Author's Notes:
Thank you all for your reviews, suggestions, and constructive criticism. Don't think I don't greatly appreciate every review.
Chapter 3
Ophidian Encounters
1994, November 1, Hogwarts Grounds
Once Iris had read all the steps to become an Animagus, she glanced up at Hermione.
"So how hard is this going to be, Hermione? I've already got the meditation started, but what about the rest?" she asked. It certainly didn't seem that difficult to her. Sure, she'd have trouble with the potions but the rest? Was there really enough difficulty lying beneath it all that it took somebody like McGonagall two years even with the help of Dumbledore? The potions could be difficult to brew, keeping a mandrake leaf in one's mouth for a month would be annoying, and meditating for a full twenty-four hours would definitely be difficult, but the rest?
"I… I don't know," Hermione said, her brows furrowed. "The potions are doable — after all, we used polyjuice in our second year. The storm bit will just be mostly luck. The mandrake leaf part might be a pain, but it's certainly not something that would take two years to finally do. I imagine the meditation is the hardest part — that's most likely what takes people months or years to finally master."
Iris wasn't too concerned about the meditation. She had begun to meditate long ago, long before Sirius had suggested it over the summer. Whenever Vernon would toss her in her cupboard, she'd try to do it; it would help to pass the time she spent in there. She was already somewhat familiar with what her father had written about feeling in touch with nature. She would often head to the forest near the Dursley's home and find a large tree she could climb. She'd sit upon a high branch, close her eyes, and just breathe deeply. All the stress would bleed out with every deep breath taken. The intricacies of daily life would fade away and something primal would take over. The tension in her shoulders released, the strain on her mind lessened, and Iris would come out of the forest feeling reinvigorated.
"I'm not too worried, I used to meditate after the Dursleys became too much. I'm sure I'll get that part down," Iris said throwing her hands behind her head and resting back against the trunk of the tree.
"What did it do? Meditating, I mean," asked Ron.
"I dunno, release stress I suppose. Used to do it nearly daily."
"Just how stressed did you get with your relatives?" Hermione asked, her eyes narrowing.
"Enough to meditate or whatever daily," Iris said dismissively. Before Hermione could open her mouth to keep questioning her on the topic, she got up and said, "Come on, we've got Defense. Let's go see if I survive a second Killing Curse to the face."
"That's not funny. That's not funny at all, Iris."
"Okay, sheesh."
Hogwarts Halls
Iris and Hermione had gone to use the restroom while Ron waited in the corridor. When the two were done and were walking out, Iris groaned; she had heard a very familiar drawling voice. She turned the corner and, sure enough, Malfoy and Ron were going at it.
"They didn't even get his name right, weasel. Arnold Weasley," Malfoy drawled, "It's almost as if he's a complete nonentity, an utter nobody, eh?" And before Ron could respond, Malfoy added, "And your mother — well, I suppose I shouldn't insult her — if I do, she might eat me."
Ron's face was so red and his fists were so clenched, Iris thought he might explode, but still, Malfoy was not finished, as he continued with: "Oh, don't worry weasel, I'm sure your mother wouldn't be offended by that… But if she would be, I'd just tell her to lighten up." Malfoy and the Slytherins surrounding him all burst out into laughter. Ron's arm caught her eye. He had thrown his arm back, clearly ready to scramble what was left of Malfoy's brains, but before he could swing, Iris grabbed his wrist. Ron looked at her with a look of betrayal, but then he caught the look in her eyes.
"Were you born a cunt, Malfoy, or is something you have to recommit yourself to every morning?" Iris asked with a raised eyebrow. "And you're one to talk about mothers; that expression yours had at the World Cup, like she had shit under her nose? Does she always look like that or was it because she had you with her?"
Malfoy went pink in the face. "Don't you —"
"I imagine it was the latter," Iris said. "I mean, most women don't want to be seen in public with their walking talking mistakes, do they? Although..." she said slowly, "considering she married a man who's worth nothing without his gold, it really serves her right to have such a worthless disappointment as a son, doesn't it?"
The majority of the people in the hall had gone silent, perhaps out of shock at the vulgarity or out of anger, except for the snickers of the few Gryffindors.
His face completely red, Malfoy stammered, "I — I am not a disappointment, I live up to my father's name!"
"Oh please, you'll never be the man your mother is, much less your father," Iris said, and Ron began howling with laughter behind her along with the everybody else who wasn't a Slytherin. Malfoy kept opening his mouth to retort but nothing came out, so Millicent Bulstrode took a step forward and spoke up.
"You don't know what —" Millicent began, but she stuttered. "You don't even have parents!"
Everybody instantly quieted down, looking apprehensive as to what Iris would do next.
Not missing a beat, Iris said, dismissively, "And you've got small tits for a fat girl. Want to keep stating obvious facts?"
The jaws of the Slytherin girls dropped, and though Iris would have felt bad about shaming a person's body, the jab at her own parents dismissed the idea of feeling guilty. Millicent suddenly charged at Iris headfirst, and caught completely surprised by the ridiculous attack, Iris was only able to get out of the way by the help of Ron pulling her. Millicent fell to the ground to more laughter from anyone that wasn't a Slytherin.
"Holy shit, how appropriate. You even fight like a cow," Iris said in mock amazement. She heard Hermione hiss her name behind her, but she didn't respond.
Both Millicent and Malfoy had pulled out their wands and aimed them directly at Iris.
Iris smiled. She had just seen Moody turn the corner, and Moody saw her. "You know, if you two cursed each other, I reckon you'd both be a bit more attractive," Iris taunted and then turned to walk away. She heard the murmur she had been expecting and leaned her upper body to the side, just barely dodging the spell that had flown past her. Before she even could turn around, she heard a yell, a whimper, more yells, and then laughter.
Moody had turned Malfoy into a ferret.
"C'mon you lot, into the classroom for those who have Defense and the rest of you, run along," Moody grunted as he brought the ferret into the classroom, winking at Iris as he did so. He leaned down and whispered near her ear, "Used to do this with Aurors in training. Always worked."
Iris was beyond satisfied. Malfoy had been on the losing side many times before, yes, but he was never completely humiliated like this.
"Iris," Hermione whispered furiously besides her as they waited at the back of the crowd of people entering the classroom. "Don't you think you went a little too far there?"
"No," Iris said flatly. "Malfoy has been going too far for years now — yes, I know you're talking about Bulstrode, but her too. She's always laughed along with Malfoy. The parent jab was too far."
