Chapter Five: Blood Brother Ritual

NOT ONLY HAD THE TWO TEENAGERS BEEN teased mercilessly by their friends that next morning, but Lily had taken it upon herself to scold the Marauders like she said she would. None of the boys doubted that she would cash in on the threats that she gave them if they ever did actually upset her sister. They knew her warnings were never meant to be taken lightly.

Of course, the teasing hadn't gone away for either Sirius or Iris for quite some time. James, Remus, and Peter spent weeks teasing Sirius about how far he actually got with Iris. Said girl suffered through her teasing as well. Wendy, Marlene, and Lily had decided to start referring to Sirius as Iris' boyfriend. The both of them hated their friends sometimes.

Their little midnight rendezvous didn't stop, however. Every night for the past month and a half, the two would meet down in the common room and talk with each other about their days and what was on their mind. Iris swore that it was the first time she had really opened up herself to someone other than her sister or her parents. The same could be said about Sirius.

The harassment from Regulus and Lucius also didn't stop. Every chance they could, they tried to corner Iris. Whether in the corridors, classrooms or even the Great Hall, they were always trying to speak with her. The encounters were short but each time it was like they were expecting something from her. Iris suspected that it wasn't just a simple reaction from her that they wanted… It was bothering her that they seemed to be waiting for something. It was like she was supposed to provide something to them at some point, but she had no clue what it was.

The Marauders had taken the liberty of dealing with the Slytherins in their usual Marauder ways. On certain occasions, Lucius would find that his hair had been turned an obnoxiously bright color or Regulus would discover himself stuck to every object his body touched. The Marauders were having a magnificent time enjoying their newest pass-time of tormenting the boys who decided to harass Iris.

At the moment, said boys were doing just that. They howled in laughter as they pointed their wands in the direction of Lucius. The older boy was levitating in the air as he flailed wilding. His wand was far out of his reach, so he couldn't retaliate against the group of boys who decided to confront him. His face had become a putrid purple as blood rushed to his pale face. If it had been anyone else who was upside down, a few of the brave students who try to interrupt their fun and tell them off would have tried to stop them. However, as the Lucius Malfoy was the one dangling from his feet in the air, no one really wanted it to stop.

It was just after breakfast and every student was heading to their first lesson of the day. Of course, except for the Marauders who were preoccupied with torturing the blond boy. They had noticed how he tried to scurry out of the Great Hall in the direction of Iris. Once the Marauders had seen the older boy make a beeline for their friend, they made it their mission that moment to stop him before he could reach her. They succeeded which is evident by the torment they were putting him through at that very moment.

Students passed by the hilarious display and laughed along with them before scurrying off to their classes. Many Slytherins were disgusted with the ordeal but wisely stayed silent as they knew the retaliation they would receive from the four Gryffindors. None of them wanted to end up joining Lucius in the air.

"Is Malfoy upset?" James cooed like he was talking to a small child. He held his wand steady has he levitated Lucius above the ground. Remus had been reluctant to torment the older boy because he didn't necessarily like picking on people. However, after not only hearing about the less than pleasant confrontations between Lucius, Regulus, and Iris but seeing it, Remus was happy to oblige and help his friends. He, along with Peter, was using their own wands to throw many different jinxes in Lucius' direction. Although, Peter barely had the courage and capacity to only mutter one or two spells.

Unlike his rat-like friend, Sirius had a far larger array of hexes and jinxes that he took the liberty of using. He spat out a very large collection of spells that ranged from Furnunculus, the pimple jinx, to Mimblewimble, the tongue-tying hex. If he could, there was no doubt that Sirius would use multiple curses on the blond boy, but he would end up in serious trouble if he did do that. But Merlin, it was so tempting…

"Mr. Potter!" A shrill, uptight voice screamed as the boys continued their fun, "Mr. Black! Mr. Pettigrew! Mr. Lupin!" Minerva McGonagall, the transfigurations professor and head of the Gryffindor house, rushed over to the group of trouble making boys as she watched them continue to throw spells at the older Slytherin boy. Her lips were pulled back tightly in a thin line as her robes moved behind her like a sea of raging green waves while she hurriedly marched over to the group of boys. "Put Mr. Malfoy down this instant!"

The Marauders gave each other glances. Peter and Remus both seemed to oblige with her order and put their wands back into their robes. The two of them didn't want to make their punishment harsher than it already would be. James was reluctant to stop his assault on the boy who was harassing his future sister-in-law, as he always kept referring to her as, but he complied as well. He retracted his wand which caused Malfoy to fall onto his back uncomfortably with a loud thump. The boy groaned as he laid on the ground in slight pain.

Sirius couldn't let Lucius go so easily, of course. He had to make sure that the snake knew what would happen if he continued to follow Iris around so much. With one last flick of his wand, Sirius muttered, "anteoculatia." Lucius' hair suddenly sprouted antlers which caused the boys to laugh once again.

Professor McGonagall scowled at the boys, "what in Godric's name do you think you are doing!?"

"Well you see, Minnie," Sirius started off with a sly and mischievous smirk. The professor rolled her eyes at the nickname that the boys had coined her a few years ago. "Malfoy had decided to start picking on one of our friends."

James joined in the explanation, "so we only saw it fit to do the same to him."

