ACT TWO, the returned
CHAPTER SIXTEEN, the attack
Iris had been visiting the Owlery at daybreak to send a letter to her parents when Harry, Hermione, and Ron burst in. Harry immediately filled her in on the events that had transpired. Harry had been with Viktor Krum (Why? Iris wasn't sure) when Mr. Crouch staggered out of the woods, raving on and on like a mad man and mentioned something about Voldemort. When Harry left to get Dumbledore, they came back and found that Crouch had stunned Krum and left him.
"It comes down to this," Hermione said rubbing her forehead. "Either Mr. Crouch attacked Viktor, or somebody else attacked both of them when Viktor wasn't looking."
"It must've been Crouch," said Ron at once. "That's why h ewas gone when Harry and Dumbledore got there. He'd done a runner."
"I don't think so," said Harry, shaking his head. "He seemed really weak — I don't reckon he was up to Disapparating or anything."
"You can't Disapparate on the Hogwarts grounds." Iris and Hermione said at the same time. Hermione glanced over at Iris for a second with a look that Iris didn't know how to decipher nor did she particularly want to. Hermione turned to Ron when he spoke.
"Okay . . . how's this for a theory," said Ron excitedly. "Krum attacked Crouch — no, wait for it — and then Stunned himself!"
"And Mr. Crouch evaporated, did he?" Hermione said coldly.
"Oh yeah . . ."
"Just go through it again, Harry," Iris said. "What did Mr. Crouch actually say?"
"I've told you, he wasn't making much sense," Harry said "He said he wanted to warn Dumbledore about something. He definitely mentioned Bertha Jorkins, and he seemed to think she was dead. He kept saying stuff was his fault. . . . He mentioned his son."
"Well, that was his fault," Hermione said testily.
"He was out of his mind," Harry said. "Half the time he seemed to think his wife and son were still alive, and he kept talking to Percy about work and giving him instructions."
"And . . . remind me what he said about You-Know-Who?" said Ron tentatively.
"I've told you," Harry repeated dully. "He said he's getting stronger."
Iris hadn't expected herself to not be shocked when Harry had first told her that, but, after everything that happened, she expected that. After all, why else would Finnick have gone after her during the Triwizard Tournament?
There was a pause. Then Ron said in a falsely confident voice, "But he was out of his mind, like you said, so half of it was probably just raving. . . ."
"He was sanest when he was trying to talk about Voldemort," said Harry, and Ron winced at the sound of the name. "He was having real trouble stringing two words together, but that was when he seemed to know where he was, and know what he wanted to do. He just kept saying he had to see Dumbledore."
"If Snape hadn't held me up," Harry said bitterly, "we might've got there in time. 'The headmaster is busy, Potter . . . what's this rubbish, Potter?' Why couldn't he have just got out of the way?"
"Maybe he didn't want you to get there!" said Ron quickly. "Maybe — hang on — how fast d'you reckon he could've gotten down to the forest? D'you reckon he could've beaten you and Dumbledore there?"
"Not unless he can turn himself into a bat or something," said Harry.
"Wouldn't put it past him," Iris muttered.
"We need to see Professor Moody," said Hermione. "We need to find out whether he found Mr. Crouch."
"If he had the Marauder's Map on him, it would've been easy," said Harry. Iris perked up at the mention of the map her parents and their friends had made.
"Unless Crouch was already outside the grounds," said Ron, "because it only shows up to the boundaries, doesn't—"
"Shh!" Iris said suddenly.
She could hear that somebody was climbing the steps up to the Owlery. They heard two voices arguing, coming closer and closer.
"—that's blackmail, that is, we could get into a lot of trouble forthat —"
"— we've tried being polite; it's time to play dirty, like him. He wouldn't like the Ministry of Magic knowing what he did —"
"I'm telling you, if you put that in writing, it's blackmail!"
"Yeah, and you won't be complaining if we get a nice fat payoff, will you?"
Those voices sound awfully familiar, Iris thought.
