eighteen

•••

        Ivy didn't get much sleep that night. She spent it worrying about the results they would be getting.

        She woke up at an abnormally early time. Since it was still halfway dark outside, she waited until it was kind of reasonable to get dressed and prepare for the day ahead of her. She tried to just wait until she heard someone else, biting her nails as she sat on the bed, her hair still unbrushed and no shoes on. After a few minutes of contemplating her options, she finished getting ready and walked out of her room, immediately knocking on Remus's door timidly.

        He opened it, looking down at Ivy. He had woken up a few minutes ago and was still composing himself, his hair still tousled and not yet brushed.

        "How long have you been awake?" Ivy asked as Remus shrugged.

"Ten minutes or so."

"Well, I woke up an hour ago out of anxiety," She complained dramatically as Remus leaned against the door frame, smirking. "I can't look at my scores! They'll be bad!"

        "I promise you they won't be bad. You're the smartest person I know and you've been studying like crazy for the past five months," Remus said quietly. Ivy sighed and looked at him with worried eyes. It was silent for a few seconds.

        "How do you think you did?" Ivy asked, breaking the silence. Remus shrugged.

        "I think I did alright. Maybe not incredible, but good enough." He said while Ivy looked down at her black shoes.

        She was about to say something but suddenly, Sirius slammed open his door and looked at the two standing there. They both turned around to see him.

       "Good morning, you guys," Sirius said as he walked over and stood next to them, placing his hands on his hips. "I'm assuming James and Peter are still asleep?"

"I guess. We haven't talked to them." Remus said as Sirius nodded.

        "I'm going to go wake him up. I'll need your help, Ivy. Remus, you can wake Peter up, he's always been a light sleeper." Sirius said as he swung open James's door, Ivy following behind him. "Wake up, asshat!"

         James groaned and pulled the pillow over his head. Sirius got onto his bed and began to jump up and down. James swept his legs out from under him, causing Sirius to fall off of his bed with a loud noise.

        Ivy grabbed a pillow and began to beat him with it. James groaned once more and reluctantly sat up from where he was laying down.

"Ivy, not you too, please, just let me sleep," James pleaded as he fake cried. Ivy laughed.

        "It's late. You need to get up," Ivy said as she threw the pillow at him again. He rubbed his eyes as Ivy walked out with Sirius over to where Remus was standing outside of Peter's door. The three talked until Peter came out of his room. James was taking a very long time to get dressed.

"Where is James?" Remus said as Sirius sighed and opened his door.

"He's asleep again! That bastard!" Sirius yelled as he ran in and jumped on him, laying down on top of James's back. James yelped as Sirius got up and pulled him out of bed. Remus, Peter, and Ivy watched, very amused.

"You need to wake up, it's almost eleven," Ivy said, walking in. James got up and walked into his closet, swiping through the clothes. He walked out after a few minutes of rummaging, then walking into the bathroom and locking the door behind him. They waited for a few minutes. All of them made light conversation except Ivy, who was ridden with anxiety, staring off into space. Peter and Sirius were arguing about something as Remus smirked, intervening every once in a while to give his opinion. He glanced over to her.

        "Are you okay?" Remus asked, snapping her out of the daze she was in. She looked over to him and nodded, putting a smile on her face. Remus gave her a skeptical look. "If you're worrying about the scores, I promise they'll be good. And your grades don't define you. We'll all be your friends even if you get Poor on every O.W.L. you took."

        Ivy smiled at him gratefully. "I'm sorry for worrying so much."

        "Don't apologize. It's completely normal to worry. And it's honestly adorable." Remus said, not even thinking about the words coming out of his mouth. He froze, his face turning a brilliant shade of red. Ivy watched him struggle with an amused smile. "I mean— it's just cute how you worry— not that you're cute— wait, yes, you are cute— fuck, I mean—"

        Ivy burst out laughing, placing a hand on his shoulder as she bent over. She stood back up and looked at him, a grin on her face. "You are such a dork."

        He smiled at her, glad she saved him from his rambling. Ivy took her hand off his shoulder, sighing. She was about to speak until she was interrupted.

         "Never fear, James Potter is here!" James said as he walked out of the bathroom, placing his hands on his hips. Sirius whooped and cheered.

James led them down the hall to breakfast, sitting them down at an elegant table. His mother served pancakes, eggs and bacon, putting the syrup in the middle of the table. They ate their breakfast, talking casually. It seemed none of them wanted to bring up that they would be getting their O.W.L. scores soon, until Remus said something.

