Iris loved her summer vacation. Being in the ocean was rather freeing, as there was no real expectation of what she should or shouldn't do. No chores, no demands...all she had to worry about was avoiding any Atlanteans and exploring wrecks until August, when she could hide in the Leaky Cauldron long enough to get her school supplies.
Best of all, she didn't have to worry about Voldemort being able to bother her for the entire summer. Even the strange headaches had disappeared.
It might have been a little weird to eat raw fish, and to sleep without any blankets or pillows, but the freedom more than made up for it.
Though there were a few times she left the water to eat cooked food. Even she had a limit, besides this was supposed to be her vacation.
By the time her birthday rolled around, she was really disinclined to return to England. However the goblins made it clear that the only way to legally access the main vaults was to complete her O.W.L.s with the required scores.
"This is going to suck," sighed Iris.
On the plus side, she accidentally stumbled across the Fishermen kingdom right before she returned to the surface. She was not looking forward to Hogwarts, at all.
In England...
The second she returned to England, Iris became absolutely furious. Fortunately the goblins were highly inclined to be 'nice' and thus made an appointment with Madame Bones in regards to this so-called trial for a slightly discounted price.
And by discount, it meant the goblins didn't take on any extra fees for using one of their secured rooms. Considering Iris had missed the trial and had been judged guilty, she wasn't leaving Gringotts until the "verdict" was forcibly overturned or she had a secure passage to another country that didn't have extradition treaties with England.
Madame Bones kept a rather neutral face when she entered Gringotts. Under the sanctuary laws, they couldn't legally arrest Iris Potter inside the bank unless she openly tried to harm or attacked one of the goblins.
"Ms. Potter."
"Madame Bones," said Iris. It was clear she was pissed about this, but was trying to keep a civil tongue.
"You are aware of the trial, I take it?"
"I you mean the farce where I was declared guilty for a crime that would have been impossible for me to commit in the first place, then yes. Frankly I'm not shocked Fudge was stupid enough to do this, considering the precedent set by the previous administration."
Madame Bones would get back to what she meant by that soon enough.
"Very well. Do you have any proof that you did not commit underage magic against muggles?"
Iris easily handed over her wand.
"Cast whatever magic you need to see what spells I used. The last time I had my wand on me was the day Hogwarts let out. I've had it locked up all summer," said Iris without hesitation.
Madame Bones looked to Shacklebolt, who was acting as her assistant today. They were using an Auror-issued dictaquill to record the entire meeting.
Silently, Madame Bones cast the familiar charm...it was the same standard spell used by the desk at the front of the Ministry to record all the spells used and the date it was last used.
Iris' wand came up clean...there was no magic cast since the end of Hogwarts term. Bones made copies of the recording, for both herself and Iris to keep. She was absolutely furious Fudge thought he could pull this one under her watch.
"Ms. Potter, on behalf of the Ministry I deeply apologize for this travesty. I would also like to give my condolences for your loss."
"My loss?" said Iris, completely confused. "What are you talking about?"
Kingsley spoke up, after getting a nod from his boss.
"Your aunt, cousin and uncle were murdered. Something attacked the house and they were killed, and whatever wards were around the place didn't stop them. There were also a number of people who were attacked by the same person, but the Minister refuses to acknowledge that there were rogue dementors since you never came to the trial."
Iris looked somewhat conflicted.
Madame Bones watched the girl's expression carefully. She was rather concerned that rather than be upset, Iris looked relieved.
"It doesn't surprise me that the so-called wards the headmaster claimed on the house didn't work. Petunia Dursley wasn't my aunt in the first place," said Iris finally.
Seeing the shocked expression on their faces, Iris explained.
"I learned last year after awakening a latent ability of my mother's family during the second task that Petunia Dursley was not blood related to my mother in any form. Which meant the wards Professor Dumbledore claimed needed to be powered each summer didn't exist in the first place. And if he was counting on some form of familial affection from Petunia over raising her niece, then he was gravely misinformed regarding the woman's feelings towards my mother. Petunia Dursley despised magic and by extension anyone who had it."
"I see," said Madame Bones.
"According to the goblins some of my mother's family is still alive, such as my grandfather and my real aunt, but I'm having great difficulty contact them. From what the test showed, I'm technically a pure blood, not a half blood."
Atlanteans were considered to be powerful wizards, and any child produced between a high born and a wizard would be considered a "pure blood" so long as they were human shaped, rather than fish shaped.
By that definition, Iris was actually a pure blood, not a half-blood and could legally claim to be a Child of Nimue along with all the protections provided. It predated the Ministry and there was no way Fudge or his backers could do anything about it without getting a lot of the old families pissed off and demanding his head.
"May I ask where you actually were this summer?" asked Bones.
"Trying to locate my mother's family," said Iris.
Which was true. She had only found the Fishermen kingdom because of what the merchief had told her. She hadn't had much luck finding Xebel at all.
Madame Bones had a headache, but fortunately it wasn't her ass that was going to be in trouble once this got out.
"I will attempt to have the conviction overturned, but it might take some time. Until then I would heavily recommend you not leave Gringotts protected territory. I'm afraid that chances are you won't be able to attend Hogwarts until this gets cleared up."
"Can you make it clear to the Minister that I would be willing to accept tutors and a chance to take my O.W.L.'s independently from the school so long as the conviction is returned? I'm afraid I've lost any confidence in the so-called safety of Hogwarts after last year."
"What do you mean?" asked Madame Bones.
