The Heiress of Slytherin

A Very Normal Winter Holidays™️

Christmas holidays were flying towards the students faster than an angry fairy and in the blink of an eye the first snowflakes had turned into an endless flurry that coated everything in glittery white powder.

The heating charms on the blankets in the Slytherin common room were refreshed and the fire turned from a gently crackling flame to a roaring inferno.

To most students life went on as usual. Classes gave out too much homework, there were daily rumour buzzing around about who was dating who.

All of these trivialities passed Ivy in a blur, dragged behind the accelerating days. She got better, in a way, from how she felt right after Griffin attacked. Or at least she cried less, and that had to be something.

There were bright spots amid the gray of her mood, all of which she clung to like a life raft. Her spear training with Galatea, Tiamat and Aenon was going better than she'd dreamed possible when she'd started; she'd even managed to beat Galatea once.

Her time with Magorian was moving much more slowly, but she found that she didn't really mind. In all honesty it was more therapy than archery training but the centaur had only thrown his head back and laughed in his deep, booming manner when she had apologized for this.

He'd reassured her that finding peace inside of herself was a crucial step in her journey and that he was proud of her for the progress she'd made. His words, as usual, had helped her enormously and she never apologized for the matter again.

She'd finally finished the first part of her bow, carving the wood she'd selected on her very first day into a beautiful, sleek, flawless curve that made her truly appreciate all the time she'd spent practicing.

The next step was to add the string. Magorian had taken her on long walks through the forest to show her the different materials she could use, and finally she had settled upon unicorn hair. She had braided in a strand of Kyria's hair, which she'd had her mail to her, as her own private homage to the woman who she would always love above all others.

Her days training now were slimmer than before for both skills as exams approached with frightening rapidity. Ivy resigned herself to spending most of her time in the library, common room, or some quiet nook of her dorm with her headphones in and textbooks spread about her.

Slowly but surely Hermione and Harry slipped back into this routine. It was not without awkwardness or difficulty for both parties, but Ivy could see how hard they were trying and that was enough for her to make her own efforts to repair what had been broken.

It was only after Pince made good on her threat to kick Harry out for manically running about to find any and every book Ivy even slightly mentioned for her that she sat him down and explained that he didn't need to be at her beck and call to make up for his past wrongs anymore.

She and Ron still hadn't spoken. Sometimes she thought he might be starting to say something to her as she passed him in the halls or he saw her sitting somewhere, but every time it ended in him becoming fascinated with either his feet, the ceiling, or some inanimate object that happened to be nearby.

Harry and Hermione tried explaining that he was just stubborn and hated apologizing, but the stopped trying when Ivy calmly, albeit it shortly, explained back to them that if his pride and stubbornness meant more to him that a repaired friendship with her, then she neither wanted nor needed an apology.

Despite this, and all the other terrible things that had plagued her over the past term, Ivy slowly managed to regain some of her cheerfulness. It was her friends who were to thank for this.

She would catch herself smiling as Draco conjured her flowers for the second time in one day, or laughing at some silly joke Blaise or Selina made. Pansy and Theo were her go-to distracters, and any time she felt herself being dragged back down (often after her regular visits to Griffins hospital bed), she would find one of them to spend time with.