⌗ ⌗ ⌗

A week later, Iris walked right into Professor Snape's office and dropped a hefty stack of books on his desk with a raucous BANG.

"I could use your help."

The dark-haired wizard looked up at her with a kind of dull surprise buried within his black eyes. He regarded the young girl carefully, his gaze shifting to the books that sat before him. It was an assortment of potion recipe books and how-tos along with one or two expert-level textbooks.

"What is all of this, Miss Potter?" Professor Snape droned.

Iris rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet as she explained, "I figured out what the second task is—"

Snape cut her off, "You are aware I am not permitted to assist you with these tasks, Potter?"

The brunette witch bit her lip, thinking quickly, "Okay then, for educational research purposes, I would like to make a potion that allows someone to breathe underwater for at least an hour," Iris suggested, "However, I don't think I'm quite at the level to pull it off. The only possible potions I've found are extremely advanced."

Staring at her for a moment longer, Snape then reached over and swiftly grabbed the top book on the stack. Briefly skimming through the pages, he muttered, "No," and set it aside in distaste. Iris watched quietly as he repeated the process with the rest of the books, disapproving of all but one.

"This one has potential, though a few alterations will need to be made." Iris listened carefully, hope rising inside of her, "Unfortunately, this potion also takes a considerable amount of time to brew... Although I believe it will be ready in time for your... research."

Iris felt giddy with relief; it would work, she would be able to complete the second task.

⌗ ⌗ ⌗

Almost two months later, Iris felt prepared for their next challenge. The second task would take place in two days and her potion had finished brewing just the day before.

In those two months, Iris had spent a lot of her time with Cedric. The way she felt when she was with him gave her a rush and she didn't have to worry about things like homework or their impending doom. She could relax in his company. Spending more time with Cedric meant spending more time with his friends, and Iris was happy to. Issac and his Yule Ball date, Nathan, had gotten together after Christmas and so the four of them, along with Kasper and Maddie, decided to go on a triple date for Valentine's Day that year.

There was an underlying feeling of fear that began surfacing the closer the second task came though, and no amount of time spent soaking in romantic gestures from her boyfriend would help Iris at the end of the day. They had made a mutual agreement to not discuss the task at all or what they were doing for it, only reassuring one another that they did indeed have a plan so as not to drown in the Black Lake.

Finally, there were two days left until the five champions would be delving underwater. Iris was enjoying spending time with her brother and Hermione that day until a certain piece of information found its way to her.

"Harry you told me literally weeks ago that you had figured the clue out! The task is two days from now! How are you supposed to figure anything out in that time?" Iris whisper-yelled, trying not to draw attention.

Harry groaned, leaning through an archway window on the bridge they were standing on. He stared out at the Hogwarts grounds that bled into the Forbidden Forest with a grimace on his face.

"Yeah, yeah. You've figured it all out then?"

Iris gave him a look, "As a matter of fact, I have."

From his other side, Hermione turned to Harry, pursing her lips, "You are trying to figure this egg out, aren't you?"

Harry looked at her, irritated, "What's that supposed to mean?"

The two girls exchanged a look. They could admit that they were frightened of what was to come, especially if Harry had absolutely go game plan and no idea what he was walking into.

"I mean these tasks are supposed to test you, in the most brutal way they're almost cruel. And um, I'm scared for you. You got by the dragon mostly on nerve... I'm not sure it's going to be enough this time," Hermione answered.

A distant shout caught the attention of the three, "Iris!"

The said girl turned to see her boyfriend standing at the end of the tunnelled bridge along with Maddie, Issac, and Kasper. They were gesturing her over as the five of them were scheduled to hang out. Cedric turned to the rest of them and said something before jogging over to Harry, Iris, and Hermione.

"Hey Harry," Cedric greeted as he approached them.

"Cedric," Harry responded cooly.

Cedric wrapped his arm across Iris' shoulders as he asked her twin, "How are you?"

Harry looked away for a moment before responding sarcastically, "Spectacular."

Iris squinted uncomfortably, wishing she could just run away from the awkward tension. She knew Harry wasn't the biggest fan of Cedric, as he was very protective over her, but it didn't make their encounters very bearable.

Nevertheless, Cedric was ever the charismatic soul and quickly continued, "Look I realise I never really thanked you properly for tipping me off about those dragons."

"Forget about it. I'm sure you would have done the same for me."

