Chapter 18

Known To the Unknown

Harry was feeling a bit sad the next morning, it was true that he accepted that Iris had to leave, but he still wants her to stay here, and to be beside him. He missed her already (although he just met her properly). So he went to the owlery that Saturday morning and started to write a letter to her:

Dear Iris,

How are you? I hope you're ok

I wanted to write this letter to say that...well nothing really.

I just wanted you to know that I'll be waiting for you to speak through

The ring. And I hope you have the time to chat a little.

And I wanted to thank you again for this wonderful gift of yours, I love it

It's really useful (homework and all) and it's a real help if we talked

With that way. I hope we talk soon.

Anyway, Ron and Hermione say hi to you.

Hope you get this (with my owl, Hedwig)

So...bye Iris and take care.

PS: tell me any news you got, ok?

From your friend,

Harry

Harry finished the letter and tied it to Hedwig's leg. "Make sure that Iris get it, ok?" he said, she gave a soft hoot and flied into the morning sky.

Harry looked at her as she became smaller and smaller. "I hope you get it" he whispered.

"Who get it?" a voice came from behind Harry, and Harry turned quickly to look.

"It's none of your business, Malfoy" Harry saw the sneering face of Draco Malfoy, standing in the door way.

Harry walked passed him and started to climb down the stairs, Malfoy followed him.

"What do you want?" Harry shouted, turning to look at him.

"Nothing...can't I go back to the castle?" he answered, and Harry couldn't reply.

"I just wanted to know who's that girl you were talking to in the ..." but Harry stopped him, "what?" he said, "You how do you know?"

"I guessed that she might be the one who you're sending to" he said, smirking.

"Keep you nose out of my business Malfoy" Harry shouted into his face.

"Ohhhhh...so it is business" he said.

Harry didn't want to hear more of this, he ran back to the castle, leaving Malfoy standing at the foot of the owlery.

he didn't feel like going back to the common room, so instead, he headed towards the lake, and sat down, watching the giant squid, swimming towards him. "What do you want?" Harry asked him, frowning.

The giant squid didn't answer. Harry reckoned that he wanted food, but he didn't have any.

"I'm sorry...no food" he said, searching his pockets. He found a piece of toast on the ground beside him; he picked it up and threw it into the water. The giant squid opened his mouth wide, and the tiny piece fell into his huge mouth.

Harry was smiling, when accidentally; the squid splashed water while entering the water again. Harry was wet, as he got up from the ground. "I told you I didn't have any food" he spat, as the giant squid disappeared in the water.

Harry sighed as he went back to the castle. Students were getting out now, some still looking tired, some were wide awake and reading their study books, some brought out their homework to do it under the pure sky.

"Oh...hey Harry" Parvati said, waving at Harry, and running towards him, "oh hi Parvati" Harry said.

"What happened to you?" she said, looking at Harry's wet robe. "Oh that" he said, looking down at his robe too.

"Here" she pulled out her wand and cast a spell which made Harry's robe dry again. "Thanks" Harry said.

"Listen...Ron and Hermione were looking for you, they said that you didn't leave a note".

"What...oh yeah, well tell them that I will be in the...library" Harry said.

"What...you go to them, I can't go back to the castle."Ok" he said, "thanks".

He walked back to the castle and headed towards the common room.

"Harry?" Hermione was calling Harry; he turned and saw her walking towards him with Ron. "Where have you been?"

She asked him, panting. "I wanted to send a letter to Iris, and Hedwig was in the owlery...so I had to go there"

"All that time in the owlery?" Ron said, raising his eyebrows.

"No, I went and sat near the lake for a while" Harry said, smiling.

Then they decided to go to Hagrid's hut, and so they did.

"Oh...hello Harry, Ron, Hermione...how are you?" Hagrid said, ushering them inside.

"Everything is ok Hagrid, what about you?" Hermione asked, sitting down on one of the huge chairs inside the hut.

"oh, I'm fine; there's nothing wrong with me..." he poured some tea for each one of them, and as he handed the cups to them, he noticed something and he stopped at Harry."What's that?" he asked, looking at Harry's hand.

"Oh...that" Harry saw Hagrid looking at the ring. "It's just a gift...from someone" he said, smiling up at Hagrid.

"Oh...do you how much that costs?" Hagrid said his eyes wide as he looked closer at the ring. "They are really rare" he said. He extended his hand and touched the ring. "Argh" he took his hand off it, "what's wrong Hagrid?" Harry asked.

"I...I felt heat" he said, rubbing his hand. And then he went outside and they heard water splash.

"Why didn't you tell him not to touch it" Hermione hissed at Harry, "what...I didn't notice him..."

Hagrid came back inside, "I'm alright...there's nothing wrong now" he smiled at them, and his hand looked normal.

They began talking again, and Harry felt relieved that the ring wasn't mentioned again. But then, he heard something.

He looked around him, frowning. "What's wrong Harry?" Ron asked, noticing Harry's frowning.

"I...I thought I heard something" he said, still searching the hut. Then he knew where the source was.

Harry looked down at the ring and saw the snake glowing green. "What's that?" Hagrid asked.

"Nothing" Harry quickly said, and he got up and went outside, closing the door behind him.

"What is it?" he hissed at the snake. "Where have you been?" a hissing answered, "I've been calling you for a whole five minutes"

"I didn't hear you Iris...what do you want? Is everything alright?" he asked her.

"Yeah...I thought that you had something wrong" she said, and Harry frowned, "what?"

"I had a warning that someone was trying to steal the ring from you...or if you were in danger...so I wanted to check on you"

"Oh...you mean you know when someone touches the ring beside me?" he said, amazed.

"Yeah...then you know that someone touched it?" she said. "Yeah...it was only Hagrid..." he said.

"What?...who?" she said, sounding puzzled. "Never mind" he said.

"Well...just be careful next time...don't let anyone touches it...they will got hurt" she said.

"Ok..."

"And just to let you know...when the ring is not with you, and someone was trying to steal it, then you will feel heat"

"Oh...I see" he said, nodding. "But wait a minute" he suddenly said.

"What?"

"How will I be without the ring if I couldn't take it off?" he asked. Iris was silent, no one answered.

"Hello...Iris, are you there?"

"Harry...yeah I'm here...listen, I have to go now, ok?" she said.

"yeah...but wait" he said, "you didn't answer me..." but no one answered after that. "Iris?...Iris?"

The ring was silent, "how rude" he said, annoyed. Then he headed back inside the hut.

"What was that?" Hagrid asked, frowning. "Oh, nothing...I just remembered something that I had to do"

Harry sat beside Ron, "nothing" he continued drinking his tea.

"Alright then..." Hagrid said.

Iris headed towards her dormitory, I hate homework, it a lot and I don't have a lot of time. She walked inside and shut the door behind her. Everyone was eating dinner in the dinning room, but she didn't feel like eating right now.

"Who's Hagrid I wonder?" she whispered, frowning. "I think I'll send a letter to Harry...he will explain everything to me in there" she went to the owl room and located her owl. "Here you are" she said. Iris wrote the letter and tied it to the owl's leg. "Go now...hope Harry gets it" she was just turning towards the door, when she heard a whooshing sound.

She looked behind and saw another owl landing inside the owl room. "Hi..." Iris said, and then she noticed that the owl had a note tied to her leg. "Harry?" she walked towards her and untied her leg, the owl flew quickly into the night sky.

Iris opened the letter and started reading.

As she progressed, her eyes grew wider and wider, and then she finished.

The parchment fell on the ground. Iris stood there, unmoving and shocked.

She was lost in a horrible thought, when suddenly she felt heat.