Jae arrived in his typical outlandish behavior, wielding two large bottles of Fire Whiskey.
“Look alive boys, our Thursday night just got a lot more interesting!”
“Where did-” Charlie started but waved his hand, “you know what, never mind, I don't want to know.”
“I got cups in my trunk! Gather round boys, it's going to be a good night! Hope you don't have anywhere to go early in the morning.” He summoned his and Murphy's side tables and put them back to back to make a small table in the middle of the room. He then placed the two, rather large bottles on the tables, and went to dig in his trunk.
“Woah, hang on!” Corey said as he jumped out of his bed, where he had been reading a mystery novel. “This is highly, highly, breaking the rules!”
“Relax, have a drink, no one has to know.” Jae said, throwing him a smirk. “Trust me after a few drinks, you'll be really relaxed.”
“This is?” Orion questioned, picking up one of the bottles.
“Irish brewed Firewhiskey, aged in barrels for years. It's the good stuff.” Jae mentioned, placing a array of cups on the table.
“You and I have different ideas of what good stuff is.” Murphy eyed the amber liquid that Orion was sloshing around.
Charlie got off his bed and walked over, looking at the small shot glasses.
“So... You brought it for us all to try?” He asked innocently.
“I have something actually more interesting in mind.” Jae said slyly. “Unless you are all a bunch of softies.”
“Hardly.” Ben replied deadpanned, picking up the second bottle to crack it open, and began to pour it into the glasses, filling them to the top. “What were you thinking Jae?”
“We've all known one another years now, lets get to know each other a little bit better.”
“This is your way of just trying to get information from us that you can blackmail us with later.” Murphy looked up at Jae, feeling very suspicious of him. Jae said nothing, just smiled slyly and took his shot before pouring himself another.
“No! No, we are stopping this now!” Corey blurted, grabbing the bottles off the table.
“Oh please, take a walk on the wild side. You're always so uptight.”
“I am not!”
“Fine, then take a drink.” Jae offered out his cup, with the amber orange liquid swirling and twinkling at the bottom. Against his better judgement, Corey put the glasses down.
“Take a drink if you have ever used a unregulated potion, I'll go first.' He took a large gulp of the amber liquid. Ben lifted an eyebrow, but played along and poured himself more before taking a drink. Charlie, Orion, and Murphy simply nodded, not touching their drink to their lips.
“Take a drink if you've ever... Seen a dragon?” Charlie tried, cheering the circle. Jae, Ben, and Charlie took long sips.
“You are going to have to include something that we have done.” Murphy almost pouted with a smile on his lips. “Like if you've been voted most dashing Quidditch Commentator.” It was silly, but an excuse to take a drink himself.
--------------------------------------------------------
About 20 questions, and the entire first bottle of Fire Whiskey, most of the boys were starting to feel the effects. Ben and Jae held their liquor the best, more then likely because this was not either one's first time drinking underage. Charlie and Murphy were about one drink away from being completely gassed, Orion was one away from finding world peace, and Corey was laughing at every word.
“Oh, I've got a good one.” Jae slurred slightly. “Take a drink if you've ever had a crush-” All the boys lifted their drinks, but Jae finished his thought, “on Iris!” They all laughed lightly, but the laughter died out when all five of the boys fell silent as they took their shots.
Murphy and Charlie almost immediately sobered up, and Ben froze like a statue. Corey laughed loudly.
“Soooo, we have all had dreams of Iris Rosewood?” Orion clarified.
“Is that a question we are suppose to drink to?” Murphy questioned, looking down into his glass.
“More clarification, perhaps I shall word it this way...” Orion drawled, “if you have a crush on Iris Rosewood.”
Again, the room fell silent as all five boys took a shot. Ben stood up, said nothing, grabbed his coat and left the room. Corey felt heat rising in his cheeks because he had only known Iris for a few months now, meanwhile she had history's with everyone else. He decided to try and follow Ben's example, and stood up, swaying, almost falling over, and grabbed his sweater, tying it around his middle. He heard Jae telling him he looked a little wobbly, but waved him off.
