Ivy Potter, Year Four | Raised By The Malfoys

Chapter Twenty Four: Court

          "Ivy, that was bloody brilliant," Harry said and walked with me to the library.

          "Oh yeah, terribly brilliant," I snorted.

          "Do you have plans this weekend?" he asked.

          I shook my head, "What's up?"

          "We haven't spent much time together so I was thinking if we could talk," he said.

          I smiled, "I'd love that."

          Harry and I spent the rest of the day talking in the library. He and I were reconnecting a lot and it felt like we made up for lost time. Although we couldn't figure out why this was happening to us, it felt like things would be ok. After my bath that night, Salem approached me with dinner.

          "Salem, you are wonderful. Thank you, darling," I said and carried her with my clothes and food.

          She purred and we went to Hagrid's hut together. I didn't mind having to walk to Hagrid's hut although it was lonely not being able to eat with my friends and brother. To distract myself, I thought about the tournament. The first task was less than two weeks away now and I ate with Salem in the hut. Hagrid came in and he looked flustered.

          "Hagrid? What is it?' I asked.

          "Ivy! I need yer help," he said.

          "With?" I asked.

          "I'm startin' tah fancy that headmistress," he confessed.

          I looked him up and down, "I gotcha."

          First, I encouraged Hagrid to a long hot bath to 'calm his nerves' and purposely made him a strong bath tonic to encourage healthy cleanliness and hygiene. I sent Hagrid away with some clean clothes, as well as strong wire brushes for his hair and beard before he went to bathe. While he went, I started to go through his clothes and cleaned some of them up and started to mend them. I was awful with the needle and kept poking myself. Bill and Charlie came in and Charlie smelt like smoke.

          "What on Earth are you doing?" Bill asked as I was sucking my pricked finger.

          "Erm, mending?" I answered.

          "Why?" Charlie asked.

          "No reason?" I lied.

          "You're lying," Bill said and noticed my missing earrings, "Where'd your earrings go?"

          "Ask your twins," I scoffed and continued stitching.

          Charlie offered to braid my hair since it was still wet and easier to manage that way. I nodded to him and enjoyed his company. I told Bill that Hagrid wanted to have a better appearance. He caught on and was helping me by fixing Hagrid's boots and was getting them shined. When Hagrid returned, he was quite stoic. We swore absolute secrecy and continued to help Hagrid so he could court Madam Maxime. I fixed Hagrid's fingernails and toenails while Bill managed Hagrid's thick hair. Charlie was focused on my hair and it looked gorgeous when he was done. He was surprised to see how Hagrid looked after he cleaned up. I encouraged him to brush it while it was wet and gave him a few products to use. His teeth were fine so we weren't worried about bad breath. I fell asleep wondering what Charlie would look like with short hair.

          On the weekend, Harry was skipping stones on the Black Lake while I was climbing high in one of the trees behind him. I caught his attention when a group of his friends were coming to him. He told me to stay up there since I had a new reputation as a scary mean girl. Ron saw me and I put my finger to my lips and he nodded to me. Hermione was delivering some sort of message to Harry but when Harry tried to talk through her, she turned on him saying that she isn't an owl. The group left upset and Harry was also upset. Ron hid behind the tree I was in and the group left him behind.