Chapter Three: The Phoenix's Nest
Iris sat on the edge of the bed, flipping through the Daily Prophet. This propergenda bullshit spoke lies of Dumbledore and Harry. She bet the public was just eating it up. The date read August 8th 1995. She skimmed the paper for any clues on what Voldemort and his followers might be up to but nothing popped out.
She took a bite of her toast when the doors to the hospital opened. Severus Snape came through his black robes bellowing behind him, though there seemed to be no wind. She idlily wondered how he did that, and if it was to appear scary on purpose.
"Sup Batman." She inclined her head in greeting.
"Must you insist on speaking such nonsense?"
She feigned offense, "F.Y.I Batman is a superhero, it's a total compliment."
She thought she heard a low growl come from his throat before he spoke. "Dumbledore will be taking you to Headquarters tonight."
"Radical. Should I prepare for some good ol' fashion hazing?"
He ignored her comment and produced a book from under his robes. He handed her a thick black book with an image of two heads and red writing, Guide to Advance Occlumency by Maxwell Barnet was written across. "Before I waste my time, you are to read this book."
"Will there be a pop quiz, teach?"
"Professor Snape." He corrected her. "I do not waste my time with dunderheads. If you cannot comprehend a book, you won't survive our lessons."
She sucked her breath in, and seducedly crooned, "Ohhh, Professor…don't threaten me with a good time." She bit her lip pouting at him.
"As for my other business," that baritone voice of his cut sharply, annoyance clear. He conjured the potions once more, a satisfied smirk at her crestfallen face.
"Well fuck…" She took them and threw them back like shots in college, gagging at the last one. She shuddered, "you enjoy that too much you sick bastard." She gagged again and inhaled deeply. "Ugh I'd throw it up but you'd just make me take it again." Snape turned to leave, "Wait I'm going bonkers here, can we go back to the lake?"
"I encourage you to study your new reading material, Miss Morgan." He said smugly, leaving.
She threw a pillow after him and it bounced off the closed door. "Jackass."
Iris spent the rest of the day reading the book Snape had given her. Did he really think her to stupid to follow it. Where wizards here lacking basic english? The problem with reading and practicing were two different things. She placed the book on the night stand and closed her eyes. The first most obvious step was basically meditation. She tried to empty her mind, clear it of all thought and found she couldn't. While her mind was quiet of all other voices, she found her own to be very loud.
After dinner, she opened her suitcase, Dumbledore had kindly retrieved. She pulled out a form fitted dark green robe that stopped above her knees. She preferred her no-maj clothing to traditional wizard clothing but first impressions often set the tone and she needed to fit in.
Iris changed into her robes. She braided her hair, swiped some mascara, eyeliner, and peach lipstick on. She kept her favorite shoes, Doc Martens, just a little touch of her.
The doors opened, five minutes to 10pm, when Dumbledore said he would be in. She turned expecting him, but was faced with Severus Snape instead. He wore the same bored expression, but she caught his eyes giving her the once over.
Severus walked in the infirmary for hopefully the last time. The Morgan girl needed her last dose of potions before she departed with Dumbledore for the evening. He fixed his expression before she turned around, putting his mask in place. However, he could not stop his eyes as they looked her up and down. The cut of her robe stopped just enough that he could see the swell of her breast, it clinched at her waist and curved over her hips and perfectly round bun stopping at her knees. Her skin was peachy,smooth and blemish free, her eyes popped with the black around them. He felt his blood rush from North and South. Pull it together, he told himself. Why was she always walking around naked anyway?
He waved his wand, a single potion vial appeared floating in front of her. She said nothing as she grabbed it and chugged it back. She expected the usual nastiness but it was surprisingly bland.
"Is that all?" Her demeanor annoyed.
No," he replied firmly, "I need to examine you one last time."
She made a face, "joy." Sarcasm dripped like venom and she sat on the edge of the bed.
Snape slowly walked over, wand in hand. He got a better view down her robes, "Lie down." He instructed sternly. The image of her under him, as he gave more commands crossed his mind in a flash. He had to put that away. He reached out and softly poked her abdomen, "Does this hurt?" He purred.
