Bloodline chapter 10

Chapter 10 -

"They're not going to kick me out, are they?" Iris asked in a worried voice as she followed Harry down the hallways of Hogwarts, her hand being held by his larger one. She wasn't quite sure at what point the average brother and sister would be too embarrassed to hold hands, but for now, she was glad they hadn't reached that particular point in their relationship.

Although Iris was feeling quite worried, she couldn't help but calm as the walk continued. Harry walked alongside her as if nothing was wrong, something which made her feel slightly better. If there was a problem then Harry would have fixed it, or at least told her he was going to fix it, that was just the sort of person he was.

"Don't worry, Iris," Harry said, his thumb lazily stroking the back of her hand. "It'll be fine. Your title of the 'Girl Who Lived' - while irritating - does have a lot of benefits, primarily the fact that Dumbledore will be reluctant to kick you out."

"Really?" Iris asked, a small smile appearing on her face. She wondered how much she could get away with exactly.

"That doesn't mean you're allowed to behave however you like," He said, cutting into her thought process. "I don't give two knuts about some title that the public have bestowed upon you. At the end of the day, you are still a Potter. I will not have the whole of the magical world believing that the only reason a child of the Potter house got through school was because of a lucky miracle when she was a baby." He said, his tone soft enough to let her know he was not angry, yet firm enough for her to know that he was serious.

"Yes, Harry," She said with a quick nod, earning a smile from him.

"Good girl," He said proudly just before they arrived outside of Professor McGonagall's office.

"What are we doing here?" Iris asked, tugging on his hand slightly.

"I'm going to show you the most powerful magic of all," Harry told her in a deadly serious tone of voice. "This sort of magic should be used sparingly or it will lose its power. This is the magic that got not just our father and grandfather through school, but it is one that has benefited me more times than I care to count."

"Oh," Iris blinked, suddenly feeling really nervous. "What is it?" She asked just before he raised his hand and knocked on the door, Harry turned back to her and gave her an intense look before answering with the utmost seriousness in his voice, his tone not revealing even a small pice of humor.

"The Potter charm,"

(.)

Iris couldn't help but think to herself that her brother was decidedly cooler than she realised, not to mention she was starting to understand exactly why her beloved and kind brother was placed in the house of ambition and cunning. Some of the stupider Gryffindors (a lot of them actually) thought that being Slytherin meant that you were all evil and obviously a 'dark wizard', whatever that means. But looking at Harry, who was obviously far from evil and she would hex the first person who says otherwise, she realised that he was definitely smart enough to be in that house. Her brother politely greeted Professor McGonagall before making small talk, treating her more like an old friend than he would a teacher. Then, he proceeded to talk to her about the potions class that Iris had just come out of.

A minute later the Potter siblings followed a furious Professor McGonagall as she stormed straight to the entrance of the headmaster's office, a large gargoyle door that was shaped like a griffin. A literal griffin-door, even Iris noticed the bias in that. Professor McGonagall told them to wait there before she walked off, she came back five minutes later with an equally furious Professor Snape.

"Sour patch kids!" Professor McGonagall had said angrily, confusing Iris before the gargoyle started moving up and out of view, revealing a spiralling set of stairs. Noticing her confusion, Professor McGonagall decided to explain the situation to her. "The headmaster prefers to use muggle candy as passwords," She huffed before gesturing Snape to head up. The man glared at all of them as he did so before they followed behind him.

This is how Iris ended up in her current situation, sitting next to her amused brother as he watched the headmaster try and fail to keep the peace as Professor McGonagall and Snape argued.

"Albus, the girl had just started school!" Professor McGonagall protested. "She's hardly expected to memorise the first book of every subject!"

"I did!" Professor Snape argued. "Besides, the Granger girl clearly knew the answers as well."

"Miss Granger is an incredible student that I myself am surprised did not go to Ravenclaw, but the few are not used as standards for everyone!" Professor McGonagall shot back. "The students come to this school to learn, if you had wanted them to know the answers in the first place that badly then you should have informed them beforehand."

