Well, that wasn't creepy at all. What the hell? The map had never done anything like that. Not that she had ever used it much to begin with. The letters morphed, and slowly spelled out a new message.
We need to talk.
Was... was someone watching her? Who—
I hope you are reading this. Sorry for contacting you this way, but I think you might prefer this to calling on you after class.
After... Oh.
Iris wasn't sure if that bit of information made her feel any better about this whole thing. But she guessed it made sense. After all, if what Lupin had told them was true, he was one of the people who made this map in the first place. She had almost been hoping to avoid talking to him altogether, but she guessed that was just wishful thinking after all. Wait... so was it Black? Or... was it Lupin?
I have several things that I need to say to you, important things, that you need to hear. You can do with it what you will.
Iris swallowed. Could she... reply somehow? Should she even? If he didn't know if she was reading this, could she just pretend she never saw it in the first place?
If you wish to talk, you can meet me here.
Suddenly, the map burst to life, sheets of parchment flipping by themselves, until it came to rest on a different page, showing the source of the speech bubble.
It was a set of unlabeled... paw prints? Like... a dog? Or a wolf? So... Lupin then? But... no. Today wasn't a full moon. So... maybe it was just as a joke? He certainly had spoken at length about the litany of pranks they had gotten up to...
Iris blinked as she took in the room. It was a small room that didn't seem to contain much other than the paw prints, but there was a much larger room right next to it. And that room was almost overflowing with Names.
Not a single one of which she recognized. But they all had one thing in common. They had no last names.
~V~
When she had finally emerged from the shadows in the corridor which ended next to the large room on the map, Iris was thrown for a loop when—where she expected there to be a door leading into said room—she only found... nothing. Nothing, and the Hufflepuff common room entrance, half-way down the corridor. But that wasn't what she was here for. At first, she had thought that the map was still scrambled, but flipping through the pages revealed too many familiar names to support that theory. No, instead it was just this part that was odd. A room filled with people without last names, and another room with someone hiding as an animal, with no visible name to put to the paw prints. She swore to God if this was just some silly prank...
She glanced down the corridors hesitantly once again, trying to make sure she was alone. Yes, she really should have taken the cloak. It was only rational. But no. The cloak had been Harry's. She just... it just... ugh. Whatever.
Her eyes narrowed as she glanced down onto the map, and she noticed a small shape that looked suspiciously like a pear... with a smiley face on it? And her own footsteps seemingly produced a handprint out of nowhere, and reached a finger to... tickle it... what.
She glanced around the corridor only to notice said pear... right in front of her face. On the painting of a fruit bowl.
Heh, what could go wrong?
Iris reached out and did as prescribed, and said pear began giggling, twisting and turning in laughter until, with a sad little puff, it turned into a doorknob.
Iris readied her wand, pulled her hood down into her face, reached out and pulled open the door.
A wall of noise instantly slapped her across the face, which just as quickly died down as countless of large yellow eyes turned towards her in confusion, trying to make out who it was that had just entered.
"Who bes there?" one of them asked.
Iris knew that there were house elves at Hogwarts, but it was one thing to know, and occasionally meet one or two of them, but it was a whole other thing to stand face to face with all one fucking hundred of them.
Deciding that this would get way more awkward if she only took it off once she found the unnamed canine hiding in the back room, she sighed, and removed the hood from her head.
The reaction was instant, and it was somehow even worse than what she had imagined, except she had no idea what to do with it.
"Miss Lily!" "It's Miss Lily!" hundreds of excited squeaks filled the hall, as the army of assorted house elves burst into deafening cheers.
What the... fuck?
"Hey... uh... ssh... please!"
Iris tried to cut through the noise before anyone could hear, but it was for naught.
This felt all kinds of...
She scrambled to pull the door closed behind her, hoping nobody had noticed, then turned back onto the excitedly cheering crowd. "I... I'm not— Stop calling me that! That's... not my name," Iris exclaimed.
"But... you are young Miss Lily," one confused and excited elf right in front of her squeaked.
Iris just vehemently shook her head, causing her hair to tangle in front of her face. She had no idea what to feel about that. All of them mistaking her for her mum, calling her her mum's name... had they known her? Did they look that similar?
Somehow, that thought brought a spark of warm happiness to her stomach, but it was quickly drowned out again by the continued name calling. Not only were they calling her by her mum's name, but to make matters even more confusing, it was the same name she had chosen for her secret identity, which, ugh. What had she been thinking?
