Harry Potter: I’ve always been here.

"What happened?" Hermione inquired as she eyed her friend with concern.

Iris shrugged a little bit. "I don't know. It was like… all of a sudden I was struggling with the transfigurations."

Hermione continued to stare down her friend, but now there was no mistaking the concern in her voice, "You know those as well as I do, they shouldn't have been too difficult."

Iris shook her head, "It wasn't… I don't know. It wasn't remembering those spells that was hard. It felt like I was struggling to keep from transfiguring not only the objects but the table they were on and other people in the room as well."

Hermione frowned in confusion, so Iris continued. "You saw how my wand sparked. It felt like it was a struggle to keep from doing more." Iris shrugged her shoulders slightly, frustration evident as she slumped slightly. "I don't know how else to explain it."

"Should we tell your mom or Professor Flitwick?" Hermione asked.

Iris shook her head, "No, it was probably nothing." Hermione glanced at Iris as she lapsed into silence but followed her friend's decision.

Iris was silent as they made way toward their History class before she spoke up. "So what did you think of Flamel?"

Hermione narrowed her eyes and scoffed slightly. "I can't believe how rude he was to Professor McGonagall."

Iris bit her lip to smother a chuckle of amusement at Hermione's response. Hermione was always incredibly sensitive about respecting professors. She wasn't fanatical about it, especially after their experiences with bad professors during their first two years. But Hermione still could get irritated with disrespect to a goodprofessor. "I meant aside from that."

Hermione shrugged, "Nothing really at all. He's in Slytherin, and Malfoy already seems to have ingratiated himself with him. Anyone who get's on with Malfoy like that is bound to be bad news."

Iris nodded and then frowned a little bit. "Speaking of… Draco's… acting weird, I think."

Hermione frowned at Iris, "How do you know that? We've barely seen him and he's not said anything to us."

Iris nodded and gave Hermione a look, "Exactly. How many train rides have we gone without him visiting with his standard set of comments? Then today in class. No comment when my wand sparked. Nothing."

Hermione frowned and nodded. "That is very odd."

She was forced to agree. Draco's train visits were almost religious, and he barely seemed to acknowledge them in class. She made a mental note to keep an eye on him. "C'mon we're gonna be late for history."

Iris couldn't restrain a roll of her eyes. Both she and Hermione knew the class was little more than a glorified reading period or nap time. The rumor among the students was that, the Weasley twins, a pair of fifth year Gryffindors, had gone beyond bringing pillows to class and had started transfiguring their chairs into full hammocks.

She fell into step beside Hermione, but her mind was still on the pair of emerald eyes that had so caught her eyes. Iris couldn't stop thinking about how eerie those emerald eyes she found herself staring at were. On one hand the eyes were hauntingly familiar, Iris knew they startlingly similar to her own. But at the same time, they struck her as old eyes. Iris couldn't help but think that the eyes were colder and duller, or less vibrant. Iris couldn't put her finger on it but she got the overwhelming feeling of hurt and weariness.

Harry exited the transfiguration room to find Draco waiting for him.

Draco lifted a curious eyebrow at Harry, before shifting to head down the hallway. "Did you manage to get out of there without detention?"

Harry nodded as Draco shifted to fall into step with him, "Yes, she just wanted to talk a moment. You didn't have to wait for me."

Draco chuckled, "Actually I did, you didn't get your schedule before you left for your Dumbledore meeting." He just lifted an expectant eyebrow at Harry.

Harry frowned, "No big deal. He had questions about me and the Flamels. I gave him the information I thought he needed to know. Which wasn't much." Harry couldn't keep a small smile off his face. Once again he couldn't help the bit of amusement that the shoe was on the other foot.

Draco regarded him thoughtfully for several seconds before nodded and handing him a bit of parchment. "Here's your schedule. Pretty much everything I have, except you have Runes where I have Care of magical creatures."

"What's next?" Harry asked as he took the parchment and glanced at it, nodding a bit. He had decided to take runes, though Harry was relatively certain there was very little he would learn in any level of that class at Hogwarts. He just wasn't going near divination, and while he had always been close with Hagrid, the classes were less than helpful in the long run. "History." Draco responded with an expression of disgust.

Harry's brow furrowed at that response, "With Binns?"

Draco nodded with a heavy sigh of sarcasm, "In all his ghostly splendor."

Harry stopped, mid-stride, "Is he the same as I'd remember?"

Draco frowned and nodded, "Goblin rebellions and uprisings? In a monotone that puts you to sleep? Yeah, pretty much as boring as you remember. If not worse, because you'll be sitting through it a second time."

Harry frowned and nodded,"Right then." then he spun on his heel and headed off in a different direction. Draco frowned and then quickly stepped to catch up with Harry and fall in beside him. "Where are you going?"

Harry frowned, "I'm too old for a scheduled nap time, and I don't care to waste time listening to Binn. I have some of those things that we talked about earlier to get finished. First among those is to make sure we can get into the Chamber."

Draco nodded slowly, "Well, I doubt Binns will miss us anyway. We'd hardly be the first people to skive off his class." He shrugged and followed Harry through the castle.

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