(Coeus Black - PoV)

Well, that was certainly...something.

We manage to escape the disaster of Ollivanders shop and creepy gaze back into...right, the madness of the rest of Diagon. Wonderful.

"Cheer up brother, we have a pretty girl with us this time," Phoebe tells me.

Hmm. I examine Iris closely.

"W-what? P-pretty?" she stutters out.

Her clothes are a bit damaged, from all of the earlier excitement I assume, likely explains the state of her long hair as well, but yes, I can see it. Her eyes are especially attention-grabbing, far more so than the half-hidden famous scar.

"You make a fair point," I agree. "I suppose the Alley will be more tolerable with quality company."

Iris opens and closes her mouth several times while blushing. Not used to compliments I assume? Strange, with her fame I would assume she would get them regularly. Something is not adding up.

Ted, Andy, and Dora all laugh, with Dora wrapping an arm around the smaller girl's shoulders.

"Oh, now that is impressive, you managed to make Coeus consider the Alley tolerable? Must be something special indeed, let me have a good look now..." she says, before shifting into a copy of Iris.

Her face is absolutely shocked now, as she jerks away from the smirking clone and backs into the wall.

"Wha...wha...?"

"Nymphadora, you're scaring the girl, stop it."

"Don't call me that, and fine." She resumes her previous shape but keeps the hair and eyes. "Dora Tonks, I'm a Metamorphmagus. It means I can change shape pretty freely with practice. I can look like anyone."

"I...oh. Ok. So not like, a changeling or shapeshifter going to kill me. Right."

...What exactly has she been learning?

"Miss Potter, apologies for nosing, but where are your guardians? Are you visiting the alley alone?" Andy asks.

It seems her mind is following a similar path.

"Oh, uh, Hagrid brought me, he has been showing me around but he left the shop earlier when things started getting...dangerous."

Andy's eyes narrow. "I'm sorry, Hagrid left when things got dangerous? That seems...very unlike the man. He normally has absolutely no sense of danger whatsoever."

Iris fidgets in place.

"He...may have...almostgottenimpaledthroughthefacebyaspikebiggerthanmyarm."

...

I don't know Hagrid very well personally, but yes, that certainly sounds like a good reason to leave the premises to me.

Andy takes a moment to work through the rapid-fire speech.

"I see. Well, where is he now? We will escort you to meet him. Diagon Alley itself is quite safe, but I understand it can be confusing for newcomers."

Newcomers? But how could she...

I look at her...

But...The-Girl-Who-Lived? New to magic?

...What the bloody hell is going on?

"Sounds like a good idea to me," Dora adds, "the twins need more friends."

We roll our eyes.

Iris hesitates, her eyes darting towards us, before answering. "Umm, he said to meet him back at the Leaky Cauldron?"

Andy sighs. "Really Hagrid? He is supposed to be escorting you and runs off to get a drink? Well come along then, I really need to have a word with him now, he should know better."

A bit of panic enters Iris's eyes now.

"What? No! Wait, Hagrid has been great!" she says, stepping forward and raising her arm.

"Of course he has dear, Hagrid is a wonderful person. He is rarely given serious responsibilities for a reason, however. Reasons like this. I need to give him a reminder before someone less friendly finds out and attempts to ruin his reputation further."

"O...oh..." she lowers her arm, suddenly unsure of herself.

Dora grabs her arm. "It's ok, I know Hagrid is cool too. Now come on!" She drags her to stand next to me. "Here, you can walk next to Coeus. Hopefully he will be less inclined to set the place on fire while surrounded by pretty girls."

"One time..." I mutter, knowing Dora will never let me live it down as she steps behind us, wrapping her arms over the shoulders of Phoebe and Iris to either side of me and leaning over my own shoulder as we finally begin to walk after Andy and Ted.

Phoebe and I ignore her antics, well used to them, but Iris blushes strongly.

"Just ignore her, she is desperate for attention," I advise.

Dora fake gasps.

"Ignore me? Your dear big sister? How could you possibly say such a thing?"

She releases Iris to draw her wand and wave it in front of me threateningly.

