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"You're telling me Dobby found this place? And it's completely safe?"

Harry hesitated for a second, actually considering his answer, before he nodded reassuringly.

Upon learning that Harry was looking for a place to hold their secret defense group, the house elf had suggested a little-known room called the Room of Requirement. On the night of their first meeting, Iris, Harry, Hermione, and Ron arrived early to check out their new headquarters. It was a spacious room lit with flickering torches like those that illuminated the dungeons eight floors below.

The walls were lined with wooden bookcases, and instead of chairs there were large silk cushions on the floor. A set of shelves at the far end of the room carried a range of instruments such as Sneakoscopes, Secrecy Sensors, and a large, cracked Foe-Glass that Iris was sure had hung, the previous year, in the fake Moody's office.

"These will be good when we're practicing Stunning," said Ron enthusiastically, prodding one of the cushions with his foot.

"And just look at these books!" said Hermione excitedly, running a finger along the spines of the large leather-bound tomes. "A Compendium of Common Curses and Their Counter-Actions... The Dark Arts Outsmarted... Self-Defensive Spellwork... wow..." She looked around at Iris, who was also looking through the collection, Hermione's face glowing, and Iris saw that the presence of hundreds of books had won Hermione over. "This is wonderful, there's everything we need here!"

And without further ado she slid Jinxes for the Jinxed from its shelf, sank onto the nearest cushion, and began to read.

Iris recognized many of the titles of books Dumbledore had given her to read, but was even more intrigued by the ones she had yet to go through.

There was a gentle knock on the door. Iris looked around; Ginny, Neville, Lavender, Parvati, and Dean had arrived.

"Whoa," said Dean, staring around, impressed. "What is this place?"

Harry began to explain, but before he had finished more people had arrived, and he had to start all over again. By the time eight o'clock arrived, every cushion was occupied. Harry moved across to the door and turned the key protruding from the lock; it clicked in a satisfyingly loud way and everybody fell silent.

"Well," said Harry, slightly nervously. "This is the place we've found for practices, and you've— er— obviously found it okay—"

"Right," said Iris, cutting her floundering brother off, to which he sent her a grateful look, "shall we get practicing then? Harry and I have discussed what to start with and we were thinking, the first thing we should do is Expelliarmus, also known as the Disarming Charm."

Harry nodded, gaining confidence, "I know it's pretty basic but we've found it really useful—"

"Oh please," said Zacharias Smith, rolling his eyes and folding his arms. "I don't think Expelliarmus is exactly going to help us against You-Know-Who, do you?"

"I've used it against him," said Harry quietly.

Iris looked down, "He saved my life— both of our lives— last June with it."

Smith opened his mouth stupidly. The rest of the room was very quiet.

"But if you think it's beneath you, you can leave," Harry said. Smith did not move. Nor did anybody else.

"Okay," said Iris, wanting to move past the awkwardness, her mouth slightly drier than usual with all those eyes upon her, "I reckon we should all divide into pairs and practice."

Everybody got to their feet at once and divided up.

"Go partner with Neville, I'll walk around," Iris told Harry who nodded and walked off toward their friend.

"Right—" Iris called out across the room, "on the count of three, then— one, two, three—"

The room was suddenly full of shouts of "Expelliarmus!": Wands flew in all directions, missed spells hit books on shelves and sent them flying into the air. Harry was too quick for Neville, whose wand went spinning out of his hand, hit the ceiling in a shower of sparks, and landed with a clatter on top of a bookshelf, from which Harry retrieved it with a Summoning Charm. Glancing around, Iris thought they had been right to suggest that they practice the basics first; there was a lot of shoddy spellwork going on; many people were not succeeding in disarming their opponents at all, but merely causing them to jump backward a few paces or wince as the feeble spell whooshed over them.

