2 | CONFESSIONS° HARRY POTTER

12 | NOTT

"I... I don't know." Iris frowned. She looked down at the piece of parchment that sat in her lap that was addressed to Calypso. She guessed that this was the type of thing that a daughter would usually talk to their mother about and even though her and Calypso didn't have a traditioinal mother-daughter relationship yet, Iris wanted to be able to turn to her when things like this happened and go to her for advice. "I should really finish writing this letter."

"Fine, but if anything else happens, please keep me updated." Astoria begged.

"Will do." Iris said before she got started on writing a letter to Calypso telling her about what happened and asking her what she should do in the meantime.

Iris didn't get a chance to talk to Theo about what happened until the first day of the new term before they went to Care of Magical Creatures. They stayed behind while the rest of their friends walked ahead of them.

"We should probably talk about what happened." Iris said after a few moments of silence. She eyed Theo out of the corner of her eye to gauge what his reaction would be.

"I'm going to be honest with you, Iris," Theo started. They stopped walking and he looked at her with the most serious expression she had ever seen on him. "I really like you. As more than a friend. I have for a while now. I think you're great and smart and I would love to know you even better than I do now. Kissing you was amazing. Really amazing. But, I understand if you don't like me back and I'll respect whatever you want to do." 

Iris stared at Theo, not realizing that he really liked her this much. She was at a loss for words. 

"I think that we could give it a shot, but could we go slow? I've never really been in a relationship before so this all new to me." Iris confessed. Theo smiled and nodded his head eagerly.

"We can go as slow as you want." He reassured her. Iris relaxed her shoulders and smiled gratefully at him. She looked back to see her friends were further ahead of them and almost at Hagrid's cabin.

"We should probably catch up with them." 

"Oh, right." Theo said. Iris moved to join them, but turned back around and pressed a quick kiss on Theo's cheek. They smiled sweetly at each other and walked back to join the class.

When they got to Hagrid's class, Iris found that an elderly witch with cropped grey hair and a prominent chin by the name of Professor Grubbly-Plank had replaced Hagrid temporarily. Iris had seen the awful article that Rita Skeeter had written about him, courtesy of Draco, so she wasn't all that surprised that there was a new teacher. She led them past the paddock where the huge Beauxbatons horses were and toward a tree on the edge of the forest where a large unicorn was tethered.

"Wow." Pansy breathed out as others 'oohed' at the sight of the unicorn. Iris stared at it in wonder since she had never seen a unicorn this up close before. The unicorn was so white that the snow on the ground looked grey and it nervously pawed the ground with its golden hooves.

"Oh it's so beautiful! How did she get it? They're supposed to be really hard to catch." Lavender Brown whispered loudly. 

"Boys keep back!" Professor Grubbly-Plank said. "They prefer the woman's touch, unicorns. Girls to the front, and approach with care, come on, easy does it..."

She and the girl students lined up to pet the unicorn.

"I bet the unicorn'll run off the second Iris puts her hands on it. I know that I wouldn't want a Rosier touching me." A Gryffindor girl giggled behind Iris with her friends. Iris took a deep breath and rolled her eyes while Pansy turned around and glared at the girls for her.

Iris turned around at the sound of the girl gasping as she randomly fell into a patch of mud. Her friends crowded around her as she said that an invisible force had pushed her down. Iris, getting bored of focusing her attention on the girl, stepped up to pet the unicorn.

While Iris had always felt more of a connection to snakes, she could appreciate the beauty of a unicorn, especially this unicorn. She barely listened as Professor Grubbly-Plank told them facts about unicorns while Iris smiled as the unicorn leaned into her touch. 

Weeks passed without sight of Hagrid though, from what Harry had told Iris during one of their secret meetings in the Astronomy Tower, he was working on getting Hagrid to come back as well as trying to figure out a way to open up his egg in the next five weeks for the Triwizard Tournament. 

There was a Hogsmeade visit halfway through January and Iris and Theo decided that it would be their first official date. Calypso had written her back, expressing her excitement that Iris and her could finally talk about something other than worrying about what was happening with Harry, and had given her advice on how to go about things. She reminisced about her and Sirius' first date which Iris was thankful for because she always liked hearing about their relationship.

Iris and Theo went into the crowded Three Broomsticks pub and she sat down while Theo went to order them Butterbeers. When he came, they talked. He asked her about her childhood and she told him anecdotes about her and Oliver, avoiding talking in depth about Cordelia or anyone else that was in her life, and Theo told her stories about him and his family. Iris knew that Theo's mother had died when he was a child and his father wasn't the warmest person in the world, so there was a hint of sadness in his tone whenever he spoke. He told Iris about his inventions that he liked to create and Iris listened closely the entire time.

She didn't notice when Harry, Hermione, and Ron walked into the Three Broomsticks and she didn't notice the way that Harry froze upon seeing Theo with his hand over Iris' on the table. His heart sunk at the sight of them, his friends picking up on his reaction.

"No." Ron gasped. "You like Iris?"

"What? No!" Harry quickly denied. "I just didn't know that she and Nott were in a relationship, is all."

His attention was once again redirected when Hermione pointed out Ludo Bagman to him and he decided to put all thoughts of Iris Rosier with Theodore Nott to the back of his mind. 

A/N: Happy New Year!