The Owlery door banged open. Fred and George came over the threshold, then froze at the sight of Iris, Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
"What're you doing here?" Ron and Fred said at the same time.
"Sending a letter," said Harry and George in unison.
"What, at this time?" Hermione and Fred said.
Fred grinned. "Fine — we won't ask you what you're doing, if you don't ask us," he said. He was holding a sealed envelope in his hands. Iris glanced at it, but Fred, whether accidentally or on purpose she wasn't sure, shifted his hand so that the name on it was covered. Her eyes narrowed at Fred and he squirmed uncomfortably at her intense stare. "Well, don't let us hold you up," Fred said, making a mock bow and pointing at the door. Ron didn't move.
"Who're you blackmailing?" Ron asked. The grin vanished from Fred's face. Harry saw George half glance at Fred, before smiling at Ron.
"Don't be stupid, I was only joking," he said easily.
"Didn't sound like that," said Ron.
Fred and George looked at each other. Then Fred said abruptly, "I've told you before, Ron, keep your nose out if you like it the shape it is. Can't see why you would, but —"
"It's my business if you're blackmailing someone," said Ron. "George's right, you could end up in serious trouble for that."
"Told you, I was joking," said George. He walked over to Fred, pulled the letter out of his hands, and began attaching it to the leg of the nearest barn owl. "You're starting to sound a bit like our dearolder brother, you are, Ron. Carry on like this and you'll be made a prefect."
"No, I won't!" said Ron hotly.
George carried the barn owl over to the window and it took off.George turned around and grinned at Ron. "Well, stop telling people what to do then. See you later."
He and Fred left the Owlery.
Harry, Iris, Ron, and Hermione stared at one another.
"You don't think they know something about all this, do you?"Hermione whispered.
"About Crouch and everything?" Iris asked.
"No," said Harry. "If it was something that serious, they'd tell someone. They'd tell Dumbledore."
Ron, however, was looking uncomfortable.
"What's the matter?" Hermione asked him.
"Well . . ." said Ron slowly, "I dunno if they would. They're . . .they're obsessed with making money lately, I noticed it when I was hanging around with them —when— you know—"
"We weren't talking." Harry finished the sentence for him.
"Yeah, but blackmail . . ." Hermione trailed off.
"It's this joke shop idea they've got," said Ron. "I thought they were only saying it to annoy Mum, but they really mean it, they want to start one. They've only got a year left at Hogwarts, they keep going on about how it's time to think about their future, and Dad can't help them, and they need gold to get started."Hermione was looking uncomfortable now.
"Yes, but . . . they wouldn't do anything against the law to get gold."
"Wouldn't they?" said Ron, looking skeptical.
"I dunno . . . they don't exactly mind breaking rules, do they?"
"Yes, but this is the law," said Hermione, looking scared. "This isn't some silly school rule. . . . They'll get a lot more than detention for blackmail! Ron . . . maybe you'd better tell Percy. . . ."
"Are you mad?" said Ron. "Tell Percy? He'd probably do a Crouch and turn them in."
"Oh, come on," Iris said, staring at them all in disbelief. She couldn't hardly believe what she was hearing. "This is Fred and George, you're talking about."
Ron wrinkled his nose at Iris and said, "Fred and George are friends with you?"
A silence fell between the four of them as Iris crossed her arms over her chest. Her eyebrows pulled together and a stern frown fell on her face. There was something very Cordelia-esque about her current expression. "What is that supposed to mean?"
Harry stared pointedly at Ron, silently urging him not to say anything that would offend Iris. Ron took a glance at Harry's expression and let out a sigh.
"Nothing." Ron said.
Iris was beginning to get annoyed. She wasn't going to force herself to be around people that very obviously didn't like her just because of what they'd heard about her. She thought she had more than proven herself by now, but she guessed that her reputation was too notorious for people to let it go so easily. At least her friends and the other Slytherins treated her like she was an actual human being instead of acting like she was destined for darkness.
Iris smiled wryly. "I should probably get going."
