Chapter 36 - Truth
"Iris? Are you in there?"
Iris took a breath, but didn't reply, and instead kept staring down at the advanced charms book.
"Hello? Iris, please, we just wanna know you're okay."
Pulsare was probably a dead end, but maybe she could figure out a counter for Lapsus? It seemed to be a special kind of spell, but there had to be a weakness, otherwise everyone would just use this one-two combo all the time.
"You know what, screw it, I'm coming in. This is my room too, you know?" Iris looked up at the door just as she heard a faint shout of "Alohomora!" which caused the door to click open and reveal her two closest friends.
Unable to look them in the eyes, she redirected her gaze back onto the book. She tangentially noticed Tracey sitting down on the bed across from her, while Theo moved to lounge on the windowsill.
"You... wanna talk about what happened?" Tracey began reluctantly.
"Not really..." Iris muttered.
Tracey kept looking at her for a while, without saying anything. Finally, she spoke up again.
"I know you're keeping a lot of things to yourself, Iris. But you know you can talk to us, right? We're your friends," the girl said, looking her into the eyes across from her bed, while Theo seemingly gave silent agreement from across the room.
Iris kept turning a page, but didn't reply.
After a second, Theo spoke up. "We didn't see much of what happened, but from what I've heard, someone slipped you a Babbling Potion at dinner?"
"Not someone. I know who it was," Iris growled.
"You do?" Tracey queried wide-eyed.
"It was that stupid ponce," Iris snapped.
Both Tracey and Theo shared a look, before Theo spoke up. "Malfoy? You think so?"
"Not Malfoy," Iris groaned, "Lockhart."
"What? But he's..." Tracey exclaimed.
"He's been suspecting me as the heir from the start, and he's been trying to interrogate me ever since. And when I got potioned, he was conveniently there to escort me to the hospital wing," Iris snarled.
"If Snape hadn't shown up... I... I don't know what I'd have said. What he might have asked. What else I could have told him..." Iris whispered, looking back down.
None of them knew what to say at that.
"But that doesn't matter now. I have to find the heir; I have to be ready. And not because of Lockhart," Iris said, and looked up at Theo.
"You were right, from what it looks like. About the heir, and their goals. Which means they won't just stop at muggleborns. If they are following that side of the last war, there is a very good chance that they are coming after Harry as well. And I can't let that happen," Iris spoke with determination. "It... it's just..."
She looked down, closed her eyes, and buried her face in one hand. "How am I supposed to defeat the heir when I can't even take down Susan?"
Tracey moved closer and placed a hand on her leg, making her look up. "Nobody's asking you to defeat the heir, you know? If you do find the heir, you can always tell Snape. Or Lupin. Heck, even Lockhart."
"Yeah, because that worked so well the last time Harry did it," Iris muttered. "And yes, I know very well It was my fault we ended up in that situation to begin with, again. But, the only reason we are still alive after last May was that You-Know-Who thought I was about to cast the Killing Curse at him, and decided to cut his losses. And I don't even know if it would actually have worked. I just know that if something like that happens again, I have to be ready. I can't rely on bluffs anymore."
The two Slytherins were just staring at her wide-eyed. Oh crap, she had probably said a little too much there. Was the potion still affecting her somehow?
"You see? This is why I don't talk about things. It's all just a giant fucking mess. You'd better forget what I just said."
"You-Know-Who... you mean when you said Quirrell, that was actually him? The whole year?!" Tracey exclaimed.
Oh bugger, now they were going to be talking about that. At least she had dodged the other thing she had let slip for now.
"Yup. Probably was him the whole year, well until April, when Lupin attacked him, and he ended up a stuttering fool for a month. That was actually Quirrell."
"And why would he think you were about to cast a... Killing Curse?"
God damn that perceptive git. How was she supposed to answer that? Iris scrambled for a way to either dodge or reply that wouldn't reveal the answer or be an obvious lie.
"No... you were," Theo concluded with a whisper.
Iris was just sitting there, frozen, looking down at her hands. It was too late now anyway. Anything she said would only make this worse, again. The silence stretched on and on, and Iris refused to look up.
"You're really not doing those Heir of Slytherin rumors any favors, you know?"
Iris couldn't help but snort. Trust Theo to crack a joke in a situation like that. She didn't know what she had expected. Finally, she slowly lifted her head and looked at her two friends.
Theo smirked. "A Killing Curse in your first year? What's next, resurrecting the dead in your second year?"
