"I DON'T SEE WHY YOU WANT TO talk to me so badly, brother." The taunting voice of Regulus Black asked in the empty corridor. He smirked widely at the glowering teen in front of him. It was obvious that he took great pleasure in vexing his older brother. His enjoyment was really annoying Sirius. At that moment, the older of the two wanted nothing more than to beat his brother into a bloody puddle. However, he tamed his fury and frustration for a little bit. After all, Sirius was in the middle of trying to interrogate Regulus. He wanted all of the information that he could squeeze out of the repugnant snake about Iris's behavior.
"You know exactly why!" Sirius seethed and didn't care if someone else heard him.
Regulus just chuckled, "I have an idea, but I don't believe I'm correct. Would you care to elaborate?"
"What did you do to Iris!"
He hummed, "oh, I see. You're worried about your precious mudblood, aren't you?" He loved playing with Sirius like this. Seeing the anger and desperation etched on his face was amusing! His sick pleasure was disturbing to just about anyone except maybe to another twisted individual like himself.
Sirius gritted his teeth in anger. How dare his little brother call his Iris a mudblood! That foul word should never be associated with anyone, especially someone that Sirius knows. Sirius hated his brother with a burning passion beforehand, however, now he detested his brother with every fiber of his body. What more evidence did he need to show that Regulus was a repulsive wizard who was nothing but a brown-nosed, tattle tale to their parents and thrived in the dark arts.
Ever since they were little, Sirius and Regulus were always at odds. Regulus looked to the darker side of magic and complied with everything that their parents forced upon them like blood-purity and the dark arts. The Black family was one of the biggest supporters of blood-purity and were known to despise everything even remotely not pureblood. Sirius was even disgusted to say that due to his family's hatred for muggles and anything nonmagical, his family was no stranger to incest. Merlin, his parents were technically second cousins which made his brother also his third cousin. He shuddered when he thought of his family. It was even rumored that the family was supporters of the infamous Lord Voldemort. However, that wasn't the topic of discussion at the moment.
Due to their family's traditions and teachings, both Sisiurs and Regulus were supposed to follow in their bigoted family's beliefs and become 'dark wizards' as the rest of their family is viewed as. Regulus did wholeheartedly and ate up every word that their parents spewed from their vile mouths. Sirius was different, however, and didn't worship everything that was said by their bitter parents.
He may have believed the things they said when he was younger and didn't know better, but that changed when he first started school at Hogwarts. He knows what the world is really like and no longer conformed to their views. So what if he was labeled as a 'blood-traitor' by his family, he didn't care. All that matters to him were his friends and hobbies. If his family hated him for that, then they weren't really his family.
Now it seemed like his brother was more than willing to hurt his close friends, like Iris. He could tell something would happen when he first saw the way that Regulus looks at Iris a few months ago. It was similar to that of a snake staring down its next meal. Now, for the past few days, Regulus stared at her with mild disgust underneath his stare but also a spark of triumph that Sirius didn't like. There was also a gleam of malignant and smugness due to the fact that Regulus had Iris on a leash.
"I can assure you, brother, that I don't know why Iris is acting the way she is." Regulus chuckled and hummed an afterthought, "muggle-borns are quite the strange bunch."
Sirius growled at the underlying tone of hatred in Regulus' voice, "don't talk about them like they're a different species."
His younger brother just continued to snidely smile as he was indifferent to the statement, "no matter. Maybe Iris has just realized who the better brother is."
"And you allow her, a muggle-born, to hang around you and your blood-purity loving friends?"
Regulus just shrugged his shoulders, "what if we've seen the errors in our views and befriended Iris out of kindness?"
"We both know that would never happen."
All he got in reply was a click of his brother's tongue. "Believe what you want, I have nothing to do with Iris' behavior." Sirius could see the familiar eerie smirk that wanted to plant itself onto his sick lips. His statement of no involvement in the redhead's strange behavior was void now that he could see Regulus was trying to keep his expression neutral. "Now excuse me."
With a flick of his robes, Regulus spun on his heels and allowed himself to be swallowed by the shadows that greeted him with open arms. Regulus certainly was welcomed happily in the dark which was why Sirius was so suspicious of him. The stormy eyes glared at the younger boy's back before he seemingly disappeared into the black abyss.
Sirius gritted his teeth in frustration. From that short conversation, he knew that Regulus was lying. He had tracked his brother down after he spoke with the other Marauders and was ready to get the truth out of him. If they had spent a few more minutes in each other's presence, Sirius had no doubt that he would have started to hex his brother until he told the truth. However, Regulus made a speedy escape into the inky darkness before he could do anything.
He ran a hand through his long hair and sighed out angrily through his nose. Sirius needed to figure something out in order to get his brother to admit what he did to Iris. He was definitely going to need the help of all of his friends and more to stop his brother and his own friends. Sirius was certainly determined to stop what plan they had in motion.