"Stop calling me that, please! I'm Iris, alright? Iris Potter. Lily was my mum."
"But... but you are..." more confused whispers, as the elves tried the name on their tongues, just to result in continued frowns.
"Listen, just call me whatever you like. Anything, except... that. Okay?" Iris sighed.
"Okay, Missy Red," the elf next to her perked back up.
Iris internally groaned. Whatever. It was better than... She shook her head once again.
"Uhm... sorry, I.. I think I'm supposed to meet someone here, in a room... at the back maybe?"
"Oh, yes! Professors Barkness is!" the little elf nodded excitedly, his ears flopping in front of his—her?—face. "He be waiting in dining room! Please, follow Mipsy, Missy Red, dinner is almost being ready!"
Iris refused the urge to rub her head listening to the elves talk, and instead made to follow the cheerful little creature while stuffing the mapback into her bag. Only now she took a minute to take in the rest of the room that wasn't calling her weird names.
Somehow, it was both a complete and utter mess, and yet it had a strange sense of order to it as well. There were plates, pots, bowls, unending amounts, stacked in high, tilting towers all across the room, everything looking like it might collapse at any second, no sense of symmetry, of neat alignment, no shelves or cupboards. Yet everything was stacked and cleaned nonetheless. Everything was put into piles sorted by color, shape, and whatever else distinguishing feature there was. She supposed elves did love to clean and tidy up, but if they weren't doing it for wizards sake, but just in a place solely for themselves, function took the entire front and back seats, while form was relegated to whatever the finished product would be.
She guessed there was a certain beauty to it. Pure efficiency, except with magic. Which meant nothing was neat, nothing was aligned, nothing made sense. But one snap of the fingers would result in all the necessary ingredients, cutlery and tools to come flying, without having to re-organize or re-shuffle anything at all.
As she followed the small elf, she noticed a large door at the back. It was dark wood, elegant, yet again, no decorations, just a solid, neat door. The elf stopped and stepped to the side, with an excited and expectant look on her face.
Iris took a breath, and steeled herself. She had been almost convinced. She had hoped it was Lupin. Because that would mean that he'd still be out there, somewhere, at least.
But ever since the elf had called him professor, she wasn't so sure anymore.
Iris reached out a hand, pushed the door open, andstared.
Death stared back.
She wasn't breathing, not thinking, probably wasn't even alive in that moment, unless...
Iris blinked, and narrowed her eyes. No. It wasn't. There was a distinct feeling that was missing. Her memories had threatened to consume her there for a second, but the longer she looked, the surer she grew. This wasn't the real thing. It looked exactly like that grim she had... no. Not exactly. Its eyes. A pale, silvery-gray shade stared back, softly glimmering in the torchlight of this place. Not the eerie, unearthly purple she remembered. The eyes that still haunted her dreams to this day.
This... this was... was it even a grim? She had no idea how they were supposed to look like exactly, she had only ever seen the one, and that had apparently just been Death taking the form of a grim...
But this was just a shaggy black dog, sitting on one of the two chairs at the singular dining table... wagging his tail excitedly?
Her hand twitched for her wand as there was a sudden blur, but before she could draw it, it resolved into a familiar shape.
...Great. Well played, Black. She guessed they were having that talk after all.
"Iris... it's so good to see you again."
Reluctantly stowing her wand again, Iris resigned herself to her fate, and hesitantly made to sit down at the chair opposite him. She probably wouldn't be leaving here without a promise of sorts to have him become her official guardian once the year is done, but that much she had already expected since summer. Also, she was really hoping that she'd have at least brought Harry back by then, because then it wouldn't just make the whole thing a non issue, she'd even gladly accept it, and not just for Harry's sake.
The issue was that lofty goals like hers didn't exactly adhere to set time-tables.
She gave a small smile in return, trying to figure out how to approach this. She'd made an effort to distance herself mentally, call him by his last name and all that, both because he was a Professor, but also because she didn't want another possible point of failure in her already fragile mission. But then again...
"Uhm... hey..." she replied. "So... should I... uh... call you Profes—"
"Dear Merlin, no. Please call me Sirius, before I die of old age," he replied with a short chuckle.
"Uh, okay... Sirius," she said, and quickly ran out of words.
Iris waited for him to open the conversation for a while, and when the silence grew too awkward, she instead spoke up. "So... what's with the secret dinner room here?"