"Professors, can we please stay calm?" Dumbledore asked, sounding a little tired.

"The girl insulted me, Albus!" Snape spat angrily. "I demand punishment!"

"Of course, she insulted you!" Professor McGonagall glared at him. "You were talking about the girl's father! She's a child! Barely been in the wizarding world for a week, probably has no memories of the man in question and you insult him in front of her face! All due to your inability to move past a grudge against a dead man who died over a decade ago!"

"The girl is no different from him! Not that you care!" Snape hissed. "He and his gang of friends made my life a living hell over the years and you did nothing!"

"We both know that that is not true!" Professor McGonagall growled, nostrils flaring with anger. "They had plenty of punishments from me and the other professors. You talk as if they were demons that ascended from the hellfire simply to torment you. As if you yourself were completely innocent! I recall holding you in several detentions for hexing students! Not to mention that time you called Lily, your supposed friend, that derogatory 'M' word!"

"Minerva, enough," Dumbledore said, firmer than he had all evening. Professor McGonagall looked quite shocked at Dumbledore's reaction, something Snape took advantage of as he continued speaking with a smug look on his face.

"She may have inherited her mother's looks, but nothing else!" He said victoriously. "Her mother knew her potions! She had read through all the books and knew what she needed to know before coming to class, the girl did not. She's nothing more than a spoiled brat, no better than the wastrel who helped bring her into this world."

"Do you want me to get my dictionary back out?!" Iris said furiously, only to stop when Harry placed a hand on her shoulder. She looked at him and saw him looking at Snape, the amused look was gone from his face. Instead, he had a blank look, as if he felt nothing at all.

"Professor McGonagall," Harry spoke up for the first time since coming into the headmaster's office. "I am aware, much like you, that Professor Snape believes himself to be the pinnacle of intelligence in the wizarding world. Yet I fear that the Hogwarts education system has failed him," Harry said, sounding more disappointed than anything else.

"What are you prattling about?!" Snape demanded, Harry ignored him in favour of talking to Professor McGonagall who was giving him a curious look.

"Professor Snape seems to be of the belief that a person is no more and no less than a copy of a singular parent, and he seems also to believe that he is capable of deciding which parent that is, based off a meeting that was only...what? Five minutes long?" Harry asked, making himself sound impressed. "I find that to be truly amazing, for him to meet someone for five minutes and to instantly know everything about them, to know if they're an exact copy of their mother or their father. Thought that does lead me to a rather interesting question of my own." He said thoughtfully before turning to Snape. "Which are you?" He asked.

"What are you on about?" Snape sneered at him.

"I am curious about which parent you've inherited your entire being from," Harry explained simply. "Are you perhaps an exact copy of your mother?" He asked in an innocent voice, one that did not help Snape's mood, judging by the murderous expression that appeared on his face. "Or perhaps you are simply nothing more than your father?" The second Harry finished, Snape pulled out his wand and aimed it at Harry whilst Professor McGonagall aimed her wand at Snape. Dumbledore had a pained look on his face as he finally stood up from his seat, Iris felt more than a little worried and looked at her brother, only to notice that he sat calmly in his chair, looking decidedly unimpressed with Snape. "I've always been a fan of the blasting curse, personally," Harry told Snape. "But if you want something guaranteed then you know the spell, don't you, Professor?" He asked lightly.

"Enough!" Dumbledore cut in firmly. "This meeting is getting a little too heated."

"I agree," Harry smiled pleasantly at him. "Your member of staff pointed a wand at me, not even an hour after instigating a conflict with my eleven-year-old sister during her first potions class. I think the board of governors will need to be notified. Professor McGonagall, do I have your support?" He asked her.