Head boy rounds would help him get his mind clear. At least, thats what he told himself. It would have been fine under normal circumstances, but at the moment he could barely stand up straight. He all but rolled down the stairs, and made it to the bottom floor, which he promptly face planted on. He had no business being out of bed, but yet here he was. He managed to get to his feet by pulling on a bench and continued to walk the halls, looking for students who were out of bed after curfew.
“Ah ha!” He shouted to himself, seeing a light on in the greenhouse, deciding to investigate to make sure nothing nefarious was going on. Even if there was, he couldn't have done much about it because his brain was foggy, and honestly he wouldn't have remembered to tell McGonagal or Dumbledore about it in the morning.
He opened the door and noticed that it was empty except for one person near the other side of the greenhouse who was doing... Something. What, he wasn't sure.
As he stumbled towards the person he could hear some faint music playing and finally his eyes could focus on who was in the greenhouse after hours. Blonde hair pulled up, denim pants, whitish t-shirt, and a dirtied apron. He blinked a few times and finally noticed the person bend over to pick something up-
“Iris!” Oh yeah, he'd know her bum anywhere, not that he would let people know of course. She straightened and turned towards him, flicking her wand towards the music box to silence it.
“Hey, Corey. What are you doing here?” She asked him as he walked up to her.
“You're bum... Is fantastic!” He blurted. Her mouth opened slightly, her eyebrows knit together, obviously confused.
“Thanks? I think.” She pulled the fingers of her gloves to remove them. “You came down here to tell me you think my butt is fantastic? You know you could tell me that anytime.”
“I was looking for troublemakers.” He whispered, putting his finger to his lips, leaning in she she could hear him.
“Oh!” Iris smelled the whiskey on his breathe and clapped a hand over her face. “Corey, have you... Have you been drinking?”
“Oh yeah, see, I'm not uptight!” He assured her. Iris gave him a look he couldn't quite place, and watched as she placed her gloves into a wooden crate with her name on it with some other items. He heard her let out a long sigh and rubbed her forehead.
“Dammit Corey... You were like the one guy who didn't seem like a total idiot most of the time.” She looked defeated and even in his foggy state he felt guilt for making her feel bad. He wasn't sure how him drinking made her sad but he didn't like seeing her like that. “Let's get you back to the dorm, and hope we don't run into Filch or Mrs. Norris.” She picked up a book she had open near where she was working, closed it, and placed it into the box. Then she grabbed his arm, and pulled him along with her.
He stumbled a few times over the uneven ground in the greenhouses, and Iris always caught him, and helped him back onto his feet.
“Uh, Iris.” He felt something uncomfortable in his stomach coming to a stop.
“What is it?”
“I don't-” He made a wreching sound, and promptly threw up. On Iris. The blonde stood with the most horrified expression on her face that he had ever seen, and just froze. It had been shocking to both of them and Corey went to pull out his wand to cast scurgify, but Iris held up her hand.
“Don't.” She carefully pulled out her wand and cast the spell, but still looked half sick herself. “It still smells.” Iris almost gagged.
“You want my sweater?”
“Yes please.” She nodded and he untied the dark sweater from around his waist and was shocked when Iris pulled her shirt over her head and he had a full eyeful of Iris in nothing but her denim jeans and her white bra. Even in his foggy sight he noted that the bra had some ornate lacing on it, along with a little gold charm between Iris perfectly supple breasts.
His vision was soon over as she slid the large sweater over her head and fixed it on herself, rolling up the sleeves enough that she could use her hands. It was oversized on her but Corey found himself feeling quite proud to see her in his sweater. He had seen her in a Weasley sweater before, he thought it was an old one of Bill's but he wasn't sure, and she had a sweatshirt of Barnaby's that he had outgrew. It was like they had given her a little stamp of themselves on her and now he had done the same thing, the only issue was that he had vomited on her to make it happen.