"Give it a rest Hermione," said Ron happily, his eyes not leaving the ferret. "It was brilliant. You heard what they were saying. You hit him in every spot that hurts, Iris!" he said laughing. "That part about his mother marrying his father, you insulted all three of the Malfoy's in one sentence. Brilliant!" Ron began laughing harder again as he tried to repeat everything again, and Hermione spent the entire time scowling heavily.
"Oh relax, Hermione," said Iris. "You know I'm not that cruel normally, I just wanted to put them in their place."
"You didn't have to use such vulgar language," Hermione muttered under her breath as she sat down in a chair next to Ron.
"Admit it, you're not really mad."
"You stooped down to their level, Iris," Hermione said, frowning. "Whether she deserved it or not doesn't matter."
"CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" somebody roared — the entire class jumped — "You're dead," Moody said simply, as though it was a normal and daily thing to be dead. "Constant. Vigilance. None of you were prepared. If I was a dark wizard, I could have easily killed half of this classroom. You've got to be ready. Now, today's lesson is special. Given how fast news spreads around here, I'd guess most of you already know. Put away your books, your wands, everything — you won't need them. Today is all practical lesson," Moody said, and his magical eye started spinning in circles, madly.
"Now, I'm not supposed to show you illegal curses until two years from now, but Dumbledore and I have agreed that the Ministry can stuff it. How can you defend yourself against something you've never seen, eh? A curse is coming straight at you but you don't know what it is — how do you know if you should shield, dodge, or take the hit?" Moody said.
Moody lectured for a bit, but it was all material Iris already knew, and she lost herself in her own mind.
"Now!" Moody bellowed, and Iris jumped in her seat. "If you don't know what spell is being thrown your way, you're dead. You've got to know. Some curses go straight through shields, some shatter them, send you flying, some aren't worth the energy to shield or dodge, some are. You have got to know, and you need to put that away while I'm talking to you, Miss Brown!" Moody barked as he was walking to the front of the class. Lavender jumped and blushed. Iris couldn't help but think of how cool it would be to see out the back of her head. "That's why today, we'll be going over the Unforgivable curses. The Killing Curse, the Cruciatus and the Imperius. I will be giving you a demonstration on the first two with two spiders, and the third, the Imperius, will be used on you lot!"
"Professor, isn't it illegal?" Hermione asked.
"He probably got permission," Iris said, resting her head back as she slumped in her chair.
"Sure is, Miss Granger, and Miss Potter is correct. Both Dumbledore and I agree that you've got to know what you're going up against. I'd say you wouldn't have to worry while you're in school, but judging from the stories I've heard of what goes on here, I won't." All eyes, including Moody's, turned to look at Iris. "Aye, if Miss Potter's blush is anything to go by, this school isn't exactly the epitome of safety, is it?"
Moody went on to lecture them on the Unforgivables and they all took notes, except Malfoy, who was trying to take notes, but his paws made it very difficult. Then Moody took out two spiders to perform the Killing Curse as well as the Cruciatus. All eyes turned to Iris once more when Moody used the Killing Curse. Despite her discomfort, Iris's face didn't move. Why should it? It wasn't as though she was the only person who had loved ones torn away from them by it, so why did everybody look at her as though she was the only one to be affected by it? Wizarding Britain's population was nearly decimated by the war, and there were more unused classrooms than ever, yet the pity was thrown her way. She hated it. The pity should be felt for Neville and his parents, Iris though as Moody had gone on to use the Cruciatus.
Her parents were gone. She could move on from that, and she had. But Neville? His parents were tortured into insanity. Dumbledore had told her and Hermione earlier in the day that his parents were both in St. Mungos and that Neville visited a few times each year. Iris didn't think she'd be able to move on herself if her parents had lost their minds instead of dying.
She snapped out of her thoughts as she realized Moody had already starting using the Imperius curse on her classmates. Moody had turned Malfoy back into a person for this. Nobody could throw it off, not even Hermione, who had been forced to give a big kiss to a book — then again, perhaps Hermione had thrown it off but used the Imperius as an excuse. For some reason, Moody skipped over Iris's name and left her for last. Finally, all the other students had gone — they had all failed in throwing off the curse — and it was Iris's turn. She stood up and walked to the front of the classroom.
"Now I know you're wondering why I left you for last, Miss Potter, and the answer is simple. Having heard about all three of your years so far from Dumbledore, I'm going to assume you've a heck of a lot more willpower than most. Either that or you're incredibly foolish."
Iris felt a little annoyed that Dumbledore was going around and telling people of her time at Hogwarts. She put the Philosopher's Stone incident as well as the Chamber of Secrets ordeal up to mostly luck and the help of others. She considered the case of her repelling a hundred dementors with a Patronus mostly a fluke — she had seen herself cast the Patronus before she did it, so of course she had the confidence to do so. She had already done it before, or her past self did it — future self?
No matter how much she abused Hermione's time turner the year before, it still always confused her.
"Dumbledore said that if there was one person that was able to throw it off in this class, it'd be you. So ready yourself. Imperio!" Moody said firmly, and Iris was hit with her second Unforgivable.
All of her stress and worry suddenly vanished, and Iris was left feeling as if she was floating on the most comfortable cloud. It was beyond anything sleep or meditation would give her. She felt completely content with life.
And then her comfort was interrupted by an irritating voice: 'Kick the table in front of you… Kick the leg of the table in front of you.'
Well, that was annoying. Why should she do that when she was perfectly comfortable with where she currently was? She was floating on an immensely fluffy cloud, why on earth should she bother? 'I'm fine right where I am, thank you very much.'
The other voice came back, to Iris's irritation. 'Kick the table in front of you! Any part of it, kick it!' Moody's voice said in her head.
No, she didn't think she would. Stupid thing to do, really.
'Kick it, now!'
Iris was starting to get more irritated, and then the feeling of comfort began to slowly disappear as Iris realized she didn't want to kick anything at all. Iris furrowed her brows. It would most likely hurt, and she didn't want that — not at all.
"Kick the table leg!" growled Moody, not from her head, but from Moody himself. She had always hated when adults told her to do something she'd prefer not to do. Why should they get any say in her life when they've never bothered to actually help her? Isn't there some saying about being allowed to get only if you also give? Figures of authority, and adults in general, had never given her much at all — they had mostly ignored her problems. Who did this person think he was, telling her to kick the damn table leg?
Before she could stop herself, she snapped irritably at Moody, "How about I kick that wooden leg of yours out from under you instead?"
Then she realized she had broken through the Imperius, and the rest of her senses came back to her. The Gryffindors were staring at her in awe and shock, the majority of the Slytherins in distaste. She looked over to Moody, nervous that she had finally overstepped the line with ex-Auror, but she only saw amusement and — was that pride or simply satisfaction?
