Chapter 35 - Arming the populace
Iris had wandered back into her room on autopilot that night, her mind still whirling both with the memories of Harry's first Quidditch game which he had somehow managed to win, as well as the subsequent night she had spent with Hermione, especially the way it had ended. She had barely managed to get a few hours of sleep when she was ruthlessly jolted from her slumber by a sharp and familiar voice echoing through their room.
"All students will be joining me in the common room, immediately."
Iris blinked the sleep out of her eyes, with adrenaline rushing through her system. What the hell? Was that... Snape? What was happening? He had never summoned them like this before. She exchanged a worried glance with Tracey, and then quickly began getting dressed. By the time they made it to the common room, most of the adrenaline had already faded, and she was once again struggling to stay on her feet.
Professor Snape was standing in front of the fireplace, arms crossed, and was staring down her assorted housemates. He hadn't said a word, and nobody else had dared to, either.
Finally, after pretty much everyone had gone way past uncomfortable straight into terrified, he spoke up, his voice barely a whisper.
"I truly hope that this gathering will prove to be... pointless in the end."
Nobody managed to even so much as raise an eyebrow. The tension was palpable in the air, and Iris felt worried of so much as breathing too loudly.
"The third rule of Slytherin house may be the last, but despite what some of you might believe, it is most certainly not the least."
Silence followed. Iris frowned. The third rule... had someone violated the Truce?
"Perhaps I have given you the wrong... impression... after the incident involving the caretaker's cat. Therefore, so that even the most mentally inept among you can understand, let me be very clear."
Somehow, his glare increased even further in intensity, a feat which Iris hadn't considered possible. "The Truce is sacred. It is not a means to an end, an excuse, or a vague guideline for you to ignore when it suits you. Some of you seem to be treating it as a temporary necessary evil, skirting and flaunting its edges as if expecting it to fall any day now."
He seemed to be glaring at Malfoy in particular at this point, who squirmed, but didn't look away.
"And yet you never stop to consider what the result of that would be. Not just in the short term, but in the long run. The wizarding world cannot withstand another war like the last one. No matter which side would win, in the end, Magical Britain would lose as a whole. The goal of the Truce is to prevent exactly that. And the only way the Truce can work, is if we treat it as if it is permanent."
Students were throwing uneasy glances at each other now. Apparently, nobody seemed to know what was going on, or who was to blame for the renewed ire of their head of house.
"Tonight, sometime before midnight, a student was attacked, presumably by the individual proclaiming themselves the 'Heir of Slytherin'."
There were some gasps at that statement. An attack? Someone had died? Iris felt a cold shiver run down her spine.
"Mr. Creevey was found petrified in the corridor leading up to the Gryffindor common room."
Iris couldn't help but let out a silent breath of relief, however, she immediately tensed back up as Professor Snape's gaze swept over her for a second.
"This was not a harmless prank, nor an innocent schoolyard fight between children. This was, in all respects, a premeditated attack on a muggleborn student, using the darkest of magics. If there ever was cause for the Truce to crumble, it would be this."
They had attacked a muggleborn? Iris shot a look at Theo, who shared her expression. Apparently, his theory had been right after all.
"Should I discover that despite the trust I have awarded you, one of you... was responsible, you. can. be. sure," he paused, and somehow seemed to be looking every single one of them into the eyes all at once.
"Expulsion... will be the least of your concerns."
With that, he whirled around, and disappeared down the infinitely stretching hallway down the center of their common room, black robes billowing behind him.
~V~
"Can you all hear me? And more importantly, see me? Good, good," said the owner of three-times Witch Weekly's most charming smile award, while seemingly determined to make it four.
"I'm sure you're all wondering why we are having this little out of schedule gathering of ours, right?"
Iris would be very thankful if he'd just shut up and get to the point for once.
"You see, given recent... unfortunate events, I thought it prudent to... prepare you for all eventualities, let's say. Therefore, I decided to ask Headmaster Dumbledore for permission to restart the Hogwarts dueling club."
This resulted in some excited whispers, Iris very much among them. Would she get to try her skills against other students? Maybe even Greengrass? Her excitement was squashed a little at that thought. As much as the idea enticed her, she couldn't help be reminded of the reprimand the girl had delivered. That's right. As much fun as this sounded, this was an opportunity. A chance to try to test and hone her skills against real people; skills that she would very much need if the Dark Lord came back to life.
But still. She couldn't help but feel a little spark of excitement as she considered all the possible dueling partners in the room, mostly those from her own house.
