Chapter 33 - Trife

Why did it have to be a cat? Why couldn't it have been anything else?

No matter how many times she tried to remind herself of the fact that this was just the crazy caretaker's nosy companion, she couldn't help but see black fur where there was none, purple eyes where there should be none.

It didn't even matter if she looked at it anymore, the image was firmly stuck in her mind. On second thought, she would have much preferred a porcelain kitten.

At some point she had realized that they were no longer alone. It seemed like the entirety of Slytherin and Hufflepuff had collectively decided to take their leave from the feast and head towards their common rooms—which just so happened to lead them right here.

"Enemies of the heir - beware?"

She blinked, her gaze finally leaving the stiff form of the cat, as she noticed what Malfoy was talking about. Written in large blood red jagged letters, over the wall right next to it, was a message proclaiming that the Chamber of Secrets had been opened. Whatever that was, it couldn't be anything good.

She turned to see Malfoy marveling at the writing with a smirk, and next to him, Ron and Hermione forcing their way through the crowd.

"What, are you thinking of making some new enemies, Malfoy?" came a droll voice from none other than Theo, who was approaching them from the other side. "Don't you have plenty of those already?"

Malfoy turned towards him and sneered. "And what makes you so sure that doesn't apply to you? It's pretty hard to miss your new... allegiances."

Iris head was swimming with the rapidly changing situation, on top of her thoughts still being hung up on the fact that it was a bloody cat.

Theo smirked back. "I'm confident in my allegiances. Are you?"

Iris couldn't help but blush at the vote of confidence, but also felt like he was giving her too much credit. It seemed like all of them were in on some sort of secret that she wasn't privy to. Well, her and apparently, Harry, if his look of utter confusion was anything to go by. What or who was the illustrious heir? Why did all of them seem to act like they knew what he wanted, and what to expect?

"Out of the way! What's all this! I'll have you all-" They were interrupted by the creepy caretaker forcing his way through the crowd to see what all the ruckus was about, only to freeze up as he met the sight of the stiff body of his pet, strung up by the tail on a nearby torch.

"M-Mrs. Norris?"

All the color had left his face, and his voice along with it. The entire body of students seemed to have fallen silent as the man was suddenly having trouble breathing. Clunky uncertain footsteps led him all the way up to the torch, and he held out a shaky hand as if to touch the feline, but the closer he got, the worse the tremors grew.

"You're going to miss your dinner, dear..."

His shaking hands moved up, trying to grasp at the torch, but didn't find purchase as he grew worse and worse, and Iris was eerily reminded of her first encounter with him. Whatever had happened back then, he had in the end helped her getting cleaned up, and he had even gotten Harry to the hospital wing. And the look of utter despair on his face at the fate of his companion reminded her all too much of her own painful memories.

Without even really understanding why she did it, she approached, put a hand on his arm, and said, "Let me help, sir."

He jumped at the touch but didn't look at her. His hands had stopped fumbling with the torch and returned to being held uselessly in front of him. Without saying a word, Iris withdrew her wand, produced yellow light and softly incanted, "Relashio."

The knot came loose, and she quickly caught the semi-stiff form of Mrs. Norris in her arms. She turned, and then uncertainly held out the body to the grown man who was falling apart in front of her very eyes. He seemed both reluctant and possessive, unsure what to do, denial and affection warring on his face. Somehow, Iris now found herself in the center of this mess, and felt like she was expected to be doing something here, even though she really didn't want anything to do with this whole situation. She suddenly felt a pang of sympathy for Mrs. Figg of all people.

He slowly reached out shaking hands and took the feline from her grasp.

"I'm so sorry, dear... My fault... always my fault... shouldn't have... couldn't..."

Iris had no idea what to do here, as the caretaker kept muttering to himself, as he helplessly clung to the small animal. She wasn't any good with this stuff. She knew cats, but... that was about it. It wasn't like any of this was her fault, anyway.

"Argus?" a soft wizened voice broke her out of her thoughts. "What happened?"

The headmaster stopped to take in the scene, then he saw the literal writing on the wall.

