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It took Iris several days to get used to her strange new freedom.
Never before had she been able to get up whenever she wanted or eat whatever she fancied. She could even go wherever she pleased, as long as it was in Diagon Alley, and as this long cobbled street was packed with the most fascinating wizarding shops in the world, Harry and Iris felt no desire to break their word to Fudge and stray back into the Muggle world.
Iris and Harry spent the days window shopping and picking up all of their extra Hogwarts supplies, along with new clothing and other knick-knacks.
As it was their third-year, everyone got to choose two extra subjects to take. Iris had a hard time choosing but eventually settled with Divination and Care of Magical Creatures.
She wished she could have taken all of the subjects available, but Iris knew she wouldn't be able to handle the stress unlike her crazy best friend Hermione, who had decided on taking all the classes.
Throughout the weeks, Harry had become obsessed with a new broom called the Firebolt, and while Iris didn't quite understand quidditch even she could tell it was a nice broom.
So while Harry was browsing throughout the Quidditch store all day, Iris spent her time in Flourish and Blotts reading multiple fifth-year level books to pass the time.
One day, she had been browsing through the thousands of books for probably the tenth time, when she turned around a corner and smacked straight into someone.
It was a boy, around 15 or so, with dark blonde hair and stunning grey eyes.
"Oh, sorry!" Iris said, stepping around him.
He held his hands up, "Oh no, it was completely my fault, I wasn't watching where I was going."
They politely smiled at each other and continued walking in the directions they were originally headed, Iris only pausing in her step when she heard the whisper of a thought in her head,
Pretty
Iris blushed and picked up her walking pace, grabbing a random book off a shelf near the back and sitting down burying her reddened face into it.
Luckily, Iris never had another run-in with the boy, as she was sure she wouldn't be able to contain her rosy cheeks. She had gotten that reaction only a few times before, but never had it taken such an effect on her as it did now.
Soon, she forgot about him, too busy fully immersing herself within the wonders of Diagon Alley.
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Over the next week, Iris and Harry started the countdown of days until they could finally go back to Hogwarts.
They had developed a sort of routine during their time in Diagon Alley; Wake up, eat breakfast together, walk down Diagon Alley together before splitting up at Flourish and Blotts. They would then spend the day doing whatever they wished before meeting up again for dinner at a different place each night.
Of course, some days would go differently, and the two wouldn't leave each other's side for the entire day.
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The day soon arrived, the day they would be leaving for Hogwarts.
The twins were thrilled, and couldn't sleep the night before, so they ended up playing a few games from the wizarding world that they had never tried before.
After they had gotten dressed and all packed up, Iris was sorting through her trunk, trying to remember where she had put a book she wanted to read on the train.
Buttercup was, as usual, snoozing on her pillow.
There was a loud train passing just outside their window, which was a view into London. Iris heard the sound of Harry walking behind her.
She turned to watch as Harry turned to look at his pile of schoolbooks. He was studying the growling tome labelled The Monster Book of Monsters and gave the belt holding it shut, a tug.
Instantly, the book leapt to the floor, pages flying, the book cover snapping.
Harry stumbled backwards and jumped on top of his bed as the book went chomping underneath.
Iris remained standing on the floor in shock as Harry turned upside down, hanging over the edge of his bed to look at the book.
They seemed to have a very odd staring contest, boy versus book, before the book went at him, front cover snapping up and down.
Iris bent down lower and held her arms out toward the book, cooing at it. She realized how weird it must look but ignored that as she slowly got close enough to snatch up the book into her arms.
She started petting the book and it instantly calmed down in her arms.
"How!?" Harry asked, astounded.
"It just likes me."
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A few minutes later, the twins left their room to head down for breakfast.
They didn't make it far out of their room when something small and fast dashed by Harry's feet.
Looking, they spied a rather ragged-looking rat, which Iris recognized as Scabbers, Ron's rat, being pursued by a decidedly ugly orange cat.
Exchanging a look with Harry, they moved down the stairs and started hearing voices come from below.
"I'm warning you, Hermione! Keep that bloody beast of yours away from Scabbers or I'll turn it into a tea cosy," a voice Iris recognised said.
"He's a cat, Ronald! What do you expect? It's in his nature," Iris' best friend defended.
As Iris and Harry reached the bottom, they found Ron Weasley protectively cradling Scabbers, while Hermione Granger did her best to restrain a hissing cat.
