Days went on at Hogwarts, as the students started advanced classes for their OWLs. The studies were getting tougher, the school preparing the students to get more knowledge for practical life, but Ivy loved a bit of a challenge. It was like fuel for her Ravenclaw brain. Not resting until she found all the answers.

However, one thing she did not like was Quidditch. It had nothing to do with her studies, and she felt like it was a total waste of time. Why did they need to send students up on flying brooms and make them hit each other with balls? Seriously, one could open their head out with it.

"I still don't understand the point of it," she said as Paige and her made their way out to the Quidditch pitch. Today was tryouts day, and unlike Ivy, Paige had a passion for the sport. She had never actually been lucky enough to get selected, but Paige decided to try her luck again, just like last year and the year before- and the year before that.

"You know what, I heard that some time ago, a student accidentally got hit on the arm with the bat and broke it." Ivy went on, still trying to convince her sister to stay safe from the rogue sport. "I believe Madam Pomfrey fixed him up in no time." Paige answered with a smile, hurrying up towards the ground. They got a new Quidditch captain this year- Michael Davies-after the last one had graduated, and Paige wanted to make a good impression.

Ivy hurried her pace to stand in front of her sister. "Okay, okay," she said, taking her hands in hers. "I very much dislike the sport, but I'll support you nonetheless. Just stay safe and don't go banging your head open."

Paige chuckled. "You worry too much," she said and then "Wish me luck!" as she went to stand near the other students. Ivy made her way to the seats, sitting down with her book after giving Paige a thumbs up.

Before Michael Davies could start the tryouts, the Slytherin Quidditch team came into view with their captain Maximus Flint leading them. Apparently, both the teams had booked the pitch for tryouts on the same day. Normally, the Slytherins wouldn't have agreed on doing it, but Michael handled the situation well and the teams decided to split the pitch in half.

As the other students were being tested, Ivy let herself glance over to the Slytherin's side of the pitch. And well of course, among all of them she saw Regulus. She didn't actually know he played Quidditch, granted she never actually went to any matches because they bored her. But apparently, Regulus was co-captain, and despite not intending to, Ivy kept looking at how the Slytherins played.

He must have felt her gaze there, because Regulus moved his head up to strands and saw her looking. He raised an eyebrow with a smirk lacing his face. Ivy didn't know what else to do, so she just glared back at him. Mentally scolding herself, Ivy shifted her attention back to Paige.

A slight cough from her side caused her to break free from her thoughts. She looked beside her where Sirius sat with her, his cough clearly suggesting that he had been sitting there for a while and Ivy hadn't noticed. Mainly because she was busy looking at the Slytherins. Oh, and he must definitely have seen the little encounter she just had with his brother. This thought alone made her feel embarrassed.

"I reckon you're not here for the try outs," Sirius said. "Not at all," Ivy said, shaking her head vigorously. "I kinda really hate Quidditch. Just here to show some support to Paige."

He smiled. "But I guess you like seeing people play Quidditch. A lot of people don't actually play but they like seeing the matches."

She shook her head once more. "Nop, not that either," Sirius raised an eyebrow and gestured a little towards the Slytherins playing.

Ivy felt blood rush up to her face from embarrassment. "No, I was just looking at how poorly your brother plays! Honestly I don't even know how he managed to be on the team," she fumbled with words, quickly coming up with unnecessary excuses to explain herself.

"I never once mentioned you were looking at Regulus," Sirius responded with a teasing tone, a smile intact on his face.

Ivy turned even redder if that's humanly possible. Could this get even more embarrassing?!

Sirius started laughing then. "Relax, Ivy, I was just messing with you." She let out a nervous laugh, still ashamed. Why do we always have to humiliate ourselves in front of our crushes?

"So how're studies going for you?" He asked, changing the subject after seeing her discomfort. He was very much aware of the rough relationship between her and his brother.

"They're going good, we have pretty interesting topics this year," Ivy replied, grateful for the subject change. "But it is a little hectic,"

"It gets like that after third year." Sirius agreed, nodding. "Why did you come to the tryouts though?" Ivy asked him. "Well.. it's for something we're planning." Ivy furrowed her eyebrows and noticed Lupin and Pettigrew sitting a few seats away talking in hushed voices. "You'll know in a while," He said with a wink, causing her to blush once more. She loathed it.

Michael Davies' voice rang through the pitch. "Alright everybody," he said. "The tryouts are done. We'll be displaying the results in the common room tomorrow morning after discussing with the co-captain and original team members. Good luck!"

Paige was coming back towards the seats with a wide smile on her face, flying on her broom. "I'll leave you two to talk then," Sirius said, getting up, much to Ivy's dismay. "See you around!" She said as he leaped off the seats, waved at her and then went towards Lupin and Pettigrew who were now standing near the seats, waiting for him.

"Greetings sister," Paige said, flying around Ivy's head in circles. "Stop, you're going to make me dizzy." Ivy said. Paige laughed, then jumped off her flying broom and somehow plopped right next to Ivy. The younger girl looked at her, horrified. "Can you be a little careful?" Ivy said, appalled. She hated when Paige acted all reckless.

"Where's the fun in that?" Paige commented as she tsk-ed. "Live a little flexibly."

"Not when you scare me to death with every stunt you pull."

Paige chuckled again, then tackled Ivy in a side hug, causing the other girl to choke a little. "I love you so much my dear Ivybean."

"Don't call me that in front of everybody!" Ivy warned, eyes widening. "Merlin, you need to relax." Paige said. "And you need a shower."

