Chapter 26 - Malady

Harry stumbled down the rickety staircase clutching his arm on the railing, taking care not to break it off the wall. He still had no idea what was happening to him. His queasy stomach protesting the motion, he heaved himself to the other side of the room, past the withered leather chairs and towards the beckoning bucket. Giving up control just in the nick of time, he barely avoided the most terrible fate of having to taste his bile in his throat. He wasn't spared the noise, however. With his stomach's meagre contents finally deposited in the wooden receptacle once again, he took back control and got to his feet, only to almost lose his balance.

Just to be sure Harry once again ran every single diagnostic charm his admittedly impressive mind could think of, using the wand he had liberated from the room of hidden things, only for them to come back inconclusive. Something was causing all his organs to keep failing. If not for the stone, he would be long dead already. But whatever it was, he couldn't detect any traces of a curse; of any form of magic acting on his body. As far as he could tell, the stone healed him to perfect health every time, yet only hours later this accursed body would start failing him all over again. At least, over the past days, it seemed to have gotten somewhat better. Was this a result of the girl's polarized spell? Or maybe whatever the boy had done to his hand? Was his body just failing him due to his presence? Harry had no idea.

On shaky legs, he made his way over to the chair, sat down, pulled out the stone and relished in its warm glow, as the magic enveloped him, once again driving even the last vestiges of suffering from his body. It was almost like a drug. Who knew if long-term use would have any downsides? Not that those would be his concern. Or even if the stone would object to being used that frequently? Flamel had probably only used it to stave off aging and the occasional sickness...

Well, it wasn't like he had much of a choice anyway. In this condition, he could not proceed with his plan. However, he did seem to be getting better, so he hoped it was only a matter of time. Harry took another breath, and gazed down at the jewel-encrusted diadem he had brought along with him. Malfoy had been oddly silent on the matter. He didn't like this plan even a little. This went against everything he believed in. It would be quite a long time until he could create another one. If it failed...

But then again, it really wasn't that large a price to pay for immortality, was it? And time was something immortals had above all else.

~V~

For most of their lives, summer had been their favorite time of the year. Anyone who had any idea what their home life was like would have suspected the opposite, but in reality, summer left them with a lot of free time and usually not enough chores to fill it, so they would have ample time to explore the neighborhood on their own, as long as Dudley didn't figure out what they had been up to. Ironically, the first summer after having just spent the best year of their lives, turned out to be the worst one yet. Iris would even have preferred St. Grogory's over this.

She rinsed the wet towel in the nearby bowl of water again, moved to the bed, and wiped the sweat off Harry's pale forehead. She felt him shivering beneath her fingers.

"...don't understand..." he mumbled.

At least he was getting some sleep. Although judging by his rambling, he was having strange dreams again.

"...useless... the ritual..."

Iris blinked. Was he dreaming about rituals? She didn't think he was interested in that stuff.

Suddenly, he started tossing left to right, his arms frantically scrambling for purchase. As she had every night ever since they were sent home, she slid into the damp sheets and wrapped him into a hug. His arms were protesting her presence, trying to push her away, but as she kept rubbing his back, he slowly stilled in her embrace. She was glad they had been given Dudley's second bedroom at least, she didn't want to imagine having to deal with this in their cupboard.

"NO!" he shouted, suddenly wide awake, his hands gripping her shoulders like a vice.

She smiled at him. "Bad dream?"

He was staring at her with a haunted expression for several seconds, before he blinked, and uttered a single word in a raspy voice.

"Bucket"

She reached for the floor, grabbed the white plastic container and sat it on the bed next to him, which he promptly emptied the contents of his stomach into.

After several minutes of dry heaving, he finally set the bucket down and she picked out one of the green vials from the box Madam Pomfrey had given him, uncorked it, and held it out to him.

"T-thanks," he mumbled, and eagerly swallowed his daily dose of Wiggenweld. At least, the potions seemed to help.

If Madam Pomfrey had gotten her way, he would have probably stayed at Hogwarts over the summer. Dumbledore, however, seemed to have had other ideas. She hadn't been doing anything other than provide him with these potions for all of June anyway. After a long and exhausting month, the matron had finally concluded that she had no idea what was wrong with him, but that the regiment of Wiggenweld Potion seemed to indeed help, and he really had been getting better lately. She could only hope that he would soon be back to his old self.