"Thankfully, both Professor Flitwick and Professor Lupin have agreed to join me in overseeing this little venture, and will be assisting me in imparting to you the necessary knowledge to, well... duel," he said and chuckled, causing a round of cheers as the two aforementioned professors stepped up onto the podium next to him.
"Now, I'm sure I don't need to tell you about myself..." he began with a blinding smile, and continued, "But in case anyone was doubting the credentials of my fellow colleagues, a little known fact is that Professor Flitwick over here was actually an international dueling champion in his youth, and Professor Lupin is—much like most of us—a veteran of the last war—and probably one of the most seasoned ones at that. I'm very sure they both have a lot to teach to all of you."
Iris wide-eyed gaze flicked between two of her most favorite professors in awe. Sure, she had realized that Lupin was probably pretty skilled, he had managed to take out Quirrell after all, and she had seen Flitwick casually dodging the chaos of her own making in Professor Vectors office, but Lockhart had made them sound like kind of a big deal still.
"Alright then. To begin, we'll have to form pairs. Everyone, pick your favorite, and make sure you have some space, at least five steps apart. On the count of three, you'll begin casting spells, and the only spells you'll be allowed to cast for now are the stinging hex, and the shield charm."
Iris threw a look at Harry, who had already paired up with Ron, and turned back over to Tracey, who seemed to have partnered up with Theo, both of them wearing slightly too inconspicuous expressions. Neville threw her an apologetic and hesitant look, as he moved to partner up with Seamus. Oh, come on! She wasn't that scary, was she?
The one person she had really wanted to duel, but not necessarily partner with, apparently had already paired up with her roommate.
Looking further, she noticed that Malfoy still didn't have a partner. Oh, hell no. Quickly her eyes darted around, hoping to find her only other remaining friend in the room.
"Hey, Iris, want to partner up?" came the voice of said friend, who seemed to have found her first instead.
"Susan, hi! Uhm... Sure! You're not partnering with Hannah?" Iris asked with a smile.
The Hufflepuff girl blushed and turned to the side. Iris followed her gaze to find Susan's best friend, who had seemingly partnered up with Justin Finch-Fletchley instead and was shooting guilty looks their way. Huh.
Iris turned back and noticed that the only two remaining partnerless students seemed to be Malfoy and Hermione of all people. That was bound to go down well.
"On three, ready? One... Two... Thr-"
"Acus!" The room drowned in shouts of spells, and Iris didn't waste a second. Her wand flashed in a mix of Violet and Red, and she jabbed her arm forwards, causing a jet of red to streak towards Susan, who had turned her body to the side, easily leaning out of the way, causing the spell to go wide, and almost hit Lockhart. Iris narrowed her eyes, and cast again, another two spells aiming for the center of her mass, but this time, Susan swiped her wand downwards, and incanted "Protego!" which caused a painfully familiar pale-blue shield to emerge and wrap around her, and her spells to splash against it with a snap of sparks.
Susan immediately dropped the shield, and in a smooth motion quickly cast three consecutive stinging hexes from her wand, causing Iris to frantically dodge to the side. Only too late she realized that only the first spell had been aimed at her, the other two had covered her sides, one of which was now on a direct collision course with her, and only moments later she felt a painful jab as the spell impacted her stomach. Suddenly, there was yet another sting, this time to her bum. Iris whirled around, and she realized the cause. Not the exact caster, mind you. Much like her own spell earlier, about half the spells that her classmates were casting didn't hit their target at all, and either splashed into the wall if they were lucky, or into other students if they weren't.
There was a sharp bang that caused everyone to freeze in their place, and turn towards the source, where upon further inspection, they found Professor Flitwick, his full imposing height of somehow even shorter than her on full display.
"Very good. Thank you all for helping me demonstrate why with dueling, it is essential to strictly adhere to the standard dueling rules and etiquette," he said and threw a look at Lockhart, who was still smiling, of course.
"You and your partner will line up at one of the three dueling areas, you will wait your turn, and we will have you duel one at a time. With dueling, the first rule is to ensure you don't hurt any spectators. The second rule being that you don't hurt your opponent, more than regulations allow, that is," he added with a grin.
Iris was only barely listening though. She was still staring at Susan in awe. She guessed she could see why Hannah hadn't wanted to partner with her. Judging from her performance in Charms class, she had been, well, just above average probably, but the way she had stood, moved, how she had cast her spells and completely overwhelmed her in a second... Iris couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy, but most of all, she felt motivated. She really wanted to beat her now.
