So, Lady Lily Anne brought up an incredibly valid point to me that I hadn't considered, the two of us know Iris incredibly well since we created her, the problem is, most of you don't. So, while it really diverges from where we wanted this chapter to go, we're going to get their back stories out of the way and show what was different for the two of them.

We only plan on having one more exposition moment in a later chapter, going over the dimensions Iris and Harry have been forced to visit, and the green eyed woman who sent them there, so no worries, adventure is on the horizon.

As an aside? Stop sending me PM's requesting this becomes an incest story, it isn't happening, so chill.

As the timer went off Harry cracked the large stove's door open and smiled to himself as he slipped an insulated mitt over his right hand, squinting he stared at his objective before nodding once. A moment later he reached into the fiery confines of said oven to pull out a tray of meat pies that he swiftly placed on the counter beside him. His twi'lek boss/landlord Hav'har nodded in approval as he examined the golden flaky crusts placed before him.

"Not bad brat, far better than your sister at least, though that ain't saying much. Girl isn't worth much for more than washing dishes and boiling water... Still, at least she can mix a good drink. Where is she anyway?"

Taking no offense to the grizzled old war veteran's commentary Harry smiled lightly as he began removing the pies from their trays while placing them on the cooling racks.

"Oh mixing up some of her medicines I think, that flu that recently passed through the area really dented her supply of ready made cures after all."

Not a lie, 'someone' *cough* The Empire *cough* had released a mildly contagious virus on the local none humans to 'keep them honest and in check.' This left the Tempest twins to have to step up and lend a hand to help their neighbors recover. Unfortunately despite how much they had watered down their Pepper-Up potions to make them stretch out it had been a rather pricey investment all around.

Sooner rather than later they were going to have to try and find local herbs to replace those from Earth.

That was going to be...a rather interesting testing trial period, hmm... maybe they could get some "volunteers" from the local gangs? Really no one would miss them regardless, and if they survived the procedure, hey, penance!

Something to think about at least.

Harry blinked at those rather dark thoughts a moment before letting out a quiet snort, Iris's rather mercenary way of looking at things was certainly beginning to rub off on him, that was for sure.

Hav'har snorted at that while shifting a wrinkled blue lekku over his shoulder, "We're lucky to have you two around kid. Honestly, you brats are the best thing to happen to this neighborhood since the Fall." At this the old man glanced up from the register and gave Harry an appraising look before continuing, "You two better not let anything happen to yourselves."

Harry grinned at that while shrugging, "We'll do what we have to, survival is paramount right? Anyway, do you mind if I snatch a couple of these for our dinner?"

Hav'har scoffed in amusement as he halfheartedly swatted at the young teen while rolling his eyes in tired exasperation, "Take enough for both you and your sister and remember to let them finish cooling first. Don't wanna burn the roof of yer mouth after all. Help yourself to a couple ales while yer at it, yer no use to me malnourished after all."

Grinning Harry dipped a hand into one of the coolers snatching up a pair of bottles while simultaneously grabbing a few of the meat pies placing them on a waiting tray. Nodding to Hav'har Harry soon made his way to the heavily warded room he and his sister shared.

As he entered the room Harry swung his hip to close the door, glancing about a moment he sighed as he saw a massive black trunk resting in the center of the small living space, its brass strapped lid laying unlocked and open. Iris's 'Bug-Out-Trunk' was honestly something that made Harry mildly jealous; while Sirius and Remus had made one for himself it was utilitarian at best, all about survival and nothing else.

Iris's was a bloody club house, including a fully stocked bar, a potions lab, a game room, a pool table, an arcade room, and a swimming pool. The only thing it was missing was a garage, and at the theft rate they were going at...

Sighing he shook his head to clear his thoughts as he eyed the escaping light pouring from the magically expanded trunk, all while his eardrums thrummed from the crooning ministrations of the Beastie Boys rendition of 'Sabotage' roiling from within. It would appear little sister was already hard at work.

Stepping up to the stairs leading into the trunks depths he meandered down to the rooms below and did his best to ignore the loud music screaming around him, quickly taking notice of his sister as she hopped on the balls of her feet to the ear shattering noise.

