Authors Note: This was a challenge. Please consider the fact that this is our first fanfiction and it will probably take some time to finish. Also, English is our SECOND language so we apologise if the spelling or grammar is incorrect. If you review, please let us know if we screwed up immensly.

On another note, characters are made up and borrowed. Some canon characters have changed year. There's not much to work with, canon wise.

Disclaimer: We don't own. We play.
Canon characters and the HP and PoA storyline is owned by JK.Rowling.
No profit is being made. PLEASE DON'T SUE!

Chapter 1 – Travel to Hogwarts

A clear sign to indicate the 1st of Septeber is the size of the crowd at Kings Cross. Even if the ordinary people notice it or not, it's always a little more crowded on that specifical day. Of course, what the muggles don't notice does not hurt them. So on the 1st of September one of those who know not only the fact that it is a bigger crowd then yesterday but why, enters at a moderatly pace. Iris Fawcett, slightly taller then the rest of the girls in her age, is well aware of the fact that the Hogwarts Express does not leave until 11AM and the clock hanging over platform 9 is just pointing to 10.10AM. But like her mother, she likes to be early. Her mother is not with her today though so she drags her trunk after her to sit and wait for half an hour at one of the resturants. She picks up her copy of "Crime and Punishment" to occupy herself. She would rather be reading her "Advanced Potion-Making", but with muggles around she can't. Hearing a familiar voice behind her, she turns around.

- 'IRIS!'

- 'OH! Helena!'

A girl with deepred hair and brown eyes was running towards her with a pace you couldn't believe a girl in her sice could produce. Iris stood up and held her arms out and was soon crushed on the ground with Helena hugging the air out of her body.

- 'I CAN'T believe it's been 6 weeks since we last saw each other.' Helena said after they both had managed to get of the ground.

- 'Na'h, it's weird actually. Time travels fast when you have fun.' Iris smirked at her.

- 'You know, that isn't a very nice thing to say to your best friend.'

- 'Hah! Comes from the girl who replaced my schampoo with Frog spawn soap!'

- 'You should have seen the look on your face, I wish I had a camera with me.'

Iris smacked Helena on the arm and then turned to greet Helenas parents Mr. and Mrs. Horton.

- 'Iris, it's lovely to see you again!'

-'Hello, Mr and Mrs Horton, it's good to see you too. I had a really good time staying at your house that weekend.'

Iris smiled and then took Helenas hand.

- 'Come on, the muggles are staring at us. Let's get to the platform, we can talk there.'

Iris dragged Helena with one hand and used the other to steer her trunk towards the barrier. Leaning against in in a casual what they both disappeard and found them self at platform nine and three quarters.

- 'So, did you have a nice vacation?' Iris asked as she started towards the Hogwarts Express.

- 'Yes! We went to Italy and...' she managed to get out before her voice were drowned by the sound of another familiar voice.

- 'Iris!'

- 'Fancy seeing you here Cedric.'

A tall boy with stunning grey eyes and dark hair approched the two of them.

- 'Well, I always thought the 1st of Septemer would mean that we saw each other, but I may be wrong.' He said with a slight frown.

- 'Well the 1st of September wouldn't be the same without you.' Iris said with a smile and then hugged her friend.

- 'Now that we are all here' Helena started, 'don't you think it's time to board the train?' while pointing at the clock that now said 10.55AM. With a startled cry they jump onboard to find a compartment.

- 'Anything from the trolley dear?'

- 'Yes, a pumkin pastie, please' Iris said and paid the witch.

In the compartment she and Helena and Cedric had been talking about Quidditch, their favorit game, when the trolley came by. Both Iris and Cedric played on the team, Cedric as the seeker and newly announced Captain and Iris as a beater. She didn't know why Sprout had picked Cedric instead of her to be Captain even though she was a year older than him, she guessed Sprout had a good reason though, so she wasn't upset by the decision. Not that she wanted the position that bad, really. She was quite happy to concentrate being a beater.

- 'OH! I forgot! How did you do on your OWLS?' Cedric suddenly asked.

- 'I got 9, but I only scraped an Acceptable at Defence.' Helena said.

- 'Thats great! I got 7, failed both Astrology and Divination. I think the stars dislikes me.' Iris said with a small smile.

-'I can't believe I have to go through OWL-year and you already done it.'

- 'Life is fair, sometimes. But you do really great in all your classes, right Cedric?' Helena asked.

Cedric started opening his mouth to awnser when the Express suddenly slowed down.

- 'We can't be there yet, can we?' Iris said. 'It's to early'.

Helena rose to check outside when the Express stopped and the air turned colder.

- 'Wait a minute..' Iris said, but didn't actually had time to finish the sentence before the compartment door opened and a dark figure stepped in.

