| Inked | (George Weasley)

Chapter Seventy-Eight

Just after dinner the night before the start of April, a certain Ravenclaw walked quietly and purposefully through the corridors. Her hair was hastily twisted up, held in place with her wand. A small, knowing smile was spread on her lips, a wrapped parcel tucked behind her back.

Olive was not someone to call herself experienced in gift giving. She and Missy exchanged small things for birthdays and holidays. Not much, but just something to show the other how much they appreciated them.

For the twins' birthday, she was at a loss for a while.

She wasn't sure if she should even give them gifts, seeing as they already had quite the day of pranking and fun planned. However, she recalled the letters they sent her for her birthday, the small box of her favorite sweets, some of their pranks sprinkled in to surprise her. It was, for lack of a better word, sweet. She still had the notes tucked in a tiny shoebox under her bed.

So, it was the least she could do to return the favor. Besides, she had something planned for George that had taken her all night to perfect. She wanted to see his face when he opened it.

Peeking her head around the corridor, Olive spotted George. It was rare that he was without Fred, especially so close to their birthday, so she figured she should take advantage of the moment while it lasted.

"Happy Birthday, you."

Olive snuck up behind George in the corridor, poking him in the sides as she surprised him. The ginger jumped slightly in fright, whipping his head around to greet her.

"Olls!" He loosened up a bit when he realized it was her. Looking down at the small parcel tucked under her arm, he smiled, "You know my birthday isn't until tomorrow, right?"

The Ravenclaw chuckled, "How could I forget? All week you and Fred were like 'this is gonna be the best bloody birthday ever.' Didn't even need to mark my calendar."

George wrapped an arm around her as they strolled back down the corridor, "I don't sound like that."

He paused, "Maybe Fred does... but not me."

Olive held out the wrapped parcel to him, a small smile on her face. While she was excited to see what he thought of the gift, she was also nervous. It had taken her a while to get it just right, nearly all night. She was tired, but she refused to let it show.

"Happy early birthday." She said, "I figured I'd give this to you now in case you're busy flying around setting off fireworks tomorrow."

He took the small wrapped box from her, looking both very curious and a teeny bit flushed, "You didn't have to do this."

She shrugged, "Of course I did. Last year you sent me something for my birthday."

There was a moment of silence. Both George and Olive stared at the package for a moment, as if waiting for it to magically unwrap, "Besides, I already found Fred and gave him his gift, so it'd be weird if you didn't open it."

A chuckle rose out of the ginger, "What did you get him?"

"Exploding business cards. I think he went through half the stack and won't stop bothering me about teaching him the charm."

"Classic. Wish we thought of that." He spotted a bench that was somewhat secluded from the other students walking through the hallway, guiding Olive over to it by interlocking their fingers, "You didn't put any explosives in here, did you?"

He held the box to his ear and shook gently, brows furrowed as the movement inside the wrapped present did not sound at all like anything that would explode in his face. Setting it down on his lap, he looked to the Ravenclaw for an answer.