"A cat! Is that what they told you? Looks more like a pig with hair if you ask me," he stated.
"That's rich coming from the owner of that smelly old shoe brush," she shot back.
"It's all right, Crookshanks. You just ignore the mean little boy..."
Then, Ron spotted Harry and Iris in the room and both he and Hermione turned.
Hermione smiled and said, "Iris!"
At the same moment, Ron said, "Harry!"
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A bit later, they all sat around a long table while the pub was busy with other witches and wizards all bumbling around, chatting and eating.
The four thirteen-year-olds were looking at a newspaper clipping from The Daily Prophet, with a headline screaming: "Grand Prize Winner Visits Egypt!"
In the accompanying photo, the entire Weasley family stood before the Great Pyramids, waving. Smack in the middle was Ron, Scabbers perched on his shoulder.
As Ron smoothed the dog-eared clipping onto the table, Iris and Harry studied it. Hermione ignored it, stroking Crookshanks.
"Egypt! What's it like?" Harry asked, fascinated.
"Brilliant. It's got loads of old stuff. Mummies. Death masks. Tombs--"
"You know, the ancient Egyptians of the Nile River delta worshipped the cat goddess, Bast," Hermione butted in.
"Yeah, along with the dung beetle," Ron glared stonily at Hermione, then turned back to the twins.
"I also got a new wand."
Just then, a commotion was heard. The Weasley family; Percy, Fred, George, Ginny, and Mr and Mrs Weasley, arrived en masse, laden with purchases from Diagon Alley.
The Weasley Twins, Fred and George headed towards them, "Not flashing that clipping about again, are you, Ron?"
"I haven't shown anyone!" he insisted.
"No, not a soul. Unless you count Tom. The day maid. The night maid. The cook. The bloke that came to fix the toilet. That wizard from Belgium..." the two went back and forth listing everyone Ron had shown.
"Mrs Weasley!" Iris said happily as the kind woman walked toward them.
Mrs Weasley took both of their faces in her hands and smiled, "It's good to see you, dears."
"Good to see you too, Mrs Weasley," Harry told her.
"Harry, Iris. I wonder if I might have a word," Mr Weasley came up to them.
"Of course, Mr Weasley," Iris said.
As Mr Weasley pulled Iris and Harry away, the others continued to hover over the clipping in the paper.
Iris heard Fred say, "George's nose looks positively massive in that photograph."
"That's your nose, Fred," Ginny told him.
"Bloody hell. 'Tis, isn't it? Take after your side of the family, don't I, Mum?"
Iris noticed Mr Weasley glance edgily at a fugitive poster tacked to the wall. In it, Sirius Black glowered under the words, "Have You Seen This Man?"
She immediately knew what this chat was going to be about.
"Iris, Harry. There are some within the Ministry who would strongly discourage me from divulging what I'm about to tell you. But I think you need to know the facts. Because you're in danger. Grave danger," he told them in a low tone.
Iris watched Harry's eyes drift to the fugitive poster.
"Has this anything to do with him, sir?" he asked.
"What do you know of Sirius Black, Harry?" Mr Weasley inquired.
"That he escaped from Azkaban. That he killed someone..."
Iris kept quiet throughout the conversation, poking through the minds of random wizards that sat nearby.
"Harry, Iris, thirteen years ago, when you stopped..."
Mr Weasley hesitated, unable to continue.
"Voldemort," Iris filled in.
Mr Weasley nodded nervously, "Black lost everything. But he remains a loyal servant to this day. In his mind, only you two stand in the way of..."
Once again, Mr Weasley hesitated.
"Voldemort," Iris continued.
"Iris, I hate it when you say--" Mr Weasley started.
"I know, sorry," she apologized.
"Ron hates it too," Harry chimed in.
"In Black's mind, only you two stand in the way of... You-Know-Who returning to power. That's why he's broken out of Azkaban. To find you both. And..."
Mr Weasley hesitated yet again.
"Kill us?" this time Harry continued.
Mr Weasley nodded nervously.
"Both of you, I want you to swear that-- whatever you might hear-- you won't go looking for Black," Mr Weasley implored.
"Mr Weasley, why would we go looking for someone who wants to kill us?" Harry asked, confused.
Iris looked to the side, guiltily.
Mr Weasley nodded, then clapped Harry on the shoulder.
"Just watch yourself, will you, Harry, Iris? Watch each other," Mr Weasley told them.
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