Chapter 23 - ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Iris stifled a yawn at yet another theory charms lesson. Those were so boring. She had understood most of that already when reading the book, and figured out the rest through experimenting with her colors anyway. And the way the teacher was explaining it didn't help things.
"The animation charm is one of the most essential spells in the repertoire of any witch or wizard. It can achieve anything from the simplest every-day tasks, like preparing your meals, watering the flowers, cleaning the dishes, all the way to animating furniture, cutlery, shovels, beater's bats. Any mundane activity you need a tool for, can be performed by the tool itself."
Iris perked up. She had read over this spell months ago, but had dismissed it as useless. But the way their professor had just explained it had gotten her thinking. The animation charm didn't do anything specific. It was all up to the will and intent of the caster. What were the limits to that? Running ideas through her mind, this seemed almost as versatile as Transfiguration. Could she use this in a fight, if it came down to it?
Maybe she should give this spell a try after all? Well... but what aspects would it use?
"For now, I want you all to attempt to perform the animation charm on the teapot in front of you, in order to make it tap-dance across the table."
Aaand there it was. That was exactly the kind of useless applications the book had described, and why she had dismissed the spell in the first place. But now that her mind had gotten going, other ideas kept pouring in. She would definitely have to experiment later tonight. But for now...
"The incantation is Piertotum Locomotor, and the wand motion is a diagonal jab and a circular swish, followed by a downwards snap and a small bounce. You can see the pattern on page twenty-seven. Much like with Transfiguration, imagination is essential. You need to picture exactly what you want your target to do."
Iris was already way ahead of the teacher. The incantation and the motion were the easy part; she had to figure out the colors first. What kind of magic would animation be? Would it be white magic? She didn't think so. Most charms weren't unless they were affecting magic itself. How could she make objects come to... Life. Of course. But that couldn't be it. Otherwise, Flitwick would have suggested this spell in addition to Alohomora. Would it be Force? That didn't seem right, the target was supposed to move on its own, not by her applying force. Neither did Control. She wasn't trying to control life. She was... oh... That had to be it.
It basically created the Illusion of Life. It fit so perfectly; that had to be it. She went to pull out her prism, called up what she hoped would be a mix of Violet and Green, and pointed the Blue glowing tip of her wand at the spectrometer. Damn it, so close. She adjusted her secondary color from Indigo to Violet, then pulled the light back, aimed at the teapot, pictured the result, performed the motion, and incanted firmly "Piertotum Locomotor."
And yet another success. She grinned, as her teapot started dancing in smooth motions across the table. Iris turned to throw a look at her "Rival", but her face fell into a pout as she saw the girl already having her teapot perform intricate spins and twirls with a disinterested expression. She didn't even acknowledge her the few times Iris beat her to performing the spell, but usually by the time Iris had set up her colors properly and could attempt the spell, the girl had already successfully performed it and moved on.
Iris let out a sigh. She supposed she should be happy to be able to do the spells at all now, but well, she couldn't help getting competitive when she was actually good at something.
~V~
She closed her eyes, and there was Dudley again. Once again, getting Harry hurt, once again, because of her. She felt her heart beat against her chest, and pulled. Without even opening her eyes, she felt it embrace her, reached for it with her magic, and drew it in. Like an empty void inside her wand, swallowing up all the anger and resentment, she could feel power rush into her grasp. Firming her jaw, she tightened her hold on it, determined to not let it escape her clutches yet again, and continued to pull, until there was nothing remaining. It felt like her wand was vibrating in her hand.
"Very good. Now focus, and cast the spell."
Right. There was a final step to this. And for her, it was yet a bit different again. Just as she had done when using two colors, she split her focus to keep hold of the darkness, and called forth blue light.
Cracking open an eye, she almost gasped at the sight of her wand. A mixture of black and blue arcs of light were running down it, wrapping around her hand. Her magic was sizzling, eager arcs of power spilling, the darkness now completely under her control. That feeling of power turned into a smirk.
"Depulso!"
An explosion of blue-tinged shadows heralded her spell arcing across the room like lightning, striking the mannequin and slamming it into the wall, pinning it in place.
