IVY A. LONGBOTTOM

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     ‘ OF COURSE I SLEPT. JUST NOT A LOT. ’ it was true. she still craved sleep and the comfort of her bed often. in sleep, nothing was complicated. but the truth of it was, she’d just rather be awake when no one else was. that made it easier. ‘ . . .and don’t make fun of my pyjamas. i could still kick your ass, winnie the pooh or not. ’ sure, so she had never technically beaten him in a fight before, but that had never stopped her from either trying it or threatening it. being raised with mostly BOYS, ivory learnt at a young age to never, ever show FEAR. weirdly, she felt a little bit of it now, staring at him. he looked. . . TIRED.

    SOMETHING IN HIM HAD DIMMED. had ivy been too busy to see it, or to address it? a part of her had noticed before, if she was being honest, but if he wasn’t okay, could she even help? PERIDOT narrowed, and she inhaled a breath of brisk, morning air. ‘ you sound as okay as when luna finally had to admit that crumple-horned snorkacks did not exist. in fact, in the words of your dear mum- ’ she looked at him dramatically, an eyebrow raised, ‘ -did you suffer a WRACKSPURT attack? i do have a few repellents. ’ no goddaughter of luna scamander would be caught without them, after all. ivy smiled once, lightly-    

    BUT IT FADED QUICKLY, HIS HONESTY LOUD. ivy felt his words, but she had no words of wisdom to aid him or her. no secrets to share that wouldn’t cause her world to CRUMBLE. but she really wanted to try. ‘ i know i’ve been been a horrid friend recently and i don’t know a lot, but you know you can always- ’ A BODY FALLS IN FRONT OF THEM. ivy screams, and the dormant sounds of the forest flicker into a flurry of movement and alarm. tents begin to ruffle, as she jumps over logan vance in front of them to avoid the assault of. . . PINECONES? WHAT THE FUCK?! eyes dart up; she sees it. at least two more ravenclaws in the TREE.

                  ‘ -HUFFLEPUFF, ABANDON CAMP! ’ pinecones begin to RAIN ON THEM.                         ivy gets hit, falls- ‘ xander, we need to get out of here! we’re the only HOPE. ’

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   SHE HELD HER FATHER’S HAND TIGHTLY, finding it sweaty and clammy as always and yet holding onto it nonetheless. with the way he trembled every time they crossed the doors of st. mungo’s hospital, ivy was sure he hated it here. still, he greeted everyone with an awkward smile or a nod their way, as they walked the familiar, grand entrance. she would hear the whispers of his name, his doings, as they passed witches and wizards, ‘ that’s neville longbottom, that is! ‘ some would point, or whisper to their companions, ‘ he slayed the snake! ’ another would say, with a sigh of wonder. there were, of course, those who treated him like a normal person. ivy quite liked those people best, and she thought her father did too. the gap-toothed nurse with the kindest and biggest eyes she’d ever seen was one of them. ‘ mr longbottom! how you’ve grown. ’ she would always say, despite her father being a big adult. or. . . at least he had been a BIG ADULT for as long as ivy had known him.

  ‘ AT THIS AGE, THAT’S JUST CALLED GAINING WEIGHT, MIRIAM. ’ and they laughed, as if a great big joke had been told and not a truth. nurse miriam ushered them towards that familiar corridor that always made ivy’s heart skip a beat, a hand landing on her shoulder comfortingly. before long, they were through the familiar door that housed her grandmother ──────── the one she now knew had long been this way. ALICE LONGBOTTOM was laid down in her bed and staring to her left, eyes open and unseeing, not turning towards the noise. there was a scarf wrapped around her head neatly, and empty candy-wrappers all over the bed and floor. ‘ hey mum, ’ her father greeted, sitting down on the empty chair beside the bed. he brought ivy alone this time, which was weird since she NEVER spoke. ivy very much thought that was okay, since her grandma never answered either. eventually, alice moved her gaze, but her eyes only wandered, never settled. ‘ i brought ivy along to see you. ’

   SHE HAD COME TWICE A YEAR SINCE SHE COULD REMEMBER, and yet she had only found out the real story the last time they’d been here. frank had whispered it to her, in hopes of scaring her, and it had SUCCEEDED. whilst ivory had spent a whole month waking up with nightmares of death eaters, sneaking out to sleep in her parent’s bed every night, frank had been grounded for twice that long. although, he was right to tell her. she’d thought horrible things about grandma alice before. even if the fear was there now, she at least now knew she laid on this bed because she was a HERO ──────── like her late grandfather had been, too. frank had explained that grandpa frank had been even more hurt than grandma alice was. ivy couldn’t imagine it. ‘ daddy? ’ she said eventually, interrupting his story about his frog, trevor the IV, and august almost eating it. ‘ can’t grandma come to my birthday party? ’ it would be at hogwarts, since ivy was a FIRST YEAR now.

