Chapter 18 - War

"Tracey... I-" Iris began, but was cut off.

"What in Merlin's name were you thinking? Are you trying to get expelled?"

"It's not like that! I made sure that nobody got hurt! I... I just wanted to scare them a little..." Iris exclaimed.

"You could have gotten hurt! What if that spell had hit you? Or if they cast something else? Or heck, what if you lost control over... whatever the hell it was you did?"

Iris felt her cheeks heat up at Tracey's words, but she couldn't help but turn indignant.

"They were attacking you! Because of me! I wasn't just going to do nothing while you got hurt!"

"You remember when I told you that our little shadow trip was a bit much?"

Iris hesitated.

"Yeah, forget that. That was a bit much. This was... I don't even know."

Tracey was looking at her, worry and fear still clinging to her features and Iris had no idea what to say.

"I don't know what to do if you keep doing things like that..." Tracey murmured.

Iris swallowed, then said quietly. "I won't have to. They'll leave us alone now."

Hazel eyes stared into green, and after a long moment of silence, Tracey whispered, "I hope that's true."

~V~

Tracey turned restlessly in her bed yet again. She still wasn't sure what to make of what Iris had done. She hated feeling scared of her best friend. Tracey knew it was irrational; Iris would never hurt her. But a part of her couldn't help it, after watching her standing there, cackling like a madwoman, as she casually turned the whole corridor into one giant terrifying blue inferno. And then she had just skipped down the hall, as if this was nothing more than a regular everyday occurrence. Just how had she done that anyway? That had been nothing like when she had made fire in the common room.

Worse, was worrying over what could have happened. It felt like she had made it through whatever she did by sheer dumb luck. There was no way any first-year should be able to pull something like that off, and she didn't even want to imagine what they could have done to her. Even worse, was the fact that she didn't seem to see it that way. Tracey was worried most of all that she might go and do something even more insane and actually get herself hurt. If that happened... she didn't know. But she couldn't bear the thought of losing another friend.

Tracey hated the fact that some treacherous part of her felt grateful. If the others would actually leave her alone now... But then, that also made it worse again. Iris had done this insane stunt for her, and she might still get in trouble because of it. She couldn't bear the thought of something happening to Iris because she couldn't step up for herself. She would have never considered doing anything like this. But now that it was done, she also didn't want to go back. But, she supposed, she could see Hermione's point now.

Turning on her back yet again, she buried her head under the blankets. She could hear Iris mumble in her sleep. Suddenly, she jumped, as she felt something press down on her legs. The weight moved upwards, then seemed to pat around for a moment, until it settled in right between her legs. It seemed, Salem had gotten tired of her restlessness and decided to keep her company. She reached down to pet the cat and received a soft purr in response. Finally, with her hand buried in the black fur ball, she drifted off to sleep.

~V~

Harry threw another look at Iris. She hadn't sat with him today at either breakfast or lunch, and they hadn't talked at all. He had noticed that something seemed to have been on her mind, but he had found no opportunity to talk to her about it yet. And now, they were sitting together in Defense, and she had been dodging him again.

Something was definitely off.

As they got up to find a partner to practice the leg-locking jinx, she immediately paired up with Tracey again. Harry tried to follow after her on the way to the platform, but stopped short as he noticed something else. Her housemates were acting oddly. He had seen them act tacitly friendly during her first week, then either passive or even slightly hostile for the rest of the last two months. But now, something had changed. As she walked up towards the platform, with Tracey following after her, her housemates seemed to move out of the way. No scratch that, some of them were outright scurrying out of the way. He also began to notice their wide-eyed looks.

What in Merlin's name was going on? What had she gotten herself into this time?

The only one who seemed to still treat her the same was Malfoy. He had been glaring at her, and seemed to have said something nasty to her as she climbed the platform, but she had done... something. He almost swore he could see her iridescent light flash in her hand for a moment, and whatever it was, Malfoy had seen it too, as he took a step back, and a few of her housemates who had been nearby jumped a little.

