| Inked | (George Weasley)

Chapter Seventy-Nine

"Birthday extravaganza." Ollie repeated slowly, her lips parted in amused surprise, "Why did I not expect anything less?"

George wrapped an arm around her, "Because you know us so well."

"Or do you?" Fred wiggled his arms in front of him like he was pretending to be a zombie. The Ravenclaw gave him a Natalie-worthy look of judgement, which immediately made him put his arms down. Scratching the back of his head awkwardly, he sighed, "Sorry... no exploding business card spell then, huh?"

Olive shrugged, "Maybe next year."

She found Harry, slipping him the Invisibility cloak with a quiet thanks. Turning back to the twins, she got a sudden mischievous glint in her eye, "Or maybe I'll just tell Harry and let you two figure it out."

The Gryffindor Hogwarts champion shrugged, "I could go for some exploding business cards."

"Olive Marbella Lark you wouldn't." Fred clutched his chest with a fake look of hurt, "After everything we've been through?"

"Oh, you'll get over it." Olive laughed, feeling comforted in the presence of her red and gold clad friends. She slipped back to George's side almost habitually, the slightly smoky scent of his sweater tickling her nose, "Especially with your birthday festivities."

George patted his brother on the back, "Yeah, he'll be fine."

He took Fred by the shoulders, steering him away from the teasing Ravenclaw and towards the table filled with warm and cold beverages. The younger twin shot a look towards Olive over his shoulder, a twinkle in his eyes and a smirk on his lips.

"Fire whiskey will do him some good." He whispered, though it wasn't a very good whisper, for Fred had heard him and nudged him in the side.

"Ollie!" Hermione greeted the Ravenclaw, "I didn't think the twins would be able to get you in here?"

"We borrowed Harry's cloak." She followed the bushy-haired girl to the fireplace, one of the coziest looking spots in the entire common room, "They are definitely smarter than they look sometimes, don't you think?"

"I wouldn't push it." Hermione laughed lightly. She paused, eyeing Olive for a moment, the beginning of a questing forming on her parted lips, "Harry told me that Professor Moody asked you to help him with something related to the Third Task? Do you know anything about it?"

Olive felt her insides churn uneasily. She hadn't expected for the subject of her assisting Mad-Eye Moody to come up, and she certainly did not want to talk about it. It wasn't like she was doing anything major to help him. Olive was just a good researcher, and she did not know how to say 'no' to a professor as creepy as him.

"I don't know much." Olive admitted, "Honestly, he only asked me for some clarifying questions about portkeys, but that's it."

"Portkeys." Hermione repeated, "That's odd."

"You're telling me." The Ravenclaw ran a hand down her face, "Professor Moody is so criptic half the time I don't know what he's talking about."

That part was true. He often said things during class or in passing that appeared to have so many hidden meanings, Olive was positive Professor Trelawney would have a field day analyzing his speech patterns. When Olive had told him everything she knew about portkeys, it was as if she had told him the winning numbers in the lotto section of the Daily Profit.

Ollie frowned, "Why... why do you ask?"

Hermione cast a glance towards Harry, who appeared to be knees-deep in moderating a debate between Ron and Fred in who could win at an arm-wrestle, "Just want to make sure he's prepared, is all. You understand, right?"