“Let's go.” She wrapped her arm around him so he wouldn't tip over and escorted him up the stairs to Gryffindor tower. She peeked in the common room and saw a couple younger students. “Heads up, give a wide birth, or else your esteemed Head Boy might vomit on you.” She warned, causing all the students to scatter so she could get Corey in and up the stairs before any of them could notice he was drunk and not just sick with a stomach bug.
Iris opened the door to the seventh year boys dorm and glared. Jae was the only one awake, and to her horror she saw Ben and Charlie were also missing, and Murphy's chair was broken and he was laying in a starfish position on the floor.
“The only person behaving is Orion.” She stated angrily. “Where the hell are Ben and Charlie?”
“Don't know where Ben is, Charlie said something about going after dragons.”
“Sweet Merlin.” Iris shook her head, leading Corey over to his bed, all but dumping him into it. She pulled out her wand and cast a charm over to Murphy's chair to fix it, only it didn't mend and that just made her blood boil more. She untied Corey's shoes and tossed them on the floor. “How could you do this!” She shouted, turning to look at Jae.
“Chill, Iris.” He waved off her concern. “It was just some whiskey-”
“He's head boy! Charlie is a prefect! They shouldn't even have anything like this in their room!” She pulled Corey's canopy closed and marched over towards Jae.
“They're both big boys, Iris, they don't need you to tell them what's right and wrong.”
“No, that's what you're there for. To show them what being in the wrong is.” She huffed at him. He finally looked up and made eye contact with her.
“Woah, you're like... Actually upset.”
“OF COURSE I”M UPSET!” She slapped the side of his head. “You got all the boys drunk, and now Ben is missing! Charlie is out chasing imaginary dragons! Corey was walking around as head boy, completely out of his mind, and somehow Murphy's chair is broken in a away that magic can't fix! Because you wanted to be an ass and get information from them you could blackmail them with!” She yelled as she walked over and pulled Murphy up into a sitting position as he giggled and face planted between her breasts.
“Well...”
“Don't tell me I'm wrong. I know I'm right, and so do you.” Iris was able to get Murphy half in his bed before she reached down and picked up his legs to get the rest of him in. “Once again, Iris is left to pick up the fucking pieces!” Corey laid in his bed listening to Iris and felt a ping in his heart. “I'm always the one left to fix everything even when it has nothing to do with me. I'm just so tired, and I was trying to work on my year end project but instead I get to go search for the drunk!”
The next thing he heard was the door slamming and Jae breathing out a deep sigh. Corey almost got up and followed after Iris, but his pillow was so soft... And his bed was so comfortable...
When he finally woke up, it was only because the light was giving him a massive headache. He was experiencing his first hangover and he hoped that if he managed to get down to Madam Pomfrey she wouldn't ask too many questions.
Charlie was in his bead, mud up to his knees and he wondered if he had wondered back or if Iris had went to find him. Ben was also sleeping in his bed, and Murphy's chair had been replaced with one that looked a bit nicer. He also noticed that Jae and Orion were up and gone, before he noticed a bottle on his nightstand. Pepperup potion and a glass of water with a note that simply said drink when you wake up. He looked around and saw that there was indeed a glass of water, and a bottle of pepperup potion on every one of their side tables, Jae's and Orion's already empty.
Iris had not only help him back to bed, got Murphy in his, found Ben, chased down Charlie, and found a replacement chair for Murphy... She had also retrieved pepperup potions for all of them and water if they either threw up in the middle of the night or woke up thirsty.
Corey had never been so touched by someone's kindness, and yet felt so incredibly guilty.
Then an idea came to his head, and he decided to act on it. He drank the water and pepperup potion, dressed, ran a brush through his hair, and went to go see if Iris was in her room still. He opened the seventh year girls dorm and saw Skye was gone, but Iris was still sleeping in her bed.
