Tainted Love

Striking Back

IRIS

Smoke rose steadily from Iris's cauldron, slowly dissipating as it got closer to the ceiling. She followed it with her eyes, then let them track the vines instead. They spilled down the walls aimlessly, but their stems got thicker as they reached the ceiling and extended towards the center of the room.

There were flower buds, then real flowers, blooming quickly and dying even faster. They shed their petals, which tumbled through the air before melting into little lights above the fountain.

Some things are so beautiful that you never get used to them. She must have watched the petals fall thousands of times, but it still sort of made her want to cry.

Her eyes drifted away from the fountain. Even now her instinct said that they would fall on Draco. She was used to seeing him there, standing over his desk, his neck angled down at whatever he was working on. Little glass vials lining the edge of his desk, his rings piled in a corner.

But it was Daisy now. Her hair was lazily plaited, swinging back and forth slightly as she moved around her desk. Her hands moved quickly, flipping pages in books, running her fingers over words and scribbling little phrases down.

Daisy liked reading about the projects they were working on, learning where all the ingredients had come from and who discovered them and how. Iris supposed that that was a good thing. She had never been one for research and neither had Draco.

Daisy was meticulous. She liked knowing exactly what she was going to get into before getting into it.

Iris liked her but doubted that they would ever be real friends. They had five years between them and even if they were the same age, they were too different to share many of the same experiences.

When they spoke to each other it was mostly smalltalk. Iris sometimes got the impression that Daisy was avoiding bringing certain things up Certain things being the fact that Iris and Draco were being regularly reported about in the Prophet. Daisy probably didn't approve of that relationship, but she was tactful enough not to say anything about it.

Iris was thankful that she didn't. She didn't really feel like explaining her motives to strangers or acquaintances or coworkers. She didn't really feel like explaining it at all.

Iris supposed that smalltalk was better than the nasty fights and ugly silences that used to dominate the room.

And they got more work done, too. Daisy didn't have any qualms about comparing notes with Iris - if anything, she compared notes a little too often - so they were always on the same page.

Iris glanced down at her potion just as it changed from light to dark pink, then flicked her wand to take it off the burner. Finished brewing for the day. She wandered over to the ingredients and picked out a couple of empty vials to bottle the potion in.

She may as well grab the mirrors, too. Iris had stashed them on top of the shelves after she and Draco sent up their report saying that they couldn't figure them out. She forgot about them sometimes - probably hadn't touched them since before Draco left - but they always interested her when she remembered.

When she put her hand on the top of the shelf, though, they weren't there.

"Daisy," she called out. Daisy turned. "Have you seen the mirrors that were up here?"

"Mirrors?" Daisy asked, knitting her brows.

"Yeah, little hand mirrors. One was silver, the other one was sort of pink? They were communication devices - or at least they looked like it."

Daisy shrugged. "No, sorry. I've never seen them, I don't think." She paused. "Why, did we have an assignment to do with them?"

Iris shook her head. "Oh, no. Don't worry about it."