Iris walked around the other pairs, trying to correct those who were doing the spell wrong. Ginny was teamed with Michael Corner; she was doing very well, whereas Michael was either very bad or unwilling to jinx her. Ernie Macmillan was flourishing his wand unnecessarily, giving his partner time to get in under his guard; the Creevey brothers were enthusiastic but erratic and mainly responsible for all the books leaping off the shelves around them. Luna Lovegood was similarly patchy, occasionally sending Justin Finch-Fletchley's wand spinning out of his hand, at other times merely causing his hair to stand on end.

"Okay, stop!" Iris shouted. No one could hear her over the yelling of spells though.

I need a whistle, she thought, and immediately spotted one lying on top of the nearest row of books. Iris held her hand out summoning it into her palm instantly, and blew hard. Everyone lowered their wands.

"That wasn't bad," she said, "but there's definite room for improvement." Zacharias Smith glared at her. "Let's try again..."

Iris switched out with Harry, now standing opposite Neville as his partner.

"Expelliarmus!" Neville said loudly once she was in position.

Instead of Iris' wand going flying though, Neville's wand went spinning out of his hand in a shower of sparks. Students ducked as it shot over their heads and smashed against the wall. Iris frowned— this was going to be harder than she thought.

Neville sagged in despair, "I'm hopeless."

Iris firmly countered him, determination surging through her, "No you're not. You're just flourishing your wand too much. Try it more like this—" she demonstrated a whipping motion with her wand, "Confidence is key!"

By the end of their first meeting, there was already great improvement from a lot of the students. They had decided to call the group 'Dumbledore's Army' in honor of their mission against Umbridge and the Ministry. They continued these lessons every week, meeting up in secret to practice.

Hermione soon devised a very clever method of communicating the time and date of the next meeting to all the members in case they needed to change it at short notice, because it would look so suspicious if people from different Houses were seen crossing the Great Hall to talk to each other too often. She gave each of the members of the D.A. a fake Galleon (Ron became very excited when he saw the basket at first, convinced that she was actually giving out gold).

"You see the numerals around the edge of the coins?" Hermione said, holding one up for examination at the end of their fourth meeting. The coin gleamed fat and yellow in the light from the torches. "On real Galleons that's just a serial number referring to the goblin who cast the coin. On these fake coins, though, the numbers will change to reflect the time and date of the next meeting. The coins will grow hot when the date changes, so if you're carrying them in a pocket you'll be able to feel them. We take one each, and when Iris or Harry sets the date of the next meeting they'll change the numbers on one of their coins, and because I've put a Protean Charm on them, they'll all change to mimic theirs."

Among other spells, they had also begun working on stunning.

"Stunning is one of the most useful spells in your arsenal..."

The class had split into two halves to line the sides of the room, creating an audience for the lane down the middle of the large room. Standing at one end were Iris and Harry.

Harry continued off of Iris' explanation, "It's sort of a wizard's bread and butter, really..."

Some of the students laughed appreciatively. Iris smiled at her brother, noticing with pride a complete change in his confidence since their first meeting weeks ago.

Across the room, at the other end of the student-lined area, Harry was squaring off against a very nervous looking Nigel.

Iris smiled encouragingly, taking a step back as Harry readied himself.

"It's all right, Nigel. Take your best shot," she said encouragingly.

Nigel nodded and took a deep breath before lifting his wand and yelling, "STUPEFY!"

A jet of red light leapt from Nigel's wand, sending Harry flying ten feet through the air. Nigel stumbled backward and tripped over his own feet, not used to the kickback from his wand. Iris had been standing by waiting for Harry to get hit, and the moment he did she used her wand to quickly throw one of the massive pillows under him.

Harry and an awed Nigel blinked at each other from across the floor— Harry grinned, "Not bad! Who's next?"

Ron and Hermione volunteered and the students migrated to their respective halves based on who they wanted to win. Most of the girls were on Hermione's side, and the guys on Ron's.

"Don't worry—" Iris heard Ron say to Hermione, "I'll go easy on you."

Hermione scoffed lightly, playing along, "Oh, thank you, Ronald."

She then turned to look at Iris and they rolled their eyes in unison laughing as Hermione and Ron walked to either side of the room. They took their positions and waited, eyeing each other to see who would make the first move.