"All students will be returning to their dormitories, immediately."

Iris shrugged and turned, eager to get the hell out of here.

"All, except for the two of you."

God damnit.

She turned to shoot Theo a sheepish look which he answered with a raised eyebrow, to which she gave a helpless shrug. Iris turned to look for Tracey but couldn't spot her anywhere in the crowd. Maybe she had already returned to their room.

"It wasn't us, sir! We've... well, I was looking for Iris, but then... Uhm... then found her, and... we tried to return, but... we instead found... this."

Harry really was a terrible liar, even if just by omission.

There was a raspy sob, and the caretaker collapsed in front of the headmaster. "She's dead, Albus! Dead! She was... she was just... What... what am I supposed to do?! I... I can't..."

Okay, she might have been a mess after Salem, but she didn't think that even she had been that bad. Well, to be fair, she had attempted a bootleg necromantic ritual about which the less was said the better, but still. There was performing illegal midnight resurrections in a cemetery, and then there was whatever this was.

Dumbledore, perfectly calm as always, slowly bent down and offered a hand.

"May I have a look, Argus?"

The man hesitantly scrambled to his feet but didn't hand over the cat. The headmaster withdrew a long, elegant wand and muttered something as he waved it about, colors flashing too fast for her to see.

Finally, Dumbledore frowned, and lowered his wand.

"I shudder to think who, or rather, what could have done this. There aren't any external wounds as far as I can tell, nor any recognizable distinct spell residue. Yet it is painfully obvious that this was not a death by natural causes."

Iris wondered about that herself. She had gone down the same corridor minutes earlier. Either she had completely missed it somehow, or someone had put up the cat and the writing in the few minutes between that and when they had found it. Also, did the voice Harry heard have something to do with it? She wondered why he hadn't told the headmaster about it, but she guessed he was doubting himself, after she had told him that she hadn't heard anything.

"If you'd allow me to examine her together with Poppy-"

"No! You're not taking her too! You've already taken everything else!" the caretaker yelled, turned, and stumbled down the corridor, the body of his companion clutched in his arms.

And again, she felt a strong sense of Déjà-vu.

Dumbledore sadly looked at the retreating form of the broken man, until a new voice cut into the silence.

"A real tragedy, that. While I can't narrow down the exact spell, I might have been able to counter it, had I been present. But alas, I sadly can't be everywhere at once..."

Everyone's eyes turned to their new Defense professor, who had just decided to make his presence known. Iris raised an eyebrow. What Dumbledore had described sounded eerily close to the Killing Curse. She wondered how Lockhart would have tried to counter that.

"But fear not, for now that I am here, I'll gladly help to shine a light into this mystery and assist the perpetrator in finding his way to justice."

None of the teachers seemed to know how to respond to that. Iris wasn't sure herself. A man of his reputation would definitely go a long way into helping with something like this, but...

"Thank you, Gilderoy, I'm sure your help will be invaluable," replied Dumbledore finally.

The cheerful man flashed him a blinding smile, and the headmaster slowly turned to face Harry and her.

"Now then, I have to ask. Was there anything else the two of you would like to tell me?"

Iris blinked. Should she mention her encounter with Lily? But she thought that was unlikely to be related. She had seen her the entire time, and she had left in another direction. And also, she somehow felt that whatever happened to Lily was her fault in a way. If only she hadn't traded rooms... But she couldn't know that.

"Well, I did pass through that corridor just a few minutes before we found it, so it had to have been pretty recent. And also, they wouldn't have left towards the great hall, or I would have noticed them. Also, it wasn't Harry, he came from the other direction."

Well, that wasn't quite true, it was just what he said. She had been pretty out of it, she wasn't quite sure where he had come from. But they didn't have to know that.

Dumbledore nodded. "Ah. In that case, I shall bid you a good night, and ask you to return to your dorms as well. Minerva, Gilderoy, if you would accompany them?"

And of course, she'd end up with the new Defense professor. Iris had half expected him to make a fuss in order to spend some time with Harry like in Diagon Alley, but he had just nodded along, and begun to accompany her down the corridor.