Iris tried not to squirm under Snape's touch, she had the slightest inkling that he was secretly enjoying this. He moved to her other side and pressed gently. she could have sworn she felt his finger graze her breast as he probed her ribs next. He pulled his wand out and waved it over her, mumbling low incantations. Finally, after an eternity, he stepped back and she sat up.
"Break it to me easy doc, I'm dying right." She cracked a joke to hide her unease, at Snape's impromptu fondling.
His face showed no hint of amusement, " unfortunately, you will live."
"Will Dumbledore be here soon?" She couldn't stand much more time In his presence. As if by magic, the doors opened once more and Dumbledore had finally arrived.
"Good evening Miss Morgan, how are you feeling?" He smiled kindly at her, genuine concern etched in his face.
"I feel brand new." She smiled brightly at him, unable to resist. He had this gentle aura around him that made her comfortable.
"Severus?" He questioned.
"Her exam went well, everything has been properly healed."
And thoroughly felt up, she thought disgusted. She stood up grabbing her cloak from the bed, "So how are we getting to London?"
"We shall walk down to the apparation point."
"Oh…ummm…well…you…see…I…"
"Cannot apparate." Snape finished for her, a hint of amusement on his face.
"No." She answered lamely. "It's always been difficult for me."
"Not to worry, you can side-along with me."
She fastened her cloak, "okay I'm ready."
Dumbledore held out his arm, she accepted it with a small smile. "You look positively radiant tonight my dear." He said as he patted her hand.
Iris laughed softly, "I thought I'd put my grown up face on."
"And what a lovely face you have."
Iris's face hit the warm summer air, a half moon shone in the sky, setting off a soft glow across the grounds as they walked towards the forest. Soon a rather large hut came into view. She wondered who lived there. They walked past it into the forest following the path. They walked for several more minutes in comfortable silence. Finally they reached a small clearing and Dumbledore spoke.
"All you must do is hold on tightly."
She took a deep breath and gripped him a little more tightly. Suddenly she was being pulled away, and everything was black. She was being squeezed way too tightly from every angle and couldn't breath. She felt like she was being strangled in the dark by a serial killer, and as quickly as that thought came she came back to life. She gasped for air and nausea filled her stomach. Unable to stop herself, her dinner came back up all over their boots.
"Kill me now." She muttered in embarrassment, standing up and wiping her mouth.
Dumbledore chuckled as he cleaned them up. He handed her a potion he conjured and she smiled at him sheepishly, "Thank you sir."
"My apologies, I should have informed you of possible side effects."
His pepper-up potion tasted like cherries, and she was thankful. She gave a look around and found them standing in a poor looking no-maj neighborhood somewhere in London.
"Think of the paper." Dumbledore said.
She thought back to the piece of paper he hand handed her when they first met. The headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix may be found at Number 12 Grimmauld Place, London
The large building in front of them began to split apart and another house started to inflate between the two. She followed Dumbledore up the worn down front steps to an old battered door. A silver knocker twisted into a snake decorated the door, but she could see no knob or key hole. Dumbledore tapped the door with his wand once, and she could hear metallic clicks and chains clattering. The door opened with a small creak.
"Must be very quiet." Dumbledore whispered as she followed him in quickly.
She stepped into a dark hall as damp, dust, and various rotten odors assaulted her nose. She fought the urge to gag and quickly covered her nose and mouth. As soon as the door closed they were plunged into darkness. Dumbledore lit his wand tip and she did the same. She followed him closely behind as he started to walk forward. At the far end of the hall a door was cracked open with a sliver of light. She followed him to it. Through the door they went and down a narrow set of steps, where at the bottom lay another cracked door.
Once through they entered a spacious room with old stone walls. A large fire roared at the far end of the room, a layer of smoke filled the above space where she could make our large heavy iron pots and pans, a huge table sat in the middle with chairs crammed around every inch. She spotted four people in the kitchen, a middle-aged red-headed couple, and two men.