Moving into the line at one of the podiums, the girls waited their turn until Professor Lupin stepped up to adjudicate their duel.
"Okay, you two. The rules are simple. You may use any spell as long as it is legal and cannot cause direct physical injury to your opponent. Your initial goal will be to disarm each other. Once one participant loses their wand, the match is forfeit. Any questions?"
Iris shook her head, already thinking of which spells she would use. The goal was to disarm, well, there was one spell that came to mind. She hadn't read much about it, but she had seen both Warrington and Malfoy use it to great effect, and it didn't seem all too complicated. It might be worth a try...
But what aspects would it use? Force, because it would knock your wand out of your hand? But that didn't seem quite right. It didn't do anything specific, it seemed more like its goal was do symbolically disarm someone. Maybe something with Control? But what would- Right! Without a wand, you'd lose Control. So the spell was essentially Destroying someone's Control!
Iris squared herself on her end of the podium, facing Susan, lifted her wand, and on the count of three, drew Red and Yellow light, swiped her wand in the familiar circular pattern and shouted "Expelliarmus!"
She might have as well used a stinging hex. Not that her spell didn't work, mind you. But Susan had been ready. "Protego!"
Iris watched in dismay as she was once again foiled by the one spell she could never do, and was then quickly forced to dive as Susan returned that exact same spell back at her. Scrambling back to her feet, she noticed Susan shooting her a hesitant expression, until she desperately jabbed her wand again, and shouted "Depulso!", resorting to the one spell that had managed to get her out of so many dire situations.
And Susan simply shifted her body a bit to her side, allowing the spell to harmlessly sizzle past her. Iris kept throwing more spells, but the girl didn't even shield them anymore really, whether she had realized Iris' handicap and decided to even the playing field, or had just decided to have fun, was anyone's guess. Iris growled and started throwing a volley of stinging hexes, two of which actually hit Susan, causing her to wince. Iris looked at her for a moment and stopped casting, as she narrowed her eyes. First, she had stopped using shields, and now, she had even gotten hit by her weakest spells. Was she...
Iris lowered her wand and gave Susan a sharp look. "If you're going easy on me, don't. I need to learn; I need to get better. I can't do that if you're not taking me seriously."
Susan was staring at her with a torn expression, until she finally firmed her jaw and nodded. Iris didn't even really have time to regret her injured pride, as her words quickly came back to bite her.
"Lapsus!"
Iris felt something cold rush over her, causing a tingly slippery sensation all across her skin at the flash of blue light. Before she even had time to so much as think of a spell to counter, she was interrupted by another shout.
"Pulsare!"
A circular blast of air erupted out of Susan's wand, and knocked Iris back a step. Only once she heard the all too familiar clattering of stone upon stone, she realized what had just happened. The impact had caused her wand to slip through her fingers as if friction was more of an afterthought.
"Match!" came the voice of Professor Lupin, as he held up his wand and shot up a small shower of sparks.
Iris was still rooted to the spot, staring down at her wand dumbfounded. What on earth had just happened? This... this was... What was she supposed to do against that? Huh. Well, maybe... She didn't quite know how to counter the first spell, she hadn't really seen any spell she could have dodged there, and she couldn't do finite, either. But... Maybe she could counter the second part with a spell like Ventus? Yeah. There was always a way with magic, she just had to figure out how she could use all the spells she knew to beat Susan.
Iris turned and noticed that Lupin had stepped up to her.
"Your spellwork is solid, but you need to work on your defense," he said while nodding.
Yeah, no shit, Sherlock.
"Pay attention to the way she's standing. One foot in front of the other, knees bent, the center of your mass right between your feet. This allows you to dodge in any direction at a moment's notice, without losing your footing. It's not quite as stable a position against wind attacks, but you'll have a much easier time dodging spells."
Iris blinked, and turned back to look at Susan, who had helpfully remained in position. Lupin spoke up again. "Do you have a plan on how to deal with her attack?"
Iris squared her jaw, and nodded.
"Good. Then back to your marks."
Once more, she took position, this time trying to copy the way Susan was standing. It felt pretty weird to stand slightly crouched like that, but she also noticed that it seemed a lot easier to move her body to the sides like this without removing her feet from the ground. On Lupins mark, they started exchanging spells again. Iris had an easier time dodging now, she still didn't manage to hit anything, as any spells that Susan wouldn't manage to dodge, she just shielded instead. A few times, Iris tried to hit her with a charged Depulso again, since that mono-aspect spell had once managed to break Warrington's shield, but either Susan knew, or at least she suspected that something was up from the way the spell looked and sounded when it was a bit overpowered, and she had so far always dodged that one instead of trying to shield it.