Iris is hiding from her brother, they're playing hide and seek. But then she hears a scream, her brother. She runs towards it only to come to a sudden stop when she sees why her brother screamed. A werewolf. Trying to remeber what her father told her about werewolfs she sneeks closer to where she think her brother is when the werewolf suddenly attacks, but not her. She runs after it but she's to late. The werewolf is upon her brother biting and fighting him. A boy at 5 is no match against a fullgrown werewolf. She screams and the werewolf stops, sniffs, and turns toward the forest, running away. Running to her brother, she kneels down and cries 'Ike! Wake up! WAKE UP! MOM! DAD! HELP!'. But her brother dosn't wake up.

- 'IRIS!'

Iris found herself lying on the floor, having trouble breathing.

-'You're okay now! I'll go find someone to help!' Helena said and walked out of the compartment.

- 'Iris, take slow, deep breaths. Here, eat some chocolate. I remember Lockhart saying something about chocolate helping with shock.'

- 'You mean Lockhart actually managed to teach you something?' Her voice was weak but she accepted the chocolate from Cedric with a small smile on her lips.

- 'What happened?' Iris took a bite of chocolate and felt the warmt spread through her body.

- 'The dementors were searching the train for Sirius Black. I heard that several people is feeling rather down at the moment. Someone else fainted too.'

- 'Huh? You didn't faint?'

- 'No, dementors affects people in different ways depending on...' he stopped when the door opened and Helena returned with a man with light brown hair and shabby clothes.

- 'Are you alright? Oh, You've already had some chocolate. Good. You'll be fine, but I think you should probably visit Madam Pomfrey when we arrive.' The man looked down on her with concerned eyes.

- 'Ehm, okay, I suppose... who are you?'

- 'Oh right, I'm sorry. I'm Remus Lupin, or Professor Lupin actually. I'll be teaching Defence against the dark arts this year.' He smiled and she suddenly noticed that his hair also had some gray in it which was odd considering how young he looked otherwise.

- 'I.. see! I'm Iris Fawcett. Pleasure to meet you, if you ignore the circumstances.'

- 'Pleasure is all mine. Now if you excuse me, I must go and see that everybody else is alright.'

He stood up and walked out the compartmentdoor. Iris smiled towards Cedric and Helena.

- 'You know, I think we might actually learn something in Defence this year!'

- 'Let's hope so, but now I think it's time to change into our robes, I suspect we'll arrive soon.'

- 'Good. My first evening back will be in Madam Pomfreys company. I can't wait.' Iris sighed and turned to change.

- 'Ms Fawcett, follow me please' a plump lady with flowing grey hair said when Iris, Helena and Cedric entered the Entrance Hall.

- 'Yes Professor Sprout' Iris said and followed her through a door and down the staircase to the right of the large marble staircase. After a rather confusing set of turns they ended up outside the Hufflepuff common room. After giving the password (Fanged Geranium) to a statue of Elladora Ketteridge, they entered a rather celler-like common room. The room had a large oak table with various chairs to the right and a large couch in brown leather with a fireplace before it to the left. Further in the room on the left side was a couple of comforterble, black armchairs around three small, round tables. The room was painted in a dull yellow. The staircases down to the dormitories was at the very end of the room, the boys to the right and the girls to the left. Sprout led her to the large couch which Madam Pomfrey currently occupied.

- 'Ms Fawcett, I heard from Professor Lupin that you fainted when faced with the dementors. Foul creatures they are. Here, take som chocolate!' Madam Pomfrey said with a frown. 'Really dislikes those creatures, will make my wing occupied the whole school year' she muttered and sighed. 'Do you feel any better?'

- 'I do! Really, I'm fine. Cedric already gave me some chocolate.'

- 'Good boy that is. Would make an excellent healer one day. Always looking after people.'

- 'Well yes, he is' Professor Sprout said looking rather smugged.

- 'Well, then I'll be going. Having a talk with Dumbledore about these incidents. The Ministry will be hearing from me too. Letting dementors into the grounds.' She said exiting the common room.

She figured the sorting must be over when she arrived to the Great Hall only to se Professor Dumbledore sit down. She walked towards the Hufflepuff table and saw Helena wave from the Ravenclaw table when she passed. She waved back and set course to the middle of the Hufflepuff table where she saw Cedric sitting.

- 'Madam Pomfrey is on the warpath. I think she'd kill the dementors herself if she could.' Iris dropped down into the seat next to Cedric.

- 'You're right. Dumbledore just told us that they are here to guard the gates into Hogwarts. They'll be here all year.'

- 'That's terrible! I'm gonna faint everytime I'm near them!'

- 'Calm down Iris, maybe you could ask Professor Lupin to help you with that. He probably knows how to handle them.'

