was fed up with his stuck-up attitude. "Didn't you listen to your dad? Dumbledore stuck me with Muggles, of course I don't know anything, so instead of being so rude maybe explain it to me?"

"Sorry," he said sheepishly. "I'm just so used to everyone knowing all that...but I'll explain Hogwarts- oh, you probably don't even know your own history!" He reached over to the large bookshelf by his bed and grabbed a picture book that read, Iris Potter and the Dark Lord's Conquest. He flipped it to the first page, a sketch of a woman with red hair and green eyes, a man with messy hair and specs, and a baby cradled in the man's arms with a tuft of red hair.

"See," Draco jabbed his finger at the faces. "That's your mum," he pointed at the red haired woman. "Lily Potter." He moved on to the curly-haired man. "Your dad, James Potter." He finally rested his finger on the baby with red hair...and, Iris realized, a scar identical to her own. "And finally, that's you, Iris Lily Potter."

There was a paragraph of words next to the picture. "You're born on…" Draco scrunched up his face and leaned a little closer to the paper. "July...31st...Nineteen...eighty. Your mum and dad, they marked down your name for Hogwarts instantly, I know, I'll get to it, and anyways about fifteen months later, on October 31st, the Dark Lord came to your house." Draco shivered suddenly, as if he expected the Dark Lord to show up and kill him too.

"What was his name?" Iris asked with rapt attention.

"I'm not allowed to say, see. Father said, some people think it's a bad word, but I'll say it quiet if you don't tell on me. Promise?" He said uncertainly.

"Promise." Iris confirmed.

"Okay.." He screwed up his face in concentration. "V-V..Voldemort." From the way Draco had been going on about it, Iris had expected the lights to dim and the room to grow colder and for the world to drop dead right that second.

None of it happened.

"Ooh..that name is scary, kind of." Iris shivered too. "I see why you don't say it."

"Yeah..so he came to your house.." Draco continued, "and he..k-killed your parents..then he used the Killing Curse on you..but you survived. That's why you're famous. You survived, and the D-Dark Lord disappeared..some say he's dead..but Father says..he might not be."

"Whoa." Iris sighed. "Wow...Can I have another go on your broom?"

With Albus Dumbledore..

Albus was sitting at his desk and seething. Arabella Figg had just reported Iris Potter missing. Missing! His key pawn..missing. Then he'd checked on her relatives.

Apparently she'd "used unnaturalness on Dudders" and then came back later and "nearly killed Vernie, here". And Iris had very much changed their feelings on her, the first thing Vernon said was "she's not coming back!", so Albus was forced to Compulse them into agreeing to take her back again.

It was for the Greater Good, after all.

But now he was in a dilemma.

He could tell the press to keep watch for a young girl with fiery red hair and green eyes - a girl who looked exactly like Lily Evans..

Or he could search for her on her own. The tracking charm he'd put on her had dispersed.

That could only happen if she was taken in by a family with very strong wards..so either she somehow found Potter Manor - unlikely - or a pureblood family had taken her. The blood wards had fallen, meaning Iris had somewhere else she could call home.

He gritted his teeth. He knew all hope wasn't lost. If she'd been taken in by a Light family, like the Weasleys or the Longbottoms, she'd learn to be biased about Gryffindors, and she'd become the Golden Girl and would grow up just the way he wanted it.

He'd hoped to introduce her to the magical world at eleven, but at least with this she'd learn to adapt the fame..

NO.

That was not what he wanted! He wanted her to be new. He wanted her to make friends with the Weasleys! He wanted her to make an enemy of Slytherin!

Albus growled in rage. First thing tomorrow he'd check on the Longbottoms and Weasleys.

But what if a neutral family found her?

Like the Zabinis, or the Davises..

No..that would be horrible..Iris would grow up unbiased..even..she might be Slytherin. No, that would not do. He'd pay all of the pureblood families a visit.

Then a horrifying possibility occurred to him.

No..

What if a Dark family..

Like the Parkinsons, or the Greengrasses..or even..

the Ma-

NO!

Albus would not think that way, he would not. Iris was with a good family, he was sure of it.

Even if there was a tingling in the back of his head that was wondering, if she was taken in by a Light family, why had he not been informed, he was sure it'd be fine.

He'd have his Golden Girl.

He'd stay in power.

After all, it was for the Greater Good..