"Look at that! That's more like it! Potter fought it and won, she batted it away like an annoying bug! Defiant little shite, aren't ya?" Moody whispered. "Brilliant, I say. I guess Dumbledore was onto something. Let's try it one more time to make sure it wasn't a fluke."
Moody actually tried it three more times, and by the last time, Iris was able to throw it off within seconds. By the end of the class, only Iris was able to fully throw the curse off. Two were able to resist for a certain amount of time before eventually succumbing: Hermione and, surprisingly, Lavender Brown.
Iris, Ron, and Hermione were walking to the common room, talking about how paranoid Moody was, when they came across the twins.
"We've just heard a rumor, champion of ours!" said Fred or George.
"You've just come from Defense with Moody, correct?"
"No one in our class was able to throw off the curse and yet…"
"We've heard that you've done just that!" Fred and George both said enthusiastically. Iris stared at the two for a second before grabbing both of their arms and dragging them to an empty classroom leaving a bewildered Ron and Hermione behind.
"Well, well, well, beautiful, if you say so," teased who Iris now realized was Fred.
"Shut up, Fred," Iris said.
"I'm George!" Fred said.
"No, you're Fred. Fred has more freckles on the outside of his eyebrows. George has less." Fred and George both stopped. Their heads snapped to look at each other. They both grabbed each other's face and turned them left and right to examine them. "Look, I was wondering if you two had any — er — products that I could use or buy to spy. I'm not supposed to be in this stupid tournament so I'll be damned if I play by the rules. I want anything that could help me figure out what's coming, anything that could help me in the tasks. I'll pay for any of —"
"Stop right there, we don't want your money," said George, holding up a hand. "If we can figure out something to spy with — which we have been working on, we just haven't actually got it down — then we will help you."
Iris nodded, satisfied.
"Actually, I have one condition," said Fred. George smacked Fred, but Fred waved him off. "You see, people are betting on this tournament. The biggest payouts would be on the bets placed before the first task. Because after, people have more of an idea as to who would win. Now I know you're three years younger, but can you really tell me, Iris, that you don't have a damn good chance at winning this thing the way your luck plays out?"
Iris stared at Fred. "What, are you crazy? My luck is terrible! That's why I'm in this tournament in the first place! I —"
"Yes, your luck is terrible at first, but it always plays out well in the end, doesn't it? Quirrell, the basilisk, the dementors, Sirius, the —"
"You know about Sirius?" Iris asked quickly.
"You think Ron keeps his mouth shut? Our mum and dad don't know but Ginny and us do. Dunno why you'd want to keep that a secret anyway, if he's innocent."
"I don't know," Iris said, "so I don't get tossed into Azkaban for aiding a fugitive?"
"Good point," said Fred, "but anyway, the point is your luck comes back to you in the end, doesn't it? Listen, we'll help you no matter what, even if you only try your bare minimum — you're like the badass pranking —" Iris rolled her eyes "— sister we've always wanted, not that we don't want Ginny of course, but it's good to have diversity. Speaking of, serious lack of pranks coming from you this year."
"Oh, enough with that," said Iris. "You say that every year. I'm not a prankster, I just like to piss Snape off. I know I haven't pranked anyone in a while — unless Snape's opened that desk drawer recently — and it's I'm not a bloody prankster. I have better things to do."
"Better?" whispered Fred.
"Than pranks?" said George, and the two pouted.
"Look," said Fred, "We'll help you no matter what, but we know you can win this thing. We really do!" George nodded vigorously. "But if you could actually win this thing, we'd be most grateful… because… well…" Fred became very hesitant.
Iris groaned. "Just how much did you two bet on me?"
"More than we're willing to admit to be honest," said Fred.
"Even to each other," said George, and Fred nodded.
"You two didn't even admit to each other how much you bet on me?" Iris asked cautiously. They both nodded. "Guys!" she burst out. "Please don't tell me you're serious."
"We're serious," they both said, smiling.
Iris gaped at the two.
"I don't see why you shouldn't try, Iris," said Fred, suddenly serious. "Really, the only way you come out of this looking good is if you win or at least come in second place. If you come in any place but first or second, people will make fun of you and tell you how much of a mistake it was for you to put your name in — I know! I know you didn't do it, but we've listened around — people still believe you have, even a few Gryffindors. Why not show them? They're all betting against you. Everybody is taking our bets, because they don't know you like we do. Please?" Fred tried.
Iris stared at the two in disbelief before she realized they were telling the truth. Fred was even sugarcoating it; not even second place would save her from ridicule, and she was the one that acted like she'd have no problem keeping up in front of the other champions. Why the hell should she not try to win? Before, she didn't want to because she assumed that if she won the first task, people would only keep believing she cheated her way in. She was only going to do enough to keep herself alive, but was that really enough when it came to not being bullied even more? At least the other Hogwart's champion was a Slytherin, she couldn't imagine what would happen if it was any other house.
"I — okay…" Iris said. "I'll try."
"Excellent!" said Fred. "Make us a lot of money! We don't really have anything to help you right now unless one of the tasks is to prank someone, but we have some stuff in testing. An extendable ear, for example. An ear on a string — lets you eavesdrop on conversations, ya know?"
"Please, yes," said Iris. "If you get that done soon, I'll win this tournament and the next one. I've got to go though, Hermione wanted to start me on the Summoning Charm today, get me to master it and all."
"Why?" said George.
Iris shrugged. "Said something about the Summoning Charm being all around useful, and that it would be possible to Summon things from outside whatever arena they give us."
Iris spent the next several hours in the Gryffindor common room, often practicing the Summoning Charm with Hermione. Defense Against the Dark Arts was the only class they had that day. It was originally supposed to be a completely free day, but the Unforgivable Curses were apparently important enough to get Dumbledore to have everybody attend one today.
It was eleven o'clock in the evening when Iris had enough.
Iris threw her wand down. "Hermione, we've been at it for hours — no, I've been at it for hours while you sit there and read. I'm done for today."
"You haven't mastered it yet, you really should keep going," Hermione said, not taking her eyes off her book. Iris didn't argue. Not only did she want to learn the Summoning Charm to use it in the tasks if she could, but she also thought it would be a great way to be lazy.
"Whatever, it's eleven o'clock. I'll be right back," Iris said as she got up. She went up the stairs to her dormitory and fetched her Invisibility Cloak. It was time for a trip to the library — more specifically, the Restricted Section. She slung her cloak over her shoulders and walked back down to the common room.
"I'll be back again, Hermione," Iris said as she walked by Hermione.
Hermione's head snapped up, "Where?"
