one

•••

        "I'm gonna be late, I'm gonna be late..."

Ivy threw on her Hogwarts robes and her shoes. She hated first days, like most people. The uncertainty of everything made her slightly nauseous. Her roommates never seemed as frazzled, but they were always elegant as ever.

        Ivy walked to her bathroom and put on chapstick and mascara. She brushed her hair and looked in the mirror. With a small nod, she walked out of her dorm and into the common room.

Ivy walked down all the stairs and into the great hall, where breakfast was being served. Choosing somewhere to sit also stressed her out; once it's chosen, it's hard to change it, and she is friends with her roommates, but they're all closer with each other than they are with her. And she feels like the ugly duckling compared to the three of them.

She sat down and grabbed herself some breakfast. Everyone else laughed with their friends, excited about the first day. She ended up sitting next to her roommates, as she expected. They're friends, but distant ones. Most people assumed Ivy had more interest in studying than human relationships.

Flitwick was passing out their timetables. Ivy immediately looked down at hers and saw what her first class was. Transfiguration, with the Gryffindors.

        She walked into the classroom and was surprised that everyone else was already seated. The tables were separated into groups of five.

        There was one table left. It contained the Marauders with one empty seat. She made eye contact with James. She motioned to the chair as if to ask if she could sit there. She didn't know what she would do if he said no. He nodded.

        Ivy felt a rush of excitement as she sat down next to Remus Lupin.

        "Top of the morning. I'm Sirius Black," Sirius said in a really bad Irish accent. Remus looked at him in bewilderment, laughing. "You're Ivy, correct?"

She nodded. "I am."

        "And you're in Ravenclaw?"

        "Yes," Ivy said. Why that wouldn't be obvious by her bronze and blue robes, she did not know.

        The others introduced themselves. James couldn't resist mentioning Lily.

         "You're friends with Marlene, right?" James asked. It was obvious there was an ulterior motive to this conversation. Ivy nodded.

          "Yes."

          "...Are you friends with Lily Evans by any chance?"

         "Not in the slightest," Ivy said. "I mean, she's fine I suppose, but I've barely ever talked to her."

          "...Okay," James said. It was obviously not the answer he wanted to hear.

        Class began. Ivy enjoyed Transfiguration. It definitely wasn't her favorite, but she enjoyed it more than Charms.

        Ivy noticed that Remus was struggling to do the spell that was assigned. She sighed and decided to help him timidly.

        "Try waving your wand like this," Ivy said, demonstrating it once she got his attention. Remus furrowed his eyebrows and tried what she had said. It worked, obviously.

        "Huh, you're smart," Sirius said with a nod as Ivy winked.

"I mean, it's kind of all I'm good at," She said. They laughed a bit as they continued the spell McGonagall had assigned.

          Eventually, it was time for potions, Ivy's favorite subject. She looked on the board once she made her way into the classroom, sighing when she saw the assigned seats.

        "Oh, you've got to be shitting me," She muttered to herself when she saw her partner was Remus Lupin. Ivy thought that maybe it wasn't that bad, he was smart and probably good at potions. And, they already kind of knew each other from the previous class.

        She sat down in her seat and waited for Remus Lupin to arrive. He walked in the classroom, a pleasant look on his face. He glanced at the board and made eye contact with Ivy. She had some sort of innocent expression on her face Remus couldn't comprehend.

        He sat down next to her. She smiled to him, almost a little awkwardly, then immediately cringing at her lack of social skills. Even sitting down, he was a great bit taller than her.

        "Hello," Remus said as he got out his Potions book. He was honestly glad he was partnered with Ivy. She was smart and could help him in potions, which was not his finest subject.

        "Hi," She replied and ran a hand through her short, brown locks. It wasn't something Ivy often acknowledged in men, but Remus is attractive.

Professor Slughorn walked in the room. The whole class fell silent as he walked to the board.

"Good morning! Today, I just want a simple poison antidote. The recipe is on page thirty-two. Your time starts now!" He exclaimed with a smile.

"I'll get the ingredients," Remus said as he left their table, grabbing all the ingredients from the high shelves.

Ivy beamed as he walked over to their table. She started to follow the directions to make the antidote, her face concentrated as silence overtook the pair even in a room filled with conversation.

"You good at potions, Lupin?" Ivy asked after a while as she stirred the pot, glancing at the directions every few seconds.

"I'm okay. I'm not as good as you, it seems," Remus replied as she got excited because the potion turned the color it was supposed to.

"Yes! I'm doing this right! Okay, next step, Remus, hand me the powdered root of Asphodel." Ivy said as she held out her hand.

"You called me by my first name," Remus said with happiness as he handed her the powdered root of Asphodel.

"Yeah. Would you rather me call you Lupin?" Ivy replied with a smile as she put in the powdered root of Asphodel.

"Should I call you Scott?" He said jokingly as Ivy smiled.

"See! I knew there was a little bit of humor in there somewhere," She said, pointing a finger at him as Remus smiled and rolled his eyes.

"I'm actually hilarious," Remus said as he added the next ingredient to the potion.

"...I don't believe it," She muttered, focusing on the task at hand as Remus watched her quietly. He felt a little guilty for not helping, but she seemed like she would rather have none.

"She finished the potion, a faint smile still on her face. "Let's take it to Slughorn."

They took it to him. He smiled and looked at Ivy. "This is splendid! Ten points to Ravenclaw, ten points to Gryffindor."

Remus smiled at Ivy. At least for now, fifth year seemed to be not so bad.

•••

Ivy walked to dinner and over to the Gryffindor table. She was still scared of McGonagall, but it wasn't the first feast of the year. She thought she should be fine.

        "Hey. I'm scared of Professor McGonagall," Ivy hissed as she sat down next to Marlene, glancing over at where she was sitting.

        "You'll be fine. How was your first day?" Marlene asked as James and his gang sat down in front of Lily and Marlene.

"It was decent. Normal, as first days go," She said as James plucked up the courage to ask Lily to Hogsmeade.

"Hey Evans, wanna go to Hogsmeade next weekend?" James asked as Lily glared at him annoyedly.

"No." She stated blankly before continuing her conversation with Alice. Ivy smiled. Lily seemed very pleasant, quite contrasting to James.

"You'll get her next time James," Ivy said, half-sarcastic as James grinned.

"Oh I know," James said arrogantly as he ate his food. Ivy sighed with a small smile as dinner continued on.

Ivy ate dinner and chatted with Marlene occasionally. She enjoyed the Gryffindor table much more than the Ravenclaw table. There were a certain few she liked over in Ravenclaw, but she liked almost everyone in Gryffindor. They were all quite rowdy and rambunctious, though.

She walked to the common room and up to her dorm. It was early. She decided to read a few books she had grabbed from the library a few minutes before dinner.

The books she read were really good. She even read a few on quidditch, something she tried to understand but usually failed. This year, she actually planned on going to a few of the games.

        "Hello, Ivy," Chloe, a girl Ivy shared a dorm with said as she came in. The other two, Jessica and Bella followed behind her.

        "Hi," Ivy said politely, looking up from her book for a second. The girls talked from their beds, squealing about something every few minutes. One good trait they all had was they cleaned up after themselves and were good at keeping the room clean and tidy.

Eventually, it was late and the other Ravenclaw girls were already in bed. Ivy got ready for bed, putting on pajamas before crawling into bed and falling asleep.

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