---
The group of Gryffindors sat together in the courtyard of their enormous school in a circle. Dread and hatred painted each of their faces as they took in what Sirius had to tell them. He was currently explaining his earlier interaction with his brother and how he knew that Regulus had done something to Iris.
"So what do we do now?" Marlene asked once they all absorbed the information.
James was fuming, "'what do we do?'! I say we curse those gits until they undo what they did to Iris."
"Why don't we just tell a professor," Wendy suggested with a nod of her head at the logic behind her words. "If we go to someone like professor McGonagall, she'll know what to do."
Remus nodded his head at the idea, "I said that earlier!"
"Yeah, you two can do that," James clicked his tongue, "I'm going after those snakes myself. I know you want to do that too, Pads."
Everyone turned to Sirius who had opted to stand instead of sit around the fountain like the rest of them. The bubbling of emotions in his body just wouldn't allow him to sit still at all. Every once he would pace in worry when he was explaining everything. Each of his friends could see how stressed out he was starting to become over this. Iris has been only acting under the influence of something for a few days but that's too long for anyone.
"Yeah, I do want to do something to them." He ran a frustrated hand his black locks, "I want to know exactly what they did to her, and I want to curse the lot of them for what they've done."
His voice was filled with malice and passion that were obviously mirrored on his face. His friends were just as upset about this, but they knew that he took this to a different level. It was his brother that was doing something to her, and it seemed like he blamed himself for this. That may also be due to the fact that he had let her go by herself the other night which resulted in her shift in behavior.
James nodded his head in agreement, "you lot," he gestured to everyone sans Sirius, "can go to a professor if you want." He jumped up and stood up next to Sirius as the both of them stood tall with their chests puffed out. Dark, determine looks painted their faces and caused shivers to crawl down their friends' spines. They had never seen such looks on their faces before! They've seen James and Sirius annoyed and happy, embarrassed and furious, however, this was something they have never witnessed. "But we're going after those bastards ourselves. You can come with and help if you want."
There was no talking them out of their decision. The look on their faces and the tone of their voices meant that they were going to go through with their plan. Not that the others didn't want to go after the group of snakes who had certainly hurt their friend, they didn't want to jump into a situation that they were unprepared for.
"Calm down for just a moment," Wendy stated. "As much as I love your passion to find out what happened to Iris, we need to make a plan."
"A plan?" Sirius asked in bewilderment. They don't need a plan! All they needed were their wands to torture Regulus and Lucius to know what they did to Iris.
Marlene nodded her head, "Merlin knows what they've done to her. If we just go after them, who's to say that they will break whatever spell or whatever Iris is under."
"That's where a professor comes in," James explained with a shrug of his shoulders, "we get to beat the snot out of them and a professor fixes Iris."
"I say we find out what exactly could be happening to Iris first," everyone turned to the redhead who had spoken up for the first time since they had all gathered in the courtyard. Lily had kept herself quiet when Sirius had been explaining his conversation with Regulus. She had taken a bit of a long time to digest everything that was said. Even though she was quiet, she was beyond angry. Her face had become the same color as her hair in obvious frustration and fury. Every one of her friends knew right away that there was no stopping Lily now.
She pulled out her satchel and rummaged through for the parchment that she had been periodically writing on for the day. It was covered in neatly written notes and, for a moment, her friends thought that they were just notes for a class. Though as she showed it to them clearer, they could see that it was a list with the title; 'Iris' Behavior'.
"What's that?" Remus asked.
Lily sighed, "I started to write down every strange thing that Iris has been doing the entire day. I thought that we could use this to try and match whatever is happening to Iris to something else." It made sense! If they were able to catalog Iris' behavior and research any similar symptoms to a spell or potion, then they would know exactly what to do to fix her.
"That's brilliant!" Marlene exclaimed, "if we find out what they used on her by observing her, then we can curse them as much as we want and fix Iris!" Everyone nodded their heads at her statement as they were all in agreement. They needed to go find Iris before they resorted to any sort of violence, much to the boys' dismay.
Just like that, they all stood up from their seats by the fountain in search of finding Iris. "James," a soft, angelic voice paused the glasses-wearing prankster's determined steps and spun on his heels to face his lady love. As everyone else started to walk off in the direction they thought they could find Iris, Lily slowly approached the boy she always thought of as a nuisance. "I…" Lily swallowed, "really appreciate you doing this for Iris."
"She's one of my best friends, I'd do anything for my friends." He smiled softly at her, "I'm also doing this for you, Lily. She's your sister." Lily stared at him for a moment. It was times like these that she actually thought of James as a normal boy instead of the toe-rag who annoyed her so much. There were small moments that Lily could never forget of James being sweet and caring. It gave her a moment to pause and overlook his loud personality to see him as a king boy. Now, don't twist her words! That doesn't mean she likes James Potter, like her sister, may say. No! Lily would never like a boy like James… but there was nothing wrong with tolerating him, right?