No, if she wanted to force her to shield it, she'd have to prevent her from dodging somehow, knock her off balance maybe. Once more, Iris tried to draw up Blue light, but this time, Susan reacted.
"Lapsus!"
A flash of icy blue washed over her, and she felt the familiar slippery sensation, and Iris reacted on instinct. She drew a mix of Orange and Yellow instead, and shouted "Ventus!" just as Susan cast "Pulsare!"
The blasts of air collided, and Iris felt her hair being blown back, but her wand thankfully managed to stay in her hand. But now, she had to begin all over again, and this time, with a slippery wand.
That, at least, had only lasted for a few seconds, but every time she had tried to charge up blue light, Susan had countered with Lapsus, forcing her to abort her attempt and cast Ventus instead. In a desperate last-ditch effort, Iris tried to use Ventus to attack Susan instead, hoping to maybe disbalance her, but the girl just firmly planted her feet, and used the opening to tag her with an Expelliarmus, ending the match.
Iris was breathing deeply, as she went to retrieve her wand from a sheepishly smiling Susan. It wasn't that she had her beat in terms of spellcasting, she realized. No, much like Harry last year during their duel with Warrington, Susan seemed to cycle through just a handful of incantations. But unlike Harry, this girl had a very particular set of spells. And obviously some training to go along with them, seemingly allowing her to punch far above her weight in terms of magical prowess.
Or maybe, Iris was just not quite as good as she had thought. Nothing she had tried had phased the girl. She had expected to mostly breeze through the competition until her inevitable confrontation with Greengrass, but over the last hour, her assumptions had been thoroughly humbled. Instead, Susan had soundly proven to her in the span of the first five seconds that even prodigious talent with spellwork counted for very little if you didn't know how to use it in a fight.
Over the past year, she had built a reputation of being sort of untouchable with a wand, and had even started to believe it herself. But in truth, her reputation had been mostly based off a giant bluff, raw power and an intuitive talent with difficult spells and her strange magic, as well as a knack for rituals. None of which, it turned out, were very useful in an actual fight, except in the few cases where she had managed to win either by overwhelming her opponents with a surprise overpowered attack, or sheer dumb luck.
But now, she had to fight purely using skill, against an opponent who wiped the floor with her and made it look effortless. And if that wasn't enough, she was forced to limit herself to standard dueling spells, the most essential of which she couldn't even cast. But that really felt more like an excuse. The girl had aptly demonstrated that she could easily beat her even without the use of the shield charm.
In the end, Iris was forced to concede that she still had a lot to learn. And hopefully, her friend could help with that.
~V~
The second-year Slytherin girl was strolling down the grand staircase, making her way over towards the Great Hall, whispers again following behind her. Every time she looked at someone, they refused to meet her gaze, and they'd even go out of their way to move aside when she approached. This felt somewhat familiar from last year, yet somehow, the whole school seemed to now be acting like this. Iris had expected her less than stellar performance in the dueling club to somewhat shatter her image of being scary with a wand, but apparently, instead her reputation had started to skyrocket even higher, both on account of the advanced spells she had used, as well as courtesy of the rumors that had started to spread concerning the heir of Slytherin. Which, according to the latest grapevine news, was obviously herself.
If anything, the dueling lesson had only served to grant Susan a somewhat mythical status overnight, for being the only one able to stand up to the heir, or some such nonsense. Iris had tried to ask Susan if she maybe wanted to help her practice a bit outside of class, but the Hufflepuff girl had found herself swarmed by mostly other Hufflepuffs, even older ones, who seemed to be doing their best to keep their champion to themselves, and away from anyone else, especially herself.
Therefore, Iris had decided to go catch up with Luna instead, which had been overdue anyway ever since her overheard conversation in the corridor. Curiously, she found the girl sitting at the Gryffindor table, all the way at the end, next to another girl with flaming red hair.
"Hey there, Luna, mind if I join?"
Said girl looked up and gave her a dreamy smile. "Iris. Oh no, I don't mind at all. Please do," she said, as Iris climbed into a seat across from the two girls, and began helping herself to food and drink.
The second girl was looking at her green-trimmed robes warily "Iris? Wait, you're Iris Potter?" the redhead exclaimed, then turned an accusatory glare at Luna. "Why haven't you told me you're friends with the sister of the Boy-who-Lived?"
