DISCLAIMER:
I do not own, nor am I affiliated with the Harry Potter/Wizarding World universe. This is purely fan fiction, written for fun. All original and canon characters, events and places are owned by J K Rowling.
The Australian school, places and characters are of my own invention.
Witchery
Chapter 6 – Pandora's Box
Iris was fascinated by the moving paintings along the corridor, too. A pretty witch painted into a lovely garden background waved smilingly as they passed, a wizard in the next painting tipped his hat. Further down, a scruffy looking swagman from the turn of the century glanced up from where he was filling a chipped cup with water from a creek and scowled at the group. Iris wanted to stop and look at them all.
Sarissa and the boy who's name Iris hadn't heard led them down the long corridor behind a group of much older students, and then down another, smaller corridor to their right. This one was much shorter, and darker with much less lighting. It ended abruptly with a dead-end and the older students were nowhere in sight. Iris and the others looked around, confused. Was this some kind of practical joke?
"Now watch carefully." Sarissa commanded the younger students. "You will need to remember this to be able to get into the dorms." She turned to the blank, empty wall ahead of them, then looked up to the high ceiling above. At once the rest followed her gaze and noticed the outline of a trap door above them. Sarissa reached out with her left hand, and grasped an ornamental candleholder which she pulled firmly out and then twisted forward so the candle was parallel with the floor. She let go and the candle promptly sprung back up and into place.
At the same moment, the trap door above them slid back and a narrow spiral stair descended from above.
"This won't work for any other student except those sorted into Uluru." Sarissa told them. "The House won't allow any Uluru student into any other dorms either, unless expressly invited."
As soon as the cramped spiral staircase reached the ground, Sarissa and the older boy began climbing. The rest followed them, one at a time and before she knew it, Iris was climbing up into a large airy attic space behind Fae.
"This is the Uluru common room." Sarissa announced, gesturing vaguely. "You can spend time in here whenever you like for homework, socialising or just hanging out." The attic was large with the angled roof above them. There were large windows along one side, and doors along the other with short corridors visible behind one or two that were open. There was a large fireplace at one end, with the same cold blue flames flickering in the hearth that Iris had seen in most of the fireplaces here.
There were some old, somewhat threadbare couches and armchairs scattered here and there. Bookshelves and cabinets were placed along the walls, some filled with all manner of odd looking items and books with strange titles embossed on the spines. Older students were scattered around the room, chatting among themselves. A noise behind them made the Year 7's jump and hurry to one side as the trap door opened again and the spiral stair descended. Moments later, another group of students climbed up into the room.
"Your dorm rooms are down there. Girls with me, boys please follow Brick." Sarissa indicated the doorways off to the side of the room. The boys trailed after the other Prefect, Brick to the far end of the common room.
"Where do I go?" Arin asked. Sarissa smiled kindly.
"You are bunking with Danni." she told Arin. "Right next door to Hal." and Sarissa motioned an older student over who hurried to the group at once. Hal was tall and thin, with a wide grin and short-cropped blonde hair. Sarissa introduced the pair and asked Hal to show Arin to their new room.
"Absolutely!" Hal responded with enthusiasm. "This way." and Hal bounded off across the room on long legs. Hal led Arin up a tiny stair that nobody had noticed before, in the far corner of the room and through a tiny door that Hal had to duck to pass through. Iris didn't see anything more as she was following Sarissa through a doorway close to the trap door which entered a short, narrow corridor that had 4 doors leading from it.
"Your dorm rooms are here; rooms are assigned but beds aren't. Choose your own but if I hear any fighting, you will be reported to our Head of House, Professor Giovanni. So don't lose us any points before classes have even begun!" she glared at them do drive home her point. The girls nodded and drifted away, checking name lists that were pinned to the doors.
Fae found hers and Iris' room right away, the very first door they came to along with two other names that iris recognised, and one she did not. Pushing open the door, Iris entered a roomy, airy loft with high sloped ceilings like that of the common room, a small enclosed wood heater stood in the centre, the ice-cold blue flames dancing behind the glass door keeping the room pleasantly cool. One large floor-to-ceiling window was on the one side of the room, the slant of the roof meaning all they could see were a billion stars.
