Chapter 19: Round Two
I watch the tear as it slowly trails down my hand, gleaming in the light. I feel another one slide down my other cheek and quickly wipe it away, another comes. I look over at the adults here as my vision goes blurry and I begin panicking, rushing from the room. As I run I pass by James and Lily, who both call out to me. I don't stop until I'm in a girls bathroom. I spend the next few minutes crying before washing my face and hearing someone enter, rushing to hide in a stall. I take a few shaky breaths and try to calm myself down.
"Kid?" I hear Natasha ask, "You in here?"
"Go away." I call back.
"Kid, come out of the stall." she calls back, "Just for a few minutes."
"I didn't do anything wrong." I call to her.
"I know that." she says gently from just outside the stall. I sit on the ground and after a few minutes of silence she asks, "Do you think you're in trouble for crying?"
"Aren't I?" I ask.
"No, why would you think that?" she asks as someone else rushes in.
"Iris?" I hear Lily ask.
"Get out, Lily." I call back. "No one wants or needs you here. You are supposed to be doing something right now."
I hear Lily sigh and gently say, "Iris, can you come out of the stall please?"
"Make her leave." I tell Natasha, "I have no interest in speaking to those who willingly sent me to hell." Natasha moves away from the stall as I hear Hella ask, 'Are you alright, my hear?'
'I...can't talk right now.' I tell her hesitantly.
'I understand. Just promise you'll tell me later.' she says and I send an affirmative as Natasha returns to the stall and says, "She's in the hall, can you come out now?"
I remain silent for a moment before standing and cracking the stall door a bit. I look at the woman standing in front of me and hesitantly say, "I'm sorry."
"You aren't in trouble." she tells me, frowning slightly. "Come out of the stall, we can talk. Okay?"
I close the stall and say, "I need to make sure I am safe before I can."
"Alright, do whatever you have too." she says and I enter a seers trance and find that surprisingly, there's only one path ahead of me, and it leads to the Avengers becoming completely loyal to me, like a family. Even to the point where they willingly join and bow down to Loki and Hella. I exit the trance before slowly walking out of the stall. Natasha smiles gently at me and asks, "So, can we talk now?"
I take a breath before saying, "Sure." I walk over to the sinks and wash my face before turning back to her and conjuring two chairs for us. We take seats and for the next hour I force myself to tell the spy my past, the story behind every scar I have, even showing her a few of said scars, the mental abuse I suffered, the chores I was had to do, the malnourishment, the punishments given if I would cry, what was in the basement, everything. At the end of it I take a breath and say, "That's why I thought I was in trouble for crying. Because at any point before my birthday this year that I would cry would be met with torture."
To say that Natasha looks livid would be the same as saying the moon rotates the earth or water is wet. She takes a few breaths and composes her expression, though her eyes still give away how angry she is. After a moment she calmly says, "You are not in trouble for crying. That...pig will get what he deserves. The people who sent you to them have no say in your life and I will make sure they stay away from you from now on."
I nod, unsure how to respond to that before hearing Hella quietly tell me, 'I'm sorry...I was listening to that.'
'I know.' I tell her, 'You being there mentally is the only thing that kept me talking.' I then look at Natasha and say, "Thank you, Miss Romanoff."
"You can call me Natasha, or Nat, both work for me." she says before we stand and I get rid of the chairs. "Now, how about we go and do that practice for the task you were talking about."
I smirk and say, "I suppose we could do that without leaving the castle, I'll have to talk to the Weasley twins first though."
She nods, looking confused and we walk out, finding Lily waiting in the hall. She takes a step towards me and Natasha blocks her way before saying, "Back off."
"She's my daughter." Lily says.
"Last I checked, you abandoned her." Natasha says. "I'm not letting you near her. Back off." Lily hesitates before taking a step back. Natasha then looks at me and says, "Let's go, kid."
I nod and we walk away, finding the Weasley twins working on creating my flying piranhas. I clear my throat and they look at me, "I think its time for some swimming."
"Didn't you already flood the castle?" Fred asks.
"Yes, but not in such a way that we have to swim everywhere." I say and they grin, "Now, I came to check on the cat-sharks."
"Oh, we just finished those, Hermione's cat was the perfect little helper." George says.
"Excellent. Now do it to the rest of the cats." I say and they nod before sending out the spell. After that I smirk and say, "This is gonna be rather fun."
I then send out my magic and a second later we're all underwater, breathing fine thanks to the magic I used. I smile at Natasha who idly asks, "How am I breathing?"
"Part of the magic I used makes it so we can speak and breath underwater." I say before beginning to swim around the room, "The next task is an underwater one, this way I can practice every day until they bribe me into draining the castle."
"Is there anywhere that isn't underwater?" she asks.
"The kitchen and the great hall, because food is disgusting when its soaking wet." I tell her and she nods before we begin swimming down the hall. We swim until we find the other Avengers where Natasha explains my newest prank and reasons for doing it.
"Why do you pull pranks like this, Lady Potter?" Thor asks curiously.
"I like pulling pranks...also it was either this or the charm to make everyone's worst fear follow them around for a week, they're lucky that Natasha made me feel a bit better." I tell him. "Also, I need to practice swimming for the next task of the Triwizard Tournament, it's underwater."
