Harry Potter: Rise Of The Spiral

When Edmund placed the hat back on the chair, he looked around to see various reactions of the students. Some Slytherins felt betrayed while others were conflicted. The Ravenclaws clapped politely while the Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors remained indifferent. When he looked at the weasel, he smirked. The weasel was looking embarrassed because Iris was looking at him while raising an eyebrow.

Edmund sat down next to a first year who introduced herself as Padma Patil. After some brief introductions, they continued looking on as the rest of the students were sorted.

The dinner was served and Edmund ate his food while making idle conversations, but he mostly kept to himself. The old coot, or the Headmaster known as Albus no-shits-given Dumbledore gave a closing speech. When he mentioned about the third floor and how dangerous it was, Edmund had only one thought in his mind.

"This old coot has gone absolutely barmy. Who the hell allows life threatening stuff in schools anyway? Maybe I should anonymously contact St. Mungo's to get him checked for brain damage... "

After the feast, the prefects were asked to lead the first years to their dorms.

(ROTS)

Months went by as the classes began.

Edmund studied diligently while he continued his training in jutsus. When he reached his dorm on the first night, he was greatly relieved to see that he did not have to share it with anyone. Before going to sleep, he took out a chakra paper from a stroage scroll and pushed some of his chakra into it. He had three affinities: Earth, Thunder and Fire. That was certainly surprising. Having three affinities was extremely rare and he was ecstatic to know that he'll have an easier time mastering three of the five elements.

Thus far he had made good progress in his elemental manipulation. Since he had clones and a lot of time, he refrained from learning any elemental jutsus and focused on simple manipulation and control. He wanted to have perfect control over his elements and wanted to make it instinctive. So, he had his clones practice elemental control and sealing while his real body went for classes and did further physical training. It was a good thing he knew expansion charms otherwise training would have been a lot more difficult. He had been looking for a suitable place to train where he would be able to train without being found. So far he had no luck which frustrated him.

Edmund had made a few friends who he liked to stay around. He would create a clone to spend time with them while studying in the library or in the common room to play exploding snap. Since they were mere children, their slaps on the back or a punch on the arm felt like a feather brushing past his skin.

He barely had any contact with Iris Potter. He would see her in classes as she hung out with the weasel and Granger. He never understood why she was letting the weasel stay around her. He was a rude and stupid child with a pea sized brain and the stomach of an elephant. Edmund would say a hello or nod to her whenever they would cross each other in corridors or in classrooms and nothing beyond that.

Edmund had seen Draco 'ferret' Malfoy trotting around in the corridors trying to pick a fight with Iris. Sometimes, he was stalking her and did everything to get her into trouble. He loathed the ferret. He was everything that Edmund found repulsive. He had heard incidents of the ferret being blatantly favoured by Severous 'greasy' Snape which further made him angry. All in all, Draco Malfoy was making his way into Edmund's shit list as he called it.

(ROTS)

Soon it was Christmas and Edmund was scaling the walls of the castle while idly practicing chakra control. Nothing noteworthy had happened since he joined the school except the troll incident on Halloween. It was quite amusing to watch fumbling Quirrell faint right in the middle of the hall. Sometimes he wondered if the rest of the teachers knew about his act. Edmund had caught upon it in the first DADA class. He knew the difference between a real stutter and a fake one. A certain Hyuuga was quite famous for it in her younger years.

Edmund had sensed the troll going to the girl's restroom but he missed Hermione being there. He was quite relieved to know the next day that she didn't pay for his error with her life. When he heard that Iris along with the weasel had saved Granger from the troll, he was actually surprised. It was quite brave and foolish on their part to try and take on a troll on their own.

Since then he began noticing the subtle pattern in the way Iris acted in the classes. She always held back and he knew that she was purposefully sabotaging her own work so as to not come out as a show off and a glory seeker as many had thought her to be. The determination to keep her friends was so strong in her that she was downplaying herself in every single way so that they do not get jealous. She always kept her work similar to that of the weasel's and let the Granger satisfy her ego for being at the top. He finally deduced the reason behind it, Iris Potter probably had no friends back at her place. She was so desperate to have friends that she was willing to let the weasel be around her even when he got her into loads of trouble. Edmund for the first time in his life felt guilty, guilty for misjudging her.

Edmund always kept a close eye on her movements from that moment on. He learnt of all the trouble they got into, mostly due to the weasel. He learnt what was hidden behind the door on the third floor corridor, about the wraith that had been drinking unicorn blood in the forest and about their foolish yet understandable accusation of Snape trying to kill Iris during the Quiddich match against Slytherin. He knew it was Quirrell who was behind all those attempts and his purpose behind it. The dark aura that reeked off of Quirrell was proof enough to deduce that Lord Moldyshorts was somehow still alive. He had sensed a similar yet milder aura coming off his father's arm where the dark mark was located. He had planted a clone, henged as a fly, on Quirrell so that he could always remain informed about his whereabouts.