"Library!" Iris yelled, not at all caring that the entire common room was staring her. They had all gotten used to Iris taking her Invisibility Cloak and going out to break the rules. Ever since Malfoy and Snape had found out about the cloak, she no longer cared who else knew; Malfoy had told anyone he could anyway. Her trunk could only be open by herself and Hermione anyway.
"It's past curfew," Hermione scolded, though half-heartedly.
"You're right," Iris said, slowly nodding her head and looking thoughtful. "So if I'm going to be breaking rules anyway, I might as well break more. Restricted Section it is!"
And she was out the portrait hole before Hermione could respond. The majority of the other Gryffindors knew there was no point in trying to stop her — most of them had gotten used to Iris losing points, not that it really mattered at the end considering Iris had always found a way of regaining them all. A few glared at her back as she exited the portrait hole.
Iris threw her cloak over herself and began her walk to the library. There were no students out, and she didn't see any teachers either. Just to be sure, she reached into her pocket to — she had forgotten her map. How could she have been so stupid? She let out a sigh and went on anyway. She was already far enough away that it wouldn't be worth it to go back. It would have to be like old times anyway, when she went to visit the Mirror of Erised or when she went to the library to try and find information on Nicholas Flamel.
As she was slowly walking through the corridors, her hair began to stand on end. She had travelled through the castle even later in the night by herself before, so why did this night feel off? The suits of armor she passed by seemed menacing for some reason, as though she was expecting them to suddenly jump out and do her in. But that would be ridiculous. Yet, every time she looked at a window, she expected a bloody hand to suddenly slap the other side of it before slowly dragging itself down, leaving a trailing handprint of blood behind. Why was she so unnerved?
She pushed the thoughts out of her head and continued on, ignoring any and all shadows she passed. She was halfway to the library when she heard footsteps. She stopped and listened. They were coming closer. They were just around the corner. Iris backed up against the wall and held her breath, and a black shadow came around the corner. Her heart stopped, and then she nearly cursed herself when she realized it was Snape, not some shadowy demon.
Letting out a quiet breath, and silently berating herself for thinking so stupidly, she waited for Snape to walk by. Once his back was to her and he was close to the other corner, she pointed her wand at his back. Just before Snape rounded the corner, the back of his robes changed to a brilliant purple. Iris continued to the library, passing more corners, statues, suites of armor, a whistling Dumbledore, and a few wandering ghosts.
Finally, she entered the library. The place gave off an eerie vibe when it was dark and empty. Iris remembered how scared she had been her first year when she was hunting for information on Flamel. She had actually felt better when Filch and Snape had shown up that night because it meant she was no longer alone in the dark. She was no longer outright afraid of the whispering books and shadowy corners of the library, but it still unsettled her, especially considering that apparently Hermione never heard the whispers of the books. Iris chalked it up to another strange quirk of hers, like Parseltongue, that would one day be explained on its own.
She eventually found what she was looking for, the Advanced Potion-Making book. Not wanting to stay any longer than she had to in a place full of ominous whispers, she grabbed a few books on dragons and advanced shield charms, and left to go back to the common room. It was on the walk back when Iris finally realized just why she had felt so disconcerted: Moody — or more specifically, Moody's lesson. The way Moody talked, the lesson itself, the permission from Dumbledore, it all seemed as though both the ex-Auror and the greatest wizard alive were wary, watchful, more so than usual, like they were expecting something to happen. And if they were worried, why the hell shouldn't she be?
Her musings on what could have worried two powerful wizards — Voldemort, most likely — were interrupted as she got to the portrait for Gryffindor tower. She entered through the portrait hole and found that there were still a couple people up, and that they were talking about what she was just thinking of. Moody's lesson.
She heard Seamus say, "And the way he saw Lavender doing whatever it was she was doing? He was like, 'Listen bitch, I fucking see you so knock it off.'"
Iris saw Lavender chuck a pillow at Seamus, who dodged it. The pillow hit Hermione instead, and she glared at Lavender, but then caught sight of Iris. She waved Iris over.
"What books did you get?" Hermione asked, apparently not at all upset she had just practically stolen a couple of books. When she thought about it, it was probably the books aspect that kept Hermione at bay. "Did you get caught?"
"No — well, Dumbledore saw me," Iris said, shrugging before she jumped on the couch.
"What?!" Hermione whispered. "What did he do? Give you detention?"
"Nod at me."
"What?" Hermione asked, bemused.
"He gave me a nod and continued walking."
Hermione gaped at her. "He nodded at you?" At Iris's own nod, Hermione continued, "Dumbledore saw you sneaking about after curfew in your Invisibility Cloak, and he just gave you a nod and went on his way?" Another nod. "I'm sorry."
"For what?" Iris asked, looking highly amused.
"For slapping your arm when you used 'Iris Potter is my favorite student' as a possible password to his office," Hermione said, staring at the wall in thought. Iris gave a small snort.
"As for the books," Iris whispered, "I've got the Advanced Potion-Making one and a few others. I also grabbed two books on dragons and another two on advanced shield charms. I figured if they were in the Restricted Section, they'd have some valuable information, you know?"
Hermione nodded and said, "Good. As long as we return them in their current condition, it's the lesser evil. Give them here, I'll skim them real quick."
Iris gave Hermione the books and turned her attention to the conversation the others were having. Parvati, Lavender, Seamus, Dean, Angelina, the twins, Alicia, and Katie had all arranged the furniture in a large circle and were still talking about Moody's lesson. Iris turned the couch around to face the circle, closed her eyes, and listened in. It wasn't until a few minutes later that one of Parvati's comments caught Iris's attention.
"I'm just really surprised Dumbledore gave Moody permission to use them," Parvati said and the rest nodded along. "I mean, they're illegal, aren't they?"
"Dumbledore is worried," Iris said, speaking up for the first time. "Nevermind the fact they're illegal, they're also completely inappropriate to show to fourth years — definitely that Cruciatus."
"Coming from you, that's saying something" Seamus said with a laugh.
"I mean," Iris continued ignoring Seamus, "look how Neville reacted to the Cruciatus. And I doubt I was the only one that didn't like having a curse designed purely to kill being cast so close to them. For someone like Dumbledore to be okay with that means he's worried about something; what with the Dark Mark at the World Cup, my name coming out of the goblet, Bertha Jorkin's disappearance, and now teaching those curses to fourth years — possibly the younger years too? Not to mention that while I was in Dumbledore's office earlier today, I found his Pensieve — something to view memories in for those who don't know — and he was reviewing old memories of trials from the last war. Karkaroff's trial, then —"
"Karkaroff was a Death Eater?" screeched Lavender.
