Ivy's eyes fluttered open, and she moaned. Two blurry figures leaned forward in the visitor chairs, and whispered to one another.
"I think she's coming to,"
"Should I go get Madame Pomfrey?"
"No, I will. You stay here," One of them got up and walked off.
Slowly, Ivy's vision cleared, and she focused on the boy who was sitting beside the bed, with a grin spreading across his face. She smiled back, as she recognized who it was.
"Oliver. Hi," Just then a thought crossed her mind, "Wait, what are you doing in my room?" She pulled the sheets closer to herself.
"Its ok, Ivy. You're in the Hospital Wing. You had a run in with the Giant Squid."
"There's a Giant Squid here?"
"Yeh. You've been out cold for four days,"
"Four days?! Whoa," Before either of them could say any more, Madame Pomfrey walked up, closely followed by a familiar looking girl.
"Mr. Wood, are you still here? I thought I told you to go get some rest," Oliver blushed. Ivy caught the look and raised an eyebrow at him, "How long have you been here?"
Oliver looked away and mumbled something incoherent.
"What?"
Ivy's other visitor grinned, "He said, 'Since you were brought in here' "
Oliver glared at her, "Thank you, Lily"
"No problem," she replied, jumping up to sit cross-legged at the end of Ivy's hospital bed.
Madame Pomfrey tutted her, and was about to tell her to get off, when Ivy squealed and sat up quickly to give Lily a hug.
"Lily! What are…oohh," Ivy moaned and clutched her head. "That hurt," she said as she lay back down.
"Ok, visiting time is over. Ms McDougal here needs to get some rest." Madame Pomfrey announced to the three of them.
"But I just woke up," Ivy protested, to no avail.
Lily slid off the side of the hospital bed and went to give Ivy a proper hug.
"That's fine. I'll come back and see you later." She said, "And I bet I wont be the only one who'll be back soon," Lily whispered, as she winked, and jerked her head back at Oliver.
Ivy grinned back at her friend. Lily turned to Oliver, "And you will be going to bed, too" she said, shoving him towards the door, with a last wave and a "Bye, Ivy," before they both disappeared.
Ivy heard a muffled protest from Oliver and Lily retorting with, "I don't care if we've only just met…It's not like I intend on getting in with you," as they left the room. Ivy giggled and shook her head. Sighing and shutting her eyes, Ivy settled down to sleep. Hogwarts was certainly going to be interesting with Lily.
* * *
Both Lily and Oliver had been back to visit Ivy. Lily came to exchange gossip, and gush about 'the gorgeous redhead' she'd met, and the fact that he seemed to be *everywhere*. Oliver came too, as Lily had prophesised, between classes and Quidditch practice, for just a few quiet chats. It wasn't long before Ivy found out that Oliver was the fanatic Quidditch captain, that she had mocked that first morning, something that made her blush.
Exactly one week after Ivy's accident, Lily and Oliver found Ivy already sitting at the Gryffindor Table, munching toast, when they, and the rest of the school, entered the Great Hall. She looked up, as the big doors opened, and waved at Lily, Oliver and the rest of the Gryffindor's as they walked over to the table.
"Ivy!" Lily exclaimed, as she recognised her friend and ran over. "When did you get out of the hospital wing? Have you already been sorted? When? Are you in Gryffindor? I am. I finally got sorted yesterday, after I came to see you." Lily chattered on, bouncing from question to question, while Ivy smiled bemusedly, and the other Gryffindor's sat down.
"Lily, slow down, before you hurt yourself," Ivy said, helping herself to some breakfast rolls. "I'm in Gryffindor too. I was sorted early this morning. I got caught sneaking out of the Hospital wing…"
"You, what?" A boy, who Ivy recognised as one of the twins she'd met the other day, said as he stopped on his way past.
"I got caught sneaking out early this morning," Ivy repeated, "by Dumbledore. Nice guy. Anyway, hello…uh, Fred?"
He grinned and sat down across from them, "No, George. Good to see you up and about again. Oliver will be pleased." He added loudly, so that the boy walking past heard him and blushed. George sniggered, "Speak of the devil. Hello Oliver,"
"George, Lily," he nodded to the two of them, "Hi, Ivy. How are you?"
"Fine, yourself?"
"I'm good"
"He is now," George muttered. Only Lily heard. She covered her mouth to stop herself giggling.