Iris blinked. Well, she guessed that title was still better than the dreaded Heir of Slytherin one.
"Because I'm not," Luna simply replied, causing both the girls to pause. Then, she smiled and continued, "I am simply friends with Iris."
This caused Iris to involuntarily smile a bit. At least she hadn't used her embarrassing character name again. Iris shrugged and decided that any friend of Luna's could be a friend of hers. "Iris, nice to meet ya."
"Uhm... Ginny... Weasley," came the hesitant reply.
"Oh, you're Ron's sister?" Iris asked with a smirk, throwing the girls statement right back at her, which caused her to blush.
Iris just giggled, continued piling more food onto her plate, and then added, "My condolences."
This caused the girl to return a small smile at her. "Thanks. Don't get me wrong, I love him to bits, but sometimes he's just so..."
"...Ron?" Iris helpfully supplied, causing the both of them to giggle.
"So, how are the two of you settling in at Hogwarts?" Iris asked.
The fact that none of them immediately replied spoke volumes all on its own.
Iris took another sip and scrunched up her face. "Think I'll never get used to the taste of pumpkin juice, why can't they just serve lemonade?"
"Anyway, I was just wondering if there's something wrong, you know, I've seen you in the corridor with Professor Lockhart the other night, and was wondering what you were doing. You said something about getting locked in your bathroom? Was that like... your housemates?" Iris said and shot a curious look at Luna, who shrank into herself a bit.
"Yeah, there's definitely something there, isn't there? I know all too well how it can be not having any friends at school, before I came here, my only friend was my diary you know? Well, and you, I guess, although I kind of thought you were a boy back then. And, well, even that ended... uhm... well in a way I really don't want to think about. I basically did the same thing you did and sacrificed my diary to try and get a real friend... Or rather, get her back. You know, after Salem. Also, what's with the look? Are you... sorry, am I talking too much?"
"Iris? Are you feeling alright?" asked Luna wide-eyed.
"Am I feeling alright? Well, I suppose so. A bit woozy, probably from the food, that always makes me feel all tired... Probably had too much again, but it was so worth it! Also, there's still the whole heir of Slytherin thing, which is really annoying. Everyone thinks it's me, what am I supposed to do with that? Like, no matter what I say, they'd just find a way to twist that around on me, and if I don't say anything, that's just as damning."
"Professor? I think something is wrong with Iris..." said Ginny with a worried expression.
Iris turned to the target of her words with a confused expression and her face fell as she found none other than Lockhart.
"Oh god no, why him of all people? There's nothing wrong with me! Would you please just move on, Professor? I'd really rather not face another pointless interrogation by Witch Weekly's most charming smile, thank you. You're lucky that the stuff you teach is so interesting, otherwise I'd have had to convince Fred and George to try some of their new pranks on you. I still might, actually."
"Oh dear, I do hope you'll hold off on that for the moment, Iris. It seems like you've been the victim of a prank yourself."
"Would you please stop calling me Iris? It really makes you sound like a creep, sir. Also, what prank? I'm fine."
He gave her a pitying smile. "Oh dear, no, you're very much not fine. Come on, I'll take you to the hospital wing."
Lockhart placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, guiding Iris towards the back of the hall, and she reluctantly followed.
"Why though? I mean it's not like I-"
Iris words got caught in her throat as a large man interposed himself between her and the door, holding out something towards her.
"Oh, Uhm... Professor Snape? What are you- What is that?"
"Drink," he simply said, still holding out a tiny vial of liquid towards her.
Iris looked between the vial, Snape, and Lockhart to her side. "What is it? It looks like-"
"Drink it," he repeated in a sharp tone, causing Iris to swallow.
"Uhm... okay? Fine then, uhm... I really don't wanna get in trouble again, I'll just..." she relented, and reluctantly took the vial of unknown contents, and with another glance at the piercing look of her head of house, she uncorked it and swallowed it in one go.
Iris blinked. "That... that was... uhm... what-"
She felt a tingly sensation that reminded her of the feeling she got when she left the shadow realm. And also, that thought made her notice another thing. Namely, that it had been a thought. She'd been able to think it, without verbalizing it. Which, oh. Oh crap. Was that what had happened?
Her eyes widened as she thought back to the past minute, all the things she had said, and especially what she had accidentally revealed to Luna and Ginny, causing her face to simultaneously pale as well as blush somehow. Before she could further think about it, she tore herself free of Lockhart's grip, and bolted from the Great Hall.