"I should punish you for that little brother."

"You forget Dora, we have our wands now." I draw my own. "And while you are more experienced, I am a lot more vicious. Do you really want to do this?"

...

"Fiiiine."

She withdraws her arm and goes to tuck her wand into her boot, tripping onto the pavement.

Iris stops, but the rest of us continue walking, Ted and Andy included.

"Uh..." Iris starts.

"I'm fine! Meant to do that!" Dora jumps up, grabs Iris, and drags her back to us.

"She falls down all the time, she's incredibly clumsy," I explain.

"It's because I am a Metamorph!" Dora defends herself. "My body is always changing so it is hard to move properly when my limbs are not always the same length."

I nod. "Probably true, but do you think the Aurors are going to give you a pass over it?"

She sags.

"They will not," Phoebe confirms. "Though as long as you train hard you should be able to pass, especially if Coeus helps."

Dora's eyes light up, and she looks at me pleadingly, her eyes literally growing larger and watering with false tears.

I roll mine and look away.

Of course I will help her, I am not about to let her fail, however annoying she may be at times. What kind of ungrateful bastard of a sibling would I be then?

"Umm, what's an Auror?" Iris asks.

I blink. She..really knows nothing, doesn't she? Dumbledore has some explaining to do...

"Like wizard police basically," Dora explains. "They go through a bunch of training so they can catch dark wizards and stuff."

"Not wrong, but somewhat misleading Dora dear," Ted speaks up from in front.

Unlike Andy, Ted actually usually calls her by her preferred name.

"The Aurors are famous enough to serve as a general term for magical law enforcement, much like bobbies on the mundane side of things, but tend to act more like special detectives and American SWAT than regular beat coppers. They don't usually do traffic tickets or stolen purses, but serious crimes and dangerous situations. They are the most elite part of the DMLE."

I nod, that sounds accurate. It makes sense that Ted, as a muggle-born himself, can explain it best. Despite officially being a half-blood, Dora has been raised mostly magical along with ourselves.

"Oh, that sounds pretty cool actually. Is it hard to become one then?" Iris asks, her attention clearly peaked.

"Pretty hard yes. You have to have at least five NEWTs, all with EEs or better to even get into the training, which takes three years and plenty of people still flunk out of it. I admit, I barely made it into Potions, Snape is a complete cu-" she pauses, glancing at Andy and Ted ahead of her. "He is a terrible person, honestly not great as a teacher, and holds a grudge against me, I was lucky to make it into his NEWT class at all. But in his defense, he does at least grade fairly, so I will give the bast-, professor credit there," she admits sullenly. "And he did get a bit better as a teacher in the NEWT classes, once he didn't have to deal with as many 'dunderheaded morons' as he puts it."

From what I have heard, and what Phoebe has seen, Snape is likely to be a problem, one we are not looking forward to. Benefits of The Gift, however, we already have at least some kind of plan in place for if he tries his shit.

"Err, I'm sorry, what are newts? I don't think you are talking about the lizards? Or E Es?" Iris asks for clarification.

"Oh, right, sorry. NEWT stands for Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests. Uh, in fifth year you will have OWLs, Ordinary Wizarding Levels, which are the basic end tests for most classes. If you do well on those, then for sixth and seventh year you can take the advanced courses for the class, and eventually take the NEWT for that subject, which is required for most of the really good jobs." she explains.

"A few OWLs are all you need if you are fine working as a clerk in Diagon, but if you want to do anything interesting, you need NEWTs," I reiterate. "I know your Head of House talks you about the subject in fifth year at Hogwarts but honestly it is better to look into things before third, which is when you choose electives. I want to be an enchanter, so Runes and Arithmancy are a must, and will be taking Divination because I have the talent."

"And EE is part of the wizarding grading system. O, Outstanding, EE, Exceeds Expectations, and A, Acceptable are the passing grades. P, Poor, D, Dreadful, and T, Troll, are the Failing grades." Andy speaks up.

Oh, we forgot to answer that part, oops.

Iris nods quietly, digesting the information. Have to be careful about overload right now, there is just so much for her to learn, and not a lot of time for it.