Professor McGonagall bristled as he surveyed each of the boys with a hard glare. "If that is true, you speak with a member of staff, not go about taking the matter into your own hands!"

Sirius and James only continued to smirk as they shrugged their shoulders simultaneously, "where's the fun in that?"

The professor huffed. Despite not being related, the two boys acted like brothers, twins really. However, even though they caused so much mischief and trouble, Minerva would say that she did find the pair to be quite entertaining. (Of course, she wouldn't admit that out loud.) But the boys had their rough spots. Specifically how they tended to bully some other students. Their attacks on other children had diminished over the years as they seemed to grow older and mature, but they had their moments. It just so happened that Lucius Malfoy was apart of this moment. If their claims were true, about the Slytherin boy bullying another student, then Minerva would have to investigate it further.

"That has nothing to do with fun, boys! Detention for all four of you tonight!" The boys did not groan or whine in protest at her dictation. (Well, Peter and Remus did slightly, but they were used to getting detention nearly every day by now.) They just smirked and nodded their heads. She started to shoo the boys, "now off to class, the lot of you!" With a solid glare shot at Lucius who was sitting on the floor of the corridor, the four fifth-year Gryffindors sauntered away from the scene and towards their first class of the day.

---

Iris settled into her seat of her History of Magic class. She was more than ready to let the boring, monotone voice of their ghostly professor, Professor Cuthbert Binns, lull her to sleep. He may not have the nicest of voices, by far, but it proved to put many students to sleep every day. Iris happened to be one of them. She found that during this class, she could catch up on sleep with a nap and then borrow Lily's notes later in the day. Iris stretched her arms and cracked her neck with a satisfying pop. She was completely ready for her annual 'History nap'. Both Wendy and Lily didn't approve of how Iris spent her class time, but they didn't argue with her. Marlene, on the other hand, actually joined Iris sometimes.

Of course, before she could truly place herself in a comfortable position on her desk, she was jabbed in the abdomen by the person sitting next to her. She hissed at the sudden attack and glared at Marlene.

"What the bloody hell was that for?" She grumbled as she rubbed her stomach.

Marlene didn't seem to care about the pain that she inflicted on her friend and just turned to her and whispered, "it seems like your boyfriend and the others are going to be late to class."

Iris huffed and shoved her friend, almost sending her onto the floor, and glared at her. "How many times do I have to say that he isn't my boyfriend!" She bristled, "besides why would I care if they're late or not, they're big boys who can take care of themselves."

"Take care of themselves," Marlene scoffed under her breath, "I'm sure the lot of them are getting detention from a professor right about now."

"I have no doubt about that, but as I said, I don't care!"

Marlene continued her teasing, "I thought you would be a more caring girlfriend, Iris."

Iris groaned while pulling at her hair, "Stop it!"

Lily looked over to see Marlene chuckling under her breath while her sister was red in the face and pouting. Her eyebrow arched at the display and leaned over to Wendy, "what do you think is happening?"

Wendy glanced at the pair and shrugged her shoulders, "no idea."

They could tell that Marlene was having a fun time teasing Iris over something. From the smile that was stretched across the McKinnon girls face and the flustered expression on Iris' face, they could guess that their friend had decided to tease Iris about Sirius. They had enjoyed using that against her ever since they had found the two of them snuggled against each other on one of the common room couches a few weeks ago.

Even though she constantly declared that there was nothing going on between them, they all begged to differ. Did she think they didn't notice how she and Sirius spent their times at night together? They weren't thick.

Lily hummed and shook her head, "no doubt something stupid."

"Knowing those two, definitely."

The rest of the students, Gryffindors and Ravenclaws, all settled in their seats scattered around the classroom. The ghostly figure of Professor Binns floated along the ground as he approached the front of the classroom. The class was about to start and there was still no sign of the Marauders at all.

Iris didn't notice that at all… Well, maybe she did notice. However, she didn't care about it… Okay, maybe she did care a little. What sort of trouble had they gotten into? She was irritated that she hadn't been invited to spread chaos throughout the school with them. Instead, her friends had dragged her to their first class of the day. Of course, that may have been her own fault. She had been given detention by most of the professors after she had entered the class late a few times and even missed a few lessons.

Granted it wasn't always her fault that she was late! The boys were the ones who usually included her in pranks and etcetera that caused her tardiness. Not only that, but Regulus and Lucius had been following her around the castle all the time. She had decided to try and avoid them by taking alternate routes to her classes which only results in her being late. Now, she wasn't one for hiding from a problem, but they were annoying! Merlin, she didn't know what they wanted from her! However, the professors didn't care for her possible excuses.

Professor Binns started his lesson, "open your books to page…" Iris yawned and rested her head on her desk. She had finally closed her eyes while ignoring the lesson when the doors to the classroom opened. James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter waltzed into the classroom without a care. Professor Binns didn't falter in his lecture, as usual. History of Magic happened to be the only class where anyone could get away with anything. Just as long as you don't miss the class in its entirety, then you would be fine.

The fours boys plopped themselves in their chairs. The desk behind Iris and Marlene being taken by Sirius and Remus while the desk behind Lily and Wendy was taken by James and Peter. It was a common occurrence to see the four of them come into class late so nobody paid them any mind. Even Professor Binns continued to drone on about a troll war. (Though he never interrupted his lessons for anything, even if a student was breaking a rule.)