Iris let out a breath, and lowered her wand, her arm still tingling. Yeah, this was about one of the easiest things she could have attempted with polarized magic, and it had taken her months anyway, but it still felt amazing to have finally pulled it off. The Mannequin was still stuck to the wall, and she instinctively knew nothing short of an Accio cast by herself would get it down. Such was the power of a polarized pure aspect.
~V~
"Which parts of the kettle are you focusing on?"
"Uh... I well... The handle? And the lid, I guess..."
"And that's probably why they look so strange. You should be aiming to try and keep the whole thing in your mind equally, as one single object."
Iris was back in Transfiguration class. Ever since the teachers' conference after her infamous walk-out, that class had changed significantly for her. When even Professor McGonagall had acknowledged that she wouldn't be able to actually perform the spells, they had come up with an alternative. It seemed that not participating at all wasn't an option, and since Iris had learned the entire book by heart, she was instead assigned to helping the other students during the practical parts. Iris seemed to have a knack for understanding the theory behind it at least, even if she had never been able to actually do the magic.
It still felt kind of awkward teaching people things she couldn't do herself, but so far, the Slytherins were still wary of her and hadn't complained, and the other students were wary of her because she was in Slytherin, but seemed generally happy with her help. Especially the red haired Hufflepuff sitting next to her—Susan, apparently. Once the expectation of actually having to perform something she couldn't had vanished, Iris found herself tacitly enjoying the class, and consequently she was slowly making friends with the shy girl. Even Malfoy had reluctantly worked with her when the Professor had assigned them together for a lesson. He seemed to have at least kept what he knew to himself. It was plain as day that he very much disliked her, but he wasn't being openly hostile ever since her second-stage bluff.
The only one who seemed to outright refuse to work with her was the strange girl she had traded rooms with. It was perhaps the only form of acknowledgement to their rivalry that she had gotten, otherwise, she'd have assumed it was entirely one-sided.
Much of the same thing had been going on between her and Hermione in Potions, although there, it seemed to be the other way around. It wasn't that she didn't notice the smug looks that the girl seemed to be sending her whenever she completed a textbook-colored draught, just that... Well. It was getting a bit tedious. Also, no matter how much Neville insisted on talking down his own skill, he was a natural at Herbology, and a lot of that spilled over into preparing and understanding the ingredients in Potions. So, in the end, while she enjoyed figuring out how the ingredients fit with each other, and the way they'd interact to create different effects—often diverging from the recipe with mixed success—the fact their potions often kept turning out close to perfect was probably just as much Neville's achievement as her own, so she couldn't really take the credit for that.
But none of that was as annoying as the boy she was currently working with. Theo.
For the last month, he had kept on acting just as he had been, tacitly friendly and sarcastic, as if nothing was out of the ordinary. The longer it went, the surer she had become that the moonstone lamp had just been coincidence after all. But some part of her simply refused to let it go.
If he did know, that shifted the power balance between them significantly. Not only did she have nothing to hold over him, as he'd know the threat of her fire was an empty one, but also, he could turn the whole thing around on her by threatening to expose her bluff. Also, whatever he wanted to do; he was on a clock. And that was what worried her most. Over the last month, she had been catching up fast and even surpassing most of her classmates in her spellwork, the only thing preventing her from being a threat without her bluff was the fact she still needed her prism to set up the colors. But she knew—and with how much time he spent around her, he probably suspected too—that this wouldn't be the case for long. She was still getting faster every time, and once she figured it out, she wouldn't need to bluff anymore.
Which meant if he wanted to capitalize on his knowledge, he would have to do something, and soon. But he didn't seem to be in a rush to do much of anything at the moment. In fact, he had even gone out of his way to help her with her spellwork, which confused her to no end. She shot another dubious glance at the boy who was still saying something. To her? Oh crap, she hadn't been paying attention at all.
"Huh? Sorry, what?"
Theo sighed, and repeated with a smirk, "Have you already figured out our Defense assignment?"
Iris blinked. Defense? Oh, the thing about spell interference!
"Yeah. Really interesting, too. Apparently, Corrumpo is what's called a general interference jinx. It creates a temporary flux of magic, that if timed right, can destabilize imperfectly cast spells. It's probably not very effective against someone who has been practicing their spells for some time, but I guess it's pretty strong against someone who's just learning magic..."
She knew he hadn't asked, but sometimes, she just enjoyed explaining things. Sue her.
