It was the hottest day of summer in Godric's Hollow, and boy was Ivy glad she had convinced her parents to put in a pool last year.
It was two years later now. Christi and Harry were in their third year, Ivy in her fourth and Travis, having started school that past year, was going into his second year, along with his good friend Ginny Weasley.
"Boy, isn't this great?" the thirteen year old Harry said peacefully, "No parents around, no Sirius, no adults."
Ivy then saw Harry's point. Her parents had taken Christi's and Harry's parents, and Sirius and his new girlfriend, on a vacation to the Bahamas. It was only a couple of days, and they had given Ivy most of the authority but still had a neighbor check in periodically. Christi and Harry were both staying in the Lupin household so that Ivy could watch them. Christi was staying in Ivy's room with her while Harry was staying in Travis's room with him.
Ivy then thought it was a great time to-"I'll be right back!" she said hastily, running into the house in just her bathing suit.
"Ivy, where are you going?" Travis, who was sitting in a lawn chair next to her, called, "Ivy! Iv-"
Ivy came back out just as quickly. She held in her hands a small rectangular box and a smaller rectangle, which Harry and Christi recognized to be a matchbook.
"What are those?" Christi asked. Ivy didn't answer, but sat on her lawn chair and opened the box. Christi and Harry watched with worried interest as she pulled out a long, white stick and put it in her mouth. She looked down and pulled a matchstick out of its box, and swiftly lit the match. She held it to the end of the stick in her mouth, and once the end was lit, she shook her hand to put the match out.
"You're smoking a cigarette!" Harry exclaimed.
Ivy quickly took the cigarette out of her mouth and blew out a puff of smoke. "Shut up, Harry! I don't want the neighbors hearing!" she hissed, smoke still coming out of her mouth with each word. Then she looked at Travis, glaring, "And don't you dare tell mum and dad."
"I won't." Travis said, "I'll just start smoking when I'm your age. After all, you're supposed to be my role model."
Ivy laughed. They joked about that a lot-how she was supposed to be a good example but… Frankly, she never was.
"Ivy," Christi started, whose eyes were wide with some emotion-terror, shock, fear. "Ivy, cigarettes are bad for you! You could die!"
"Umm, I'm a witch, Christi. If I get cancer or lung disease or emphysema or something, then the Healers at St. Mungo's can fix it quick with magic."
"The good Healers anyways…" Travis muttered.
"I heard they found a way to detect brain cancer in its very first stage." Harry said.
"That's old news." Ivy contradicted him.
"Cigarettes will kill you!" Christi interrupted their chatting.
"We all die eventually." Ivy said, rolling her eyes. She coughed as she took another drag, and didn't stop for several seconds.
Once she did, Christi kept going, "But you'll die sooner than the rest of us! Like… at fifty years old! Do you want that?"
"Ivy's never gonna die. She can't, she's my sister." Travis said, but was ignored.
"Well I sure didn't expect to live past one hundred and seventy-two like Dumbledore."
Harry chuckled and Christi shot him a glare, "I can't believe you're supporting this, Harry James Potter!" Christi whispered harshly.
"Well she has a point." he said, "She won't die from smoking because the diseases that come from it are simple things that Healers fix easily."
"What about the way it affects you on the outside?"
"Like what?" Ivy asked.
"The smell-"
"The smell can be eliminated with cleaning spells."
"It makes your breath stink!" Christi told Ivy.
"Umm, maybe for you, but I am aware of what toothpaste is."
"Yeah, Christi," Harry jeered, "Pick up a toothbrush!"
"I will break your nose!" Christi threatened and continued with Ivy, "It makes your teeth and fingernails yellow."
Travis answered this time, "Ivy won't let that happen to herself. Ivy's a clean freak, I thought you guys knew this." Travis said disinterestedly.
"You'll burn holes in your clothes and stuff." Christi said after a moment of thought.
"I know what repairing spells are."
"Can't use magic outside of school." Harry pointed out.
"I can sew!"
"What if you fall asleep smoking and burn down your house?" Christi countered. When Ivy didn't respond, she thought she had finally gotten her. Ivy jumped up happily though.
"It's the best part, come look!" Ivy stubbed out her cigarette and ran into the house, with the matches. Harry, Travis and Christi followed, and Ivy struck a match and put it against the carpet.
"What are you doing?" Christi cried. However the patch of fire went out as soon as it was started. The carpet looked perfect, just as before. The only sign of fire was the used matchstick lying next to Ivy's foot.
"What the bloody hell was that?" Harry asked in wonder.
Ivy smiled smugly, "It's a charm my dad put on the house-fire repellant. Puts out fires before they get too big."
Travis was nodding, "Pleasant now. Mum doesn't worry about burning down the kitchen too much."
"Mum can burn anything though, even with fire repellant spells." Ivy joked.
"Why'd they just put it in now?" Christi asked, "Why not long before?"