The beds were beautiful wrought-iron four-posters with lovely heavy maroon hangings. The beds were made up neatly, piled with snowy white pillows and neatly folded towels were at the end of each. Their trunks were in the corner of the room already as were their smaller bags they'd had on the bus.
Iris flung herself on the central bed at once, the one directly across from the window. She glanced up at Fae, suddenly realising her friend may have wanted this bed.
"Do you mind?" she asked tentatively. Fae laughed.
"Not at all!" she replied, claiming the next bed over. The other three girls entered the room behind them; Rosalie Smith whom Iris had met at the Orientation, Velia Dunstan who was still quiet and kept her eyes on the ground and another girl she didn't know. Introductions were made and Iris found the last girl was Jess Weaver, who came from a wizarding family who lived far off in the outback. The girls chose their beds and settled in quickly. Iris was exhausted and after a quick shower in their little bathroom, she climbed into bed and fell asleep quickly.
The following morning when she awoke to the sounds of Jess and Rosalie talking quietly as they dressed, Iris noticed at once that her school trunk was now at the end of her bed. Opening it with her wand, Iris hurried to dress in her school robes. Velia and Fae woke up just then, and hurried to get up and dressed. The girls all left the dorms together, and hurried down to breakfast, stomachs growling.
"So, anyone notice anything last night?" Jess asked, eyes sparkling.
"Notice what?" Rosalie asked.
"The House, you mean?" Fae turned to Jess, who nodded. Iris and Rosalie glanced at one another, confused.
"Not yet." Fae shrugged.
"What do you mean?" Rosalie asked. Fae and Jess grinned at one another.
"Nyambi House is alive." Jess said dramatically, eyes wide."
"What? Don't be ridiculous." Rosalie snorted.
"No, for real!" Fae added as they walked down the corridor, morning sunlight streaming down through the windows. "Everyone says so. It changes sometimes, all by itself. And always gives you what you need."
Iris looked from Jess to Fae and back again, trying to decide if they were setting them up. Both girls were grinning, but that didn't mean much.
"It has a never-ending supply of vegemite, sometimes it moves the classrooms to a nicer view, and people say it protects the students. Apparently if you do really well in class you'll find a Tim Tam on your pillow, Sarissa says. Oh, and you have to remember the layout on your own – never try to map Nyambi House." Fae warned.
"Yeah, I heard a kid tried that last year. That's why we have the attic now, Uluru used to be on the ground floor in the west wing." Jess added.
Iris and Rosalie exchanged glances again and the other two laughed. "We're telling the truth!" Fae laughed, "I swear." Iris shrugged cautiously.
"OK, but I have to see this for myself." She replied. At that moment, a shutter dropped down over the window they were passing and rolled itself back up again, making the girls all jump and turn to stare at the window.
There was a heavy pause.
"Ghosts?" Rosalie asked tentatively.
"No ghosts at Nyambi," Fae said, "It's the House."
They found their way back down to the Main Hall without too much trouble, most of the paintings were more than happy to point them in the right direction if asked, and found the Hall was slowly filling with students. Some still yawning and muzzy, some bright and chirpy.
Arin joined them, grinning in delight. They hurried to take a seat whilst Arin told them all about their room and new room-mate, Danni, next door to Hal which sounded to be identical to the girls' shared room, only smaller.
Sarissa was busy when they arrived at the Uluru table, casting some kind of spell on a couple of boys in their year. She waved the boys on as soon as she was done, and motioned for girls and Arin to approach. With a quick swish of her wand, Sarissa turned the trim of their robes to red and their ties to black, orange and red to reflect their House colours. She dismissed them equally as quickly, turning to another small group of Year 7's and changing their robe linings and ties as well.
"Oh yes, Vegemite on toast!" Rosalie exclaimed and took her seat, reaching for a steaming slice. Iris chose a bowl of mixed fruit with yogurt and drizzled a generous dollop of honey over the top. Arin practically salivated over a selection of pancakes accompanied with cream and syrup.
Whilst they ate, the Hall began to fill up and before long the entire student body was noisily breakfasting along with the staff up at their table. When they'd finished, their empty plates whisked away through the service doors as they had last night.