Edmund was shaken off his musings when he heard footsteps leading towards the library. Curiously, he followed the sound as it lead to the restricted section.

Edmund raised his eyebrows slightly as the owner of the feet that made the sound revealed themselves to be none other than Iris Potter. 'What the hell is she doing here? That too in the restricted section?'

Then he heard her muttering about Nicholas Flammel. 'Flammel, why the bloody hell is she looking for him in the restricted section? Just check the book about famous witches and wizards in twentieth century!'

Then he heard Mrs. Norris snarl at Iris and Filch coming towards them. He followed Iris as she ran away from him and witnessed the brief confrontation between Quirrell and Snape before they were led away by Filch.

Edmund followed Iris into a room that had a large mirror placed at the centre. Iris stood in front of the mirror for a long time and reached out to it. Confused, Edmund silently henged into a fly and sat on her shoulder to take a look at the mirror. What he saw next surprised him. He saw himself, standing beside him was his mother who was smiling at him. She looked strong and healthy, unlike the sickly pale complexion and starved appearance she always had. He looked at the carvings below the mirror and understood what the mirror was.

Looking at Iris, he guessed what she was seeing. And it was probably correct. She was seeing her family, alive and happy. Deciding that it was enough, he flew out of the room and appeared once again, this time as his usual self.

"Potter, what are you doing here?" He asked in a very convincing manner, startling the girl.

(ROTS)

Iris enjoyed the best Christmas she'd ever had. She was woken up by her dorm mate and best friend Hermione telling her that she'd got presents. For the first time in her life, someone had given her presents for any occasion. Going through the gifts, she found out that many of the students had gifted her with sweets, some gave her books, she even received a pullover from the Weasleys with an 'I' knitted on it. Last but not the least, someone had given her a cloak that belonged to her dad. It was none other than an Invisibility cloak.

Although she was sad that Hermione was going away for the holidays, atleast Ron was staying behind. Hermione had hinted her to look for Nicholas Flammel in the library's restricted section and that was what she was doing that night.

When she was found out by Filch's cat, she ran into a confrontation between Snape and Quirrell. Snape was warning him about something which Iris couldn't understand. She found a room somewhere on that floor after the professors were distracted away by Filch. There was an odd looking mirror in the room. When she looked into it, she was surprised to see her parents standing behind her in the mirror. She was so happy to see them, standing behind her, looking at her with love and pride.

Soon, a voice broke her away from the trance she had fallen into. When she turned around, she was surprised to see the same boy who she had met on the train. He was not much of a talker and she didn't see him around much. He'd always greet her or nod to her with a neutral look on his face.

Deciding that she had been staring at him long enough, she replied, "I was looking around and found this room."

"Trouble sleeping?" He asked.

Iris replied with a nod. Then suddenly, she got a lot more excited, grabbed his arm and yanked him towards the mirror. "Come! Look! Can you see that? I see my parents in the mirror!"

She didn't notice the sad frown on Edmund's face. He sighed and patiently replied, "Yes, I can see. But not your parents. Read carefully what's written beneath the mirror. It shows your heart's d.e.s.i.r.e, which in your case must be your parents. From what I know about the mirror, it actually siphons away a person's magic till there is nothing left of them. Many have lost themselves to the mirror. I don't know why it's still here."

Iris was shocked upon learning how dangerous the mirror was. Then she grew sad upon understanding that what she saw was not real. She got curious about how Edmund knew so much about the mirror and asked him.

"My mother used to tell me stories about her school days. Once she told me about this mirror which she had stumbled upon and saw her mother who had died a few days before. She warned me about it."

"Oh.. you said used to, doesn't she tell you now?"

"... I.. lost my mother when I was seven."

Silence followed after that. Iris felt guilty of reminding him of his mother.

"I'm sorry."

"It's alright. I'm sorry too for.. you know.. destroying your hopes," Edmund said as he gestured towards the mirror.

They talked for an hour about anything they thought of when Edmund noticed someone approaching them. Although the person was out of sight, the amount of aura the person had unnerved him a bit. He knew that only one person could have that kind of aura and he had no wish to talk to the old coot. He quickly asked Iris to go back to her dorm as it was too late and a teacher may find them. As soon as they left the room, Dumbledore arrived to find it empty and frowned. He was sure that Iris Potter had been there but now she was nowhere to be seen. Sighing to himself, he left the room without taking a glance at the mirror.