Sirius gave a grin, which turned into another hesitant smile, before he chuckled again and said, "Well, I thought you'd appreciate a... uhm... second dinner?" he trailed off. When she only gave him a raised eyebrow, he doubled down on the awkwardness, "I mean... given how much you seem to enjoy your meals I thought you'd want..."
Did he just call her fat?
Iris blinked, trying to trace that thought—which she luckily hadn't voiced—even though he still awkwardly trailed off as if he had read her thoughts anyway. Really, if anything, she was in too much shape, given her diet and exercise. Not that she was complaining. But no. Lashing out at him for no reason wouldn't help the situation. She'd just have to deal with it, keep him at just enough but not too much distance, and maybe, gain an ally in the process?
She returned a hesitant smile, and they fell back into painful silence once again. Marvelous. Apparently, he was just as awkward about this as she was.
"Uhm, are—"
"I wanted—"
They both cut themselves off, and Iris internally cringed again.
"Sorry. This is awkward," Sirius spoke the words from her own mind.
"Yeah..."
"I... okay, listen. I have a few things I need to tell you, things that you deserve to know, and deserve to hear from me."
Iris paused, and nodded.
"Okay... First, I... I mean..."
He broke off, gathered himself once again, and began anew. "I am so sorry, Iris. I am the worst godfather there is. I swore. I swore that I'd protect you both."
He paused, clenching and opening his fists for a second, until he took a breath and continued in a low growl. "But instead of doing that, I went after the rat... And I couldn't even do that right. And now, I thought... I wanted... I wanted to make things right... But in the end, it was too late. He is g-gone!"
At this point, his words cut off and he averted his face. His shoulders were shaking, and he gripped the table so hard it started to groan. "He... he's gone, and it's my fault! If I'd stayed... If I'd done what I had sworn to do... None of this would have happened. So yes. I get why you hate me. Why you want nothing to do with me. Why coming to live with someone like me is the last thing on your mind. I really do."
Did he... oh. He was talking about Scabbers? Iris guessed he had a point there. She hadn't even thought about that much, really. She had been aware of the general details of what had happened, but more recent issues had pushed that far from the forefront of her mind.
Iris carefully fired up her Mindlight, and gathering her words for a moment, she began to speak. "Yes."
She let that hang there for a bit, before repeating, "Yes, you did mess up. You broke your vow, and left us with the Dursleys. But to be frank, that was a lifetime ago. Yes, it sucked that you were never there. You made one bad call, and you got shipped off to Azkaban for it."
Iris narrowed her eyes, and continued. "I don't care what you did on that one day ten years ago. I care much more about what you are doing now. And what you are doing now is somehow almost worse."
Sirius' eyes flicked towards hers, an uncertain expression on his face.
Iris steeled herself, and forged onwards. "When you were in Dumbledore's office... what you said to Lupin..."
Across from her, Sirius' breath caught. "You were there? Did you— you heard what... I mean— How can you defend— You know what he did! He did nothing! And he couldn't even say why!"
Iris opened her mouth again, but he cut her off once more. "Yes, I know, I overreacted. But it was still true! He should have done something! He should have checked up on you! He was just as much your parents' friend as I was!"
Iris let him speak his piece, then let the silence stretch a bit. Finally, she spoke up in a quiet whisper. "Even if everything that you said was true... that doesn't make anything that you said... right."
Sirius swallowed, but did not reply.
"Did you talk to him after he left?" Iris asked in a whisper.
"I..." Sirius began, but then slumped again. "No. I... I tried looking for him. First at the Leaky Cauldron, then in Diagon Alley..."
"Have you heard anything from him since then?" Iris asked an a toneless voice.
But Sirius just shook his head.
"Because I did."
"You did? What did he... did he apologize? Did he—"
Iris shot him a glare, and his voice died down all on its own. "He did... apologize. In a letter."
She took a heavy breath, knowing it would only shatter the man's already frayed psyche yet further, but if it bought her some more of the freedom she desperately needed, so be it.
"I think he took you up on your word."
His eyes widened, and she let the moment stretch a bit more.
"He... he's really going to stay away?"
Iris took a deep breath, and she put on the coldest expression she could muster.
"He did apologize. But the more I keep reading it... the less the letter reads like an apology from someone who doesn't want to see me again..."
Iris was literally the worst person on the planet.
"But more... like an apology from someone who knows he won't be able to."