"Yes," Iris said. "He gave away a bunch of other names to get himself out of Azkaban. Ever notice how his smiles at Dumbledore never reach his eyes? Then there was Bagman's trial — no, he wasn't a Death Eater, he was just stupid. And then the trial for the Lestranges and Barty Crouch's son, Dumbledore said something about how Pensieves allow you to find something you missed before — meaning that he's looking for any clues he's missed. You all heard how Moody was talking, as if he was expecting the war to start up again. He wasn't even concerned about the curses being illegal or inappropriate." Seeing the worried looks, Iris added, "It's as though Dumbledore said, 'You know what, fuck that — Moody, come teach these motherfuckers how to take care of themselves.'"
They all gave a nervous laugh.
"You sure you're not turning into Moody, Iris?" Seamus asked.
"Considering my track record here, I think I'm entitled to be paranoid," Iris said. With everything she had just told them, did they not also have the same sense of foreboding she had? Then again, they haven't exactly lived her life. They didn't have a Dark Lord taking their continued existence as a personal insult. "I don't even want to think of what this June has in store for me. Anyway, it's late — I'm going to sleep. Hermione?"
"Coming," Hermione said, and they both made their way to their dorm. "You know, it is all suspicious, and I imagine Dumbledore knows way more than us, has seen or heard of more mysterious events, and is connecting more dots. I never noticed how Karkaroff's smile doesn't reach his eyes but I did notice how his smiles always felt off. That was actually really observant of you —"
"Don't sound so surprised."
"I'm not, I know you see and know way more than you let on. I just wish you wouldn't hide it so much," Hermione said.
"It's a habit."
"Dursleys?" Hermione asked, observing Iris's face. "Just tell me, please? It's not good to keep it all bottled up. Why do you really hide your intelligence?"
Iris sighed irritably. "They didn't like good grades, alright? First time I brought home grades better than Dudley's, they threw me in the cupboard for a week — don't give me that look, one of the reasons I don't speak of this stuff is because I hate those looks. It's done, it's in the past, I'm over it," Iris said sharply.
Hermione sighed too, but softly. "I know that, Iris, I do… but… you really shouldn't think it's all in the past, because it's not. Even now, you flinch when someone touches you unexpectedly. You don't show your true intelligence out of fear of punishment. It took me all of first year to get you to eat more than just the bare minimum."
"It's not just that. I already stand out, so do I really need to stand out anymore by raising my hand to answer every question?"
"No, but I know you can do a lot better on exams, quizzes, and homework in general. You're purposely not putting in enough work, and it's going to bite you in the back one day. If I have to be pushy like first year to get you to actually put some effort in, I will!" Hermione said with resolute determination.
Iris looked down. "God, I don't deserve someone like you," she whispered. "Hold on, pushy like first year?"
"Well, yes, remember when I —"
"No, I mean just first year?" Iris said, smirking. She received a face full of pillow as a response.
"Shut up."
"Hey Hermione?"
"Hmm?"
"Where the hell was Ron?" Iris asked.
"Did you not hear what he said he was going to —"
"No."
Iris wondered where Hermione had found so many pillows.
Headmaster's Office
Albus Dumbledore was reviewing more memories. He knew he was missing something, but what could it be? The Death Eaters at the World Cup weren't anything important, just former Death Eaters looking to have some fun. It made him sick. He wasn't sure if his heart could take living through another war. He had made plenty of mistakes in his long life, but the possible mistakes and consequences he'd face in a second war with Voldemort made his stomach twist. And then there was Iris...
There was a knock on the door.
"Enter," Dumbledore said tiredly. Alastor Moody walked in. "Ah, Alastor, do come in. How was class today?"
"Fine," grunted Moody. "Just thought you'd want to know you were right about the girl. Threw off the Imperius like you said."
"Oh?" Dumbledore said. "How many times did it take?"
"Just once."
"Really?" Dumbledore asked, pleasantly surprised. He wasn't sure if he was expecting her to throw it off, but he assumed that if someone was to, it would be her — but on the first try?
"Yes, really," Moody said. "Couldn't get to her. I had to resort to verbally commanding her, because the mental ones weren't doing anything at all. Told her to kick the table leg out loud, want to know what she did instead?" Moody said, chuckling.
"Verbally command her... Most impressive…" Dumbledore whispered, staring down at his Pensieve. "What did she do?"
Moody let out an almost mad cackle. "Told me she'd kick my wooden leg instead, right out from under me."
Dumbledore smiled, and placed the memory of what Moody had just said in a vial. He hated what the Dursleys had done to her, but he couldn't deny placing her there had a positive effect. She was a defiant little one, that was for sure. He had considered training her again, but decided it was pointless. She'd have to die, and even if she didn't, it wouldn't matter.
An untrained Iris Potter would last five seconds against Voldemort, if even that.
A trained Iris Potter would last ten.
The only way a trained Iris Potter would last any longer was if he had trained her to the point of her having no social life, and he couldn't do that. It would be pointless. Iris would only fight and die because of the people she surrounds herself with. Taking that away to buy more time to turn her into a killing machine wouldn't do any good.
Then again, this was his train of thought before she had conjured a Patronus powerful enough to send off a hundred dementors.
Still, at the end of the day, Voldemort had many decades of skill and experience on her. He himself had many decades of skill and experience on Voldemort and yet, Voldemort was a strong match for him.
"Alastor... I've told Hagrid to show Iris the dragons once they're brought in, subtlety, of course. He is still under the oath just like the two of us but there are ways around it. Igor and Olympe have already attempted to find out just what the first task is. I believe it's only fair to help young Iris out. I know you're under the oath as well, but once Iris finds out about the dragons, give her a hint, will you? I myself will be giving her one about the serpent. She'll need a way to get past the dragon though. Suggest to her that she use a broom, if you will. She's quite good with one, and if anyone could outfly a dragon, it'd be her."
"Aye Albus, will do," Moody said, and the two sat down to pleasant conversation.
1994, November 2, Divinations Classroom
Iris was reading through a book Hermione had given her on the basics of Ancient Runes. She wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention as to what was going on in the classroom. Neither was Ron, as he was levitating spitballs high up, moving them amongst the ceiling, then dropping them from above Lavender and Parvati. Iris thought of telling him off as the whispers of 'Wingardium Leviosa' were getting on her nerves, but in the end decided to let Ron have his fun.
Ignoring yet another so-called prediction that she was going to die, Iris put her attention back to her book, The Basics of Ancient Runes. To a complete surprise to her, she had found it very interesting. The very advanced portions of Ancient Runes fascinated her. It could all be so useful. It was like a whole new branch of magic to her — no, it was a new branch of magic. Why use a simple Locking Charm that can easily be countered when you could draw a Locking Rune on the door, one that could only be countered if the person on the other side drew an Unlocking Rune. And how many people would even know how to?
