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Iris Potter was a thoroughly strange girl in many ways. For one thing, she hated the summer holidays more than any other time of year. For another, she really wanted to do her homework but was forced to do it in secret with her brother, in the dead of night. And she also happened to be a witch.

That night Harry was attempting to write his History of Magic essay on "Witch Burning in the Fourteenth Century Was Completely Pointless," though he couldn't remember anything they had learned about it so he had turned to their school books for help. At the moment, he was flipping aimlessly through 'A History of Magic', trying to find anything that could help.

"You should try page 173," Iris whispered in her soft voice, peeking her head out from under the covers where she had been reading a book detailing how to do advanced charmwork. Harry whispered back his thanks and started flipping to the page Iris mentioned.

Iris was a legilimens. She had spent her whole life listening to other peoples voices in her head, thinking she was crazy until she went to Hogwarts, where Dumbledore explained her ability. Whereas most had to learn legilimency, Iris was born with a great aptitude for the skill so it came naturally to her.

The twins' thirteenth birthday was the next day, and every time Iris looked in the mirror, she was mesmerized by how much she and Harry had grown over the years.

Her brother's hair was still dark and messy as always, though he had grown a few inches within the last year. His emerald green eyes continued to get recognition as their mother's. And the scar shaped like a lightning bolt on his forehead was as prominent as ever.

Iris, though older than Harry by sixteen minutes, had always been the smaller twin, with a height of 152.4 centimetres tall. Harry constantly teased her about it, as he was 8 centimetres taller, and it bothered her to no end.

Her rib-length dark brown hair occasionally showed her mother's genes during the sunny months where it turned a deep auburn.

Her eyes, which were a stunning hazel, matched her father, James Potter's.

And her face was round but soft and kind, nearly an exact replica of the late Lily Potter's.

Though one difference between the two women's faces was evident, as she, like her brother, had a lightning scar at the edge of her forehead.

Of all the odd things about the twins, these scars were perhaps the most unusual, and they came with a story to tell. One that involved a dark wizard named Voldemort, and the death of their parents.

The twins had ended up encountering Voldemort again for the past two years, once on the back of their Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers' head, and the second time possessing Ginny Weasley as his younger self.

The danger that tended to occur anytime the Potters' were around left Iris to only wonder what tragic events would happen this year?

Perhaps someone would steal all of the shoes at Hogwarts, as they seem to have already started with Iris' friend Luna.

Her shoes went missing frequently, and though the kind girl had said it was just the nargles, Iris was beginning to suspect it was a group of particularly mean Ravenclaw girls that Luna shared a dormitory with.

And though they took her stuff and made fun of her creatures, Iris had never seen or heard Luna say one bad thing in return. Perhaps that was why the two became friends fast, they both tried to look on the positive side of things no matter how difficult the situation was.

"Finally! I found it." Iris rolled over in her bed, watching Harry start scribbling down what was written on the page.

"I told you," Iris whispered across the room to her brother.

"Yeah, yeah. You're a genius," he whispered back sarcastically, used to her always being right.

The twins then heard footsteps coming down the hallway outside their bedroom door, and Harry quickly shoved the book and piece of parchment he was writing on under his sheets as the two ducked under their covers, pretending to be asleep.

The door swiftly opened to reveal their Uncle Vernon peering into the room suspiciously, looking for any sign of the two being awake.

When he didn't see anything, he withdrew from the room, closing the door behind him.

Harry and Iris immediately popped back up, and Harry brought the book back out and continued reading through the page, "Oh, well this is loads better. Everything's just on this one page."

A bright smile lit up his face, making Iris smile proudly at her brother.

The light in the hallway snapped on, and quickly, Iris threw her covers up to her shoulders, and Harry flattened his textbook against himself and tugged the sheets over his body, feigning sleep.

Seconds later, their bedroom door eased open to show Uncle Vernon as he peered in once more switching on the light.

The room was utterly silent. Slowly, he closed the door.

"I think I'm done for tonight," Harry said rolling the sheets back and walking over to their small desk to put his book down.

Sitting on top of the desk was a little cage for Iris' cat, Buttercup. When Iris had brought her home this summer, her Aunt and Uncle were less than thrilled and said she could only keep it if it stayed outside.

Iris turned her head toward the little digital clock the siblings shared, that sat on her nightstand, to see it was only an hour until their birthday.

"Happy almost birthday, Harry," she whispered to him as he crawled back into his bed.

"Happy almost birthday, Iris," he whispered back.

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The next morning, Iris and Harry trudged down the stairs and walked into the kitchen to find their Aunt and Uncle up and eating breakfast.

Uncle Vernon was dressed and ready to leave the house, which confused Iris, as she was sure they had no plans for the day.

The two Dursleys, as usual, ignored the twins as they walked to the refrigerator to get some food.

Even after all those years, Iris still had a small part of her that always hoped that one year, she and Harry would hear the words 'Happy Birthday' being said to them by their unwanted family.

Sadly, she didn't think that time would come for a long while, if at all.

Nothing was said as their Aunt and Uncle finished up with their eggs and toast, just the sound of forks hitting the plates.

Just as Iris was sitting down at the table, Vernon and Petunia finished and stood up.

Uncle Vernon drained the last drop from his teacup, glanced at his watch, and said, "I'd better be off in a minute, Petunia. Marge's train gets in at ten."

"Aunt Marge! Don't tell me she's coming here," Harry blurted out.

Aunt Marge was Uncle Vernon's sister. And although Iris and Harry weren't related to her by blood, the two had been forced to call her "Aunt" Marge ever since they had first heard of her.

"Marge'll be staying here for a week. And I expect both of you to keep your abnormalities to yourselves," Uncle Vernon snarled at them.

