thirty-six

•••

        "Happy Birthday Remus!" Ivy announced loudly as she carried a present to where he was sitting in the Great Hall during their free period. He rolled his eyes.

        "You didn't need to get me anything," He protested despite gently taking the gift with a caring smile.

        "Oh shut up, you tallywhacker," Ivy said harshly, causing James to laugh as Remus opened the gift. It contained a bar of chocolate from Honeydukes since he was somehow running low, a new sweater, and a short book on jinxes, hexes, and curses.

        "Since I stole your sweater and you won't take it back," Ivy said with a short roll of her eyes as he held up the blue sweater. It was true, every time she tried to give it back he would take it out of her hand and pull it over her head.

"This is too much," Remus said fondly as Ivy scoffed.

        "Ugh, stop it, no it's not," Ivy said with a smile of her own. "Besides, you better use some of those jinxes in that book. On Sirius, preferably."

        Sirius flipped her off.

        Remus laughed as she sat next to him, having some time to waste. "You're seventeen! How do you feel?!"

        He shrugged with a smile as she shook his shoulders gently. "I don't know. Normal."

        "Well, you should feel spectacular! You can legally cast magic now!" Ivy said excitedly. It seemed she was in one of her better moods this day. She didn't have as much homework as usual and she just felt a lot happier.

"I don't know. It feels kind of weird, I guess," Remus said with a shrug. Ivy nodded

"I feel like I'm aging too quickly sometimes too! I feel like my life is over and I'm ninety years old!" Ivy said with a simple shrug.

"You are the dancing queen, young and sweet, only seventeen!" Sirius sang to Remus. Ivy laughed.

"I can't dance. I'm sure Ivy knows from when we danced at that New Years' party," Remus said as Ivy shrugged.

"I mean, you weren't that bad," Ivy said with a sheepish smile and a shrug, not sounding like she meant it.

"Oh yes, he is! All he did was step on your toes," James interjected, causing Ivy to laugh, not disagreeing nor agreeing.

"I warned her I wouldn't be good!" Remus said defensively.

"Well, Ivy should have taken your word. We watched you both dance all night. And then you two snuck away and snogged—"

"Okay, that's enough," Ivy said, interrupting James halfway through as Sirius and Peter laughed. "We don't need to go into detail about the happenings of that night.

"We don't need to. We know that you two danced lovingly and made-out in the hallway," James said with a smile as Ivy blushed, pursing her lips as they laughed. She sighed annoyedly.

"Well, I'd love to chat, but I've got to get to Defense Against the Dark Arts. Goodbye, have a nice birthday, Remus!"

        Ivy got up, walking out of the Great Hall swiftly and to Alchemy. They watched her go. An idea popped into Sirius's head.

•••

         "What—"

        "I know it sounds like a stupid idea," Sirius said, interrupting James as he waved his hands around erratically. "But it's not! It's really not!"

        They all looked at him for a few seconds, processing what he said. It was late at night in their Gryffindor dorm. Sirius just remembered the idea he had earlier this day. Remus was trying to fall asleep but Sirius wasn't letting him.

        "You're saying that we should find out Ivy's Patronus and make her an honorary marauder?" James said slowly. Sirius clapped with a grin.

        "Yes! Yes! Isn't it a good idea!? We can make her a scarf or hat or something that says 'Honorary Marauder' with whatever her Patronus will be!" Sirius said with a grin.

        "Assuming she'd say yes," Remus said, face down on his pillow and trying to fall asleep despite the lights being on and Sirius's screaming.

        "Don't be such a Negative Nancy," Sirius said as he pulled the covers off Remus, slapping him on his back. "We aren't gonna ask her, it'll be a surprise!"

        Remus squinted at him before sighing, pulling the covers back over himself. "Yeah, I guess it's a good idea. I'm sure she'll be able to cast a Patronus in no time if she can't already."

      "We'll ask for her Patronus tomorrow then?" Peter said. They nodded in agreement.

        "Good. Now turn off the lights, dumbass," Remus said as he buried his head in his pillow. Sirius scoffed before turning off the lights and climbing into bed.

        The next day was a breezy Friday. The four Gryffindor boys confronted Ivy right after breakfast, telling them their proposal.

        Ivy blinked at them with her round blue eyes, looking at each of their faces. James and Sirius were grinning with some sort of jazz hands, Remus looked more exasperated than anything, and Peter had a polite, encouraging smile on.

        "Why do you want to know my Patronus?" Ivy asked slowly.

        "For fun. Curiosity."

        "Okay, sure. Can all of you cast a Patronus?" Ivy said. They all nodded in sync as if they had planned it.

        "Yup. We can teach you it right now if you would like," James said. Ivy nodded with a small smile.

        "Okay," Ivy said before walking to an abandoned classroom with the boys. She got her wand out and waited for instruction.

"Have you ever tried to cast a Patronus charm before?" James asked. Ivy gave a short scoff and a shrug. She didn't really like being bad at things.