Hermione had told her Ancient Runes wasn't popular. Outside of Muggle Studies, Arithmancy, and Alchemy, Ancient Runes was the least picked class in N.E.W.T. years. Iris figured it was most likely the ignorance and stupidity of the average wizard or witch coming into play again. From what she could see from just this book, Ancient Runes could be incredibly useful.
There were runes that would summon a small vortex of ash, fire, frost, water, and more, or runes that would disarm someone or reveal the invisible. These were the somewhat basic ones, but even they were N.E.W.T. level or beyond magic. The more advanced runic magic would go far beyond N.E.W.T. levels for the average wizard or witch, and they included runes such as ones that would paralyze, cause memory loss or frenzy, spawn magical arrows to shoot at a predetermined spot, trap a person in a magical bubble, force-Apparate someone to a predetermined location, and so much more.
One particularly neat one she saw was called a Roaming Rune. You'd draw the rune, or really runes in a circle, sit inside it, activate it and you'd be able to leave your body in a sense and travel a certain distance — the distance depending on how far the outer anchoring runes are (and there were limits, of course), which were designed to create a dome of influence one could 'roam' in. This was incredibly advanced, and would apparently take over a decade of knowledge on Ancient Runes to be able to do 'roam' even thirty meters in a direction. She knew she'd likely never get to this level, but she enjoyed fantasizing about it anyway.
There were also wards made from runes, which were different than your normal, average wards, but Iris couldn't find much information on that in the book other than an example of how one could create a certain ward — a sphere or dome of influence that wouldn't allow fire to be present at all, no matter what. Enchanting also dealt with Ancient Runes and Arithmancy, and Iris thought creating her own enchantments could be very useful.
She couldn't believe she actually found a subject that she'd be interested in reading about. Iris suddenly realized she was going to have her schedule absolutely packed. She thought the first two months were a lot because they had to go through the first two years of Defense Against the Dark Arts, but now? There was the tournament, the Animagus process, learning Arithmancy and Ancient Runes, and who knows what other fields of magic she'd pick up on — possibly Occlumency? No, that could wait… Then again… She knew part of Occlumency was clearing one's mind, and didn't she have to do that for meditation? Perhaps the basics of Occlumency could come with the Animagus meditation, and then she'd start on the next steps next year.
It took Ron budging her for her to realize that the class had ended. She hadn't even realized so much time had passed, and for a second she wished class hadn't ended so she could continue reading, but then she remembered that today would be the day she and Hermione started brewing the potions to really start their journey to becoming Animagi. Well, Iris figured Hermione would be doing most of the brewing . Iris didn't think she couldn't do it herself; she was fairly decent at potions when she didn't have Snape breathing down her neck; it was just that Hermione tended to get a little assertive when it came to group projects.
And before she knew it, she was in the common room.
"Hermione and I are going to start brewing those potions, Ron. Wanna come with?" Iris asked, knowing full well that he was going to make an excuse — most likely involving chess.
"Er — I — I actually made plans with Seamus to play some chess after Divinations," Ron said, not looking Iris in the eye.
"It's okay, Ron. I'm not Hermione, I'm not going to be upset if you don't want to spend the next hour brewing potions. Just tell me to sod off, honestly."
Ron gave a nervous laughter. "Er — sod off?" he said hesitantly.
"Wow, what a confident boy you are," Iris joked. "But seriously, I spent the first decade of my life being told by people that they didn't want anything to do with me. The fact you're my friend at all is more than enough, so no need for silly excuses. Besides, I heard Seamus say he was going outside with Dean," she said, and Ron blushed. "Anyway, I'll see you later then."
Iris ran upstairs to her dorm, grabbed the Potions book she kept hidden in her blood locked trunk, and went to meet Hermione in the empty classroom they had agreed upon. Hermione was not in the empty classroom however, she was in the common room.
"Iris! Come quick, I have to show you something!" Hermione said excitedly. Iris quirked an eyebrow demanding more elaboration, but Hermione just grabbed her hand and raced out the common room. "Where's Ron? I want to show him too."
"Went to play chess with Seamus," Iris said without pause.
"Oh well, you'll do then. Come on!"
In no time, they were standing in front of a large painting of food. Iris knew what this was about, and Hermione's excitement frightened her a bit. How in the world would enslaved house-elves make Hermione so happy?
"Um, Hermione?"
"Oh, you'll see Iris! You'll see you were wrong, you and Ron, just you wait," Hermione said, still smiling at the portrait. Iris had a sudden and slightly disturbing thought.
"Hermione?" Iris asked, looking at her warily.
"Hm?"
"You haven't rallied the house-elves into a rebellion, have you?" Iris asked dryly.
Hermione didn't answer, but tickled the pear to get the painting to open. Iris followed in after her, suddenly feeling a bit apprehensive.
She pictured walking into the kitchen only to find a hundred house-elves lined up and mobilized, carrying flaming torches and pitchforks, with a cross carrying Dumbledore, who had been crucified. She imagined Dobby showing up with a maniacal grin as he set Dumbledore on fire.
She shook her head to clear the thoughts away as she stepped into the kitchen.
Thankfully, there was no army of house-elves. They had however stopped and glared fearfully at Hermione for a second before going back to work. Before Iris could take in her surroundings, something slammed right into legs, causing her to fall backwards. Before she could see what it was, something had wrapped itself around her head.
"Iris Potter, ma'am! Iris Potter ma'am! You've come to see Dobby!" squealed Dobby, his hands attempting to rub against every bit of skin Iris had on her head. For one terrifying moment, she thought she had been right in her wild guess about the elves rallying.
Eyes wide, Iris replied, "D-Dobby?"
"It is Dobby, ma'am!" Dobby said, nodding his head so vigorously that Iris was worried his head would snap off. "Dobby has missed you much, ma'am, Dobby has been hoping for Miss Iris Potter to come visit Dobby, for he has not forgotten what Iris Potter has done for Dobby!"
Iris and Hermione went on to talk with Dobby for a bit, which led to the discovery of Winky, who had been completely drunk off of butterbeer. Dobby and Hermione talked about Winky and Dobby's story since the last time Iris had seen either, while Iris sat down drinking tea. Iris didn't participate much in the conversation as it went on about Crouch, the apparent evil of Bagman, and Dobby's plans for the money he had earned.
"Miss Iris Potter, ma'am?" Dobby said, snapping Iris out of her thoughts.
"Yes, Dobby?" Iris said, sipping her tea.