Immediately their thoughts invaded her own, loud and clear. Suspicion, fear, anger, and many questions ran through they minds. Who was she? What did she want? Why was Dumbledore bringing in a child? A name somewhere, Lily, and a comment of how pretty she looked.
She stayed back, keeping her face straight. If experience and pain taught her anything it was to keep your face void of emotion. It didn't matter what nasty, degrading, tactless thoughts bombarded her mind, her face could not give her away. Dumbledore moved forward to greet the red-headed couple. Iris hung back, she could still hear their thoughts and worries in her head. She imagined herself locked away in a little room, she couldn't hear, see, smell, touch, nothing of the outside world. The voices faded into whispers she had trained herself to ignore. She came back into focus and found everyone staring at her.
"May I introduce Iris Morgan, our newest recruit." Dumbledore spoke.
The red headed woman approached her first. She was short, a little round, her hair was fiery red and she had warm honey eyes; she looked kind and reminded Iris of her own mother.
"Hello dear, Molly Weasley, it's nice to meet you. Have a seat lemme pour you a cuppa." She ushered Emmalie closer to the table.
The red headed man was taller than his wife, thin with balding flaming red hair. He wore horn rimmed glasses that held bright sea green eyes, he held out his hand to shake and she noticed long faded scars, she shook it gently. "Nice to meet you, I'm Arthur Weasley."
"It's nice to meet you as well." She replied politely.
"American?" A voice questioned.
Emmalie turned to the other two men. The one who spoke had light brown hair sprinkled with gray. His face looked young once, but held many age lines, scars cut deep across his face, his beard was a little rough with various hues of browns. He was tall as well and thin; he wore shabby, patched robes. Hazel eyes stared at her, an eyebrow raised.
The man next to him had a full head of long dark hair and striking grey eyes. His face was slightly sunked in, his facial hair was unkempt. Iris had the impression that he was insanely handsome in his youth but something had taken that away.
"No, I'm Chinese." She said unable to help herself. Well shit and she was trying to come off as a proper witch. Sarcasm did not make a proper lady.
The dark haired let out a bark of laughter and she relaxed. The man next to him smiled and made a face, "come off it, Sirius."
"She's feisty Remus, I like it."
Molly came and served them tea. Emmalie took her cloak off and sat down. Blimey what a bonnie. Someone's thought whispered loudly in her mind. She kept her face still, but her eyes shot to the dark haired wizard. Her eyes found Dumbledore's from across the table. She focused on his kind eyes, he gave a little nod as if to say you can trust them.
"So Dumbledore tell us why this American bird has flown into our nest?" Spoke, the one named Sirius.
She really hope bird was a good thing. Anyway she decided to stick to her style, never back down, never let them see you sweat.
"Well, Sirius was it?" she crossed her legs and leaned forward resting her chin on one hand, making sure she made eye contact with everyone. "I thought I'd help you with your dark wizard problem."
"Really? A sweet little lass like yourself." Sirius raised an eyebrow, a smug look on his face.
Iris leaned back and raised her hand twirling Sirius's wand between her fingers. "Looks can be deceiving."
This time it was Remus's turn to laugh at Sirius's slacked jawed face. Iris tossed him back his wand as he closed his mouth. A bemused smile graced his lips, he held up his hands in silent defeat.
"Iris will be stationed at Hogwarts, posing as an exchange student." Dumbledore spoke from the head of the table.
"Why? Are the children in terrible danger?" Came Mollys worried voice.
"Now Molly," spoke Arthur calmly. "They are safe at Hogwarts."
Iris heart soften at the cute couple. "How many children do you have?" She asked.
Oh Percy came a loud thought.
"We have seven." Answered Arthur. "4, still at Hogwarts."
She smiled gently, "wow quite the crowd you have there. You two look like wonderful parents. Hogwarts is perfectly safe. I understand your fear." She caught Molly's eyes, and gave her hand a pat, "you've lost so many people….Gideon…Fabian….Percy is against you. He will come around, you've raised him well."
