Peppermint and Cinnamon

15 || Hogsmeade

Hogwarts December 19, 1995

      Ivy had just finished her second helping of mashed potatoes when she noticed the many owls flying into the Great Hall ready to deliver the mail for the day. Not expecting to receive anything Ivy looked back down at her food and began picking at the crumbs left over on her plate. In two more days Ivy and all her friends would be on the Hogwarts Express traveling home for the holidays. She was beyond excited to see her parents and tell them how much she loved Hogwarts.

      It would also be nice to get a break for Ivy. The last couple weeks had been pretty chaotic. At the beginning of November Hermione presented an idea to Harry, Ron, and Ivy about forming a club to teach students about the dark arts, and how to defend themselves. Harry was hesitant at first, but after a little convincing he agreed to teach and lead this sort of club. Two weeks later the four along with many other students coming from Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Gryffindor all squeezed in the Hogshead on a chilly winter afternoon. That day Dumbledore's Army was formed and ever since the group had been practicing in the Room of Requirement. Ivy found it all so fun and since she was very skilled in defensive spells, she taught alongside Harry and helped out with some of the younger kids.

      Besides the now weekly meetings with Dumbledore's Army, Ivy had to deal with schoolwork and Quidditch. She was back to being Gryffindor's Chaser and all was well until it came around to Ron's first game as Seeker. Even though Gryffindor had beat Slytherin, a fight broke out afterwards down on the ground. Malfoy had said some awful things about the Weasleys and at that moment even Ivy wanted to walk up to him and punch him square in the jaw. Harry, George, and Fred had all lunged at Malfoy rage filling them. Harry was held back but George got to Malfoy and tackled him to the ground. He got a few punches in before Malfoy started to fight back. The second Malfoy had punched George, Fred balled his fists up and also tried to lunge for Malfoy. It took three people to hold Fred back and some stern talking from Ivy to stop him from fighting his restraints. In the aftermath George had walked away with a couple bruises while Malfoy's face looked pretty fucked up. But now, a couple weeks later, Ivy along with mostly everyone else at Hogwarts was packing up to go home.

      Suddenly an owl flew over Ivy and dropped a letter from its clutches. The letter fell onto Ivy's plate and for a second she thought that the owl had mistaken her for someone else. But surely enough, as Ivy read the front of the envelope, it was addressed to her. Becoming curious she carefully removed the letter and began to read it to herself. Halfway through the letter Ivy's face fell and she finished the letter sighing. As she put the letter back in the envelope and placed it on the table, Ron who was sitting across from Ivy looked up at her.

      "Got a letter Iv?" he said in-between bites of his chicken sandwich.

     "Yeah just a letter from my parents." she replied giving him a faint smile. Harry who was sitting next to Ron then looked up and joined in on the conversation.

      "Ooo, what did it say." he asked. As if Harry's question peaked their interest, Ginny, Hermione, Fred, and George all looked up at Ivy to hear her response.

      "Oh not much, just that my parents have to go back to America for some emergency, so they won't be able to celebrate the holidays with me. Well, looks like I'm staying at Hogwarts this break." Ivy finished with a sarcastic laugh. She looked around at her friends who all obviously felt bad for her, except Ginny, who was smiling. She stood up from the table and started to briskly make her way towards the doors of the Great Hall.

     "Gin! Where are you going?" yelled Fred. Ginny stopped in her tracks and turned back around to face the group.

     "Up to the owlery." Ginny exclaimed.