April 1, 1992
It was barely five in the morning when Ivy snuck into the Gryffindor tower. She made her way silently up the stairs in search of her accomplice.
"Did you bring it?" A low voice whispered from the shadows.
Ivy held up her packages and nodded. Lee grinned, and the two of them made their way silently to the third year boys' room.
"Which one do you want?" Lee asked. Ivy shrugged. "Okay, I'll get Fred, you get George."
Ivy nodded and they got into position. She tossed him one of the bags.
"One, two three," he mouthed, and they poured out the contents onto the sleeping twins.
The twins' yelps at being hit with the icy sludge woke up the rest of their room, as well as a few students from other rooms. A bleary eyed Percy stumbled into the room for a minute, took in the scene, noticed Ivy standing there looking as innocent as she could muster, and just shook his head and left.
Ivy gave Lee a fist bump and shouted, "Ten points to Hufflepuff!"
A few hours later Ivy was sitting in the Hufflepuff common room waiting for Justin and Megan to be ready to go to breakfast, when Cedric Diggory walked up to her and said, "You know, the twins are looking for you."
Ivy nodded. "You didn't tell them where I was though, did you?"
"Of course not. Hufflepuffs look out for each other, after all" he said with a wink.
Ivy beamed. Her goal in life had been achieved; she was now an honorary Hufflepuff.
April 6, 1992
"Do you have to make friends with every single first year?" Draco personally thought he should have been plenty, seeing as he was an excellent friend, but no. Ivy just had to make friends with all the rest of them. It was also Monday morning and he hadn't eaten yet, so he was feeling a little grumpy.
"No," Ivy said.
"But why? I mean… Wait, no? Does that mean you're not friends with all the first years?"
"No. Most of them, yes. But not all of them."
"Really? Wait who are you not friends with? Oh, Smith, right?"
"Yeah, not him. He's kind of rude. And he goes on and on about how great his family is and the world is beneath him… hey…"
Draco did not like that look on Ivy's face. He knew that look.
"…maybe you should be friends with him."
Draco took great offence to that statement. "Hey, I'm not that bad. Pansy!" He looked across the table at his other best friend. "Tell Ivy I'm not that bad."
"You kind of are," Pansy said, the traitor.
Draco's protests were ignored, and he felt betrayed at the fact that his two best friends were conspiring against him. They were obviously teasing him, which he didn't mind that much, but did they have to do it together?
It took Draco a couple days to realize what had happened that morning, and when he did, he couldn't decide whether to be happy about it or terrified. On the one hand, his two best friends were now friends with each other (finally). On the other hand, those two friends were Ivy and Pansy, and this did not bode well for Draco, Slytherin, Hogwarts, and potentially the Wizarding World, but especially Draco, and no he was not being dramatic (shut up, Blaise).
April 15, 1992
Severus added yet another entry to his dairy that absolutely no one would ever know about, and another check to his running tally of times he had prevented Potter from getting seriously injured. Seventeen had to be some kind of record, and it was still only her first year. Merlin, he was going to need to retire after this.
Why couldn't she have gone home for Easter? He had been looking forward to a small break, but instead not only was she still there, but her entire posse had stayed as well, which did absolutely nothing for Severus's blood pressure levels. He suddenly had a greater respect for Minerva and her ability to see her students through graduation alive and relatively uninjured. He couldn't quite accuse Potter of behaving like a Gryffindor, but Merlin, she was the most Gryffindor-like Slytherin he had ever seen. It was a terrible combination and no one should be able to pull that off.
And what was he doing? He, who had lied to the Dark Lord's face on multiple occasions, who had gotten out of near death situations on more than one occasion, and had successfully secured himself a place in wizarding society when so many others in his position had ended up in Azkaban, been disgraced, or forced to buy their way out of their predicament. And yet here he was, slowly losing his sanity to the antics of one eleven year old girl.
But it wasn't just her, was it?