Slowly, painfully slowly, the realization eclipsed his face, and yet Iris held her glare, refusing the urge to look away.
"No, I... I mean he... I didn't... he..."
Sirius just kept shaking his head. "No... No. That's not him. I refuse to..."
Sirius slammed his fist down on the table and looked her straight in the eyes. "No!"
Iris flinched at the sudden aggression, and Sirius' expression immediately fell. "I— I'm sorry. I didn't mean to lash out at you. I... It's my fault. It has nothing to do with you."
Iris gave him a look, and saw a broken man, fraying between disbelief, self-hatred and that one shred of purpose left in his life he was trying to cling onto. It looked like she wasn't getting rid of him that easily. Also, she really, really couldn't bear seeing him like this. No matter how much she wanted to. How much she had to.
"I'm not sure if that's really what this is... if anything, he didn't strike me as someone who could... actually pull through," she mumbled awkwardly. "Although I really didn't know him all that well."
Great, now she was trying to give him hope, based on nothing but made up hunches.
"Iris... please know that I will do anything I can, anything, to try and make this right. I'm not going anywhere," Sirius said, first a whisper, but slowly growing with determination. "I'll do whatever I can, and if it's the last thing I do."
Iris held his gaze, but couldn't find it within herself to keep up the glare. "Then if you really want to make up for this, go out there and find him. You find him, and you tell him you're sorry. He really needs to hear it from you."
Never mind the fact that she had no idea if there was even anything left to find at this point.
"I'll try," he whispered, like a mantra, slowly gaining confidence. "I'll try. I'll make this right, I promise."
Iris just nodded, before suddenly, there was a pop next to them.
"First course is being cornish cured pixie meat, mooncalf cheese, olives, pickles, and marmalade; with a side of garlic bread. Please enjoy."
And with another pop, the elf was gone, leaving behind the starter course on their plates.
Iris warily poked the assorted food before her, unsure if it was right to eat in the wake of a loaded conversation like that. Sirius, however, took the choice from her by snatching up some cheese into his mouth, probably trying to fend off the awkward silence.
Not wanting to be the odd one out, Iris followed suit, and soon, their starter course was gone, and all that was left was an awkward Iris, somehow feeling like she had lost control of the situation just by virtue of being confronted with delicious food. Why the hell did marmalade and cheese taste this amazing together? It really shouldn't work. But God, did it ever.
"Looks like second dinner was the right call after all," Sirius commented with a smirk, as he noticed Iris surreptitiously licking her fingers clean.
She shot him a look, but managed neither a smile in face of their previous conversation, nor a glare in the wake of such a delicious meal. Damn him. That had probably been his plan the whole time, hadn't it? And she hated the fact that it was working. So she was a growing girl, sue her.
"You're really so much like her it's almost uncanny..." Sirius mumbled wistfully. "When Lily would get mad at us, there was no talking your way out of it. You'd just have to face the dressing down, apologize, and only then you could bribe your way out of her ire with some snacks."
Merlin damn that cheeky bastard. Did he really have to be all smug about it? She really wanted to smack it back in his face, turn around and prove him wrong by leaving, but they both knew that the elf had specifically called this the first course, so yeah.
"I do need to talk to you about something else, though," Sirius finally said, piercing the silence once more.
Iris tilted her head, silently nudging him to continue.
"About tomorrow."
And like that, Iris' spirits hit rock bottom again.
Harry's funeral had been hanging over her head for the past week, constantly reminding her not only of his fate, but also of the foreboding implications. Everything seemed to lead back to this. Dumbledore was making his play, and Merlin knows Voldemort would as well.
Across from her, Sirius tensed in his chair, seemingly gathering himself.
"I assume you have some idea of what is going on?" he asked hesitantly.
"You do," Iris instead concluded, refusing to say anything else.
"You're right... more than I would like to, I can assure you."
"So? What's going on?" Iris demanded.
Sirius looked around the room hesitantly, before quieting down and continuing in a hushed voice. "Dumbledore will announce that the Dark Lord is back at the funeral."
Iris nodded. "Figured as much."
Sirius paused for a moment, as if weighing his options, before he finally adopted a serious expression. "Dumbledore assumes that the Dark Lord will use the funeral to... try and preempt him. We are pretty sure that the Dark Lord is unaware that we know about his full return, but we cannot say for certain. Either way. If he is not, he might stage an attack regardless, both as a last show of force and dominance over the Boy-Who-Lived, as well as to use the point where people's spirits are at their lowest to only further crush them by proving himself to be alive. We don't know where the attack will come from, what shape it will take... but Dumbledore is convinced that there will almost certainly be an attack of sorts, and that there is a high chance of the Dark Lord himself participating."