Placing their meals on a side table Harry watched Iris in open amusement as the petite witch bobbed her head along with the music. Her crimson tresses swaying with the motions as she mouthed incoherent lyrics, hands moving along with the beat.

"Learn new things every day, I had no idea you liked rap, or that you were adept enough at potion brewing to work on several at once."

Iris jumped slightly as Harry's voice broke through the music and she shot a halfhearted glare over her shoulder as she rather maturely stuck her tongue out at him before returning back to her brews.

She did however show him the courtesy of turning the music down before replying, "You never asked keep in mind, plus... Well despite spending nearly a month together we've talked very little about our personal lives."

Harry shrugged lightly at that, "I'm an open book to you, you're family after all. I just assumed you didn't want to talk about it for your own reasons and I didn't want to push."

Iris's shoulders slumped a bit as she shook her head slowly, extending one forefinger to indicate he wait a moment she stirred one of the cauldrons counter clockwise twice before banging its side with the stirring rod. Nodding in approval she turned down the heat to a simmer then spun abruptly to meet her brothers gaze.

Worrying her lip a few moments she eventually sighed while pinching the bridge of her nose, "I didn't talk about my life because what little you've let out about yours...doesn't appear to be all that pleasant. I was afraid if I delved too deeply into your past, or let you know about mine, you'd get offended and not want anything to do with me anymore."

Harry blinked in confusion as he quite automatically gripped her shoulders to gain her undivided attention, "Why would you ever think that Iris?"

She fidgeted a bit under the physical contact before meeting her brother's earnest gaze, "Harry...I saw you walk out of the shower in naught but a towel. I...I saw the scars...you haven't had a kind life and... heh... I'm a spoiled brat...that is a bit of disparity between two siblings raised by the exact same people don't you think? Even separated by a reality?"

Harry stared at her a moment before breaking away, he...was aware that he and Iris had been raised differently but this was the first time it was going to be addressed in the month they'd known each other.

He couldn't see any way this was going to be pleasant, Iris was like a blood hound when her interest was piqued, and he knew his past was soon going to be dragged to the forefront. Best to just get it over with quickly, like pulling a band-aid off, or throwing a game of chess with Ron so he could actually get some studying done.

Digging up a past he had tried very hard to forget kind of made Harry want to throw up, though as he took a look at Iris's concerned visage he managed to screw up his courage, swallow his fear, and began speaking.

"I...my...the Dursleys...I didn't even know my name until I hit primary school. I was known as 'Freak' and 'Boy' before that...it...it just got worse from there..."

As he feared Iris looked disgusted, and afraid, but rather than pushing him away, she pulled him into her embrace and held him tightly as she pressed her lips next to his ear.

"Tell me what else happened, big brother."

Those last words made him shudder in a manner he couldn't even describe. Her tone was possessive, protective, angry, and loving, really there was no singular way to describe it other then a deep sense of being cared for, which gave him the courage to continue.

He told her everything, the abuse, the hate, the lack of acceptance from the Dursleys, to Hagrid's intervention, meeting Ron and Hermione, fighting the troll, confronting Quirrelmort, surviving the summer, Dobby, and so on.

It felt...cathartic really, finally letting someone know exactly what he'd undergone. Iris for her part seemed shocked, amused at times, but mostly just worried at the undertone of his stories, eventually she spoke in a quiet, comforting tone as she gently rubbed her hand along Harry's back in slow circles.

"You've led an interesting life Harry, I won't deny that, and you've done well despite having next to no control over your fate, but...you do realize how much you've been led along by the nose, right? That when something isn't explicitly trying to kill you for their own reasons, almost everything seems to be grooming you for..." She paused worrying her lip again, not sure how to continue but Harry saved her the trouble.

"A hero complex? Maybe even martyrdom? Yeah, Hermione and I talked a bit about that after I recovered from the third task. She had cataloged everything we'd gone through, her and her damn lists..." at this Iris laughed while Harry smiled wryly continuing on. "Anyway she basically wrote up a timeline and lists of inconsistencies involving me and the magical world in general. There was nothing definitive, concrete, but yeah, it looked like someone was pulling my strings."

