𝒞𝒽𝒶𝓅𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝒯𝑒𝓃

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Thunder rumbled over the grounds as the train screeched to a halt.

A small argument broke out in the compartment as the group debated between waiting for the crowds to die down or leaving as soon as possible to try and take one of the first carriages.

Ultimately the latter was agreed upon, the majority of the group not feeling up to the shuffling and pushing of the mass of students trying to move along.

When they had finally ventured out of the compartment, Iris hung to the back of the group, Theodore falling in line with her without a word. The boy’s face soured as he listened to the howl of the wind and the way the rain pelted against the metal of the train.

And really, not even Iris could smile as the group hopped off the train, the wind practically shooting the water into her face. Wind and rain made for a very unpleasant pair in just about every way. The air was significantly colder than it had any right to be, and it hurt to feel the water pelting against your skin.

So, pulling their robes close, everyone made a dash off the station, making quick to the carriages waiting for them. Sally-Ann and Jane, who had been leading the group, ran past a few that were already filling, pushing aside a few students as they hopped in one to claim for the rest of their approaching group.

One by one, they piled in. Pushing and climbing over each other to shove into seats, the carriages not quite made for six teenagers to sit without a bit of cramping. But they managed, and the door did fly shut, and the carriage did begin its journey. A very uncomfortable journey….

Theodore ended up shoved against the furthest wall, his leg pushed up against Tracey’s despite his best efforts to get as far away as possible. He shivered just as everyone except Iris did… and well… his glare was hard as he stared at nothing in particular.

Iris sat on the opposite bench, sandwiched between Valeria and Sally-Ann. She had caught a look at Theodore’s face, laughing as she reached to play with her wet hair, “Sometimes I feel as if we should be offended over how miserable Theo is anytime he is this close to any of us.”

And suddenly his glare had found a target, his cold eyes meeting Iris’ playful ones, “I am cold, wet, tired, and hungry. Kill me for wanting room to breathe.”

Valeria leaned into Iris with a sigh, “Breathing is overrated when the living heater is next to you.”

Tracey absently held her hands out, Iris catching her thoughts quickly as she reached forward to hold them between her own. Sally-Ann’s head found a home on Iris’ shoulder as she looked to Jane, “Come join the warmth.”

Jane, who had huddled into her soaked robe, watched the girls with the faintest bit of envy. But made no move to join, stumped by the lack of room to do so… but Valeria quickly found a solution, “Just come sit on me.”

Valeria was already drifting off into a quick nap. Tracey was focused on moving as far from Theodore as she could, wanting to relieve his evident discomfort at the close proximity. So when Jane had… hesitated… only two people had noticed it. Iris and Sally-Ann shared a look.

Sally-Ann broke the clear internal battle Jane faced: “Yeah, Tracey can come sit on me, and you can sit on Val, and then Nott can finally stop looking all constipated.”

Tracey all but jumped up, practically sitting half on Iris and half on Sally as she clung to the warmth provided by the phenomenon of Iris’ body working overtime to self-regulate its temperature. And… with an almost pink hue teasing at her ears… Jane would move over as well, joining the awkward huddle.

Watching Theodore move to the center of his seat, Sally-Ann smirked, her grey eyes nothing but trouble, “Still some room for you, Nott.”

He rolled his eyes, folding his arms over his chest while he looked down at his feet, “I will manage over here.”

Sally-Ann’s smirk didn’t even twitch as she lowered her voice, her words only audible to one person, “Sure he’d find you sitting on his lap a more tempting offer.”

Iris pinched at Sally-Ann’s leg, smiling to herself as the girl jerked. Listening to her grumble, Iris just laid her head on top of Sally-Ann’s, letting her eyes close.

And there, the carriage went still and quiet. A shared moment of peace between the friends before they would start their school year.

Well almost.

Iris’ eyes shot to Theodore with a glare, her foot kicking one of his, “I don’t smell like wet dog.”

A shared giggle went through the space, even Iris having to smile despite herself. Watching the discrete smile that sat on Theodore’s lips at his proud bit of comedy.

