⌗ ⌗ ⌗

It took Iris less than five minutes to reach Dumbledore's office. She had run across the castle after reading that note, more scared than she probably should have been. Iris practically yelled the password at the stone gargoyle. She then hurried through the gap in the walls and stepped onto the foot of a spiral stone staircase, which moved slowly upward as the doors closed behind her, taking her up to a polished oak door with a brass door knocker.

Iris knocked rapidly on the door but got no response so she reached out a twisted the knob, peeking her head inside. She didn't see anything at first but then she noticed someone standing off to the side of the room, leaning over. It was Harry. Confused, Iris stepped inside, walking up behind him to see what he was doing.

A shallow stone basin lay there, with odd carvings around the edge: runes and symbols that Iris did not recognize. A silvery light was coming from the basin's contents, which were like nothing Iris had ever seen before. She could not tell whether the substance was liquid or gas. It was a bright, whitish silver, and it was moving ceaselessly; the surface of it became ruffled like water beneath wind, and then, like clouds, separated and swirled smoothly. It looked like light made liquid — or like wind made solid — Iris couldn't make up her mind. Harry had his face submerged into the basin, but Iris figured he wasn't drowning.

She cautiously invaded his thoughts, watching as a film ran by her eyes. It was strange... a courtroom, Karkaroff, Barty Crouch, Dumbledore, Mad-Eye Moody. There was lots of pain and fear among the crowd in the courtroom. Four people with chained arms that now stood on the dungeon floor. There was a thickset man who stared blankly up at Crouch; a thinner and more nervous-looking man, whose eyes were darting around the crowd; a woman with thick, shining dark hair and heavily hooded eyes, who was sitting in the chained chair as though it were a throne; and a boy in his late teens, who looked nothing short of petrified. He was shivering, his straw-coloured hair all over his face, his freckled skin milk-white.

Iris knew immediately that these were bad people, and the audience's reaction to them proved her assumption. Images flew across her vision, and she was enraptured in the horrors taking place.

She was only pulled from Harry's thoughts when a soft touch fell upon her shoulder. Blinking heavily as her eyesight returned to Dumbledore's office, she turned to see the man himself standing beside her, looking weary. She wondered if something must have happened, for the elder headmaster did not often have this look about him.

"I need to speak with you... it's urgent," Iris told him lowly.

Dumbledore nodded and with perfect timing not a moment later, Harry's head popped out of the basin. He was breathing a bit heavily, obviously startled by what he had just witnessed.

"Curiosity's not a sin Harry, but you should exercise caution," Dumbledore told him wisely.

Harry stared at the basin in shock and glanced to Dumbledore for answers, "It's a Pensieve, very useful if like me you find your mind a wee bit stretched. It allows me to see what small things I've already seen." Dumbledore began pacing around the room, "You see Harry, Iris, I've searched and searched for something, some small detail. Something I might have overlooked, something that would explain why these terrible things have happened. Every time I get close to an answer it slips away, it's maddening".

Harry hesitated a moment before asking, "Sir, Mr Crouch's son, what happened to him?"

Iris' eyebrows furrowed; she didn't know that Mr Crouch had a son.

Dumbledore looked at Harry curiously, as if surprised he had asked, "He was sent to Azkaban. Destroyed Barty to do it. But he had no choice, the evidence was overwhelming. Why do you ask?"

Harry looked to Iris, gulping nervously before explaining, "It's just that I— I had a dream about him. It was in the summer, before school." Dumbledore stared at him, concerned. He walked closer to Harry as he continued, "In the dream, I was in a house and Voldemort was there only he wasn't quite human, and Wormtail was there too and Mr Crouch's son."

"Have there been other dreams like this?" Dumbledore questioned walking back over to the Pensieve.

"Yes." Iris was surprised when she heard that. She hadn't realized that Harry was continuing to see these foreboding dreams. "Always the same one. Sir... these dreams, what I see, you don't think it's actually happening, do you?

Dumbledore spoke his next words quietly, staring almost fearfully into the swirling water of the Pensieve, "I think it's unwise for you to linger over these dreams Harry, I think it's best that you simply..." he paused and put his wand to his temple, pulling a quivering string of magic out from his head. "Cast them away."

Dumbledore then looked up gravely at Harry, "Now if you'll excuse us, I believe I have some matters to attend to with your sister."

Harry nodded understandingly, giving Iris a light squeeze on the arm before leaving the office.

"What is the matter, Iris?" the old wizard asked seriously.

Iris reached into her pocket and pulled out the mysterious note. With trembling hands, she gave it to Dumbledore. He took a moment to inspect it, his eyebrows pulling together.

After a minute, he moved over to his desk, sinking into the chair behind it with the weary movements of a man who was tired of fighting for so long. He looked up at her with his glittering eyes that were always hidden behind half-moon spectacles, and all Iris could see looking at her was fear. He was scared for the young girl he had grown fond of, terrified of the future to come and what it might mean for her, knowing that when it mattered most he wouldn't be able to protect her from the forces at play.