Yeah. Well, at least they had planned for the chance that he knew. Which he definitely did, given their encounter in Germany. But there was no way to tell them about that without leaving some dangerous questions in the room.
"So then why hold the funeral publicly at all? Why not just cancel it entirely?"
"Because..." Sirius trailed off, and sighed. "You're right, and I agree. It is an unnecessary risk, especially to the students. But Dumbledore insists that it will prove of greater benefit to shatter all doubts of his return right from the start, and to do that, there need to be as many witnesses as possible."
Iris opened her mouth to object, but he cut her off. "So instead, he set up a plan, that will guarantee the safety of the students, as well as the visitors."
Iris paused, and when he didn't continue, raised an eyebrow. "And that plan is...?"
Sirius took a breath, and simply replied, "Me."
Iris kept staring, but apparently, this was a part he wasn't willing to share.
"I just want you to know that whatever happens, I will do everything I can to protect you, tomorrow, and any day after. Even if it is against him. I know I can do it, if it is about you. So long as I am there, you have nothing to worry about."
Another pop from her side, and this time, the elf announced, "The main course is being roasted dragon tongue, seasoned with herbs from the centaur territories, and a side of Phoenix Flame Potatoes. Please enjoy."
Iris eyed the deliciously steaming meal in front of her warily, and looked back up to meet Sirius' mischievous eyes. "Phoenix Flame Potatoes?" she echoed incredulously.
"It's just fried potatoes seasoned with some phoenix ash pepper," he said with a chuckle.
It might as well have been literal potatoes fried by phoenixes for all Iris knew. This was her first time eating anything like this. For all the magical sweets and snacks she had encountered, most of the meals they had served in the Great Hall so far had been distinctly... Muggle in origin.
Hesitantly, she forked one of the potatoes, raised it to her mouth, marveled at the strange tiny orange glimmering sparks dotting it for a moment, before biting down on it. It started as potato, but within the first second, the crunchy food seemed to catch fire in her mouth, in the most pleasant way. It was slightly spicy, slightly warm, but it didn't hurt at all. There was just the distinct impression of warm, crackling embers filling her mouth, that somehow tasted even better than perfectly seasoned fries. Except there somehow was a second crunchy layer on the inside too, even though it was just a whole potato. The dragon tongue was... Definitely, uh... unique? Like a more heavy, chewy version of chicken, she guessed? But while there was a certain unique taste to it, it certainly wasn't anything worth having the name dragon on it. Was it an acquired taste? Or maybe, just the novelty of saying that you're eating dragon? Either way, she ate the whole thing anyway, but it was quickly forgotten about next to the star of the show—the side dish.
Some time through the masterwork of flavor and texture, she realized that Sirius was barely picking at his own meal. Was he just nervous, or... heh. Had the idiot eaten dinner before this and was now trying to force himself to keep up for appearances sake? With a grin, she made a show of devouring every last crumb with gusto, forcing him to keep pretending to eat throughout the whole thing, making him look rather silly in the process.
Served him right.
Iris would have loved to learn some more details about their exact plans, but the longer this conversation went on, the more risk there was of revealing her own contingency plans. And that was something she wouldn't share with anyone who wasn't in the know. No matter how much he had sworn himself to be on her side.
Once the plate was licked clean, and had finally disappeared, Sirius met her eyes with a very hesitant expression. He looked like he was about to say something several times, but cut himself off again and again.
Iris let him stew for a bit, but in the end, he foiled her plans by actually speaking up. "There was one more thing I..."
He trailed off, fiddled around with the ring on his finger for a moment, before looking oh so very small. "I mean you don't have to talk about it, but it's just that..."
Somehow, a grown man stumbling over his words like this was strangely endearing. "It's... about Harry."
Great. There seemed to be a pattern with how all of these talks would start.
"I... I understand if you don't want to talk about it, and you have every right to just... you know. Shake your head and be done with it. Just say the word and I'll never bring it up again. But... I... I really would like to know."
Now Iris was the one on the back foot. Was he talking about—
"I want to know what happened. I want to know how he died. I have to know."
