Opals
Iris had just received her test back from Herbology, and had actually talked with Professor Sprout who encouraged her to join the Hippogriff club or the Herbology club, as she was a talent I have not seen in years. Iris felt joy into her very soul at the compliment and wanted to find Rowan to see if she would join Iris in one of the clubs.
The blonde turned a corner and headed into the courtyard where she saw a fairly large crowd of first years and second years gathered around. She spotted Rowan and headed to her side.
“Rowan, what's happening?” Iris asked as she tried to peek between students.
“Merula is threatening Ben Copper, he keeps trying to walk away but she won't let him.” Rowan told her, and watched as a more stern face fell over Iris who then proceeded to push her way through the throngs of students.
“You're an embarrassment to everyone in our year!” Merula sneered, holding her wand out towards him.
“Just leave me alone!” He was trying his best to walk away. He really was, and that only irritated Iris more.
“Disgusting Mudbloods like you shouldn't even be allowed in Hogwarts! Leave the Magic to the real witches and wizards-” Iris stepped in between them, and actually wrapped her fingers around Merula's wand, causing the Slytherin to look mildly panic stricken that she may break her wand.
“If you want to fight someone, you can fight me.” Iris dared her.
“You never learn do you Rosewood? Why don't you be more like your mad brother and go missing?”
“You're the person everyone wishes would just go away.” Iris spat back quickly.
“Make me, Rosewood.” Merula snatched her wand away from Iris's hand and pointed it straight at the blonde. “Flipendo!” It wasn't strong, because it didn't knock Iris off her feet, it was only just enough to throw her off balance. Iris, expecting something, immediately beat her to it and cast-
“Rictumsempra.”
“HA-HA! The tickling charm! You'll HA-HA have to HA-HA do better than that! Flipen-!”
“Expelliarmus!” Iris was not going to engage in a long duel, especially with other students so close.
“How'd you learn that spell already? No fair! You can't be better than me! No one can be better than me!” Merula both shouted and whined. It was quite unnerving. Ben watched from behind Iris and nearly cried in relief that there was indeed someone who could take Merula down a peg.
“I beat you Merula, fair and square. Now apologize to Ben and promise to stop bullying everyone.”
“I'll never apologize to you losers and Mudbloods! I'm Merula Snyde! Forth generation Slytherin! The greatest witch at Hogwarts! I do what I want when I want! I run this school! I-”
“Ahem.” A deep voice cleared his throat to make his presence known.
“P-Professor Snape!”
“I suspect this is your fault, Rosewood. Are you aware of Hogwart's policy on unauthorized dueling?” He asked, looking directly past Merula to Iris.
“Yes, sir.” Iris addressed him.
“Did you cast the first spell, Miss Rosewood?”
“No sir.” Iris admitted truthfully, for what good that would do.
“She didn't!” One of the students yelled.
“Professor Snape, Miss Rosewood was merely protecting herself if she did not cast the first spell.” Flitwick informed him, coming up to the group. “I saw the beginning of this duel from my room.”
“Report to the corridor, I intend to punish both of you.” Snape scouled.
“Professor Snape,” Flitwick began, looking up at the man. “As I said, Miss Rosewood-”
“Still dueled without permission.”
“Thank you Professor Flitwick.” Iris turned to him and gave him a small smile. “I'll go to detention, if it means doing the right thing.” Flitwick smiled, he was not one for favorites but Miss Rosewood was quickly becoming one of his.
“Very well.” He watched Merula and Iris follow Snape and then turned his attention to Ben. “Mr. Copper, are you alright?”
“Yes sir.”
“Come with me, there's a few things that I think you should know while you continue your education here.” Flitwick told him, and motioned for Ben to follow him. “Miss Rosewood can only do so much to help protect her friends, she will not be around every moment of everyday,” Flitwick said as he closed the door to the Charms classroom behind them. “So, for the next few weeks I will personally teach you some charms that will help you should you find yourself on the wrong end of a wand. Now, raise your wand, I'm going to teach you some protection spells.”
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Ben was hiding in one of the back corners of the library, reading up on some more of the protection charms that Flitwick had suggested.
“Hey Ben,” a voice called out and he looked up to see Iris. He let out a sigh of relief and closed his book. This was the first time he had seen her since the duel between her and Merula. “What's wrong? You look worried, I mean, more worried than usual.” She asked as she took a seat next to him.
