six

•••

        It was almost time for Christmas break. The great hall was decorated with snowflakes and Christmas trees.

Since their quidditch game, Their team had lost against Slytherin, but they won against Hufflepuff and their next game was the week after Christmas Break.

Around a month ago, Sirius announced that his birthday was in a week. Ivy got him some hair supplies and candy.

        On another note, Remus looked horrible. The full moon was tomorrow, and he felt just like he looked. Ivy, of course, noticed how he was. She knew that he was not doing good. He was sensitive to light and sound, and every time someone spoke, he flinched.

        "Remus... are you okay?" Ivy asked as James, Sirius, Peter, and Remus walked down the hallway.

        "I just have a cold," Remus said, waving a hand. Ivy narrowed her eyes.

"I think that's your third cold this school year," She said, pondering something with a small smile. "You need more vitamins!"

Sirius did a poor job of stifling his laugh. Remus smiled weakly. "Thank you for the suggestion."

"Of course!" Ivy said, her cheerfulness slightly sarcastic. "I've got to part ways. I will see you later."

Ivy sat at the Ravenclaw table in her usual spot, occasionally talking to her roommates. She picked around at her food before deciding she wasn't hungry. Remus stared at her from the Gryffindor table.

"Tomorrow is a Hogsmeade weekend. Get her a Christmas gift!" James said as he followed to where Remus's eyes were staring.

Remus gave him a look. After lunch, Ivy had herbology with Hufflepuff. Of course, the whole Hufflepuff class was very good at herbology. Ivy was decent, but it definitely wasn't her strongest subject.

Eventually, it was time for dinner. Ivy ate quickly and walked to the Library to study before she had to go to her dorm. Ivy took pride in her grades. It was one of the only things Ivy was really good at.

        Her mom took grades very seriously. Her dad didn't care as much. Justin, her brother, was smart, he just didn't try as hard as Ivy.

        Ivy was quite adamant on finding out what sickness he had and why he has such a weak immune system. Not because she was nosy, but because it's interesting. Well, some of it is definitely because of her nosiness.

        She revised her notes and read a few books about certain subjects. Ivy loved potions. In her opinion, it was really neat that you could form a liquid that could do almost anything.

Suddenly, James, Sirius, Remus and Peter walked in. Ivy scrambled to hide behind one of the comfy armchairs. Her heart pounded as they walked down to the last shelf.

"Who should we prank next. I say Slytherin!"

"Ivy's brother is in Slytherin—"

"Ooh, worrying about your girlfriend, are we?"

"Shut up."

Ivy rolled her eyes as she felt her cheeks turn a light shade of pink. They weren't in a romantic relationship, nonetheless boyfriend and girlfriend.

"Hufflepuff," Sirius said as James and Remus nodded. Sirius started to sketch out the idea of their prank. They were planning on hanging up Gryffindor banners in the common room and changing some people's hair to red and others to gold.

"The banners won't be a problem, but how will we change their hair color? We could spike their shampoo and conditioner with hair dye, but that would take a while. Also, some people don't wash their hair every night." Remus pondered as he looked down at the sketch of the banner Sirius had drawn.

        Ivy rolled her eyes and came out of her hiding place. The solution was obvious, even for them.

        "It would be easier if you used that hair changing transfiguration spell. Crinus Muto," Ivy said as she placed her book on the shelf. Remus raised his eyebrows. She kind of appeared out of no where. "Or, you could use the color-changing charm, Colovaria, although, I don't know if that charm is meant for hair. Putting dye in their shampoo and conditioner is tedious and there is a high chance it wouldn't work."

"You're acting like we know how to do those spells. Have we learned either of them yet?" Sirius said in disbelief. Ivy shrugged.

"Maybe, maybe not. I have a lot of free time. I can do both of the spells, but I think Crinus Muto will work better. The other charm might turn their whole body a certain color." Ivy said, looking between the boys. They all acted like she was speaking a foreign language, except Remus. "Another issue: how do you plan on getting into the Hufflepuff dorms? Yes, you can follow a Hufflepuff student in, but everyone knows who you are, a prefect would kick you out."