I frown, looking towards Ted's back. I have always leaned towards Grandfather's perspective on muggle-borns needing to adapt to fit into our world, but I am finally beginning to see how that could be hard. How can you just, learn an entirely new world, culture, and history in an instant? Especially if so many both demand that you know it, but refuse to teach you at the same time? I may need to reconsider a few things. For now, though I may also need to ask Ted how to help Iris, what is important to teach her first. Hrm.

"Ok, thank you. Um, head of house? Like, my uncle?" she asks. "Sorry to keep asking questions..." she ducks her head, withdrawing into her robes.

I...really don't like the way she is cringing, as if expecting to be hit. I will have to find a way to bring it up with Andy.

"Don't be afraid to ask questions dear, otherwise you will live your life in ignorance," the woman replies. "And no, your uncle is most likely head of household, something different. Coeus was referring to Hogwarts, where students are sorted into four Houses, or groups. Each house has a professor to act as the head for that group of students to go to for problems or advice."

"Hufflepuff pride!" Dora calls out, causing Ted to nod. "Puffs unite," he agrees.

The rest of us, Iris excluded, roll our eyes.

"Don't listen to them, Slytherin is clearly the best house if you actually want to make something of yourself," I tell her.

Dora opens her mouth to object, but Andy cuts her, and the upcoming argument, off.

"And here we are!" she announces, tapping the brick wall in front of the Leaky Cauldron. It expands, allowing us access.

She marches through, and we enter the rather dingy pub.

Tom is a good fellow, but would it kill the man to install better lighting in the place?

Looking around I admit, ok, he would probably have to do a lot more upkeep. Wizards, with how much magic we have, could so easily keep things in top shape so why do many allow everything to get so shabby? I don't understand.

Andy marches across the room to the hairy giant sitting at the bar, nursing a pint, and grabs him by the ear, dragging him off his stool.

"Rubeus Hagrid!" she hisses out, harshly but not overly loudly, trying to avoid making too great of a scene, which is difficult giving grabbing a man of Hagrids already great size draws plenty of attention.

"Ow, ow, ow, please, not the ear! Leggo me will ya?!" he whines, desperately attempting to keep his balance without breaking anything or hitting anyone with his massive arms.

"Hmph. Only if you promise to keep quiet for the moment, considering we had to do your job and escort your young ward through the Alley back to you," she all but whispers into his ear.

"Ward? Wait Ir-Ow!" Andy gives another vicious twist of his ear as he starts to shout Iris's name across the pub.

"What did I just say about being quiet now?" she asks him.

"OW! Ok ok I ge' it! Le' me go now, please?" he submits instantly, to several patrons' amusement.

"Good. We will head to Fortescue's, and I will put up a privacy charm where we can talk," she says before finally releasing him.

"Ah, crikey," he says, standing up to his full imposing height. "Cruel as eva I see Andy, can'n you just say ello like a normal person."

She looks at him and taps her foot, raising an eyebrow.

Iris stares wide-eyed at the scene of the much smaller woman bullying the giant of a man, while the rest of us chuckle.

"Ok, ok, I'mma comin' I'mma comin'." He strolls along, patting Iris on the back. "Glad ta' see you Ir- uh, girlie. Got all matched up?"

"Uh, yea. Yea eventually, Ollivander was...being weird." Iris answers as she hurries after his long stride. the rest of us coming after. Despite not walking particularly fast, it is still difficult to keep up with such long legs.

"Hah, yea, he's liek that. Bit creepy, the old man, but e's the best dere is. Made wands for most o' Britain at this point." Hagrid booms.

Fortunately, the ice cream parlor is closer than Ollivanders, so we do not travel for very long, and risk Hagrid drawing Andy's ire again.

"Florean!" he announces as we enter. "Table for...uh," he turns around, counting us. "Seven? Seven please." he requests.

"One with a bit of privacy please," Andy adds, gesturing towards Iris.

Mr. Fortescue looks at her, pausing, before nodding in understanding. He can be quite discreet. Ice cream is serious business.