Also, it was pretty useless to her anyway, as that was most likely white magic again, and if she went through the effort of looking all that up, she wanted to at least tell someone about it, if she couldn't even use it herself.
But then again, if the spell could destabilize any sort of spell, it really would have to just cause interference on all aspects, it wouldn't necessarily have to produce anything precise, or consistent for that matter.
That sounded almost like the way her regular iridescent light interacted with spells.
It had even broken her broom, so it definitely was causing some sort of interference. That sounded very much like she should experiment with it further. Being able to interrupt someone's spells the way Malfoy had done could prove invaluable, since she couldn't even shield or cancel anything herself...
She jumped as Theo poked her shoulder with an annoyed look. Whoops.
"Huh?"
"Wow, you really are out of it today. Something the matter?" he said with a concerned look.
Well, if he really was pulling some sort of big scheme, his acting was pretty damn good.
That made her frown again as she thought about Theo. Was there any way she could find out if he knew at least? Maybe somehow trick him into revealing his hand?
"Uhm... I'm fine," she said unconvincingly.
Him acting like he cared about her made this whole thing so much more confusing.
~V~
"Well, ya see, the trick, I said, the trick with any beastie is ter know how to calm it down. Take Fluffy fer example. Just play 'im a few tones, an' he falls right asleep."
Harry mirrored Ron's wide-eyed expression, and they didn't even need Hermione to spell out the implications of what Hagrid just let slip. Someone knew. Someone wanted to get at the Philosopher's Stone. Well, if Hermione was right about that being what was hidden in the third floor corridor. But who? It had to be someone at Hogwarts, right? You couldn't just enter the castle undetected; it was allegedly the safest place in all of Magical Britain. His first thought was Snape. But then again, with everything his sister had told him... What would he want with the stone? According to the book, it could turn any metal into gold, and also create the Elixir of Life, which could save off aging and heal any injury. He didn't know. But he knew this was too good to be coincidence. It was a gut feeling, but those hadn't led him astray yet.
What could he do? Should he just tell a teacher? But then what if whoever he told was the one after the stone? He supposed he could just try and tell Dumbledore directly. But he didn't have any proof, and even if Dumbledore believed him, that could just as well backfire and cause whoever it is to go back into hiding.
He supposed he could try and keep watch on the corridor under the cloak, to see if anyone tried to get in, but that didn't really seem feasible in the long run...
Harry groaned and felt an urge to facepalm. Of course! The map! He could easily keep watch on the corridor using the map, and even immediately find out who it would be if anyone got in!
His face broke into a grin, as his plan came together in his head. He quickly wrapped up their talk, said his goodbyes and took off towards the castle, explaining the plan to Ron.
"I still say it's Snape," Ron argued.
Harry bit his lip. "I mean, yeah, he's a bloody prick. But with everything Iris told me, I don't know. And we can't just go to McGonagall, what do you think she'd say? We've got nothing!"
Ron frowned, but then slowly responded, "I guess we could take turns watching the map?"
Harry nodded. "Good idea."
And with that decided, they returned to their dorms, and Harry pulled out the map to keep the first watch.
And of course, nothing happened. He had quickly found the 3rd floor corridor, but as the night went on, nobody even went so much as near it. Slowly growing bored, he flipped through the pages, checking for anything amiss. Two girls were all the way up on the 6th floor inside an empty room. He thought they were Slytherins, but he had never talked to either of them before.
He turned another page, and found... Iris! Why was she... Oh, it was Saturday, wasn't it? Was she still in detention? Even after curfew? He scanned the room and found another pair of footsteps. Was that their Defense professor? Was he... Huh?
Something was off.
Why was the second person not labeled? Everyone else's was. He'd have expected... He'd ... What? This wasn't making any sense. He definitely was missing something. Something was very wrong with what he was looking at, but he couldn't put his finger on it.
Assuming this was their Defense professor, why was it not labeled? Wouldn't it be...
What would it be? A name?
Harry felt as if the room was spinning around him; a headache was slowly building.
What was the Defense professor's name?
No matter how hard he racked his brain, he couldn't come up with an answer. Why didn't he know his name? He knew the name of all the other professors... Or at least, the last name, he guessed. Thinking back, he hadn't introduced himself at the start of his first lesson, he had just jumped right into it, and they had all been enraptured in the lesson.
