sixteen

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Ivy walked to the scarlet train, her luggage in her hands as she climbed the stairs. She walked down the halls, looking for an empty compartment, or one that contained the Marauders.

After looking in all of the compartments with no sign of the four boys, she found one that was empty decided to sit in there. She got out a book and began to read, sighing as she scanned the pages.

After a few minutes of doing that, the door was flung open.

"Hey!" James said flamboyantly as they walked in without invitation and sat next to her. Sirius snatched the book out of her hand as she began to protest.

"No reading! Not today! Exams are over, let's have some fun!" Sirius said as he placed the book on top of her suitcase. They made it too loud to read anyways.

         Remus and Sirius sat on both sides of her. Ivy was wearing the green shirt that Remus had gotten her for her birthday.

          "That's the shirt I got you," He said, causing Ivy to look down at it. She smiled.

          "Yeah. It's a favorite of mine. My mum might be angry because a little bit of my stomach's showing." Ivy said as they all looked down at her cropped shirt.

         "Marlene did say that's the style. It isn't even that revealing," Remus said as she tore her eyes from the shirt to look at him.

         "Well my mum will probably flip. She thinks I'll get kidnapped down some dark alley if I'm not completely covered up or something," Ivy said with a small laugh as they looked at each other. Sirius was watching them with an incredulous expression on his face.

         "Oh my god, just snog already!" Sirius exclaimed in a high voice, causing James and Peter to chuckle. Ivy rolled her eyes and scoffed, a small smile playing on her lips. Remus was blushing profusely.

        "Anyways, moving swiftly on, what are you guys's plans for the summer?" She asked as Remus finally recovered from the embarrassment.

        "Nothing much. Probably hang out at James's house a lot." Sirius said as James nodded in agreement.

        "I don't have anything planned at the moment." Remus said as James scoffed.

        "Oh come on, you'll be hanging out with Padfoot and me! You too, Wormtail!" James exclaimed as the Remus and Peter grinned.

         "What do those nicknames stand for? Like, I know what Remus's means, but what about the rest of you?" Ivy inquired as the four boys looked at each other, trying to find an excuse. Ivy gasped. "You guys are hiding something!"

        "Okay, you might not believe us, but here it goes." James began slowly as Ivy listened with a slightly fearful look on her face. He cleared his throat. "We are unregistered Animagus's."

         "The term is Animagi." Ivy corrected as James rolled his eyes and readjusted how he was sitting.

         "Are you serious? I just told you that we are doing something very illegal and you corrected my grammar?"

        "No, I'm Sirius!" Sirius said with a grin as Ivy laughed. She looked at James, slightly confused with a small smile.

        "This is so chaotic I don't even know where to begin." Ivy said as she stood up to look at all of them. "So you are all unregistered animagi. Except Remus. And that's where the nicknames come from."

"Yes. I'm a dog, James is a stag, and Peter is a rat." Sirius's said proudly as he stood up and transformed into a big shaggy dog. Ivy yelped and drew the blinds quickly.

"Holy shit." Ivy said as Sirius turned back into a human. She laughed for a few seconds before sitting back beside Remus. "What the hell? How did you manage to pull that off? And why?"

"It took forever and I hated every second of it, and I'm pretty sure McGonagall knows. We help Remus every full moon. Werewolves can't hurt animals like they can humans." James said as Ivy glanced over at Remus. He was looking out of the window.

        "That's really cool." She said as they looked slightly surprised.

        "Do you not even care what we're doing could put probably us in jail?" Peter said. Ivy shrugged, looking around at all of them.

        "You guys are good at keeping secrets. I don't think you'll get caught anytime soon." She said as Sirius pointed a finger at her, close to touching her forehead.

        "Don't tell anyone about that." Sirius said as Ivy swatted away his finger.

        "Obviously not."

"And don't be a smartass." Sirius said as he shoved her. She smirked and sat back down next to Remus.

"I am so scared to receive my O.W.L. results." Ivy said as James shrugged with a cocky smirk.

"I think I did fine." James said confidently, running a hand through his hair as Sirius laughed.