Suddenly there was a creaking sound from high above, and the students all looked up to see the large window at the far end of the hall opening. With a rustle of feathers, owls flooded into the room. Iris watched in awe as owl after owl streamed in through the window and began circling the room, most carrying small parcels or rolled up letters.
They began to swoop down to different students, some landing and presenting their mail to the particular student they were delivering to, and some just dived, dropped their letters and swooped back up again.
To Iris' delight, the pretty new brown owl her father had bought back in Rocky Road on Orientation Day landed neatly by her plate and stuck its leg out for her inspection. She immediately opened the small leather pouch secured to its leg and extracted a letter. She gave the owl a tentative stroke and it leaned into her hand.
The talk changed all over the hall as various students cried out in delight at packages received or began reading letters aloud. Iris hurried to open hers.
Dear Iris, it read.
Mum and Dad said I could send a letter right away. Write me one back and send it with Obi Wan.
Love, Taj.
Iris snorted. Trust her brother to name the bird after a favourite TV character. She decided to write a letter that afternoon, so she could tell him all about her first day of classes.
Before long, the owls had all made their deliveries and flown up, back out of the window – leaving small feathers everywhere. Iris decided it was lucky she had finished her breakfast. It was then that Professor Giovanni came down to their table to hand out timetables.
Iris discovered she had History Of Magic first that morning, followed by Potions, then morning break and double Transfiguration before lunch. The day finished with Charms and Defensive Magic.
She and the others got up and headed back to their dorms to get their belongings, keen to start their first class of the day.
Halfway up the stairs however, the girls found their way blocked by a group of older boys. The boys were laughing and teasing somebody ahead of them, but Iris couldn't see who.
"Hey Josiah, what's going on?" she asked, recognising one of the boys and tapping him on the arm. He turned and grinned when he saw them, moved aside immediately to let her through.
"Have a look." he said.
Moving into the press of students, Iris could finally see that one of the boys had tears streaming down his face. For a split second, Iris thought he was crying and felt a fury at his friends for laughing at him build up in her chest but then she realised he was laughing. Laughing so hard he could barely draw breath. In his hand, he held a huge but very realistic-looking fake spider. The only reason Iris knew it was fake, was because it didn't move as the boy grasped it tightly and waved it about as he gestured.
"Nice...one!" he wheezed between fits of laughter. "You really... had...me going!" he doubled up again. At this moment, the stocky form of Professor Giovanni elbowed his way through the crowd. The boys fell back and the one holding the spider managed to draw in a few gulps of air and wipe a sleeve across his face.
"Already?" Professor Giovanni asked. "You couldn't even wait one day?"
"No, sir." another boy grinned, trying, and failing, to suppress his own laughter. "It was too good an opportunity."
"Alright, alright, get a move on Orson, Arlo," the Professor motioned with his hands, "Classes start soon! Don't make the 7's late." Several boys began heading up the staircase, still chuckling. The laughing boy had managed to gain control of himself and called after the boys moving further up the stairs.
"It's on, Orson! This means war."
"Bring it, Arlo. If you think you can." the other boy yelled back and laughed again. The knot of students on the stairs began to move forward again.
"Prank war?" Arin asked Josiah.
"Yeah, Orson Fringe and Arlo Jordan started it back on the bus here when they were in Year 7 and it has been going ever since." Josiah told them as they hurried up the steps and down the crowded corridor. Orson and his friends veered off down another corridor to their right, presumably toward their own Common room and dorms. "Every year they come up with wilder pranks." he chuckled before hurrying forward to join his own friends.
Iris and the other girls hurried to clean their teeth, get their belongings and bags, then set off for their first class. Their timetables said that History Of Magic was with Professor Ugle in Room 3A. After asking another older student who pointed them in the direction of the far-most corner of Nyambi House, they set off to find their first class.
The day seemed to fly by for Iris. Most of their classes were getting to know the Professors and one-another, reviewing what they would be working on that term and taking notes. Not particularly exciting, but still fairly interesting all the same.
In History, they were told they would be learning about their own histories first. They would be researching their family trees and their first assignment would be on an ancestor of their choice within the last four generations. Professor Ugle was softly spoken but had a glint of steel in her eye that Iris didn't want to test.
