Bloodline chapter 9

Chapter 9 -

"Is there a particular reason why you're carrying her around?" Daphne said in an annoyed tone as she stared at Harry who was walking alongside her, along with Tonks who was piggybacking on the boy with her legs wrapped around his waist and her arms around his neck.

"I don't know," Harry said in a mild tone. "Is there, Tonks?" He asked, causing the pink-haired girl to mumble under her breath.

"What?" Daphne asked, looking at Tonks.

"I stubbed my toes," Tonks revealed with a sigh.

"Toes? As in plural?" Daphne asked, sounding slightly amused.

"Plural," Harry confirmed, earning a flick on the ear from Tonks.

"Shut it, I'll be fine in a couple of minutes," She insisted, earning a glare from Daphne.

"So you'll be fine once we're in the great hall?" She asked in a bland tone.

"Maybe," Tonks said with a happy smile, curling into Harry's back.

'Well played, Tonks,' she cursed internally, realising that Tonks had ended up getting Harry to carry her all the way to the hall. Part of her wondered if Tonks had faked the toe stubbing, but eventually, she decided that she hadn't. However, that was mostly because it would start to get concerning if Tonks began to display that level of intelligence.

(.)

"I still think that Professor Sprout was being unreasonable," Harry heard Daphne say for the second time in the last ten minutes. "All I wanted to do was cast a spell that would keep all the dirt off of me."

"According to her, the magic might mess with the plants," Harry shrugged.

"Besides, you were wearing clothes specifically designed for Herbology, you're allowed to get them dirty," Tonks frowned questioningly.

"That doesn't mean I want them to get dirty," Harry and Tonks both rolled their eyes at Daphne's response. He opened his mouth to say something when he heard a familiar voice.

"Oh sweet hell in a milkshake!" Dan gasped as he turned the corner ahead, he ran forward and grinned when he spotted Harry. He quickly rushed towards him and hugged his waist. "Help me, help me, please help me!" He chanted quickly just before a high-pitched voice spoke up.

"Come out and play with Peevees!" A sadistic giggle followed before Peeves the poltergeist came around the corner and froze. Peeves looked like a little man dressed in loud, outlandish clothes including a bell-covered hat and an orange bow tie. Compared to the Hogwarts ghosts, he was solid-looking, not pearly white and transparent. He was capable of flight and intangibility, like a ghost, but could also affect solid objects and make himself invisible. Unlike the ghosts, he could be affected by magic. Right now, the poltergeist was floating in the air, holding a toilet brush in one hand and was staring at Harry and the girls with horror.

"Help me, help me, please help me!" Dan said once more, looking up at Harry. "He's trying to tickle me with a dirty toilet brush! I saw the last person who went in that toilet, do not let it near me!" He begged.

"Calm down, little sparrow, I'll handle it," Harry told him before sending a glare to Peeves who flinched before throwing the toilet brush away.

"Peeves was not doing anything," He said in his most innocent-sounding voice, which wasn't very innocent. "Peeves was just playing,"

"Peeves was playing with the wrong person," Harry said, not stopping his glare. "This boy is my brother, under my protection, do you understand, Peeves?" He asked dangerously.

"Peeves understands, Peeves understands!" Peeves said quickly, bobbing his head up and down quickly. "Peeves will be good to the little first-year boy, Peeves will! Scouts honour!"

"You're not a boy scout," Daphne said blandly.

"That's because Peeves is an honourary Girl Scout!" He said loudly and happily with immense pride in his voice, only to wilt at the blank looks he was getting from all the students, including Dan who looked up from his hug. "It's a long story," He said weakly before floating away through a nearby wall.

"Wow," Dan said once he finally let go of Harry. "He was really scared of you," He said in an awed voice.

"Not just him," Tonks grinned. "Peeves knows better than to mess with us,"

"Why?" Dan couldn't help but ask.

"Well, first he tried messing with your brother, that didn't go well," Daphne said with a smirk. "Then he made the mistake of messing with me, he ruined my hair." She said, her smirk turning into a deep scowl.

"How did that go?"