Mollys face looked flabbergasted, she pulled her hand back, "How did you know?" She turned to Dumbledore.
Iris pulled back and looked at the other Two. Remus was a half-breed, his thoughts were more growls, she couldn't understand. Siris though was quite the wreck, though his thoughts had a barking tone to it, kind of comical like a cartoon dog. Not a half breed, but an animagus. "You're upset, about Harry and about being stuck here…it's suffocating you.." oh he was full of hate, this was his childhood home, flashes of bad memories flashed quickly through his mind. Shrieks and yelled, echoed across her mind.
"You're a Legilimens." Came Remus's voice.
She turned her eyes to him and tapped her nose, "at your service."
"Fascinating." He replied leaning forward, "you don't need an incantation or wand?"
"I was born this way."
Sirius on the other hand had a crossed look on his face, "I don't like people rooting around my mind." He half growled.
Her eyes flicked to his but he looked away. Smart. But with her abilities she didn't need to look at people, she could hear them all, Everyone in this house including the various sleeping teenagers. The no-majs that lived around them she could hear them as well. God if they only knew.
"I'm not here for your thoughts, pooch."
"Get out of my head." Sirius growled. His chest heaved, breath short.
Calling him a pooch was probably uncalled for, but those nasty little thoughts were seriously starting to piss her off. If he thought he could bully her down, dog-man had another thing coming. Ha! Dog-man, she was definitely gonna use it.
"As interesting as the thought of fetch is to you, I wont apologize for being powerful." She curved her lips up into a smirk. She chortled and continued. "Or using those powers to help take care of one BAMF dark wizard."
"I understand everyone's concern," Dumbledore cut in with much authority. "Harry's had dreams of Voldemort in the past," He cut his gaze to Sirius. "We can only guess what this means, now that he is fully restored. Iris's gift is best suited to keep an eye on the situation."
"I don't like it, Harry doesn't need some witch messing up his mind, or spying on his thoughts." Sirius voice started to raise. "Especially not a smart mouth little brat!" He growled turning his eyes to her.
Iris kept her cool, "we can always duel, I might be a little rusty but I wouldn't mind putting you in your place, dog-man."
Sirius looked like he was about to blow a vein. He clenched his jaw, lips bared back in growl and jumped from his seat. His wand was out and pointed at her face. She kept her face blank, his anger wasn't directly aimed at her. Of course she pushed his buttons she couldn't help it. He more angry at being stuck here, hiding uselessly while everyone else was risking their lives. Either
"If it's good enough for Dumbledore it's good enough for me." Spoke Arthur's kind voice.
"Here here." Said Remus. "Come off it Sirius, we need all eyes on Harry. You want him safe, don't you?" He grabbed Sirius by the sleeve and pulled him down. "Especially with how rash he is."
"I still don't like it." He said begrudgingly, crossing his arms like a sulky child, all anger back below the surface.
"You don't have to like it, you just have to deal with it. I-" She paused as other thoughts invaded her head loudly. She breathed in deeply, everything washing over her. They were scattered, scared yet angry. So angry she could feel her stomach clench. She turned her head slightly to the side and closed her eyes to try and get a better read on who was suffering. "Can…can I see him, I'm getting something."
"Absolutely not!" Came Sirius gruff voice.
She opened her eyes, green eyes piercing grey, "he's been through a rough trauma and right now is reliving it in his nightmare. I can help…"
"I'll take you to him." Remus stood up. He cut off Sirius's stuttering protest.
"Enough Padfoot! She means us no harm." Remus voice raised, fist pounding on the table, a hard edge to his voice. He was glaring at Sirius who flared right now. Five seconds passed before Sirius turned away with a scoff.
Iris stood and nodded, "thank you. Lead the way."
She followed him out the door and up the stairs. "Follow closely, and no talking in the halls."
She grabbed the back of his robes and followed him. He lit his wand once out in the hall. They went down the hall and came to a staircase. Quickly they ascended, and the smell grew. Iris kept her hand over her mouth. If this wasn't real life she would be convinced that she was somehow in a horror movie, in a house full of corpses. They reached a landing and stopped.