Despite the fact that she desperately needed some shut-eye, Iris found herself turning around to face the two behind her with a raised eyebrow. "What was it this time?"

"Why do you suspect that it was our fault?" Sirius inquired with a challenging smirk. Iris flashed him a matching smirk, however, there was a sly coating of flirtation that mingled in her brown eyes. If Sirius wasn't so thick, he would have noticed the obvious signs of teasing she displayed. Remus only seemed to be the one of them to notice, and he wasn't even the target of the girl's attention.

"Aren't most things your fault, darling?" Sirius rolled his eyes but his smirk didn't slip off of his face. He would have given a flirty rebuttal to her teasing statement if it wasn't for Remus jabbing him in the stomach. He glowered at his friend and pushed him back. Iris' shoulders sagged as she pouted, "you four went off and pranked someone didn't you?"

Sirius chuckled at her whining, "perhaps we did." He teased her as he arrogantly ran a hand through his hair. A few students at neighboring desks paused their note taking to watch the small conversation between the two Gryffindors.

As the school year had begun, it was a common occurrence to see the redheaded girl and grey-eyed boy tease each other mercilessly. However, most people enjoyed watching how Isis could really embarrass the Sirius Black who was known to be a player throughout all of Hogwarts. They weren't completely sure how she could do it, as nobody could really do what she could, but they enjoyed it immensely. It was always entertaining to see their daily dose of a flustered Sirius and flirtatious Iris.

"So? Who was it?" Iris asked eagerly as she leaned onto their desk.

"We-" Remus decided to pause from his note taking, Professor Binns was speaking too fast to keep up and started to join in their conversation. He tried to explain to Iris that they had dealt with Lucius before he could follow her, but Sirius cleared his throat loudly before he could speak. Remus and Iris' eyebrows furrowed as they turned to the boy questionably.

"Just some stupid Slytherin, really." He coughed awkwardly. Remus shot him a confused expression and opened his mouth to answer Iris correctly, but stopped when Sirius returned his confusion with narrowed eyes. After seeing the look of suspicion yet compliance from his friend, Sirius nodded his head.

Why Sirius didn't want to tell Iris about what they did to Lucius puzzled Remus. He could only stare at him for a moment longer before turning back to his notes with a small shrug. He could only speculate why Sirius seemed to be adamant about not telling Iris about that morning, but he'll question him later. He had to worry about writing down the notes for the class because he knew that none of his other friends would write notes. They would no doubt want to copy off of him.

Iris eyed the two during their strange interaction. She had no idea what it meant, and she was curious. "That can't be all, can it?" She raised an eyebrow, "come on! I need some more details about it!"

Sirius pursed his lips and raised his head high as he tried to resist the spark in Iris' eye. He would definitely just end up telling her about that morning if he even looked into her eyes! Which was why he wasn't looking at her. He decided to take an interest in watching James trying to woo Lily at the table next to them instead. Sirius had seen him trying to do that for the past four years and had watched James try far too many methods to get Lily's attention. However, at that moment, he was far better off watching them than possibly crumbling under Iris' questioning stare. Merlin, he could melt under her intense stares!

"Just a Slytherin, like I said. He pissed us off earlier and we dealt with him."

Iris pouted childishly and huffed. She had a feeling that Sirius wasn't telling her everything about why they were late, but she'd let it slide for the moment. She would probably force the other boys to tell her about it after class. She tsked and shook her head, "alright, I'll buy that, for now." She let her calculating eyes drift over the boy for a second before turning in her seat to face forward. She would worry about it later and see if she could squeeze an answer out of either him or the others later.

In all honesty, Sirius was extremely nervous about what Iris may feel about the altercation they had with Lucius. He swallowed thickly. He had a feeling that Iris would be annoyed and angry at what they had done.

They stood up to Lucius for her. Now, some people may look at that as a nice gesture. However, he knew Iris, and she would not completely appreciate their actions. She would definitely take it as them thinking she was unable to stand up for herself. Iris Evans was an arrogant, prideful and proud girl. If she found out that they had stepped in and threatened Lucius to stay away from her… There wasn't any way to tell what Iris would do.

Sirius remembered a conversation that he had with her a few nights ago.

"I just hate feeling weak, I suppose," she said and wrung her fingers together as she stared at them with interest. It was obvious to Sirius that she was somewhat uncomfortable with opening up so much to him, but his heart warmed at the fact that she felt close enough to him to reveal this part of her. He appreciated that they had become close friends like this. She chuckled, "always have, always will. I like fighting my own battles."

Had Sirius taken her words to heart that morning? No. Should he have at least considered and replayed her words in his head before they started to torment Lucius? Yes, but Sirius wasn't usually a person who thought before he acted. Especially when he had James egging him on.

In the beginning, Sirius had a fantasy of being like Iris' "knight in shining armor" and saving Iris from the slimy, vicious snakes, Lucius and Regulus. He had thought that if he threatened them enough they would listen to him and leave Iris alone. In turn, Iris would then thank him profusely for his heroic act and it would all end like one of the muggle movies he had seen in the past. You know, the ones with the happy endings where the prince got his princess.

But he seemed to forget that Iris wasn't a damsel in distress. She was far from it! Unlike the princesses that he had seen in those movies, who whined and screamed for someone to save them, Iris could fight for herself. He had even witnessed her battling with "thugs", as she referenced them, and beating each one of them.