        "Are you guys worried about the results?" Remus said.

"What results, the O.W.L. results?" James asked cluelessly.

"No, the results of my pregnancy test," Remus said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Obviously the O.W.L. results, dumbass."

        "Don't get sassy with me, Moony. And I think I'll be fine, thank you for asking," James said with the tip of his invisible hat, Sirius nodding with him.

        "Me too. It wasn't that hard. I'll be fine," Sirius said with an shrug and a smirk as Ivy poured more syrup onto her pancakes with the shake of her head at their arrogance.

        "I don't know how I feel. I guess there's nothing I can do about it now, right?" Peter said.

        Once they all finished their breakfast, they walked into the room with a comfy couch and sat down. They all managed to squeeze on one sofa even if it was a bit crowded. Remus's arm was stretched out on the small section of the top of the couch, all of them awkwardly smushed against each other.

        They chatted for a bit longer until five birds came flying towards the window.

        "Oh my god!" Ivy exclaimed, looking at them with a terrified face. They all got up and grabbed the letters from the owls, ripping the scores open. Except Ivy. She had the letter in her hand, still looking at it.

        "I got all O's except for three E's," Remus said happily as Peter groaned.

        "I got a P in History of Magic and Divination! Just kill me!" He exclaimed as Sirius laughed.

        "Remus, I can't open it, you need to open it for me," Ivy said, handing the letter to Remus. He raised his eyebrows, his lips quirking into a smile as Ivy buried her face in her hands. He opened it, scanning his eyes down the page. Suddenly, he broke out into a grin.

        "Do you want to know what you got?" Remus said, still beaming. Ivy nodded impatiently. "All O's."

         "Stop fucking around, Remus, tell me what I got," Ivy said, hitting him on the arm gently as Remus started laughing, shrugging.

         "You got all O's, I'm being serious!"

         "No I am!" Sirius exclaimed with a cheesy smile, his hands on his hips.

         "You really couldn't control yourself, could you?" Remus said. Sirius shrugged with a satisfied smirk. Remus redirected his gaze to Ivy. "Look for yourself."

        She made a noise of exasperation and snatched the letter from his hands, looking through the results. She had to look over them several times until she realized that Remus wasn't lying.

        "Oh my god," Ivy said, a smile making its way into her face. "Oh my god!"

        She suddenly threw herself at him, bringing him into a hug, her arms wrapped around his neck. He was shocked at first, but returned the hug, wrapping his arms around her torso. He had to bend down a bit as she stood on her toes.

       They pulled away after a second or two, taking their hands off each other awkwardly as uncomfortable silence filled the room.

        "Anyways," James spoke up, looking at Sirius with an amused face, "I think we all did pretty good. I got mostly E's, a few A's and two O's. Sirius got one less O than me. Peter got mostly E's and A's and two P's, ha!"

        They all found it rather amusing that Peter managed to get a P on his History Of Magic O.W.L.

        "I mean, it could be worse. You could have gotten a troll," Ivy said, attempting to comfort him. He shrugged.

        "It's fine. I don't really care, I'm sure other people did worse," Peter said as Ivy nodded with him.

        "Well, let me go put my results in my bag," Ivy said as she walked away, trying to remember where her room was.

        Once she was gone down the hallway, Sirius squealed excitedly.

          "Merlins pants, Remus! How do you feel?!" Sirius said, grabbing his shoulders.

           "I feel fine, thank you very much. It was just a hug," He said, swiping Sirius's hands off himself. Sirius looked at him in disbelief before Ivy walked back towards them, sighing.

They spent the rest of the day having fun, talking about random things until it was time for them to leave. Ivy grabbed the floo powder and stepped in the fireplace, her bag slung over her shoulder.

"Bye guys! Thanks for letting me stay!" Ivy said with a grin as they waved goodbye.

"It was our pleasure!" Euphemia said before Ivy was whirled away, back home and anticipating when school would start again.

•••

I would like to take a moment to address the horribly transphobic things J.K. Rowling has been saying on twitter. Trans women are women. Trans men are men. She has been highly problematic for years and we as a fandom do not claim her. Team Starkid created Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling's seven books are merely fan-fiction.

Another thing, you can sign petitions for George Floyd, Breanna Taylor, and several other causes. As a white person, I am privileged enough to learn about racism instead of experience it firsthand and myself and others need to be an advocate for the BLM movement. Please take action. You do not want to be on the wrong side of history.