No, wait, hadn't Dumbledore introduced him at the welcoming feast? Or had he? He just remembered the professor performing his ridiculous bow in front of the entire school.
His headache was still getting stronger, like a dull pulsing pain, somewhere behind his scar... Something was definitely off here. Did someone mess with his mind? Was it something about the professor? And what about...
-Iris! She was in there with him!
At that thought, all other ponderings left his mind, as he focused on a singular goal. Whatever was going on, he wasn't going to leave Iris alone in there. He needed to get to her!
Grabbing his cloak and throwing it over himself, he dashed down the stairs and out of the common room, wand clutched in one hand, and map in the other.
Harry went on a mad sprint through the dark castle halls, checking the map repeatedly to make sure she was still there. Just as he made it to the right floor, he spotted her dot leaving the office, and heading out into the corridor. He quickened his pace, trying to catch up with her. There!
"Iris!"
His sister almost jumped out of her skin as he pulled off his cloak and wrapped her into a hug.
"H-Harry? What the hell? What's going on?"
"Iris, are you okay? What were you doing in there?"
Her eyes widened, causing Harry's to narrow. Something was definitely up.
"Uh... Detention?" she said carefully.
"Has he done anything?"
"What? No! He's just... helping me with my magic."
Harry wasn't buying it. He kept staring at her unblinkingly, causing her to shift.
"You know you can talk to me, right? I won't be mad. I just... I worry about you! Something's wrong!"
"What are you talking about? Nothing's wrong!"
"Oh really?" Harry took a breath, and then decided to break open the topic that had led him here in the first place.
"What's his name?"
Iris paused, confused. "What?"
"You know, the Defense teacher. What. Is. His. Name?"
"Uh... I dunno, what's that got to do with anything?"
Harry blinked. Did she not realize the problem here?
"Don't you think that's odd?"
"What do you mean?" she asked, looking at him like he was kind of barmy.
"Why doesn't anyone know his name? We know the names of all the other teachers."
That caused her to frown. "...I guess? But, well, he's just the Defense teacher! Also, he's brilliant, I thought you liked him!"
"That's not the point! Don't you think it's strange that nobody seems to notice or even care that he doesn't have a name? He isn't even labeled on the map, it's just a blank pair of footsteps!"
Iris kept shifting, her eyes looking almost right through him.
"That does seem odd," she finally admitted. "Do you think something's wrong with the map?"
Harry refused the urge to facepalm. That wasn't where he had been going at all. What in the world was going on?
But then, thinking about it again, this had all started because of the map. What would cause the map to show a blank dot like that? Or rather... Who could he ask about that?
"I think we should tell Lupin!"
"Huh? Why?" she asked, confused.
"He knows everything about the map. If anyone knows why that is, it's him."
Iris bit her lip. "I guess?"
Harry pulled her into another quick hug and accompanied her to her dorms, still worried out of his mind. Whatever was going on, if someone had just messed with him and his sister, or with everyone else too, he knew one person who he could ask. One person he trusted with something like this.
~V~
"Harry! To what do I owe the unexpected pleasure?"
The boy closed the door, looked around the room, and slowly sat down. Something was definitely on his mind.
"It's about the map."
That caused him to raise his eyebrows. Had he seen something? What was going on?
"Is it ever... wrong?"
Remus frowned. The map was hooked right into the wards of the castle. The only way it could be wrong was if Dumbledore messed with it somehow.
However, the boy proceeded to pull out said piece of parchment, unfold it, and place it down in front of him. It took him quite a while to spot what he was talking about.
There, in the center of a classroom filled with students, was one sole pair of pacing footsteps that was curiously unlabeled.
"That's the Defense professor," Harry said in a strange tone.
What? The Defense professor? But why would he...
"And that's not even the strangest part," he continued, as he was looking at him with a desperate expression.
Remus looked back at him, waiting for him to elaborate. Harry just kept looking at him, as if hoping he would realize something, but then sighed and continued.
"What's stranger is that nobody seems to know his name, either."
Remus frowned. That's certainly odd, but also, well, didn't seem quite as important.
"And even stranger, the fact that nobody at all seems to find it odd that nobody knows his name."
Remus was just about to dismiss that thought as well, when something caught in his mind. Something about this seemed all too familiar. Oh.