This plan might just work. He noticed a bag, and cast a silencio charm on his shoes so he could creep across and search her bag. He knew what her Herbology and Botany notebook looked like, and found it easily. Since she had been busy helping him and the rest of the boys, he was going to return the favor.
When she woke up, she would also receive the apology she deserved, but he also hoped that this would make her understand just how sorry he was and hoped to make it up to her. So he made his way down to the greenhouses and went to her station.
There he was met with absolute chaos that only Iris would actually understand. There was things that looked like brown clumps of root balls that were all color coded, along with brown bags filled with brown, dried flower heads.
They were all labeled with scientific terms and names when referring to the flowers she was growing and breeding, and thus he had no idea what they actually were. He pulled out the notebook and went to the last page that was written on, hoping that she had jotted down some sort of notes. He knew Iris was a meticulous note taker in class, it would stand to reason she was when it came to her flowers.
There he was met with success. He noted that the Poppies were simply labeled Icelandic, Shirley, or Breadseed, not scientific name. While those did not make any sense to him, he knew what poppy seeds looked like and he felt like he could separate the seeds from the dried flower heads.
“Mr. Hayden, I'm not used to seeing you in the greenhouses at his hour.” Professor spout called when she came in the greenhouse. His heart leapt, he was hopeful she could tell him the best way to separate the seeds from the rest of the dried flower.
“Actually I was hoping to surprise Iris. She helped me last night with some things... I was sick, and couldn't do them so she did, making it where she couldn't work on her projects here.” He explained, “do you have a suggestion on how to get the seeds from the dried poppies out?”
“Well, they are exceptionally tiny, so I would suggest a white sheet here.” She reached under one of the raised beds and pulled out a white cookie sheet type object and handed it to him. “Then it's as simple as pulling away the dried petals, and shaking the little seeds from the pods. I believe Miss Rosewood is keeping her poppy seeds in some corked bottles to keep them dry and safe. There's extras in the cabinet there.” She instructed as she inspected some of the other projects in the seventh year greenhouses. “I will say this though, Mr. Hayden, she has worked exceptionally hard on her projects, and bred some varieties that I'm not sure the world has seen before so I would suggest using extreme caution.” She warned. He nodded, knowing how much her flowers meant to Iris.
He worked more carefully with the tiny seeds then he had ever worked on anything in his whole life. Once again, Iris is left to pick up the fucking pieces, Corey kept hearing Iris's voice over and over in his brain. He had only known her truly for the last year, but he had heard her tell stories, never complaining just regaling him, and he had heard stories from Penny and a few other of her close friends. He had thought it himself a few times, that it seemed like Iris was the work horse and if anything ever went wrong... Just give it to Iris, she would find a way to fix it.
Her brother missing. She found him.
There had been issues with the Forbidden forest. She fixed it.
Merula gets cursed at an old graveyard. Fixed it.
There was many other things but those were just a few that came to his mind. He even had to breathe carefully around these tiny seeds, that were as small as specks of sand. He took his wand and was able to levitate the seeds into a glass bottle and put the cork in, writing down what was on the bag onto a label for the bottle.
“Mr. Hayden, are you aware Miss Rosewood's aspiration to become a flower breeder?” Professor Sprout asked. “She's talked about starting a large farm to grow fresh potion ingredients, but in addition also breed flowers.”
“No, actually.” He admitted, realizing that they were in their seventh year and he had never actually asked Iris what she wanted to do after Hogwarts. He had guessed she would do something in the Ministry, as she was doing internships there. He wondered briefly why she would do that if she had no intention of-
“I suspect Mr. Moody will be quite displeased when he hears of her wishes. I think perhaps he may even try to guilt Miss Rosewood into being an Auror.”
“If she doesn't want to be, she shouldn't.”