"Iris Potter, ma'am, could Dobby… could Dobby come visit you sometimes, ma'am?" Dobby asked tentatively, and Iris felt her heart pain at the hesitantly hopeful eyes of Dobby, as if he was expecting her to decline immediately.
"Of course, Dobby. You're welcome to visit whenever you like."
Dobby beamed with joy.
When the two girls walked out of the kitchen, Iris turned to Hermione.
"Hermione, we should get started on the potions."
"I know, I know. I just wanted you to see Dobby. He was so excited when I told him I'd get you. You're practically Merlin to him — the female version. But yes, we do. We need a place to brew them too. Myrtle's bathroom again?"
Iris shook her head. "No, ever since second year, I'll see people going in there on the map, most likely to see if they can find the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets — you know how rumors spread. Though I suppose we could go down to the Chamber itself…"
"Didn't you need Fawkes to leave last time though? I don't think he'd be all too keen to help us out every time? And doesn't it smell? And isn't the slide down there filthy?"
"Yes, but we could bring brooms. And I honestly wouldn't be surprised if there was another way out. Salazar had to have made another exit, one that opens with Parseltongue. We can use spells to freshen it up, and to clean ourselves of the filth. Besides, I've been meaning to explore the place."
Hermione frowned. "Why?"
"Well last time, I was a bit busy trying not to be eaten by a leviathan."
"Leviathan's are enormous sea creatures, Iris," Hermione said as she began to steer the two towards Madam Hooch's office.
"It was enormous and could swim — close enough. Then there was Riddle and Ginny... I just didn't have any time to explore the place, to see where the basilisk itself came from."
They entered Myrtle's bathroom ten minutes later, when they had taken one broom from Madam Hooch and Iris's Firebolt from their dormitory, and they were thankful to see that the ghost was not there. Iris walked over to the sink and hissed for the sink to open. She caught Hermione's shiver at the sound.
"Sorry," Hermione said, embarrassed after Iris looked pointedly at her. "Parseltongue just sounds… unnatural."
"I wouldn't know," Iris said as she gave Hermione a great push on the back, sending her into the hole. When Hermione's screams finally stopped, Iris decided to test out her theory.
"Give me stairs" she hissed in Parseltongue, and sure enough, spiral stairs appeared. Iris walked down them until she reached the bottom a few minutes later.
"Stairs?!" Hermione shouted, outraged. "You could make stairs appear, and you pushed me?"
"Yep," Iris said, without a care. "You could have flown down too. C'mon, let's go."
Grumbling, Hermione followed Iris through the caverns until they reached the shredded skin of the basilisk. After gaping at it for a moment, Hermione turned to Iris.
"It — it was this size?" she said, disbelief and shock written across her face.
"That's deflated," Iris said simply, and she walked on. They made it to the next door which opened at the command of Iris, and walked inside the Chamber.
She could very clearly see the enormous basilisk. Iris's blood ran cold at the sight of it and she had killed the damn thing.
It was funny. She killed it when she was two years younger, but for some reason, it looked larger than it did before. It must have been her fear the first time around downplaying it.
"Iris," Hermione gasped, gaping at the giant snake. "You — you —" Hermione tried to say, but she only gaped some more. "You — you said — you said it was as thick as an oak tree…"
"I did," Iris said faintly, finally starting to realize just how big the snake was.
"I thought you meant a small oak tree…"
"How small are we talking?"
"Smaller than a bus!" Hermione launched herself at Iris and buried her face into Iris's shoulder. "That — that thing is large enough to swallow Hagrid whole!"
"Looks like it," Iris said nodding, still a bit mesmerized by the size of the beast.
"It's as thick as a... as a... I could easily stand inside it!" Hermione exclaimed, still burying her face into Iris.
From the bottom of its jaw, which was facing the ceiling, to the top of the head, which was laying on the floor, it was still taller than Iris. She could most definitely see it swallowing Hagrid. It was at least a hundred feet long. Iris swallowed the lump in her throat. She saw the splatters of blood — her blood — on the floor, as well as the basilisk fang. She stared at it, unable to shake the memory of that night. She didn't think she had ever been that terrified in her entire life. Iris remembered how completely hopeless she felt battling the basilisk, diving to the side to dodge the basilisk's strikes — over, and over, and over… She remembered how little the sword seemed to do as she hacked at the side of the basilisk's head every time it struck where she had been a second before, how it felt drowning as she held onto the basilisk as it traveled through the underwater pipes...
"Iris? Are you okay?" Hermione asked, looking concerned at her pale face.
"The pain I felt that night was beyond anything I had ever felt before…" Iris whispered.
"Do you want to talk about it? Tell me what happened exactly? You've only told me a little."
Iris took a deep breath. "See the blood? That was after the basilisk struck. After it chased me around everywhere, after we went swimming, after diving over and over to dodge its blows for a minute or two, I finally messed up. I stumbled on a piece of rock and knew I couldn't dive again. The basilisk dove, and I shoved the sword into its mouth as it came at me. The bone in my right arm must've completely shattered from the fang that pierced it, and my ribs were mostly broken from the impact too. But the pain from the venom was unbelievable. It felt as if it was acid, running through my veins and all, like thick needles were sticking out from the veins — hundreds of them.
"I was so close to dying, Hermione. I could literally feel my life slowly drain away. My vision began to blur and darken. My life didn't flash before my eyes or anything, I remember trying to think of a way to tell Ginny what she should do, how she should leave me, because if she had been found by my body… but I couldn't even form the words. I was clinging so desperately to life, begging myself to stay alive long enough to let me at least tell Ginny to tell you and Ron my final goodbyes, but I couldn't," Iris finished. She looked over at Hermione to see her with tears rolling down her cheeks.
"Oh, Iris…" Hermione whispered. "I'm so sorry. I am so sorry, I couldn't even imagine — I don't even — I know I wouldn't have had the strength to do what you did. Come here, I'm not letting go of you for the next five minutes." And Hermione meant it. She and Iris held onto each other as they sat down. Iris tried to ignore the basilisk's corpse, and the corners of the Chamber, which were full of black, smoky tendrils of shadow until she had stabbed the diary, as though the diary was corrupting the very Chamber with its evil.
"Come on," Iris said, a minute later. "Let's see if we can find any secret rooms."
Beauxbatons Carriage
"Try again, Fleur," said Madam Maxime.
"I can not!" Fleur shouted angrily in French.
"English, your accent still needs work and you know how some here will make fun of you for it. In fact, the reason we're here today has used your accent against you," Madam Maxime said.
"Why does it matter? It is not like I will be 'ere longer zan a year!"