Iris frowned as she snatched up the trays of pies and slid to the floor beside Harry, she bit into one, grinned brilliantly, and continued devouring the food with gusto. Harry handed her an ale while casually flicking a finger at the cap, magically popped it off and sending it to land in a nearby waste bin. Accepting the drink Iris took a sip as he dug into his own dinner, they ate in companionable silence for a time, and once they were sated Iris stood and returned to her potions.

"What are you brewing anyway?" Harry asked from the floor, too full, and frankly emotionally drained, to bother standing up.

"Wit Sharpening potions for us when we take our first round of imprinting, it's what they made us take to properly absorb and assimilate the language potions we needed for Ancient Runes. That...is not something I want to go through again, hopefully the imprinting chairs won't cause as much of a mess."

Harry blinked at that, she really wasn't making a good sale of this idea but she continued on regardless, "The other two are Pepper-Up and the last bit of Hang-Over cure. I honestly really should have properly restocked my stores but I was dropped here just before the Christmas hols so I figured I had time."

Harry pursed his lips as he gently knocked his head against the wood paneled wall, "Can't really help, I'm pants at potions...well rather I had subpar instruction. I have several dozen potions ranging from light healing to truth serum but no ingredients, sorry I can't toss in anything."

Iris waved him off as she turned back to her potions, "Snape right? Only reason I became his apprentice is because I bribed him, which, oddly enough, impressed him to an extent. That, and I look like a clone of Lily Evans and you look like one of James Potter, so yeah, there's that. No denying the man's bias but good goddamn does he know how to brew a potion."

Harry's interest was piqued at that, "You bribed Snape to actually take you on as an apprentice? How?"

Iris cackled a bit, it was mildly discomfiting but he weathered the storm as it were as his sister turned to meet his gaze, winking once before she spun back to her potions.

"The basilisk of course! I wanted the hide and fangs for practical reasons, armor, weapons, and the like, but had no idea how to harvest any of it. So I approached Professor Snape with a business proposition, he helped me render the basilisk down to its base components, and he got to pick the first 10% of the beasts mass for himself. In so long as there was roughly 60% of each base component left for me, he jumped on the deal and in the process I promised to get him more rare ingredients for proper potion training. Not the crap he pulled in class."

Iris looked up contemplatively as she tapped her chin with her forefinger in a thoughtful manner, "I still have something like three hundred kilos of liquid acromantula silk that needs to be processed actually now that I think about it. Snape mostly wanted the venom and eyes, the silks too magically resistant to be of much use in brewing potions. That's a thought, I really could use some new clothes and processing the silks easy enough...hmmm..."

Harry goggled at her and while slightly weary of the answer to his question he had to know, "Where did you get that from?"

His sister's eyes widened perceptibly at that as she appraised him a moment before once again returning to her work, "The colony in the Forbidden Forest of course. I love Hagrid dearly, but seriously those...monsters are an invasive species and a goddamn liability, the only reason that they were left to themselves was a few corrupt officials in the ministry collected the silk to sell on the sly.

"Anyway, for his fourteenth birthday Ron requested I wipe out the colony as his present, not being one to turn down a challenge I got my friends together and we wiped the buggers out. Snape's training on how to render magical creatures down to their basic components came in really handy there, what a messy week."

Taking this in stride Harry finally caved in, he had to know, "What was different, for you, compared to what happened to me?"

Iris thought about it a moment before sighing and shrugging her shoulders, "I figured out I was magical when I was seven. I'd been playing Final Fantasy with Dudley on my Nintendo, there were only four letter slots for the characters and I insisted the fighter be named BigD, he thought it was silly so in return he named the red mage Iris.

"Anyway mum kicked us out of the house to get some fresh air, we began 'sword' fighting with a pair of sticks and Dudley managed to break mine. He was laughing at how put out I looked and I got angry, so I cast a FIRE spell at him, just like in the game..."