No, it was everything connected to her. Sure, her own antics were something he conveniently ignored as much as possible, but someone was bent on causing her harm. He had made a vow to protect her, and protect her he had, even though it seemed to be happening with much greater frequency than even he had anticipated. And what bothered him most was that he had still been unable to uncover the person or persons responsible. As suspicious as Quirrell's behaviour regarding the stone had been, Severus hadn't been able to find any indication of an interest in Potter, and his observations of the other staff members had not yielded any suspicions on his part. It would have been difficult for someone outside of Hogwarts to interfere to that extent, and Severus had no good way of looking into that possibility given his own relative restriction to the Hogwarts grounds.
It was possible it was a student, though the sophistication of some of the methods used made him doubt that, which was good since he had originally suspected it might be a member of his own house seeking some misguided revenge. Surprising, though not unwelcome, was the way his house had warmed up to Potter over the year. At first he had been concerned about Potter being in the same house as many children of former death eaters, but as the year had gone on she had made an admirable impression on her fellow Slytherins, and had made some formidable allies, particularly among the older students, which had firmly dissuaded anyone else who might have been inclined to cause her trouble.
Of course, the rumours surrounding her guardian may have also played a part in that. Ever since it had become common knowledge that Lord Peverell was her guardian, respect for Ivy Potter had shot up drastically. Some of the rumours seemed far fetched or outright ridiculous to Severus, but he couldn't discount any of them entirely until he knew for certain otherwise. He had done that when he had heard Peverell was in fact a Parselmouth, but then Lucius of all people had been able to confirm that fact.
That information had left Severus both concerned and perplexed as he tried to reconcile the various facts and rumors with what he knew of the man's actions and views. But what did he really know of the man? What did anyone really know of him? That was the problem, and Severus hated not knowing.
He flipped back to his ongoing list of facts and speculations regarding Lord Peverell.
- Parselmouth
- Dislike of term 'Mudblood'
- Stance on Muggleborns: unknown
- Political views: unknown
- Blood: Pureblood, suspected
- Loyalty to Dark Lord: unlikely
- Well informed - possible spies or sources of information inside Hogwarts and/or Ministry
- Aloof, but at apparent ease with members of both light and dark factions
- Believed to be on good terms with: Black, Lupin, Deverill, Malfoy, Weasley, Zabini
And what a mix that was, Severus thought to himself. Unfortunately, that was the extent of his list. Of course, there were a few other things, but he couldn't bring himself to even write those things down. Like how he had instructed Potter on the answers Severus had asked in the first potions lesson of the year. How had he known? There was no way he could have known, right? But he must have anticipated Severus asking those questions, and that meant that he knew. But how much did he know? That was the question that bothered Severus the most. Lord Peverell rarely appeared to be involved in the wizarding world, but when he did, whether it be in instructing his ward in questions he knew Severus would ask, or in securing Black's freedom, he seemed to always know exactly what was going on. And if he anticipated the roundabout way Severus would express his grief over Lily's death, let alone the existence of such grief, what else did he know?
Severus could admit that he was rather intimidated by the man who had managed to remain so generally removed from the wizarding world yet was clearly capable of precise intervention when it suited him. To cause such a massive upheaval as he had done with Black's release, and then simply withdraw again, only to be seen occasionally in the Alley or at the one society event he had attended?
And this was the man Albus was determined to go against. Severus could not understand why the headmaster was so intent on removing Potter from Peverell's care and influence. If the man knew more about Peverell than Severus did, he sure hadn't given any indication of it. It certainly wouldn't be the first time he had hid something, as this year in particular had clearly shown, but Severus honestly believed the headmaster didn't know any more than he did, which, in a way, made Albus's determination to be against Peverell that much more concerning. And then there was Severus's brief encounter with Lupin…
Severus was fairly confident in his belief that both Lupin and Black were firmly on Peverell's side, and not on Dumbledore's. The reasons for that he could not say, but he didn't think it would be too much of a stretch to say that it had something to do with Potter.
And it all did come back to Potter, didn't it? Dumbledore was only interested in Peverell as far as it concerned Potter, it seemed, and both Lupin and Black would be unlikely to side against Dumbledore for any other reason. And he had no doubt that they were against Dumbledore, which meant they knew something. Perhaps he was going about this the wrong way. Perhaps, instead of looking into Peverell, he needed to look into Black or Lupin or both. It was a rather unpalatable idea, but since nothing else had yielded satisfactory results thus far, it could be worth a shot.