Screw this conversation, and everything in it. Could she please just disappear into the ground? Or at least the shadow-realm? Actually-
"Really though? Are you serious? You actually cast a Killing Curse?" Tracey asked, her face full of worry.
"No, I didn't actually cast it. He just thought I would," Iris replied.
"But if he thought you would, and fled because of that, that would imply that not only he thought you were just about to, but also that he thought you could actually succeed," Theo pondered.
Iris had nothing to say to that.
"B-but how... I mean, how do you know how to..."
Iris sighed. She supposed it wouldn't hurt to tell them at least some part of it.
"He'd been teaching me about polarized magic in my detentions. Not that exact spell, mind you, but, well... I had a good idea of how it would work..."
"Are you sure you're not the Heir of Slytherin?" Theo asked with a smirk.
"Bugger off, Theo," Iris groaned. She really wasn't in the mood.
She suddenly felt another hand, this time on her shoulder, and she looked up at Tracey again, who had miraculously not fled the room yet.
"Iris? Are you okay, really?" Tracey asked, concern written all over her face. The girl had probably picked up on the implication that she had spent the whole past year having detentions with the Dark Lord.
"I'm managing... I guess," she mumbled, the words getting caught in her throat.
"You really shouldn't be keeping all that to yourself, you know? You can talk to us."
Iris gave her a disbelieving stare. "Really? What was I supposed to say? Hey, Tracey, did you know I almost cast a Killing Curse yesterday? Don't worry, it was just because of You-Know-Who."
She sighed, and looked down at her lap again, and mumbled, "My friends already think I'm scary, you're saying I should just drive everyone away completely?"
Iris suddenly felt herself being pulled into a hug and froze up. Tracey wasn't saying anything, but was just clinging to her. Finally she whispered, "We're still here, aren't we?"
There was a long pause. "I guess."
She pulled back from her hug, and Tracey met her gaze with a smile. "Thanks," was all Iris could manage.
"Now, how about you tell us about what's eating you, and we'll try working through it together?" suggested Theo, to which Iris managed a thankful nod.
"Well, Susan's been using this combo, Lapsus, which decreases friction over an area, and Pulsare, which causes a short burst of air that knocks you back. None of these I can really dodge, and I can't shield it either, or cancel it. But I figure there must be some sort of weakness to it. I tried with Pulsare, seeing if I can try countering it with Ventus, but that still leaves me at a disadvantage after, so now I'm looking into Lapsus instead."
"Well, unless you want to try using another Killing Curse..."
Both Tracey and Iris shot him flat looks at that, causing him to backpedal. "Sorry. Right. You remember our assignment on spell interference?"
"Well yeah, and you might also remember I never got it to work..." grumbled Iris.
"Might be time to try and figure it out then. One thing I remember from my part of the assignment was that one of the main uses of spell interference is to destabilize unfocused spells. This can refer to imperfectly cast spells, but it also includes spells that are not focused into a stable beam, and instead cast over an area."
"Oh... that actually makes a lot of sense. And that would be a major weak-point, if it really works," Iris pondered.
"Alright, guess we'll have to figure out how you can cast that spell then, yeah?" Tracey perked up. "Let's review. What do we know about it, what have you tried, and how did it react?"
Iris frowned. "Well, it seems to destabilize any kind of spell, so it's probably gonna use all the aspects in one way or another. If it does use White light, then I'm probably screwed. But let's assume it doesn't for now. We've tried using my regular iridescent light, that just did some sparks when I cast the spell. Same with all of the aspects by themselves, or even combinations of two of them."
"So the spell just malfunctions, no matter which aspects you use... that could either mean it does use white magic, or that there is some other trick to it..." Theo pondered.
"Have you managed anything similar in the past?" asked Tracey.
That was a good question. "Now that I think about it... Huh. Maybe? Well, there was that time I broke my broom when I accidentally used my regular light, that might have been sort of interference? Oh, also, during... you know, the thing with Quirrell, the spell I cast on Harry somehow broke when my light went out of control. That probably wasn't spell interference in the regular sense, more like a Finite really, but that might work just as well, also it really felt more like the spell failing rather than being cancelled."
Come to think of it, the same thing seemed to have happened to the Imperius, although that was supposed to be unbreakable. Something to think about, but she really wanted to avoid them diving into another round of Are you okay's. But maybe that was also just because of the other Unforgivable he had used? Also, maybe he had just ended it deliberately to allow her to feel-
No. She wasn't going to go there again. Also, she didn't really have to cancel an active spell, just regular spell interference would work for now. Something to look into later.
"Did you do anything special with your light when the broom malfunctioned?" asked Tracey.
