obliviate || remus lupin

twenty-eight

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Ivy was sitting in her room at home, a book open in front of her as she read. Suddenly, an owl appeared at her window with a letter. She grabbed it confusedly and immediately recognized James chicken scratch handwriting. She squinted, barely able to read it.

Dear Ivy,

My parents are having a party thing tomorrow for New Years. You're invited, yay! It's posh and fancy, so if you're coming, wear a dress or whatever girls wear to formal events. Sirius, Peter, and Remus will also be there.

You can come tomorrow at around three through the floo network to get dressed for the party. You can stay the night since the party doesn't end until around one in the morning. Hope to see you there!

-J.P.

Ivy finished the letter, sighing before getting up to rummage through her closet. She didn't have many dresses but managed to find one that looked suitable enough for a formal event. Now, she had to do the hard part: asking her mom.

She walked down the stairs timidly and turned the corner, walking up to her mom.

"Tomorrow can I spend the night at James's house? He's having a Formal New Years party and I'm invited," Ivy asked, needlessly smoothing out the sweater she was wearing. Her mother looked up from the daily prophet, sipping her coffee.

"Yes, I guess so. He has a girlfriend, right? He won't try anything with you?"

"Mom, for fuck's sake—"

"Don't use that language."

Ivy took a steadying breath, making eye contact with the cabinet across the room. "We are strictly platonic. He won't 'try' anything with me, he has a girlfriend. And the other three boys will be there too. You know, two of them are gay?"

Her mom gave a stiff nod, going back to her newspaper. Ivy gave a breath of exasperation and walked away to pack her bags. Keeping up the whole 'Peter and Sirius are gay' storyline was rather exhausting. She was happy to get out of her house.

Before she knew it, it was three o'clock on a sunny Friday. She said goodbye, grabbing floo powder and throwing it down, shouting the name of James's house.

She appeared in their fireplace, stepping out to the sight of Sirius, Remus, James, and Peter sitting in the living room, looking bored. They sprang to life as they saw her.

"Ivy!" Remus yelped, jumping up to greet her. They shared a short hug, Ivy's bag still in her hands as she wrapped her arms around him. As soon as Remus stepped away from Ivy, Sirius practically knocked her down with the happy hug he gave her. Ivy laughed and hugged him back tightly.

"I've missed you so much!" Sirius exclaimed, taking a step back and looking at her like a proud mother. She grinned as James shoved Sirius to the side to give her a polite hug. Peter was next.

"You brought a dress or something, right?" James said. Ivy nodded, patting her bag securely.

        "Yes. Will I be sleeping in the same room as last time?" Ivy asked. James nodded yes. "Okay. I'll go put up my bag. Be right back."

        She left, struggling to remember where her guest room was until she came across the familiar, large room with gray walls. She sat her bag down next to the bed, took out the dress, and laid it out to avoid wrinkles, then walked out.

        "We have some time until the party starts, so we can just talk. It'll probably take you longer than us to get ready, I'm assuming," James said, nodding towards Ivy. She shrugged.

        "That depends how much effort you lot are going to put into your looks," Ivy said with a smirk.

"Oh please, I always look fantastic," Sirius scoffed, waving a dismissive hand as he plopped back down on the couch.

James gasped randomly, an idea popping into his head. "Ivy, can you ice skate?"

"I'm not very good at it, but kind of, yeah. Why?" Ivy asked suspiciously. He grinned excitedly, running across the house and coming back with five pairs of ice skates. "Why do you just have ice skates lying around? And how do you have my size?"

James shrugged, urging her to put them on. Once they were all laced up, they walked out to the lake that had frozen over carefully and stepped onto it. James and Sirius were both very good at it, doing spins and turns. Ivy stepped on next, skating around.

"You liar! You said you weren't good at ice skating!" Remus exclaimed, hesitant to step on the ice. Ivy looked away bashfully.

"I took ballet classes and sometimes still do, so that helps for balance, I guess. And I've ice skated quite a few times. Are you any good at it?" Ivy replied, coming to a stop and splashing the ice on him purposefully.

Remus laughed a bit as the ice hit him. "Far from it. I'm not very good at all."

"Well, I can help you. Here, take my hand," Ivy said, reaching out a hand that had on a purple mitten. Remus grabbed it hesitantly as he stepped out on the ice, the warmth of her small hand spreading through him. She watched him in amusement. "Alright. Just pretend you're walking, basically, but push off and try to keep balance."

He was quiet for a few seconds, trying to understand what she had just said before shuffling his skates in place. She laughed and reached up, looping her arm in his, skating slowly. He began to get the hang of it and she grabbed his hand instead of his arm. She grinned.

"See, you're good at it," She said, their mittened hands still holding one another's. "Do you know how to stop?"

"No," she said bluntly. Ivy stopped her skates abruptly, trying to pull him back in place but he ended up pulling her down. They both came crashing to the ground, Ivy beside Remus. They laughed at themselves, still laying in the ice.

Remus's breath caught in his throat as he looked over to her. She was laughing heartily, looking up the sky. Remus didn't get to see her face close up very often since she was a good deal shorter than him, so seeing several details you didn't get at first glance was nice. Snowflakes rested atop of her eyelashes and in her hair. Her eyes were more noticeably lined with eyeliner. Ivy turned her head to look at him.

"Well, at least we stopped, right?" She asked weakly, a smile on her face as she struggled to push herself up. Remus watched her brush herself off, reaching down a hand for him to grab. He held it as she helped him up.

"Alright. It's time to get ready for the posh party," James said, looking at the time. They got off the ice and walked inside, taking off their skates and walking to the rooms.

Remus thought about Ivy as they got ready, the same repetitive thoughts he had been having for the past year. He thought that he shouldn't feel guilty because everyone has feelings for pretty girls like Ivy, right? But he remembered that he was a werewolf.

She had never been bothered by his lycanthropy before, but Remus knew it would be different if they were dating. He always got an annoyingly hopeful voice that told himself she felt the same way. The more he thought about it, the more he believed it. She was nice to him and blushed often. He thought that maybe he wasn't being completely unrealistic. He told himself to stop worrying. There was a new years party to be getting ready for, after all.

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