April 17, 1992
Albus Dumbledore put the finishing touches onto plan 49-C. It was all in his head of course, since the walls literally had ears. And eyes. And the ability to end up in other locations and spill secrets to any number of undesirables. But his plan was nearly complete, and this one didn't even involve framing anyone. He was rather proud of himself.
None of his other plans had worked thus far, hence the need for this most recent version. He had nearly given up at one point on a rather bleak looking Thursday, but he had quickly scolded himself and had gone back to planning the best way to stage an encounter between Ivy Potter and Voldemort.
Ideally, he would have tested Ivy a little more by this point. He needed to know her priorities so as to best predict her reactions to the events that might occur. She had received the photo album he had sent, and when he hinted at it she had expressed her thanks. Unfortunately, he must have made the compulsion spell a little too subtle, since it did not appear to have the desired effect. He still hadn't been able to get her in front of the Mirror of Erised like he had hoped, but the fact that she was spending the Easter holidays at Hogwarts made him optimistic that he might finally have a chance to do so.
Of course, nearly everyone else had stayed as well, so that did put a slight damper on that plan.
But no matter. The rest of his plan was moving along nicely. She spent plenty of time with the Gryffindors, which was just as he would have wished, and she seemed the naturally curious type, which was also beneficial for his plans.
She was, perhaps, a little more intelligent than he would have liked, and no doubt time in Slytherin had strengthened her resolve to question things, which was also not to his liking. Still, there was time, and this plan was rather good if he did say so himself, which he did because it was.
Now if he could only deal with Peverell…
April 20, 1992
"Ladies and Gentlemen, Witches and Wizards of all ages…"
"Welcome to the first annual Hogwarts Olympus."
Ivy elbowed George. "Oh right. Olympics. (Sorry Ivy)."
A cheer went up among the assembled students, and Professor Flitwick clapped his hands with especial enthusiasm.
"Now, I'm sure you're all wondering what events we have in store for you," Fred said.
"Well, unfortunately, Dragon wrangling was vetoed," George said with theatrical dejection, "but worry not! For in its place we bring you…"
Ivy began a drum roll.
"Broom Racing!"
"Self explanatory."
"Drooble's Best Blowing Gum Bubble Blowing Contest!"
"Also self explanatory."
"Black Lake Diving!"
"Biggest splash wins!"
"Astronomy Marathon!"
"Stay awake the longest and name as many objects as you can at the end."
"Fireworks Competition!"
"Build your own and impress us all."
"Snowball Competition!"
"Make sure to bring your own snow!"
"Snitch chasing, since Wood said he'd strangle us otherwise!" Oliver Wood and Marcus Flint both nodded with satisfied smirks on their faces.
"Dodgebludger!"
"Where everyone's a beater and if you're hit, you're out."
"Demon summoning… oh wait, sorry, no, that one was vetoed as well."
"Ultimate Exploding Snap!"
"Ten times the size, ten times the explosive prize."
"Food Chain Transfigurations!"
"Construct the most realistic king of the food chain you can!"
"Win with the most screams!"
"Not-quite-in-the-forbidden-forest-because-McGonagall-said-we-can't-go-there Scavenger Hunt!"
"So step right up and sign up for the events you think you can win."
"Team events are on your left, individual events are on your right."
"LET THE GAMES BEGIN!"
Everyone cheered and several students rushed towards the front where the sign up sheets were. Ivy was excited. She and the twins had been working on this for months and it was finally time! She gave Professor Flitwick a thumbs up, which he returned along with a grin. This was going to be great.
This was terrible. How those three menaces had gotten Filius to sign off on this was beyond his comprehension at the moment, but somehow he had been dragged into it as well. Oh sure, it was all in the spirit of "interhouse unity" and "promoting school spirit," but wasn't there some way to achieve that that wasn't so… involved?
"Um, Professor Snape, sir?"
He groaned internally and turned to face the student who had decided to bother him.
"Are you the one in charge of the transfiguration contest?"
"Yes," he said, gritting his teeth.
"Oh, okay, um, do you know when it's going to start?"
