fourteen

•••

Ivy walked into her career advice session with Professor Flitwick and sat down. He smiled at her as she looked around the room.

"Ivy, are there any jobs you have your eye on?" Flitwick said as he looked at her grades. Ivy shrugged.

"I'd like to become a healer."

"Ah, a healer! A difficult job, but worth the work. Your grades are fantastic, I think you'll be able to pursue your dream! The classes you'll need are Potions, Transfiguration, Herbology, Charms, and Defense Against the Dark Arts. You'll be taking one more class than most of your friends, which is fine, I'm sure you're ready for it. You need an E or higher in those five classes. Although, a few classes might drop down to an A, depending on how well everyone does." Professor Flitwick said. Ivy felt tense up when he mentioned Charms. She really didn't want to take that, even if it was inevitable for any stable job. She smiled and thanked him, walking out of Flitwick's office and back into Herbology.

        Careers advice didn't go as well for Remus, as he expected. McGonagall told him that it would be hard to get a good job because he's a werewolf and most places don't allow employees with his condition. Remus nodded and smiled, but was very hurt. He knew what was going to happen, but he wasn't ready to hear it.

        "Ivy!" James said as he walked up to the short brunette, who was studying in the Courtyard. She looked up and smiled. "Remus is in a bad mood from careers advice. I'm sure you know why. Sirius, Peter, and I have already tried to comfort him, but he is still in a bad mood. So I was thinking, you should comfort him!"

        "I don't know where he is," Ivy said as she looked back down at her book.

        James groaned and snatched the book from her hands. He held it up high where Ivy couldn't reach. She tried her best to grab it, but it was no use. It seemed like James would use every chance he got to rub in the fact Ivy was short. Especially since James had hit a recent growth spurt.

        "Stop studying so much! O.W.L.'s are still three weeks away!" James shouted as Ivy gave up and sat back down.

        "Actually, two weeks and three days away! That's not even that long!" Ivy shouted as he held her book in his hands. "But okay, I'll talk to Remus. Where is he?"

"He's in our dorm moping, I'll go get him. What do you plan on doing?" James said as Ivy led him to the Great Hall, where she grabbed a set of Wizards Chess.

"He's played before, right?"

"Yeah. How good are you?"

"Fantastic. I'm literally amazing." Ivy said proudly as James looked at her with wide eyes.

"Wow. I thought I'd never hear Ivy Scott be arrogant," James said as Ivy scoffed.

        "I'm not being arrogant... Well, maybe a bit, but that's beside the point," Ivy said hastily, setting up the game, "I just want to have a game with him! It will be fun."

"Well, I'm awesome at Wizards Chess. Play me," James said as he sat down in front of her.

It didn't take very long for Ivy to beat James. Every time one of her pieces destroyed his, he would swear loudly or groan, until there were none of his pieces left.

"What?! There's no way Remus is gonna beat you, I've beaten Remus a lot," James said as Ivy shrugged with a smug smile.

"It'll still be fun. Go fetch him and the two other idiots."

He came back after a few minutes. Ivy smiled and patted the ground in front of her for Remus. He sat down and sighed, looking at her.

"James tells me you're really good," Remus said as Ivy smiled.

"I wouldn't say I'm that good, but I've been playing for a while," Ivy said as James scoffed. Ivy clapped her hands. "Okay! Let's get started! knight to B3."

        The game lasted much longer than James's game, and the chess pieces didn't trust Remus. They tried to give him advice.

         "No, how about moving to A4?" The white queen said as Remus shook his head.

        "No, B5!" He said as she moved, even though she didn't want to.

        Thirty-five minutes had passed and Ivy finally lost. It was a close game the whole time.

        "Yay! I wasn't expecting that" Remus exclaimed, a happy expression on his face. James's jaw was on the floor.

        "Shit," Ivy exclaimed as she looked at Remus. "You're really good."

        "I've only played a few times," Remus said modestly as Ivy beamed at him.

        "Well, it seems like you've been playing for a while."

        "I'll be right back, I've got to use the bathroom," Remus as he got up, a small smile on his face as he sauntered inside the castle.

        "I can't believe you let him win," James said once he was out of earshot. Ivy had a smirk on her face.

         "What?" She said, "I don't know what you're talking about."

        "You beat me in ten minutes. I've beaten Remus countless times." James said as Ivy cleaned up Wizards Chess.

        "What are you rambling about?" Ivy said as she stood up, "Remus is just amazing."

        "Stop bullshitting!"

        "Okay fine, and what if I did? He needs a confidence boost, you need the opposite. He actually wasn't that bad. Even if there were numerous times that I could have won with a single move. And he's super happy now!" Ivy said quietly. This was the first time Ivy was happy about losing.

James' mouth twitched up into a smile. He thought Ivy liked Remus a lot more than she let on. They waited a few minutes and Remus walked back outside, standing next to Ivy.