Iris frowned. "Not... really? I think it was just the boring old regular light, why?"
"Well, if that causes interference, even without you casting the Corrumpo spell, maybe that's an approach to solve this..." suggested Tracey, cupping her chin.
"Well, maybe, but if it did, then it should have worked during our tests, even if the spell didn't do anything, right?"
"Hm... that gives me an idea, actually. Do you know any unfocused spells like Lapsus? If we're going to test it, better be sure we're using a spell you can actually interfere with."
Iris raised an eyebrow. "Well, kind of. Want me to try to teach you? Wait, actually, I think it should also work with Revelio, right? That's definitely an unfocused spell."
Theo nodded. "I suppose. Alright. Here we go. Ready? Just put up your light for now, make it as bright as it'll go to be sure."
Iris did so, and the room was flooded in all the colors of the rainbow. Theo withdrew his wand, got up from the windowsill, and swiped it in an arc. "Revelio."
A familiar rush of purple light, and a soft tingle accompanied the successful cast of the spell, making Iris' expression droop. Theo, however, was undeterred. He carefully took several deliberate steps forward, until he was right in front of her, and repeated the motion.
"Revelio!"
This time, his incantation was just accompanied by a small burst of purple sparks, causing Iris' eyes to widen.
~V~
"Expelliarmus!"
Ron groaned. "Come on, mate, you could at least let me have one round, you know?"
Harry sighed and gave a wry smile, as he approached Ron to return his wand to him. He supposed he could go a little easier on him, but he really had to get better. He probably should have picked another dueling partner.
Professor Flitwick called over the next pair of students. "Miss Moon and Miss Greengrass, your turn."
Well, but he also didn't want to end up like them. He had no idea what the point was, if the girls just didn't want to hurt each other, or didn't care much for the class to begin with. But every time he had seen them duel, just like they were now, it was like watching background actors in a movie.
The Slytherin girls took positions, raised their wands, and one of them would cast a random offensive spell, and the other would shield. Then, they both lowered their wands, and repeated the whole thing, with the other girl casting the spell. It was like they weren't even trying. Ron, at least, seemed to be doing his best.
He turned to look towards Lupin's podium and found a much more interesting matchup happening. His sister was going up against Susan again. Those were always awesome to watch. He turned back to Ron, and noticed that on Lockhart's podium, Malfoy was just getting ready to face off against Hermione. Great. Now he didn't know which match to pay attention to. But in the end, there wasn't really any choice here. He was a brother first and foremost.
Also, he loved watching the girls duel, both the efficiency and precision with which Susan would use her skills to turn any situation to her advantage, as well as the creativity Iris had to employ in order to not get completely overwhelmed. He really wished he could have partnered with either of them in hindsight, no matter how much he disliked the idea of casting spells at his sister.
The match opened with both girls simultaneously casting a Disarming Charm, causing Iris to dodge to the side, and Susan to shield. Iris rolled back to her feet, raised her other hand, and called her orb of iridescent light. What? Just what was she planning?
She tossed her orb towards Susan, making it float to the center of the dueling stage, and begin hovering high above their heads, illuminating the podium in kaleidoscopic colors. Was she using it as a distraction or something?
They exchanged a few more spells, until Iris took a step back and began drawing blue light once more, probably about to cast her signature spell. Susan, of course, immediately began her own established counter.
She firmly planted her feet, probably to brace against her second spell, as well as Iris' possible Ventus counter, swiped her wand in the familiar pattern and shouted "Lapsus!"
Harry's eyes widened as he noticed Iris' floating orb of light—which was right now hovering almost above Susan—pulse just as she went through the motions. And instead of the familiar icy blue flash, a blue shower of sparks erupted out of her wand, as the girl continued her motion right into the second part of her spell, "Pulsare!"
The shockwave of air burst forth, knocking Iris back a step, but this time, her wand remained firmly in her hand, still brightly glowing blue. Susan's eyes widened, as Iris jabbed her wand forwards and shouted "Depulso!"
With the way Susan was standing—and still moving, there was no way she could dodge in time, and the girl swiped her wand down to a shout of "Protego!"
The pale blue shield barely had time to form before the brightly glowing frizzling bolt of blue energy slammed into it, and came apart in a circular shockwave. The shield shattered on impact, and the shockwave struck true, sending Susan tumbling backwards. As if Iris had been expecting it, she immediately followed up the attack with a final "Expelliarmus!"
"Match!" came Professor Lupin's voice.
