November 1991

Iris had ordered Fred and George to fetch her cousin for her, leaving Percy and Iris alone. Percy didn't seem to have the right mind to send her back to her house, his head was filled with other thoughts. Iris seemed to regret sending the twins because now the atmosphere in the room was awkward. Her green eyes wandered the room, while Percy's blue ones were stuck on Iris. "So you uh," Percy said, scratching his head. "You're uh dating Wheeler then?" Iris looked at him, all of a sudden feeling slightly guilty. "Yeah, we are." She said, trying to sound confident.

Percy nodded, feeling disappointed with a mixture of frustration, turning away towards the fire so Iris could not see his face. It was then that he decided, that concerning Iris and Anthony's new relationship was a waste of time. Who cares who she dates. Iris seemed to be thinking the opposite of Percy, and she felt an unknowing feeling to apologize. She opened her mouth to say something, and Percy heard her, but Iris stopped and thought better of it. Fred and George had come into the common room again, not their usually cheer self. "He won't come out, looks like you're gonna have to return to your dorm," George said, but it had a tint of annoyance. Iris didn't acknowledge the attitude, "No, if he won't come out, then I'm going in." She said it to herself, but the room was quiet enough for the Weasleys to hear. They didn't stop her though.

Iris turned in random directions through the boy's dorm, trying to find a sign with Harry or Ron's name on it. At last, she found it and burst in without announcing herself. She found Ron and Harry sitting up in their beds, an obvious expression of frustration on harry's face. Clearly, they were discussing her. "What are you doing in here?" Harry asked, though with a bit more feeling towards his words. "Can I talk to you?" SHe asked. "Please?" She added when Harry made no sign of movement. Giving him her most sincere look. Harry gave in and rolled his eyes. They walked out of the dorm, and Iris began launching into an explanation.

 "Harry, I'm sorry you had to figure it out this way, I swear I was going to tell you, and frankly I didn't expect the whole school to know about it before I got out of the three broomsticks." Harry had his arms crossed and avoided eye contact. Iris sighed. "Harrry," Iris said. He finally looked at her, the same shade of green looking straight into her soul. "What happened to no boys?" He demanded, a childish expression on his face. Iris raised her eyebrow. "What? The promise we made 5 years ago?" Harry nodded. Iris sighed, remembering the day she came back from Hogwarts for Christmas, and she ranted about Percy being annoying, at that time, Iris didn't like him. Harry had gotten the wrong impression, and though the two were going to get married and Iris would leave him with the Dursleys. They made a promise that Iris would never date a boy until they were old enough to move out. "Harry, we just met! I'm not going to abandon you! You know I'd never do that." 

Harry grumped, cooling off just a bit. "I know that, I just don't want you to get hurt, that's all." He looked to the floor. Iris felt tears in her eyes, but she blinked them away. "Aww, Harry. Nothing bad is going to happen to me! Look," she placed both hands on his shoulder, causing him to look up. "Anthony is a great guy, he'd never hurt me. And besides, I've lived with Father and Dudley long enough to know how to protect myself. Ok?" Harry wanted to say something but decided not to. He sighed heavily and nodded, looking disappointed instead of angry. Iris brought her little cousin in for a hug.

****

Iris and Anthony had spent lots of time together. They started hanging out a lot after classes had ended, roaming the halls, or talking about quidditch. 1/4 of the time they spent was a snogging session, but they had some good quality time as well. Over the weeks, Iris had received lots of glares from Anthony's fangirls, she'd also find lots of them talking trash about behind her back. Anthony told her to ignore them, but it was a bit hard when you were dating a good-looking quidditch player. Maybe 4 or 5 times she received threats from them, but they never seemed to follow through. In an instant, Iris had gained lots of popularity, which she didn't really like and had decided on staying hidden away in the library or the common room when she wasn't hanging out with her boyfriend. Ravenclaw was now in the lead for the quidditch cup, meaning they didn't have any more games until next semester. Hufflepuff however, still had their big game chance against Slytherin, so Anthony was making his team work harder than usual, cutting Iris and Anthony's time a bit short. 

"I'm sorry Iris, it's just-" Iris cut him off. "It's fine Tony, I get it, quidditch is a big thing for you, and I want you to win against Flint, if I were you, I'd be doing the same thing," Iris reassured him for the umpteenth time, giving him a smile. Anthony felt relieved, he was worried Iris would break up with him for spending too much time on quidditch. "I'll be in the library if you need me," Iris said, kissing him on the cheeks before setting off to the room filled with books. "Might as well finish Snap's essay," She muttered to herself. She walked over to the window where she usually sat but felt robbed when she saw another person sitting there. Choosing to be nice instead of kicking the third year out, she picked another spot which was very far back of the library. 

She let her hair down from its bun, which she had been doing often after she started dating Anthony. "Your hair looks nice when it's up, you can see the shape of your face more clearly." He said a week after they started dating. Iris took it as a compliment and started keeping her hair up, but after a month and a half of the same hair-do, she let it down when he wasn't around. She removed her shoes and rolled up her sleeves. This was what Iris used to do all the time, but not so much anymore. "Excuse me, can you pass me- oh, HI Iris." a familiar voice grabbed Iris's attention. Percy was there, and it was like greeting an old friend. The last proper conversation they had was probably two months ago, Anthony somehow wasn't fond of the red-head. 

Percy was startled to see the girl here, especially in the condition she was in right now. All the times he saw her pass by in the halls, she looked like the day he saw her on her first date. It had become normal for him to see her this way, but now he almost missed her old look. She had also grown up a little too, bringing her homework on time, smiling a little more but keeping quiet, and probably using her common sense. He didn't like it. "Funny seeing you here in the library, studying." He mentioned. Iris looked around, she used to hate studying. A little hesitant, she replied. "Oh well you know, time's changed." she shrugged and went back to work. Percy felt she was lying, so he sat down beside her, taking Iris off guard. "Right, and this has nothing to do with Anthony?" 

Iris kept her head straight but turned her eyes. "What makes you say that?" Pretending not to be interested. Percy tilted his head. "Well for one, I don't seem to be giving you any more detention for doing pranks and stuff, didn't you usually do that all the time?" Iris raised her eyebrow. "Why do you all of a sudden care about my life Weasley?" Percy shrugged, "I don't care, I was just curious as to why there wasn't as much chaos in the school." Iris looked back at him, but he wasn't there. His words hurt her a little, but was he right?