𝒮𝓉𝑜𝓇𝓂'𝓈 𝒜 𝐵𝓇𝑒𝓌𝒾𝓃'

August 26th, 1994

𝒞𝒽𝒶𝓅𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝒩𝒾𝓃𝑒

No one really had any options but to stay through the rest of the night. No way of leaving until the morning portkeys. But not one person in that tent went back with ease. And a visible sort of relief washed over everyone when Tracey had asked if everyone wanted to camp out in the sitting room together.

All pillows and blankets that could be found were found and thrown together to create the best sleeping arrangement they could manage. Jane, Sally, Valeria, and Tracey huddled together on the floor, finding the best comfort to hopefully get some more sleep in the safety of being together.

Iris laid face up on the couch, no energy to quite keep herself upright, but her wand spun between her fingers. Eyes locked on the exit... no chance she would be sleeping that night. Her legs stretched the entire couch, resting partially on Theodore's lap at the other end. He rested his arms on her legs as he read his book.

Well, "read." He wasn't making much progress.

As the minutes dragged by, he read less and less, and eventually, his eyes shifted to where his mind already was, "You should really get some rest."

Iris' gaze briefly dropped to where the other girls were all already asleep, then they returned to the exit, "Wouldn't be able to anyways. You should take the chance to get some sleep, though."

Theodore's eyes moved just once to the exit but were back to Iris quickly, "Wouldn't be able." He paused.... Taking in the girl's tired eyes, her near expressionless features, the way she hadn't stopped spinning that wand, "What happened?"

The silence that hung in the air was... heavy. And not for any good reasons. It was the heavy that came with a mind racing at something that had happened. Iris' head replayed her night nonstop. Something... something definitely had happened. But Iris showed no signs of such, remaining perfectly stoic.

Theodore just tried to return to his reading after several long moments of silence.

"Am I really more beautiful than a Veela?"

Theodore cringed, no doubt wishing he would have left the night to pass by without conversation. But he recovered quickly as he met Iris' eyes, a slight tease to be found in her face, "Objectively, anyone would agree you are pretty."

Her grin was lopsided, "Just almost seemed like less than an objective statement and something else."

A pause... another one, this one less heavy... more playful. And Theodore Nott was not one that easily backed down from Iris, "Since you want to talk about it so bad... you were the one who couldn't even look at me afterward."

Iris blinked, the words throwing her for just the smallest of loops... or maybe not the words but the confidence. The way he just stared right back at her. She eventually just settled for dragging her eyes back to the exit, "My only job was keeping you distracted from the Veela. After that, why would I have wanted to spend more time looking at you?"

Theodore rolled his eyes, but an eye roll loses meaning when you smile through it. Even if it was just one of his ghosts of a smile. Nonetheless, he just returned to his book... this time actually making progress.

And with time, he could feel the telltale sign of Iris in his head, relaxing as much as she could allow herself to focus on the words flowing through his mind.

~~~~~~

Iris was... distant. She could be snapped back to reality. She could smile and laugh and talk. But she was constantly in her own head. Always looked on edge, ready to jump into action. Something was eating away at her.