"Well remember when Sirius fell asleep in his chair last week with his cigarette?"
"Ohh," Harry and Christi said in unison.
"Yeah," Ivy nodded, "Exactly."
"Dad was worried he'd do it again, and didn't want to take the chance of losing the house." Travis explained, "Told Sirius he should think about being more bloody responsible."
"Watch your mouth, Travis!" Ivy wailed, "If Mum and Dad hear you talking like that, they'll blame me and lock me up!"
"I wonder why…" he said quietly, but Ivy still heard and glared at him.
Just then, they heard something sound from the fire. Ivy ran over to greet her parents' faces in the fire. "Hi Mum, hi Dad!"
"Hi, Ivy, we just got some good news by owl!" Emmeline said.
"What is it?" Ivy asked, "Who would owl you all the way in the Caribbean's?"
"Bahamas." Remus corrected, "Anyways, your dance instructor owled us. Mrs. Petrova-"
"It's Pitrova, dear." Emmeline rectified.
"No, Mum, it's Russova." Ivy told them both, "She's Russian, remember?"
"Those other names are Russian, too."
"I'm almost certain they're not, but go on. What'd she say, did I get the part in out new play, Giselle?"
"Yes, dear, you got the part of Giselle!" Emmeline said.
Ivy froze for a moment before squealing with joy, "Yes! You know, I was only trying to get the part of one of the Wilis or maybe Bathilde but I can't believe I got Giselle! I'm so excited!"
After she and her parents finished talking, she brought Travis over to talk to them, then Harry to talk to his parents, and Christi to talk with hers. She got a congratulatory speech from a drunked Sirius, and then they all said goodbye.
Once they were back at the pool, Ivy looked down, her eyes wide in fear, "What if I mess up onstage?"
But an hour later, "I'm already getting some of the steps down! I'll do fine!"
And the next day, "I have too much anger to be Giselle! Why couldn't I have been one of the Wilis?"
And then before she went to sleep the next day, "But of course, it's acting, practically. It's just dancing…"
Over the next couple of days, she had even more mood swings. "But they all say you have to really feel the character you're playing! How in the hell am I going to do that when I can't relate to Giselle!"
"I just need to fall in love, that's it! And then I need to be lied to by him, and die, but forgive him because I really love him!"
"That's ridiculous, I'd be furious if I got lied to by my love, much more than Giselle… Also, I can't die, now can I…"
"I'm fine! My dancing is great, I'm coming along superbly!"
"I'm terrible!"
And that was only a few of them.
On the day their parents came home, Ivy was practicing her dancing on the bare wooden floors of their empty dining room-empty since her parents had cleared it so she could practice dancing on those floors for some space. It was about noon and they were expecting their parents to be home at any moment. She called for Christi, "Christi! Can you come in here to tell me how I'm doing?"
"You won't explode again, will you?" Christi called reproachfully from the pool.
"If I do, you'll be there to pick up the pieces, won't you?" Ivy laughed. Christi came in and watched as she began to dance one of Giselle's routines. Once she finished, she paused in the graceful ending bow and then stood and looked at Christi, who was silent. "Well, Christi? How did I do this time?"
"That was great, sweetie!" said another voice in the room. Ivy turned and saw her parents, Harry's parents, Christi's parents and Sirius standing there.
"How much did you see?" asked Ivy excitedly.
"About half." Sirius answered, "It was bloody fantastic!"
"Aww, thanks, guys." she smiled sweetly.
"She's been freaking out all bloody week-"
"Christina, don't you dare use that language." Snape scolded his daughter.
"Ivy, I would suggest you work a bit more on your leaps." Vivian began to say to Ivy, "You didn't seem very springy and the jumps were kind of off. Also, your timing. It was a smidgen infrequent with the music."
Ivy narrowed her eyes at Vivian, but sensing that she would get in trouble for saying what she felt, she just said, "Alright." and rolled her eyes when she turned around.
XXX
The next day, Ivy was practicing dance again. After completing the routine for the umpteenth time and not feeling more confident about her performance, she opted to go outside by the pool. She went and sat down in one of the lawn chairs and pulled her pack of cigarettes out of her jacket pocket, and matches.
She wasn't thinking about the parents in the house. Besides, it was very early. Travis wasn't up, she knew, and she didn't think her parents would be up.
She especially didn't think Sirius would be up, or even having the coherent thought to head to the Lupin house that early. But suddenly there he was, pulling the cigarette out of Ivy's fingers and stomping it out.
"Ivy, what the bloody hell are you thinking?" Sirius demanded, "You are underage, and smoking? Even for Muggles, you're underage! You're only fourteen, Ivy, you can't b doing this at this early age! You'll get sick, you'll be unhealthy!"
"Could you keep your voice down, please?" Ivy begged, "I don't want Mum and Dad to hear or know…"
"Your mum and dad… Oh, shit…" Sirius began to panic, "Alright, Ivy, listen to me!"