        "Ivy, can you help me study?" He asked as Ivy nodded. He was visibly a lot happier. Ivy saw James and Sirius share a high-five behind Remus as she nodded.

        "Sure, what subject?"

        "Transfiguration," He said as Ivy got out her notes.

        "Okay. Do you want me to quiz you?"

         "Yes," Remus said as Ivy flipped the page, running a hand through her wavy hair. Her hair has lightened up quite a bit from being outside more often since it was almost Summer.

        "Okay. First question," she began, "how many Principal Exceptions are there to Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration?"

         "Five."

        "Good. What is the opposite of conjuration?"

         "Vanishment."

         "Yes," Ivy said, flipping the page with excitement, "What does the Gemino Curse do?"

         "No clue," Remus said as he thought about it for a second. Ivy looked at him in anticipation. He shrugged.

         "The Gemino Curse doubles an object or bewitches it to multiplying repeatedly," Ivy said, quoting it directly from the book. He nodded.

         "Okay. I'll make sure to remember that," Remus said as Ivy continued to ask him questions as the three other boys talked beside them.

Ivy quizzed Remus for a little while longer before they decided to take a break. They realized it was time for dinner. They walked in the Great Hall together and said goodbye, walking to their own tables.

•••

         "How long are we going to be waiting? This is taking forever!" James hissed as the eight others in the room shushed him.

          "Shut up! She'll be here soon," Marlene said as they waited in silence.

           As they argued, Ivy was being led down the corridor by an exasperated McGonagall, who had told her that she needed to ask her a few questions about N.E.W.T level Transfiguration.

          Ivy walked cluelessly, her books in her arms as they trudged down the corridor to McGonagall's classroom. Ivy turned the corner and was about to walk in until eight people shouted at her.

           "SURPRISE!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" They all shouted, kind of in unison because James was way behind and was still shouting after everyone was finished. Ivy did a double-take. The group included her brother, James, Sirius, Remus, Peter, Marlene, and the girls she shared a dorm with. Ivy smiled and laughed as she walked over to them.

          "Don't take too long," McGonagall said as she walked away. The eight figures stood in front of her with gifts in their hands.

          "What even is this? Why did you do this?" Ivy said, the corners of her mouth turning up as she walked over to them.

"We've noticed how much you've been studying, and we decided you need a break. You need to just let loose and hang out with a few friends," Sirius said as her whole face lit up.

"Okay, my present first!" James exclaimed as he shoved the present in Ivy's hands. Ivy sat down in one of the desks and began to open the bag. It was Jeans. Ivy gasped as she picked them up.

"How did you know what my size was?" Ivy asked as Sirius handed her his present eagerly.

"I had to ask Chloe. You're a size ten, whatever that means," James said as Ivy smiled.

"Well, I really like how they look, I'll get back to you if they fit or not," Ivy said as she began to open Sirius's gift. He was practically about to explode with excitement.

"Mascara!" Sirius exclaimed excitedly as Ivy looked at in awe. The next item she pulled out was two different lip glosses.

"Thanks, Sirius! I'll use this tomorrow!" She said as Sirius celebrated that his gift was successful.

Peter got her candy and a few bracelets. Ivy thanked him and moved on to Remus's.

He got her three shirts. One was purple polka dots, another was a striped red shirt and the last was a plain v-neck green shirt.

"I also had to ask Chloe about your size," Remus said as Ivy held up the shirts to her body, trying to see if they would fit. "They looked short but Chloe said cropped shirts were in style."

"Yes. Thank you, Remus," Ivy said sincerely as she put it away. Marlene Got her a new baiting suit.

"You talked about how you needed a new baiting suit the other day, so I got one!" Marlene exclaimed excitedly as Ivy held up the blue swimwear.

"It's very skimpy," Ivy said as Marlene scoffed. The bottoms looked like they covered barely anything and the top was small.

"Well, you need to show off your smoking body!" Marlene exclaimed as Ivy blushed. The group laughed.

Her brother got her candy, Jessica got her a new pink hairbrush since Ivy had been complaining about her old one, Bella got her face wash and lotion, and Chloe got her more coconut scented shampoo and conditioner.

Ivy thanked them, all the gifts in front of her.

"This is way too much!" Ivy exclaimed, "seriously, who's idea was this?"

"Remus's!" James exclaimed as Remus turned pink and avoided her eye. Everyone except Ivy and Remus was looking at each other as if they knew something the two didn't.

"Well, that's really sweet of you," Ivy said to Remus as his face flushed, a smile playing on his lips.

"You've been working really hard. You needed this," Remus said as Ivy shook her head.

"You guys are the best. Really."

"We know," Sirius said as Ivy laughed and picked up her presents. They all walked Ivy and her roommates back to their common room. Ivy was blown away by this small surprise party. She felt lucky to have them. Especially Remus.

•••

        (I am going by U.K. sizes since that is where this story takes place. Size 10 is size 4/6 in America)