        Sirius made eye contact with James. They obviously knew how they were to get into the Hufflepuff dorm, they would use the invisibility cloak.

        "We already have that figured out," James said. Ivy raised her eyebrows. It was obvious they were hiding something.

"What's your plan," Ivy said incredulously as Sirius looked at James for some sort of excuse. "Tell me what you're hiding."

James took a deep breath. "We have an invisibility cloak."

"Yeah, right," Ivy said sarcastically, waiting for him to laugh and say it's a big joke. They looked between each other, not a smile in sight. "You're serious?"

        "No I am!" Sirius exclaimed with a cheesy grin as Ivy groaned.

•••

Before she could comprehend what was happening, Ivy was walking to the Gryffindor common room with Sirius, Remus, James, and Peter.

Sirius said the password and they all walked in. She hid behind Sirius as they walked up to the stairs and to their dorm. It was just how Ivy remembered it. Messy.

"Will we all fit?" Ivy asked as James got out the cloak from a drawer. James looked at her as if she was crazy.

"Yes, I think so. If not, then Peter, you're sitting this prank out." James said as Peter began to protest. James wrapped it around himself. Ivy gasped. Sirius and Remus came under it next. "Come on, Ivy."

Ivy lifted up the end of the cloak and got under it. She was immediately squished up against Remus.

        They all started to walk to the Hufflepuff dorm and wait for a student to open their common room. Sirius was holding the banners in his hand to hang up. Ivy had no idea how to open up the Hufflepuff common room. It looked complicated.

Amos Diggory walked right to where they were standing and tapped some sort of combination on the barrels that were in the portrait. They followed after him and suddenly were in the Hufflepuff common room.

It was similar to how Ivy imagined it. It was homey and warm. It was strange being in there. They walked to the girl's dorms first. Ivy got her wand ready to cast the spell to change their hair. Most of the girls were sleeping, given the fact that this group was first years, and they got more than seven hours of sleep. Ivy barely got six hours each night.

After she turned that group of girls hair red, James was freaking out next to her.

"Holy shit, Ivy!! I didn't know you could do stuff like that!!" He whisper yelled as they walked to the next group of girls. Ivy rolled her eyes.

"I can do more advanced stuff than that. I learned that spell last year," Ivy said simply as she drew her wand and muttered the spell, changing their hair to yellow.

James gaped at her as if this was revolutionary. Ivy would come in handy for their pranks. She'd come in handy at any time, really.

After they had finished the girls, they moved onto the boys. The first years were sound asleep, as Ivy expected. She then came to the sixth year dorms.

        One boy was still awake, looking over his notes. James bumped into his nightstand, accidentally pulling off the cloak. The boy looked over to them, surprised.

        "Stupefy!" Ivy panicked, casting the spell and knocking him out temporarily. They threw the cloak back on hastily.

        She gasped and looked around at the group. James was grinning at her fast thinking.

        Ivy gave an awkward smile, causing Sirius to choke back a laugh, trying not to wake up the others. She walked over and looked at him. She then cast the spell to change his hair to yellow. They then brought him to his bed and tucked him in, closed his notes and placed them on his nightstand.

       They walked out of that dorm and onto the seventh year's, where they were all sound asleep. She cast the spell, and they made their way out of the Hufflepuff common room and into the corridor.

        "Lumos," Remus muttered as he pulled out the Marauders Map. He looked over it and found filch quickly. They avoided him and walked back to the Ravenclaw tower to drop Ivy off.

"Tonight was... interesting. Just tell me if you ever need me to help you with a prank." Ivy whispered to the four boys as she walked off to the Ravenclaw tower.

"I can be as small as an ant, as big as a whale, and everything in between. I look just like you. What am I?"

"A shadow," Ivy answered simply as the door opened up. She walked to her bed and decided she would take a shower the next morning, falling fast asleep.

•••