"Exactly. You know the prefect's bathroom on the fifth floor?" Cedric asked.

Harry nodded and Iris understood what Cedric was getting at.

She started smiling a little when her boyfriend leaned closer, a charming grin growing on his face as he said to Harry, "It's not a bad place for a bath. Just take your egg and mull things over in the hot water."

And with that, Cedric backed up, Iris beside him. She gave a wave in good-bye to her brother and Hermione before turning around. Iris let out a laugh, lightly elbowing Cedric.

"Could you possibly be any more cryptic?"

⌗ ⌗ ⌗

After what felt like the quickest two days of her life, Iris was finally standing in front of the impending doom that was the second task. She felt as prepared as possible, which still wasn't much reassurance when considering what she was about to do. They still didn't even know what it was exactly that had been taken from each of them.

Iris stood between Harry and Cedric on one of the three structures they had magicked out into the middle of the lake with a small vial containing her underwater breathing potion in her hand. She gazed out at the dark water, a part of her wondering what danger lurked beneath the sunkissed ripples.

Dumbledore's voice broke over the chattering crowd, "Welcome to the second task. Last night something was stolen from each of our champions. A treasure of sorts. These five treasures, one for each champion, now lie on the bottom of the black lake."

Iris was a jumble of nerves. She bounced on her toes and tried to block out the urge to let the hundreds of whispers from nearby students break into her consciousness.

"In order to win each champion need only find their treasure and return to the surface. Simple enough. Except for this, they will have one hour to do so and one hour only. After that, they'll be on their own."

The message was clear. It definitely put some fear into Iris as she stared into the dark abyss in front of her.

"You may begin at the start of the cannon."

Almost the exact second he finished his sentence, Filch fired the cannon. An exasperated roll of eyes echoed around the people near her, but the champions wasted no time. Iris quickly raised the potion to her lips and emptied it. A heavy feeling was rising within her stomach as she left only a split second to feel the dread of willingly diving into the Black Lake before taking one final breath and doing so.

It was the strangest sensation breathing underwater. It felt extremely unnatural to Iris. She watched as one by one her fellow champions swam off into the deep oblivion. Cedric had waited a moment longer than Fleur and Krum just to make sure that her potion had worked and that Iris was alright before she shooed him off.

Iris had spent the last month and a half practising swimming in order to be prepared for the challenge. She wasn't anything amazing but at least she could somewhat move and function in water. The water was ice cold but she couldn't really feel it. It was like a blanket around her, she could feel the water touching her and that she was wet, but it wasn't doing anything other than forming a thin cocoon around her body.

Iris watched as Harry grew gills and flippers a few meters away from her. He looked disoriented for a moment before his eyes found hers and he gave Iris a thumbs up. With the relief that Harry was okay, Iris took off.

She used a combination of a strange doggy-paddle and using her wand to shoot off jets of bubbles to propel her forward. Silence pressed upon her ears as she paddled over a strange, dark, foggy landscape. She could only see barely ten feet around her so that as she sped through the water new scenes seemed to loom suddenly out of the incoming darkness: forests of rippling, tangled black weed, wide plains of mud littered with dull, glimmering stones. She swam deeper and deeper, out toward the middle of the lake, her eyes wide, staring through the eerily grey-lit water around her to the shadow beyond, where the water became opaque. 

Small fish flickered past her like silver darts. Once or twice she thought she saw something larger moving ahead of her, but when she got nearer, she discovered it to be nothing but a large, blackened log, or a dense clump of weed. There was no sign of any of the other champions, merpeople — nor, thankfully, the giant squid. 

The deeper she got, the more noticeable a sensation of pressure on her felt. It wasn't unbearable but it certainly wasn't comfortable either. Light green weed stretched ahead of her as far as she could see, two feet deep, like a meadow of very overgrown grass.

She swam slowly on for what felt like at least twenty minutes. She was passing over vast expanses of black mud now, which swirled murkily as she disturbed the water. Then, at long last, she heard a snatch of haunting mersong. 

"An hour long you'll have to look, And to recover what we took..." 

Iris swam faster and soon saw a large rock emerge out of the muddy water ahead. It had paintings of merpeople on it; they were carrying spears and chasing what looked like the giant squid. Iris swam on past the rock, following the mersong. 

"... your time's half gone, so tarry not lest what you seek stays here to rot..." 