"I don't know mate, you said Draught of Peace was Orange." Sirius said as Ivy laughed.

         "Well, I've learned from my mistakes." James said pridefully as the compartment was filled with laughter. James sighed disdainfully as he pushed up his glasses.

"I wish I could receive my results with you lot. I'd feel better to open them with someone other than my annoying brother." Ivy said, a smile still etched on her face.

"Who says we can't?" Sirius said as He stood up and cleared his throat. "I propose that we all have a sleepover at James's house the night before we get our results. So we spend the night partying, and the next morning worrying about our scores. We get our scores in around a week."

"Sounds like a plan. You in, Ivy? Remus? Peter?" James said as Ivy nodded.

"Yeah. Sounds fun." She said with a smile. Peter nodded.

"My scores might be kind of shitty, but I'm in." Remus said as Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Remus, you're almost as bad as Ivy, your scores will be amazing." Sirius said as Ivy looked at him with narrowed eyes.

"What is that supposed to mean?" She asked as Sirius gestured to both of them.

"You guys are both naturally smart and always studying. Your scores will be good, I promise." Sirius said as he sat back down. James sighed.

"Well, Ivy, are you dating anyone yet? Got a boyfriend? A crush?" James asked as he cracked his knuckles. Remus tore his eyes from the window to see her answer. Peter glanced at him and his eagerness to see Ivy's answer about her love life.

A fleeting image of Remus Lupin appeared in her head. "No. I'm not dating anyone, nor have a crush."

Sirius looked a bit disbelieving, but didn't say anything. "Have you had your first kiss?"

"No." She said, slightly grouchy as Sirius grinned arrogantly.

"Well, I have. I'm the only one in this compartment that has kissed someone while sober," Sirius bragged. It seemed like none of the other boys wanted him to share that information.

        "What do you mean while sober?"

        "Ah, that's another story for another time. He would kill me if I told you," Sirius replied, causing Ivy to think about what he had said.

"I'm keeping myself pure for Lily," James explained as Ivy stifled a laugh. "Y'know, I need my first kiss to be with my one true love!"

"James, I don't think she likes you. And the more I hang around you, the more I see why," Ivy said bluntly as James began to protest. Remus let out a laugh.

"Yes she does, she just doesn't want to admit it. I'm a strapping young man! Anyone would be lucky to have me!" James said, sticking his nose in the air, looking haughty as Ivy sighed and shook her head with a smile.

"Keep telling yourself that, James," Ivy said with a smile, causing James to flip her off.

        "Who do you want your first kiss to be with?" Sirius asked as Ivy thought about it for a second. Once again, an image of Remus appeared in her thoughts. She blushed as she thought about kissing Remus for a second before she cleared her throat.

         "I don't know. Someone that I like. Or at least someone attractive," Ivy said as all four boys looked at her.

"I'll owl you on when we are gonna have a sleepover. You're connected to the floo network, right Ivy?" James said, changing the subject. Ivy nodded. "That goes for all of you."

        "We're here!" Peter exclaimed as the train came to a stop. The walked off and looked for their parents together.

"Don't forget to write, okay?" Ivy said to all of them as Sirius rolled his eyes with a smile.

"We aren't dying, we'll see you in a week," Sirius said as Ivy rolled her eyes and scoffed.

"Well, it will be the longest week of my life," Ivy complained dramatically as Peter said goodbye, walking to his family. "Bye Peter!"

        James was the next to leave.

        "Bye James!" Ivy said as he walked to his parents. Sirius and Remus stood next to her, waiting. Sirius rolled his eyes once he saw Regulus and his family waiting for him.

        "Bye, see you next week," Sirius said as he walked away. Ivy and Remus both said goodbye, sighing. She spotted Justin beckoning her over.

        "Well, I better get going. Bye Remus!" Ivy exclaimed as he smiled.

        "Bye! See you soon!" Remus said as Ivy smiled and walked away, pulling down her shirt and pulling up her pants. Her mom eyed her clothing choice with a disapproving stare as they walked out of the train station to go home.

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