"An underage student was entered into a life threatening tournament against their will, by a teacher no less. And before you try to deny that, I know for a fact Fudge found the culprit because he had Barty Crouch junior kissed before he could reveal anything too damaging after he spent the better part of the year impersonating Alastor Moody."
"He what?!" demanded Bones furious.
"And don't get me started on the rather idiotic decision to send Dementors to the school after Black. I went looking for the trial records to find out why he betrayed my parents, only to find out through the goblins that he was my magic-sworn godfather and that there was no trial ever given. He was thrown into Azkaban under the assumption he was guilty, despite being the heir of an ancient and noble house. And when he was elevated to Head of the Ancient and Noble house of Black at the death of his grandfather, Fudge still didn't give him a trial, which means he spent twelve years illegally imprisoned. If the Wizangamot can allow one ancient and noble family to be thrown into that prison without a chance of a proper trial, then who's to say Fudge can't start sending other families there in order to shut up anyone who disagrees too loudly against him?"
Bones was pissed, and heads would roll once she returned to the Ministry.
"I assure you, Ms. Potter, I will oversee that this farce is exposed."
"Madame Bones, please inform the Minister that if he refuses to acknowledge his part in this mess and publicly apologizes in the media, both written and on the radio, that I will invoke the Protection of Nimue and demand satisfaction," said Iris.
Madame Bones could feel the weight of those words...it seemed Iris had a legitimate claim to invoke that particular bit of Old Magic, and she was rather glad she wasn't the person Iris was pissed at. And that she had absolutely no part in what happened.
In the Order of the Phoenix
The entire Order was in an uproar over the fact Iris had returned. However Kingsley couldn't give them any details of what was said in Gringotts just yet, as he was bound to silence on the matter.
All he could say was that Iris was indeed back, and she was pissed that the Minister had tried her for underage magic when she had her wand locked up in a safety deposit box all summer and hadn't even been in England when the attack happened.
About the biggest upset was the news that Petunia Dursley wasn't even Iris' aunt. Bill had examined the wards personally, but he couldn't fully explain why they didn't protect the family and were basically non-functioning...after he got through reaming the Headmaster for using such barbaric protection wards that would have drained Iris to fuel them, since she was the only magical in the neighborhood.
If Lily wasn't Petunia's sister, then it explained why they didn't work...there was nothing for the wards to latch onto in the first place, so the drain was thankfully nonexistent.
"She actually demanded that Fudge publicly apologize?" said Sirius...before he started cracking up.
Kingsley grimaced.
"Iris said quite clearly that she would invoke an old magic for protection if Fudge didn't apologize...and from what I felt in that room, I think she might have a legitimate claim."
Dead silence.
"Is that even possible?" asked Hermione.
"Under normal circumstances, no. Olde Magick is very tricky and requires very specific conditions for someone to invoke them without a ritual. It's not really studied because the Ministry put more emphasis on wands and less on family magicks," said Bill. "However if you know where to look, or if you're really fortunate and you receive a blessing by a being loved by magic, then the protections they can invoke are stronger than anything any ten wizards could come up with combined. Even the Headmaster wouldn't be able to trump them."
Dumbledore didn't look happy about that.
"Which protection did she say she would invoke?" asked Sirius.
"She wouldn't say, but the name would be instantly recognizable and has strong ties to Merlin. The being that she named in particular is female," said Kingsley. And he was skirting the edges of his oath saying that much.
"Where was she?" asked Molly loudly.
"She said she spent the summer looking for her mother's actual family, since Petunia was her adopted aunt."
Iris looked at the paper with slight satisfaction. It had taken two long months, but Fudge had finally rescinded the false conviction he had given her. Since she couldn't really leave protected territory, she had opted to live on Black Island, which was a decently sized tropical paradise that was under the complete control of the Ancient and Noble house of Black. The wards were a nasty piece of work to anyone who wasn't of the bloodline or invited by someone with Black blood.
It was also unplottable and required a special portkey to access it which could only be given by Gringotts. At least the normal way. Once Iris was there, she checked and found that there weren't any wards to keep someone who could literally swim under the wards around the island. It was so deep that no human would survive the depths, but it didn't bother her in the least.
Though she had to wonder who was more surprised when she finally passed the ward line... the ancient creature that looked rather vicious with intelligent eyes, or herself.
Apparently it had been living under the island ever since the Blacks took it over, finding the wards a rather pleasant place to nap without worry of being hunted by others bigger and more cunning than itself.
Not that it had to worry much about that anymore, since most of them died out, but it was too disinclined to deal with any wizards that found it.
Fortunately it was capable of speaking in a somewhat recognizable language, and a pleasant conversationalist. Hagrid would almost certainly love it for how big and terrifying it was.
Still, the fact remained that Iris wasn't particularly inclined to return to Hogwarts. Not only was she severely disillusioned by the safety the Headmaster claimed, but she was actually learning a lot more from the tutors she hired than she ever had from the teachers in the school.
All of them were highly competent and had actual masteries in their subject, though her defense teacher admitted that just by showing the Patronus charm, she would likely gain an instant Outstanding for both Charms and Defense, considering that it was difficult even for adult wizards to cast.
Her transfiguration needed a bit of tightening up and her history was appalling. Not surprising, considering Dumbledore was so cheap he insisted on keeping a ghost on the staff as the teacher. Binns was more likely to put his students to sleep than teach anything useful.
Potions...she was more surprised by herself when she discovered that she had a natural aptitude for it, though it was almost completely spoiled by Snape's vitriol against her and her father.