Iris ran over to Susan to pull her to her feet, who immediately responded by wrapping her into a hug. They were whispering something, but Harry couldn't make it out.
"Congratulations. Was that spell interference?" queried Professor Lupin, causing them both to look up.
Before Harry could make out her answer, he was interrupted by a shrill scream from behind him. He whirled around and noticed Hermione; her feet halfway submerged into the ground. She was desperately shielding against the volley of colorful spells that Malfoy was throwing her way, but she couldn't move anymore. When he finally let up, she dropped her shield and desperately shouted "Expelliarmus!"
Malfoy swirled his wand with a smirk, and shouted "Reiecto!", which produced a small red glowing shield. The spell struck true, impacted the shield, but instead of any kind of explosion or sparks, the spell was simply reflected as if it had hit a mirror, and was now coming straight at a panicking Hermione, who just barely managed another "Protego!"
Harry looked to his side to see Iris approaching to watch next to him with a worried expression, her orb of light still floating forgotten above her shoulder. Step by step Malfoy was approaching, his smirk widening, until he cocked his head and cast "Serpensortia."
A huge black snake of all things erupted from his wand, and started slithering towards Hermione, causing her to scream in panic.
"Oh dear, I'm afraid that spell violates the rules, Mister Malfoy..." said Lockhart, as he stepped up onto the podium in front of them, wand drawn. "No worries, I shall remove it at once," he added, with a smile at Hermione.
He swiped his wand, and firmly incanted, "Evanesco."
But other than a burst of sparks from his wand, nothing happened to the snake. It hissed again, as it came to a stop in front of Hermione, and reared back, as if to strike, causing Harry's eyes to widen.
"Get away from her!"
The viper froze in its tracks, and turned to look right at him. Harry breathed a sigh of relief. Slowly, the snake began to approach them, but before he could further react, Iris had pointed her now Orange glowing wand, and cast "Diffindo!"
His eyes widened as the snake's head slid cleanly off the rest of its body, which promptly started to spasm on the ground.
Nobody managed to say a word for a while; the gathered students were just staring wide-eyed. Only after several seconds he realized that for some reason, they weren't staring at Iris, but at him instead.
~V~
"Iris, wait up!" came a yell from somewhere behind her.
Iris kept walking. She had once again fucked up. She had thought the snake was about to attack Harry, and had just reacted. Her mind had come up with the quickest and safest way to remove the threat to him, and only after she had already cast the spell, had she realized what she had actually just done. Everyone had just been staring, and the fear had been palpable in the air, even her friends had borne worried looks again. So she had fled, escaping the scene of her crime without a word, not that she could have found any appropriate ones to say anyway.
Running footsteps finally caught up to her, and Theo's head appeared next to her.
"Iris, what in Morgana's name-"
"I'm sorry, okay? I don't know- I just reacted! I didn't-"
"Yes, you're very scary and you're the next Dark Lord. Anyway. When were you going to tell me that your brother is a bloody Parselmouth?"
Iris blinked. "I... what? What's a Parselmouth?"
"It's someone who can speak to snakes. Their language is called Parseltongue."
That caused her to raise an eyebrow. "Don't be ridiculous; Harry can't speak to snakes. He was just trying to lure it away from Hermione!"
"How would you know?" Theo challenged.
"It's just what he'd do. He probably thought hissing at it would get its attention, which, well, it did," Iris said defensively.
"Someone doesn't just make a sound like that on a whim. Also, the snake instantly obeyed him. I know what I saw; I'm gonna bet my wand that was Parseltongue," countered Theo resolutely.
Iris stared at him disbelievingly. "Why would Harry be a... Parselmouth? Is that like... common?"
"No, it very much isn't. And it's hereditary. Which raises one question first and foremost..."
Iris mouth opened, but then she paused. "You're saying... Nope. No way."
He smirked. "Have you tried it?"
"Why would I try randomly speaking to snakes of all things?" she replied incredulously.
His smirk widened into a grin. "Well, no time like the present."
And before Iris could voice her objections, he had raised his wand, and cast the same spell Malfoy had used before. "Serpensortia!"
A much smaller and far less dangerous looking snake emerged from his wand, and started coiling on the ground. Iris was staring at it warily. The snake hissed back at her.
"Uh... what should I do?"
"Have you tried speaking?" Theo deadpanned.
Iris shot him a look, then sighed, and turned to face the tiny reptile and hesitantly speak. "Uhm... hey?"
She exchanged a glance with Theo, who shook his head, and she turned back to the snake. Crouching down, she looked at it closely. "You uhm... go over there and bite him."