He gazed at his redheaded princess as she rested on her desk. She was obviously trying to take a nap for the time being. He smirked lightly. Iris Evans is like no other girl he had ever encountered. Merlin, he loved that!

---

"Just be glad we were given detention for tonight!" Remus glowered as he and his three friends strolled through the halls. His shoulders were tense as he started to rant about the close call they had. "If Professor McGonagall had given us detention for tomorrow-"

James cut him off, "don't worry Moony, we got detention for tonight, not tomorrow, so stop worrying about it." The group of boys halted at one of the window seats in the hallway. Remus plopped onto the seat in exasperation as James and Sirius sat on his sides and squashed him slightly. The halls were nearly empty except for the occasional lost first year or other students who had free period like the boys. Their History of Magic class had ended a few minutes ago and they had all bolted out of the class as fast as they could. That may have been due to a certain grey-eyed boy who didn't want to be confronted by his red-headed beauty once again.

The others were confused as to why he was so adamant about leaving, but he barely gave a clear reason why they had to leave so quickly. They followed him out just as fast and they did noticed how Iris tried to speak with him. It was strange to see him giving up the chance to speak with her. Of course, Remus had taken the liberty of explaining what had happened during class. However, Sirius had made them drop the subject. He didn't want them to know why he didn't want to tell Iris about that morning. He wasn't sure how they would react. On one hand, they might have just teased him for acting like a softy, or they would call him a pansy for being afraid of how Iris would take it. But could you blame him? Iris had proven to be a scary person. Sometimes she had even been scarier than Lily! (Which they didn't think was possible.)

Remus huffed and Sirius slung an arm around his slightly taller friend. "Our night out isn't going to be ruined by a night of writing lines or cleaning without magic."

"Besides we didn't plan on doing anything for tonight," Peter pitched in. Sometimes the chubby boy had been forgotten about in their small group of friends. If he was to disappear at any point, nobody would notice. It was quite sad, really.

"Well, we don't," James smirked slyly. "It looks like your date with your lovely Iris will have to be canceled tonight, eh, Padfoot?"

Sirius rolled his eyes as he tried his best not to show how flustered he felt. "Shut it, Prongs!" He was slightly disheartened by the fact that he and Iris wouldn't get to have their annual meeting that night. The comfort and acceptance that Iris seemed to provide him each and every night they spoke to each other was fantastic. He had to admit, that when he first met Iris, he saw her as a pretty girl that he thought he could have fun with before moving on to the next. (Which made him realize how much of a dick he really was.) However, as time went by and he continued to talk to her… She had become something far more than just a pretty face to him.

Yes, she was beautiful and ultimately one of the most alluring girls he had ever laid eyes on. But she had proved to be intelligent, passionate, as troublesome as himself, and, in a few ways, caring. He enjoyed her company and looked forward to their time together at night. When they spoke it gave him the opportunity to find a refuge that he hadn't found before. Sure, he spoke to James, Remus, and Peter about some things… He wasn't sure why, but Iris gave him a far deeper feeling of acceptance. Perhaps it was the fact that she was the first girl to be so forward with him? He wasn't sure.

"You don't have to be so down, Paddy," James teased in a baby voice. "You'll get your alone time with your precious Iris tomorrow." It was strange to see James teasing Sirius about a girl as it was usually the other way around. It was always James who was whipped by Lily Evans for the past few years and was teased relentlessly by the boys. There were times, only a few when both Remus and Peter were teased for their crushes, but it was always James who was teased because of his obsession with Lily.

"No, you won't," Peter started as he stood next to the other three. His eyebrows were furrowed as he questioned how short of an attention span they had seeing as they were just speaking about tomorrow. "We're going to help Remus tomorrow night with-"

"With what?"

The four boys jumped at the sudden voice and turned to see their redheaded friend standing behind Peter with her arms crossed and head tilted. Her eyes were filled with curiosity and a flame that they easily recognized as a silent threat. Her entire demeanor screamed 'tell me before I beat it out of you'.

"W-with my homework!" Remus exclaimed quickly. He cringed once the words left his lips as he realized how unrealistic the lie sounded.

"Them? Help you? The Remus Lupin with homework?" Iris scoffed as she rested a hand on her hips and arched an eyebrow, "come now, do you think I'm stupid?" The boys all shook their heads violently at the low tone of her voice.

"No!"

"'Course not!"

"Not at all!"

"What gave you that idea, love?"

She could tell how fearful they were of her. Actually, she liked the fact that she held superiority over them, especially at times like these. She tutted, "then why did you lie?"

The four of them shared a small glance with each other. Their eyes were all wide with fear as they realized there was no way to hide the truth from Iris. You couldn't hide a lie from a well-trained liar, after all. Iris watched them in silence for a moment. They seemed to have a silent conversation with each other for a moment. Her eyes were narrowed as she watched the panicked expressions consume their facial features.

"We're just working on a plan tomorrow," James started to explain calmly. "We were going to do it tonight, but you know, we've detention now…"

Remus latched onto that lie, "yeah, we didn't want to tell you… because it was a prank on you!"