Severus raised an eyebrow. "As you would know if you had bothered to pay attention to the paper you signed up on, it begins promptly at six pm."
The student flushed a little and stammered, "Oh, uh, right. Sorry, sir. Thank you." The boy practically fled before he had finished speaking. Severus smirked to himself. At least he still had that.
His smirk vanished as he saw one person he'd much rather not face at the moment come up to him.
"Good morning, Severus."
"Minerva," he said, dipping his head in greeting.
"How does your event look?"
He leveled her a glare that had absolutely no effect and sighed. "Remind me why I got stuck with the transfiguration event again? Shouldn't this be yours, since you're the transfiguration professor?"
She didn't even react to his most biting tone. "Because you were specially requested."
"Wait, what?"
"Potter had the list all worked out of which event she wanted which professor to supervise, and she specifically requested you oversee this one because, and I quote, 'Professor Snape isn't scared of anything.'"
Severus suppressed the warm fuzzy feeling deep inside in favour of annoyance at the smug look on Minerva's face. He scowled, but she still had no reaction. Damn, he was losing his touch. Or, more likely, she had just known him for far too long for his withering looks to have any effect. He wasn't sure which was worse.
"Do you think we should have asked someone else to referee the snowball fights?"
Fred watched as Professor Quirrell got yet another snowball to the back of his turban, this one courtesy of George. "Nah. I'm sure he's fine." He was not sure, but this was honestly the least likely event to rattle the poor man's nerves, or so he had thought. Maybe the bubble blowing one would have been better after all…
"Well, I hope he's okay," Ivy said. Then she frowned. "Why doesn't he just put a shield charm around his head so he doesn't get hit?"
Fred opened his mouth and then closed it again. "I have no idea."
Ivy shrugged her shoulders. "Well, at least this one only goes for another…" They looked at the matching pocket watches they had gotten for this special occasion. "Forty minutes."
With a synchronized motion that they had definitely not practised beforehand, their watches returned to their pockets and they both settled in to watch the remaining teams battle it out.
"I'm not really sure who I should be cheering for," Ivy said with a small frown.
"Well, George and Lee have a pretty good team going."
"Theo is really into it."
"Yeah, I didn't know Nott could be so…"
"Loud?"
Fred nodded. He was certain he had never seen the kid speak above a quiet whisper.
"He's always like this when engaged in glorious battle."
"He does this… often?"
Ivy shook her head. "Not really. Oh, but remember what I told you about New Years Eve?"
"Huh. Yeah. It's always the quiet ones, isn't it."
Ivy nodded. "That's what Uncle Henry said too. Except then he said that couldn't be right because I'm not quiet."
"Well I guess it takes both kinds…"
"Do you think Theo and I could take over the world?"
Fred looked at her warily.
"Hypothetically, of course."
"Yes. You probably could. Please don't. Unless I get to be minion number one. Then go ahead."
Ivy wrinkled her nose. "Why would I need minions?"
"Every person taking over the world needs minions."
Ivy giggled. "And what if someone else gets to be minion number one."
"Nope. No one else. I called it. I have dibs on being minion number one."
They both laughed and Ivy shoved Fred a little, who responded by staging a dramatic fall. Their attention was drawn back to the game in front of them as one snowball hit its target with a particularly loud thud.
They both winced. "That had to of hurt."
"Do you think Professor Quirrell's okay?" Ivy asked.
Fred looked at the spot in the exact centre of the back of his head that had been hit. "Sure. Yeah, yeah. I'm sure he's fine."
Severus backed away slowly from the beaming student he had declared the winner of the transfiguration contest. The girl had made an impressively realistic dragon, complete with anger issues and fire breath. Just another reminder to not underestimate Hufflepuffs. Or at least underestimate them at your own peril. Out of what Severus would have considered to be the top ten transfigurations based on the criteria, the four scariest all belonged to Hufflepuffs. There was something deeply wrong with that.
One of his sixth year students had done a lion, and at Severus's glare had defended it saying that lions were scary. Severus had not been impressed.
At least his part in this madness was at an end.
"How'd the exploding snap competition go?"