Harry was completely lost now. Were they scared of her light? Why? All it did was glow in admittedly strange colors...

Harry resolved to talk to her later, if not today, then at the latest tomorrow at the feast. He'd at least make her promise to share a table with him then.

~V~

Iris was glaring at the cup, hoping it would catch fire. Why was she even in this class? If Professor Vector was right, there was no way she'd be able to do any transfigurations any time soon, if ever. Yet, here she was again, getting reprimanded by McGonagall for not completing her assignment. She'd even rather have Charms right now, but for whatever reason they had switched that class around with Transfiguration this week.

"I told you, Professor, my magic just doesn't work like that," she said, quietly, hoping the rest of the class wouldn't overhear.

"Nonsense, Miss Potter. If you keep making excuses for yourself, you will never be able to achieve anything. Now I suggest you read through the textbook again, and then give it another try."

Iris looked down at the ugly stone cup again in despair, as the professor turned and stalked off towards the other side of the class. At this point, what did she have to lose? She looked around carefully again, trying to make sure that nobody was looking her way, then she carefully drew a small amount of iridescent light into her wand. She didn't use any specific color, as transfiguration didn't use any aspects anyway, so she figured this was her best shot.

She pointed her glowing wand at the cup, pictured a vase, and carefully said the spell.

This time, something did happen. The cup shivered, and then, began to distort. It grew additional handles, its rim yawned open wide, and it started to fill and then overflow with a tar like substance that pooled around it and started bubbling as the whole thing slowly twisted and grew to twice the size it had been before. Iris hurried to put out her light, but the damage was done. She risked a look inside, and for a second, she swore there was black eyes staring back.

"Miss Potter! What in Merlin's name are you doing?!" McGonagall yelled, as she ran over to her desk.

"Did nothing I told you about this in the last lesson stick? Didn't I make it explicitly clear how dangerous this can be? Not just to you, but to your classmates as well?" McGonagall quickly drew her wand and vanished the growing mass of... something.

"That will be twenty points from Slytherin for your recklessness! This is your last warning, Miss Potter. If you are going to experiment in my class again, you might as well leave."

Iris stood transfixed, staring at the black mark that had remained on her desk in shock. Slowly, shock turned to despair. That's what she got for having had hope, she supposed. Iris glared back at the professor who regularly kept making her bad situation worse.

She might as well leave, huh?

Well, if the professor insisted, who was she to refuse?

Iris grabbed her textbook, jammed it into her bag, shoved her seat back, and stomped out of the classroom.

"Miss Potter! Where do you think you're g-"

Iris slammed the door in the face of her least favorite professor mid-sentence, and took off running down the hallway.

After that fiasco, she had spent hours camped away in a somewhat cozy corner of the restricted section, reading up on spells she still couldn't cast, and brooding over the unfairness of it all. At least those spells she might be able to use one day. What even was the point of learning Transfiguration anymore? Especially if she had no idea if what she was doing would work right in the end, even if she ever did manage to create white light somehow.

She threw a look over at the clock which doubled as her exit. Oh, it was dinnertime already. Not that she cared much.

Iris turned another page. Something was niggling at the back of her mind, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. Something about... dinner.

Oh. It was Halloween. There was supposed to be a feast and everything. And Harry had invited her to sit with them again. She sighed. Apparently, she was going to dinner after all.

Stowing away the book, and making her way through the secret passageway, she started setting a reluctant pace towards the great hall.

She might have missed it, if she hadn't been going as slowly as she had. Across the corridor, next to a statue of a one-eyed witch, there was a small black porcelain kitten sitting on the ground. She stopped and approached it. Whatever it was, she couldn't help but note a slight resemblance to Salem, and not just in terms of color. As she got closer, the porcelain kitten moved. It looked up at her and tilted its head.

Against her better judgement, she reached out to pet it—it was looking just too damn cute.

The moment she touched the porcelain fur, the kitten shivered and then... sneezed?