Theo punched her shoulder, but other than that, the snake remained unimpressed. Finally, Iris got back to her feet and shrugged. "Well, guess it's not as hereditary as you thought. That, or Harry just isn't a Parselmouth."
"Oh, trust me, he is. No doubt about that. But seems like you aren't. Which is curious."
Iris shot him a dubious look. "It's not like we're identical twins, you know?"
"True, except that's not how magical inheritance works," replied Theo.
There was another pair of running footsteps approaching, and they both turned to find a familiar face.
"Iris! Are you okay?"
Again with these questions.
"I'm fine. Sorry about what happened in there."
Theo sighed. "I already tried, but she's still beating herself up over nonsense..."
"Shut up, Theo. Just because you're so eager to become the 'next Dark Lord's' minion doesn't mean everyone is."
Tracey grinned. "Speak for yourself. I'd make an awesome minion!"
At this point, Iris couldn't resist the urge to facepalm anymore. So instead of replying, she turned, and began heading down the other corridor towards their common room, her infuriating friends in tow. But still, no matter how annoying they were when they wouldn't just leave her alone, she couldn't help a warm feeling in her chest. That feeling lasted for five whole steps, for as soon as she turned the corner, it was instead replaced by icy terror.
She didn't even know what she was looking at, really.
There was Harry. There was a ghost. There was a body.
There was a body.
Tracey came to a stop next to her and gasped, and Theo turned the corner, paused, then slowly turned to Iris with a raised eyebrow and said, "You work fast."
"Really?! Not the time, Theo!" Thankfully, Tracey had saved Iris the trouble of having to smack his warped sense of humor out of him. Not that she had much of a mind to really care about that right now anyway.
"What happened? Are you okay?" she asked as she approached Harry carefully.
"I... It wasn't me, I, I don't know!" Harry muttered, looking just as distraught as she was feeling.
Iris shot him a look. "Of course it wasn't! But how did you get here? Why-"
"The voice! There was that voice again... Somewhere over here... you know, just like on Halloween!"
Again? She hadn't heard anything. Was he really... Iris' eyes came to rest on the body adorned in Hufflepuff colors at Harry's feet, and her eyes widened. "Is that... Justin Finch-Fletchley?"
Harry just nodded. "He... was like this when I found him..."
"Is he..." Iris began hesitantly.
"I... I don't know," Harry whispered.
Iris was just staring, trying to gather her wits, until she finally managed to settle on a plan of action. "Theo, can you go and get Snape? His office is the closest, I think."
Thankfully, said boy saved the comment that was surely on his lips this time, and instead nodded and started off down the corridor. Moving towards the body on the ground, she carefully crouched down and reached a hand to touch him. He was solid to the touch, much like a statue.
"He doesn't feel like the cat... I... I think he might be petrified too..."
Iris turned to look at her other friend, who still hadn't moved from the place she had first turned into the corridor. "Tracey? Are you... Is everything alright?"
The girl just shook her head, not saying anything. Carefully, Iris got up, and approached her step by step, until she came to a stop right in front of her. The girl was still staring at the body on the ground with a far-away look.
"Hey... It'll be alright. We'll... figure this out, okay?" Iris said, trying to sound as confident as she could, even though she wasn't really feeling it herself.
"Harry! Iris! Are you okay? What are you- Oh, Merlin..."
Iris whirled around, and relief filled her, as she recognized their history professor. He held a haunted look, and looked like he'd been through a marathon.
"I must have just missed it. Sorry. I... I couldn't place the smell, if only I'd been a bit faster..."
A low voice interrupted him from all the way down the corridor. "Potter..."
Professor Snape approached, his eyes flicking between Iris, Harry and Lupin. "I presume it is too much to ask for the two of you to stay out of trouble for a single week?"
He knelt down next to the body, and ran his wand over it. "Petrified... again. And then there's this. Which proves it wasn't done through the use of a potion," Snape muttered, as he looked up at the frozen and smoking form of one of the Hogwarts ghosts floating right in the center of the hallway.
He got back up and threw a glare at Lupin. "If you would make yourself useful and take the students to their common rooms, I will... take care of this."
Lupin looked like he was about to retort, but with another wary look at both Harry and Iris, he seemed to reconsider, and nodded at them, gesturing for them to follow.
~V~
Iris was glancing at the door warily. Two people were still missing. One of which she was very much looking forward to seeing, the other very much not.
