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.
"Hey!"
Olive froze, her tail shooting straight upwards in surprise. Cautiously she padded around to the source of the noise, her cobalt eyes quickly adapting to the darkness in the halls.
Peeves the poltergeist was casually leaning against the wall, a smug resemblance to a smile playing on his haunting features as he glared down at the cat.
"Well aren't you just a pretty kitty." He mused, "And a clever one at that!"
He floated closer to her, narrowing his eyes in suspicion. It was obvious he had noticed her trying to get to her belongings, because he studied Olive's things with enthusiasm.
"These don't belong to you, fur ball." Peeves' eyes switched back to the cat in alarm, "Wait! You're the cat that's been messing with perfectly pranks around here. As a kind fellow such as myself, who orchestrates his own mischief, I feel obliged to serve justice!"
Olive meowed in alarm, turning to pad swiftly away from the scene. However, Peeves was smart and anticipated her move to escape. With one swoop around the corridor, Ollie found herself stuff under a heavy metal light sconce. The holes were too small for her to squeeze through, and too heavy for her to push off of her.
She was trapped.
"Yoohoo! Little Weasleys!" Peeves sang out into the echoing corridor, "I have a little surprise for you!!"
"Mew!" Was the closest thing to no that Olive could muster in her current form. Her paws scratched at the sides of the sconce, trying to move it closer to her belongings. If she had her wand, then maybe she'd be able to change herself back. She still remembered the spell that was able to turn Peter into and out of his animagus form. Maybe it would work the same way for her.
Two pairs of footsteps padded through the courtyard and into the corridor where Olive and Peeves were located. The twins were out of breath from running, probably from Filch, and were covered in what looked like soot and gunpowder. If Ollie wasn't trapped, she'd probably laugh.
"Peeves, what's this?" George breathed, sending a careful look behind him as he approached the sconce, "Did you-"
"You caught that damned cat!" Fred's curious expression morphed into one of joy, "Nice one!"
Peeves bowed his head as he took off down the hallway, "It was a lot of hard work, but I've done the deed! I've trapped the cat!"
Olive pawed at the sconce again in protest of the poltergeist's statement, her startling blue eyes glaring at the three. She just wanted to go to bed, and now she had to deal with this. It was quite cliche if you thought about it.
"Wait." George knelt down next to the sconce, picking up the notebook gently, "These are Ollie's things."
The Lark girl froze, her whiskers twitching uncontrollably as she kept her gaze down to the floor. They caught her, she just knew it. Any second they'd turn to her and tell her they knew that she was the cat. Would they be surprised? Mad? Upset?
"She left her wand." Fred added, "Was she out here tonight?"
George looked out to the main courtyard with narrowed brows, "I think she usually comes out here to write... maybe she heard the explosion and ran off?"
"And forget her wand and notebook?" Fred shook his head, "Nah, mate, she'd never leave these behind."
Olive watched with growing anxiety, trying not to let her nerves show whenever the twins glanced her way. It was so blatantly obvious that she was the cat, all of the evidence pointed to her! Why couldn't they see it?
"The cats can get in and out of the common rooms." George shrugged his shoulders, "You think the cat is stealing?"
Fred cautiously glanced around them to check for Filch, or any other professors who might be making rounds. After a long, tense moment of silence, he knelt down next to Fred in front of the sconce. Both pairs of eyes were on Olive, who squirmed uneasily under their stare.
"Do you think...?" George wondered aloud, trailing off the end of his question.
"I dunno." Fred scratched the back of his head, "Let's find out. Do you know that spell that changes people back?"
The younger twin was baffled, "There's a spell for that?"
"Do you even pay attention, mate?"
"Of course I do, Fred. I'm lazy, not an idiot."
"Meow!"
The twins jumped back at Olive's harsh retort, her cat-like eyes narrowed into an intimidating glare. She just wanted to get out from under that light sconce and go to bed, growing more tired and irritable by the minute.
"Granger's still awake, isn't she?" Fred asked his brother, "She knows the spell, and the common room is just around the corner."
George nodded, "Well let's go ask her then. I want to find out who's been messing with our pranks! Even Peeves wants us to get to the bottom of it."
Fred and George got to their feet, glancing around the corridor once more to make sure they wouldn't be caught. Quickly, they started for their House's common room, a hint of excitement in their step for finally having the black cat trapped.
"Do you think one of us should stay the make sure it doesn't escape?"
"That light sconce is at least one hundred pounds. There's no way that cat can get out of that."
Turns out, the cat did manage to get out.
Fred, George, and now Hermione stood over the turned over sconce in shock. The youngest of the trio gave a knowing smile to Olive's missing items and the flipped light sconce, knowing the true identity of the cat. However, she faked annoyance to the twins, them interrupting her House Elf Welfare research for this.
"You two are really thick." Hermione turned to them, "One of you should have stayed with the cat."
George's eyes immediately fell on his brother, "You said it was going to be fine!"
Fred threw his hands up in defense, "How was I supposed to know that it could escape!"
"Shhh!" Hermione hit both of them in the arm, "You're going to get us all in trouble! Just let it go, okay?"
George folded his arms across his chest, "We'll never get another chance like that... besides, the cat's got Olive's stuff!"
Hermione raised her brows, trying to hide the amusement on her features, "You think the cat stole Olive's belongings?"
"Well, they're not here anymore, so yeah. I do." Fred snipped, "What do we do about it, Hermione?"
The Gryffindor turned to the twins, her hands guiding them by their shoulders back in the direction of the common room, "Well, nothing right now. I just think you two should really think about what just happened, and then maybe go talk to Olive tomorrow."
Just tucked around the corner, watching the three trek up the stairs to their common room's portrait, Olive watched the scene carefully. Relief flooded the panic that had previously taken hold of her, her belongings gripped tightly to her chest. She had just managed to change back and get out from under the light sconce, which proved to be extremely heavy. Hermione, who might have seen Olive's scrambling to grab her things, was able to stall the twins for just a moment longer.
Hermione did just cover for her, but also opened a can of worms Olive was going to have to inevitably face sooner than later.
However, she was relieved in the fact that the cat would remain a secret for another day. Especially since the twins wouldn't find out from her being trapped under a stupid light sconce.