Iris turned and walked out of the Owlery. She could hear Harry's footsteps following behind her as she descended down the spiral staircase.
"Iris, wait." Harry called out. Iris turned around and glanced up at him. He had an apologetic look on his face. "I'm sorry about Ron. They just don't... they don't know you that well yet."
"It's fine, Harry." Iris shrugged. "I'm used to it."
She spun around on her heel and continued going in the direction of the Great Hall to meet her friends for breakfast.
She ended up getting a letter from her parents. Her father lectured her on being careful and keeping out of trouble and to make sure Harry did the same. Theo slid into the spot beside her while she read the letter and she quickly folded it.
"Is that from your mum?" Theo asked curiously. An innocent question that reminded Iris that he would never be able to truly know her. She would never be able to tell him that Cordelia wasn't her mother. He'd never know that she was the daughter of the infamous Sirius Black. That thought made Iris feel lonelier than she had in a long time. The only people in her year that could know the truth were Harry, Ron, and Hermioine and Ron and Hermione didn't even like her. Harry and her couldn't even be friends or have any sort of relationship publicly out of fear of retaliation. She felt as though she had no one.
Iris realized she hadn't answered Theo's question yet and turned to him, forcing herself to not look as miserable as she felt. "Yeah."
Theo walked with Iris and Pansy to their Divination class. It was sweltering outside which meant Professor Trewlawney's classroom would feel like a broiler room since she refused to put out the fire. Iris took her usual spot beside her boyfriend, feeling unbelievably hot in the room. Sweat rolled down the side of her face.
"My dears," said Professor Trelawney, sitting down in her winged armchair in front of the class and peering around at themall with her strangely enlarged eyes, "we have almost finished our work on planetary divination. Today, however, will be an excellent opportunity to examine the effects of Mars, for he is placed most interestingly at the present time. If you will all look this way, I will dim the lights. . . ."
She waved her wand and the lamps went out leaving the fire as the only source of light. Professor Trelawney bent down and lifted, from under her chair, a miniature model of the solar system, contained within a glass dome. It was a beautiful thing really; each of the moons glimmered in place around the nine planets and the fiery sun, all of them hanging in thin air beneath the glass. Professor Trelawney began to point out the fascinating angle Mars was making to Neptune.
Iris listened to what Professor Trelawney had to say, mainly because she wasn't too keen on the idea of failing her class, but she cast a glance over at Harry. His eyelids were closed. They were closed for a while as Trelawney kept talking. Iris noticed Harry's face contorting into a look of immense pain before he started yelling.
The class jumped collectively as Harry fell to the ground. Iris masked the concern on her face but joined the rest of the class when they circled around Harry who lay on the ground with his eyes shut tight and his hands covering his face. He rolled around on the ground, clutching his scar as though it was bringing him physical pain.
"Harry! Harry!"
His eyes snapped open. His eyes were watering and Ron was bent down beside his best friend to make sure he was okay. Harry's eyes met Iris's and she frowned at him, worry and confusion dancing across her features.
"You all right?" Ron asked.
"Of course he isn't!" said Professor Trelawney, looking too excited for Iris's liking. "What was it, Potter? A premonition? An apparition? What didyou see?"
"Nothing," Iris could tell that was a lie. He sat up, shaking.
"You were clutching your scar!" said Professor Trelawney. "You were rolling on the floor, clutching your scar! Come now, Potter, I have experience in these matters!"
"I need to go to the hospital wing, I think," he said. "Bad headache."
"My dear, you were undoubtedly stimulated by the extraordinary clairvoyant vibrations of my room!" said Professor Trelawney. Iris thought if she rolled her eyes further to the back of her head they'd get stuck. "If you leave now, you may lose the opportunity to see further than you have ever—"
"I don't want to see anything except a headache cure," said Harry. He stood up and the rest of the class except for Ron and Iris backed away from him, looking unnerved. He picked up his bag and headed for the trapdoor to leave.
Iris watched as he disappeared from the class, wondering what that was all about and if it was something they should be worried about.
*gif is blaise zabini :)