They hadn't had much time to talk yesterday, Lupin had led them right to their common room and taken Harry with him to the Gryffindor tower. And for some reason, Harry hadn't shown up to breakfast. She really wanted to talk to him about what happened, about him being a Parselmouth, and how he was doing. She had carefully kept the spot next to her free, hoping that he would show up.
And as luck would have it, both the absentees showed up together, with Harry squeezing past the smiling visage of Lockhart, apparently not any more eager than her to be in his vicinity one second longer than necessary. Iris waved him over and Harry took a seat with a thankful expression.
"You okay? Where were you?" Iris whispered.
Harry gave her a tired look. "I'm fine. I was in Dumbledore's office."
"What? Are you in trouble?" she asked worriedly.
"Well, I don't think so, somehow... I told him it wasn't us, and... he just believed me," Harry whispered with an incredulous expression.
Iris blinked. "Well... that's good, I guess?"
Harry just shrugged. Iris turned back towards the front of the classroom to see Lockhart shooting a dubious glance her way. If only it would be that easy to convince him.
"So... apparently you can speak to snakes?" Iris tried to change the topic.
Harry gave a helpless shrug. "Looks like it. I had no idea either."
He looked at her for a bit, and his face twisted into a frown. "Hermione tells me it's a rare ability called Parseltongue. And also, apparently, it's a sign of a dark wizard. They are saying Slytherin was a Parselmouth. And so was You-Know-Who."
Well, that would explain Theo's fixation on that ability, she guessed. "Well, I also heard that it's hereditary, so it's possible Mum or Dad could do it too, but then again, I tried, and can't speak to snakes either, so I don't know."
Harry sighed. "That's good, I guess."
Iris raised an eyebrow. "Good? We still don't know why you can, though."
"If the two of you are quite done, you can begin explaining the first chapter of Dining with Dragons, and especially the implications that has for what kind of spells we can use against beings like that."
Iris sighed, and began to talk. The lesson continued pretty much like that, it seemed that something was on Lockhart's mind as well, as he seemed to be just as unable to focus on the lesson as herself. He mostly let the students do the talking and only occasionally injected his own commentary, but even that was much less energetic than usual. Also, he was pacing. A lot. Which she hadn't noticed at first, as Quirrell had been doing that all the time, but thinking back, Lockhart hadn't.
When the bell finally signaled the end of their lesson—which had felt a lot longer than it had actually been, Iris all but tossed her things into her bag and made for the door, but just before she could reach it, she heard a call across the room.
"Mister and Miss Potter, could the two of you please come to my office for a moment?"
Iris was half-tempted to just pretend she hadn't heard him and take that final step out of the classroom, but that would mean she'd leave Harry alone with him, and also, he had actually not used her first name for once.
She turned to see his immaculate hair disappear through his office door, and said door snap shut behind him. Iris exchanged a worried glance with Harry, until they seemed to come to an unspoken decision.
Hesitantly ascending the steps to his office door, they shared one final look, until Harry raised his hand, and knocked.
"Please, come in," came a muffled voice from inside.
Harry opened the door and they stepped inside the brightly-lit office. There wasn't much to see. She'd have expected pictures, trophies, heck, even newspaper articles, but all in all, despite a very regular and stylish if simple interior, all that she could make out was a simple desk, with a quill and inkwell, a stack of parchment, and a book. Even Quirrell's office had had more decoration, and that had still been unsettlingly clean. Although this one somehow didn't exude that same sense of uncanniness.
The owner of said office was perched on his wooden chair behind his desk, bent over the book, and was looking up at them and smiled. "Please, have a seat."
He waved his wand, and two wooden chairs appeared out of thin air in front of his desk. Harry exchanged another wary glance with her, but they both found resolve in each other's presence, approached the desk, and sat down.
"I'm sure you're wondering why I have asked to talk to the both of you," he said, his blinding smile still completely unwavering.
Iris was just glaring at him now. Why did he always have to make such a spectacle out of everything? She was pretty sure this was because of the Heir of Slytherin thing again. Could he at least just hurry up and ask his stupid questions so they could carry on with their day?
"You see..." he said with a smile, until his expression took a victorious smirk and he waved his wand, causing a loud clack to echo from behind them as the door locked itself. "I've finally figured it out."
Iris froze up in her seat, and noticed Harry tense as well. He had his wand out, and pointed at them, while her wand was firmly stuck within her pocket. There was no way to get it out before he could cast anything.
His fingers were drumming onto the handle of his wand, as his gaze pinned the two of them, all of his casual humor now absent, a grim smile on his face. "It's perfect! The story almost writes itself! I was trying to fit all of the pieces, to finally unmask the Heir, but there was always one thing that wouldn't work out between the two of you, but the solution is so simple, isn't it? It's both of you. Tell me I'm wrong," Lockhart concluded with a smirk.