"Race you to the common room then,"

"No—"

"—Oops, too late," Paige said, sprinting off inside the castle. Ivy shook her head, taking her time to get off the seats. Sometimes she really thought her parents accidentally dropped Paige on the head when she was a baby.

Ivy bumped into someone as she was getting off the last seat. "Ow," she said, rubbing her forehead. "Careful there, Ivybeans," he said with a smirk.

Ivy huffed, recognizing the unmistakable voice of Regulus Black. She looked up, glaring at him. "Were you eavesdropping on our conversation?"

Regulus shrugged. "I can't help it if your sister's too loud, Ivybeans." He said the nickname again, doing his best to annoy her.

"You say that once more Black, and I'll make sure you break both of-"

"Ivybeans!" He said again, interrupting her.

That was it then. She lost her patience at that. Ivy looked around in her pockets to grab hold of her wand. "That's it Black. I warned you." She aimed her wand at him, who stood there nonchalantly with a pleased smirk.

"I have Madam Pomfrey to fix me. But I won't hesitate from shouting your nickname in the Grand Hall." He said in a non-bothered tone. Madam Pomfrey again!

"I want to punch your face so bad right now." Ivy said, putting her wand back as he had given her no chance. Her dignity was far more important to her.

"But you won't because I have a pretty face." He said smugly.

Ivy couldn't believe his smugness. Why was she always the one who gets irritated by his tactics and he's almost always so smug? It was even more annoying!

"I hate you so much." She said giving him a hard shove as she moved passed him. He chuckled, then put a hand on his heart. "The feelings are mutual, Ivybeans."

Oh, if only she could murder him and get away with it.

▫――――――――――――――▫

Ivy woke up the next day to a blood curling scream. For a second, her heart dropped, mind getting hazy from still being sleepy as she shot straight up in her bed.

"What's going on? What's wrong?!" She said breathlessly looking at her roommates who sat in their bed. But she was tackled straight back into her bed, getting her head bumped into the headboard in the process. Ivy felt like she was going to die.

"I GOT SELECTED! I'M ON THE TEAM! I'M ON THE TEAM!" Paige shouted in her ears with excitement. "And I thought somebody had died!" Ivy said angrily.

Paige just laughed it off, grabbing Ivy's hand to get her off the bed and spun around with her. "This is my dream come true!"

Damn that Quidditch. It will never let Ivy live in peace.

Yes, Paige was a little- a lot- cranky in the head but she was still her sister. Ivy hated the damn sport, Ivy hated that Paige chose to give her a migraine in the morning instead of telling her she got selected like a normal person, but she was happy for her sister nevertheless. If Paige was happy, Ivy was too.

Paige then went out to get breakfast after that, leaving everybody else in a state of shock. "She came bursting into the room," Alexis said, rubbing the sides of her head. "I was dreaming about my favourite character! I was going to tell him how much I love him before I was interrupted."

"I'm really sorry," said Ivy, offering little condolence. She really didn't know what to say. "She was really anxious about it," said Maria. "She was sitting in the common room since 7 am, even before Davies put up the results."

"Impossible," said Ivy. "You know how she is with her sleep. She never wakes up on time."

Maria shrugged. "Maybe it was because she wanted to be on the team really bad. I wouldn't have believed it myself if I hadn't seen it with my own two eyes."

"She got so happy when she saw her name as the Chaser, she tackled Davies into a hug." Maria said as she laughed. "I think the poor guy is traumatized."

Ivy grinned, then got up to get fresh. "Let's get some coffee." "It's very much needed." Alexis commented, tucking her short hair behind her ears, light glinting off her studs. "When did you get this one?" Ivy asked, noticing the silver arrow shaped stud in her ear. It had been the fourth one the girl had had now, along with her earrings.

"This summer, took you long enough to notice." Alexis said with a smile, then both the girls made their way to the grand hall for breakfast, Maria staying back to study.

She took a seat next to Paige who was eating her fourth banana of this morning. "How do you even eat this many bananas?" Ivy asked. "Like this," Paige said, taking another big bite of the fruit.

"This is the best fruit ever created."

"No," said Ivy. "Strawberries are way better." Paige then went on telling Ivy and Alexis a hundred facts about how bananas were the best fruit.

Ivy glanced around the hall, trying to look for a certain Gryffindor but her eyes met Regulus' instead. He smirked at her, she glared back. Then in a voice loud enough for her to hear, Regulus said. "Nott, could you pass me the baked beans please?" He said looking right at her with a teasing smile.

Thomas Nott passed the bowl of beans to Regulus, then continued to eat hsi eggs before Regulus spoke again. "I'm really interested in beans these days. I've just realized how yummy beans are."

Thomas looked at Regulus in confusion, who was enjoying the whole scenario. And Ivy was sitting still on her seat, teeth clenched. Her grip on the fork increasing. Will he ever let her have some peace?

"What are you thinking?" said Sirius as he slipped next to her. "I'm thinking of ways to get away with murder." He laughed. "Good one,"

Ivy turned to face him, looked him dead in the eyes and with a straight face she spoke. "Does it look like I'm joking?" Sirius visibly shuddered. "You're intimidating."

"Good."

"So who're you trying to kill?" he said, taking a sandwich from the ravenclaw table. "I can help you hide the body."

Ivy waited for a second. "You and your friends know how to get into the Slytherin common room, right?"

"Yes."

"Then you can help me with something even better," she said as a smirk slowly forming on her lips, the cogs of her brain turning.