But in the meantime, she was stuck in the worst summer holidays of her life. And she had the easy part of the job, she could only imagine how it felt for Harry. All her life, he had been there for her, he had always been the one to protect her. And now he was lying in bed, helpless. Now, it was on her.

She was broken from her thoughts by a gentle nudge against her arm. Salem, it seemed, had been awoken by the noise, and was now trying to see what was wrong. Iris reached down to gently pet the purring fur ball. While Hedwig could at least occasionally stretch her wings outside, Salem had no such luxury. The black feline had been confined to their new room from the start of summer. And even if she was allowed to let her roam the house or beyond, she couldn't. She was just a regular cat after all. Unlike Hedwig, Salem wasn't magical in any way. And if you brought cats to an entirely new place, and let them roam the outside freely from the start, there was a good chance of them never returning home.

The only good thing about this summer had been the regular absence of the Dursleys. Uncle Vernon was working, Dudley spent most of his time at his friends' place—not wanting to be around the sick kid, and since Aunt Petunia wasn't exactly eager to start taking care of Harry in Iris' stead, it now fell to her to do the gardening. Which meant that for most of the days, number four stood more or less empty. Except for the two lone occupants of the smallest bedroom.

Today was one such day. At first, she had spent her days helping Harry work through the classes he had missed, as well as their summer homework, reading the books for him aloud when he was too exhausted to do it himself. Once they had run out of work, she had started practicing ahead, trying new spells, but quickly realized that Harry was growing bored. She could empathize, she'd probably be out of her mind with boredom and anxiety if she had been stuck in bed for the past month. It had been arduous enough just to be next to the bed. But she'd do it again in a heartbeat, if it was for Harry.

Handing Harry the breakfast she had prepared on a small tray, she got up to sneak out of their room, across the hall, and into Dudley's vacant bedroom. Looking around, she spotted her prey resting on his bed, halfway buried in the sheets. Hopefully it was still charged.

Contraband clutched in her arms, she made her way back to their room, plopped herself down on the bed next to Harry, stuffed a pillow behind her back, and flipped open the device. After some amount of begging, Vernon had relented and bought Dudley a laptop, which was probably not a worthwhile investment. The only time she had seen him use it was to play some or another new game that his friends wanted him to try, but he would always quickly get bored and return to playing on his XBOX. Lately he had been spending more time on it in the evenings though.

Overall, the laptop had probably seen its biggest share of use the year before, when Iris and Harry would occasionally borrow it when its owner wasn't around. After all, Dudley probably wasn't the safest password out there.

She proceeded to type said passcode into the awaiting screen and frowned, when it, in fact, didn't unlock. That was odd. Had she mistyped? A few more attempts confirmed that no, she hadn't. Could it be that after three years of secretly using his laptop, he had finally actually changed his password?

"What's going on?" Harry asked, leaning over her shoulder.

He stared blankly at the helpful message wondering if they had forgotten their password. Iris tried a few more variations, but none of her or Harry's ideas yielded any different results. Harry sighed, and sank back into the sheets. She gave him a sympathetic look. After they had completed their work, the laptop had been their main source of distraction, or even interaction. None of their friends had replied to any of their letters, the only people they had been able to interact with outside of each other and the Dursleys had been through the Internet. And now even that had been taken away from them.

She supposed she could always return to practicing, but... With another look at Harry, she reconsidered. Instead, she tried the small blue icon with the question mark. A small box appeared, displaying the words The fifth Hokage.

Well, that was singularly unhelpful. She had no idea what a Hokage even was supposed to be. And typing that into the password box didn't work either. Was that really how the rest of their summer was going to be like? All she had to do was unlock it...

Huh. Could that work? She didn't think that's how that spell was supposed to be used, but... well, it was supposed to unlock things, and it worked with pure Control, so it didn't have anything to do with physically moving a bolt or something.

