The one with the sisters - Year Five [COMPLETED]

Chapter 10 - The one with the Prince

After Potions, Remus decided to ask Slughorn for help in his homework and, as none of the other three seemed that interested in the subject, they decided to mess around, as it was expected for them to do.

"Oi, Prongs. Wormtail." Sirius called, as he crouched down on the floor, reaching for a book. "Look at that."

"What?" Peter asked, as he walked toward him.

Sirius placed the book on a table in front of him and James and Peter glanced at it, before raising an eyebrow.

"It's a Potion's book, Pads... What the hell do you want to do with that? Study?" The boy in glasses asked with a smirk.

"Certainly not." Peter snickered and James chuckled as well.

"I know it's a Potion's book, Prongs, I'm not stupid." Sirius rolled his eyes. Before James could even open his mouth with a comeback, he started talking again. "But look. Someone signed it as the Half Blood Prince."

"The Half Blood Prince?" Peter frowned as he looked at where Sirius was pointing; where the three words were written with the usual black ink they used at Hogwarts. "That's a stupid nickname."

"Your nickname is Wormtail." James pointed out.

"You were the one who decided to call me that." He responded and James shrugged with a fond smile.

"It's not like you had a better idea."

Peter glared at him, and James chuckled yet again. Remus and Slughorn were still engaged in conversation as Sirius kept his eyes glued to the book.

"There are some notes here." He said after a while. "And they don't seem like Potion's notes."

James, annoyed with his best friend sudden interest in somebody's book, pulled it from Sirius hand to take a close look. Peter scooted closer, so he could see it as well.

After a second of analyzing it, he understood why suddenly Sirius was so curious for the contents of it. The handwritten notes seemed quite new and very scattered, as if they weren't planed and just so happened to occur to the person in the spur of the Potion's class. James couldn't blame them, though. Slughorn was a bore.

"Sectumsempra?" He wondered out loud. "What the hell is this?"

"I have no idea." Sirius answered.

"Never heard of it." Peter nodded.

"It's obviously some kind of spell." James said. "Maybe it's a forbidden one?"

"Are you suggesting what I think you're suggesting?" Sirius asked, quite amused at his best friend.

"I guess we'll have to find our Charms' Genius as soon as possible."

***

"I swear to God I'm going to start to charge for every time you ask for my help with Charms." Iris mumbled, as James pulled her by the wrist through the crowds in the school hallways.

"Oh, shut it." He laughed gently as she gasped. "You love it."

He guided her toward the library, but instead of going to sit by their usual table - the one she usually sat at Fridays to study with Remus -, he walked with her ignoring the weird glances they received until the far shelf at the end of the Library. He pulled her in and she arched an eyebrow as she noticed the three other boys sitting in a circle, as if waiting for her.

"Were you doing some kind of ritual or do you just usually sit in a creepy circle at the end of the Library?"

"We need your help." Sirius said, ignoring Iris' sarcastic remark.

"So I've heard." She said, sitting down and dropping her bag gently by her side. James doing the same. "What is it?"

"Do you know what Sectumsempra does? Or Levicorpus?" The long haired boy asked, wasting no time whatsoever.

"Sectum-what?" She frowned.

"We know what Levicorpus does." Peter mumbled and Iris frowned as she looked at him.

"I've tried it on him."

"Sirius!" Iris gasped.

"It was alright... It just hanged him upside for a minute or so." James shrugged as if it was nothing.

"Still... It could've been worse. Much, much worse."

"But it wasn't." Sirius responded.

"Speak for yourself." Peter spoke, in a very small voice.

"Oh, come on, Wormtail, we've apologized." He pleaded and the small boy rolled his eyes slightly, letting them all know he wasn't really that mad.

"Anyways... We've found a book. There were some spells written on it." Remus explained and Iris turned to face him. Her eyes digging on his. "There was a Sectumsempra thing and this Levicorpus. We thought it could be a forbidden charms. And that you might have known what it was about."

"I see." She nodded. "I've never heard of anything like it before. It might be a creation of some student. May I see the book?"

Sirius nodded and pulled a very shabby Potion's book, passing it over to Iris. She picked it up and started to look through the pages. Suddenly, she stopped, staring at a particular phrase, with her mouth hanging open.

"Sectumsempra, for enemies."

"I know whose book this is." She mumbled.

"You do?" James asked.

"Yeah... It's Severus'."

"Snivellus?" Sirius scoffed, taking the book back from her hands. "Are you sure?"

"That's his letter, I'm sure." She nodded, still a state of trance.

"Iris..." Remus whispered, noticing her distress. "Are you..."

"That's Dark Magic!" She snapped, pulling the book from Sirius as he pouted at her. She groaned. "I'm serious! Listen to me! Severus is a bad influence. He's walking with those insane, blood-thirsty Slytherins. You've already used one of his spells. I forbid you from using the others!"

"You forbid us?" James huffed, quite surprised. "You can't forbid us, Little Evans. We are our own persons."

She looked at Remus and Peter, hoping for support. They were the most reasonable ones from the group, but they also were push overs most of the time, so it was clear for her that when they avoided looking at her, they agreed, but weren't about to speak up about it.

"Whatever, then." She stood up, annoyed. "But I'm taking the book back to him. Oh!" She added, as she was just about to leave. "I've finished your bloody map."

With angry gestures, she reached for her bag and pulled out the creation she was quite proud of: the Marauder's Map. She remembered that in one occasion, the boys had thought about putting her name on it too but she had refused. It was all their idea. She was just finding - or creating - the necessary charms and performing them. She threw the parchment at them, in the middle of their circle.

"Iris..." Remus started, but she cut him off, throwing her flaming red hair over her shoulder in an annoyed manner as she turned around to leave. If it wasn't for the height difference, Remus could swear it was Lily walking away from them after one of James' failed attempts to talk to her. For some reason, it hurt him more seeing Iris leave, though.

"Bye, boys." She said, her voice as cold as ice. "I hope you enjoy the little Dark tricks you've learned from dear, old Snivellus. Have a good day."

And without another word, ignoring their calls of her name, Iris marched out of the Library, heading over to her Common Room, where she finally could relax and convince herself that the Marauders wouldn't really use Severus' spells. Not after they figured out it were Severus'.

After all, they weren't bad. Were they?