As it did, a sudden cloud of sparkling white dust emerged, enveloping her, as the kitten dissolved into magic. Iris' eyes widened as the dust clung to her, causing her robes and skin to sparkle. Her shock doubled as she slowly felt herself starting to float. Higher and higher she rose off the ground, arms flailing helplessly as she felt herself dragged up, up and up, until with a painful thud, she slammed into the ceiling.

Groaning, she made to sit up—now sitting on the ceiling upside down. That wasn't good. She looked up, or rather, down, and spotted two distinct mops of red hair, and a matching pair of mischievous smirks.

"Well, well, look who the cat's dragged in..."

"Shouldn't it be dragged up?"

"Too true, my slightly less handsome twin."

Iris got up on the ceiling to her full impressive height of still way too bloody short, and glared down at them.

"You didn't think we've forgotten about your little stunt, did you?"

Iris blinked dumbfoundedly. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, you wound us," he said and turned to his brother. "She's saying she doesn't even remember. How is my pride supposed to survive this intact?"

"What are you guys talking about?" Iris exclaimed indignantly.

"Nothing less than the utter humiliation you served us regarding the identity of your dear brother," one twin began.

"Oh, the shame! I can barely look myself in the mirror!" the other continued in an exaggerated pose.

Suddenly they both became serious and turned to look up at her.

"You started a war that day, ickle Slytherin Potter..."

"I think we've made that very clear," the other added.

"However, seeing how you're just a poor firstie, we were nice enough to give you a head start."

"You know, get your bearings, learn your first spell, settle your affairs, the usual stuff."

They both took a dramatic pause, and then the right twin dramatically said, "That being said, congratulations are in order. Your probation is now over. Welcome, to war."

They both did a dramatic flourish at that, and then linked arms and started strutting down the corridor in exaggerated steps. Iris closed her eyes and sighed. She had already been in a bad mood, but it had just taken a nosedive. Looking around the corridor, she couldn't spot anyone anywhere nearby. Worse, she couldn't even go get help, as the doors were all the way up, or rather down at the ground, and not tall enough for her to climb up to them, so she was stuck in this section of the castle. If only she could cast the Finite spell...

That made her pause. Well, she couldn't cast that spell, but maybe she could do... something? She fumbled for her wand in her robes for a second and then froze as she felt it slip through her fingers and fall up, or rather down, towards the ground above her. The clatter of obsidian onto marble was almost deafening in the empty corridor.

~V~

Footsteps echoed down the corridor. Thank God. Iris perked up.

"Hello? Anyone there? I need some help!"

The footsteps approached, and revealed a familiar face.

"Iris? W-what are you doing up there?" came the worried voice of Neville.

"Thank God! Neville! I'm uh... kinda stuck up here, long story. You wouldn't happen to know the Finite charm?"

Neville blinked, then squirmed. "I... sorry Iris. I don't know that one."

"Well, I guess I could teach you? I think it'd work to get me down here..."

"Can't you..." Neville began, then his eyes widened and he trailed off.

"Don't worry, it's pretty simple."

He shuffled in place for a moment.

"Sorry, Iris, but I'm really not any good with magic... I'll go get help. Stay right there, okay?"

He said, then took off in a sprint down the corridor. Great. And like that, she was back to being alone, stuck on the damn ceiling.

Iris looked down the empty corridor. Where was everyone? Oh, right, the Halloween feast. But still, the castle seemed a bit too... She didn't know.

Minutes stretched, yet nobody showed up. She had started pacing from one end of the ceiling to the other, staring up in annoyance at her wand. She really should have asked Neville to toss it to her first.

There was a sound down the corridor. A door? Or a bang? And some shouts she couldn't make out, too far away. In her desperation, she tried to open the shadows, however to no avail. The torches were brightly lit, there wasn't a single speck of shadow along the smooth ceiling that she could stretch even a tiny bit, and since there were multiple torches, her own shadow wasn't going to work either.

Finally, footsteps returned. This time, more of them. She peered down the hallway until she could see two figures emerge. Harry!