At the same time, both Hermione and Ron cried out, "STUPEFY!"

Hermione's wand emitted a jet of red light sending Ron soaring through the air and slamming against the back wall with a yelp. All the girls cheered, rushing up to a beaming Hermione to congratulate her. Iris laughed at Ron who quickly stood up, trying to act casual about it.

Weeks later, they moved onto some more advanced work, while also continuing to improve everyone's Expelliarmus and Stupefy charms. They began working on levitation charms— useful for both keeping your enemy incapacitated, and also for slowing a fall from heights.

"Good... keep your concentration..." Harry said, walking around the Room of Requirement slowly.

Some of the younger students were floating in mid-air about three meters off the floor, held up by air coming from the other students. Iris wandered through the groups, gently adjusting arm positions and wand angles.

"Little higher there... nice."

Iris looked over at her brother and noticed he had reached Cho's group. A knowing grin took over her face as she watched his cheeks flush, eyes darting towards the girl he fancied every other second.

He reached Cho, who seemed to be struggling to hold up Dennis Creevey; her attention instead captured by the boy coming up behind her. Harry gingerly put his arms around her to adjust her wand angle, but as they touched, both of them blushed heavily, shyly looking at one another— and then Dennis tumbled toward the floor.

Iris' eyes flew wide, her body jerked forward and she threw her hands out toward him. A red glowing shield sprung to life beneath Dennis just before he hit the floor, warping around him as though he had landed on a pillow and gently lowering him to the ground. Iris let out a sigh of relief, her heart pounding.

Almost all of the students in the room had turned to look at her with awed or confused faces.

"What was that?" Ernie Macmillan asked eagerly.

Iris looked around at them, suddenly feeling quite nervous. "Wandless magic..." she cautiously lied.

"You can do wandless and non-verbal magic?" said Terry Boot.

"Yes," said Iris uncomfortably, leaving out the part where she's a rare magical being.

"But that's... that's N.E.W.T. standard, that is," he said weakly. "How come you're not in Ravenclaw?" he demanded, staring at Iris with something close to wonder. "With brains like yours?"

"Well, the Sorting Hat considered it," Iris told them, "but it decided on Gryffindor in the end."

Iris quickly told them to get back to work after that. She didn't want to think about the Shielded, especially not after what had happened last week.

There had been another party in the Gryffindor Common Room on Friday night, and Iris had gone to it. She knew she shouldn't have, but she had migrated over to the drinks table which was stacked with bottles of butterbeer and the thing she really had on her mind— firewhisky. Iris grabbed one of the latter and popped the cap off. She went to take a sip when a voice spoke from behind her.

"Don't do it, Iris."

She turned around in surprise to find Kai standing there with a look of mixed disappointment and worry. Something was off about him though, he had a bit of a purple glow around him and he seemed not entirely solid. Iris was quick to realize that he was an illusion being projected by Mira, unseen by everyone else around her.

"It's just a drink, Kai," Iris said stubbornly.

Kai remembered how she got last time he was at Hogwarts, "But it's not," he pleaded, "and you know that."

She scoffed, "Look around, I'm not the only one here drinking firewhisky."

Iris turned and started walking away from the projection of him. She didn't want anyone telling her what she could and couldn't do. Umbridge had been getting on her very last nerve all week and Iris had never been more infuriated. Her legilimency ability was acting up as well, as it always did when she was stressed or upset, and she could barely go a full minute without accidentally letting the voices of people around her seep into her mind. Iris remembered the effects of alcohol— she remembered the way it would dull her senses and block the voices from her head, and to be honest, she missed the silence it brought her.

"No, but you're the only one with people who care enough to stop you." Kai called, his astral form following after her.

Iris stopped walking and abruptly turned back to him, "You know what, Kai, if you want me to stop, you can come down here and make me. Until then, cheers, I'll be enjoying myself."