They all had averted their eyes from her in hopes of hiding the truth from her and squirmed. She didn't need to know the reason they lied. She had become a good friend to each of them, but Remus was still reluctant to reveal the biggest secret that all of them had to keep for such a long time. When the time was right, then they may tell her about his "hairy little secret", but, until then, they would have to keep her in the dark.

Iris' eyebrows furrowed as she stared down each of the boys. "Then… Why are you telling me now?" The skepticism that was in her voice was evident and the narrowing of her brown eyes only solidified that fact.

Sirius gulped as he decided to take the lead on the conversation. He was the best liar out of the four of them after all. "We just know that you would have tried to beat it out of us, we're saving you the energy and us the pain." He ran a hand through his hair as he smirked arrogantly at her while trying to hide the lie.

Iris rolled her eyes at his words. She could see through his words as they tried to deceive her for Iris wasn't easily fooled. However, they didn't know that.

"Oh," she tried to display an expression of mock surprise while hiding the mischief that wanted to break out. "So what were you going to do, huh? Should I still be on the lookout for a prank coming my way?" At that point, she was just teasing them and seeing how far they would go with their lie.

The boys, once again, shared a panicked look and they all tried to come up with something. They all began to spew out their own excuses which caused their voices to overlap each other. Iris looked between all of the boys with a smirk as she watched them scramble for some sort of singular lie to follow.

Eventually, after listening to their jumbled words for a few minutes, Iris shook her head and giggled. "Don't worry, you don't have to tell me your master plan," she waved her hand, "I'll just leave you to plot against me, I guess." She bid the boys goodbye, spun on her heels and strutted away from them.

They all watched her go and sighed in relief as they thought she had bought their lie. Why didn't they realize that Iris was smart enough to spot their lie faster than they could say "Quidditch"? Only Merlin knows.

---

It was midday and almost every student had arrived at the Great Hall for lunch. There were a few students missing who, no doubt, didn't feel like eating and instead decided to hang out outside as they basked in the warm September sun that peaked from behind the fluffy clouds. In the midst of the gossip throw around the tables and students divulging themselves in their lunches, Wendy and Lily watched as their two friends seemingly inhale their food. They both found it to be grotesque and impressive. How could they both eat so fast?!

"Iris," Wendy started, in hopes of stopping Iris' quick eating. "Why did you seem so adamant about talking with Sirius after History of Magic?"

Iris swallowed her large bite of food and sighed, "I'm quite sure that Sirius tried to lie to me during class."

"About what?" Lily asked, intrigued.

She shrugged her shoulders, "I asked him why they were late to History of Magic and Remus was going to tell me-"

"But Sirius cut him off," Marlene decided to cut with a spoon still in her mouth. She was present when it happened and she too knew that Sirius seemed to be hiding something from Iris. She rubbed her chin in thought as she started to speculate, "why do you think he did?"

"No clue, but I feel like I can get it out of him eventually," She stared off in the distance as a few ideas popped into her head. She smirked as her eyes became lit with mischief. "Probably by tonight."

The girls all sighed at the obvious indication that Iris was going to get up to no good. They could also see the boys trying to get their revenge against her on a later date. They could only hope that they weren't caught in the crossfire.

Iris smirked as she stuffed a loaf of bread into her mouth. Her eyes traveled to the entrance of the Great Hall when her smirk seemingly widened around the loaf, speak of the devil and he shall appear. At the entrance of the hall was Sirius Black himself. It seemed that Sirius was also looking for someone as she could tell from his eyes survey across the entire hall. Iris had a feeling that it was her.

Sirius lazily trotted down the aisle of the Great Hall in the direction of the Gryffindor table. He earned a few greetings from fellow Gryffindors, Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, and of course, none from Slytherin. There were specifically a lot of female students who watched him with batted eyelashes and rosy cheeks. He had barely given them a small greeting, much to their dismay, before continuing on his way towards the end of the Gryffindor table where Iris was sitting.

"Hello, ladies," he arrogantly greeted the girls has he stood behind Iris and Wendy.

Lily arched a delicate eyebrow, "what do you want, Black?"

He flashed her a large smile, "can I not come to visit my friends?"

All of the girls shared an incredulous look with each other, "you're acting nice…" Marlene observed with narrow and suspicious eyes. "What did you do?"

Sirius placed a hand on his heart and scoffed, "honestly, Mckinnon! You say that as if all I do is cause trouble!"

"Isn't that all you do?" Iris asked as she mocked confusion before she bursted out laughing.

Sirius smiled at her antics and shook his head while leaning onto her shoulder. "The same can be said about you, love." He slyly whispered to her. At the close proximity of the boy, Iris' stomach did somersaults, but she tried to brush it off. She wasn't paying attention to the way that goosebumps enveloped her entire body as it also started to heat up significantly. She didn't care about that at all. No way! If anything it was only… confusing her further. "I came over to talk with you, actually." Sirius' voice broke her out of her internal perplexity which caused her to try and process what he had said. She may have been too caught up in her internal conflict that she didn't comprehend what Sirius had just said.

However, when she saw the expectant looks of her friends and Sirius, she cleared her throat. "Yes? About what?" She licked her lips as she hoped they didn't notice how she froze at the closeness of the boy. "I hope it's about the blatant lie that you told me this morning…"

Sirius shook his head as he could see her not giving that topic up. After only a few days of knowing her, he had learned that she was a very stubborn person. Possibly far more stubborn than even James Potter! "No," He flashed her a saucy smirk, "it's about tonight…" He trailed off as he watched Iris smirk as well.

