The Heiress of Slytherin

Bad Moods and Badasses

She grabbed a blanket and pulled an armchair right up close to the fire where she sat, looking into the flames for a very long time. She didn't know when she fell asleep, but somehow she managed between the warmth of the fire on her skin and the plushness of the pillowed surface of the chair.

Ivy regretted few things as much as sleeping on the armchair when she woke the next morning. She was boiling within an inch of her life, stiff as a board, and worst of all, she'd slept at such an odd angle that the crick in her neck gave her a pounding headache.

All in all, she was already not having the best morning when Draco shook her awake. She went upstairs to get dressed, slipping on the largest uniform-approved sweater she could find.

She tried to tamp down her growing bad mood as she ventured with her friends up to the Great Hall. Surely the day wouldn't be that bad. Plus she had Quidditch practise later, and that would be fun.

As little sleep and a migraine will do, this thought along with many others was immediately clouded over with a sombre tone. Ivy felt excited about quidditch for only a moment until she remembered that the first match against Gryffindor was coming up, and she would not be playing.

Breakfast did little to lift her mood. The shouting and chattering felt like her brain was ricocheting perpetually against her skull.

Much of the day passed in this manner, with Ivy feeling grouchy and easily irritable. She snapped at the sixth year Ravenclaw who slammed into her in the hall and loudly mocked Lockhart till he looked as red as his crimson robes.

She even glared so fiercely and terrifyingly at Peeves, who was about to upend a bottle of ink on her head, that he changed his mind and poured it on Draco's. She did manage to muster a genuine laugh at the disgust on his face as the ink ran over his white-blonde hair.

"Why does this keep happening to me? Nobody else has ink poured in their head yet here I am for the second time this year looking like I had a tiff with the Giant Squid." He muttered, trying to sound annoyed but failing as he let a smile creep onto his face at Ivy's laughter.

Shockingly enough, he was the only one who wasn't mildly afraid of her all day. He slid into the seat next to her in Transfiguration and beamed brightly at her when she scowled at him. He looked so genuinely happy to be around her that she felt her raincloud of a mood lessen slightly.

Oddly, she had found that him being around and not walking on eggshells with her had been the most enjoyable part of her day, although she wasn't prepared to admit it aloud.

McGonagall swept in into class and assumed her position at the front of the room behind her ornate desk. "Today, we will be turning animals into water goblets. Like so, Vera Verto." She neatly tapped the parakeet on her desk and Ivy watched, somewhat intrigued as it morphed into a beautiful crystal goblet.

Draco leaned over slightly to whisper at Ivy, "Hypothetically speaking, could someone do that to you if you were in your siren-bird form?"

Ivy turned her head to glare at him, but as soon as she caught the cheesy grin on his face she involuntarily cracked a smile. He'd been playing with fire all day to make her laugh, but his goofiness was paying off.

She turned back to the front to see Ron with a very furry-looking goblet on his desk. She smirked as the class laughed, then saw Hermione raise her hand. "Yes, Ms Granger?" Said McGonagall curiously.

"Professor, I was wondering if you could tell us about the Chamber of Secrets?" Asked Hermione and Ivy whipped her head around to face the professor as a hush filled the room. She, for one, was very interested in the answer.