Chapter 27- Quidditch Preparation

(9 November 1991 )

My gaze is fixed upon my brother; taking in his every move. Harry is wearing his Quidditch uniform which contains our house colours: red and yellow. Similarly, I'm wearing the jumper that the Twins gifted me along with the nicely knitted scarf that Avery gave me. Ever since my birthday, school proceeds to become better. No more detentions with Professor Snape. No more failing. Most importantly, no more arguments with Percy. Well, I don't want to speak to soon, from time to time I catch him staring at me from the side of his eyes. Harry's appetite has soon vanished as he plays with freshly cooked food on his plate with his silver folk.

Like always the Twins sit on either side of me as Harry and Ron sit on the opposite side. Unfortunately breakfast this morning seemed to give off a weird vibe. Everyone seemed more silent and the majority of people looked nervous; the Quidditch team including. All eyes were on their plates as they struggled to digest the simplest foods. Who am I kidding? This is Gryffindor's first ever Quidditch math this year, they need to win if we want any chance of getting the house cup!

" Harry, try and eat some toast." Ron suggests from beside him with a plate full of sausages and toast.

"Ron's right, Harry. You're going to be needing your strength today." Hermione interferes as she closes the book she was previously reading.

" I'm not hungry," Harry continues to play around with the food on his plate with his folk in his hand.

" Why is Snape here?" George says in a hushed tone. Furrowing my brows I look up from my plate and catch Snape's intimidating form stride towards Harry. Well more like limp, ever since the troll incident the Professor has been walking with a limp.

"Good luck today, Potter. Then again, now that you've proven yourself against a troll, a little game of Quidditch should be easy work for you...even if it is against Slytherin," Snape addresses Harry before limping forwards towards the Professors' table. The professor's trouser leg still had a light hole, it didn't matter the countless times it was stitched up it still managed to rip and reveal the horrendous red blistery mark that was left behind from the troll incident.

" Explains the blood for a few weeks ago, Haz," Leaning forward I tell Harry.

"Blood?!" The group around Harry and I leaned forward intrigued with the conversation that just started.

" Listen, when the troll incident happened, I'm guessing Snape let the troll in as a diversion so he could try and get past that three- headed dog. But he got himself bitten, that's why he's limping." Harry spoke to the group.

"But why would anyone go near that dog?" Hermione requests to know.

"The day I was at Gringotts, Hagrid took something out of one of the vaults. He said it was Hogwarts' business, very secret."

" Harry! We promised Hagrid that we wouldn't tell anyone," I glare at him.

" So, you're saying?" Hermione ignores my comment which causes George and Fred to snigger from next to me. Which only earned them to receive a hard nudge to their sides.

" he's saying; that's what the dog's guarding. That's what Snape wants." I add to the conversation. Before anyone else could add to the conversation the sound of birds screeching is heard as the doors to the Great Hall fly open. Two owls reveal themselves; one being Hedwig and the other being oddly familiar.

" Guys?!" I alert everyone and manage to grab their attention. I point up towards the pearly snow-white owl next to Hedwig. Both of them being similar; Hedwig has black patches whereas the other doesn't. "Remember when I received that weird letter from my so called 'Secret Admirer'?"

" Damn right I do," Fred informs as he takes a swig of his drink.

" Well, I think that might be the same owl."

Hedwig is carrying a long parcel in its mouth and the other owl is carrying a scroll. As the two owls fly over, they drop their items above our group. The parcel in front of Harry and the scroll in front of me. Not wanting to waste anytime I reach forward and grab the delicate piece of paper. Taking off the ribbon, I begin to discreetly unfold the scroll. From across from me, Harry and Ron quickly open the parcel.

" It's a broomstick!" Harry bellows across the hall.

" Not just a broomstick! It's a Nimbus 2000!" Ron says, more excited than Harry. Looking baffled, Harry looks at Hedwig and catches her standing on the table in front of Professor McGonagall getting stroked. McGonagall looks up and turns in Harry's direction and sends a smile towards him.

" What does the scroll say?" Cherry says from beside me which causes me to jump.

" Where on earth did you come from? You were sat over there next to Tesha." I point over to Cherry's original seat.

" Ooo I bet Oliver wouldn't be happy about that," Lillian winks at me. That's when I realized that Oliver was gone the whole time.

" Where is he?"

" He's getting everything ready for Gryffindor's Quidditch match against Slytherin." Avery fills in the blanks for me.

"Enough with the chatter! Iris, please read that scroll." Cherry leans her head on my shoulder and looks down at the scroll. Sighing, I open the scroll and read out what's been written.

Dear Iris,

If you haven't already guessed, it's me again. Your Secret Admirer. It's been a while since our last interaction, well my interaction. Since I didn't receive a letter from you, I sent you one. Your absence made me nervous, not knowing if you were okay or not.

I know where you are, Iris. Not in a creepy way of course, I'm there too just hidden from view. There's been a few times where I have caught you passing through the corridors with rather two ginger twins or your friend group of girls. I must say, the twins are pretty overprotective over you. However, if I was there, they wouldn't need to protect you. I could keep you safe, make sure no harm comes your way. Also, please accept my deepest apologies for not getting you anything for your birthday; hopefully this can make up for that maybe?

Hopefully, you respond back to this letter; it would be fantastic if you could. But no pressure, I'll understand if you don't want to. Stay safe, and don't allow another troll to almost kill you.

Yours faithfully,

Your Secret Admirer.

" IT'S THEM!!" Tesha stands up from her seat and declares to everyone in the room. Cherry grabs the scroll from my grasp and jumps up and down with excitement.

" Iris, has another person to choose from," she says in a playful sing -song voice.

"Come on guys, it's probably nothing. Now come on Cherry hand it back!" I rise from my seat and lean up towards the scroll but as soon as my hands were about to come in contact with the piece of paper George snatches it away from Cherry and reads it himself. "George!"

George moves away from me and him and Fred read the scroll again. "That little sick -" Before George could finish what he was about to say I jump up and take the scroll away from his grasp. I then roll up the paper and tie it sealed with the red ribbon: putting the red material back in its original place.

"Enough now, let's not worry about this stupid little thing," I raise the scroll up and gesture to it so they know I am talking about the scroll. All at once, the Gryffindor team stood up and made their way to the Great Hall doors. Harry quickly looked at me with worry on his face, this then caused me to walk over to him and place both of my hands on his shoulders.

" Deep breaths alright?" I assure him as I rub his arms to try and bring him comfort. Harry closes his eyes and takes breaths. After repeating this he opens his eyes and nods his head.

" I've got this, yeah I can do this. We'll win this." Harry says proudly.

" Damn right you will," I smile down at him