His misty form faded away and Iris did exactly what she said she would. She was three firewhisky bottles in and dancing with some older girls when a hand firmly grabbed around her wrist and carefully pulled her away from the loud music and pit of students. Iris was taken all the way up to her dorm, stumbling every other step she took. Once she was in her dorm and her eyes could focus, Iris recognized the familiar face.

"What are you doing here?" she whined.

Kai crossed his arms, standing in front of the door which he had closed behind them, "I came to stop you."

Iris rolled her eyes, lifting her half-empty fourth bottle to her lips. The raven-haired boy stepped forward, attempting to grab it out of her hand. When she wouldn't let go he sighed angrily and grabbed her arm with his other hand. Near instantly, Iris felt a numb tingling sensation work its way down her arm, causing her hand to go limp and drop the firewhisky into his waiting clutch.

She glared at Kai, yanking her arm out of his grasp and stumbling backward, "Not cool," she slurred.

"I'm just trying to help you Iris—"

"Where were you before!?" Iris suddenly yelled, "When I needed help— Where were you all those years my family locked me in the cupboard under our stairs because I so much as looked at one of them the wrong way?" her throat was scratchy and she was drunk out of her mind, but she fired on rapidly, "Where were you when I nearly died a hundred times in just the last four years?"

Kai opened his mouth but Iris didn't let him speak, her words cutting into him like a knife.

"You think you can just show up out of the blue and suddenly tell me how I should live my life when you weren't even a part of it until two months ago? I'm not a puppet for you or Audrianna to pull the strings on whenever you want," Iris spoke heatedly, "You showed up too late... this is who I am— who I've become, and I'm sorry that you don't approve but this is the only way I can get a moment of peace. This thing we share— my powers... it's not some gift, Kai, it's my curse."

Iris hadn't spoken to him or any of the other Shielded since. She knew he was just looking out for her, but Iris wasn't about to let anyone make her choices for her, even if she went down with the ship in the end.

December arrived, bringing with it more snow and a positive avalanche of homework for the fifth years. Ron and Hermione's prefect duties also became more and more onerous as Christmas approached. They were called upon to supervise the decoration of the castle ("You try putting up tinsel when Peeves has got the other end and is trying to strangle you with it," said Ron), to watch over first and second years spending their break times inside because of the bitter cold ("And they're cheeky little snotrags, you know, we definitely weren't that rude when we were in first year," said Ron), and to patrol the corridors in shifts with Argus Filch, who suspected that the holiday spirit might show itself in an outbreak of wizard duels ("He's got dung for brains, that one," said Ron furiously).

The thought of Christmas at the Burrow was truly wonderful, only slightly marred by Iris' guilty feeling that she would not be able to spend the holiday with Sirius. She wondered whether she could possibly persuade Mrs Weasley to invite her godfather for the festivities too, but apart from the fact that she doubted whether Dumbledore would permit Sirius to leave Grimmauld Place, she could not help but feel that Mrs Weasley might not want him; they were so often at loggerheads. Sirius had not contacted Iris at all since his last appearance in the fire when they had argued, and although Iris knew that with Umbridge on the constant watch it would be unwise to attempt to contact him, she did not like to think of Sirius alone in his mother's old house, perhaps pulling a lonely cracker with Kreacher.

She was, of course, upset that he had been adamantly ignoring her ever since, but Iris could hardly care after so long without being able to contact him.

Iris and Harry arrived early in the Room of Requirement for the last D.A. meeting before the holidays and were very glad they had, because when the lamps burst into light the twins saw that Dobby had taken it upon himself to decorate the place for Christmas. They could tell the elf had done it, because nobody else would have strung a hundred golden baubles from the ceiling, each showing a picture of either Harry or Iris' face and bearing the quote HAVE A VERY HARRY CHRISTMAS!

They had just gotten rid of the last of them when people began arriving. Once everyone was there, Iris and Harry started the meeting.