Ivy hadn't watched that as she had been busy helping set up for the Astronomy marathon that would take place that evening.
Fred and George stared off into the distance. She waved a hand in front of each of them. "Are you okay? What happened?"
"I can't believe he did it," George said.
"Me either," said Fred.
"Who? What happened?"
Fred gave her a look as if it was too terrible a thing to even speak of. She rolled her eyes and looked at George, who was the slightly less dramatic of the two (by a tiny margin, but a margin nonetheless).
"Percy," he managed to say. "Percy won the exploding snap competition."
Ivy couldn't help herself. She burst out laughing.
"It's not funny, Ivy," Fred said. "It's terrible! How could we not see that? How could we not know our brother, our… Percy." He shook his head.
"I've never seen him that competitive," George said, and they both shuddered.
Ivy rolled her eyes again. Number three hundred forty seven by her count. It was almost a new record.
April 21, 1992
George looked up bleary eyed and still half asleep. "Is it over yet?"
"Not yet," Lee said.
George groaned. "Remind me why we decided to watch this one?"
"You said it was a good excuse to stay up all night," Lee said, chuckling.
George groaned again. "I take it all back. I am never doing that again."
Lee laughed and George responded with a rude gesture.
"Oh, hi Ivy," Lee said.
George's head shot up. "What? Where?"
Lee burst out laughing again and George scowled. "Not funny."
Lee obviously didn't believe him as he was now holding his sides, still laughing. George grumbled and turned back over. "Wake me up when it's over," he mumbled.
"Are we really doing this?"
Wood nodded vigorously. "Yes. We're doing this. And we're going to win."
"And why are we doing this?" Marcus wasn't sure there existed a reason good enough to jump into the Black Lake at seven in the morning in April.
"Because Ivy asked us to."
Okay, so maybe there was one reason.
"And she said she'd compete in the snitch catching one if we did this."
Marcus nodded. "Right. Well then. Shall we?"
Wood nodded and the two of them too off running.
"FOR QUIDDITCH," they shouted as they threw themselves off the platform and into the freezing water.
"Did you know they could do that?"
Draco shook his head. "I didn't know Daphne even liked flying."
"Me either," Theo said.
"Where'd they even get brooms?"
"No clue."
"Daphne borrowed Pucey's and Patil borrowed Higgs'." Well, wasn't Blaise just a wealth of information.
Theo scrunched his nose. "How'd they do that? I thought they'd both be racing themselves?"
Blaise shrugged. "Nor sure. Pretty sure Daph had something on one or the other of them."
"What about Patil?"
"Oh, Daphne and Padma have been hanging out a lot recently. Also, I'm pretty sure Padma is why Daph has anything on them anyway."
"So there were threats involved?"
"Probably." Blaise did not seemed concerned about that at all, and the other two boys decided to just go with it.
The two girls finished first and second by a very narrow margin for the first and second year group, and Draco's mind immediately went to Quidditch and the chances of convincing Daphne to try out. She'd make a decent chaser, he thought.
"Won't work," Blaise said as if reading his mind.
"What won't work?"
"Getting her into quidditch. It won't work. She's good at flying but she hates playing quidditch."
Draco pouted. Sure, just smash his dreams to pieces, why don't you?
Severus and Minerva shared a glance, and each took a small step away from their colleague. What Filius lacked in height he was clearly making up for in enthusiasm. About the Weasley twins. And fire. And things going boom. This did not bode well for Severus's peace of mind.
Evidently Minerva thought so as well, and Severus knew that there was hardly anything in the world that so much as fazed Minerva McGonagall.
"Are you sure you have this in hand, Filius?"
The half-goblin grinned, and it was mildly disconcerting. "Oh yes, I have this well in hand, thank you Minerva. Now, if you want the best view I would recommend sitting just over there…" He pointed to an area that was unnervingly close to the stack of hastily made student fireworks that were about to be set off.
Hard pass.
April 22, 1992
"Hi, Hagrid. You ready for today?"
"Oh yeah. Got everything all set up and ready to go."
"Perfect! Need any help?"
"Nah, I got it. Thanks, Ivy."