It seemed Neville had brought her brother to her rescue. Apparently, no matter how hard she tried, she still ended up needing to be saved by him.

"Iris! Are you alright?" he shouted, worry lacing his words.

Iris sighed. "I'm fine, just stuck up here... Can you get me down, please?"

"Sure, uh... How do I do that?" he said with an awkward smile.

"Do you know the Finite spell? If not, I guess I can teach you..."

"I... Sorry, no. Is that the only way? We really should get going! I don't think this is the time to be learning new spells..." he said, looking around in a hurry.

"Why? What's wrong?" Iris asked with trepidation.

"I don't know, something happened during the feast. Snape showed up, he was acting really oddly, talked with Dumbledore, and then they sent everyone to their dorms with their prefects. Technically, I'm not supposed to be here, but Neville said you were in trouble, so..." Harry shrugged unapologetically.

"Well, I don't know what they did to get me stuck to the ceiling, and I can't even use the shadows because there's so many torches here, so I think the best shot is Finite Incantatem. It's really easy, I taught it to Tracey in like a minute."

Harry was looking between her and Neville in worry. Then, he sighed, withdrew his wand, and reluctantly said, "Fine, how does it work?"

"It's-"

"Well, well, well, what's this?"

Harry jumped and whirled around. Iris turned to look towards the other door and squinted, until she could make out the upside-down smirk of Draco Malfoy.

"Oh sorry, is it the yearly anonymous Squibs meetup?"

He came to a halt in the center of the hallway, then turned to look at Harry.

"What are you doing here then, Potter? Looking to join?"

Iris growled. Just her luck to have the one Slytherin come across them, who she had decided to humiliate and drive off, before she could properly let her message sink in.

She rose a hand and called her light. "I'm warning you, Malfoy. You want a repeat of Sunday? Back off." she said, trying to sound as confident as possible.

He did take a step back, but she could still see defiance in his eyes.

"You know what? No. I don't think I will," he said slowly, still sounding somewhat unsteady.

She glared at him and pulsed her light brighter. Why did it not work? Sure, she hadn't scared him as much as the others, but still...

"What are you waiting for? Aren't you going to use your fire?" he said, his face slowly growing into a smile.

"I will, if you don't make yourself scarce!" Iris replied desperately.

"You see, I thought something was off with this whole thing. When I got to my room, the most peculiar thing happened. Vince showed up, looking scared out of his mind. And when he kicked off his shoes, well, they suddenly caught fire. Now why would they do that?"

Iris eyes widened at that bit of information.

"And you know what? So did my robes. I guess I was lucky I got them off in time," he said with a glower.

Iris felt her stomach clench.

"So, while I don't know exactly what you did... I know it definitely wasn't what it looked like."

He smirked at Iris triumphantly. "So go ahead. Set me on fire. If you can..."

This... this was bad. If he told the others, the whole thing would be for nothing. Her bluff would fail. She had enjoyed the relative quiet over the last days, but more importantly, nobody had hexed Tracey either. There had to be something she could do, right?

"What is he talking about, Iris?" came Harry's apprehensive voice.

Her heart sank. She really didn't want Harry to find out like this.

"Oh, just how she was pretending to be the Dark Lord for a night."

"What? You take that back!" Harry growled and aimed his wand at Malfoy.

"Can't handle the thought of your precious sister turning dark, Potter? You should be glad she's a Squib then; should keep the damage to a minimum..."

"No, Harry! Don't!" Iris yelled out, but it was too late.

Blinded by his anger, he had swished his wand and shouted "Everte Statum!"

However, Malfoy had been ready. Just as Harry was casting his spell, he swiped his wand to the side and incanted "Corrumpo."

The air seemed to shiver for a second, Harry's wand sparked blue, but nothing much else happened. Malfoy smirked. "Problems, Potter? Perhaps you were right to join the club after all..."