"This is their room." Whispered Remus.
Iris lit her wand, and silenced her footsteps and the door before opening it. Two lumps laid covered in two beds. One was snoring, the other tossing slightly in his sleep. She crept over and put her light over him.
He was a handsome young boy, with wild black hair and a thin scar on his forehead. She gently touched him to get a better idea of his thoughts. Something she learned early on is people were more vulnerable when they slept. She could shuffle through their memories undetected, by the time they woke up they would think it was just a dream.
She placed a hand on him and closed her eyes. They were running, running through dark corridors over and over again, every door had a lock or dead end. He was craving something, something he didn't get last time, he needed it. He was angry, very angry at everyone and terrified of being kicked out.
She focused hard, struggling to breath, so many emotions, so strong they threatened to over run her. With some difficulty she tried to guide him to happier memories. When the gate started to subside she pulled out. She felt pale and sticky from sweating. His emotions were big but under them she could feel something darker, something that didn't belong. She rushed out, tripping as soon she crossed the threshold. Remus was there to catch her.
"Are you alright?"
She gasped, as his touch brought forth his thoughts more clearly. "Holy shit you're a werewolf." She pulled away from him, wanting to get out.
His face hardened as he took a step back, "maybe Sirius was right."
She held up her hands, "It's totally badass you're a werewolf.. I knew you were something, I have a hard time hearing mixed wizards. I am sorry, I recoiled because it makes my ability stronger not because of you" Her face softened. "I can tell you are not like others, you are kind and good." Her hand hovered over his shoulder, fingers slightly grazing. "I'm here to help, promise."
"You remind me of someone, an old friend." Lily
"Lily?" His face showed shock once more. She pulled back. "Sorry, I can't control it."
"I can understand that." Being a man that had no choice but to turn into a monster every month, he felt a kinship with this girl. She couldn't help the way she was born, instead of hiding she was here aiding them. So far from home she had no business here, but as he looked into those bright green eyes he saw kindness. "He's just worried about Harry, we all are."
"Let's go back, so I can tell the others what I saw."
She sat once more around the table. Sirius, if possible, seemed more pissed. "Done rooting around my god-sons head."
"Sirius enough…" Remus said firmly. Sirius clenched his jaw, though he no longer voiced his concerns they were loud and clear in his mind.
Iris ignored him but gave Remus a sweet smile. She took a deep breath, "Harry's having dreams about a corridor with many locked doors and none will open for him. He's angry and craving something. He's also terrified of being expelled from Hogwarts."
Everyone looked wearily at each other, fear clear in their eyes. They're worries and thoughts bombarded her once more. She tried to quiet them down. Department of Mystery
"It is as we suspected." Spoke Dumbledore.
"Perhaps someone should be standing guard at all times." Suggested Mr Weasley.
"Arthur, will you kindly make plans quickly."
"I'm on it, Dumbledore."
He stood up and Iris felt like they were leaving. "Thank you for the hospitality, Molly. Sirius, remember what we discussed. Remus."
She stood up and put her cloak back on. "Thank you for the tea. It was nice to meet you all, even if the circumstances are dire." She turned her gaze to the Weasleys."I promise to keep an eye on your children, like if they were my own little siblings."
"Thank you, dear." Replied Molly.
She followed Dumbledore back the way they came, through the dusty moldy old house and wondered what this place looked like during the day and shuddered, as hanging body parts flashed into her mind. Finally they were out in the fresh air. She held on once more to Dumbledore and she was being pulled away. They appeared back at Hogwarts, and she sighed in relief, her mind quiet once more.
They walked a few steps before she stopped. "There was something there, I couldn't hear it but it felt…." She turned her head to Dumbledore, her eyebrows drawn together, "dark."
Chapter 3. So I'm still editing and only have a few chapters written so chapters will be once a week most likely Sundays.
reviews and thoughts are most welcomed and appreciated thank you all for taking the time to read my little story.