She leaned over to their nightstand, pulled open the drawer, retrieved her obsidian wand, turned it to face the infuriating login screen, and proceeded to light up the crystal tip in the bright yellow glow of the Control aspect. Harry raised an eyebrow. "What are you doing? You know what Flitwick said. Magic does not work with-"

"Alohomora!"

A brief melodic chime of piano and strings announced the successful login, stopping Harry's argument short in its tracks. Iris was about to quip back when they were both distracted by the appearance of the curious new wallpaper. Huh.

Iris raised an eyebrow, and then proceeded to open the game without comment. At some point, Dudley seemed to have badgered his parents into buying him a subscription, but as far as she could tell, he hadn't played the game in ages. At least, he hadn't noticed or commented on the curious new Night Elf Mage that had been created on his account. Harry often rather spent his time reading, he had occasionally played too, but he hadn't cared enough to create a character of his own.

A decision he had probably come to regret over the past weeks, as he had spent more time than ever in the game, due to a lack of other options of social interaction. She felt very much the same. They hadn't been that bothered by it before Hogwarts, but now that they had a taste of true friendship, the loneliness felt all the more real. Despite having each other's company, a void was gaping in her chest where her friends had been settling in over the past year. Or had they? If they were her friends, why weren't they writing back?

She had already sent half a tree's worth of letters to Tracey, several more to Theo, at least just as many to Neville, and even a bunch to Ron and Susan. Not a single one of them had come back. She had even considered writing Malfoy, but she would have had no idea what to write. Also, whether he responded or not, the result would inevitably have made her feel even worse. And Harry's luck had been just about the same.

But there was one person who hadn't given up on her. He had been there from before the start even, and was there after all her friends had disappeared. Well, yeah, Harry too, but she wasn't talking about him. In a way, he had been her actual first friend. Although she had no idea if what they had could even be considered a friendship. She didn't even know his name.

[MOOnSpiraC]: Hey Iris, you're back! How is your day going? And how's your brother?

Moo was a level thirty-two Tauren Hunter, who she had stumbled across while traversing Northern Stranglethorn last year.

[Irisistible]: I'm doing good, so is Harry. He'll probably be playing again later if you're still around?

She had honestly completely forgotten about him throughout the year, they hadn't talked all that much before, they had only met whenever both Dudley's laptop was unattended, and he had time to come to the library. Moo didn't have a computer at home, and he had explained that he convinced the librarian in their town to let him use one of the computers there during the day whenever he could come by, which wasn't all that often. And even less often it had matched up with the rare times she could borrow the laptop in the first place. But whenever they had matched up, she had spent the entire day chatting and playing with him. She could probably count those times on one hand.

[MOOnSpiraC]: That's great! I'm afraid I don't have much time today before I need to get back home. We're going on a trip later!

It had been a surprise to the both of them when she had turned on the laptop last week for the first time in a year, only to find him online. She had explained that she had gone to a boarding school, but everything was alright, well, except for Harry being sick.

[Irisistible]: You are? Any place interesting?

Lately, she wasn't even really playing the game anymore. Ever since doing actual magic had become not just possible, but almost easy, she didn't really see the appeal of doing it in a fictional world as much anymore. But she had still stuck around for Moo. He had been her only contact with the outside world, the only friend she knew from before.

[MOOnSpiraC]: Oh, very interesting!

Sure, there were other people on the server, but she didn't know any of them, and making new friends hadn't gotten any easier now that she had actually made some.

[Irisistible]: ...?

[MOOnSpiraC]: Can't tell you more, it's a secret! They could be listening...

Of course. Classic Moo. She chuckled.

In fact, now that she thought about it, the only friend she had made the normal way was Tracey, and that was probably only because they had been so similar. Ron was more Harry's friend really, and Susan had pretty much been forced upon her by their Transfiguration lessons—she wasn't even sure if Susan counted as a friend yet anyway. As for the rest of her friends? She had pretty much guilt-tripped Neville into becoming her friend, and Theo had instead tricked her into becoming friends.

[Irisistible]: How do normal people make friends again?

[MOOnSpiraC]: That's one of the seven great unsolved mysteries of the ages.

At least Moo was always up for these awkward questions; he was plenty awkward himself. Sadly, he rarely had any useful answers either, but it still felt good to voice them to someone who seemed to understand.

