2 | CONFESSIONS° HARRY POTTER

1 | GUARDS

ACT THREE, loss
CHAPTER ONE, guards

       Iris shook her head as she pulled herself out of the memory. She looked over at her father as he shook his head, his eyes wide in surprise that she managed to draw the memory of Christmas 1980 from his mind. Pride filled his face and Iris felt a little proud of herself in that moment too. Legilimency had taken her a bit longer to pick up on than Occlumency did. Calypso told her she was a natural when it came to Occlumency and closing off her mind, but entering into another person's mind was harder for her to master. She had been trying it out on her dad for the past few weeks and that was the first time she managed to latch onto a clear memory of his.

"You're a natural, just like your mother." Sirius said. He stood up from the wooden chair and smiled down at his daughter. "I'm proud of you, Iris."

"Thanks, Dad." Iris responded. She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him in for a hug before Calypso entered the room at 12 Grimmauld Place. Iris could hear voices of the others coming from outside as they spoke frantically. She figured her mother had rushed in to deliver news of some sort.

"Did you do it?" Calypso asked excitedly. Ever since Iris found out that she was a descendent of Salazar Slytherin and Rowena Ravenclaw, she felt closer to her mother's side of the family than she had before. She understood more about her bloodline and was quite shocked that Salazar and Rowena managed to have a kid that no one knew about. And, now that Iris knew she was a descendent, her parents had spent all summer keeping her hidden while they taught her Legilimency and Occlumency. 

"She did." Sirius said. Calypso smiled brightly.

"That's wonderful, dear!" She said before her expression sobered up. "But, we do have a bit of a problem."

"What's that?" Sirius frowned.

"It's Harry." Calypso shook her head. Iris straightened up at the mention of Harry's name. Harry and Iris hadn't talked at all since they left Hogwarts. It wasn't necessarily because she didn't want to, because she did, but everytime she started to write a letter to him she could never get past the 'Dear Harry' part. "He's been expelled from Hogwarts."

"What?!" Sirius and Iris exclaimed at the same time. Calypso held her hand up and explained the situation. Arthur Weasley told her Harry had performed a spell on two dementors in front of a Muggle. Dumbledore was already on top of things and was pleading Harry's case at the Ministry now to get them to review Harry's expulsion.

Sirius wrote a quick message to Harry, telling him once again to not leave the house while Iris contemplated whether or not she should write something as well. She took a piece of parchment and quill and looked down at the blank paper while she decided what she should write to Harry. What if he didn't want to hear from her? After all, he hadn't sent her a letter either over the summer. 

Iris blew out a sigh and quickly scribbled:

Harry,

Well done fighting off two dementors.

Iris

Short and simple was best, she decided. Sirius sent her letter off with his own and Iris waited to hear more about Harry's situation. Three, she received a letter from him that said the same thing he said to Sirius and Calypso:

I've just been attacked by dementors and I might be expelled from Hogwarts. I want to know what's going on and when I'm going to get out of here.

Iris frowned. She knew they had been keeping Harry in the dark about what had been happening over the summer for his own safety. That was another reason she'd decided against writing to him. She wouldn't be able to tell him anything quite yet.