Lily sighed heavily through her nose and focused on the task at hand, "I just hope that we can fix her. I don't want to lose my twin."
---
The group of friends had split off into pairs to look for Iris around the large castle. Remus and Wendy headed to the dungeons, Peter and Marlene stayed outside, and Lily. James and Sirius headed towards the Great Hall. Their keen eyes scoured the corridors for any sight of red hair and pale skin. They ran into a few other students who were not the girl that they were looking for and they would only sigh in frustration and continued to search.
They ended up in front of the Great Hall and were relieved to finally catch sight of the girl that they had been hunting for. Iris stood at the entrance of the hall just like she had a day prior. The trio of friends could only hope and pray that this time they wouldn't have any unwanted company, unlike the other day.
"Iris!" The three bounded over to the girl like a pack of excited kneazles.
The redhead slowly turned to face the teens who ran up to her. Her skin was pale, far paler than usual. Iris is naturally a very pale person, her skin was a pleasantly creamy white that was clear and beautiful. Now, her skin had a glow to it that did not look healthy. There were also small purple bags under her eyes that didn't help her friends' worry for her.
Iris turned to them slowly and just scowled lightly at them, though it looked more like a grimace, "what do you want?" Her words were weak and quite quiet, and it sounded like she was somewhat hesitant to say them. Though there was no denying the hint of venom in her words that dripped onto the floor.
Her three concerned friends shared a look with each other. "We came looking for you, Iris, you've been acting really weird." James commented calmly, "we're worried about you, that's all."
"I'm fine." She bit out harshly, "I thought I told you to stop worrying about me. It's pathetic." Her hazy eyes glanced quickly at the shaggy-haired boy in the small group. Sirius couldn't help himself from flinching at the jab that was obviously meant for him. He was worried for a pretty good reason. Even though Iris is saying that he, and the others, don't need to worry about her and her wellbeing, he was still going to feel that pit in his stomach weighing him down until he knew that she was truly fine. He knew that he would have this feeling inside of him for a while.
James shook his head in disbelief, "we're allowed to be worried, Iris. We know something's wrong 'cause you've been hanging around the likes of Regulus and Lucius."
Iris just scowled at him, "what's so strange about me hanging with them?"
"Don't be serious, Iris!" Sirius exclaimed and flinched slightly at the heated glare that was now focused on him, "you hate those two, remember?"
The redhead scoffed weakly and clenched her jaw, "what if I've changed my mind?" It almost appeared as it pained her to say those words.
"How can you change your mind!"
None of them believed that Iris could change her opinion on the Slytherin so quickly. It would take more than a few decades for Iris to even budge on her opinion of those boys. She preached about how idiotic, annoying, dark, and cruel the pair are. She hated how Severus hung around them and, in her own way, showed her concern for her puedo-brother being around such people.
Lily just shook her head at Iris in disbelief and tried to keep her voice level and the atmosphere calm. "What are you doing here anyways?"
"Waiting," she simply looked away from them with a blank expression. It was as if she thought herself better than the rest of them from the way she lifted her nose in the air.
Each of their eyebrows furrowed. "For what?"
"For us." The trio turned to find their least favorite people standing behind them.
Trotting down the corridor confidently were the three snakes that the Gryffindors had the thought of attacking. The smugness around them just about choked the three of them as they stood there glowering at the opposing trio.
"Lovely to see you three," Lucius sneered as they came over to stand near Iris. It was an uncomfortable exchange to watch Regulus place himself right next to the girl who stood completely still. If her friends weren't paying attention they wouldn't have noticed the way that Iris' eyes twitched and began to smolder with a hatred which was swiftly smothered in a matter of milliseconds.
"Are they bothering you, princess."
Sirius was enraged to hear those words from his younger brother's mouth. "No. We weren't." He stressed, "we're talking to our friend, I don't know why you're here."
Regulus clicked his tongue, "we came to get our favorite redhead and bring her somewhere I'm sure she'll enjoy."
"Oh?" James stepped up to Regulus to the point where they were toe-to-toe and chest-to-chest, "where exactly?"
Lucius pushed James back by his shoulder harshly, "I'd step back if I were you, Potter."
James pushed back against him, "or what, Malfoy? What're you going to do?"
Lily grabbed James' arm before he could lash out at the blonde teen and get into trouble. That was the last thing they needed. "I think we should just calm down, right?" She looked to Iris with calculating eyes. She kept her voice clear, calm, and slow like she was talking to a small child to get her to understand. "Iris, I want to talk to you, okay. So we're going to our dorm."
Iris stared at her a moment before speaking up, "you don't tell me what to do." Her friends stared at her as if she had gone mad. "I want to stay here."