"I won't pretend to be all-knowing, Iris. There are things even I cannot explain, nor do I have the resources to find answers to them. But know this," he said, standing from his great chair and walking over to the teenage girl, "I will not let harm come to you. Anyone who tries will be met with great difficulty at my own hand. You are safe here at Hogwarts," he assured her.

⌗ ⌗ ⌗

In what seemed like no time at all, it was the morning of the third task. Iris had just gotten to the Great Hall with Harry and Ron to eat breakfast. Hermione had run off moments earlier, saying she had something urgent to do. Barely five minutes after they had sat down, they noticed that McGonagall was walking up the aisle headed right for the Potter twins.

"Potters, the champions are congregating in the chamber off the Hall after breakfast," she said.

"But the task's not till tonight!" said Harry, accidentally spilling scrambled eggs down his front, afraid he had mistaken the time.

Iris froze and looked to her teacher, eyes wide with confusion.

"I'm aware of that, Potter," she said. "The champions' families are invited to watch the final task, you know. This is simply a chance for you to greet them." 

She moved away. Iris and Harry gaped after her. 

"She doesn't expect the Dursleys to turn up, does she?" Harry asked Iris and Ron blankly. 

Suddenly, Iris' face split into a grin, "Don't worry about it, Harry!"

They finished their breakfast in the emptying Great Hall. Iris saw Fleur Delacour get up from the Ravenclaw table and join Cedric as he crossed to the side chamber and entered. 

Krum slouched off to join them shortly afterwards. Harry stayed where he was. Iris could easily tell that he really didn't want to go into the chamber. They had no family — no family who would turn up to see them risk their lives, anyway. Iris, however, knew better than him and was giddy with excitement from who stood waiting for them behind those doors.

"Come on, Harry, let's go!" Iris urged her brother.

He grimaced, "I think I'm actually going to go up to the library and do a spot more hex research."

Iris stared at him in disbelief.

But just as he was getting up, the door of the side chamber opened, and Cedric stuck his head out. 

"Iris, Harry, come on, they're waiting for you!" 

Utterly perplexed. Harry got up. Iris followed him, trying to refrain from skipping full speed into the room. They walked across the Hall and Harry opened the door into the chamber. 

Cedric and his parents were just inside the door. Viktor Krum was over in a corner, conversing with his dark-haired mother and father in rapid Bulgarian. He had inherited his father's hooked nose. On the other side of the room, Fleur was jabbering away in French to her mother. Fleur's little sister, Gabrielle, was holding her mother's hand. 

She waved at the twins, who waved back, grinning. Then they saw Remus standing in front of the fireplace, beaming at them. The part that excited Iris most though was the large black dog sitting beside him.

"Surprise!" Remus said excitedly as Iris and Harry smiled broadly and walked over to them.

"Thought we'd come and watch you two! Are you both doing well?" said Remus, grinning at Harry and shaking his hand, giving him a warm clap on the shoulder.

Iris kneeled to be eye-level with the dog-Sirius. She threw her arms around his neck in a hug and he rested his head on her shoulder, tail wagging.

"This is really nice of you," Iris said to Remus and Sirius, standing once again.

Harry nodded in agreement, muttering to them, "I thought for a moment— the Dursleys—" 

Remus' eyes flashed at the mention of them as an upset growl came from Sirius. "Yes well, we are your family too, even though we don't all live as one." He looked down at Sirius, "Er— Snuffles — can't stay long I'm afraid," he lowered his voice, "We can't risk him getting recognized. Godric knows what Snape would do if he saw him... but he'll be nearby all day."

Iris was disappointed that he had to leave so soon, but she was glad to know that he had come. They chatted for another minute or two before leaving the room to walk around the castle together. Sirius split off from them, leaving it just as the twins and their old Professor, a familiar reminder of the previous school year.

Iris, Harry, and Remus whiled away the afternoon with a long walk around the castle, and then returned to the Great Hall for the evening feast. Ludo Bagman and Cornelius Fudge had joined the staff table now. Bagman looked quite cheerful, but Cornelius Fudge, who was sitting next to Madame Maxime, looked stern and was not talking. 

Madame Maxime was concentrating on her plate, and Iris thought her eyes looked red. 

Hagrid kept glancing along the table at her, There were more courses than usual, but Iris, who was starting to feel really nervous now, didn't eat much. As the enchanted ceiling overhead began to fade from blue to a dusky purple, Dumbledore rose to his feet at the staff table, and silence fell. 

"Ladies and gentlemen, in five minutes' time, I will be asking you to make your way down to the Quidditch field for the third and final task of the Triwizard Tournament. Will the champions please follow Mr Bagman down to the stadium now." 