[Irisistible]: Maybe we'll solve it one day

[MOOnSpiraC]: If we do, it'll be headline news.

Of course, it would. Iris smiled. Moo was nothing if not good company.

At this point, Harry finally finished off his breakfast.

[Irisistible]: I'm handing you over to Harry now so you get a chance to chat before you have to go.

[MOOnSpiraC]: Give Salem my regards! And my worship.

Ever since she had mentioned her cat, it had become quite the frequent topic. She supposed he was probably just as much of a cat-person as herself.

[Irisistible]: Will do. Bye!

Handing the laptop over to Harry, she traded it for Salem, who had been napping in Harry's lap. Said feline gave her a grouchy glare at being roused from her sleep, but seemed to quickly forgive her as she started scratching her head in just the right way. With her other hand, she reached for the night stand again, and retrieved Sabrina.

Yesterday she had finally remembered to check the secret stash in her old cupboard, and had found her old diary. Iris had spent the night reading through it on a hunch. She had thought she had grown out of it. But the more she read, the more nostalgia seemed to rear its head. And with how isolated they had been over the past weeks, she was right now seriously considering adding another entry, no matter how childish it felt. Reading those final few pages felt like coming home, like returning to being the innocent girl who had enjoyed a magic tv show and disobeyed rules for fun. It had been a time without any three-headed dogs, or werewolves, or Dark Lords doing even-she-didn't-know-what to her, or Harry being ill for months for no apparent reason; where the worst thing she had to worry about had been their relatives... which was pretty bad, but still. Her friends didn't get hurt because of her—well, actually, she hadn't had any friends really... Maybe not everything had been better back then. Also, she could do magic now.

As Salem gently settled into her lap and nestled her head against Iris' stomach, she grabbed a pen and clicked it.

Dear Sabrina,

Today is the 20th of July, 2007. It's been a while, huh? A lot has happened. I've been to Hogwarts and I made friends. Yes, plural, I know.

I've been learning a ton about magic, and... well

She broke off there, as she looked up at the previous entry. The words accidentally cracked open a wound that she had almost forgotten about for these past months. She closed her eyes for a second, but then decided to continue.

sadly, not the kind you're doing. Transfiguration is just not for me, it seems. But I've learned tons of other magic! And, I also figured out how to fly a broom!

Overall, the year has been

And she got stuck again. What could she write here? Sure there had been great moments, like Christmas, or their first Astronomy lesson came to mind. But just writing about that and not about all the bad things? That seemed like she was trying to act like they never happened. Like her friends getting hurt wasn't worth mentioning. Or Harry. What would he think? He was sitting right there! Could she really write about Malfoy? What if he saw?

And what if someone else found the journal?

That settled it.

good, I guess.

She clicked her pen, and flipped the diary closed.

"I'm going to grab something to drink, you want something?"

Harry looked up from the laptop with a smile on his face. Apparently, Moo was being his usual self, and was helping cheer Harry up. "Yes, please! I could use some water..."

Iris carefully inserted her hands below Salem, lifted the black feline off her lap and back onto the bed. She hadn't succeeded in making sure that the cat didn't wake up, as she was immediately given a confused chirp.

As she got up and made her way towards the door, Salem immediately spotted what she was up to, and was hot on her heels, eager to explore the house.

"No, Salem. You know you're not allowed outside," Iris admonished, and pet the curious explorer yet again. At last, she cracked the door open just an inch, and squeezed through, shutting it behind her. Filling up two large glasses with water, she made her way back to their room a minute later, only to be met with something that very much didn't belong. She froze. They weren't alone.

On the bed next to Harry, there was a small creature. What in Merlin's name was a house elf doing in their room?

"Harry Potter leaves Dobby with no choice!" squeaked the floppy-eared being.

It jumped off the bed, scrambled towards her, and before she could comprehend what was happening, had squeezed past her and was ambling down the staircase. Iris glanced from the staircase back to Harry, still holding two glasses of water.

"You need to stop him! No idea what he's going to do! If Aunt Petunia sees him..." he groaned, while heaving himself up from the bed.