She beamed and ran off to find her co-conspirators. It was the last day of the games, and so far everything had gone well. She hadn't actually participated in any of the events herself, but today she would be competing in the snitch catching challenge. Technically Oliver had signed her up, even though she had assured him she would do it. Then Marcus signed her up as well, so she had had to make sure she was only actually registered once. Apparently they really cared about this event. It was sweet, and they had jumped in the lake, so it was only fair.
But first was the scavenger hunt. To the disappointment of Ivy, Fred, George, and Hagrid, Professor McGonagall had put her foot firmly down and said that it couldn't take place in the Forbidden Forest. And so, with great reluctance, it was taking place near the Forbidden Forest. Hagrid had measured the exact boundary and everything.
Once that was done they would have the snitch catching one, where every practice snitch they could find would be set loose at the same time. The goal was simple. The person to catch the most would win.
The final event would be the Dodgebludger, a game of their own invention. Everyone participating would be given beater bats, and the team left flying would win. They had strategically gone straight to Madam Hooch with that suggestion and said it would be good beater practice for quidditch hopefuls. It was also at the end in case anyone got seriously injured. Madam Pomfrey hadn't particularly approved of the idea, but that stipulation caused her to relent just enough for them to get approval from the others.
Teams of six and a dozen bludgers flying around at once? No way that would go wrong.
"That's our girl."
They each gave Ivy a fist bump as she hopped off Marcus's broom.
"How many did you end up with?"
"Thirty seven."
Wood whistled. "Not bad."
"What'd the next kid have?"
"Nineteen."
Marcus grinned. Their work was going so well.
As Ivy left Marcus turned to Wood. "Alright, phase 9-L is complete."
Wood nodded. "Phase 10-A is a go."
"Come on, I don't hear out congratulations."
Ivy rolled her eyes. "Congratulations. It's not that big of a surprise though, is it?"
"Hey," George protested. "We worked hard for that."
"Yeah, and only three people ended up having to go to Madam Pomfrey so I'd say that's a double win," Fred added.
"Yes, but you two are already clearly the best, so it wasn't that much of a challenge, was it?"
Fred and George beamed and they linked arms on either side of Ivy.
"Well, when you put it like that…"
Ivy laughed. "Hey, do you think next year they'll let us have dragons?"
Fred laughed as well. "We'll be lucky if they let us have it at all."
"Well, we better start now then," George said cheerfully.
Ivy grinned. "Maybe Professor Snape has some ideas."
The twins laughed at that.
"You ask him, Ivy."
"You go right ahead and ask him."
April 23, 1992
"Hey Ivy, where are you headed?"
Ivy glanced up but continued walking. "Hi, Neville. I'm not really sure. I just felt like going on a walk, I suppose. Want to come with me?"
"Sure," Neville said happily.
"What is it doing here?"
"And why is it in the middle of the room"
"I don't know. It looks kind of weird, doesn't it."
"Yeah."
Neville took a few steps closer and then froze.
"Neville, are you alright?" Ivy was worried. His face had gone quite pale and he stood in shock as he looked into the mirror. She glanced between him and the mirror but couldn't see anything.
Moving closer to where he stood she too looked in the mirror and gasped. "Neville," she said softly, "what are you seeing?"
"My… My parents. I see my parents."
She nodded. "Neville, I don't think this is a normal mirror."
He looked at her frantically. "What do you see? Do you see your parents too?" He looked both worried and hopeful at the same time.
She felt a twinge of guilt but decided she needed to get him out of there. "Yeah," she said, "I see my family." It wasn't exactly a lie, even if wasn't exactly the truth.
He looked longingly at the mirror for another moment, but finally allowed himself to be pulled away. As they were walking away Ivy noticed the strange inscription on the mirror. She'd have to ask Henry about it. And make sure that Neville didn't come back.
Across the room, hidden from sight, Albus sat, now satisfied with what he had accomplished. It had taken several charms to get Ivy in front of the mirror, but now he knew for sure, and he felt a small surge of victory. He would be able to influence her after all, he thought, now that he knew for sure that her greatest desire was her parents. Many of his worries dissipated for now, he returned to his office in high spirits. Now he had some more plans to finalize.