"I mean, I think this is great." Tony Stark says. "Can't wait to see what else you do this year, kid."
"He's being serious." Natasha tells me and I smirk again.
"I have quite a few things planned, don't worry, Tony." I say before swimming away and calling over my shoulder, "I'm gonna go scare a few kids with an illusion as I swim."
"Can we keep this kid?" I hear Tony ask as I shift into my sea serpent form and begin swimming around the school.
After a while I find Viktor, Fleur, and Cedric floating around and talking with each other. I swim over and they see me, seeming to understand what I'm doing immediately and shifting into their water based forms. We then proceed to race around the school, terrorizing the students and making even the teachers avoid our path. After a while I shift back to my human form and the other champions join me before we swim to the great hall for dinner.
We sit at our table and I dish myself a plate before pausing when I'm approached by Dumbledore. I look up at him and say, "Lord Dumbledore."
"Iris, I wondered if I could have a word with you for a moment." he says in his usual grandfatherly tone. I tilt my head and frown at him.
"In private?" I ask
"Yes." he says with a nod.
"No, you cannot." I say, "I don't trust you not to try to put some sort of spell on me."
"I would never." he says looking surprised and insulted.
"I can't be sure what you would and wouldn't do. After all, you've sent a baby to hell before." I sneer before eating my food and standing, "Now if you will excuse me, I'm going to my room."
I walk away and open the doors to the great hall, which allows everyone in it to see the wall of water outside. I dive into it and swim to my room before entering my trunk. I take a shower before getting into pajamas and climbing into the bed my trunk has. I fall asleep quickly after saying a quick goodnight to Hella.
I wake up to a knock on my trunk lid. I yawn and get up before walking up to answer whoever is knocking. I find James and Lily floating there and scowl before saying, "No, get out." I then close the lid and move back down the stairs, only for them to knock again. I growl and swing it open before snarling, "Leave me alone. I was asleep."
"Please, we just want to talk." Lily says and I move to close the lid but stop when she says, "I heard what you told Black Widow." I freeze and open the lid again, giving her a cold glare she takes a breath and adds, "I told your father."
"Get out of my room, Mrs. Potter. I want nothing to do with you." I snarl before closing the lid and going to my forge. I spend a while listening to them knocking as I work on the armor sets for the rest of my friends. After a while the knocking stops and I finish the set I'm working on before checking the time and seeing that its nearly breakfast time. I climb from my trunk and go to the great hall.
The next several days blur past and now its time for the next round of the Quidditch Tournament, which is why Lee is so cheerful as he announces, "Welcome everyone to the third round of the Champions Quidditch Tournament. Starting us off we have the Flying Badgers verses the Sky Strikes; whoever isn't playing for this round please move off the pitch at this time."
I go and sit with the Avengers to watch the match between Cedric and Hadrian. Natasha looks excited, Tony and Thor look interested, and Steve looks frightened as he says, "That looks dangerous."
"It is." I say with a shrug, "But it's also incredibly fun. You see those balls that are flying on their own?" he nods, "Those are Bludgers, they go after the players. Currently they're going after the seekers, which in this case are Cedric and Harry. The members on the teams with the bats are called the Beaters, they're job is to protect the seekers from the Bludgers. Each team has three chasers, two beaters, a seeker and a keeper. The chasers take that normal ball, the Quaffle, and try to get it through one of the three hoops while the keeper tries to keep it out of their hoops. The snitch is a little gold ball with wings that the seekers chase after. A team gets ten points for scoring a hoop and a hundred and fifty for the team that gets the snitch."
"How dangerous does this get?" Steve asks in a concerned tone.
"Oh, there's been several deaths or injuries in this sport. For example, in my second year I took a Bludger to the head and fell fifty feet." I tell him, "I was in a coma for a couple weeks, but mostly unharmed, thankfully."
"Good thing that you're ok." he says, sounding relieved as we watch Harry catch the snitch. I cheer for him before standing up.
"Now the Soaring Dragons and the Bulgarian Bulls will take the field!" Lee says.
"Wish me luck." I say before flying onto the field and up to the same height as Viktor. The match starts out fine, until both Bludgers begin targeting me, I look through the crowd and spot Ronald putting his wand away. I swerve around to him, turn upside down, and fly towards him, turning right side up just before I can collide with him and hearing him get hit by the bludgers before I go back onto the field and spot the snitch, racing towards it as the Bludgers follow after me.
I roll over Viktor and snatch the snitch a second before he can grab it before proceeding to race around the pitch in an attempt to get rid of the Bludgers that have apparently been cursed to not stop until I take another fall. I move down and fly just over the pitch before one of the Bludgers begins coming straight towards me. I wait until it almost hits me before rolling out of the way and hearing the Bludgers hit each other. I look back, finding them in tatters on the ground. I then slow to a stop and show that I have the snitch.
"Soaring Dragons win the round with some amazing maneuvering performed by the Viper of the Quidditch Pitch! We'll see you folks for the elimination round in two weeks." Lee announces excitedly as the crowd bursts into cheers and the teams land.