Harry's eyes widened at that and she gave him a knowing nod in turn, "Yeah, thing was, it worked. I caught my big brother on fire and barely managed to put it out, he was crying and screaming on the ground and I figured hey, if I can cast FIRE, surely I can cast CURE right? So that's what I did. I healed Dudley, and when he came to he realized I was a step away from a nervous breakdown and instead focused on the positives. Obviously my miraculous powers made me a Red Mage, and I was a magical girl meant to protect the land from evil."

"Obviously," Harry drawled out looked highly amused, "Honestly that sounds kind of...adorable in a way, what happened after that?"

Iris 'hmmmd' a bit while turning one of the burners off and pulling the cauldron over to the counter to cool, "Big D and I spent the next couple of years inventing spells as we went through as much fantasy and science fiction works as we could find. When I was nine I mind tricked one of daddy's coworkers into not trying to frame him for embezzlement and he ended up getting promoted to regional manager.

"It was around that time we took up martial training, sword fighting, fencing and the like. Our sensei was this eccentric Japanese man who just went by Urahara, he was...kinda crazy but in a fun way. Anyway that isn't really important right now, where was I...right!

"We were kidnapped by a master vampire somewhere around that time but that wasn't really a milestone, I caught him on fire, and when Dudley figured out the creep wanted to turn me into an undead loli dressup doll he goaded me into torching the manor as well. Always wished I looted the place beforehand, ah well. Anyway soon after that we moved to Crawley which is where we met Hermione."

Her grin brightened a bit at the mention of their mutual best friend, "We were ten and new to the area, we tried to keep to ourselves and hid in the library often, Dud would read comic books while I tried to find anything related to magic. Anyway Hermione got cornered by some bitchy girls and I mind tricked them into leaving her alone, I was going to wipe her memory of us when...well for some reason I can't remember what she thought she was but she assumed I was one of them too."

Iris rubbed her forehead in confusion as if in pain before shaking her head and continuing, "Anyway, we became best friends, she was practically integrated into the family and spent nearly a year with us before we got our letters."

Harry sat up in interest at that, "Did Hagrid come for you?"

She laughed while shaking her head, "No, it was McGonagall and Snape, I'd rather not get into how badly mum ripped into them but lets just say it was epic. Anyway skipping to Hogwarts my first year was alot like yours honestly, aside from the three of us figuring out that whatever was being hidden in the castle was loot and we needed to get it."

Harry tilted his head in confusion at that, "You mean yourself Hermione and Ron right?"

Cocking a brow Iris shook her head quickly, "No I mean myself, Hermione and Dudley, Ron is a good friend but I was always closer to Neville."

Harry just remained silent as he realized that in another reality, Dudley was a wizard just like him. The irony was almost...delicious.

"Anyway we ran that goof gauntlet in our first month in the castle, broke into the lockbox containing the Philosophers Stone and left a duplicate in its place. Honestly that rock sat in my knicker drawer for like...two years before we ever did anything with it. So pretty much everything went like it did for you, aside from me having to be dragged back down to the trap rooms by Quirrelmort. After catching him on fire and getting fed a massive dose of bullshit by Dumbledore in the aftermath I went home for the summer."

"Second year...was practically identical to yours really, aside from befriending Luna and Ginny that is. No one found out about the parselmouth thing though, just caught the ruddy snake on fire since it was a conjured animal. Hmm...Hermione and I figured out what the monster was early on, and even found the entrance, but no one believed us, idiots. Only thing different from you was I caught Lucius Malfoy on fire when he attempted to AK me, then Dobby elf slammed him down the steps."

"Please tell me you can share that memory?" Harry asked this with so much longing that it made his sister break out into giggles.

"Sure sure, he was able to reverse most of the damage keep in mind, still, it was funny. Where was I? Right third year was basically the most boring one I've had at Hogwarts and very different from your own. Basically, I love animals and have impulse issues, shutty I know you have something sarcastic to add to that. Anyway, I found this huge black dog and instead of being scared I was smitten with it.

"I snuck it home, gave it a bath, fed it like...two kilos of cooked hamburger, and was in the middle of brushing its fur when mum walked in, took one look at it and said 'Sirius? Is that you? We thought you were dead!' and cue my surprise when my awesome new pet turned into a somewhat scruffy looking man."