The both of them could see the slightly disturbed looks on the girls around them as they thought about what exactly the two were really getting up to at night. Though they really didn't want to know what the two mischievous troublemakers got up to at night… by themselves.

Iris raised her hand and gripped Sirius' red and gold tie while bringing him down closer to her height. Sirius was instantly able to smell the mixture of lavender and vanilla that was distinctly Iris. "I suppose we'll need some more… privacy, darling."

Sirius cleared his throat as he willed away the blush that threatened to break out across his cheekbones and neck. He had gotten far better over the past two months at hiding his constant blushing due to Iris' words and actions. He also had mastered his control over his flustered appearance each time butterflies swarmed in his stomach whenever he was near her. By 'mastered' it usually meant that he was able to control his emotions enough around her only to have them spill over whenever he was in the dorms where he would babble on and on about his love for her to his friends. Each and every day he was becoming more like James and falling farther and farther for the redhead.

"Come on," Sirius squeaked out and tried to scuttle away from the group of girls while trying to keep his composer but failing just a tad bit.

Iris rolled his eyes at his actions while Lily, Wendy, and Marlene giggled with each other. It always amused them, along with many other students, how Iris had such an effect on Sirius. It was refreshing to see the boy who always flaunted around the school arrogantly with a suffocating amount of ignorance following him everywhere he went like a cloud reduced to a puddle each time Iris was around him.

Her friends watched as Iris slowly rose from her seat and followed Sirius out of the Great Hall. They could hear the light snickers that followed them out as they watched Sirius fumble on his feet to exit the hall. Iris revealed in the slight humiliation that she brought Sirius and loved the attention it gave her in return.

The two had finally exited the Great Hall and Sirius took the lead in order to led Iris to someplace no prying ears could hear them. Soon enough, after only a few minutes of walking in silence, they finally found an empty corridor with no ickle first years lurking around the corner to see the two fifth years converse.

Sirius gnawed at his lip as Iris delicately sat down at one of the window seats that showcase a view of the grounds. They could both see the tall trees of varying species in the Forbidden Forest, the glistening waters of the Black Lake and the undisturbed grass that swayed in the light breeze. They marveled in the sight for only a moment before Sirius took the initiative to speak first.

"If you haven't already found out, the boys and I have detention tonight."

Iris nodded her head, "yeah, which you got this morning after dealing with a Slytherin that you don't seem to want to tell me about…" Iris eyed him skeptically and tried to see if he would crack under her stare.

He bit his bottom lip and looked away from her as he saw the burning in her eyes. Once again, he wasn't going to let her know what they had done that morning in fear of her reaction. Perhaps he would tell her at some point, but this was not the time. "It wasn't anything really, it's just that we won't get to have our little… Midnight rendezvous tonight."

Iris' eyebrows furrowed. She had suspected that they wouldn't get the chance to have their little midnight talk that night due to his detention. Of course, she knew that at some point either one of them would receive a detention that would interfere with their new found tradition. It was surprising to just about everyone that the two hadn't received a detention until now. Of course, Iris had gotten one the day she decided to prank the entire student body, but that was before they had found themselves engaging in a ritual each night. It seemed like they had tried their best to avoid receiving detention due to the fact they would interfere with their midnight talks. (Which Lily praised her sister for and James complained about to Sirius.)

They had found something that they didn't want to miss out on with each other and they cherished that immensely, even if it had only been a few weeks. It had been so constant that other Gryffindors had a silent agreement that nights in the common room were reserved for only the two of them.

Iris couldn't help the sinking feeling that enveloped her stomach which made it feel like there was a pit in her gut. She swallowed thickly. Why did she feel so… upset? "I know… I figured that out on my own, darling." She could hear her own voice leak an emotion that she wasn't all too familiar with. She sounded disappointed with the news. Though she wasn't the only one who was crestfallen with the development.

Sirius was especially disheartened with the fact that he wouldn't be able to have their annual midnight talk, but he knew that it was inevitable. He could survive one night without speaking with his beloved Iris for one night, right? But what about the next night!? It was going to be a full moon and he is needed with the boys to help with Remus. It seems that Sirius would have to survive two nights without Iris.

Said redhead noticed the way Sirius' eyes widened slightly as he stared out the window in thought. She restlessly played with her fingers as she studied Sirius with a keen eye. "What were you and the boys talking about earlier?"

Sirius' head snapped towards her as she watched him with curious eyes. He swallowed, "just a plan for tomorrow night is all."

Iris nodded her head sarcastically, "oh, yes, the prank you plan on pulling on me." She huffed and rolled her eyes, "I can see a lie from a mile away, darling," she stated with pointed eyes that bored into the boy in front of her. "Now, are you going to keep lying, or…"

Sirius sighed, "Iris… You should know I hate lying to you, but you need to trust me on this."

"So is it some sort of guy thing? That's why you can't tell me?" Iris sassed. She hated not knowing things, especially if they involved the people she considered her friends. Iris just isn't someone who enjoys being left out.