She kicked his foot one more time before closing her eyes once more.

~~~~~~

The short trip from the carriages to the entrance hall was chaos. Students practically ran towards the castle doors, soaking their feet in puddles and slipping on the slick stairs.

A relief fell over everyone as they finally escaped the storm outside, but they still had a journey to make as everyone began the slow shuffle to the Great Hall. Iris stood quietly, separated from her friends and pulling endlessly at the scrunchie in her hair, finding her wet hair more uncomfortable by the second.

But she was distracted from her discomfort when she caught a familiar mop of black hair sneak in behind her. His two friends never far behind. She had turned to greet them, just catching Ronald Weasley complaining about something, when instead, she saw him hit square on the head with a bright red water balloon.

Iris had just about burst into laughter, but karma met her quickly as she was met with her own green water balloon straight to the face. Face hardened immediately, she shot her eyes upward, spotting the cause of the attack immediately. The jester of a poltergeist… Peeves. Only really funny when he wasn’t focused on you.

He was some distance up above, pelting water balloons down on the already soaked-to-the-bone students. His prank was nothing more than an added annoyance but one Iris very much wanted to see revenge for.

And well, ask, and you shall receive, for out of the Great Hall burst none other than Professor McGonagall, “Peeves! Peeves, come down here at once!”

She had slipped briefly, hand finding support to balance herself in taking hold of Hermione Granger’s neck… Iris was a bit less angry that time when karma sent her another water balloon as a second lesson.

Threatened with the Headmaster, Peeves was soon off, not without sending one last balloon wildly into the air.

And with that unexpected interaction ending as quickly as it had begun, Iris finally managed to turn to Harry Potter, giving him one strained smile, “Please tell me that isn’t some yearly tradition for Peeves.”

Harry blinked at the initial confusion that went through him, not having seen the girl for some time, but after a second, he smiled, “I’ve never had a normal trip back to Hogwarts.”

Iris sighed, watching as Ron grumbled past them into the hall, Hermione expertly avoiding eye contact as she followed, “Well, I am just hoping the rest of the night goes by without any more water balloons, at the least. See you around, Harry.”

The Great Hall was just as magnificent as it had been walking into for the first time the year prior. The thousands of burning candles create a much-appreciated warmth to the room. The bewitched ceiling made for a strange sort of contrast, the swirling clouds haunting and cold. That was perhaps the one moment everyone seemed to avoid looking to the ceiling, choosing to embrace the warmth instead.

The Great Hall was alive, students everywhere as everyone greeted friends they had not had the chance to catch on the trip in. Iris had even caught Cedric Diggory’s eyes in the crowd, standing at the Ravenclaw table despite his yellow tie. The two just left it to a quick shared smile. Iris rather ready to make it to her own table.

Despite the months away from school, from this ecosystem of its own, everything carried on as it had before they left. Her friends sat at the same exact spot, roughly in the same order, with the same amount of space left for Iris, who was still walking over. For the most part, every face surrounding her friends was the same as it had been the previous school year. The only missing face was that of a graduate.

It’s almost funny how set in stone something as random as seating arrangements could be. Very few shake-ups ever disturbing the unspoken order of things.

Iris took her seat next to Theodore, the other four on the opposite side of the table. Tracey was pouting, answering Iris’s unasked question with a whine, “My socks are wet.”

Iris did cringe… but at the same time, it was hardly a complaint to take all that seriously. So focusing again on the discomfort of her hair, she just shrugged, “Should have gone around that puddle like everyone before you was.”

Sally-Ann snorted, folding up her soaked robe, her clothes underneath for the most part dry, “Can’t you do your fancy wandless magic to help us out?”

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Finally, just ripping the scrunchie from her hair, Iris ruffled her hair, “Wandless magic is very difficult to direct. I try to dry Tracey’s socks, and then suddenly she has third-degree burns on her feet.”

And in an instant, Tracey had rid of her pout and whining, the wet socks not nearly as bad as they were. On the other hand, Theodore didn’t seem all that struck by her words, rolling his eyes, “If you give anyone third-degree burns from a drying spell, it isn’t the magics fault.”

Iris pulled a face, mocking Theodore under her breath before clarifying, “Well, if you truly want to get technical, it would realistically miss her socks and dry out all the water in her feet….” Iris snapped her eyes to Theodore, who still remained unbothered, “Now I know you probably don’t know biology. So how about a quick idea of how bad that could be. First—”

Jane cut in, smiling at the bickering but needing to redirect their attention, “The sorting is starting.”

Iris grumbled, lazily putting her head in her hand as she turned her gaze towards the front of the hall where McGonagall called everyone to order. Walking towards the doors to fetch the first years as students ran off to their tables.

And but a minute later, everyone had settled, and the silence fell into the space, awaiting the newcomers to the school.

They were almost cute, in the baby duck sort of way. Following McGonagall towards the front of the hall, the sorting hat sat waiting on the stool. They were all in awe as they entered the new room, dozens of eyes jumping everywhere all at once. And they had that sort of nervous awkwardness about them, tripping over their feet and slipping because of the water still dripping from their clothes and hair. They were all small and baby-faced. One boy draped in an oversized moleskin coat that all but consumed him.

Again, kinda cute in a baby duck way… but yeah... a bunch of hungry teenagers were far from interested. Even Jane, the sweetest of the group muttered, “Merlin, I hope there are no hatstalls.” Completely ready to just fast forward this whole thing straight to when the food magically dropped onto the tables.

Iris hummed curiously, “What’s a hatstall?”

“Anyone who takes more than five minutes to be sorted. Neville Longbottom and Harry Potter were both hatstalls in our year, Hermione Granger and Sally were both nearly ones.”

Sally-Ann nodded vaguely, “I was almost put in Ravenclaw.” Her eyes immediately narrowed into a glare as several giggles sounded from her friends, “I’ll have you all know that the hat found me very worthy of Ravenclaw, I would have been there had I not heard on the train it was the nerdy house. My creativity and cleverness were better suited for here.”

“And we are so grateful for that. Every day we are blessed with whatever new music phase you have entered.”

Sally-Ann shoved Valeria but laughed with the others before they silenced again. Everyone turned to the hat as it began its yearly song. Introducing the houses, the school, and itself. It was different from the one the year prior… which would make sense. What else did a hat have to do but write songs?

After the applause had settled, McGonagall held out the list of names, and the sorting commenced. A name followed soon by the shouting of a house. Sometimes applause… and well, still anyone sorted to Slytherin was met with a series of boos and hisses in mocking. The Slytherin students did their best to make their new housemates feel welcome.

And on without any interruptions it went. Jane even got her wish that there would be no hatstalls… although one boy did get very close. Whitby, Kevin. A small blonde boy that ran off to the Hufflepuff table. And with that… the sorting had ended in quick time.

So just stood one more obstacle… Dumbledore’s introductory speech… students waited with baited breaths. Everyone hoped the ancient of a man would just stand quicker at the least. And hoped that he would keep things short…

Opening his arms wide in welcome, his eyes twinkled as he smiled at the students, “I have only two words to say to you,” his voice seemed to echo off the walls, the room so silent it may as well have been empty, “Tuck in!”

A visible relief flooded over every student in the hall. Everyone suddenly was at a new level of awareness as attention shifted to the food that filled the tables. Energy surged as hands grabbed for anything they could get a hold of.

Iris’ mood was soaring, having found a rather amusing game in discreetly sneaking food off of Theodore’s plate. Slowly sending teh boy to madness every time he looked down to see his plate emptier than when he last looked.

And when he caught her, she seemed only more elated, listening to his annoyance with nothing but pride as she ate the food he had so graciously picked for her.

