Chapter 8: Weighing of the Wands

As we walk to class Harry hands me a package and says, "It didn't have a return address, but it's for you. I don't know why the crow that brought it handed it to me."

"Thank you, expect more things like this in the future." I tell him quietly and he nods.

I open the package and find a note, a vile of golden liquid, and a golden bracelet with a small black crystal set into it. I open the note and silently read it as we walk, You don't really think that I'm going to keep going without talking to you, do you? Once the bracelet is put on only you or I will be able to remove it. Put it on and I will explain the potion. I smile before pulling the bracelet on.

As soon as it's on it resizes to fit my wrist tightly, but not painfully tight, and I immediately hear Hella mentally ask, 'Is it you, my dear seer?'

'It's me.' I tell her.

'Excellent. Now, before I explain the potion, I want a way to complete the plans faster.' she tells me as me and my friends enter our first class. 'I can't stand having only these short meetings we've been having. Do you have any ideas?'

'If I'm right about the current date then you just finished taking over Asgard, right?' I ask.

'You saw the exact date I would complete my goals?' she asks. 'You are correct about the current date and the events of the day. In fact just before you put the bracelet on I took over the mind of the last rebel with help from that staff of Loki's.'

'Yes, now, that means you can start helping Loki. He has a way to break magical contracts. With your help he'll have taken over everywhere except here by the time the second task ends. I'll send the signal to drop the wards three days after that.' I tell her, 'That shortens the time until his victory by about six months, and you'll be able to see me for longer than a few minutes after that.'

'Excellent, when should I join Loki?' she asks.

'Check your notebook.' I tell her as my friends notice how late everyone is and Hermione turns to me before asking, "Where is everyone?"

"They'll get here at some point." I say before thinking to Hella, 'So what is the potion?'

'Right, it is a potion that will give you a permanent boost to your physical abilities.' she tells me and I look at the small vial. 'You will be stronger than any Asgardian, fast as a...what is that creature called? The one with the spots that moves fast from Midguard?'

'A cheetah?' I ask.

'Yes. Faster than one of those.' she says. 'You will also be ready after the potion to take an apple of immortality so you can live as long as me. You might want to mix it with a drink, it doubles the effects.'

I smile at that news as Lily and the rest of the class come walking into the room...really slowly, like they're moving through molasses. 'Thank you, love. I need to focus on class now.'

'Have a good day.' she says and I send a pulse of magic out, making them speed up...like pressing fast forward on a movie.

Classes fly past, partly because they were talking at super speed, and my friends and I have just sat down for dinner. Dumbledore steps up to the podium and announces to the school, "I received news two hours ago that this morning Loki's forces were joined by a new group, this one led by a female who calls herself Hella." he says and I put a surprised look on my face as James and Lily look at me. "But fear not, dear students, they still have yet to reach the UK."

He steps down so James and Lily take the chance to rush up to me and one of them taps my shoulder. I look over at them and James asks, "Your soulmate is part of this?"

"This is the first I've heard of it." I lie, "I haven't seen her since the first. As I said then, however, I can't stop her from doing what she wants too."

"Why not?" he demands.

"Because she has her own free will and, as someone who has lived the life of a slave until this year, I value free will and will do nothing to restrict it." I say blankly as I pour myself a drink and pour the potion into it, chugging it down before rising to my feet and saying, "I'm not particularly hungry at the moment. I'm going to bed."

I walk out and immediately finish setting up my first big prank before going to my room and laying down. I check the date and see that tomorrow is the thirteenth. I decide to delay activating the prank until after the weighing of the wands and fall asleep. The next day everyone is on edge, no one sure when the prank is going to activate.

I twirl my true wand between my fingers and watch them all squeak and squirm as I smirk. In the middle of Potions Class, Snape is being rather nasty towards Hadrian and I'm just finishing my potion when Collin Creevey comes to get me for the Weighing of the Wands. I turn my potion in; Snape dismisses me so I follow Collin to the classroom we'll be using.