Harry lost it there as he broke out laughing, eventually he got ahold of himself shaking his head ever so slightly, "Oh god, the look on his face must have been amazing!"

Iris giggled and nodded as she shut down the last two burners and placed the cauldrons on the table, "Contrite, confused, and confidant, Padfoot in a nutshell there. Anyway since he'd been cleaned, fed, and coddled, he was in enough of a coherent mood to explain what happened. Simply put, he was put on bed rest, I contacted his favorite cousin Andromeda and drew her into the conspiracy, and after some legal ninjistu he brought Aunt Andi, Tonks, and myself into the House of Black.

"Anyway getting off track here, I waited for the Weasleys to come home from Egypt, when they got back I visited Ron, hit Scabbers with a stunner, and within the day had both Wormtail and Sirius tried. Aside from gaining an amazingly eccentric second family, and having an actually competent DADA professor, third year got boring after that. Only other thing to note was Dawlish let Pettigrew get away inside the ministry because he forgot the anti-animagus cuffs...idiot."

Harry shook his head at that, pining over what could have been before prompting his sister to continue, "What about fourth year?"

Iris clammed up at that and glared at nothing in particular, "I...don't like thinking about fourth year Harry, alot happened...alot..."

Considering how...verbose she'd been only seconds before this was rather alarming, "I...alright, if you don't want to talk about it that's fine, but if you do I'm here, ok?"

Iris gritted her teeth and toed the floor a few moments before sighing in resignation, "I was nearly...well...some nasty things happened at the Quidditch World Cup, courtesy of the Death Eaters. I was drunk, confused, and caught completely flatfooted, apparently I'd been their goal the entire time, to put me in my place as it were. I really don't remember what happened...there was fire, and screaming...in the end I was found with my clothes half torn off of me and surrounded by dead bodies..."

Harry didn't need any prompting to rush over to Iris and pulled her into a hug, she returned it with force but continued speaking, "Things went pretty much the same for me, although I did befriend all the champions. Err...and accidentally slayed the dragon, not my fault I swear. Anyway...yeah...I'm...I'm done talking about this... I really don't want to get into the whole graveyard thing..."

Harry held her close and buried his face in her hair as she shivered in his arms, "You're so strong, you know that?"

She laughed humorlessly at that, "I have to be...if I'm not who will?"

Harry inhaled the scent of her hair, blackberries and vanilla, as he gently nodded in return, "I know exactly what you mean."

They stayed like that for a time, eventually the near silent record player clicked off as the album ended and Iris eventually broke her hold around Harry.

Glancing up at her brother she gave him a brittle smile before speaking, "Lets get the imprinting out of the way, the Wit Sharpening potion only has a 24 hour shelf life after all." Harry nodded in returned and accepted the potion filled mug from his sister as they approached the Imprinting Chairs set up next to the aquarium.

"So...how does this work?"

Iris looked contrite a moment before shrugging, "The instructions were...less than verbose, basically I've loaded the things down with everything, culture, maths, science, blueprints, engineering, the art of war, and so on."

Harry looked a bit apprehensive as he glanced back at his sister, "Err...is it going to be able to teach us that much at once?"

"Why I made the potion, if you want to back out it's fine, I just want to get this over with and move on."

Harry, a Gryffindor to the core aside from some very Slytherin aspects simply sighed, downed the foul tasting potion and hopped into the uncomfortable chair.

"Fine, lets do this," Iris simply smiled and downed her own potion, looking much like she wanted to throw up afterwords before sitting in her own seat. They adjusted the headsets, and as one, grabbed each others hand holding on tightly.

"See you on the other side big brother," Harry smirked as he nodded slowly.

"We'll get through this sis, talk to you soon," and with that they flicked the switches on their consoles, and screamed.

Woot, that's outta the way, don't worry the twins are fine they're just playing with fire and not really paying attention to the warning labels. Seriously the next chapter will be the academy and their...acquisition of several relics that will have them cackling like over sugared little kids. This was really an exposition chapter...I'm not a fan of these normally but since Iris is an OC that has kinda gained a life of her own and we had to boil it down for those who haven't read her other stories.

Anyway, regardless if you hated or loved it, I'm very interested in hearing your input so please review!