Harry Potter: Rise of the Spiral

Chapter 3

Iris Potter was completely overwhelmed by the events that had happened recently in her life. Her aunt and uncle were not good people and always treated her harshly. They never harmed her physically, apart from occasional slaps from her aunt if she messed up while cooking or cleaning. Her uncle would shout at her every time Dudley broke something. They'd treat her like a servant. But what made her miserable was that she had no clue why they hated her.

The day of her birthday, she discovered that she was a witch and her aunt had been lying to her for all her life. Her parents were not some drunkards who died in a car accident, they were powerful wizards who sacrificed their lives so that she could continue to live. She was happy that she had such wonderful parents but sad that they were truly gone.

The day she had gone to get her school supplies with Hagrid went like a blur. When she arrived at the Leakey Cauldron, she was hounded by the crowd as they thanked her for something she didn't know. She was scared on seeing so many people trying to shake her hand.

Upon learning the name of her patents' murderer and how terrible he was, she got worried when Hagrid told her that he believed the murderer was not dead.

She was fascinated but somewhat scared when she saw the goblins.

She liked Hagrid. He was a good person according to her and even bought her a snowy owl. She had never seen such a beautiful owl in her life.

She was peeved by the man who sold her a wand but what terrified her was the fact that her wand was a sister wand to the one that killed her parents and gave her the scar.

Iris was not happy when Hagrid disappeared without telling her about the platform from where she had to ride the express. She thanked whatever Gods were up there when a family of red-heads helped her get through the barrier.

The platform was noisy, much to her discomfort, but she liked it when no one really recognised her.

When she entered the compartment where a boy was sitting, she prepared herself to be hounded by questions but much to her delight, the boy gave her no mind and kept on reading his book.

He was tall from what she could see and thought he was a year or two ahead of her.

But she noticed that he did not wear any of the house colours, so he must be a first-year like her. She wanted to introduce herself but could see that he was not interested in talking to anyone. So she kept quiet and enjoyed the scenery outside the window. He didn't even take his eyes away from his book until she introduced herself to Ron.

Iris was not happy when Ron asked about the night her parents died. She was relieved when Ron focused his attention on the boy sitting opposite to her who had been looking at her without even blinking. She looked at him expectantly and was desperate to take Ron's attention away from her.

She noticed the boy's expression soften upon looking at her when he finished scaring Ron by what she could say the scariest poker face she had ever seen.

"Edmund."

Edmund, he said. The boy was not very social. His spiky hair was not blond, they were golden. One could say they were the brightest of yellow. His sapphire eyes reminded her of the ocean. She could see a faint glow in them but didn't try to pry upon it. His skin was tanned, but she could tell that it was natural. What surprised her were the faint whisker-like marks on his cheeks. They reminded her of a cat or a fox. Maybe it was a family trait, she didn't know.

"Do you know which house you'll get in? I bet I'll go to Gryffindor. My whole family was in Gryffindor. Anyway, I guess we'll know at the sorting. Do you know any magic? My brothers taught me a spell. It turns my pet rat's hair yellow. Wanna see?" Ron babbled and began reciting a spell.