"She ended up chasing him around the school for a week," Harry told him, Daphne's smirk returned in full force. "Every moment in between classes she chased him, and when she got tired she paid some of the higher years to chase him. Eventually, he got the message. And then there was Tonks,"

"What did you do?" Dan asked, sounding intrigued.

"I impersonated him for a few days," Tonks grinned. "Went around and did the nicest things you could imagine, he ended up begging me to stop because he was scared I'd ruin his reputation."

"Oh," Dan said, sounding somewhat disappointed. "Is that it?"

"Well..." Tonks grinned. "I might have also transformed into the one person that he was supposed to be scared of at the time. The Bloody Baron,"

"He's a Slytherin ghost," Harry explained to a confused Dan. "He scares the living daylight out of Peeves, he saw Tonks when she was impersonating a live version of him. She had him convinced that the Baron could take himself in and out of the world of the living. Meaning, he's ten times more scared of him than before. Plus, she somehow got the Baron to agree to play along with it."

"Not that she'll tell us how," Daphne huffed while Tonks simply looked unbelievably smug.

"You three are awesome!" Dan grinned.

"I like this one," Daphne said, smiling down at Dan. "He's the first one in his year who has recognised our greatness. Won't be the last of course, but still, it's nice."

"Where are you heading to, Sparrow?" Harry asked, ruffling Dan's hair.

"Library," Dan shrugged. "What about you guys?"

"Library," The three replied, all at once.

"You want to come with us?" Harry offered.

"Sure," Dan said before he ended up walking along with the three.

"So, Dan, how are classes going?" Tonks asked with a friendly smile.

"All good so far, I think my favourite is probably charms class with Professor Flitwick," Dan said before smiling brightly. "He realises that I'm brilliant," He added in a matter-of-fact voice, earning an amused look from Daphne.

"I'm really starting to like this one," Daphne told Harry.

"I'll inform the press," He replied, straight-faced.

(.)

"Alright, and here we go," Iris waved her wand and from the tip streamed out a small army of bubbles, all of them of various sizes.

"Oh, well done, Miss Potter!" Professor Flitwick cheered, clapping his hands together, looking positively delighted. "A deft hand at charms, I say, just like the rest of your family. Your mother was an excellent student at charms, you know, and your brothers are both doing her proud as well! Hmm...so far at least," He grinned.

"Thanks, Professor," Iris smiled brightly. "Oh, and what about my father?" She asked curiously.

"Well, he was very good at it, but he was better suited to transfiguration," He said with a small smile. "I see both of them in you," He told her before walking off to help the next student. Ten minutes later, the class ended and all the students walked out, heading towards their next lesson.

"We've got potions next," Hermione stated matter-of-factly, having already memorised her entire schedule.

"I've heard a lot of rumours about the potions teacher," Lavender Brown said in a nervous voice, walking next to them along with Parvati. "Not nice ones,"

"Me too," Parvati spoke up, nodding her head.

"Well," Hermione frowned at that. "I have heard that he is a bit strict," She said, her frown deepening.

"Shame," Iris said, patting Hermione's shoulder sympathetically. "Good luck dealing with him then,"

"Why do you sound like you won't have to deal with him?" Hermione said, looking confused. "You're in the same potion class as us," She pointed out whilst noticing that the other two girls in their year were looking equally as confused.

"Probably not for long," Iris said with a grin. "My brother gave me clear instructions for dealing with Professor Snape."

"Are you going to duel him?!" Lavender gasped loudly, earning a shocked look from all three girls.

"What?! No!" Iris blurted out before blinking heavily, a thoughtful look appeared on her face. "Well...maybe...probably not now, but who knows what the future brings?" She finished with a shrug. "Anyway, it's nothing too dramatic." She continued. "I'm just going to walk out."

"You can't do that!" This time it was Hermione who gasped, the bushy-haired girl looked horrified. As if Iris suggested performing open heart surgery on the Queen's best friend.

"I can," Iris replied. "Harry gave me permission to," She said in a voice that made it clear that there was literally nothing that anyone could say that could beat that particular argument.

"But he's not a teacher," Hermione protested weakly, looking quite worried on behalf of her friend.

"He's better than any teacher," Iris said firmly.

(.)