“Yes, I agree. But she does seem to put others before herself... Perhaps a friend should remind her that it is not selfish to put herself first, even just once.” She said giving him a look, and he nodded knowing exactly what she was getting at. “You should take a good look at the tulips over there, in bed seventeen. One of her favorites she's done so far.”
Corey organized what he had done, and stood to go over and look at the raised bed of tulips. In truth, he knew Iris did breed beautiful flowers, but he had no idea she was capable of this. The tulips were white, with almost brush strokes of bright red on the petals. The edges were frayed a bit, resembling bird feathers. They were stunning, and he was amazed at what Iris had grown.
“She... created these?” He asked.
“Essentially. She has bred quite a few flowers together over the years as year end projects, all culminating to that one flower.” Sprout said. Corey looked at the tag, and noticed in Iris's pretty cursive writing Rowan's Legacy. “She said that even though Rowan is gone, her memory will live on forever in the name of her flower.” She called to Corey. He looked over at the Professor, who noticed him look at the tag. “They were thick as thieves, the two of them. Something in Miss Rosewood I feel died along with Miss Khana.”
“I knew they were close, I wish I would have known them better back then.” He remembered watching Rowan and Iris, being completely intimidated by both their beauty and brains, throw Penny in there and they were the most intimidating trio in the Hogwarts dating pool.
“You have got quite close though with Miss Rosewood, since you two have been Head Boy and Girl though, no?”
He honestly had no idea how to answer that question.
“I... I feel like we have, I've never had a friend like Iris before. She's genuinely one of the most selfless people I know, and...” Corey searched for a word that he felt comfortable admitting his feelings to a teacher. “I adore her.” He came to. Adoration was a fine line between friendship and feeling, and Sprout could interpret it how she wished. The older woman nodded, with a smile on her face.
“I have to go, but you should take a look at the rest of her flowers, beds twelve through twenty seven are all Miss Rosewood's. I have been trying to talk her into entering a flower show in a few weeks, perhaps you could aide me in that endeavor.” She told him as she went to leave the greenhouse. Fifteen of the beds in the seventh year Greenhouse were Iris's? Corey looked at all the flower's that were either in bloom or about to bloom. One of the most visually striking to Corey was the dainty, tissue paper like blooms of the pansy flower that instead of being the typical purple and yellow, were the deepest darkest black he had ever seen, with tiny yellow dots in the center with their pollen. Next to those were the same black pansy's with white edges outlining every petal.
He knew that Iris had a passion for plants, mostly flowers, but he had no idea just how talented she was when it came to them. He wondered just how many people knew exactly how talented she was, because it wasn't something she talked about. There was so much about Iris that was so exceptionally spectacular, she was brilliant, she was strong, courageous, witty, an overall excellent witch... Flowers just seemed so simple.
“Corey?” He looked up and saw Iris coming into the greenhouse. He had prepared an apology in his head but just blurted,
“Iris, these are beautiful!” He gestured to all the flowers he was standing in front of.
“Did Sprout tell you about all of them? I saw her leaving the greenhouse.” She asked, walking up to him. He noticed that she had on her over the knee boots, and a short skirt... Still wearing his sweatshirt, but she had folded it in a way that it wasn't longer then her skirt.
“She did, she also said that there's a flower show! Iris you need to enter, they would win! I'm sure of it!” He told her excitedly. “Especially Rowan's Legacy! I've never seen any tulip like that before!”
“I don't know, Corey. If I did enter that show, I'd have to get permission to leave school grounds, get that Friday off, and then I'd also have to get permission to not go to my Ministry work-”
“Do it.” Corey stated firmly. Iris looked up at him and he could tell she was about to protest. “Just do it. For once, just do something you want to do. You deserve it.”
“What if I said I don't want to do it?”
“I'd say you're lying.” He wasn't going to let her back her way out of this, and Sprout was right. “It's not selfish to do something you want, even just once. The Ministry won't fall apart, Moody will still be an Auror, and Hogwarts will still be standing when you come back with your many blue ribbons.” He told her, when an idea struck him. Iris did everything for everyone else. “But your blue ribbons, you may not get a chance at those again. Promise me, you'll go.” She smiled and nodded.