Sirius was beyond enraged, "stay? With them? Have you gone mad, Iris!?" It was so concerning to him that she seemed so content in their presence. It was unsettling to see her so lax and eerily calm around Regulus and Lucius. He expected her to be relaxed around Severus, due to them having been friends for such a long time, but not around the other two Slytherins. Severus himself stood behind his housemates and kept his eyes sight down to the ground. He looked like a lost, sick puppy who had no idea what to do. There was fear painted on his face but none of the Gryffindors could really tell if it was fear due to the situation or something else.
"Maybe she was mad to be friends with you, Sirius," Regulus had the audacity to comment with a smirk. "Did you ever think of that?"
Sirius didn't have the chance to respond, none of them did. Instead, in seemingly a way to prove his point, Regulus grabbed Iris' cheek and brought her into a kiss. It was awkward as Iris' body was stiff and not completely responsive to the action, but that didn't mean it didn't enrage her friends.
Lily grimaced at the sight and just about vomited because of it. She has seen her sister kiss many boys before but none were as repulsive as Regulus Black. James was disgusted and angered by it. He didn't like to see one of his best friends, someone who he may view as like a sister to him, kissing a boy like Regulus. Now, Sirius… Well, Sirius had the biggest reaction to the sight of his brother kissing the redhead.
He saw red. Plain and simple. His mind just empty and there was really only one thought on his mind at that moment. That was to pull the two of them apart and pummel his brother into the ground. Which is exactly what he tried to do.
He tried to launch himself at his brother, however, he was held back by James and Lily. The two of them wanted to pull them away as well but knew that Sirius was definitely going to do it far more violently. It wasn't that they weren't as passionate about getting Iris away from Regulus. It was just that Sirius view Iris as more than a friend, a possible girlfriend. To see some other boy, especially his brother, kissing his girl just caused an intense amount of rage to consume him.
James and Lily did their best to hold back Sirius who fought against their holds and desperately wanted to attack his brother. They watched as Iris and Regulus pulled away from their kiss. Iris was completely dazed with glossy eyes as she appeared to not even register what was happening to her. She was stiff and barely responsive, which pissed the Gryffindors off immensely. At the sight of Regulus' smug, yet slightly disgusted, face, James and Lily couldn't hold Sirius back.
He jumped at Regulus and effortlessly grabbed him by his color and threw him away. Regulus grunted as his back was roughly pushed against a stone wall and the wind was knocked out of him. Even though there was a slight pain in his back, he flashed his brother a satisfied smirk.
"Jealous brother?"
That broke Sirius. He didn't care if he got into trouble. He just punched Regulus hard on his cheek. Regulus reeled back at the harsh punch and hissed in pain. Sirius then pulled out his wand and pointed it at Regulus' throat with a dark expression.
He let out a deep growl from the back of his throat, "give me one reason why I shouldn't hex you right now."
"You'll upset your dear mudblood."
Sirius took the bait and glanced over his shoulder to look at Iris. Her expression was still pretty much expressionless, though her eyes were lit with a mix of emotion. He could only catch anger, concern, and confusion before he was blown away from Regulus.
"Stupefy!"
Sirius was blown back from his position and flew across the corridor. He groaned once he hit the opposite wall and landed on the ground in a heap. There was a moment of silence between the teens in the corridor before Lucius broke out into sick laughter.
Lily and James ran over to their friend's side to try and make sure that he was okay. Regulus, however, just straightened his clothing as his small pose walked over to him. As Lily and James fussed over Sirius, Iris came over to stand in front of them. Her shadow was cast over them which caused them all to look up at her.
Sirius' eyesight was slightly blurry due to his head having hit the wall quite hard, but he could clearly see Iris' blank expression. Her lips were pulled into a tight line and her eyes were narrowed in what Sirius thought was anger. Why she was angry was beyond any of them, however, this was probably just because of her strange behavior.
"Don't try to talk to me again," her tone was bland and aloof and held no conviction whatsoever, "we aren't friends anymore." With that, Regulus waltzed up to her side and slung an arm over her shoulder. Iris visibly flinched at the gesture and appeared to try and stay in her place, but Regulus just pulled her away when she used a little bit of strength to stay put. Iris' eyes lingered on the group of her former friends before Regulus forced her to turn away.
Lily, James, and Sirius watched them go reluctantly with anger bubbling up in their chests. There was no point continuing the fight between Sirius and Regulus. Sirius was already dazed and most likely confused and may have a concussion after that hit to the head. With fleeting wicked smiles, the group of four disappeared around the corner to wherever it is that they wanted to take Iris.
"I don't care what I have to do," Sirius groaned and sat up properly on his own. He held his head in pain but that was the least of his worries, "but I'm going to find out what they did to Iris." That was a testament that was easily shared between the three of them. They all had a murderous rage within them aimed at Regulus, Lucius, and Severus.