"I'm listening." she said in a far more calm manner than he.
"Don't ever smoke again! And do not tell your parents about it! They will blame me!"
"I didn't wanna tell them about it anyways, but it's great to know you definitely won't tell."
"You can ruin yourself, doing this, Ivy." Sirius, said, putting an arm around her shoulders.
"I've already gone through all of the consequences with Christi." Ivy rolled her eyes.
"Diseases?"
"Yep."
"How nasty the habit is?"
"We did that."
"Did she mention how even if Healers can cure diseases caused by smoking, it still slows you down very much."
"What do you mean?"
Sirius sighed, "Well, Ivy, it makes breathing harder, which sure, Healers could fix but it is continuous and comes back constantly. It slows your heart, the same thing with Healers. Also, you're a dancer. If these things happen to you, you'll just… You won't be as good. And you are a great dancer, Ivy. If you were Muggle, you could take it as a career."
"I could if I wanted to even though I'm a witch…" she muttered, "Living in the Muggle world can't be so hard."
"Exactly." Sirius said, "Ivy, why ruin your chances by becoming unhealthy?"
"I… I don't know." she shrugged.
"What made you smoke in the first place?"
Ivy's voice was small and weak now. "Well… I don't know…" she shrugged.
"You don't want to tell me, I see. Alright, I'll leave it alone." Sirius said comfortingly.
After a few moments of silence, Ivy sighed, "I hope to Merlin this year is better."
"Better, how?"
"Like… No troubles with Harry being at danger of You-Know-Who… And none of him going around in the forest after dark and taking Christi with him. I hope he's not in danger this year, I hope he's not… stupid!"
Sirius smiled, "I don't think you'll have to worry this year."
"The past two years I have… This is ridiculous, why can't things just be peaceful?"
"Well this year your dad is going to be teaching."
Ivy sat up quickly, "Really?"
"Yes, he'll be filling in the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher." Ivy let out a noise that was somewhere between a groan and a squeal. "Okay, Poison Ivy, I can't tell whether you're excited or disappointed."
"I'm… I'm just… Both?"
Sirius chuckled. "What, now you'll get to have your dad close, but then now you won't be able to get involved in silly shenanigans with your friends without getting in a load of trouble from your dad?"
"Exactly! It's like now, I'll have him nearby if I really need him but… If I get in trouble with Fred and George-"
"The Weasley twins?"
"Yes. If I get in trouble with them then my dad will kill me!"
Remus and Emmeline decided on that moment to walk out there, coincidentally. They were rubbing their eyes and holding cups of coffee, having just woken up and apparently having heard Ivy and Sirius talking outside.
"Why am I going to kill you?" Remus asked.
Emmeline said, "What did you do, young lady?"
"I was just saying because if I get in trouble this year at Hogwarts, you'll be there to… I dunno… do something awful to me as punishment."
Remus chuckled and went to sat on the other side of Ivy, "Well, that's why you won't be acting up, right?"
She sighed and said innocently, "Uh-huh."
"Ivy, why don't you go inside and get changed from your dance things. We were planning to go to breakfast if Travis ever wakes up." Emmeline said, ushering Ivy inside.
"I could help with the active state of Travis's brain…" she offered slyly. Remus and Emmeline smiled and told her she could. With that, she rushed upstairs, intent on waking him up by any means possible. Sirius smiled as she went inside the house, and the three adults went inside.
"She is going to be the death of me." Remus said lightly.
"You were saying that when she was six years old. Eight years later, and you're still living." Sirius laughed.
"It'll take maybe one or two more years."
"She is a very bright girl." Emmeline said as she started to make more coffee, "She's just… Incredibly smart."
"She can solve problems in a flash, she's got more common sense than any other girl on the block. Ivy has great grades, she's a star in ballet and… She's just a troublemaker." Remus continued.
"I wonder where she got that…" Sirius said vaguely, "Neither of you two were ever that bad when we were young."
The couple shot accusing looks to Sirius, who waved them off.
"But you know," Emmeline said, pouring coffee for Sirius, "Ivy is very accepting of… everything."
"She knows about you being a werewolf, right, Remus?" Sirius asked.
Remus nodded, "And she's very accepting of it, actually."
"Or she just doesn't show her true feelings." Emmeline said.
Remus shrugged, "Either way, she wants to create a cure for it. She's vowed to."
Sirius smiled, "Ivy's a very smart, determined girl. Not saying she's gonna make that happen, but I'm sure she'll make some sort of good change to the world."
Remus nodded, but didn't get to respond before they heard Travis and Ivy arguing upstairs. Emmeline chuckled and said to Remus, "Go get ready, I'll get them. And Sirius, if you could watch them while I get ready?"
"Sure." he nodded. He was left alone in the kitchen to think about the smart, adorable, troublemaking, hardheaded daughter of one of his best friends, and the future she might have.