The professor didn't even last ten seconds before he directed his blinding smile at her and began to talk. "So, Iris. Do you mind if I call you Iris?"

She did, but you didn't tell a professor that to the face.

"Was there anything you noticed when you arrived in the corridor? You said you passed through it just before—maybe you saw something? Any little detail could be of importance, no matter how insignificant, as I'm sure you know if you've read my books," he said with a chuckle.

Yeah, she really preferred the things that he did, to the things that he said.

"I don't think so, the corridor was pretty much empty—but I also wasn't paying all that much attention, really," Iris admitted with a shrug.

"Well, Iris, I can't help but wonder why you were all the way out here in the first place? Didn't you want to join your friends at the feast?" Lockhart queried with a jovial smile.

Iris tried to remain impassive. She had been studying in the old detention wing again, but she couldn't tell him that, especially not about the things she had been doing there. Now that her detentions with Professor "Quirrell" were no longer happening, she had taken to resuming her attempts at casting polarized spells on her own, in a place as far away from prying eyes as she could think of. She'd just have to be careful to avoid it during the full moon.

"I lost track of time studying in the library. When I finally realized the feast was already underway, I tried to get there as soon as I could," Iris replied.

"I see. And so, you came here straight from the library?"

Iris opened her mouth but caught herself just in time. The library was on the other side of the castle.

"Erm... Not exactly," she began reluctantly. "I had to stop by my room, because I..." Iris looked down at her feet. "Uhm... I spilled some ink on my shirt. I couldn't exactly show up to a school celebration like that," Iris replied with an added squirm, and what was hopefully a blush.

"Oh, how unfortunate. And you were already running late to the feast," Lockhart added with a sympathetic smile.

She wasn't quite sure if he was buying it, so she decided to add another approach.

"I guess I should have just taken your advice from Break with a Banshee and used an Impervius Charm on all my robes..."

"Well, we can't all be me, can we?" he replied with a chuckle.

Iris let out a silent breath. Luckily, they quickly arrived at the entrance to her common room after that. She whispered the password, and made to step inside, when a firm hand settled on her shoulder, making her flinch.

"If you do recall anything, and I mean anything, please do not hesitate to find me in my office, alright?"

She only managed a nod, still frozen stiff. She couldn't even look at him. When he finally let go, she all but fled inside.

"So, Iris... How come you're right at the center of this latest bit of trouble again? Spill, what happened?"

Iris threw Theo an annoyed look and countered. "You first! Who's this heir? And why does everyone except me seem to know about them?"

Theo just smirked in reply, but finally deigned her with an answer, just as Tracey sat down next to her in the common room. "Well, given the fact that the message proclaimed that the Chamber of Secrets had been opened, that would make the aforementioned heir-"

"The Heir of Slytherin?" Tracey cut in, eyes wide. "Okay, what on earth did I miss?"

"Someone tied up the caretaker's old cat outside the second-floor girl's toilets, and put up a message," Theo explained. "Well, more of a warning, really. No idea what happened to the cat, though. Was it-"

"Dead," Iris confirmed morosely. There was a pregnant pause as the trio let that sink in. Iris shook herself and continued. "Under very suspicious circumstances, according to Dumbledore. No wounds, no residue... It almost sounded like the Killing Curse to me..."

"That seems unlikely," interjected Theo. "I'm pretty sure that would very much leave some residue, or at least something for Dumbledore to be able to recognize it. The ministry would have descended into chaos during the last war, if it didn't."

"Well, it kinda did that anyway," added Tracey.

"Yes, but not because they couldn't figure out why people kept keeling over for no reason," Theo snarked back.

Iris frowned. "Okay, so if it wasn't the Killing Curse, then what? Dumbledore said it was obvious that it wasn't natural causes. And I don't think he was talking about the message on the wall."

"No idea, honestly, unless it was a sort of poison," Theo mused.

Iris frowned. "Okay, can we back up for a bit? Heir of Slytherin? Who's that?"

Tracey perked up. "Nobody knows! It's a myth, really. The legend says that Slytherin left a secret chamber in the castle, containing a monster that only his heir would be able to control."