"That you do," She nodded firmly, sending Snape and Dumbledore a glare before she gestured for the Potter twins to follow her out of the room. Harry and Iris did so, remaining quiet until they had gotten down the stairs. "While I understand what you did, you are still not allowed to insult your teachers," She told Iris. "You will serve a detention tonight with me, straight after you've finished your classes, is that understood?"

"Yes, Professor," Iris said in a quiet voice, bowing her head.

"Very good, I expect you to do your best from now on to make sure that I don't see you in detention again," She said before nodding to Harry and walking off.

"All in all, that went pretty well," Harry hummed thoughtfully.

"I got detention," Iris frowned.

"Could be worse," Harry told her, ruffling her hair. "Don't worry about Snape, you won't have to go to potions class with him again."

"Really? But then who is going to teach me?" Iris asked, still frowning.

"Don't worry," Harry smirked. "Your new teacher will be much nicer, promise. Now, since you're not going to be in potions class, you've got a bit of time before your next class."

"I have a free period next," Iris revealed.

"Me too," Harry smiled down at her. "You want to hang out?" He offered.

"Yes!" Iris grinned.

(.)

"So...there have been some rumours going around about someone getting into a lot of trouble," Daphne said at the Slytherin table, enjoying a rare moment of peace as she sat with Harry alone. Typically Tonks would have sat with them but today the girl had decided to spend some time with her new housemates at the Hufflepuff table, leaving the two Slytherins together.

"Yes," Harry hummed, looking across the hall at Iris who was laughing and chatting with the other Gryffindors at the Gryffindor table, the sight bringing a small smile to Harry's face, one that only lasted briefly as he recalled the earlier events of today. "Snape is as big of a bully as ever, one would have guessed that his previous defeats would have taught him tact, unfortunately not. I intend to inform the school board about this latest 'incident'."

"Dumbledore's enemies are constantly pushing against him using Snape," Daphne pointed out lightly before delicately cutting and lifting a piece of her food using her knife and fork and putting it into her mouth, far different from Tonks who at the Hufflepuff table was tossing grapes up into the air and catching them with her mouth for the amusement of the others sitting around her. "This will certainly be something they'd love to hear about," She continued after swallowing her food. "It certainly won't help Snape or the senile codger,"

"My heart bleeds for them," Harry said in a voice as dry as sand. "My issues with Dumbledore are too numerous to mention, as for Snape, he targeted my sister and that will not stand. If the school board doesn't achieve sufficient results then I'll handle the matter myself. Still, the fact that Snape pulled a wand on me should help matters."

"I beg your pardon," Daphne blinked hard before turning to him and raising one perfect eyebrow as she gave him an irritated look. "You didn't think to mention before that one of our teachers pulled a wand on you?"

"Soon everyone will know anyway," Harry shrugged, earning a glare from Daphne.

"Why did the man-child do that anyway?" She asked after raising her hand and flicking his head.

"I simply questioned him on which parent he took after the most," Harry smirked.

"Why should that bother him so much?" Daphne couldn't help but ask.

"His mother was nothing more than a sub-par witch," Harry answered as he stared up at the teacher's table where Snape was sitting, the angry potions teacher was naturally glaring at him. "And his father was nothing more than a drunk muggle, evidently the two didn't get along."

"Why would you even know that?"

"He's hated me since my first day here," Harry shrugged, eyes not deviating away from Snape who had huffed and went back to eating, as if Harry was too bothersome to deal with. "I wanted to know as much about him as I could. At the moment he's just extremely bothersome and irritating. But that might not always be the case. It was clear that he was an enemy of my father and any enemy of my father is a potential enemy of my brother and sister," Harry said in a dark tone. "And that means that he's a potential enemy of me. If he steps past the line, I'll break his neck myself."

"Well, at least I'll know who to talk to if any of my teachers suddenly disappear," Daphne said with a resigned sigh, knowing talking him out of it was futile. "Just remember to cover your tracks after, please."

"Of course, I will," Harry said, sounding offended. "I look like an amateur to you?"