Potions with Professor Daku seemed as though it would be tremendous fun, the cheerful Professor bounced around the class with enthusiasm giving them a quick run-down on the potions they'd work on this term and gave each a tiny vial containing different coloured liquids. It turned out, that these potions he had handed them, were tiny amounts of a Voice Changer Draught. Each student was invited to drink theirs, then read aloud a quick passage from their books.
The students fell about laughing as little Kaushal Anand spoke with a deep, booming roar and large, solidly built Kevin Dance spoke up in a mousey squeak. Iris' potion made her sound just like Kermit the frog and quiet Velia tried to whisper something quickly to get it over with but found her voice seemed to echo from the walls themselves. Arin's voice sounded suspiciously like Iris' own mother and Fae sounded like a horse-racing caller. The largest laugh was when a boy named Ambrose Fynn spoke with a high pitched woman's voice. After a couple of words, he went with it, acting like a long-ago princess complete with exaggerated hand movements and fluttering eyelashes.
Their Transfiguration class was considerably more sober. Professor Lueff was younger than the other teachers, but stern and serious. He had them take notes on their course aims, and then had them work through some theory questions for the entire double period. Finally, toward the end of the class he he told them that the following day, they would be working on turning matchsticks into needles.
Charms class was fairly similar, and Iris was disappointed that they hadn't been able to actually use their wands and cast any magic at all for the entire day. Determined to do well though, she took her notes without complaint.
Their final class of the day, Defensive Magic, was to be held out on the front lawn which she felt would be a nice change from being inside all day.
When they arrived outside, they found Professor Giovanni waiting for them under the shade of a huge peppercorn tree. Iris moaned quietly, noticing a couple of Arnhem students that were taking this class with them. Kendra Gaunt met Iris' eyes and turned away, smirking.
Professor Giovanni called their attention with a large bang and red sparks shooting from his wand into the air.
"Defensive Magic is one of the most important classes you will take during your time at Nyambi." he told them all, looking around to ensure he had every student's attention. "I expect your undivided attention when I am talking, and I will not tolerate any tomfoolery in my class."
"There will be many subjects we will cover and spells you will learn that can be dangerous. I will not have any of you risking one another's safety by behaving foolishly." he told them. Iris decided that her Head of House was not a teacher to be trifled with.
"Today, we will be working on the most basic of spells; a means to signal danger and call for help which is recognised by wizards across the globe."
'Finally!' Iris thought, 'We get to use our wands!'
Professor Giovanni had them all gather around him whilst he demonstrated the simple spell.
"Pronunciation is important." he explained, "As is your intent, and your wand movement.
"Vermillious." he said, casting his wand into the air. Red sparks shot out of his wand, high up into the air. Then, he had all the students line up along the expansive lawn and practice the incantation first, and then the correct wand movement. Finally, they were to put the two together.
"Vermillious!" Iris cried, jabbing her wand skyward. She instantly felt the tingle of magic in her fingers. Bright red sparks shot out of the tip of her wand and into the air. She grinned in delight, looking round at her classmates. Only a handful of students were able to send sparks like she had.
"Well done Miss Dursley, 10 points to Uluru." Professor Giovanni said curtly and Iris glowed at his praise. The Professor also bestowed points to the others who had mastered the spell right away. Kendra, Iris noticed, was only given 5 points for Arnhem. Her sparks were paler and hadn't gone as high as Iris' had.
Several of the others seemed to be having trouble, Professor Giovanni hurried to help them with their spell and before long, they too had mastered the simple task.
Next, he taught them the Periculum spell, which sent a red flare high up into the air instead of sparks. Many of the students competed to see who could send theirs higher than the others.
The spells may have been basic, but Iris and the others were thrilled to finally be learning them. The finished the class with a stern warning not to attempt either spell indoors, and then Professor Giovanni sent them inside to cool off after classes had ended for the day.
Walking back across the lawn, Iris, Fae and Arin were chatting happily between themselves when Iris felt her shoulder bumped from behind. Kendra had knocked into her as she passed.