A cluster of crude stone dwellings stained with algae loomed suddenly out of the gloom on all sides. Here and there at the dark windows, Iris saw faces... faces that bore no resemblance at all to the painting of the mermaid in the prefects' bathroom... 

The merpeople had greyish skin and long, wild, dark green hair. Their eyes were yellow, as were their broken teeth, and they wore thick ropes of pebbles around their necks. They leered at Iris as she swam past; one or two of them emerged from their caves to watch her better, their powerful, silver fish tails beating the water, spears clutched in their hands. 

Iris propelled herself onward, staring around, and soon the dwellings became more numerous; there were gardens of weed around some of them, and she even saw a pet grindylow tied to a stake outside one door. Merpeople were emerging on all sides now, watching her eagerly, pointing at her, talking behind their hands to one another. Iris sped around a corner and a very strange sight met her eyes. 

A whole crowd of merpeople was floating in front of the houses that lined what looked like a mer-version of a village square. A choir of merpeople was singing in the middle, calling the champions toward them, and behind them rose a crude sort of statue; a gigantic merperson hewn from a boulder. Three people were bound tightly to the tail of the stone merperson.

Hermione was tied between Ron and a girl who looked no older than eight, whose clouds of silvery hair made Iris feel sure that she was Fleur Delacour's sister. All three of them appeared to be in a very deep sleep. Their heads were lolling onto their shoulders, and fine streams of bubbles kept issuing from their mouths.

It made perfect sense to Iris. Of course, their best friends would be the thing they valued most. By the lack of two other people, Iris had to suspect that Cedric and Viktor had already come through. A small wave of comfort washed through her with the knowledge that Cedric had gotten through the challenge.

Just in front of the three unconscious people was Harry. He was floating around looking rather panicked as his eyes grazed through the water. When he spotted Iris they widened with enormous relief as he beckoned her over. Quickly paddling through the water, Iris made her way over to him.

"Why are you still here?!" Iris spoke, though it came out sounding slightly garbled through the water.

Her twin gestured at the three floating figures, mouthing, "I couldn't leave them." He then pointed at her and Iris got the message — he wouldn't leave without knowing Iris had made it.

Iris nodded her head towards their friends and Fleur's sister and then pointed up towards the surface. She was getting worried, it had taken her too long to get down there and her potion would be running out of time soon.

Harry pulled out his wand as well and the two siblings moved to cut the ropes that chained the students to the rock, but the mermen now closed in around Hermione, Ron, and the little girl, shaking their heads at them. Iris understood then that they only wanted them to take one each, but she was absolutely not about to leave Fleur's sister down there, even though she was positive Dumbledore and the other teachers would allow no harm to come to them.

"Get out of the way!" Harry shouted.

Only bubbles flew out of his mouth, but Iris had the distinct impression that the mermen had understood him because they suddenly stopped laughing. Their yellowish eyes were fixed upon Harry's wand, and they looked scared. There might be a lot more of them than there were of him and Iris, but she could tell, by the looks on their faces, that they knew no more magic than the giant squid did. 

"You've got until three!" Harry shouted; a great stream of bubbles burst from him, but he held up three fingers to make sure they got the message. Iris lifted her wand higher, floating back to back with Harry as a few more merpeople eyed them from behind. "One..." (he put down a finger) "two..." (he put down a second one) -They scattered.

Harry and Iris darted forward and pulled at the ropes binding Hermione, Ron, and the small girl to the statue, and at last, they were free. The twins seized each of their own treasures and held the little girl between them before they kicked off from the bottom.

It was very slow work. Iris could tell Harry was having a difficult time holding the weight of both Ron and Fleur's sister, as well as helping Iris move faster than she was before. She kicked her legs furiously, but Hermione and Fleur's sister were like potato-filled sacks dragging her back down... She fixed her eyes skyward, though she knew they must still be very deep, the water above them was so dark,...

Iris felt bad for slowing Harry down. She knew he would probably already be out of the lake if he hadn't been essentially dragging her along as well. Iris had never felt like such a hindrance before but it left an awful guilty feeling in the pit of her stomach.

Merpeople were rising with them. Iris could see them swirling around the twins with ease, watching them struggle through the water... Would they pull them back down to the depths when the time was up? She wondered if they perhaps eat humans? Iris wished she had studied them better before the challenge. She could feel Harry slowing down considerably and her own legs were seizing up with the effort to keep swimming; her shoulders were aching horribly with the effort of dragging Hermione and the girl...

