black and white ✰ g.w.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Early in the morning of the 18th of April, Olivia's eyes shot open as she was abruptly woken up with a pillow to the face.

"Happy birthday!" Alicia said, her smile faltering and her voice cracking as she saw the fatal expression on Olivia's face.

Olivia continued to stare at the girl for a few moments before offering a fake smile, grabbing the pillow she was hit with and throwing it back at Alicia as hard as she could.

"I told you that was a bad idea," Angelina said once Olivia had left the dormitory for the bathrooms. "I'll be surprised if you're not dead by tonight."

Alicia gulped.

Olivia didn't say a word as she got ready for the day until she entered the common room. As soon as her feet connected with the floor, she was pulled into a hug that lifted her right off of her feet.

"George!" she laughed.

"Happy birthday, love," he said, putting her down. "Finally, you're of age."

"Finally? You act as if you didn't just become of age yourself 17 days ago."

"It's been a long 17 days." He sighed. "Anyways, how are we going to spend it?"

She laughed at the use of the word 'we'. "We're going to go to class and study for our exams just like any other day."

George's jaw dropped. "B-B-But it's your birthday! Your 17th, at that!"

"And that's exciting and all, but it's also Tuesday."

"Oh. Yeah, it is, isn't it? Well, no matter. We are going to have fun today, no matter what day of the week it is. I will make sure of it."

Olivia grinned, remembering how she had woken up. "Actually, there is something... Do you happen to have any of those fake wands that I could borrow?"

George grinned as well. "I do. Just give me one moment."

As he left for his dormitory, Olivia made herself comfortable in an armchair. He returned a minute later and handed her a fake wand. She put it in her robes for safe keeping until she would be needing it. She walked calmly up the stairs and then burst into her dormitory with a frantic look on her face.

"Rat," she breathed. "In the bathroom."

"What?" Angelina asked. She and Alicia rushed out of the dormitory to check out the imaginary rat.

Once they were gone, Olivia smiled triumphantly, spotted Alicia's wand which she always left on her bedside table and replaced it with the fake wand before slipping out of the dormitory and back to the common room.

"How'd it go?" George asked, slipping an arm around her as she sat down next to him.

"We'll be finding out any second now," Olivia said.

Sure enough, Angelina came down the stairs and stood before them with her arms crossed. "There was no rat," she said.

"Really?"

They turned their attention back to the staircase when they heard slow footsteps. It was Alicia, and she was holding a rubber chicken in her hand and staring at it in horror.

"My wand," she said in a shaky voice when she stopped to stand next to Angelina, "has turned into... a chicken."

Angelina burst out laughing. Fred and George began to snigger, but Olivia just smiled.

"I'm sorry, Licia, but that is just too good," Angelina said between laughs.

"You know, Alicia," Olivia said, still smiling, "leaving your wand on your bedside table all the time is a weakness of yours. Anyone could use it against you."

Realization dawned upon Alicia. "You!" she exclaimed. "You turned my wand into a chicken?"

"That's not your wand, Alicia."

"It's not even an actual wand," George chimed in.

"You've been pranked, Spinnet," Fred said.

Alicia had her eyes on Olivia and George. "If I had known you two would be so evil together, I would not have bothered you so much about making a move," she stated resentfully.

"My, my," Olivia gasped. "You're awfully bitter for someone who deserved it. Just think about this the next time you feel like rudely awaking me."

[word count: 689]
[written: 5/31/20]
[published: 6/23/20]