Oh no. That wasn't possible, was it? He... He was dead! Harry had destroyed him! Or, he supposed, Lily had, probably. But he...
He, his NAME-
Merlin, that was close. He almost thought his name.
Why would he be here? Was it... The stone! That was what he and Albus had been talking about!
His knuckles went white as he desperately gripped the edge of his desk. If he really was here... If... the Defense professor...
"Have you told anyone else, Harry?" he asked intently.
He looked down at the map again to see the students start to file out of the classroom and the professor retreat to his office.
"Uh... well, I told Iris after she had detention with him, but she didn't understand... No matter how much I tried to tell her what's wrong!"
His stomach clenched at the heart-wrenching look in the boy's eyes. But also... That was a problem. If others knew, it was only a matter of time until he found out. That meant, he had to act now.
"Harry, thank you for bringing this to me. I need you to return to your dorm now, I will... take care of this. You have to trust me here, it's better for you if you don't know anything else. Certain types of knowledge are very dangerous to possess by themselves, even if you never use them."
There was no way he'd place his other curse on the boy. Not that he was even sure he could if he tried, anyway.
Harry seemed about to protest, so he just picked up the map, cleared it and placed it in Harry's hands.
"Keep it safe, don't show what you've seen to anyone else, until I have taken care of this. Harry, you have to promise me you won't tell anyone else."
Remus kept giving the boy a meaningful look, causing him to shift, until he finally relented and nodded, and then left his office. He sighed, and withdrew his wand again.
He thought of James, of Lily, Peter, and heck, even Sirius. Of their joint nights at the full moon, of their pranks gone right or wrong, and generally of better times, and then he pulled.
"Expecto Patronum!"
A silver wolf burst from his wand and lit up the room in a brilliant white glow.
"Albus. I found him. Others know, we need to act now."
The wolf shrugged and dashed off through the ceiling. Remus stood, twiddling his thumbs, then started pacing. There was no way he could break the name's curse without talking to him in person, even if he already knew.
After what had to have been the longest minute of his life, an ethereal silver phoenix burst through the ceiling and lit up the room, much brighter than before.
"I am presently at the ministry. If it is as you say, I fear we need to resort to our alternative plan."
That was exactly what he didn't want to hear. But he couldn't afford to wait. Everyone was in danger if he found out.
Gripping his wand like a vice, he steeled his nerves, and left his office. The path towards the Defense classroom seemed so much longer than it actually was. Finally, he could smell something... him. How had he never smelled that before? It was very... distinctive. Both repulsive and enticing, to him as well as the wolf. His suspicions had definitely been right. He kept walking and paused. He had expected the smell to be coming from his office, but it was further down the hall, and it was... moving? Following the scent, he tracked it down the stairs, along more corridors until it finally led him to the library. Well, that wasn't optimal. But there also weren't any other exits. So this would be it.
He drew up Light again, cast his Patronus once more, and spoke, "Albus, I'm ready. Do it now."
He had about a minute of Patronus travel-time, so he figured that would have to be enough to find and confront him. He would only get one shot at this. It was a mad plan, but if he caught him off guard, it could just work. With a final deep breath, he pushed open the doors to the library.
It was strangely empty, almost as if expecting the inevitable confrontation, even though it was the middle of the day. What were the odds?
The aged librarian seemed to be the sole occupant of the room—her nose deeply buried within a large journal—however, his sense of smell told him another story. He pondered for a moment whether to try and bring her in, but then dismissed the idea. She wasn't part of the Order. He wasn't going to leave anything up to chance, and he was on a clock now.
The paradoxical stench of opposites was even stronger now. He was close.
His nose led him to a familiar iron gate. Of course, he would go here of all places. He stared at it for a moment, then tapped his wand against it, causing it to open silently. It looked like after all these years, he got to take the legitimate entrance for once. Being a teacher had its perks.
With his wand lit up in a pale white glow, he braved the crooked aisles of forgotten tomes. His footsteps fell all too loudly on the darkened stone floor. Somehow, even the gentle rustling of flying books was absent. He turned a corner and saw purple.
The man caught his gaze, and barely changed his impassive look, even though it had to be blatantly obvious why he was here from the expression on Remus' face. For several seconds, the two men stared at each other along the dark rows of bookshelves.