- 'Yes, maybe you're right. I'll talk to him.' Iris sighed and started eating without really being hungry. The dementors had affect her more than she was willing to show. The memory of her brother being killed was not a pleasent one. She hoped she had Defence soon.

She joined Cedric, after they had finished their dinner, in walking back to the Common Room. When they arrived she was almost immediately crushed in a hug from none other than her second best friend. River Hopkins.

- 'I heard about your... dementor-meeting. It sounded awful! Are you alright?' Rivers blue eyes was full of concern.

- 'Erhm... let's talk in our dormitory.' She waved goodbye to Cedric and went down the staircase and in through the door with a "6" on it. To the left they had a wall covered in mirrors, one bed on either side of the door and three against the back wall. The 4-poster beds were made out of oak and they all had a circular bedside table next to them and trunks at the end of the bed. Against the last wall they had a huge desk and a closet for each one of them. Iris and River took the beds next to the mirrorwall and River then joined Iris on her bed.

- 'So, what happened?'

- 'I saw the memory of when Ike was killed...'

- 'That's terrible! I was in the Prefect compartment when the train stopped. It was awful! I was shivering so badly that I fell of the seat.'

- 'I'm hoping to get the chance to talk to Professor Lupin about the fainting thing. There must be something I can do to prevent it.'

- 'I'm certain he does. What good would a Defence Professor do otherwise?' River hugged Iris before she stood up and walked to her own bed.

- 'Yeah...' Iris then changed clothes and decided to tuck in. It had been a long day.

The next day after breakfast, Iris stayed with the rest of her class to wait for Professor Sprout to help them determine which N.E.W.T classes they would take. After passing Scott Capper, River Hopkins and Sandrah Ellerby, Sprout took a seat beside Iris.

- ' You did well on your O.W.L Ms Fawcett. Though you really should talk to Professor Sinistra about maybe doing a make-up paper to take your grade up to an Acceptable, it's not compulsory to have an O.W.L in Astrology, it would look better on paper. You're cleared for Potions, Transfiguration, Charms, Herbology, Defence Against the Dark Arts and Care of Magical Creatures. I'm not pleased with that A you got in Herbology to be honest, but your classwork makes up for that result so I've cleared you. Hagrid said he would accept an A but would like you to do better if you choose to continue that class.

- 'I think I would do best to stop taking Care of Magical Creatures, I don't really like the class anyway.'

- 'That's fine. Lets see then. You have two classes every day and a free period each day. If you choose to do Sinistras extra study you will have your Tueday afternoons to do that work and have access to Professor Sinistra every other Tuesday during that time. Your first class today will be Charms with Flitwick. So, off you go!' Sprout said and moved on to Elena Guffy.

Iris sprinted up to the fifth floor and met up with Helena and River before entering the classroom.

- 'Welcome back everyone! It's good to see you again!' Professor Flitwick had just appeared on top of his books.

- 'I'm really happy to see that so many passed their Charm O.W.Ls and has decided to continue with this class!' Iris looked around to see that the classroom was packed with students from every house.

- 'Almost everyone passed, I think' Iris whispered to Helena.

- 'Yeah, the only one who failed was Tilly Kegg from Slytherin.' Helena whispered back.

- 'Today we'll be learning the Aguamenti charm. Can anybody tell me what it does?'

Helenas arm was in the air a moment later and Flitwick beamed at her.

- 'Yes, Ms. Horton?'

- 'It conjures water, Professor!'

- 'Very, very good Ms. Horton. Five points to Ravenclaw!"

- 'Now, the incantation is Aguamenti, pronunced AH-gwa-MEN-tee. Say it after me, Aguamenti'

- 'Aguamenti' the class chorused.

- 'Very good. Now, try to fill your buckets. Be careful not to spill, precision is very important.'

When the class was over almost everyone had succeded to a certain level. Even Helena didn't have full control over the jet of water her wand conjured. But at least they were able to produce it, a few of the Slytherins didn't get more than some drops.

- 'Quidditch team! I want a meeting now. Gather around.' Iris heard Cedric say after dinner in the Common room. She went over from her seat at the large table to the couch where the other players gathered.

- 'Our first match of the season is against Ravenclaw in November. This year I hope we are better prepared for what's to come. Ravenclaw has to replace their seeker and since we have a full team, we should have the upper hand.

- 'Capper, you really need to work on passing the Quaffle after you blocked a shot. The Chasers'll have to depend on you this year for us to have a chance at winning the cup. Fawcett, Leach you got to work as a team. Try to channel the Weasley twins! Cadwallader, Lance and Murray, I've developed some new plays I want you to look at before our first training. Let's do our best this year!'

- 'YES CAPTAIN!'