“Ok, I promise. But,” she added. “See if you can come with me?” The question shocked him, and he had a hard time telling her no.
“If you want me to come, I'll come.” He promised her. “I like what you did to my sweater.” He added with a smirk.
“Oh, I'm sorry. Do you want it back?”
“No, it looks better on you the tied around me.”
“Well, thank you.” Iris smiled, then gave him a playful grin, “so long as it doesn't cover my fantastic bum, right?” He slapped himself across the face and turned red.
“Yeah... I owe you one hell of an apology for last night.”
“Oh, it's fine.” Iris shook her head at him, and something in him snapped.
“No, it's not fine.” He said much more sternly then he intended, causing her head to snap up and look at him. “You do everything for everyone else, I've seen you dragged into a situation when it's not your fight. You fix everything, and the last thing you needed was for me to add to your load and thats what I did. You took care of me, you took care of Ben, and Charlie, and you even found a replacement wheelchair for Murphy in the middle of the night! You always go above and beyond for everyone, meanwhile everyone else just does the bare minimum for you... I am so sorry, Iris, I will never do that to you again.”
He watched as she crossed her hands over her heart and blinked hard a few times, her eyes becoming a bit shiny and glossy.
“Corey... That... Thank you.” Iris took a step forward and held out her arms, and Corey realized she was silently asking for a hug, which he happily returned. It was not the kind of quick hug that he was used to, Iris squished herself against him as closely as she could, resting her face against his shoulder, fisting the back of his sweater in her hands. Corey rubbed his hands up and down her back in a soothing manner, remembering how his Grandmother would do that to him when he was upset. “I feel like I just have all these expectations from people, that I can't live up to, and if I do hit the expectations... Only more will be created, and it's exhausting.” She admitted to him, and it nearly broke his heart. Iris was drowning, and instead of reaching out a hand to help her, people kept holding her under water. He held her a little tighter, in his mind if she was with him, then she could catch her breath.
“I think a break, and going to the flower show, will be a break you need.” Corey told her, feeling her nod against his shoulder. Sadly she pulled away then.
“I'll need to fill out the papers then, and get them out. It's in just a few weeks.”
“Oh, wait!” Corey remembered he had organized some of her seeds for her. “I woke up before you did, and wanted to give you some help. I got all the seeds out of your poppy pods.”
“You, what?” She asked, looking at him oddly as he walked over to her work station and showed her the organized and labeled bottles of Poppy seeds, each in their own glass bottles. Iris looked a bit nervous for a moment, and Corey quickly pulled out the notebook he had took from her room earlier.
“I followed your notes, word for word.” He assured her, and he watched as she visibly relaxed. “I snuck into your room while you were sleeping to get it... That sounds way creepier then I mean it to be.” He admitted with a nervous laugh.
“That was you?” She asked with a smile, taking her notebook. “I thought I heard someone. I thought it was just Skye.”
“No, it was me, trying to find a way to help you. I heard you last night, when you yelled at Jae and I wanted to help you work on what I interrupted.”
“Well, thank you, you didn't have to, but I appreciate it anyway.” Iris picked up one of the bottles and inspected the seeds. “Honestly, I'm happy there was this much seed produced. Usually first time breeders don't have a ton of seeds.”
“Will you plant those now, or do you think you'll use them after we graduate?” Corey asked her. Iris looked a bit sad and let out a sigh.
“I don't know.” She admitted, “I feel like I may not have time to work on my breeding projects after we graduate.”
“Sprout said you wanted to be a potion ingredient grower, I don't see why you can't grow flowers too.”
“Well, I don't think I'm going to follow that path, anymore.”
“Because that's your choice? Or did the Ministry demand it?” He called out the more then likely reason. Iris looked up at him, her eyes a bit more sharp then normal.
