2 | CONFESSIONS° HARRY POTTER

25 | GRINGOTTS

ACT FIVE, love
CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE, gringotts

       "How could you not tell me any of this?" Harry asked slowly. Iris could hear the betrayed tone in his voice and the anger that was slowly starting to seep through. She looked at him and knew he was looking at her differently than he ever had before. "How could you not tell me that you found the last Horcrux and have been carrying it around this entire time? How could you not tell me that you've been using Dark Magic? How could you keep all of this to yourself for years?"

Iris winced when Harry's voice started to raise. He was seething and he had the same expression on his face that he had when he found that Dumbledore and Grindelwald were friends.

"I couldn't tell you, Harry. Using magic from the book was something that I needed to do alone, even Oliver doesn't know the full extent of things. It was . . . in some weird way that you may not understand at first, the book helped me after my dad died. I needed something to focus on and devote my time to to make it feel like I was doing something instead of just sitting around grieving, and, in the end, I'm glad I got the book when I did because we wouldn't know about it being the last Horcrux if I hadn't.

"I couldn't tell you about the book being the last Horcrux, Harry, and I can't let you destroy it either. Not now, at least." Harry spun facing her, disbelief clouding his expression. "The Codex talks about this Enchantress of Magic that is, essentially, the reincarnation of Morgan le Fay — do you know who that is?"

"Merlin's enemy." Harry said.

"Right. I'm descended from her through Rhea's line and I thought  — think  — that Rhea is this Enchantress that the Codex prophesised about. If I'm right and she is, she'll have access to magic greater than anything we've ever faced; and one of the things that she'd be able to do is open up this prison world called the Vale of No Return and she'd be able to put anyone who opposes her into it. 

"Rhea doesn't know that I know the book is her last Horcrux. If we destroyed it now she could come after us and open up the Vale, and then everything that we've done would be for nothing because she'd be too powerful. It's better that I keep the book where it is for the good of everyone."

"For the good of everyone," Harry repeated. "That sounds a lot like  —"

"Don't." said Iris with a frown. She knew what he was going to say; he was going to say that it sounded like Grindelwald's motto, For the greater good. "I'm not a dark wizard planning some kind of world domination  —"

"THEN WHAT ARE YOU DOING IRIS?" Harry yelled. Iris closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Have we not been fighting the Dark Arts this entire time? Have we not been taught for years about the dangers of Dark Magic, yet here you are experimenting with it like it's a game and lying for years  —"

"We haven't been fighting the Dark Arts as a whole, Harry. We've been fighting against people who are using Dark Magic as a way to oppress Muggleborns and Muggles. Sometimes, you have to fight fire with fire  —"

"Then, where do we draw the line? What separates how far you're willing to go from how far they're willing to go? I should've realized it when you were able to do the Cruciatus Curse on Bellatrix, I should've seen it  —"

"This isn't about you, Harry!" Iris yelled. She stood up because she needed to move around and Harry did the same. They faced one another, angry looks on both of their faces. "The problem with you is that you see everything in black and white when it's not. Everything is not so simple that you can just categorize it and decide what's right and what's wrong. I'm not dark, and I'm not evil, and you know that. You can be mad and hate me and never want to speak to me again because I lied to you, and I'm truly sorry that I did, but you don't get to sit there and act like I'm the same as them! You don't get to compare me to the people that killed my parents in front of me. You don't get to compare me to the people that kidnapped me and raised me for thirteen years as one of them. You don't get to do that."