Iris let out a small grunt as she sat on the floor in the hallway, polishing Uncle Vernon's shoes. She and Dan had dared to hope that if they got a headstart on their chores and finished everything quickly the Dursleys would leave them alone for the rest of the day. Unfortunately, they were incredibly wrong. Iris was tasked with polishing every shoe in the house and was told to then head to the shed and start organising the whole thing. Dan was supposed to join her as well, once he was done with cleaning the toilet at least.

The last few days had been horrible for Iris, the Dursleys seemed to be extra horrible as they started to realise that soon Harry would be coming back from his first year of magical school for the holidays. Iris knew that they were all worried that Harry would come back and turn them all into frogs or something. The Durselys, did as was natural to them, and took out all of their worries on the twins. Despite that, the twins couldn't help but be happy, knowing that the one person who made this place tolerable was coming back. The two had missed him so much.

"This sucks," Iris groaned.

"Looks like it," A voice said. "How long have you been doing that?"

"Just started a couple of...Harry?!" Iris gasped, looking up and seeing the smiling face of her brother. She hadn't even heard him come into the house, yet here he stood! His trunk leaned on the wall next to him while he stood there, with his arms held out. Needing no further encouragement, she jumped to her feet, tossing Uncle Vernon's shoes away before pulling Harry into the tightest hug she could muster. "I missed you so much!" She said, tears dripping down her face as he returned the hug.

"Don't worry, Iris," Harry whispered into her ear. "I'm here now," He said, stroking her back gently. Eventually, Iris let go and wiped her face.

"It's good to see you," She said with a watery smile.

"You too," He smiled back before a frown appeared on his face. "Where's everyone else?"

"Aunt Petunia told Dan to clean the toilet," Iris scowled. "Uncle Vernon's gone to work, Aunt Petunia's gone to Miss Elman's house down the road, apparently her daughter got divorced and Aunt Petunia wants to find out what happened for her next tea club meeting."

"Bitch," Harry rolled his eyes.

"What does that mean?" Iris asked curiously.

"I'll tell you later," Harry replied. "What about Dudley?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, he is-"

"Get off of me!" Dan's voice came from upstairs, sounding quite panicked.

"Come here!" Dudley's voice followed. Iris turned back to Harry who was staring up with narrowed eyes.

"Give me a minute," He growled before walking past her and up the stairs.

About five minutes later, the three siblings were together in their bedroom. Dan and Iris sat on the floor, each with a bowl of ice cream that they were tucking into with gusto. Meanwhile, Harry was lying down on his bed with his head resting on one hand while his other hand held up a book which he idly turned with one finger. A pleased smile on his face as he read the book which was titled 'Inventive Insults for Inventive Insulters'. It was about one and a half minutes later when Aunt Petunia finally got home.

"My darling boy!" Her horrified shriek filled the house, causing the twins to look up. "What happened to you?!" There were very few times in their experience when Dudley actually cried, usually, he'd let out fake tears that wouldn't fool anyone but his parents. However, this time, there was absolutely zero doubt about whether Dudley was really upset.

"H...Harry...he...shoved my head in the toilet!" His sobbing voice reached their ears. "There was poop in there!" Dan couldn't help but grin at that, Dudley had been the one who had left that particular mess in the toilet and had been trying to shove Dan's head in there when Harry arrived.

"WHAT?!" Aunt Petunia's voice was loud enough that the twins feared their windows were shattered. "How could he...what did he do to your hair?!" She cried. Both twins frowned and stared at Harry whose smile appeared to be getting bigger.

"Eat your ice cream," He told them in an unconcerned voice as he continued to read. Iris, needing no further prompting, did as her wonderful brother suggested.

(.)

Iris had sat down in the first potions class next to Hermione. It didn't take long before everyone was in class together, naturally, the Gryffindors and Slytherins only paired with people from the same house. Iris had barely gotten her books out when the door to the classroom slammed open and in stormed Professor Snape, looking even more unpleasant up close.

"Wands away," He barked before stopping in front of his desk and turning around. He stared at all of the students like they were all annoyances, his gaze lingered on Iris for a few moments. He took the register and went through it, briefly stopping at Iris before he continued. Once he was done, he placed it on his desk and stared down at the students, his face having the unfortunate resemblance to a vulture made Iris feel less like a student and more like a potentially dead body.