"Well, this is unfortunate," the man said.
Remus didn't reply. He still couldn't quite believe his situation. Who it actually was standing in front of him. Even though he had been sure, a part of him had refused to believe it, until he stared down the man himself and saw not even a hint of surprise or uncertainty. Almost like nothing he could ever do would even prove the slightest inconvenience to him.
"I'm curious. Tell me, what was it that broke the curse?"
Remus swallowed. He hadn't even said a word, and he already felt like he had completely lost control of the situation. Why couldn't he have just waited for Dumbledore? Maybe, nothing would have happened. Maybe it would have been fine after all?
"Is it just because you knew the name?"
He tried as hard as he could to remain impassive. No matter how this went, he didn't want to put any more of a target on Harry's back. Or Iris'.
"The Potter boy? That seems... Odd. He is nothing special. Maybe, quite talented for a first year that grew up with muggles, but he's... Well... weak. If anything, I'd have expected his sister..."
Remus' knuckles turned white as they tightened around his wand. However, the man was still just standing there completely unbothered. He hadn't even put down his book yet, much less drawn his wand.
But he had to hold himself back. He still had to buy time. Dumbledore would come through, as he always had. He just had to trust him.
"Dumbledore? He's far away. He can't help you."
Bloody hell, he really had to stop looking him into the eyes. But something just seemed to draw his gaze in. He had to buy just a little more time.
"What... what was the point? You haven't done anything but teach. And right under everyone's nose..."
Was he really just after the stone?
"I haven't?" he said with a raised eyebrow.
"My dear Remus, I believe I've been using my downtime quite productively."
If anything, he could trust him to spend time gloating. Just a little more, what was taking him so long?
"Did you? But you haven't..." then he trailed off, as he suddenly realized something. Oh. Oh no. "Iris?"
An innocent smirk grew on the Defense teacher's lips.
"What did you do to her?" he growled.
He finally put the damn book down and turned to him.
"Oh, not much. I've just... been teaching her a few things..."
Remus saw red and almost raised his wand. Whatever he was talking about, that was most certainly not all he had been doing. What was far more concerning was that this seemed to imply that she trusted him on some level. And he knew all too well what he could do with someone's trust.
In response, he saw the man raise a wand. He hadn't even noticed when he had drawn it. It looked like his time was up. What was taking so long? Hopefully, he would still want to "play" with him, before he decided to kill him.
"Well, what do you expect to happen here, Remus? You and I both know how this ends..."
Did he? Remus perked up as he heard a distant phoenix cry. He had heard it too, and his wand snapped in the direction ready to cast a spell, but then paused and frowned, as he saw what had been the source.
Blinding silvery light flooded the hallway as the magnificent translucent phoenix Patronus broke the ceiling and dove down towards them. Its entrancing presence filled the room, spilling warmth into his chest, causing the air to shiver and driving away the gloomy darkness of this place with its sheer power.
The man's eyes followed it down, and Remus utilized the moment of distraction to raise his wand up high, higher, far above his head.
The spirit came down and touched his wand, and he pulled.
The phoenix gave an eager cry and folded inward, relinquishing the polarized magic contained within, and releasing it into the air, only to be immediately pulled into Remus' wand.
The Defense teacher's eyes widened as he realized what was going on too late to do anything about it. "Dumbledore!" he snarled, as his wand came down, forming a bright golden shield, just as Remus snapped his wand forward and cried with all he had "Iucidium Animae!"
Brilliant White exploded from his wand, and formed into a lance of pure light, which tore towards the golden shield. Just as the spells met, everything froze in place for a fraction of a second. The lance an inch from impact, it just spun in place, the tip glowing brighter and brighter, until there was a single crack. The spell slammed forwards an inch and got caught again. More cracks started to form, the light growing ever brighter, a high-pitched hum filling the room. At last, the lance flickered, and came apart in a sonic boom. Magic exploded outwards, and the man's eyes widened as the shield shattered from the backlash.
Brightness engulfed them as it tore into Remus, and much more importantly, the wolf.
Remus felt his insides catch fire as the wolf writhed in agony, every fiber of his being revolting against the diametrically opposed magic that was currently flooding his body. When the light finally faded, so did the last traces of his awareness. He could only hope that it had been enough.