That settled it. Whatever was going on, it wasn't something Harry was okay with. She quickly put down the water, grabbed her wand and dashed back downstairs. The sight that met her froze her in place. It was the cherry cake Petunia had been baking for tonight's guests. What was wrong with it? Well, it was floating. Already, it was a few feet above the table, and it was slowly rising higher and higher.

Wide-eyed, she turned to the house-elf. "What are you doing?" she hissed.

The elf looked at her with a saddened expression marring his face. "Harry Potter must not return to Hogwarts!" he declared.

"What? Why? Of course he is!" Iris exclaimed.

"Don't ask Dobby, Miss! Dobby cannot say!"

She brought up her wand, and aimed it at the floating confection. If this elf thought she was just going to watch while he tried to get them in trouble, he had another thing coming.

Said elf turned to look at her with a serious expression.

"Miss must promise that Harry Potter will not return to Hogwarts this year."

She raised an eyebrow. Why would he think that was a decision she could make for him? Not that there was any doubt to his answer anyway. What on earth was the little creature thinking?

In response, she focused, causing her wand to light up in a brilliant green glow under the combined power of Force and Control.

Dobby's eyes widened and he snapped his fingers. With a pop, the elf disappeared from the room. Her eyes moved over to the floating cherry cake, who seemed to wobble for a second, and then came crashing down.

She reacted on instinct. The incantation of the levitation charm on her lips, she swished her wand. There was no time to actually pronounce the words, she kind of just skipped over that part. Barely an inch before hitting the floor and creating a massive mess, the cake suddenly came to a stop.

Iris breathed a sigh of relief, then directed the confection right back to where it had started, and canceled the spell. That had been too close. Chancing a look out the window, she could make out Petunia still watering the begonias, apparently none the wiser to what had just occurred. Staring for a moment, she could also see something else. A small tawny owl was fluttering in front of the window. And it was pecking on the glass. Was that- No way! Had one of her friends actually replied?

She was at the window in a flash, and opened it to let the hyperactive little bird inside. Said bird did indeed have a letter that was addressed to her. Unfolding it, however, revealed that it wasn't from any of her friends.

Dear Ms Potter,

We have received intelligence that a Hover Charm was used at your place of residence this morning at four minutes past eleven.

As you know, underage witches are not permitted to perform spells outside school, and further spellwork on your part may lead to expulsion from said school (Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery, 1875, Paragraph C).

We would also ask you to remember that any magical activity that risks notice by members of the non-magical community (Muggles) is a serious offence under section 13 of the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy.

Enjoy your holidays! Yours sincerely,

Mafalda Hopkirk

Iris stared at the letter in her hands in disbelief. What? They could tell? How? And they were going to expel her?

Stumbling back up the stairs, she was met by a worried Harry, who had gotten to his feet, and was holding something in his hands. They exchanged bewildered looks as they beheld the identical letters in their hands.

"What? You too? But you... did you cast a spell?" she asked, confused.

"No! I... did you?" he exclaimed.

Iris blushed. "Errm... Well, kinda?"

"I told you it's a bad idea to be doing magic! And now they found out! What if we get expelled?"

"I'm sorry! I didn't think anything would happen! It never has before... Also, he was about to splatter Aunt Petunia's cake all over the kitchen, I had to do something!"

She frowned, thinking back.

"But... well, something about this isn't making sense..."

"Since when does anything make sense in the Wizarding World?"

He did have a point there. But most things did start making sense, once she peered deeply enough.

They were staring at each other, standing in the center of the room, before Harry spoke up.

"You've grown."

Iris blinked at him, snapping out of her thoughts. That, she had, apparently. She hadn't even noticed with everything that had been on her mind, but now that Harry was on his feet again, which he rarely had been over the past weeks, she realized that they were now the same height.

For years she had been lamenting the fact that she had been rather short—even compared to Harry; had been wishing for nothing more than a few extra inches of height. And now that she had finally grown some, next to all the other things that had been going on, she really couldn't bring herself to care. It would have almost been funny, if it weren't so sad.

A niggling stray thought slowly edged its way into her awareness. She looked around the room again, once, twice, then at the still ajar door.

"Where's Salem?"

~V~

Dear Sabrina,

Please forgive me.

Iris.