The Heiress of Slytherin

Bad Bitches Recognize Bad Bitches

The realization that she barely even felt tired anymore hit her as she and Draco walked over to join their friends on the couches, laughing and talking much later than they should have been. When she finally fell asleep, she was leaning into Draco's side with a heated blanket wrapped tightly about her and the sound of quiet chatter filling up the space around her. It was some of the best sleep of her life.

Ivy was awoken to the strong smell of coffee and her stomach rumbling so loudly it seemed somewhat reminiscent of the mountain troll the previous year. Draco was still beside her, but now he held a comically large cup of coffee and a plate of sausages, eggs, and toast with baked beans sat on the table in front of them. When he noticed her stirring he passed the mug to her with a smile and chuckled when she grabbed for it so fast it almost spilt.

Her stomach grumbled again as she eyed the plate greedily, then broke into a cheek-aching grin when Draco slid that too in her direction. Rather ungracefully and between large bites Ivy managed to choke out a question of where everyone else was, what time it was, where he'd gotten breakfast and how long she'd slept.

Draco wrinkled up his nose and shook his head slightly. "Salazar, America has already affected you, we'll have to undergo rigorous etiquette training to get you back up to scratch Ivy." He said in a dramatically exasperated voice, gesturing despairingly at the famished girl (who had, admittedly had a bit of egg fall onto her chin mid-sentence).

She wrinkled up her nose and flipped him off, but she did wipe her chin and slow down her eating a tad, her previous ravenous hunger having been quenched. Smiling fondly, Draco finally answered her questions in succession:

"Everyone else is outside having a snowball fight, I thought you might be too tired so I sent them off without us," Ivy nodded firmly. She was almost always game for a good snowball fight, but being warm and dry right now sounded vastly superior. "It is about 10 o'clock, I got breakfast from the Great Hall this morning and kept it warm for you, and you've been dead asleep since 3."

Ivy set down her plate and smiled, feeling somewhat drowsy again from the food, the warmth of the fire and the blanket that was still tucked firmly around her. She leaned into Draco's side (who had somewhere along the way picked up a book and was reading studiously through it, managing to flip the pages with only one hand to not disturb her) and watched the lake move outside the windows. It was darker than usual because of the thick layer of ice that coated the surface, but the light from the common room provided enough illumination that she could still see the various plants swaying while different fish swam by. As she settled into a feeling of complete contentment, she contemplated just how good it felt to be home.

——🐍——

The rest of the day was filled with easy laughter and a great deal of resting on Ivy's part. She felt emotionally exhausted from the semester and her trip to Ilvermorny, and a day of peace felt like the perfect gift for her weary mind and body. Athemar and Kyria came to the castle for lunch and the whole group had a delightful time laughing and ice skating on the lake. Ivy spent most of the time on a blanket by the side of the lake, laughing as she watched her mother guide her stumbling father along, who had clearly never done something like this before but was trying his hardest to hide the fact.

She leaned back with her ribcage aching as she watched Pansy and Selina glide around like angels, Blaise and Draco pathetically fighting on the ice over something she was sure were incredibly minute, while Theo and Kyria skated peacefully on either side of Athemar, their hands subtly outstretched towards him in case he slipped (again) while he bore the most concentrated face Ivy had ever seen him wear.

At last, the group trekked in, numb with cold but entirely joyful. Kyria and Athemar wished everyone a cheerful goodbye then departed back to the inn, leaving everyone else to trek downstairs and collapse on the couches, although not before they bullied Theo into coaxing large cups of hot chocolate for everyone out of the house elves.