~~~~~~

There was no real winning in when the introductory speech was given. If done before dinner, everyone was only half listening as they dreamed of their warm meal. If done after… well, everyone was stuffed to the point of exhaustion, ready for the warmth of their beds.

And that night, it didn’t help that the warmth of the Great Hall was greater than usual, enveloping the students who were still slowly drying from their time in the storm outside. Nor did it help that the patter of the rain on the windows had that strange, comforting effect.

But Dumbledore had committed, and the speech had to be done. So as he stood, he looked beamed out to the students. Met with silence and heavy eyes. Even Iris and Sally-Ann both seemed one yawn away from letting their eyelids drop.

And it never did help that Dumbledore’s speeches started off rather dull. Something about yo-yos no longer being allowed. And then just the blah blah blah of no one being allowed in the forest and only third years and up allowed in Hogsmeade. Iris’s lips quipped at the former… her eyes shifting to Theodore, who tried to pretend his mind hadn’t also jumped to her.

A dull, typical speech… until….

“It is also my painful duty to inform you that the Inter-House Quidditch Cup will not take place this year.”

And just like that, people were awake. Players and fans alike all jolted to attention, Sally-Ann even letting slip a very audible “What” that Dumbledore had chuckled to himself about.

Dumbledore continued before students could get over their shock to riot, “This is due to an event that will be starting in October, and continuing throughout the school year, taking up much of the teacher’s time and energy — but I am sure you will all enjoy it immensely. I have great pleasure in announcing that this year at Hogwarts—”

The interruptions were from two sources, startling the hall’s occupants. Teachers and students alike.

One was the deep rumble of thunder cracking into the hall.

And the second… the second was the bang of the Great Hall doors flying open and sending a gust into the hall that snuffed the candles.

A crack of lightning lit the hall again with a blinding flash of light. Everyone turned in their seats to the man who stood at the door. Clad in a black cloak with the hood up, a cane in hand. There was a brief pause, one singular moment when no one moved, no one breathed. Where the world fell still.

Then… he removed his hood and let his long, dark grey hair loose, shaking out the mess of a mane. And with that, he began to walk, every pair of eyes locked on him as he hobbled up the walkway to the staff table, his cane clucking against the stone every other step. Eyes slowly adjusted to the small amount of light in the room, eyes more so following the sound of the cane than the actual man himself.