“Corey, are you insinuating I can't make my own decisions?”
“No I'm saying that always feel compelled to help others, at the expense of yourself, and if the Ministry acted like your only option in life was working for them-”
“Then small minded Iris would do it?” She spat, crossing her arms.
“What? No, thats not what I said.” Corey protested. “I just want you to do what you want to do, and it feels like you're giving up what you want to do because you feel like you should work at the Ministry!”
“If I don't become and Auror, and use the talents I have, I'll just be wasting them.”
“That is a Moody quote if I've ever heard one.” Corey grumbled, throwing his arm out at her flowers. “Don't you think this takes talent? I've never met anyone who can do what you do with flowers, Iris! They're amazing!”
“But they don't help anyone. They're just flowers, and pretty to look at.”
“Another Moody quote.” He stated, walking around her to go and point at one of the pinkish flowers she had grown. “Tell that to the woman who is getting married that something this beautiful does nothing, and that she might as well not even have a bouquet! Or when people get sick! Flowers don't lift their spirits? When babies are born? My dad always buy my Mum roses on my birthday, because that's what he bought her on the day I was born. Or to the Grandma's who grow sweet peas in their gardens and now they're a core memory to their grandkids.” Then he pointed to the tulips. “Or telling Rowan to her face that these flowers you bred, for her memory, mean nothing?” Iris was silent, and turned her head not to look at him, and he knew he had struck a nerve. “You are literally a flower, Iris. A beautiful flower. Do you know what the meaning behind iris flowers are? Wisdom, which you have in abundance. Hope, which you inspire. Valor, great courage in the face of danger. The iris's mythology dates back to Greece, when the goddess Iris, acted as the link between heaven and earth. It fits you perfectly, because look at you!” He motioned his hands out to her, “you don't seem real, no one is as kind hearted and warm, AND as beautiful as you are! If you were just this mythological creature from Heaven things would make so much sense.”
Iris's eyes doubled in size at all the things Corey and just dumped out.
“You know a lot about iris's, for someone who doesn't grow them.” Was all she could muster, still processing everything he said.
“Well, I've read some things.” He rubbed the back of his neck, turning red, knowing he had basically told her what he thought of her. Well almost everything. Corey looked at Iris, really took a moment to study her face while he drummed up the courage to tell her his actual feelings and thoughts. He had tried, and failed, to tell her when they had snuck away to search the Whomping Willow for a black feather and he was determined to tell her now. He found it increasingly hard to concentrate with her blue eyes starring straight into his soul, she had some of the most intense eyes that he had ever looked into. “I adore you, Iris. Please, don't become an Auror unless it truly is what you want to do. You deserve to be happy, and I don't think being an Auror would make you happy.”
“Adore? That's a word people rarely use anymore... Mostly because it's something that you can say to a really good friend who you respect, or to someone you care deeply for.” She stated, “which do you mean?” He felt his throat constricting, like there was a pair of invisible hands around his neck.
“What would you want to hear?”
“That's not what I asked, I know what I want to hear but I want to hear it from you.”
“I'm afraid to say it. I like you to much as a friend to put that in jeopardy, because if you don't feel the way I do then things could get very uncomfortable very quickly.” He told her. Iris, being the person she was, reached out her hands and grabbed his, a act that encouraged him to go on. “I really care about you, more then other friends I have. Romantic type feelings.”
“So, when we go to the flower show, will that be like... Our first date?”
“I mean, it can be, but we could go to Hogsmead today and it could be our first date!” Corey quickly said to her. “If you want, that is.”
“I need to go anyway, I ordered some seeds from a Muggle store and they're being delivered to the apothecary there.” She told him, squeezing his hands a little tighter. “Do you need to do anything before we go?” Iris asked him, and he shook his head. He knew it would be corny to say, but there was nothing more important than Iris in that moment.
“Let's go.” He told her simply. She let go of one of his hands, and the two began to head for the door of the greenhouse.