Iris Lily Riddle- Book 2

Chapter 5

Their time with Merlin was too short for their liking. They had caught him up to speed on everything that has happened and in return he taught them about different herbs and spells. By the time that they left him they had mastered 4 different spells and 10 different remedies.

Thanks to Selene, everything had been written down as she had been taking notes for them while they were physically practicing.

They eventually had to go back once they noticed that Selene had passed out laying against Leon.

Iris and the group spent most of the night talking over everything that they had learned from Merlin. They had also come up with a schedule so that they could go back and learn more from him.

But now, it was a new day. It was only 5 in the morning, but they were all wide awake. The group, minus Selene who was asleep on the couch and Draco who had long gone to bed, was working on their Transfiguration homework when Iris heard something. It was a voice, a voice to chill the bone marrow, a voice of breathtaking, ice-cold venom.

"Come ... come to me.... Let me rip you.... Let me tear you .... Let me kill you . .. ."

Iris jumped and looked around with wide eyes.

"What's wrong?" Theo asked.

"Did you hear that?" Iris asked looking at the group. Alec and Nico nods as they looked around.

"What did you hear?" Blaise asked, looking very confused but curious. 

"It's a snake." Alec says looking to Iris.

"A snake?" Iris says with alarm written all over her face. Alec nods.

"Wait...you're a parselmouth?" Daphne asked surprised.

"A what?" Iris asked puzzled.

"Someone who can speak to snakes. Everyone in the family can do it." Alec says with a shrug. "Some people associate parseltoung with dark wizards. Your dad can speak it..so can Slytherin him self...but so can a lot of people over in Egypt so.." Alec explained as though it wasn't a big deal.

"Wait...I thought it was rare?" Blaise says looking at Alec with wide eyes.

"Here and the UK maybe." Alec replied with a shrug. Iris relaxed at his words and they go back to their studies as though nothing had happened.

October arrived, spreading a damp chill over the grounds and into the castle. Madam Pomfrey, the nurse, was kept busy by a sudden spate of colds among the staff and students. Her Pepper up potion worked instantly, though it left the drinker smoking at the ears for several hours afterward.

Ginny Weasley, or well, Alexandria, who had been looking pale, was bullied into taking some by Percy. The steam pouring from under her vivid hair gave the impression that her whole head was on fire. Iris had smiled fondly but then looked away with a cold expression when the older Weasley glared at her.

Raindrops the size of bullets thundered on the castle windows for days on end; the lake rose, the flower beds turned into muddy streams, and Hagrid's pumpkins swelled to the size of garden sheds.

Even aside from the rain and wind it hadn't been a happy practice session for any of the teams. According to Nico, who had been spying on the Gryffindors, Fred and George, who had been spying on the Slytherin team, had seen for themselves the speed of those new Nimbus Two Thousand and Ones. They reported that the Slytherin team was no more than seven greenish blurs, shooting through the air like missiles.

The Slytherin team was not happy hearing that they had been spied on. They were all walking down the hallway chasing after Ares who was going crazy about something that had spook him when Iris, Alec, and Selene heard it. ". . . rip . . . tear . . . kill . . ." It was the same voice, the same cold, murderous voice that they had heard from the common room. Iris stumbled to a halt, clutching at the stone wall, listening with all her might, looking around, squinting up and down the dimly lit passageway.