"Okay," Harry said, calling them all to order. "We thought this evening we should just go over the things we've done so far, because it's the last meeting before the holidays and there's no point starting anything new right before a three-week break—"

"We're not doing anything new?" said Zacharias Smith, in a disgruntled whisper loud enough to carry through the room. "If I'd known that, I wouldn't have come..."

"We're all really sorry they didn't tell you, then," said Fred loudly.

Several people sniggered.

"We can practice in pairs," said Iris. "We'll start with the Impediment Jinx, just for ten minutes, then we can get out the cushions and try Stunning again."

They all divided up obediently; Iris partnered Neville as usual. The room was soon full of intermittent cries of "Impedimenta!" People froze for a minute or so, during which their partners would stare aimlessly around the room watching other pairs at work, then would unfreeze and take their turn at the jinx.

Neville had improved beyond all recognition. After a while, when Iris had unfrozen three times in a row, she had Neville switch to Harry again so that she could walk around the room and watch the others.

After ten minutes on the Impediment Jinx, they laid out cushions all over the floor and started practicing Stunning again. Space was really too confined to allow them all to work this spell at once; half the group observed the others for a while, then swapped over. Iris felt herself positively swelling with pride as she watched them all. She elbowed Harry in the ribs and they exchanged grins, excited by what they had done. True, Neville did Stun Padma Patil rather than Dean, at whom he had been aiming, but it was a much closer miss than usual, and everybody else had made enormous progress.

At the end of an hour, Iris called a halt.

"All right, that's it for this time. Now we won't be meeting again until after the holiday..." Everyone groaned with disappointment, "...so keep working on your own as best you can. But good work, everyone— really. When we get back from the holidays we can start doing some of the big stuff— maybe even Patronuses."

There was a murmur of excitement. The room began to clear in the usual twos and threes; most people wished the Potters a Happy Christmas as they went. Feeling cheerful, she collected up the cushions with Harry, Ron, and Hermione and stacked them neatly away. As the quartet was on their way walking out of the Room of Requirement, Iris noticed Harry hanging back like he didn't want to leave. Iris merely glanced behind them and understood immediately why. Cho was one of the last people in the room, and it was clear to Iris that she had hope that Harry would go talk to her.

Iris smirked, exchanging a look with Hermione and Ron who had also caught on, "We'll see you back in the Common Room, Harry," Iris told her brother.

He nodded distractedly, already walking off towards Cho. The three of them laughed quietly as they left the room.

Later that night, Iris' dreams bounced between those of her fellow Gryffindors. Some were pleasant, others nightmares, and she was enjoying a nice sunny day in a grassy field some second-year was dreaming of when a dark, shadowed door flickered into vision. Her dream glitched and Iris' face pulled into a concerned frown. She stood up from her previously seated position, looking around as her dream reality flashed between the meadow and a long, dark corridor.

Then the dream changed...

Her body felt smooth, powerful, and flexible. She was gliding between shining metal bars, across dark, cold stone... She was flat against the floor, sliding along on her belly... It was dark, yet she could see objects around her shimmering in strange, vibrant colors... She was turning her head... At first glance, the corridor was empty... but no... a man was sitting on the floor ahead, his chin drooping onto his chest, his outline gleaming in the dark...

Something was wrong...

Iris felt like she was choking. Something was incredibly wrong and she knew immediately that it was Harry's mind she had latched onto. Her chest was heavy, an invisible weight compressing her lungs.

WAKE UP!

Suddenly Iris shot forward like a snapping rubber band, sitting bolt upright in bed breathing heavily. She threw the covers off her legs and ran faster than she ever had out of her dorm, down the stairs, and across the Common Room until she got to Harry's room and slammed the door open. Iris located Harry, twisting and turning in his bed, and ran to him, grabbing his sleeping face in her hands.

She didn't care that she had awoken the other boys in the room, nor that she was in Dudley and Harry's hand-me-down sleepwear. When Ron noticed what was happening he quickly shot out of bed and over to Harry. Iris closed her eyes, taking a shuddering breath in as she tried to concentrate.

"What's wrong with him?" Ron asked frightfully, watching Harry start to convulse.

