| Inked | (George Weasley)

Chapter Fifty-Six

Nadine had always believed that there was something greater than themselves pulling them together, working behind the scenes twisting and intertwining the strings of Fate until they could not long be untangled. What she did not understand was why anyone else couldn't see that. How could he be such a blind follower of chance? How could he not see the world repeatedly trying to draw them together...

The story about the two muggles was beginning to come together, much to Ollie's delight. Although she realized the similarities between her own story's themes and that of one of Shakespeare's made her crinkle her nose in dissatisfaction, but she kept going. She knew that at some point she'd get over the fancy language and overdramatic art of star crossed lovers. Like most of Ollie's stories, they usually revolved around some subconscious feeling of hers, combined with one of her most recent reads (which included the Shakespeare anthology Nat had given her).

Olive carefully finished the paragraph she had started, her eyes dropping with sleepiness. It had been a particularly long day of class, and she'd been up the night before working on a lengthy essay for Transfiguration. She had been out writing a bit late into the night, tucked into one of her usual writing spots in the main courtyard.

As her heavy eyelids continuously tried to close themselves and descend the Ravenclaw into a doze, Olive decided that it was probably time to go to bed.

She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, suppressing a yawn as she curiously took in the quiet night around her. The Beauxbaton carriage was tucked into the opposite corner of the courtyard, a dim light emitting from the windows. Ollie was thankful for it being there, keeping her covered from Filch's rounds and emitting a small blanket of warmth into the otherwise chilly courtyard.

The stars were hidden by a thin layer of grey clouds, the crescent moon poking through every once in a while to provide a small shed of light. As Ollie tucked her pen behind her ear, holding her notebook close to her chest, she slowly started her way back to the Ravenclaw Tower. She was careful to be quiet, checking around corners before she proceeded.

Then, when she was sure the coast was clear, she closed her eyes in deep concentration. If Ollie still wanted to be able to turn into the black cat, she needed to practice, and there were no other times during the day where she had complete and total privacy to do so. Except for now.

She tried to completely clear her mind, focusing in on the part of her mind that triggered her metamorphmagus abilities. The last time she was able to quickly morph was during the Quidditch World Cup, which was during a time of complete fear and panic. Before her accident at the end of last term, all it took was the simple thought of what she wanted to do, and then doing it. The severity of her werewolf scratches had mad it harder to control her abilities, so changing into her feline form required a lot of deep thought and concentration.

Suddenly a loud noise echoed from down the corridor, causing Ollie to jump in the air with fright. Without even thinking twice, she felt herself change into the small cat that had been known to frequent the halls last year.

However, unlike last year, her notebook, pen, and wand clattered to the floor next to her, adding to the noise that clattered closer and closer to her location. Olive, in a panic, looked around for the source of the noise as she tried to turn herself back into her normal self. Every other time she morphed into the cat her belongings just kind of stayed on her person. She didn't know where they went, but whenever she changed back her things would just be with her.

Now they were not.

Helplessly Olive nudged at the notebook with her paws, her nose pushing her wand and pen closer to the leather bound book. How was she supposed to get back to the Ravenclaw common room now? She couldn't just leave her stuff here to be taken by someone if they passed. Someone was coming down the hall in her direction, and if she didn't change back into her regular self and get to her common room, then she'd be caught.