Iris and Harry got up. The Gryffindors all along the table were applauding them; Remus, Hermione, and Ron all wished them good luck, and they headed off out of the Great Hall with Cedric, Fleur, and Viktor.

Iris fell in line beside Cedric as they walked and he took her hand. Iris was sure she was so pale she must've looked sick, and if she was being honest, the rest of the champions didn't look much better.

Cedric squeezed her hand comfortingly, "Hey, this time in a few weeks we'll be in Paris."

Iris smiled at that. She had talked about it with Harry, and after a lot of reassurance from him that he would be fine dealing with the Dursleys without her for two weeks, she agreed to go to France with Cedric and his parents.

"City of love," Iris replied, welcoming his distraction.

He hummed in agreement, "I'll take you up to the top of the Eiffel Tower, but you'll be too scared to look so my romantic gesture will be ruined."

Iris laughed, "It's the thought that counts."

They walked onto the Quidditch field, which was now completely unrecognizable. A twenty-foot-high hedge ran all the way around the edge of it. There was a gap right in front of them: the entrance to the vast maze. The passage beyond it looked dark and creepy.

Five minutes later, the stands had begun to fill; the air was full of excited voices and the rumbling of feet as the hundreds of students filed into their seats. The sky was a deep, clear blue now, and the first stars were starting to appear.

Once the crowd was settled in the stands, Dumbledore called for their attention, "Earlier today Professor Moody placed the Triwizard Cup deep within the maze. Only he knows its exact position. Now as Mr Diggory—" the crowd roared with applause, "—and Mr Potter—" The Hogwarts students, particularly the Gryffindors burst into cheers, "—tied for first position they will be the first to enter the maze. Followed by Mr Krum—" the Durmstrang students cheered, "Miss Potter—" Once again, the Hogwarts crowd thundered, "and Miss Delacour—" applause rang out for Fleur.

Iris fidgeted nervously, going through all the spells she had memorized. Dumbledore continued, "The first person to touch the cup will be the winner. I've instructed the staff to patrol the perimeter. If at any point should a contestant wish to withdraw from the task he or she need only send up red sparks with their wands." Dumbledore turned to the five champions, "Contestants, gather round."

They all hurried over, standing in a circle as Dumbledore spoke gravely to them, "In the maze, you'll find dangers of all sorts. But beware, these creatures of the deep are not your greatest enemy. Instead, you'll face something more challenging. You see, people change in the maze. Oh find the cup if you can, but be very wary... you could just lose yourselves along the way."

With that final haunting message, he released them, stepping back with a serious look upon his face.

Iris turned and looked up at the maze, suddenly getting a horrible feeling in her gut. She grabbed Cedric's wrist and turned to him. She wrapped her other hand around the back of his neck and pulled him down to meet her lips with his own.

Pulling away after a moment, she looked him earnestly in the eyes, "Promise you'll be careful."

His brilliant grey eyes sparkled down at her as he nodded and promised.

"I love you," he told her.

She smiled lightly, "I love you too."

Cedric left a final kiss on her forehead before they separated to their individual maze entrances. Iris gave Harry one last hug, reminding him to be careful as well.

Dumbledore called out to everyone, "On the count of three... ONE..."

The cannon went off.

Iris turned to see Mr Filch shrug somewhat apologetically. Dumbledore rolled his eyes at the man, giving up. Iris waited her turn as Harry and Cedric disappeared into the maze, and then Krum until it was her turn.

"Ready Iris?" Bagman said before lifting the whistle once more.

He gave a short blast on his whistle, and Iris hurried forward into the maze. 

The towering hedges cast black shadows across the path, and, whether because they were so tall and thick or because they had been enchanted, the sound of the surrounding crowd was silenced the moment she entered the maze. Iris felt almost as though she were underwater again. She pulled out her wand, muttered, "Lumos," and watched as her surrounding lit up.

After about fifty yards, she reached a fork in the path, looking both ways but seeing nothing promising, she decided to head to the right.

Her chosen path seemed completely deserted. She turned right, and hurried on, holding her wand out far in front of her, trying to see as far ahead as possible. Still, there was nothing in sight. 

Bagman's whistle blew in the distance for the last time. All of the champions were now inside.

Iris kept looking behind her. The odd feeling that she was being watched was upon her. The maze was growing darker with every passing minute as the sky overhead deepened to navy. She reached a second fork. 

Taking a left this time, Iris found that the path ahead was empty too, and when she reached a right turn and took it, she again found her way unblocked. Iris didn't know why, but the lack of obstacles was unnerving her. Surely she should have met something by now? It felt as though the maze were luring her into a false sense of security.

Finally, on her next turn, she encountered her first obstacle. It was nothing more than a simple door blocking the path. Iris was greatly confused for a moment before she realised that she recognized it.

Her boggart. Her greatest fear. Losing control.

