Recovered Ivory [1]

Seven

"The snow is beautiful," I exclaimed as we walked along the edge of the dark forest that bordered Hogsmeade. 

Fred just chuckled at my excitement, smiling at me. I always had a thing for snow, especially big snow falls like the one we were getting today. We had decided since I was leaving at the end of the week, it would be a good time to have a date. Not only was it snowing, it was just a good day all together. Severus seemed to be in a alright mood, Ron was done jibbing at me for things that weren't my fault, and none of my friends were hurt. All seemed alright, at least for now. Fred could feel my light heartedness, and he loved it. 

"Fred!" George rushed towards us, breaking me out of my wonder. He leaned towards his brother, whispering in his ear and I suddenly knew I was going to be left alone. 

"Ivy, I've got to go do something," Fred said, looking at me apologetically. "Meet me at dinner?"

"I'll meet you at dinner," I agreed, pulling him closer to me. "But, I think you're forgetting something."

"Really?" George groaned, turning to look away from us. "Couldn't you wait till I walk away?"

Fred leaned down and kissed me tenderly as George walked a little further away from us to give us privacy. The kiss was longer then it usually was, but I wasn't complaining, though I could feel his brother's irritation and impatience. "I love you, Ivory Black."

"And I love you, Fred Weasley," I whispered as he pulled away to join his brother. I couldn't get rid of the smile on my face; I just loved it when he said my real name. I didn't know what they were up to but I knew it was something important for Fred to leave me alone. After all, it was one of our first dates in weeks without the watchful eye of Severus or Minerva.

Even though I was now alone out here, I wasn't about to waste the snow fall. I wasn't actually in the dark forest which meant I could have a little more fun. I didn't need Fred here to make sure I didn't get into trouble. I would just spend a little longer out here and then go find Hermione and Ron, wherever they were. I giggled a little bit before I looked up into the sky, becoming mesmerized by the snow flakes as they fell. I spun around once, feeling happy for the first time in a long time. Nothing was weighing me down, at least not yet.

A soft yip made me look back down towards the ground. I was surprised to see a black dog, who was watching me with his head cocked to the side. I looked at him confused, wondering how a dog was out here this far. I figured it was one of the town's people's dogs.

"Hey there," I said, kneeling and holding my hand out for it to sniff. "Are you friendly?" It walked forward slowly and sniffed my hand. It walked even closer so my hand could scratch behind his ears. "You are friendly," I laughed. "You don't have a collar on you, I wonder who you belong to."

"Ivy?" Lupin's voice made me jump, but the dog didn't seem frightened. "What are you doing out here?"

"Fred and I were out here," I said, blushing slightly. "He had to go do something mischievous, so I thought I'd stay out here for a little bit. I love the snow, especially snow falls like this.

"How is your uncle taking you having a boyfriend?" he asked, his eyes locked on the dog.

"He's taking it fine. He likes Fred fine enough," I said, my eyes narrowing. Lupin was never this careful about how he talked to me. There was no one else out here to hear his words. Why did he look so worried and why was he sweating in the cold? He also knew full well how Severus was reacting to Fred, we had that conversation once a week, if not more. I looked down at the dog, who was looking between the two of us with confusion. It clicked. "You're not a dog, are you?" The dog shook its head, staring at Lupin, expecting him to do something. There was only one person I could think he would protect from the conversations we shared. "Lupin, how could you?" My voice had raised an octave now, causing him to wince.