| Inked | (George Weasley)

Chapter Forty-Nine

"We're almost there, Olls."

"Why can't we just sit here?"

Ollie and George had one more flight to climb before they made it to the top of the Astronomy Tower. However, the Ravenclaw felt tired and disoriented, and wanted to sit down right where they were standing.

"Because." George shrugged, "That wouldn't be very comfortable, wouldn't it?"

The girl shrugged, "I guess not."

She begrudgingly climbed two more steps, her eyes so droopy they were almost closed. Olive hated feeling this way. She was tired, and no matter how slow she moved, the whole world seemed to be spinning. All she wanted to do was lay down and go to sleep.

"There you go." George patted her arm, "Just a few more, Olls."

They reached the top of the stairs in a little under two minutes. Olive walked slowly over to the balcony, where she sat down and hung her head out in the cross breeze. George sat next to her, wanting to make sure she was alright.

"I'm sorry." Olive squeezed her eyes shut, leaning her head against the rail of the balcony, "I'm sure you didn't expect to be babysitting me tonight."

George chuckled, "I'm not babysitting you. I just wanted to make sure you were alright."

The Ravenclaw shrugged, "Those are basically synonyms, Georgie."

"Well, to me they're not." The Gryffindor said, arms folded across his chest, "How do you feel?"

Olive opened her eyes, which looked unfocused and tired, and trained them on George. She shrugged, fiddling with the hem of her jumper.

"Like I had too much firewhisky." She admitted, "Like I just punched someone in the face."

George looked down at Ollie's left hand, her knuckles bruised, her thumb swollen. One of her knuckles was cut, most likely from Jasper's glasses. The Ravenclaw held it with her other hand in her lap, rubbing at it sorely with a grimace on her face.

"Why did you punch Jasper?" George asked, scratching the back of his head, "The party was about to be busted anyways, the teachers would have handled it."

She shrugged, "I dunno... he was making me mad. He was saying things he shouldn't be saying to someone on their birthday. To my best friend."

Olive took a deep breath, the fresh air doing her impaired senses a bit of good. However, she still felt terrible- like she didn't have full control over her body.

"I hate parties." She slurred, "and firewhisky."

Olive looked at George through her drooping eyes, as if she was waiting for him to say something that could make her feel better. George studied Olive, her cobalt blue eyes, while racking his brain for the right thing to say.

"Why'd you go?" He asked, awkwardly checking his watch, hoping that Fred would come back soon. Olive was still really drunk, and he didn't want to say or do the wrong thing. Besides, she really could use some water.

"Because it's Nat's birthday. Duh." Olive sighed, "On your best friend's birthday, your feelings don't matter. It's their day."

She paused, "I didn't want to be the person to ruin her birthday by not wanting to go to the party. She was having so much fun, and was so happy. I didn't want to disappoint her." Olive's head lolled to the side a bit, "Besides, the party was really Cho's idea... with the alcohol and all."

George nodded, "That's very nice of you. Putting aside your feelings for your friend's birthday."

Olive nodded, "Right?"