When I enter I see Cedric talking with the Beauxbatons champion, Ludo Bagman is sitting at a set of desks that have been pushed together and covered in velvet and speaking with a woman who is wearing magenta robes, and Viktor Krum is standing in the corner moodily. I stand next to the door, about to do my best to be ignored, but that gets stopped by Ludo Bagman spotting me and rushing over.

"Ah, here she is, champion number four!" he says in an excited tone, "In you come, Iris, in you come, nothing to worry about, it's just the Wand Weighing Ceremony, the rest of the judges will be here in a moment. Just checking to see if your wands are fully functional, no problems, you know, as they are your most important tools in the tasks ahead. The expert's upstairs now with Dumbledore, and then there's going to be a little photo shoot, this is Rita Skeeter." he gestures to the witch in the magenta robes, "She's doing a small piece on the tournament for the Daily Prophet."

"Maybe not that small, Ludo." Rita Skeeter says, her eyes on me. Her hair is set in elaborate and curiously rigid curls that contrasts oddly with her heavy jawed face, she wears jeweled spectacles and the thick fingers clutching her crocodile skin handbag ends in two inch nails painted crimson. "I wonder if I could have a little word with Iris before we start." she says with a smirk without looking over at Ludo. "The youngest champion, you know, to add a bit of color."

"Certainly." says Bagman, "That is if Iris has no objection."

"Uh." I say, about to oppose the idea but getting interrupted by Rita.

"Lovely." she says and in a second her one of her taloned hands has my arm in a strong grip and she's steering me out of the room again. She opens a nearby door and says, "We don't want to be in there with all that noise. Let's see, ah yes, this is nice and cozy."

"This is a broom cupboard." I say blankly.

"It'll do." she insists before saying, "Come along dear. That's right. Lovely." she says while perching on an upturned bucket and pushing me into sitting on a box as she closes the door, throwing us into darkness. "Let's see now." she unsnaps her crocodile skin handbag, pulls out a handful of candles, which she lights with her wand and floats into the air so we can see what we're doing. "You won't mind, Iris, if I use a Quick Quotes Quill? It leaves me free to talk to you normally."

"Uh, sure?" I say unsurely.

Rita Skeeter's smile widens and I see that she has three gold teeth. She reaches into her bag and pulls out a long, acid green, quill and a roll of parchment which she rolls out between us on a crate of Misses Gowers all purpose magical mess remover. She sucks on the tip of the quill for a moment before placing the tip on the parchment, where it sits there, standing on its point and quivering slightly.

"Testing, my name is Rita Skeeter, Daily Prophet Reporter." she says and I watch as the quill skitters across the parchment, "Attractive blonde Rita Skeeter, forty three, who's savage quill has punctured many inflated reputations. Lovely." she then rips the top of the parchment with the words on it off, crumples it, and stuffs it into her handbag before leaning towards me and saying, "So, Iris, did your twin brother put his name into the goblet, or was it just you who was entered?"

"No comment." I say blankly.

"What is it like being the sister of the boy who lived?" she asks

"No comment." I say again and the questions continue like that for a while.

Eventually Rita asks, "What about your parents; are they the perfect parents everyone thinks?"

The parchment and quill suddenly go up in flames before I stand and exit the closet, I then walk back into the classroom that they're weighing the wands in and take a seat next to the door with the other champions as Ollivander gets introduced and Dumbledore takes his seat among the judges.

Dumbledore gestures at Ollivander and says, "He will be checking your wands to ensure that they are in good condition before the tournament."

I look at Ollivander and he smiles a bit before saying, "Mademoiselle Delacour, could we have you forward first please?" Fleur Delacour sweeps into the center of the room where Ollivander is standing and hands him her wand. "Hmm," the wand maker says as he twirls the wand between his long fingers like a baton and it emits a number of pink and gold stars. Then he holds it close to his eyes and examines it carefully. As he does this I pull out my true wand. "Yes." he says quietly, "Nine and a half inches, inflexible, Rosewood and containing...dear me-"

"A hair from ze head of a Veela." Fleur says nodding proudly, "One of my Grandmothers."

"Yes." Ollivander says. "Yes, I've never used Veela hair myself, of course. I find it makes rather temperamental wands. However to each his own and if it suits you." Ollivander runs his hand along the wand to check for scratches and bumps before muttering, "Orchedius." a bunch of flowers bursts from the tip of Fleur's wand. "Vary well, very well, it's in fine working order." he scoops up the flowers and hands them to Fleur with her wand, "Mister Diggory, you next."