Iris shushed him, "Try to hold him still," she said hastily, her throat closing up from worry.

Iris held her brother's head tight but carefully, and concentrated on forcing her way through his mental walls. She saw glimpses of his dream as she tried to pull him out, images of a cloaked man at the end of the hall, Harry's view lunged... and then blood... a lot of it.

She grabbed her brother's imaginary hand and tugged him as hard as she could.

"Harry! HARRY!"

Finally he opened his eyes. Harry clutched his head in his hands, looking like he was in the most extreme pain... He rolled right over and vomited over the edge of the mattress.

"He's really ill," said Neville's scared voice. "Should we call someone?"

"Harry!" Iris just wanted him to speak or give her some indication that he was okay. She pulled him to sit upright and held his head against her chest and rubbing his back soothingly without a care if he threw up on her too.

Taking great gulps of air, Harry lifted his head, looking a lot like he might vomit again, cringing in pain.

"Your dad," he panted, his chest heaving. "Your dad's... been attacked..."

Iris' heart dropped, understanding the situation perfectly. Mr Weasley must have been on guard duty tonight, and Voldemort made a move.

"What?" said Ron uncomprehendingly.

"Your dad! He's been bitten, it's serious, there was blood everywhere..."

"I'm going for help," said Neville in fear, and he ran out of the dormitory.

Iris saw Seamus and Dean muttering at the foot of his bed but she did not care. Harry's entire body was shivering in her arms and he was still sweating and his skin felt feverish. He retched again off the side of the bed Iris wasn't sitting on and Ron leapt backward out of the way. The ginger boy looked at Iris helplessly, fear written all over his face. Iris didn't know what to tell him, her mind was running a mile a minute.

"Harry, you're not well," Ron said shakily. "Neville's gone for help..."

"I'm fine!" Harry choked, wiping his mouth on his pajamas and shaking uncontrollably. "There's nothing wrong with me, it's your dad you've got to worry about— we need to find out where he is— he's bleeding like mad— I was— it was a huge snake..."

He tried to get out of bed but Iris pulled him back into it; Dean and Seamus were still whispering nearby. Whether one minute passed or ten, Iris did not know; Harry simply sat there shaking against her as she ran her fingers through his hair trying to calm him down. He clutched his scar every couple of seconds, his face contorting. Then there were hurried footsteps coming up the stairs, and she heard Neville's voice again.

"Over here, Professor..."

Professor McGonagall came hurrying into the dormitory in her tartan dressing gown, her glasses perched lopsidedly on the bridge of her bony nose.

"What is it, Potter? Where does it hurt?"

Iris had never been so pleased to see her; it was a member of the Order of the Phoenix that they needed now, not someone fussing over Harry and prescribing useless potions.

"It's Ron's dad," he said, sitting up again. "He's been attacked by a snake and it's serious, I saw it happen."

"What do you mean, you saw it happen?" said Professor McGonagall, her dark eyebrows contracting.

"I don't know... I was asleep and then I was there..."

"You mean you dreamed this?"

"No!" said Harry angrily, "I was having a dream at first about something completely different, something stupid... and then this interrupted it. It was real, I didn't imagine it, Mr. Weasley was asleep on the floor and he was attacked by a gigantic snake, there was a load of blood, he collapsed, someone's got to find out where he is..."

Professor McGonagall was gazing at him through her lopsided spectacles as though horrified at what she was seeing. She then looked to Iris in question. Iris nodded just slightly, but it was enough for the Professor to understand what had really happened.

"I'm not lying, and I'm not mad!" Harry told her, his voice rising to a shout. "I tell you, I saw it happen!"

"I believe you, Potter," said Professor McGonagall curtly. "Put on your dressing-gown— we're going to see the headmaster."

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hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! I'm at the beach this week and my birthday's on Thursday so I haven't/won't have a lot of time to write, but I really wanted to get a new chapter out for you all! this chapter's also super long lol I did not mean to make it almost 5000 words but oh well, I hope it was a treat haha