She gave her brother a long look, one very prominent option coming to mind. He was faster and stronger than her and, yes, she was smarter, but Iris could acknowledge when she needed to take a step back for the good of others. She loosened her grip on Fleur's sister and stopped kicking her feet.

Iris was drawing breath with extreme difficulty. She was becoming very aware of how wet the water was in her mouth...

Iris let go, letting Harry continue upwards with a lighter load. Using her weight to counter Hermione's, Iris gave her best friend a hard shove upwards, inconveniently sending herself in the opposite direction.

Her head was pounding as she sank lower into the darkness sending a final thought to Harry:

GO.

Iris knew he was struggling, that he was panicking and wanted to go back for her but he was so close to the surface that it just wasn't an option. His gillyweed had run out, and Iris was nowhere to be seen.

As she fell lower, Iris felt increasingly dizzy. She held onto her last breath of oxygen for as long as she could but she could feel the water invading her mouth and flooding into her lungs. Iris wanted to cry. She could barely think, her head hurt so bad, let alone feebly paddle twenty metres back up to the surface.

She had lost all hope. Of course, the swimming challenge was the one she was going to die in. Fate loved to play tricks, she thought.

Then, something began happening that she had no explanation for. A blue bubble formed around her, the water draining out until there was only air. Iris gasped in the oxygen, violently coughing up water. When she had gotten as much of it out as she could and was finally breathing normally, she inspected the bubble. It was a thin, see-through layer, almost shiny but not quite. The strangest part was that there were arcs of electricity racing around the outside of the bubble. Iris realised that it was moving upwards, carrying her toward the surface.

Iris was confused, she hadn't made this happen. Yet the darkness was definitely thinning now. She could see daylight above her.

About five metres from the top, the bubble popped. Iris was startled but quickly tried to move upwards. Not a moment later, a face emerged from the darkness of the lake water. The person, upon spotting Iris, practically bulldozed her into a hug, swiftly swimming them both up to the surface.

And then she felt her head break the surface of the lake; wonderful, cold, clear air was making her wet face sting; she gulped it down, feeling as though she had never breathed properly before. All around her, wild, green-haired heads were emerging out of the water with her, but they were smiling at her. 

The crowd in the stands was making a great deal of noise; shouting and screaming, they all seemed to be on their feet. Iris turned to the one who had grabbed her and started sobbing in exhaustion and relief as Cedric held her in his arms.

Her wonderful boyfriend had dove back into the freezing lake to find her when she hadn't come up with Harry. He was treading in the water, easily supporting both himself and Iris. Cedric brushed Iris' sopping wet and slightly tangled hair away from her face as he began swimming towards the dock where everyone was waiting.

"It's okay, you did it. You did great, love," he praised her softly.

As soon as they got within arms reach of the people waiting, too many hands to count wrapped around Iris and helped pull her from the lake. A familiar body the same size as her own wrapped around and Iris sank into her brother's arms. His embrace was warm and loving and she could feel him trembling slightly. Iris squeezed him, noticing Dumbledore hovering next to them with a relieved look in his usually twinkling eyes.

"Come here, you," said Madam Pomfrey the moment Iris pulled away from Harry. She seized Iris and pulled her over to Hermione, Ron, and the others, wrapped her so tightly in a blanket that she felt as though she were in a straitjacket, and forced a measure of very hot potion down her throat. Steam gushed out of her ears.

As Hermione fussed over Iris and told her how well she had done, Iris took a moment to see who the other hostages had been. She noticed that beside Cedric stood Issac, equally freezing and soaking wet, and Krum's had been someone Iris didn't know from Durmstrang. She recognized him as one of Viktor's close friends though.

Dumbledore was crouching at the water's edge, deep in conversation with what seemed to be the chief merperson, a particularly wild and ferocious-looking female. He was making the same sort of screechy noises that the merpeople made when they were above water; clearly, Dumbledore could speak Mermish. Finally, he straightened up, turned to his fellow judges, and said, "A conference before we give the marks, I think." 

The judges went into a huddle. Madam Pomfrey had gone back to tending to Harry; she led him over to Iris and the others, gave him a blanket and some Pepperup Potion, then went to fetch Fleur and her sister. Fleur had many cuts on her face and arms and her robes were torn, but she didn't seem to care, nor would she allow Madam Pomfrey to clean them.