"I'm surprised they even managed sparks." she was saying loudly to her friends, "Everyone knows Muggo kids have weak magic." she smirked over her shoulder and kept going, "It's the diluted blood, my mother says. I can't believe they even let them come to school."
"Leave it," Fae said, grasping Iris' shoulder as though she sensed Iris' anger. "Ignore her. We know it's a load of garbage. She's just trying to get you into trouble." she indicated her head and Iris saw that Professor Giovanni was following not far behind, in conversation with another Arnhem student. Iris let out a deep breath. If she'd reacted to Kendra just then, she would have got into trouble for sure.
"But why me?" Iris asked, frustrated. "Why is she only bothering me? It's not like I'm the only kid here with Muggo parents."
"I don't know." Arin said, "Maybe because you stood up to her on the bus? I guess she isn't used to anyone not letting her say whatever she wants and get away with it? And you got more points than her in class."
"Probably." Fae said, "When I've met her before, she was very rude to a Ministry worker and nobody said a thing. Her father is the Vice Minister for Magic so she's used to being the only child of the second-most powerful man in the country."
"Ugh!" Iris groaned. "I hope this won't go on all year. The last thing I need is the Vice Minister's daughter giving me a hard time."
When they got back inside to the welcoming cool of the icy fire in the entry hall, Iris stopped to stand in front of it and drew her hair back off her face, cooling her sweaty brow. She watched the icy flames in fascination as they danced and crackled like any normal fire, the only difference being they were shades of bright and pale blue, through to a brighter sort of purple at the centre. She reached out one hand curiously.
"Don't!" Fae grabbed her wrist. "It's frost-fire, it's so cold it burns."
A hand clamped down on her wrist, dragging her forward. In the darkness, screams of terror, cries of pain and anguish echoed around her.
Iris reeled back as Fae dropped her wrist, frowning at her in concern. Iris looked around but the entry hall was normal and unassuming.
"You OK?" Fae asked.
"Uh, yeah." Iris replied, blinking. She followed her friends further into the house, firmly deciding nothing had happened at all, the memory already fading from her mind.
"You know," she said to Fae as the three of them turned away from the fire, "At home we just have an air-conditioner." She then had to explain to Fae what an air-conditioner was, as it seems these weren't used in wizarding homes. On reflection, Iris decided she should have known this given that she was warned no electronic devices would work at Nyambi. It seemed they wouldn't work in wizarding homes, either.
Entering the Great Hall in the hopes of finding an after-school snack, the girls found the Hall abuzz with some news that had everyone talking excitedly. Curiously, they sat beside Sarissa and Eddie who had joined their table and listened to what she was saying.
"...and Dad says that their security spells are some of the best. So it had to be a pretty powerful Dark Wizard to get in there."
"Who's security?" Fae asked her older cousin.
"The Abernathy's." Sarissa turned her serious face toward them. "They had a break-in a few days ago."
"What?" Fae said, shock crossing her face. "No way!"
"Yeah, it was all over the paper this morning." Eddie piped up. "The place was trashed when they were in Rocky Road for a meeting at the Ministry offices."
"Who are they?" Arin asked, confused.
"The Abernathy family," Sarissa explained quickly, "They're really well-respected magical historians. They have this huge place on the outskirts of the city and have hundreds of rare magical artifacts from all over the world. It's one of the world's best collections. People can go there and tour their museum."
"Lucinda Abernathy goes here," she continued, jerking her head to indicate a tall, older girl surrounded by a knot of sympathetic friends two tables over. "I was wondering why she wasn't on the bus! She only arrived this morning."
"Why is it only in the newspaper today?" Iris asked, remembering the headline she'd seen that morning. "If it happened a few days ago..."
"It happened on Orientation day!" Arin exclaimed, grabbing Sarissa's copy of the Western Wizarding News and checking the date in the article. Iris saw the accompanying picture of an older witch and wizard, leaning over a large table filled with various items and checking them off against a list. Occasionally they reached out and touched something or flipped to a new page on the list.
"The Auror department must have kept it quiet until they'd taken a full inventory. Probably didn't want to give away any details until they knew exactly what was missing, the thieves made a terrible mess." Sarissa explained.
"What was missing?" Iris asked.
"Just one thing according to the papers," Eddie told them, "Pandora's Box."