"I can't think about anything else. I can't sleep, I can't work, I can't do much of anything else other than ponder all the worst possible things that might have happened down there. And all of them being my fault. It's completely messed me up! Hell, I'm taking my goddaughter on a dinner date, literally the only witch I shouldn't be— Not that it's anything like that, but... My mind can't help but... I don't know what's real anymore!"
"I have to know. I can't keep going with this... this uncertainty. All the worst things, all at once. I want to know... I have to know... what exactly I have done."
So much for giving her an actual choice. What the hell was she supposed to say to that?
Sirius, having said his piece, was holding his breath, his eyes desperately demanding the salvation they sought. The truth that only she could provide.
And so, Iris did. She told him about the chamber, about what Harry did, about Myrtle, about the way she taught her magic, about the secret room that they shared, and about the fact that her body was being controlled while she was in there. Maybe... maybe she could at least get him to see that it hadn't been his fault after all.
"What do you mean, a room?"
Iris took a breath. "Well, it wasn't... an actual room, I guess. It's more like a mindscape turned inside out."
Wait, how did she... Oh, right. The memories from Myrtle. They still confused the hell out of her to this day.
"A mindscape? But that... that only exists inside your mind, as far as I know. It's an Occlumency technique, not a physical thing. And certainly not something you can just... lure someone into..." Sirius replied with a frown.
"Well yes. But this one was. She wasn't using any direct mind magic on me," Iris paused, and amended her words before he realized that she knew things that she definitely shouldn't, "at least I don't think so."
"She even had a Pensieve in there, which she stole from this strange room on the seventh floor."
Sirius just shook his head. "You can't take a physical object into a space that only exists inside the mind."
"You can, if a Name is involved," Iris replied, before she even thought about it.
Damn it! Also, huh. She guessed that made some sense. Magical Names seemed to exist slightly beyond the rational, they allowed you to defy reason to a small extent, especially if you could supplement it with meaning. Maybe like... how House elves could just do things with a snap of a finger that shouldn't even work in the first place, or how Goblins just ignored the laws of physics when it came to their battle axes? Was that not down to the fact that they were creatures, but because of their Names?
She really needed to force herself to take some time and properly sort through Myrtles memories at some point, no matter how much she hated being reminded of every single one.
Sirius was staring at her with an indecipherable expression, but he didn't reply again.
Ugh. She really hoped she hadn't messed this up. If he'd dig too far in that direction—
Pop! "The third course is being Raspberry Vanilla Cheesecake Puffskeins. Please enjoy."
Heh. Saved by the bell. Iris had never been as grateful to be able to stuff her face with some desert as she was right now. Even if said desert was moving. And its shape was so utterly adorably cute. But she wouldn't be deceived by weapons she had long since mastered for herself.
With a gleam in her eyes, she raised up her spoon, and sliced down into the animated cheese cake shaped like a tiny animal made of nothing but puffy fur and overly large eyes with extra gusto. Her prey realized its mistake and the individual pieces began to flee, but she hunted each and every single one of them down, until they ended up reunited right where they belonged.
Finally, they were left in silence once more, but this time Iris spoke up. "So I guess there's still one topic left to talk about?"
Sirius swallowed, and his expression turned hesitant. "I... well. I mean... I thought, but, I realize it's probably not a good idea in hindsight..."
Was he actually trying to talk her out of it now?
But then again... yeah. That wouldn't make any difference. Because of Dumbledore. So here goes nothing.
"No." Iris shook her head. "Yeah. There's some issues we have to work out. Issues you have to work out. But I still think that... at least by the end of the year... we might be able to get there."
"I— Are you sure? I mean... you heard, right? It's my fault that Harry is gone! You know I'd do anything, if there was any way, to undo it, to fix it, to have you both come living with me..."
Iris cut him off right there, his statement hitting a bit too close to territories better left untouched. "You know we aren't getting anywhere with this, right? You say it's your fault, I say it's my fault... Does that stop us from doing the best we can with what is left?"
Merlin, she really had to stop quoting Dumbledore at people she cared about. Especially when she was just using them as a means to an end.
"I suppose not..." he finally mumbled.
"Yeah. So I guess we'll revisit this before summer break, at the latest. But until then..." Iris trailed off, then decided she couldn't leave without a final parting jab. "See you in class, Professor Black."
Sirius grabbed his chest as if she had just stabbed him in the heart, but even as he sat dying at the dinner table, he was finally smiling.
"See you in class, Miss Potter."