"Look after Gabrielle," she told her, and then she turned to Harry. "You saved 'er," she said breathlessly. "Even though she was not your 'ostage." 

"Yeah," said Harry, who was looking quite bashful and somewhat regretful. 

Fleur bent down, kissed Harry twice on each cheek making his face go pink, then said to Ron, "And you too-you 'elped -"

"Yeah," said Ron, looking extremely hopeful, "yeah, a bit -" 

Fleur swooped down on him too and kissed him. Iris refrained from laughing at his boyish reaction. Hermione looked simply furious, but just then, Ludo Bagman's magically magnified voice boomed out beside them, making them all jump, and causing the crowd in the stands to go very quiet. 

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached our decision. Merchieftainess Murcus has told us exactly what happened at the bottom of the lake, and we have therefore decided to award marks out of fifty for each of the champions, as follows... Fleur Delacour, though she demonstrated excellent use of the Bubble-Head Charm, was attacked by grindylows as she approached her goal, and failed to retrieve her hostage. We award her twenty-five points." 

Applause from the stands. 

"I deserved zero," said Fleur throatily, shaking her magnificent head. 

"Cedric Diggory, who also used the Bubble-Head Charm, was first to return with his hostage, though he returned one minute outside the time limit of an hour." Enormous cheers from the Hufflepuffs in the crowd. Iris beamed with pride as Cedric grinned, the people around him all cheering. "We therefore award him forty-seven points." 

She was so happy for him. Iris didn't particularly care much about what her score was, she wasn't trying to win in the first place.

"Viktor Krum used an incomplete form of Transfiguration, which was nevertheless effective, and was second to return with his hostage. We award him forty points." 

Karkaroff clapped particularly hard, looking very superior. 

"Iris Potter used an underwater breathing potion, a very effective and clever choice. However, Miss Potter was the last of the champions to return with her hostage as was well outside the time limit of an hour and so we award her thirty-five points."

Iris let out a breath, smiling as everyone around her clapped her on the back and cheered.

"Harry Potter used gillyweed to great effect," Bagman continued. "He returned second to last, and well past an hour. However, the Merchieftainess informs us that Mr Potter was first to reach the hostages and that the delay in his return was due to his determination to return all hostages to safety, not merely his own." 

Iris, Ron, and Hermione all gave Harry half-exasperated, half-commiserating looks. Her brother definitely had a problem with always saving people, though Iris supposed she had a bit of one too.

"Most of the judges," and here, Bagman gave Karkaroff a very nasty look, "feel that this shows moral fibre and merits full marks. However... Mr Potter's score is forty-five points." 

Iris' stomach leapt — he was now tied for first place with Cedric. Iris and both of her friends, caught by surprise, stared at Harry, then laughed and started applauding hard with the rest of the crowd. She grinned excitedly at her twin as he stood in mild shock.

"There you go. Harry!" Ron shouted over the noise. "You weren't being thick after all —you were showing moral fibre!" 

Fleur was clapping very hard too, but Krum didn't look happy at all. He attempted to engage Hermione in conversation again, but she was too busy cheering Harry to listen. 

"The third and final task will take place at dusk on the twenty-fourth of June," continued Bagman, "The champions will be notified of what is coming precisely one month beforehand. Thank you all for your support of the champions." 

It was over. Iris thought dazedly, as Madam Pomfrey began herding the champions and hostages back to the castle to get into dry clothes... it was over, she had got through... she didn't have to worry about anything now until June the twenty-fourth...

But she had no idea the storm that was coming.

⌗ ⌗ ⌗

in conclusion, i am trash

but at least i'm also trash for cedris. i love them more than anyone should probably love a fictional couple, but i'm okay with that

if i'm being honest, i've had a really hard time writing for this story recently, and i want you all to know how much i sincerely appreciate every single comment you guys have left. they're a big part of what's kept me going with this story and they always make my day so thank you! i've decided to skip a lot of fourth year filler stuff, especially in the last few chapters, mainly because it's boring me creatively but also because i'm SO excited to get into fifth year that writing fourth year is just putting me off

i'll keep it short so thank you guys so much for getting this story to 162k reads, it really means a lot and i promise it's only going to get better from here on, i've still got a lot of surprises in store!! i'm also getting close to 600 followers so thank you to all of you who follow me, it makes me so happy to know how many of you enjoy this story and support me!

love you guys, i hope you're all staying safe out there <3