Fleur glides back to her seat, smiling at Cedric as he passes her and I lean in to speak to her once she takes her seat. I smile and say, "I'm sorry about him talking bad about your wand core like that. He tends to favor wands made by himself. Just wait until he sees the one I'm gonna use. He hates it."

She laughs a bit before I look over at Ollivander again as he enthusiastically says, "Ah, this is one of mine, now, isn't it?" Cedric hands over his wand, "Yes, I remember it well, containing a single hair from the tail of a particularly fine male unicorn, must've been seventeen heads, nearly gored me with his horn after I plucked his tail, twelve and a quarter inches, ash, pleasantly springy, it's in fine condition. You treat it regularly?"

"Polished it last night." Cedric says with a grin.

Ollivander tests Cedric's wand, pronounces that he's satisfied, and says, "Mister Krum, if you please." Viktor Krum gets up and slouches, round shouldered and duck footed towards Ollivander. He thrusts his wand out and stands scowling with his hands in his robes pockets once Ollivander takes it and hums again in thought, "This is a Gregorovitch creation unless I'm much mistaken. A fine wand maker though the styling is never quite what I...however." he lifts the wand and examines it, "Yes, Hornbeam and Dragon Heartstring." he shoots at Krum, who nods, "Rather thicker than one usually sees, quite rigid, ten and a quarter inches. Avis." the wand produces several small twittering birds and they go through the open window, "Good." Ollivander says, "Which leaves, Misses Potter."

I walk forward and say, "Lovely to see you again, sir." I hold my wand out to him and his hands fly up in a surrendering motion. I set the wand on the table and he lowers his hands and looks at it.

He nods and says, "Your wand is ten inches, acacia and elder, containing Basilisk Fang, Dementor Cloak Strand, and a Nundu hair, unyielding. The wand is made by Gregorovitch and it is infused with your blood all throughout it. Now, Iris, since you are the only one who can touch your wand, please show us a simple levitation charm." Ollivander says so I cast the levitation charm and watch as the judges in their chairs as well as the desks all float about a foot into the air. "Excellent, now set them down gently." I do and he grins, "I think the wand will perform more than fine, thank you dear."

I smile and bow my head before we get dismissed. As we're walking out Viktor looks at me and asks, "Your wand was made by Gregorovitch?"

"Yes, it's the last one he ever made personally." I tell him.

"How did you get him to do it?" he asks, looking interested in hearing more about my wand.

"Oh, he was visiting Ollivander to trade for supplies he could give his apprentice. I came in with a fang from the basilisk I killed in my second year here. I wanted a wand made from it and when Ollivander refused to, Gregorovitch took me into the back of the shop to select the materials and suggested that I tie it to myself by giving some of my DNA so no one else can use it."

"So you chose to use your blood?" he asks curiously.

"Yes, I remembered reading in first year that blood is the most powerful magical conductor a human can give." I tell him before pulling out my wand and letting him see it.

"The shadows cling to it?" he asks.

"Yes." I say with a smirk. "Because of its rather dark cores my parents and Dumbledore confiscated it from me illegally. I only got it back this year."

"Cores?" he asks.

"Yes, it has three of them." I say, "All considered quite dark. That's what causes the aura."

"What happens if another person tries to use it?" he asks. "The wand maker said only you could."

"If they weren't wearing dragon hide gloves then they would barely lift it and it would send out a pulse of magical backlash so severe they would be lucky to survive. If they were then as soon as they try to fire off a spell the wand would kill them." I say. "This wand is truly mine."

"Impressive." he says. "You say you fought a basilisk when you were only twelve?"

"Yes, seventy five feet long, harvested it the other week with the help of Professor Snape. I had it under preserving charms for the last two years so it wouldn't go bad." I tell him as we reach the Slytherin dormitories and I say the password, "Have a nice night, Mr. Krum."

"Please, call me Viktor." he says and I nod.

"Only if you call me Iris." I say before walking to my room.