"I've tried but I'm bad at it," Ivy said as she twirled her wand in her hand like a drumstick.

"Okay, well, think of your happiest thought. Let it consume you. Then, cast it. You probably won't get it on your first try, but with you, I wouldn't be surprised," James said with a roll of his eyes as Ivy tried to think of a happy thought. First, she tried Remus just for giggles in a half-ass kind of way. She said the incantation, but nothing happened.

It's true, Remus was a very prominent and happy memory in her mind, but it wasn't her happiest. She had her achievements and goals and successes that made her who she was that would be much more useful for casting the charm.

When nothing happened, Ivy threw her arms up, looking around the classroom like it would jump out and scare her.

"Nothing happened, as I said," James said, grabbing his wand and casting the charm easily. It was a stag that pranced around the room majestically, coming to a stop in front of James and disappearing with the wave of his hand.

       "Show off," Ivy said with the roll of her eyes. Remus laughed as she tried again, thinking of something else. A wisp was formed.

        "See! Great! That's great, you practically just conjured a Patronus Charm!" Sirius said as he drew his wand and easily cast the charm. A big dog ran around before sitting down in front of Sirius, wagging his tail.

Ivy tried once again. Another slight wisp was formed. She groaned. "Useless! I'm fucking useless!"

"Shut up, don't say that," James said, walking over and patting her on the shoulder. "This is your third try, and you're making a lot of progress already. Try again, and then we can take a break."

Ivy scoffed, drawing her wand once again. She thought of when she got sorted into Ravenclaw. It was the first time she felt like her achievements paid off. Even back then, she wanted to be the smartest in the room.

This time, an actual Patronus was formed.

"That was your fourth try! Ugh, you suck," Sirius said as they watched the wisp form into an animal.

"That's a blackbird, I believe," James said as it flew around the room majestically, coming to a stop in front of her. It disappeared as she lowered her wand.

        "Cool. Alright. My Patronus is a Blackbird. Do whatever you would like with that information. I've got to go talk to Chloe. She wants help with Potions," Ivy said, putting her wand back in her bag and saying goodbye, walking out of the classroom.

Sirius clapped his hands together. "Alright. Let's go buy a beanie next chance we get."

Luckily, the next day was a Hogsmeade weekend. They bought a white beanie and black thread. Sirius knew how to stitch designs and words into fabric, so he did that in their dorm while the others got out the map and found out where Ivy was. She was sitting in her dorm at the moment. Once Sirius was done embroidering a minimalistic blackbird and 'Honorary Marauder,' they walked to the Ravenclaw common room, waiting for a Ravenclaw student to come. Most people were back from Hogsmeade, but Ivy's roommates weren't yet.

        "Hey, you!" James said to a short, young-looking Ravenclaw. "Go get Ivy Scott. Please."

        "Why can't you just answer the riddle?" She replied, causing James to stutter and Sirius to laugh.

        "I'm not that smart, okay?" James said, causing the girl to shrug, turning around and answering the riddle, soon coming back out with Ivy, who had a pair of sweatpants on and the same Gryffindor sweater.

        "Why did you make that poor little girl go get me? You could have just answered the riddle, you know. It'll open for anyone worthy," Ivy said as James scoffed, exasperated with her and the other Ravenclaw saying the same thing. She came to a stop in front of them, the Ravenclaw door closing behind her.

        "We have a surprise for you!" James said as he pulled the beanie out from behind his back, presenting it to her. She just looked at it.

       "What? Is this for me?" Ivy said as she took it gently, turning it over in her hands.

       "Yup. It's a blackbird, like your Patronus. And look on the inside," James said, causing her to flip the beanie inside out. On the edge of the fabric, 'Honorary Marauder' was stitched in fancy cursive. Ivy smiled.

"So that's why you wanted to learn my Patronus," Ivy said as she looked at her new beanie, the blackbird facing her.

"We should put your name in the map," Sirius said as he tapped the piece of parchment he had in his hand.

"Yeah, but what would my nickname be?" Ivy said as they thought about it for a second.

"Talons!" James said loudly. They all looked at him for a few seconds.

"Blackbirds don't have talons," Ivy said as Remus nodded with her.

"Well, they look like talons. And Peter doesn't have a Wormtail, Smartasses, do you have a better idea?" James said defensively.

"I guess not. Talons it is," Remus said as they opened the map, beginning to edit it.

"How did you make the map in the first place?" Ivy said as Remus waved his wand, adding her new nickname.

"The Homonculous Charm. It took weeks," Remus said with a small smile as he closed the map, presenting it to Ivy.

"I solemnly swear I'm up to no good," Ivy said, pointing her wand at the map. Ink formed on the page. It was like usual, their names at the top of the page and their big title in the center. But under that was something new.

To our Honorary Marauder, Talons, thank you for keeping us in line. We love and cherish you very much.

•••