Another crack of lightning flashed bright again, and a few gasps released as students caught his face. He looked hardly a man… face so beaten by life it seemed impossible for him to be anything but a monster from a child’s nightmare. His face was leather-like, scars spanning every free bit of space. Scars of different lengths and depths… all of different stories. His mouth was hardly that… more of a diagonal gash in place of where a mouth should be. And a large chunk of his nose seemed to have been lost to his travels.

And… his eyes… well, no. He had one eye. Small, dark, and beady like that of a rat… the other thing on his face was simply pretending to be an eye. Whatever it really was, it was large and a vivid, electric blue. It bulged from the socket, swiveling around without ceasing for even a moment. Left, right, up, down. Sometimes it even went back into his head, the blue of the fake pupil gone from sight as all anyone could see was the white of the false eye. It never blinked… though it couldn’t more than likely, not with how large it was.

No one could take their eyes off this figure that only vaguely resembled that of a man… well, all but one.

Iris was looking anywhere but him, looking quite a bit distressed the one moment she had landed her eyes on him. Her jaw was clenched, eyes wide as she looked down, humming to herself in some strange attempt to fill the space around her with some form of noise.

Theodore was the first to break from the trance over him as he watched the man, looking sharply at Iris as he did when she invaded his mind just a tad bit too deep. But he paused before he could question her, seeing her distress and making the connection… she was doing everything in her power to avoid the mind of that man.

And as he remembered the scars of his face… all the different situations he could have been through to gain those wounds… yeah, no one should have wanted to see into that man’s head. Not even at the most surface of levels.

So, Theodore focused his attention to the ceiling… and as his thoughts shifted from the man to the swirling of the false clouds… Iris relaxed.

The man eventually made his way to the staff table, shaking Dumbledore’s hand and exchanging a few words before he hobbled over to his seat. Filling a plate with sausages and enjoying a meal of his own.

Dumbledore began his warm welcome again, “May I introduce our new Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher? Professor Moody.”

No one moved… everyone still transfixed on the man’s strange appearance. All anyone seemed to manage to do was whisper to their friends… almost afraid to make a noise.

Tracey was the brave one to speak up in their group, “Mad-Eye Moody? The famous auror?”

Theodore briefly shifted his gaze from the ceiling to the man but quickly corrected. Shooing away his own fascination. Trying to ignore as the girls all began whispering, “Auror? As in the magic police… what in the world do those people deal with to come out looking like that?”

Valeria seemed the most in awe, “At least we know we have a teacher with experience in dark arts… complete opposite of Lockhart, isn’t he?”

Jane scoffed, “He has been off the rocker for years. He is supposed to be in retirement but has done nothing but cause more problems. He should be with a therapist, not teaching us.”

Moody… seemed to care nothing about the cold welcome he received from the students. Instead, taking out a flask to take one big swig out of. Lifting his robes just enough in his movements to show off a wooden leg… ending in a clawed foot.

Dumbledore finally went on, smiling through the unease of the students he looked out to, “As I was saying,” the hall silenced again, but only a few eyes had shifted over to him, “we are to have the honor of hosting a very exciting event over the coming months, an event that has not been held for over a century. It is my very great pleasure to inform you that the Triwizard Tournament will be taking place at Hogwarts this year.”

“You’re JOKING!” A shout from one of the infamous Weasley Twins.

And with that, the tension broke. Dumbledore even laughed along with appreciation as a collective giggle sounded through the hall. Attention suddenly restored to the speech.

And on Dumbledore went with his usual long-winded way of explaining everything. Two schools would be arriving with a shortlisted selection of students who would be entering names to hopefully compete. One representative from each school. They would arrive in October. Selection on Halloween, a large monetary prize.

Iris seemed most appreciative of the sudden energy returned to the room. The wave of curious minds helped block out the one head she wanted to avoid. And with time, Theodore looked down from the ceiling, briefly meeting Iris’ gaze… looking away when she sent him a smile in appreciation.

Apparently, he was very interested in the age restriction as he ignored her sign of thanks… he did kick her foot under the table, though… just for some form of payback for invading his mind as deeply as she had.

~~~~~~

Talk all the way to the dorms was about the Tournament. Everyone chatting excitedly, wondering together about what it would be like to be a competitor… to win that money and the house glory. Seventh and Sixth years who would be of age were flocked by younger students egging them to join. The Slytherin’s having more reason than the other houses to want to be the one who won this for their school. Perhaps finally, they would have been given the respect that at least meant no more mocking at sorting.

Iris walked apart from it all. Making a beeline for her room… nothing but dread for when the Tournament would come… so very inclined to ignore its entire existence.