   KAIRI WOULD LIKE HER. KAIRI LIKED OLD LADIES. as her father’s gaze warmed, she knew the answer. ‘ she can’t leave here, ivy. but maybe you can tell her all about it? she might like to know. ’ talk to her? ivy stared in fear, especially since her grandma’s pale hands seemed to search for something as she patted down the bed. she patted and patted, and ivy found one that wasn’t just a wrapper, placing it where she expected her hand to land. alice’s frail fingers caught it, and even though she shook and trembled, taking a long time, eventually the candy wrapper fell towards the bed; and her grandma ate the sweet. it very much reminded her of august as a baby, when he couldn’t speak or do much, but she loved him anyway. she sat on the arm of her father’s chair. ‘ well, leona, xander and lorcan are all going, and they get me gifts. well, aunt luna does, and she’s the best at gifts. ’ she began hesitantly. her father leaned his head on her arm. ‘ . . .and kairi, too. kairi is my best friend. ’

           . . .she told her more and more stories, until it was time to go. ‘ I’LL BE BACK. ’                      ivy whispered, taking a wrapper from her hand like her dad. ‘ I PROMISE. ’

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     AS THE STARRY SKY BEGAN TO LIGHTEN, ivy listened intently to the sounds of birds as they began to wake within the forbidden forest. perhaps if this was her first year at hogwarts, she’d wonder why the hell they still called it forbidden, considering they were in the place more than they were in the castle these days. TENTS had been raised within their corner and all adorned the FADED GOLD of hufflepuff with pride. no one else seemed to be awake yet, and she wished there was tea to warm up her hands. ivy also wished she wasn’t awake at all, since it didn’t feel as safe as sleep did. when she was asleep, she wasn’t ruining friendships or making bad choices. BUT ASLEEP. . . she wouldn’t get frank back. 

    THIS WAS HER CHANCE TO PROVE HERSELF. become the asset that the monsters needed her to be in order to give her what she wanted. as much as the gaunts had been as welcoming as they could be, it wasn’t them she needed to impress. NOT FOR NOW. xavier had given her a starting point, but she’d be useless to him or anyone else if she couldn’t win them over. they’d lead her to frank if she played this right. anyway, wasn’t it cold? she could swear she hadn’t felt it until the image of her brother had played in her mind, but now she recognized cold and even some fear, considering the forest was. . .  dark. ivy ran her hands down her bare arms, wishing SPRING brought with it WARMTH. 

    THE SOUND OF UNZIPPING MADE HER TURN BACK, to find a familiar mop of blond hair wrestling his tall frame out of a tent. ‘ up so early? ’ lysander’s routines had been hard to keep up with lately, but at least it was him. she wasn’t sure she was quite ready for anyone else to see her winnie the pooh pyjama bottoms; it would not be a great start to her goal of showcasing her newly honed SIREN ABILITIES. it would be at least an hour before dawn fully arose. so ivy grabbed a grubby blanket and climbed onto one of the wooden benches, sitting with her butt on the table. she held up one end of the blanket, making herself tiny in the other end. ‘ you up to watch the sunrise or help me plan to destroy the others? ’

     THEY’D WORKED OUT SOME IDEAS. for example, the flag was somewhere not even they knew, just in case anyone wanted to play DIRTY. she wouldn’t put torture past some of them, actually. bones and king had been the unanimous choice to hide and guard the flag, since they were the dopiest, most innocent looking of all, whilst IVY and XANDER were offence. ‘ you look like shit by the way, which is no good for our strategy of you distracting anyone even remotely attracted to the male race. ’ in her defense, hufflepuff didn’t have much else to rely on. BEING LOVED was their power, since the other houses were either BRUTES, VILLAINS or ANNOYING NERDS. of course, she loved them all. . . but not today, she didn’t.

                       ‘ ──────── YOU BETTER BRING YOUR A-GAME, ALTHOUGH. . . ’                              A BROW RAISE. ‘ ARE YOU OKAY? SOMETHING ON YOUR MIND? ’