"I don't care. Now, go again. Happy thoughts, Fleur, happy thoughts."
After a moment, Fleur raised her wand and shouted, "Expecto Patronum!" Nothing came out of her wand, not even a mist. "Zis is ridicule! I can not, it will not!"
Madam Maxime sighed. "Fine, we're done today. But we'll continue to practice this. Iris Potter made a fool of you, and rightfully so — you should not have let your temper get the best of you."
"Just because she can produce a Patronus does not mean she will be a worthy opponent!" Fleur said angrily. "And why are you siding with 'er?"
"I am siding with her because she was the more rational one. She does not appear to make rash decisions. She does not want to be in this tournament, and yet you were the first to get as angry as you did. Apparently, a fourteen year old can produce magic more advanced than yours. Why should I side with you if you can not keep up with a fourth year? And you do not know if she will be a worthy opponent. Most adults can not produce a Patronus and she did, so she might have other tricks up her sleeve. It is embarrassing and as we know dementors will play a part in this tournament at some time, you might as well learn it."
"But not even you can produce it," Fleur grumbled.
"No, but I am not a champion. Off you go, Fleur. We'll start again tomorrow."
Chamber of Secrets
Iris stared at the face of the statue of Salazar Slytherin. That's where the basilisk had come from, but how on earth could she get up there? The face of the statue was near the ceiling and the ceiling had to be at least a hundred feet high. She could build a ladder, perhaps? Maybe there was another secret passageway up there? She and Hermione had already found one that would lead up to a cupboard in the kitchens — she wondered if Salazar was heavier than the others — a one way trip however; Iris had to go all the way to the entrance of the Chamber again.
"Hey Hermione?" Iris asked. "I want to get up there, in the mouth of the statue. It opens, and there's probably something there. Know any spells to let us levitate or something?" she asked. Hermione looked at her as though she was stupid, then looked pointedly at a nearby pillar, which had two brooms leaning against it, then back at Iris's red face. "Oh."
She went and got her Firebolt, swung her leg over it, and flew up to the head of the statue. Looking down, she saw the truth length of the basilisk.
"Good lord..." she whispered before looking back to Salazar's head. "Speak to me, Slytherin, shittiest of the Hogwarts four, open up," Iris hissed in parseltongue. To her surprise, it did indeed open. "Hermione! It opened, grab a broom and meet me up here!" she yelled down.
"No thanks!" Hermione yelled back. "You — er — you take a look, I'll stay down here, safe and with two feet planted on the ground…"
Rolling her eyes, Iris flew slowly into the mouth and stepped onto the tongue.
"Lumos," she quietly said, lighting her wand, as she made her way further into the hole. She came onto a balcony, with very wide stairs on either side leading down into darkness. Iris could not see what was at the bottom of the stairs — her wand light didn't reach the ceiling, the floor, nor the walls. There was a spark of curiosity in her, and with another quiet incantation, Iris whispered, "Lumos Maxima." A brighter light appeared at the tip of her wand, blinding her. Iris gave her wand a swift and hard flick, and the ball of light shot out from her wand and flew to the ceiling, illuminating the entire room. The bright spots in her eyes faded, and Iris took a look at the room from the balcony.
It was quite large, not as large as the Chamber of Secrets itself, but close enough — definitely wider and longer than the Great Hall — it would have to be, as Iris wouldn't have been surprised if the Great Hall couldn't completely fit the basilisk. Aside from being large, there wasn't much to it. She saw a large candle chandelier hanging from the middle of the ceiling, and two dozen or so normal candles scattered amongst the walls. Iris sent "Incendio!"after "Incendio!"until all of the candles were lit. Satisfied with even more light, Iris looked at the room again and noticed this time around that there were two sets of large wooden doors on the left and right wall.
The spark of curiosity became a raging fire.
She had descended the stairs now, making her way to the doors on the right wall. She pushed. A loud and ominous creak filled the empty chamber as Iris pushed both doors slowly open, looking down at the ground as she did so. The doors were pushed as far as they could given her arm span, and she looked up.
Darkness.
She should have figured. She raised her wand to shine some light into the room, but before she could, she saw something moving in the dark.
Iris stilled.
She couldn't move, because what was slowly uncoiling itself in front of her was very large, and very familiar. Before she could process what she needed to do, a large blue head with toxic green eyes appeared before her. Iris was petrified, and she wasn't sure if it was because of the fear or because of the basilisk.
Chamber of Secrets
Hermione was worried. She had shouted for Iris after a few moments of silence but Iris didn't respond. Suddenly, a distant and ominous groaning sound came from the open mouth of Salazar Slytherin. Hermione began praying that Iris hadn't just opened some ancient door by herself. Then there was silence. Hermione strained her hearing, and her heart began to beat faster. Iris had killed the basilisk, Iris had killed the basilisk, Iris had killed the basilisk. There shouldn't be any more danger. The basilisk was dead. Dead, with its yellow killing eyes, its venomous fangs, and its unearthly roar, which Iris had described as a mix between a lion's roar and an eagle's screech. Hermione had a hard time imagining what it would sound like, and then a moment later, she knew exactly what it sounded like.
Hermione's blood had never run so cold so fast, and she wasn't sure if it was because of the roar, or the fact that it came from above her, from Salazar Slytherin's open mouth. Before she knew what she was doing, she had grabbed a broom and was speeding upwards. The broom was nowhere near the speed of the Firebolt, however, and it took Hermione far longer than she wanted to fly all the way up. She wasn't confident in going straight up so she was forced to fly up side to side, a vertical zigzag.
She didn't even stop fully before she jumped off. She sent a Reductor Curse at the corner of the mouth and tried her best to quickly Transfigure two pieces of the rubble into two mirrors. It still took a few moments, as mirrors were complicated to create through Transfiguration.
She sprinted past the tongue, still clutching her broomstick, and down the hall. She didn't stop until she hit the balcony, almost sending herself over the edge. She looked down below and saw Iris down below, a great serpent staring down at her. To Hermione's amazement, Iris had not dropped dead, nor was she being attacked.
"Iris?" she whispered, and her voice carried throughout the large room.
"Yes, Hermione?" Iris said in an odd, forced calm sort of voice.
"What are you doing?" Hermione said, whispering still.
Iris didn't respond for a moment. And then — "Negotiating."
Iris turned back to the basilisk.
She began hissing.
The basilisk hissed back.
After a few more moments of Hermione staring, gobsmacked, at her best friend speaking to a basilisk whose gaze apparently didn't kill, Iris clapper her hands together happily.
"Hermione, new plan!" Iris shouted to her. "You get to meet a famous author!"