Iris exchanged a fearful look with Harry. This was bad. He was completely convinced it was them, and he had them at wandpoint. There was no telling what he'd do, and nothing she said would convince him otherwise, she didn't really have any alibi that he didn't already know about.
"It's not us!" Harry exclaimed fruitlessly, always the honest one.
Lockhart's smirk widened. "It isn't? So I was right. It's one of you, and the other is covering for you!"
"What? It's-" Harry exclaimed, but then cut off, looking panicked. Iris immediately made to speak up in Harry's defense, but the words got caught in her throat. A searing hot vice clamped around her vocal cords, preventing her from even uttering a single syllable. What on earth? Did he hex them somehow? Was he not even going to let them defend themselves? But... It wasn't Harry! There was no way it could be him. And also it... "It's not me!" Iris suddenly managed to croak.
Lockhart's eyes widened triumphantly. "Aha! So it is you then!" he declared, pointing his wand accusingly at Harry. "And you were covering for him!"
"I was not!" Iris exclaimed, just as Harry managed to croak "It's not me either!"
That suddenly took all the wind out of the professor, as his expression turned to confusion.
"You... what? You... You are not the Heir of Slytherin? The one who's been attacking people?" he asked Harry directly.
"I'm not!" Harry exclaimed. Lockhart's frown deepened, and he turned to look at Iris "And you? Are you the one who has attacked Mr. Creevey or Mr. Finch-Fletchley?"
"No!" Iris exclaimed desperately.
"And do you know who did?"
Iris was about to deny that as well, but immediately, the invisible burning hand enclosed around her throat again. Why couldn't she say no? Just like before... Maybe it depended on what she wanted to say? Could she say something else, maybe? "I... I'm not sure... I have several suspects, but... I don't have any proof."
"I'm not sure either!" Harry managed.
Lockhart was now just staring at them, all of his victorious demeanor absent, as his expression continued to fall into a serious frown. His fingers kept drumming the side of his wand, and Iris wasn't sure what was going on. Did he actually believe them? Why? And also what was- No way. Was that-
"Did you... is that... that spell you mentioned... what was it called again?"
Lockhart sighed and flicked his wand. There was a sound of shattering glass, and Iris felt an invisible weight lift off her shoulders, as the room suddenly grew noticeably dimmer.
"Interdictio Mendacium. You really are too clever for your own good, Miss Potter," he simply said in a flat voice.
He kept looking at them with an impassive expression, until he finally lowered his wand, and sagged.
"It... seems I have to apologize for what just happened. I was... very much mistaken," he added, as he began rubbing his face. "At first I was afraid to commit, because I was fearing a situation exactly like this, but after yesterday... I had to be sure."
"What? Iris? What just happened?" Harry asked wide-eyed.
"It's that truth-spell he was talking about! He tricked us in here while the spell was active to try and find out if one of us was the heir!" she growled.
"Do you at least believe us now?" Iris snapped, glaring at Lockhart.
"I do," Lockhart admitted reluctantly.
Iris palmed her wand underneath her robes now. "Why didn't you just use that spell from the start then, instead of trying to potion me in the middle of the great hall? Was that just added drama for your story?"
"Wait, he did WHAT?" Harry interjected.
"I'm very sorry about that as well. That wasn't one of my brightest ideas, I have to admit. And while I do admit to enjoying the occasional drama, my first and only goal was always to find and unmask the heir; to prevent any more students from being attacked," Lockhart said, causing Iris to frown. Well, he said that, but that still didn't explain why he didn't just use the truth spell from the start and avoided all that drama.
"You see, the problem with that spell is that it is far from perfect. It prevents people from knowingly lying, or saying things they aren't sure are completely true, but it neither forces them to speak the truth if they know it nor prevents people from trying to use obscure wording and tricks to escape it, or even using reasoning within your own mind to make the words true in your mind. You can only really trust the spell as long as its targets don't know that it is active. And as I said, you really are too clever for your own good."
Lockhart leaned back in his chair and sighed, before he looked back at her again. "I had to trick you into a stressful situation that would force you to answer and divert you from the true goal of the interrogation to prevent you from realizing the spell was active. And you still figured it out before I could ask all the questions I needed," he said accusingly.