Harry snarled and cast a different spell. However, Malfoy just repeated his incantation, and the result was much of the same. Iris was forced to helplessly watch, as Harry kept attacking Malfoy to no avail. She dreaded what would happen, if he decided to cast back. Which he now definitely could without violating the Truce.

Instead, something else happened. Out of nowhere, Neville screamed, and charged Malfoy head-on. The Slytherin boy leapt to the side, barely avoiding Neville's attack, swung his wand at him and shouted "Locomotor Wibbly!"

A panicked yelp sounded as he lost his footing and tumbled onto the ground, letting out a groan as he impacted hard on the marble.

"Neville!" came the dual shouts of both Iris and Harry.

Apparently, Harry had been taken off guard as well, as he completely failed to capitalize on the opening Neville had provided. Iris wrung her hands, wishing she could do anything but watch.

When he finally raised his wand again, Malfoy was aiming at him again, and this time, he cast first. "Expelliarmus!"

Iris watched in dismay as Harry's wand once again left his hand and soared through the air, only to be caught by a smirking Malfoy.

"Like the spell? I spent two weeks learning that one after Warrington got me with it," he said with a look up at Iris.

"Go to hell, Malfoy! Leave him alone!" Iris snarled.

"Want to see another one? Here you go. Locomotor wibbly!"

Harry warbled on his feet, then collapsed. At least, unlike Neville, he had not been running full tilt, so his landing was considerably softer.

"Oh, how about this one? Rictusempra!"

Iris screamed as Harry jerked, until he started laughing hysterically. It sounded like during a tickle-fight, except he obviously wasn't having any fun. Just what was the spell doing to him? Iris flared her light, wanting to do something, even if just causing a distraction.

Malfoy looked up at her. "What's that? You'd like to try it too? Sure. Rictusempra!"

Iris suddenly lost all awareness as a feeling of a thousand feathers tickling her feet, her arms, her neck, every part of her at once came over her. She wanted to laugh and cry at the same time, and probably did, too. Desperate gasps of air were the only form of salvation between hysterical giggles her lungs could get. She felt like she was going to black out. Somewhere, on the edge of her awareness she noticed that there was color, all around her. Apparently, her light was going haywire, she couldn't tell anymore if it was the orb glowing, or herself. And it was rapidly flickering through colors.

Finally, the spell seemed to die down, as she choked out a final few giggles, and at last, managed to get to her feet. Malfoy was staring at her in apprehension. Apparently, her lightshow hadn't just unsettled herself. From the corner of her eye, she could see Harry moving. He was rolling around on the ground, crawling over to Neville.

"That's a nice trick... Do you do birthday parties?" asked Malfoy.

Suddenly Harry moved. He had heaved himself up to one shaky knee and was holding something—Neville's wand! But he wasn't aiming at Malfoy.

"Nox!"

In an instant, all the torches in the hallway winked out. Iris gasped. He had done it! Iris didn't waste a second and opened the shadows below her and dove in. She moved over to the other side—the floor, making sure Malfoy was looking the other way, opened the rift and stepped out right next to her wand. As the tingling sensation rushed over her, she realized that something had changed.

The prank spell! It was gone! She was back on the floor! Iris dove for her wand without a moment's hesitation.

"Everte Statum!"

Apparently, Malfoy had noticed what she was up to and cast a spell. Luckily it went wide in the dark corridor and missed her by a mile. Her fingers clasped around the familiar obsidian handle, and she let out a breath, as she drew up blue light.

In the shimmer of blue, she could make out his face, as he realized where she was and slowly turned his wand in her direction, but she was faster.

"Depulso!"

As the blue spell began to form, he had swiped his wand to the side and yelled "Corrumpo!"

The air shivered again, but her spell persevered and formed into a familiar blue bolt. It lanced out and struck Malfoy in the chest, causing him to tumble down the corridor, dropping both wands in the process. Iris glared at him. She would have to end this once and for all, before he could go and tell anyone, either about the fire, or about the shadows. She couldn't do something like this with the other Slytherins, it was a terrible idea for too many people to know, but Malfoy already knew, didn't he?

