Iris looked at the professor as she started her lesson. She listened, and kept quiet. She listened to all the other students answer her question. But she stayed quiet. Iris didn't offer her answer.

Family.

It was a subject that Iris didn't know the answer to.

What was her family?

Her mum and her brother. That was it. Grandparents? Aunts and uncles? She didn't know what it was to have those. They'd all disowned her before she was even born. Her dad? He left too. For some woman at work, who was younger than her mum.

Yeah. Family. It's a cheerful topic for Iris.

By the time the prefect had found her voice to try and put together some kind of answer, the class had moved on. Picking up her quill, Iris scribbled down some form of an answer. She could give it to Professor Hadley with the rest of her work at the end of the lesson... that way, she'd still be able to get some kind of credit. As she wrote, Iris listened to the other people who were talking.

SPOILER!!: parchment

Your family is the people who are biologically related to you. They should be the people who teach you right from wrong and who should love you. They should be the people you can always depend on, no matter what. At Christmas, all of your family should come together and spend the holiday with each other. A family should be nothing less than two parents, siblings and grandparents. They're what you need to grow up to your full potential. Before you go to school, they should teach you everything. Your parents and grandparents how to love and read. Your cousins how to climb trees and fly kites.

To me, "family" is just a word. A stupid one at that. My 'family' disowned me, because my parents moved to England. They had a change of heart 4 years ago, but then decided that they were going to re-disown me because I refused to leave Hogwarts. My 'family' are so closed minded that they've never loved me, and only ever acknowledged me once. I haven't called someone "dad" for years. He left us. My family is my mum and my brother.

People who complain about their cousins, and brag about the things their dad's buy them, and wish their family were different annoy me. Families are taken for granted - you should sit back and be grateful for your family. It's only when you don't have a family there for you that you realise how much of an influence they have. I try not to hate my 'family' for how they've treated me. I don't want to be a hateful person, even if they give me every reason to be one.

Some people say that their friends are a different kind of family. I disagree. You don't get to choose your family, but you do get to choose your friends. You love your friends for who they are and how they love you. You love your family because they are exactly that - family.

Putting her quill down, Iris sighed. Family really was a stupid word.

Pros and cons.

More fun.

Iris had a feeling that her list was going to be drastically different to everyone else's. Or... nearly everyone else's lists. Mainly because she didn't consider her friends to be family. Going with logic, you'd think that she would for the comfort and all... but she didn't for that very reason. Her 'family' didn't exist in her mind. Her friends were MORE than her family ever could be to her.

The prefect didn't really want to discuss her list with any one else in the class. If they wanted to with her, then fine... but she really didn't want to.

SPOILER!!: parchment

BIOLOGICAL FAMILY
PROS:
- They are always going to be there for you.
- They will always love you.
- IF they are there for you, then they always will be.
- IF they love you, then they'll never stop loving you.
- There will always be someone in your family who doesn't lose hope in you.
- Family is for ever.
- Your family can change, can get better. (e.g. new, caring love interest after father leaves mother for a pretty, younger woman.)

CONS:
- Your "family" isn't always there for you.
- They can be immature.
- Pride, customs and arguments can ruin family relationships.
- Some family members will judge you as if you were your parents.
- You can never win with older family members.
- Family doesn't last for ever.
- Families can fall apart and break up.
- Divorce.
- There is the power to disown and disinherit family members, both from wills and the actual family.
- You have to love them, because they're your family.
- Big brothers like to bully you. (PRO: This is only because they love you, though. <3)


FAMILY OF FRIENDS AND ROLE MODELS
PROS:
- You choose who your friends are, and who it is you look up to.
- You love your friends for who they are, not because you HAVE to, and vice versa.
-

CONS:
- Friendships can break up much easier than biological families.
-

Iris looked down at the lists she'd put together. Her second list was VERY empty. She didn't know what to write though... So she left if blank. Maybe she'd go and talk with someone about it, but for now she left it like that.

She'd gone back to the Pro's of her family, too, and changed it a lot. There were lots of crossings out and things being changed. Iris did not like this lesson. She didn't want to talk about her family... it's like talking about an imaginary friend.