Ivy snapped out of her daze, and looked back at George, "You two are going to have to start wearing nametags, or something,"
"Wait, wait, wait – Two? There are two of you? You've got a twin?"
George grinned again, "Yep."
"Well, that explains a lot," Lily muttered.
"Fred's over there," George pointed to a boy, absolutely identical to him, who was dropping something down the back of another girls' robes. She was deep in conversation with two other girls of about the same age, but stopped mid-sentence, and jumped out of her seat, with a squeal.
As she squirmed about, she shouted, "Fred Weasley, I'm going to kill you!" followed by more Death Threats. The redhead laughed and ran towards them, making sure to hide behind George. Crouching down, he turned and grinned at the two new girls.
"Hey, how you doing?"
"You must be Fred," Lily said, barely stopping herself from laughing.
"Yeh, how'd you know?"
"You're gorgeous bro-OW!" Ivy elbowed her in the ribs, "I mean, George told us," She giggled nervously.
Fred raised an eyebrow, and was about to comment to George, when the girl he had been tormenting, stormed up to him and smacked him upside the head.
"Ow! Ange, what was that for?"
"For the spider, idiot," she said, throwing it as hard as she could at him, "I swear, Fred, one more time, and…argh, Boys!" and with that, she threw up her hands in frustration, turned on her heel, and walked off again.
Fred grinned, "Weasley charm," he declared, "Works every time. That girl can't keep her hands off me,"
"You seem awfully sure of yourself," Ivy said, as she rolled her eyes and reached for another piece of toast. Oliver happened to be reaching for the same piece at the same time. They looked up into the others eyes and held the gaze until Fred nudged George, snickering, and Lily tried to kick Ivy under the table.
Ivy and Oliver broke eye contact to stare at George, who yelped and fell back out of his seat. Fred laughed at his brother who rubbed his shin.
"What happened?" he asked when he caught his breath.
"Someone kicked me. Hard!"
Ivy looked to Lily, and twitched an eyebrow. Lily blushed, and whispered, "Oops," just a little too loud.
"That was you?" George asked unbelievingly, still lying on the floor.
Before anyone could say anymore, a voice called from the head table, "Will Mr. Weasley please regain his seat?"
While Fred pulled George back up, the voice called out again, "And while I have everyone's attention, I will repeat the notices that were given out at the Sorting Ceremony on the first day, for the benefit of the late students. The Forbidden Forest is strictly off-limits, as are the Quidditch change rooms for members of the opposite sex. Also, there have been some questionable occurrences on the third floor, near the statue of the dragon. I remind everyone to stay away from that area, until further tests have been administered. And, finally, no one is allowed out of his or her dorm-rooms after lights out. If caught, students will be dealt with harshly. That is all."
"Anyway," said Fred, after a few minutes silence, "What happened to you?" he asked his twin.
"I don't know, on minute I'm sitting here laughing at Oliver and Ivy making goo-goo eyes at each other," Ivy and Oliver both blushed at this, "And the next, I'm on the floor with a dent in my leg."
Now it was Lily's turn to blush. "Sorry George", she mumbled, "I was trying to get Ivy." Ivy glared, while George laughed good-naturedly.
"I'm fine", but before he could go on, a boy with dirty hair, black eyes, and a sneer that looked permanently stuck on his face, sauntered over.
"S'matter Weasley? Girlfriend play footsies too hard?"
"Whaddya want, Damon?" George said, through gritted teeth.
"Nothing."
"Good, now clear off."
"Oh, Touché! Hey, don't take it out on me just cause your girlfriend's ugly. "
That was the last straw. Before anyone could do anything, George had jumped over the Gryffindor table, knocking over pitchers of pumpkin juice, and swung his arm into Damon's stomach, winding him. At the same time, Lily smacked her small balled up fist into his jaw. He was out cold before he hit the ground.
The silence rippled through the Great Hall, as the students tried to get a good look at what was going on. Professor McGonagall came rushing over, followed by Professor Snape, Madam Pomfrey, and Dumbledore.
"What is the meaning of this? Weasley, Wilkes, please come with me." Lily sighed, and she and George walked off with McGonagall, not looking anyone in the face.
Fred, Ivy, and Oliver stared at the pair's retreating backs. When they'd left the room, they turned back to each other. Fred tried to lighten the mood. "Well, I'm quite worried about my place as Beater, on the Quidditch team." The other's grinned weakly. They turned away, and started walking out.