Sirius smiled sheepishly and nodded his head. "Yes, I'm sorry, Iris." It wasn't a lie. Tomorrow was definitely just a night for himself, James, Remus, and Peter. It was the night where they would prance around the grounds of their school in their animagus forms in order to help Remus in his beastly werewolf form. Ever since the boys had figured out how to become animagi a little over a year ago, they had decided to accompany Remus at night. They had seen how being locked in the Shrieking Shack affected their dear friend, and the boys wanted to figure out a way to lessen his pain. Eventually, they read about animagi and figured out how to transform into them. It seemed like a far-fetched plan at the time, but it worked!

Iris shrugged her shoulders and pursed her lips, "you could have just told me it was a thing just between you and the other boys this morning. I would have accepted that."

"You would?" He thought that she would have at least fought a little bit more to find out the complete truth from him. He just didn't know that Iris accepted his half-truth because she realized that it was something she didn't need to know about. It was quite obvious to her that whatever the boys were really doing was something exclusively for them. She suspected that they hadn't been friends long enough for her to be let in on their secret or if she ever would be let in.

"Yeah, I definitely wouldn't want to be apart of your weird blood brother ritual or whatever you boys do." Sirius scowled as Iris laughed at the irritated look on his face.

Eventually, Iris calmed down enough and they both started a different conversation. As Iris sat on the window seat and stared at Sirius from under her eyelashes, Sirius leaned against the wall next to her as he looked away from her. The seemingly downhearted feeling that had enveloped the both of them earlier had slowly been ebbed away as they started to talk to each other.

Sirius tossed around lame pick-up lines while Iris threw back her own provocative rebuttals with a kittenish tone. Soon enough, after a long conversation full of playful banter, the corridors were filled with students who came out of the Great Hall in order to head to their next class. There were only two more lessons of the day, which for Iris and Sirius was Herbology and Transfigurations. They headed to their class and spoke with each other animatedly. As soon as they passed the threshold of the greenhouse they were pulled in two opposite directions.

Sirius was dragged away by James, Remus, and Peter towards their seat as they started to question what exactly he had spoken to Iris about. He had to assure them that he didn't tell Iris about Remus' 'hairy little secret'. Why they would assume that he would spew out their most well-kept secret to her baffled him. However, they had already seen how he became puddy in Iris' hands each time they spoke. They had a slightly sickening feeling that Iris had used her charm on Sirius and forced the secret out of him.

On the other side of the room, Iris was also receiving the same amount of interrogation. Her friends instantly started to ask her what Sirius had talked to her about. They wanted all of the details, well not all of the detail. They didn't want to hear about some… disturbing information about what Iris and Sirius could have been getting up to. Knowing Iris, she wouldn't have a problem delving deep into all the dirty details between herself and Sirius.

However, both of the group interrogations were cut short when Professor Beery bounded into the room happily and started to speak excitedly about what lesson she would be teaching. Of course, Iris and Sirius were able to share a glance with a smirk at each other.

---

The blanket of darkness graced itself across the landscape of the Hogwarts. The waning gibbous gazed down on the cool ground as the students all settled down for bed. There were a few who were trying their best to finish some last minute homework for the next day or a few students who were trying to sneak out of their dorms that night only to be caught by the prefects.

At that moment, Iris was curled up on the armchair in the common room. Like always, the fireplace was alive with flames that ate away at the wood hungrily. Iris yawned as the flames calmed her down. Just because Sirius was unable to accompany her in the common room that night, didn't mean that she couldn't enjoy her time alone downstairs.

She sighed in pleasure as she reveled in the warmth the fire provided her. As November started to roll in, the temperature was starting to fall down farther and farther. It was only a matter of time when snow started to fall from the sky at some point. Iris wasn't a complete fan of the cold, but she would endure the frigid climates if she had to.

While she relished in the comfort she was smothered in, she didn't notice the redhead who looked almost exactly like her tiptoeing down the steps. Lily raised an eyebrow as she found her sister sitting in the common room by herself. She watched her sister for a moment in silence with her eyebrows furrowed. After she had found that her sister was missing from their dorm, Lily decided to venture down and see where she had wandered off to. She wasn't sure if Iris had gone off and decided to pull a prank or do something that would get her in trouble.

However, the anxiety she felt about finding out her sister had created chaos diminished when she saw Iris huddled in the armchair. She crossed the room and moved to stand in front of Iris. When the light that emanated from the fireplace was obscured by a figure in front of her, Iris looked up to be faced with the inquisitive stare of her twin.

"Hey, Lily." Iris yawned and smiled lightly towards her sister.

"Why aren't you up in the dorm?" Her sister asked suspiciously.

Iris shrugged her shoulders, "I didn't feel like staying upstairs, I suppose." To be honest, she wasn't completely sure why she had gone downstairs. After she had gotten dressed in her night clothes, Iris found herself stepping down the stairs towards the common room. Perhaps she just so used to going down there at night that she had done it subconsciously.

Lily nodded her head and sat down on the armrest of the couch next to her sister. The twins sat in silence as they watched the fire together. They enjoyed each others company for a few moments. Despite the two of them being sisters, they didn't necessarily spend too much time together. When the two first started their schooling they were sent to separate schools and had only communicated through letters. Then in the summer, Lily had spent her time with the muggle children in their neighborhood while Iris was inside reading different wizarding books or scheming her own pranks for that coming school year. In those first few years, they spent a short amount of time with each other while always hanging out with Severus.