“I don't think I can do this anymore Iris.” He put his head in his hands.
“What do you mean?”
“I don't belong here at Hogwarts. I thought I would be able to adjust, but the longer that I'm here, the more I find to be afraid of.” He looked up at her and pleaded, “how do you do it? How do you stay so brave?”
“Well, I'm afraid too.” She admitted, shrugging lightly. “I'm afraid people will compare me to my brother and judge me prematurely, but when I find myself doubting I try to focus on learning new spells and potions that make me feel more prepared.”
“Trying new spells and potions is the thing I'm most afraid of.” He told her truthfully.
“I have an idea.” Iris stood up and held out her hand to him. He had no idea what she had in mind, but something in him reached up and took her hand. Iris and Ben walked through the corridors until she reached a simple wooden door down the hall from the Great Hall. “This is called the artifact room. It's more like a storage closet, but it's quiet.” She explained. “If you need a place to hide, you can come here, and if I can't find you, I know where to look.”
Iris pointed her wand at the ceiling and cast a spell, and before his eyes, Ben watched as the ceiling opened into a deep, dark swirling galaxy of stars and planets. It was beautiful. He and Iris found a blanket and a couple bags that were soft enough to lay their heads on, and laid there stargazing in the middle of the day. It was the most relaxed he had felt in a very long time. Iris pulled out a small book, and he and her searched for certain constellations and tried to find planets that were mapped out for a while before they turned to small talk.
“Iris, can I ask you something?”
“Of course you can, Ben!” Iris smiled, rolling over onto her belly, propping herself up on her elbows, she rested her chin on the back of her hands and looked down at him. He was still laying on his back, looking up at the ceiling, but now Iris was in his view and he felt a cold sweat.
“Why... Do you look the way you do?” He asked, hoping not to hurt her feelings or worse, make her angry. “I thought it was magic when we first met, but-”
“I'm half Veela.” She told him simply.
“Veela?”
“Yeah, they're semi-human, with white-gold hair, or in my case, white-silver.” She sat up on her bum and pulled out a book, Fantastic Beasts and Where to find them, and opened it to the page and showed Ben, who sat up and took the book.
Veela are semi-human magical beings; beautiful women with white-gold hair and skin that appears to shine moon-bright. When angry, Veela take on a less pleasant appearance; their faces elongate into sharp, cruel-beaked bird heads, and long scaly wings burst from their shoulders. Native to Bulgaria.
Their looks and especially their dance are hypnotically seductive to almost all people attracted to women, which caused them to perform foolhardy and impulsive actions to get closer to, and to receive admiration from the Veela.
Veela hair is a magical substance, suitable as a core for wand crafting. Renowned wandmaker Gerrick Olivander noted that he personally never used it, as he found the result to be temperamental.
Reading what he did, it made a lot of sense to Ben actually.
“So, your Mum is a Veela?”
“She is.” Iris nodded. “They don't marry humans often, but it happens.” So this is why Iris seemed to other worldly, because she was basically a faye. “That doesn't scare you does it?” He knew what she was getting at, if it scared him enough to keep him away from her. In truth, he couldn't think of much that would keep him from Iris if she wanted him around.
“No,” he shook his head. “It actually doesn't bother me at all, actually.” He told her honestly, for the one simple fact that it was Iris. The smile she gave him made his stomach flip a bit.
“I'm glad to hear that.”
“What's your favorite color?” Ben asked her next, wanting to know her better.
“Yellow, but not like butter yellow, like daffodils and the center of a daisy. You know, the happy yellow.”
“Like your wellies?”
“Yes! Like my wellies.” Iris agreed enthusiastically. “You know, my parents bought me grey ones, but McGonagall helped me learn the color changing spell, and we made them yellow.” Ben smiled, listening to her happily chat about colors and wellies. Things that were so simple but brought her joy, Iris was just such a happy person that Ben couldn't help but be happy around her. “What about you? What's your favorite color?” He could tell by the way she asked, that she genuinely wanted to know what his favorite color was and it was not her asking the question back to be polite. He thought for a split second and answered,
“blue.” He watched her eyes blink a few times, “like the sky... Or an opal.”
“Opal's are really pretty, they're one of my favorite gemstones.”
“Mine too.” Ben told her. Iris smiled and looked down at her book, continuing where they had paused. Yeah, an opal, he thought watching her read the passage.