obliviate || remus lupin

forty-one

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           Ivy boarded the train, pulling her luggage behind her. She walked through the aisle, searching for any sign of the Marauders. Eventually, Sirius's loud but muffled voice rang through, leading her to their compartment. She knocked, waiting for a response.

        "Who is it?" Peter said, stopping mid-sentence. Sirius moved the blinds, coming face to face with Ivy.

        "What's the password?" Sirius shouted so she would hear from outside the glass. Ivy scoffed with the roll of her eyes, giving an exasperated shrug, not bothering to shout back.

         "It's Christmas tree, for next time," Sirius said with a wink as he let her inside. She didn't know why the password was something as random as Christmas tree, and she didn't plan on asking.

        "Hi guys," She said as she sat down next to Remus. He wrapped an arm around her waist nonchalantly. Sirius looked like he was going to point it out, but he must have decided against it. "How do you think you did on all of your N.E.W.T.'s?"

        "I don't know," James said, thinking too hard about the simple question. "I hope I did okay. The only one that gave me trouble was Potions. I'm sure that was easiest for you, though."

        She shrugged. It was the easiest, he was right. Potions had always come easy to her. Using her intuition and attentive reading skills, it had never taken her long to brew a perfect potion.

        "I struggled with Potions, honestly," Remus said thoughtfully, thinking about the questions. "I totally fucked up when we had to brew Veritaserum. It wasn't really clear. It was kind of blue."

         Ivy shrugged. "I'm sure you did good enough. There's nothing we can do about it now."

        "I'm sure you brewed Veritaserum perfectly, Miss I-need-perfect-scores," Sirius said with a scoff. Ivy defended herself, not trying to show any modesty.

        "Oh shut up! It's not my fault I can brew Veritaserum good."

        "You can brew anything good," James muttered sassily, getting something from his bag as he pushed up his glasses.

        "Yeah, come to think of it, I've never seen you make a mistake. Not just in Potions, but in general. You're like a robot," Peter said, joining in and nodding.

        "I don't know if I should be taking all this as a compliment," Ivy said with a laugh.

        "It's a compliment. Just in a mean way," Sirius reassured.

        "I'm sure you all did great," Ivy said with a nod, looking around at the group with a smile.

          "I hope. We should open our scores at the same time again! Another sleepover!" James said with a clap, looking around at the group. "This time at Remus's house. Ha! Ivy will meet the parents already!"

        Ivy rolled her eyes, thinking it over. If they did have another sleepover, it would be the first time she met his parents. Not only her first time but also as his girlfriend.

        "Yeah. I guess you're right," Ivy shrugged, trying to seem unbothered.

        "Shit, I still have to tell them," Remus said, closing his eyes for a few seconds. Sirius laughed.

        "I thought you would have owled them by now!" Sirius said in between laughs.

        "No, I wasn't going to owl them! I planned on keeping it a secret for as long as possible, to be honest. But, they deserve to know, I guess."

        "Ivy, do your parents know?" Peter asked, causing Ivy to wince as an image of her mom appeared in her head.

        "I mean, I sort of hinted towards it, but they don't know officially," Ivy said with a worrisome face.

        "You two are in trouble," James said with a laugh, looking at the two. They stared at him, blinking with an identical blank expression.

         "I haven't even told my brother," Ivy said as she furrowed her eyebrows. "He should know by now. He goes to school with us."

        "I would assume. He hangs out with Regulus, too," Sirius said as he tapped his chin in thought. "I'm going to the trolley. James, come with me."

        "I want to come! I want snacks!" Peter said as he hopped up with the other two. On their way out, Sirius poked his head back in the compartment, narrowing his eyes.

         "Don't get up to any shenanigans while we're gone since it will only take a few minutes," Sirius said. They both rolled their eyes.

        "Shut up!"

        Sirius laughed as he closed the door and walked away. Ivy sighed in exasperation.

        "Goodness," She muttered, causing Remus to laugh.

        "At least now we have a few minutes without those baboons. Some quiet time," Remus said as he looked over to her. She laughed.

        "You are one of the baboons. You're just as bad sometimes, y'know," Ivy said, half-sarcastic. Remus shrugged.

        "I try not to categorize myself with them," He said unsurely, causing Ivy to laugh heartily.

        "It's sort of too late for that," She said as she readjusted how she was sitting. His arm was still around her waist, secure and warm.

        "Are you nervous? To tell your parents, I mean," He said as she thought about it, eyebrows furrowing for the first time today.

        "A little. I don't think they'll freak out about it, but I don't know how they would react. They've never been put in a situation like this before," Ivy said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear and looking off into the distance.

"I think my parents will be too excited. Like, embarrassingly so. Because of my 'condition' or whatever," Remus said with a small roll of his eyes. Ivy smiled.

"I'm sure it will be fine. I hope," Ivy said with a nod as the three boys walked in, eyeing the two suspiciously. "Stop looking at us like that!"

They talked and ate the candy they brought back, filling the time with empty conversations before they were eventually to the train station.

"Well, I guess I'll see you guys in a few weeks! Have a nice break!" James said as he waved goodbye, walking to his parents along with Sirius. Peter was next, saying a polite goodbye and walking away from the two.

It was quiet for a few seconds. "We should go find our parents now," Ivy said as she turned to look at Remus. She hesitated for a second with an oddly analytic look on her face before he was wrapped in an unexpected hug from her, not being able to hold in his laughter when she patted his back.

"I'll see you soon, Remus!" Ivy said as she walked to her parents, who weren't paying any attention to the exchange between them. Great. That would have been an awesome opportunity to tell them. Remus's parents, on the other hand, witnessed the whole thing.

"Who was that?" His mom, Hope, said with a smile grin. Remus rolled his eyes. "Your girlfriend?"

"...As a matter of fact, yes," He said nonchalantly as he walked away from the train station, his parents rolling him with questions falling out of their mouths.

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