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making." He told the class in a silky voice. "As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic." He continued, not before glancing at all of the Gryffindors. "I don't expect you will really and truly understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins and the smoke that changes the very atmosphere of a room. I will be teaching you that which is capable of bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses. I can teach you all that, oh yes, I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even put a stopper in death — if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach." He drawled, Iris noticed Hermione sit up straighter as if to prove that she wasn't one of those dunderheads. Meanwhile, Iris was tempted to ask why a man who could bottle fame, brew glory and stop death was working a job he clearly didn't like in a school for what she was going to assume was probably only slightly higher than minimum wage.

"Potter," The name was said with such venom that a shiver passed through Iris's body, she saw Professor Snape looking at her with a look that seemed almost...conflicted. "Tell me, what would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?" He asked her, staring at her judgingly, making Iris feel like she was taking part in an important test of some kind.

"Um...isn't that..." She paused for a moment, trying hard to remember, something that was not helped by the collective stares from anyone or Hermione shooting her hand up in the air. "...Isn't that part of a sleeping potion? The potion of living death, I think it's called."

"The draught of living death," Snape drawled, still staring intently at her. "Now, tell me, where would I find a bezoar?"

"Uhh...that's from the stomach of an animal, a mountain goat, right?" She asked hopefully while Hermione waved her hand.

"Any goat will do, but yes," He drawled once more, staring right at her. His cold black eyes seemed to be trying to meet her emerald orbs, Iris briefly recalled her brother telling her to never make eye contact with Snape or Dumbledore and she lowered her gaze, focusing on his chin. "Final question," He asked, sounding slightly more annoyed. "What is the difference, Potter, between monkshood and wolfsbane?" Hermione had actually gotten out of her chair and was waving her hand around even higher.

"I...I don't know," Iris reluctantly admitted, not recalling that. The words sounded familiar to her so she was sure she had read it somewhere, but right now, she couldn't remember what it was.

"Granger," Snape glared at Hermione. "Sit in your seat before I cast a spell to keep you there," He said in a cool voice, causing Hermione to blush bright red before dropping into her seat. Snape turned back to Iris and a glare appeared on his face, looking like Iris had not only disappointed him beyond measure but had also spoiled his favourite TV show. "For your information, Potter," He once more said the name with such venom that Iris found it uncomfortable to be around him. "Monkshood and wolfsbane, are the same plant, which also goes by the name of aconite. Well? Why aren't you all copying that down?" He demanded of the other students who quickly began taking notes. Meanwhile, Snape stared down at Iris. "I had hoped..." He began, his voice was soft yet quite uncomfortable for Iris. "...that you would have inherited more from your father, unfortunately, your father's blood corrupts all. Perhaps your twin will be better, but I doubt it. I've already lost hope for your oldest brother,"

"Hey!" Iris stepped out of her seat, slamming her hands on the desk. Her earlier nervousness is completely gone now. "There is nothing wrong with my father! And my brother is the greatest wizard ever to exist!"

"Your father was a swine!" Snape scowled at her. "And your brother is nothing more than an arrogant, flagitious brat with delusions of grandeur that he has apparently sold to you well enough that you actually believe them, you fatuous brat."

"Go kiss a dictionary!" Spat Iris gathering up her stuff. "You sanctimonious, vacuous, zounderkite! I won't listen to my brother being insulted by a pediculous, coccydynia like you, you xanthodontous, ninnyhammer!" She said, causing the whole class to stare at her.

"What?" Snape said, quietly, angry and more than a little confused.

"I have a dictionary too, you cunt!" She snapped before storming out of the classroom. She barely slammed the door shut behind her before she spotted Harry standing in front of her.

"Nice class?" He asked lightly before holding his arms out. She grinned and jumped into a hug.

"I said many things I probably shouldn't have," She whispered quietly.

"That's my girl," Harry said proudly.

(.) A.N I was originally going to leave the snape scene as part of the next chapter so consider this as my apology for the lateness of this chapter. Had a bit of writer's block that I had to overcome.

Anyway, thanks for reading.