"But no matter, at least I can trust that you are not the ones behind this now. Which is too bad. All the signs were pointing to the two of you. Now, we are back at square one, and it's only a matter of time until the next attack. I've been doing what I could to try and prevent that, and I've got nothing to show for it except having done something inexcusable to my own students," he trailed off, looking down at the book on his desk for a while.
"Way to go, Gilderoy," he muttered to himself. "So much for being the hero of your story..."
Iris frowned as she thought over that. True, he had been a pain in the arse to deal with, he had potioned her in the great hall, and had held Harry and her at wandpoint. But...
Well, looking at it from his perspective... He had been trying to save students' lives. The first attack had been a death. What if the attacker wouldn't stop at just petrifying students? And in the end, they had been right there for the first and third attack, and also Harry had turned out to be a Parselmouth of all things. The longer she thought about it, while from her perspective he had been completely in the wrong, with everything he had told them, and what he had done... she could have seen herself do something very similar.
That thought suddenly gave her an idea. The situation was already completely fucked, she might as well try and gain something good out of it. Iris focused her thoughts on the pendant still hanging around her neck, and willed it to turn transparent.
"Sir?" she spoke up, causing him to raise his head wearily.
"Miss Potter?"
It seemed like he had really taken her accidental honest reprimand under the influence of the potion to heart. Who said people can't change?
"What you did was way out of line, both the potion and... this. But, well... I think I can understand your side in this. So while this situation is completely messed up, in the end, you were trying to save lives, and that's what really counts," Iris said, causing Harry to nod at that last statement.
"If you want me to forgive you, then I'll just ask one thing. Don't treat us as suspects, or as students, or as fans. You treat us as allies," Iris said, looking him into the eyes.
He kept looking back for a while, until he replied, "Do you think that's wise? This investigation might prove to be extremely dangerous, as I'm sure you are aware. I don't think I can in good conscience allow second-year students to place themselves in that kind of danger, especially if it was through my actions."
Iris pinned him under a stare. "Whoever the heir is, there is a very good chance they are coming after Harry and me as well. The danger is already very real, the best thing we can do is act on it. And if we want to figure this out, our best chance is to work together."
He kept staring at her hesitantly, then at Harry, who was wearing an identical look of determination. Then Harry added, "You've been doing a great job of running your reputation into the ground so far, the least you could do is prove to us that your books are worth the ink they are printed on."
Whoa, he really went right for the throat there. But apparently, that was just the nudge he had needed.
"Very well, you have my word. We'll figure this out, and we'll find the heir."
"Good. Then you have my forgiveness," Iris added with a smile, before she reached into her robes, pulled out the dodecahedron, and glanced at it. There was a firm blue glimmer now residing inside it. With a smirk, she snapped it shut, and pocketed it again.
"I see. I suppose I deserve being used as potions ingredients after that," Lockhart added with a wry chuckle.
Iris threw a look at Harry, who suddenly had a look of comprehension. "Huh. Cutting it close there? I've done mine the first night," he added with a grin.
Iris smirked back. "Yeah, well, I really didn't want to have to go and have a talk like that with McGonagall..."
That caused some chuckles from all of them, finally relieving some of the tension in the room.
~V~
It had happened again. And again, she couldn't remember. No matter what she kept telling herself, this wasn't normal. And despite all the assurances, she still couldn't shake the feeling that it had something to do with the-
No! Why? They were friends, weren't they? But...
No matter how the gentle words made her feel, she couldn't help but wish for a real friend. A real friend that wasn't... well, Luna. Or rather, one very specific real friend.
She hadn't known what his sister had been talking about at first, what she had said she had done, and apparently Luna had as well... But after looking it up, and another talk with Luna, she had a pretty good idea. Maybe... maybe she could kill two birds with one stone?
Looking down at the stack of Filibuster's Instant-fire-logs she had nabbed from Fred, her mind still at war with itself, she stood frozen still, unsure what to do.
Once more, the picture of a cat appeared in her mind. The frozen face of a boy lying in the hospital wing. And worst of all... The thought of something happening to him because of her.
Finally, she shook her head, and clapped her hands twice, causing the pile of logs to instantly incinerate and start blazing in a huge orange flame, complete with crackling sounds and tiny colorful sparks.
Her hands clutching the journal, she stood rooted to the spot, both wanting nothing more and nothing less than to let go.
Finally, her eyes snapped open, and she stared at the flames, her face hardening into determination.
"Harry, please. I'd like to be your friend," she whispered, until she finally thrust her arms forward, sending the journal on an irreversible journey into the flames. Before it had even completely disappeared, she turned tail and fled from the room, her tears no longer willing to be restrained.