thirty-five

•••

        "Studying, studying, studying! All we do nowadays is study! The exams aren't even for another four months!" Sirius Black said, slamming his book down once they reached their third hour of studying. Ivy looked over to him, shocked at his annoyed voice.

        "Three months and two weeks, thank you very much, and they're are gonna be hard. But you can take a break. Go walk with James or something," Ivy said as she looked back down at her book. Remus didn't even bat an eye at Sirius, he was deep in thought about Defense Against the Dark Arts. Peter and James were off somewhere, not studying as they should be.

        "No, but the N.E.W.T.'s are coming kind of soon, I want good scores," Sirius whined as he opened his book back up, reading begrudgingly.

        Ivy sighed exasperatedly, shaking her head with a smile as she went back to her work. After around two more minutes, Sirius groaned.

"Fuck it, I'm gonna go hang out with James and Peter," Sirius said as he threw up a peace sign and walked away. Ivy shook her head.

"So dramatic," Remus said as they watched him waltz away. Ivy laughed.

"Yeah, he is," Ivy said with a small smile as she read. They were in the Great Hall in the middle of the day during her one free period. Severus walked by, a scowl placed firmly on his face.

"Y'know, you guys haven't messed with Severus in a while," Ivy said as he walked out of the great hall, the Green and Silver billowing after him.

"Yeah. It's because of Sirius," Remus said, referring to something Ivy hadn't even found out about. Ivy looked at him with a confused face before he began to get into the details. "At the end of fifth year around O.W.L. time last year, Sirius tried to pull a prank on Severus. It was after he called Lily the M-word, so that might have had some to do with it. He suggested, jokingly, that Severus should follow me in the whomping willow during that time of the month. James stopped him before he got to me, though. But it's not completely Sirius's fault, Severus was snooping where he shouldn't be."

"He still shouldn't have done that. It would have been horrible if he got to you," Ivy said with a scoff and the roll of her eyes. "How have I never found out about this?"

Remus shrugged. "You were so consumed with your studies that you didn't even notice. And none of us thought to tell you, so we just pretended it never happened. I got over it quickly, so that helped too."

"You're too forgiving sometimes, I swear. And it's not a bad thing, you're just always settling for others. If I were you, I'd have at least hexed Sirius," Ivy said with a short laugh, causing him to smile.

"It's just easier to forgive and forget. What's the use in arguing?" Remus said with a shrug, looking at Ivy's incredulous face.

"Maybe I'm just spending too much time around Chloe, but you need to act like you're assertive and confident, even if you're not! Because trust me, I'm not, but Marlene, Lily, and Jessica comment on how confident I am all the time!" Ivy said as she slammed her hand on the table. Remus laughed amusedly. "Seriously. And you should be confident! You have the smarts and the looks and the personality to back it up!"

        "You always say how you don't compliment me enough, but you go on these tangents almost every day," Remus said with a smile. Ivy shook her head.

        "No, I do not. Well, maybe I do, you just happen to need them all the time," Ivy said as she shrugged, going back to her studies. Remus smiled as he continued to read. Ivy glanced at Remus as he read, her for once being the one to stare at him as he studied.

        They spent their afternoon studying, chatting quietly as they prepared for the N.E.W.T.'s that was months away.

•••

"This is the most tiring prank yet."

"Shh!!"

The Marauders plus Ivy were currently crouched together under the invisibility cloak, waiting for Filch to pass by. They didn't fit, honestly, half of James's body was out and visible. The prank was to change every student in the school's robes to Gryffindor robes for the Quidditch championship coming up. It was James's Idea. Peter wouldn't stop complaining.

"This is going to take all night! I'm gonna fall asleep!" Peter complained in a hushed whisper as Sirius led them to the Slytherin dorm. They had already done the Hufflepuff dorm.

        "What's the password?" Ivy whispered to James, who grimaced.

        "Fuck, I forgot."

        "What do you mean you forgot!?" Ivy said shrilly as Sirius and Peter groaned a bit too loud.

        "It's blood status," Remus said calmly.

        James left the invisibility cloak and said the password quickly, then pulling it back over himself. They walked in, stumbling around the unfamiliar room.

        "This place is kind of nifty!" Ivy said, causing James to laugh quietly at her. "Seriously, you can see the Black Lake! I'll bet there are Mermaids sometimes."

        They walked up the stairs to the Girls' dorms first, transfiguring all their robes to be red and gold.

        "I can't believe I'm helping a bunch of Gryffindors do stuff for Gryffindor pride," Ivy said as they tiptoed across the common room. "Like seriously, I'm a Ravenclaw."

        "It's because you love us!" Sirius said with a grin as they went to the boys' dorms. Snape was fast asleep. As they transfigured his robe, Ivy thought about the prank Sirius attempted to pull on him last year.

        Once they were finished with the Slytherin dorms, they moved onto Ravenclaw, which was their last house to do. They finished the boys quickly, soon moving onto the girls.

Ivy's roommates were all sleeping luckily. They were sleeping when she left her dorm to help the Marauders with their prank. They took their time walking around the tidy room, coming to a stop next to Ivy's bed. Her nightstand was covered in books and assignments. She had her different shoes lined up neatly in some sort of shoe rack on the end of her bed. Her bed was made and there was a stack of fresh laundry on the corner of her bed.

Remus picked up the open potions book, looking at the frantic words and crossed out sentences. It was a modified recipe for the Draught of Living Death. He flipped the page, and there was one for Amortentia.

"Have you made these?" Remus whispered. Ivy blushed, lucky that it was dark.

"I mean— yeah. They don't even work though and it's still a work in progress and one is from Severus," Ivy mumbled quickly, barely even understandable.

"I bet they do work, stop being so humble," James said with the roll of his eyes as Remus closed the book and put it in the stack of books already on the desk. They made their way to the robes, casting the spell on each of them.

"Are we really gonna make your's Gryffindor?" Remus said, stopping his wand halfway through casting the spell.

"Yes, or the teachers will obviously know that I was in on the prank," Ivy said, nodding. Remus cast the spell slightly begrudgingly. They left, going onto the next dorm.

After finishing all of the dorms, they walked Ivy to the door of her stairs.

"Thanks for letting me be apart of the prank!" Ivy said with a grin as she slipped out from under the invisibility cloak. She waved goodbye to what looked like air to her and walked to bed.

The next morning was confusing for everyone except Ivy and the Marauders.

"Why are my robes red and gold?" Chloe said from the bathroom. The other three girls looked at their robes, confirming that theirs is also Gryffindor.

They walked out to the Great Hall, looking around at everyone else who also seemed to be talking about the changing of robes.

"Gryffindor suits you!" Sirius said as he and Remus, James, and Peter caught up to her. She smiled, shrugging. Soon enough, after the whole day, McGonagall managed to transfigure the robes back of the students haven't already themselves. It was a nice way to spend their Sunday.

•••