Iris eyebrows rose. "What sort of monster?"

"Once again, nobody knows. There has never been any recorded mention of the chamber in history that wasn't pure speculation, and the monster has obviously never been seen," Tracey explained.

Theo cupped his chin in thought. "For all we know, whoever is doing this is just using the myth to disguise their true identity, and the way they did it."

That... actually made a lot of sense. She guessed that's why Theo had been so open with his confidence in her, if he suspected that whoever this was might not be the actual heir to Slytherin and was pretty much just performing a massive bluff.

"Who would the enemies of Slytherin's heir even be, you know, if it was actually him?" Iris asked.

"Well, assuming his goals would align with Slytherin's, probably Muggleborns, maybe Squibs, and generally everyone on that side of the last war," Theo replied with a shrug.

Tracey frowned. "I'm not so sure, actually. Historically, the concept of blood-purity is rather recent, you only really find references to it in the last five hundred years. But Slytherin lived twice that amount of time ago. I'm not saying it's impossible, but it also seems likely that the perception of him has shifted over time to align with current... values."

Theo raised an eyebrow. "Is that so?"

Iris frowned. "Well, but even if that's true, there's no telling if the heir thinks the same, or even knows that. Well, if they are actually Slytherin's heir..." she trailed off, then another thought came to mind. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but I had thought the Slytherin line had ended ages ago? So, it's not like they could just ask their parents..."

Tracey shrugged. "There's some families who claimed to be his descendants, but nobody has proven it, or actually claimed the house."

"And the last one who did so was the Dark Lord," added Theo grimly.

Iris drew a breath. Now it made a lot more sense why everyone had assumed the things they did.

"Okay, now it's your turn. What happened before we found you?" queried Theo, causing Tracey to sit up straighter.

"Uh... I lost track of time, because I was... you know... practicing... you know where."

Theo just smirked, and raised an eyebrow, urging her to continue.

"Well, on the way to the feast, I ran across Lily Moon of all people. I don't think she was connected to what happen, but... Well, something was up. She was half-way past losing it for some reason. I tried to get her to talk, but she basically shoved me off and all but fled..."

Theo frowned. "Sounds pretty suspicious to me..."

Iris shook her head. "I did pass through the corridor where it happened right before that and didn't notice anything. I really don't see how it could be her. Also, you know, I've been sharing a room with her for a day, which... yeah, isn't all that much. But I really don't see her doing something like this. That girl was basically afraid of her own shadow."

"It's strange. I haven't seen her around all that much the whole year. I haven't seen her talk with anyone really, or in the common room in general. And even last year, not really. You think she's in trouble?" asked Tracey with concern.

"I don't know. She was pretty shy when we were sharing rooms, but today was... I don't know," Iris admitted.

"Anyway, after she ran off, Harry found me, and said that he heard some sort of voice. And not like our voices, but something else. He described it as old, large, and... well, angry, like it wanted to hurt someone. I hadn't heard anything at all, but he claimed it was coming from the corridor I had just passed through, so we checked it out, and well, you saw what we found there."

"Okay... Things have officially gotten strange," declared Theo.

"Only just now?" asked Tracey incredulously. "What counts as a normal day for you then?"

"Oh, you know, just the usual... Someone setting half the common room on fire, or half the corridor..."

"Hey! That was one time..." Iris groaned, causing Tracey to giggle.

~V~

"Today's subject will be the Revealing Charm. A very essential and versatile spell, which does exactly as the name suggests. It reveals things that are hidden. And it does so both literally and figuratively. It can be used to see through illusion charms, just as well as to find objects or people that are lost or would be of importance to the caster, and even to reveal secrets, enchantments, or hidden doors. Anything that can be revealed, will be revealed; if you have the required skill with a wand."

Iris shot another look at the Greengrass girl, who was already poised and ready with her wand held above the slip of parchment that Flitwick had handed out. This time, she'd show her.

Already thinking ahead, she had narrowed down her choice of colors to Destruction and Illusion, which did make a faint shade of Purple.