Petunia cut in, walking around the table and grabbed Vernon's coat before helping it on him and kissing his cheek goodbye.

They walked out the kitchen door with Aunt Petunia questioning when Marge's train got in, and what time he would be back. Iris and Harry stood in the kitchen horrified about the week to come.

Harry sat down in the chair next to her with a dejected thump, and she heard her Aunt call out Goodbye before closing the front door.

From her position at the dining table, Iris could see straight into the living room and she and Harry continued eating while watching Aunt Petunia start straightening out the already perfect room.

The twins quickly finished up with hopes of escaping off to their room for the rest of the day, or perhaps the rest of the week until Marge left.

Sadly, noticing they were both done with their food, Petunia told Harry to go upstairs and change the bathroom towels and make sure everything was spotless.

So Harry wordlessly stood from the table and after Iris motioned that she would take care of his dishes. He threw her a dull look and rolled his eyes at the day ahead and proceeded up the stairs.

Iris grabbed both hers and Harry's dishes and brought them over to the kitchen sink to start washing them.

As she washed she thought about the paper in her pocket and said to Aunt Petunia who was reading the newspaper at the table,

"Hey, Aunt Petunia... I have a permission form for school that I need you to sign."

Petunia looked over at her with a look of displeasure, "What's it for?" she questioned.

"Third years at our school are allowed to visit the village sometimes. Only, we need to get a permission slip signed by a guardian. Could you please sign mine?" Iris questioned with a too sweet smile.

Now, Petunia could deny it all she wanted to, but Iris could tell her Aunt had a soft spot for her.

Maybe it was Iris's kind nature toward everyone, or maybe it was just that Iris looked remarkably like a younger brunette version of her mother.

Iris had seen into her Aunt's mind on more than one occasion, not being able to understand how to 'turn off' legilimency, and had seen how much Petunia regretted being awful to her sister and not making up before her untimely death.

Aunt Petunia stared at Iris with a remembering look, and Iris took the opportunity to pick through her Aunt's mind.

She saw her own mother, Lily, asking Iris' grandparents to sign her permission form for the school's village, Hogsmeade.

Petunia's hard face softened a fraction, and Iris watched as she slowly nodded.

Iris grinned and pulled the form from her pocket. She watched with joy as Aunt Petunia signed it, and ran upstairs to put it in her trunk as soon as she was done.

Everyone in the house spent the next hour cleaning. Dudley had finally woken up and came downstairs, not to help, but to sit on the couch stuffing himself with food.

An hour later, Aunt Petunia had deemed the house clean and ordered Harry and Iris to go to their room and make themselves look presentable. The twins hid up there for the remainder of time until the doorbell rang and they heard Aunt Petunia hissing up the stairs,

"Harry! Iris!"

They bounded down the stairs and into the front hall, where Aunt Petunia and Dudley stood stiffly.

Petunia flicked a bit of fluff from Dudley's sweater, glowered crossly at Harry, and jerked her head toward the door.

"Well, go on. Open it," she said sharply.

Harry reached for the knob when -- BLAM! -- it burst open, revealing a large, waddling woman and a large waddling bulldog to match.

Uncle Vernon lurched forward out of the teeming rain, an enormous suitcase in hand, and drops it on Iris.

Iris, because of her small size was thrown back into the wall from the immense weight. As she was peddling backwards Harry noticed and grabbed her arm yanking her upright.

"Thanks," Iris breathed.

Harry nodded and took the suitcase from her smirking mockingly at her, trying to hold back a laugh.

Iris scowled at him but turned back to Aunt Marge as she walked through the entrance area. Aunt Petunia had been questioning her about her dog, Ripper.

"I would've left him with the others, but he pines so when I'm away. Don't you, darling?" Aunt Marge puckered her lips at Ripper and lead him down the hallway.

Iris, Harry, and Uncle Vernon followed behind though Harry stopped Vernon to request he sign his Hogsmeade form. Iris wasn't quite sure why he went to Vernon for it, as he was much more difficult to deal with than their Aunt, but in the best way she could phrase it, Iris enjoyed watching her twin suffer.

Aunt Marge walked around the room for a moment, observing it and commenting on things to Petunia who was looking particularly nervous standing next to Ripper.

Marge turned, eyeing Iris and Harry.

"So. Still here, are you?"

Iris and Harry exchanged a look, "Yes," Harry said shortly.

"Don't say 'yes' in that ungrateful tone. Damn good of my brother to keep you two, if you ask me," Marge scolded.

She turned to Vernon and Petunia, "It'd have been straight to an orphanage if they'd been dumped on my doorstep."

Just then, Dudley released a brain-dead chuckle from his residence, where he was sitting comatose before the TV, on the couch.

Aunt Marge turned, and said loudly, "Is that my Dudders! Hm? Is that my neffy poo? Come and say hello to your Auntie Marge."

Marge flashed a thick fan of pound notes. Dudley blinks, waddles forward, and extends his plump palm obediently. Iris watched in disdain and felt something cold around her ankle.

She looked down and saw Ripper snuffling about her ankle. Iris reached down to pet him only for the bulldog to try and bite her hand yapping at her.

Iris quickly straightened up, retracting her hand and looking strangely at the dog.

"Uhm, Iris," Petunia coughed out, watching Ripper run around her nice wooden floors.

"Why don't you show Marge where the guest room is?" she looked pointedly at Iris.

"Yes, Aunt Petunia," Iris turned to Harry on her way out of the room and playfully rolled her eyes at him, grabbing the heavy suitcase and lugging it out of the room.

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Hi Everyone! I hope you enjoyed the first official chapter of In The End.

I'll warn you now, this book is likely going to be very dramatic, but it's my mission to make it as least cliche as possible. ;)

If you have any questions or comments, let me know!

-date chapter published: 31.7.18