"The table back in the corner should be fine." He gestures. "Just have Hagrid sit towards the front of the shop."

Andy nods in thanks and takes a menu as we all head back. It takes a bit of finagling to get everyone situated, but eventually we all settle in and decide what to get as Andy throws up a couple of charms.

It is no question for myself and Phoebe, mint chocolate chip. Well, we try others occasionally, but we know our favorite. Dora goes for bubblegum flavor even as she changes her hair to match, and Hagrid orders a great tub of rocky road. Iris is unsure what to get, eventually copying Phoebe and myself with mint. We will make a proper Slytherin of her yet. Ted asks for butterscotch. Andy doesn't tell us what she is getting before she brings the orders to the front, but she usually gets coffee flavor. Bleh.

Once everyone has their preferred ice cream, the discussion begins, with Andy scolding Hagrid for abandoning Iris in Ollivanders.

"...exiting the shop was perfectly reasonable at that time, but you should have waited outside, no matter how long it took! Not wandered off for a pint! This is why you are so rarely trusted with anything of import!"

She sighs at his chagrined expression, and drooping shoulders.

"I didn't mean it quite like that I am just...Look Hagrid, I know you are a good man, we all do. But if you want real responsibility you have to earn it. If one of the bigots had found out about this, with someone as high profile as the Girl-Who-Lived? This would be all over the Daily Prophet tomorrow. You could end up in serious trouble, and Dumbledore for having given you the job in the first place."

He winces at the mention of Dumbledore getting in trouble as well, before nodding morosely.

Iris pats his arm consolingly. She looks very torn. She doesn't like the fact that Andy is making him feel bad but seems to accept her explanation that she is trying to help him not hurt him.

"Mmm surry. Cn seem to do nething right, jst a big *mumble mumble*..."

"It's ok Hagrid, I had lots of fun today, the most I have ever had!" Iris tells him honestly, attempting to reassure him. "Meeting you has been the best thing to ever happen to me!"

He looks down at her. "Tha's good lil one." He smiles, patting her head. "Dose Dursleys 'eem the worse sort o' muggles, 'ated to see you with em."

I...don't like the sound of that at all. The rest of the table exchanges looks. Hagrid continues speaking before we ask.

"And I icked up the stone at least, though I still 'ave to liver it to Dumbledore," he says proudly, looking back at Andy, who sighs, before raising an eyebrow and looking at him, waiting for it.

...

"I...I should not ave said that. No, I should not ave said that t'all." he says, eyes widening in realization.

"No, I suspect you should not have. I will not pry further on that matter, however. I am far more interested in these, Dursleys, you mentioned." Andy tells him.

His expressions are childishly easy to read. Fear turns into relief into anger. He should never play card games.

Iris sinks into her seat next to me, attempting to hide in her clothes as we discuss her family. Not even truly an adopted family, her actual relatives.

Even the little bit that Hagrid saw paints an ugly picture, one that I suspect he doesn't truly understand. One I fear that I don't understand.

I look at the girl next to me. I expected she won't answer if we ask, and do not wish to pressure her.

I bump her shoulder instead, causing her to look at me worriedly.

I give her my best reassuring smile and lean over.

"There's nothing to be ashamed about, we all have terrible family."

I hesitate. For us, everyone knows. It is strange to actually meet someone who doesn't know, especially someone so deeply involved. This will very much come up at some point. Probably best to give it in bite-sized chunks for now.

"Most of ours is dead or in prison. Our aunt tortured two people into insanity, and our father supposedly killed thirteen people with one curse," I tell her. "So we know a lot about bad relatives."

Not about living with them, which is an entirely different story, but, hopefully, this will help?

She stares at me, but it does seem to help a bit, as she starts to come out of her shell.

I grab her hand under the table as further encouragement. She blushes but doesn't try to let go.

We sit and listen to everyone talk, eating ice cream.

...

Everyone else is eating ice cream. I am right-handed. The hand Iris is holding. This may prove problematic.

Phoebe comes to my rescue, feeding me my ice cream.

"Thank you, Phoebe," I say between bites. She rolls her eyes at me.