"The incantation is-"

"Revelio!"

Swishing her wand slowly in a wide arc, a burst of purple flashed out and drenched the room for a second, until her parchment started glowing.

Golden letters formed, revealing the words: Well done!

Iris shot a small smirk in the direction of her rival, and for the first time, the girl met her look, and her visage shifted into annoyance. She'd count that as a win in her book.

"Well done, Ms. Potter, although I'd be grateful if you'd leave some secrets for the rest of us, your classmates need to perform their spell as well, after all."

Iris looked around, and saw everyone's parchment glowing just like hers, revealing the same words of encouragement. This caused her to blush and lower her wand.

The lesson continued, until the professor finally called it quits and set them to write seven inches on the Shrinking Charm. As Iris was packing up her things, she had noticed that someone had approached her desk. Looking up revealed the sour face of none other than Greengrass.

"You must be pretty happy with yourself."

Iris felt her mouth involuntarily form into a smirk. Why yes, she really was. She really had finally gotten a reaction this time.

The black haired Slytherin kept staring at her for some seconds, as if waiting for her to say something, and then she continued in a deadpan tone.

"Has it ever occurred to you that the world does not revolve around you?"

Iris blinked. What was she on about?

"This... rivalry... of yours, it's quite... vexing."

Her smirk widened. Did she finally get her to acknowledge it?

"I really have tried my best to ignore your fixation for the past year, but I cannot tolerate when it starts to interfere with my spellwork," the girl stated in a sharp tone.

Okay, she supposed she might have gone a bit overboard, but she had still beaten her to it, and finally gotten her to acknowledge it. Greengrass was just staring at her, blue eyes boring into her own.

Finally, she sighed. "Let me spell it out for you then," the girl said, then took one final step closer, and pinned her under a cold gaze.

"I. do. not. care. I don't care about you, or your spells, your grades, or my own grades."

Iris felt an uncomfortable cold sensation creep up her spine at the words, mixed with a trace of bubbling anger.

"I couldn't care less about you showing me up, and neither should you. I'm not here for grades, to show off, or prove myself. I'm here to learn."

The words hit Iris like a slap in the face, causing all her anger to evaporate. She... well, she was too, wasn't she? But somewhere along the line, she had gotten sidetracked.

"I need to learn, and you're making that harder than it needs to be."

She hated the fact that her words hit close to home. She needed to learn as well. She was already at a disadvantage, and now there was a Dark Lord out there, trying to kill Harry. Just what had she been doing?

"I..." Iris began but didn't know what to say.

"You really should work on your control, and not just with your spells, before someone gets hurt."

And with that, the girl whirled around, and swept out of the classroom, her hair trailing through the air behind her. Iris was just staring after her, not knowing what to think. Somehow, her words had hit a lot deeper than she had expected. She felt like she had just soundly lost every single argument in a confrontation, and she hadn't even said a word.

Finally, she snapped out of it enough to pack the rest of her things, and make her way to the door, to find that Neville had apparently come by to pick her up for their joint lunch. She had completely forgotten about that.

"Was that... Greengrass? What are you doing with her?" Neville asked anxiously.

"Uhm, nothing, we... Well, just discussing Charms..."

"I... uhm... you shouldn't... well, I mean... You'd better stay away from her."

Iris blinked. "Huh? Why?"

Neville looked around, then leaned closer and whispered. "You know I've had to partner with her in potions this year, right?"

Iris raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, so?"

"You... I... what I mean... It's just that she's... scary."

Iris just stared at him dumbfounded. "Scary?"

"Really scary. And I mean, not in the way you're scary," he added, then squirmed.

"What? I'm not scary!" replied Iris indignantly.

Neville just gave a weak smile.

"Yeah, that's my point. You don't even realize it. But her... She's scary, and she knows it," Neville said with a shiver.

Greengrass, scary? Well, she supposed she was acting pretty cold and mysterious, and apparently didn't care about class all that much, but scary? She had seemed pretty normal to her.

"Just... Be careful, okay?" Neville asked with an uncertain expression.

"Sure," Iris said with a smile.