However, it seemed that now they were attending the same school, they were getting closer to each other. Even though they never had drifted from each other at all from those few years separated for long periods of times. That could be due to the time they spent over vacations during the school year, specifically Christmas.

"Iris?"

Said girl hummed tiredly while turning to face her sister, "yeah?"

Lily smiled softly at the tired demeanor of her twin and leaned forward to lightly ask her; "Why are you really down here?"

Iris took a moment to think, "I guess I'm so use to coming down here that I did it without thinking." The two of them lightly chuckled at her admission, "I'm just so use to being down here-"

"With Sirius?" Lily interjected slyly. She watched Iris bite her lip and turn away to face the fire again. Lily couldn't help but notice her reaction to even the mention of his name. She chuckled, "I feel like you're clueless to the obvious."

Iris snapped back to look at Lily as her brown eyes narrowed, "what's obvious?"

Merlin, Lily thought, how thick is she? She sighed in exasperation, "he has fallen for you, Iris!"

Iris' eyes widened as Lily's words smacked her in the face. She tried her damndest to hide the blush that rose onto her cheeks as the thought started to process through her mind. She huffed hotly while rolling her eyes. "Oh, Merlin-"

"He has, Iris!" Lily exclaimed loudly before clearing her throat and lowering her voice. "I've known him for years now and I can tell that he is in love with you!" She tried to keep her voice down, but her teasing tone had only caused her voice to come out slightly louder than she anticipated.

Iris scoffed as she glared at Lily slightly. In love? Her sister was completely delusional! "Lil, I think you've been reading too many romance novels." Sirius Black was not in love with her!

"Just think about it," Lily urged, "he stutters when he talks to, he blushes when you're around him, he's always trying to get your attention…" She trailed off and looked at her sister expectantly as she waited for her to catch on to her point. Lily had always noticed how Sirius acted around Iris which was completely uncharacteristic of him. It was like the roles were reversed for him. He was suddenly becoming the blushing mess each time Iris was even in the same room as him. It was so easy to embarrass him or humiliate him nowadays… It was like Iris' presence was turning his entire life upside down. Of course, Lily, not to mention just about everyone else, noticed how he had been affected. Lily wasn't sure if Iris truly knew the extent of her power over the boy.

Iris stared at Lily blankly and displayed a calm, confused expression. Despite her emotion on the outside, on the inside, she was truly flustered by their conversation topic. "Yes, I know. But he does that to any other girl, right? I've heard your stories of how he pursues a girl for some time, shags her and finds another girl to fawn over." Her statement formed a hole in her chest that caused her to falter slightly in her words. Did the aspect of Sirius paying more attention to another girl other than herself upset Iris? No, not at all! It wasn't like the thought of Sirius running off to find a girl who was far more interesting than her bothered her the slightest bit. Sirius and her didn't have a relationship that tied themselves together. He was allowed to go off with any girl he wanted and she was allowed to go after any boy she wanted… Then why did she dread that thought?

Lily continued on, "but this is different, he never acts like this. He's always the confident one! Yet, now, he's the one that's always embarrassed." Lily was a complete romantic. She loved getting involved with other people's love life, specifically Iris' love life. Iris couldn't count the number of times Lily had tried to set Iris up with one of the muggle boys that lived in their neighborhood.

Iris shook her head, "you're reading into this far too much, Lil."

Lily threw back her head in exasperation as she cursed her sister internally for being clueless. She slumped into her seat as she studied the way her sister refused to look in her direction. Her eyes widened in realization, "Oh my, Merlin! You fancy him as well, don't you?!"

Iris' head snapped at her sister with wide and terrified eyes, "Lily!" Her heartbeat rose to a fast rate as she shook her head rapidly. "I've known him only a few months! You expect me to fancy someone after only a few months!"

"Yes." Her tone was completely bland as she believed her statement completely. The more she thought about it, the more she started to notice how Iris really acted around the boy. Like normal, Iris had been thoroughly enjoying the fact that she had such a tight grip on Sirius' feelings. Ever since Iris had the understanding of romantic feelings, she had loved messing with other people's feelings. It was slightly mean and cruel, but Lily couldn't really do anything to stop her. However, now it seemed that Iris had also developed feelings for the boy she had decided to play around with.

"That's it," Iris commented as she tried to calm herself down. She uncurled herself from the armchair and tried to move away from her twin who was watching her with a smirk. She scurried around the couch as Lily rose from her spot and watched her sister seemingly panic. "I'm going to bed!" Iris announced flustered as she quickly dashed out of the common room and tried to get up the stairs frantically.

Lily watched her sister nearly slip up the stairs and fall on her face as she tried to get away. She shook her head and chuckled at the distressed reaction Iris had to her words. She shook her head with a small smile. Now, Lily wasn't sure how to feel about the relationship that was blossoming between her sister and Sirius Black, but she was glad that Iris was seemingly succumbing to her own feelings. She had been waiting such a long time for something like this to happen! She skipped up the stairs to their dorm room to find all the girls already asleep as Iris tried to hide under the covers.

Lily let out a quiet laugh as she crawled into her bed. Now that Lily was certain that Iris was starting to develop feelings for a boy, she was going to make it her mission to… Push Iris in the right direction. Merlin...