"Riddikulus!" Iris said clearly.

There was a loud crack, and the shape-shifter exploded in a wisp of smoke.

She moved on, quickly and quietly as possible, listening hard, her wand held high once more.

Left... right... left again... Twice she found herself facing dead ends. She turned back, took a right turn, and saw an odd white mist floating ahead of her. 

Iris approached it cautiously, pointing the wand's beam at it. This looked like some kind of enchantment. She wasn't too keen on the idea of walking through it but when she looked behind her, there was now a maze wall, blocking where she had come from.

With no choice but to continue forward, Iris took a step into the mist. Almost immediately she started choking. She couldn't breathe, it was like the mist had taken all the air out of her lungs. Running frantically through the fog, Iris finally made it out. She fell to her knees gasping for air, holding her throat with wide eyes. It took her a minute to begin breathing normally again and then she stood, slowly walking off to continue on through the maze.

She met nothing for ten minutes but kept running into dead ends. Twice she took the same wrong turn. Finally, she found a new route and started to jog along it, her wandlight waving, making her shadow flicker and distort on the hedge walls. Then she rounded another corner and found himself facing a Blast-Ended Skrewt.

"Holy—"

It was enormous. Ten feet long, it looked more like a giant scorpion than anything. Its long stinger was curled over its back. Its thick armour glinted in the light from Iris' wand, which she pointed at it. 

"Stupefy!" 

The spell hit the skrewt's armour and rebounded; Iris ducked just in time. The skrewt issued a blast of fire from its end and flew forward toward her. Iris ducked again but that time she wasn't quick enough. The flames flew right into her left shoulder. She let out a scream of pain as the fireball burned her skin.

"Impedimenta!" Iris yelled. The spell hit the skrewt's armour again and ricocheted off; Iris staggered back a few paces and fell over. "IMPEDIMENTA!" 

The skrewt was inches from her when it froze — she had managed to hit it on its fleshy, shell-less underside. Panting, Iris pushed herself away from it and ran, hard, in the opposite direction — the Impediment Curse was not permanent; the skrewt would be regaining the use of its legs at any moment.

She was gasping for breath, heart pounding in her chest. The pain radiating from her burned shoulder was worse than almost anything she had ever felt. Her Hogwarts robes were scorched and smouldering around it. Iris grimaced at the sight. She carefully performed a spell that conjured strips of cloth that wound themselves tightly around the wound, but it didn't take away the pain very much.

Iris didn't slow down after that, keeping a consistent jog as she turned down random maze corridors. After a few minutes of this, she turned left and dashed up one and saw light ahead.

The Triwizard Cup was gleaming on a plinth a hundred yards away.

Iris had never felt more relieved. Finally she was done with this tournament.

As she ran closer she noticed something that brightened her entire mood. Harry and Cedric were there as well. She realized that Harry must've been injured as he was standing with all of his weight on one leg, the pant leg of the other one ripped open and bloody.

They were arguing heatedly, and within a second Iris realized that it was about who should take the win.

"Harry! Cedric!" Iris called as she broke into the clearing.

Both boys immediately met her as she crushed them into a hug. She was so glad that they were safe. Releasing them she looked to the cup. It was beautiful. Icy blue and glowing with silver light.

Harry took a moment as he was looking at Iris and had an idea, he glanced at Cedric and then the cup.

"All of us."

"What?" Iris and Cedric said at the same time.

"We'll take it at the same time. It's still a Hogwarts victory. We'll tie for it," Harry explained.

Cedric stared at Harry. He unfolded his arms. 

"You — you sure?" 

"Yeah," said Harry. "Yeah... we've helped each other out, haven't we? We both got here. Let's just take it together."

Iris' lips tilted up into the beginning of a smile, she was so proud of her boys. This seemed right.

For a moment, Cedric looked as though he couldn't believe his ears; then his face split in a grin. 

"You're on," he said. "Come here." 

He and Iris each grabbed Harry's arms below the shoulder and helped Harry limp toward the plinth where the cup stood. When they had reached it, the three of them each held a hand out over the cup. The boys would each grab a handle and Iris would take the neck of the cup.

"On three, right?" said Iris. "One — two — three —" 

They all grabbed the cup.

Instantly, Iris felt a jerk somewhere behind her navel. Her feet had left the ground. 

She could not unclench the hand holding the Triwizard Cup; it was pulling her onward in a howl of wind and swirling colour, Cedric and Harry at her sides.

⌗ ⌗ ⌗

haha well you all know what's happening next chapter ;)

I wanted to invite you guys to ask me questions about literally anything you want! you can ask about writing, the story, the characters, me, etc. just drop a comment here and I'll do my best to answer it as long as it won't give away spoilers!

I'll try to have the next chapter out soon, thanks for all of your encouraging comments! It's really cool to see how many of you are excited about this story!