In The End ⁂ H. Potter Twin

Free Falling

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Iris woke up surprisingly early the next morning and found herself not able to get back to sleep, so she picked up Buttercup, who was snoozing at the foot of her bed, and walked sleepily down the stairs to the common room.

Iris found Harry sitting on one of the couches staring into the fire.

She sat next to him, rested Buttercup in her lap, and put her head on his shoulder.

No words were exchanged as the twins whiled away the hours until dawn in front of the fire, getting up every now and then to stop Crookshanks from sneaking up the boys' staircase again.

At long last Iris and Harry thought it must be time for breakfast, so they headed down to the Great Hall alone.

Harry revived a bit over a large bowl of porridge while Iris had some eggs, and by the time they'd started on toast, the rest of the team had turned up.

"It's going to be a tough one," said Wood, who wasn't eating anything.

"Stop worrying, Oliver," said Alicia soothingly, "we don't mind a bit of rain."

About thirty minutes before the game was set to start, Iris left the team with a cheerful 'Good Luck' to go find Hermione and Ron.

As she was strolling out the doors of the Great Hall she crashed into a tall figure.

"Oh, sorry!" said Iris, not yet looking to see she had bumped into.

She looked up to see a familiar face. "Oh, hey Cedric! We have got to stop meeting like this."

"Oh I don't mind so much," he laughed. "Nice weather we're having today, isn't it?" quipped Cedric.

"Oh yes, it's absolutely beautiful outside. Good luck out there. I'm cheering for Gryffindor, but I suppose I hope you don't fall off your broom!" Iris said, smirking.

Cedric laughed, "Yes, I hope so too. Well, I have to get going, but I'll see you later, okay? Just look for the Seeker of the winning team," said Cedric, grinning mischievously.

Iris scoffed playfully, "Well, in that case, I'll be searching for my brother," she said walking backwards away from the Hufflepuff boy with a grin on her face.

"I guess we'll just have to wait and see then," he said with a grin matching her own.

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There was a rumble of thunder, a stitch of lightning as it struck one of the golden quidditch rings and the clouds bloomed with icy blue light.

Far below, in the stands, rain lashed the sea of umbrellas.

Iris' attention was diverted when the crowd exploded and two Quidditch squads -- Gryffindor in scarlet, Hufflepuff in canary-yellow -- shot into the air. Twin bludgers fired skyward and the match was on.

She leaned forward over the railing of the stands to get a better view but immediately pulled back, feeling queasy. She didn't enjoy sitting front row as she was always terrified at the thought that she might fall over, but she often had to so that she could not only support Harry but also be able to see as there were no heads blocking her view.

Iris' eyes cut to Harry, who was rising like a rocket through the mist, his robes snapping violently in the wind as he flew, rain falling like needles before him, every dark cloud concealing potential danger.

Beaters crisscrossed his path. A bludger whizzed past, then a second rockets directly at him.

SWOOP! -- Harry ducked, and Iris watched the bludger shatter the broom of a Hufflepuff beater. The Beater went into a wild spiral, vanishing in the mist.

Iris squinted upward, the players little more than streaking blurs from her vantage. There was a loud hiss as a stitch of lightning struck the tail of Angelina Johnson's broom.

As it burst into flames, she plummeted to the pitch.

Iris watched on nervously where, in the sky, Harry was flying fearlessly, searching for the Snitch as Bludgers pierced the clouds above him and chasers flitted in and out of view far below.

Suddenly, in the stands opposite to Iris and her friends, a black umbrella flew from the hand of a Ravenclaw girl.

For a moment, it sailed wondrously through the heavy air, then abruptly picked up speed, rotating like a hatchet.

Harry ducked, Iris turned and watched it disappear into a bank of clouds.

Then something glimmered and Iris realised it was the Snitch.

Harry seemed to have spotted it as well, as he instantly jetted off closing fast on the tiny, glimmering ball, chasing it through one cloud then another until Iris could no longer see his silhouette.

"Come on Harry!" Iris cheered, although he definitely couldn't hear her at all.

She stood up and stepped onto the bench she had been sitting on to try and get a better viewing point, trying to spot her brother in the clouds.

The rain was pounding against her and though it should have been significantly loud, the sound seemed to still and the air got colder.

Iris rubbed her hands together bringing up to her chest in an attempt to warm them, but she knew it wouldn't do any good.

They were here.

Suddenly she saw something out of the corner of her eye. Startled, she glanced down at her hands which were emitting red sparks.

She shook them trying to get rid of it but lost her focus when the screaming started.

"Not Iris, not Harry, please not my children!"

"Stand aside, you silly girl...stand aside, now..."

"Not the children, please no, take me, kill me instead --"

Numbing, swirling white mist was filling Iris's brain...What was she doing? Why was she standing idly in the stands? She needed to get down off her seat... She needed to help the woman...She was going to die...She was going to be murdered...

Iris felt herself tip, hands grabbed at her anxiously, but couldn't hold her collapsing body. Multiple people were shouting her name.

She was falling, falling through the icy mist.

"Not my children! Please...have mercy...have mercy..."

A shrill voice was laughing, the woman was screaming.

She focused on the wise man with half-moon shaped glasses,

Save him...

There was a boom. She felt a warm flash surround her, something lit up in front of her hazy unseeing eyes.

And Iris knew no more.

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