Iris took off running down the corridor after him, before he could get to his feet, and her anger and rage at what he had done to Harry provided more than adequate fuel to cause the shadows to eagerly yawn open behind him. As he realized what was happening, he squirmed and tried to scramble away, but wasn't sure whether to move away from her or from the shadows. Finally, she took the choice from him by once again casting "Depulso."

He let out a yelp as he was flung backwards and devoured in the depths of blackness. Iris stowed her wand and called her orb of light in front of her, slowly forcing the shadows away, until only Malfoy's shivering outline remained. Flicking her hand, she sent the orb flying, until it settled in behind her, causing her to cast a large shadow on the wall for Malfoy to be able to see her better.

"Listen up. I'm tired of your shit. I'll tell you this once, and only once. First, you'll leave Harry alone. You'll leave Tracey alone. And stay the hell away from me in general. Second, you won't tell anyone, and I mean anyone, about the fire. If anyone finds out, I'll assume it was you. Finally, you won't ever tell anyone about the shadows." Iris took a breath, as she finished laying out her demands. And now, for the stick.

"You know why you'll do that? Take a good look around." She paused and gestured to the rest of the corridor. Then she lowered her voice, in case Harry or Neville were listening from across the corridor.

"If you don't... You might wake up in this place again one night... And I won't be there to let you back out a second time."

She trailed off, and then gave the shadow of Malfoy a piercing stare. His shadow seemed to bulge from the wall for a second, before it relaxed again. "Oh, and you won't get out by yourself. Believe me, people smarter than you have tried."

She paused again, then turned to look at him sideways. "You okay with that? I mean, if you want, I can just leave you in there..." she whispered.

A small smirk made its way onto her lips. She saw one of the shadows extend from the wall in the shape of a hand, as if something was reaching through, only to be rebuffed a second later.

"Oh, right, I guess you can't answer. Wave your hands, if you agree. Or, you know, don't. If you'd rather get cozy."

His shadow hastily started to jerk his arms around. Iris couldn't help but grin. She heard a groan across the hallway from Neville.

"You sure?"

The waving intensified.

"Alright, have it your way." she said, then casually raised a hand, dismissed her light and opened the rift once again. A disheveled and shivering Malfoy came tumbling out one second later.

Before she could even add her final parting words, a shout interrupted her.

"I-Iris! Something's wrong with Harry!"

Iris froze and her head snapped towards Neville, who had made his way to the other end of the corridor, where Harry lay on the ground. How had he gotten there? Did he—No! The spell Malfoy had cast. It had never been meant for her!

Iris broke into a run, desperate to get to him and see what was wrong. Just as she approached the last few steps and called her light again, she could see a color that definitely shouldn't be there, and also hadn't come from her light.

Harry was lying against the wall, unconscious, and there was a trickle of red running down the wall below his head. No. Not again! He couldn't be!

"HARRY!"

Iris felt her insides turn to ice as she stared at the form of the familiar scruffy hair lying far too motionlessly on the ground. She collapsed on top of him, buried her hands in his robes and—No wait. He was breathing. If only faintly. Thank God.

"Quick! We have to go and-"

"None of you are going anywhere," came a low voice, almost a whisper.

Iris' gaze snapped up and found Malfoy, who had just picked up his wand, and behind him, the looming figure of the Hogwarts caretaker.

"Sir! Harry is hurt! We have to get him to the hospital wing! Oh, and I guess Neville too..."

The weary pale eyes jumped between all of them for a second, until he called out "Topsy!"

There was a pop, and that strange creature appeared again.

"Take the injured students to the hospital wing and notify Poppy of their presence please."

"Right away, Mr. Filchy, Sir."

With another pop, both the creature, as well as Harry and Neville disappeared from where they had been. Iris let out a gasp.

"As for the two of you, you are coming with me."

Iris swallowed. That wasn't good. Harry was hurt, she had to go check on him.

"And I will be taking your wands."

Bugger.