Thank you to booksareforescaping, TrueHomiePiP and lilrilakkuma – I hope you enjoy this chapter! Cheers to anyone that favourited and followed, it is much appreciated and I love receiving feedback! I hope you all had an amazing Christmas and New Year.
Also, I hope it's obvious, but Corvo is a painting - Happy Reading!
"Bah! Who dares to enter the lair of the famed Count Corvo de Montesquieu! I'll have your head for treason boy! Do you know who I am?"
"Corvo! Shhh! It's me" Olive rushed forward, pushing at the black hair that had settled over her eyes.
Corvo squinted, adjusting the gold spectacles atop his red nose as his flabby jowls shook in rage. "My guardsmen will have your head on a pike, and that'll be before I use your entrails as a skipping rope you good for nothing sw-"
He stopped for a moment, his eyes widening when he recognised her face. With a bright grin, he sat back on his chair, adjusting the ruffles of his doublet. "Well, If it isn't my favourite little Alchemist! come closer my dear, you know I struggle to see these days" He smiled, revealing a less than pristine set of coffee stained teeth.
Olive scurried toward the large picture frame that housed the grumpy old Count, still gnawing her lip in frustration as she thought back on her day.
"Just yesterday I went for tea with Madam Jaboulay and Sir Rickleby, I left my spectacles right there on the table! Yet here they are sitting on my nose, how is this so? You may ask-" He fiddled with his spectacles as he rose from the wooden chair he'd been painted on. Getting past him without hearing a story was like pulling teeth from a Nundu, though that was probably short-changing the Nundu.
She hoisted her bag up on her shoulder and hugged her thick textbook to her chest as he spoke.
"A little Goblin stole them! Would you believe it? from that horrid painting with the fairies – too much pink for my taste. Bah! the fool! I won them back in a game of wizard's chess and I ended up with this antique comb in the process, Do you like it?" Corvo held up an intricately designed comb with one hand and put the other on his large gut, his shoulders moving up and down as he let out a loud laugh from deep in his belly. "Which leads me to another point, did you kn-"
She couldn't blame the Count, if she were trapped in a painting for the all of eternity she'd be bored as well – though Olive didn't think she'd let herself get quite as batty, but she supposed it was annoying having hormonal teenagers profess their love in front of you daily. Once she'd even had to sit through a graphic description of 'some good for nothing blonde hooligan's' adventure in his corridor, which in itself wouldn't have been so bad if she hadn't known that the 'buxom blonde' in question was in fact, her best friend.
Blushing, Olive looked back to Corvo whose blue eyes were sparkling with mirth as he finished his latest story. "…So I don't believe it was a real body, or my basement would have had quite the odour! But I never did see Sir Flemington again…" He stared wistfully into the distance as if finding a corpse in his basement was a particularly fond memory of his.
Olive looked up at him, wide eyed, "T-That's uh…" Brilliant? Wonderful? Charming? Really, she wasn't sure what the appropriate adjective would be…" Uh-"
"Good Merlin girl! What's happened to your hair? You look utterly frazzled!" He strode all the way to the front of his portrait, only now noticing her dishevelled appearance.
He couldn't have been more correct; she was 'utterly' frazzled.
As she'd headed for the Library after her final class, a group of Slytherins had followed not far behind. This was not an unusual occurrence, in fact, it was a routine of sort. Just as she left potions, Beatrice would be distracted by Bertram Aubrey, who was known for his sleek blonde hair and piercing blue eyes; plus, Beatrice had always been a sucker for bad boys, and Aubrey was as bad as they came (Not in the usual 'Devil may care' way, but in a 'Genocide sounds neat!' kind of way, Olive thought that made him a 'Homicidal Maniac' rather than a 'Bad Boy', but Beatrice begged to differ…).
Olive would bid her friend farewell, tucking her head down and scurrying toward the Library. With Beatrice gone Olive was somewhat of a soft target, she wasn't exactly known for being charismatic or for her duelling prowess, which meant Mulciber would be on her like a muggle detective, trailing her from some distance. She never could remember his real name, but she had a niggling feeling it started with an 'S', so she'd settled on 'Sherlock'. As she rounded the last corner toward her destination, Avery, whom she liked to think of as the Dr. Watson of their operation, would feign some type of collision; common lines from him included height related slander and comments about what a treacherous piece of swine she was; which had rattled her the first few times, but really, when she gazed up at him and imagined him with a handlebar moustache, cane and top hat, her feelings tended toward laughter rather than abject fear. Mulciber, ever the resourceful Slytherin, would search her bag whilst she was 'distracted' - for what, she was still unsure, unless the Slytherins thought her compendium of bugs was interesting and were keeping tabs on it…if that were the case she would happily arrange them a meet and greet with a nest of angry Hornets.
It was quite silly really, if it were her she'd have mixed things up a bit – variety is the spice of life, as her mother often reminded her. They were awfully predictable. Dull. That's why today, when she'd been knocked behind a pillar by an invisible entity, she was beyond confused, that is, until she saw a scuffed set of shoes hurrying away – she'd seen a lot of shoes in her life time, so this should've been an entirely unremarkable event – what was different about this particular set of shoes, was that their owner was nowhere to be seen. A disillusionment charm was out the window, that would've concealed their whole body, and so was knotweed – the side effects that came with invisibility were too great, especially since the person had merely pushed her out of the way, it seemed like too much effort for such a simple act. Invisibility cloak? Now that was a possibility…Needless to say, she'd missed her usual run in with Sherlock and Dr. Watson, unless they were the ones who'd pushed her?
"I'm actually not here to ask about Alchemy today Corvo, it's about my situation with the Slytherins…"
Corvo's eyes narrowed into slits as he looked down at his hand, a stub in place of his thumb – one of his favourite stories to tell which, unsurprisingly, featured a Slytherin antagonist. "Those good for nothing snakes in the grass! Bah! I've never known a good man to be from Slytherin, tell me girl, what has happened?"
"They switched it up today, well…at least I think they did" Olive tightened her robe around herself, feeling the frigid kiss of the night's air.
"Good Merlin, use your words! What makes you say that?"
She paused for a moment, collecting her thoughts, "I was pushed over just before I was due to run in with Avery, and I thought I'd just tripped but... I could see feet hurrying away from me, I'm thinking an invisibility cloak? But who at Hogwarts would have the means to possess one? I know they can be bought, but I'm speaking 100% invisible…Demiguise feathers begin to fade within days of harvest and even then, the cloaks leave you transparent at best."
Corvo nodded his head in agreement, "Potent magic indeed…" He paced along the tiled floor of his office before looking out into the corridor to give Olive his full attention.
"I still d…don't know what they want from me, and if they have an invisibility cloak it means I'm never safe!" she looked around nervously.
"I do recall reading on the topic in my studies…Might I suggest the restricted section? All kinds of delights in there! You'll even find my book on human transfiguration! Oh-ho did I stir up some controversy with that one! You sh…"
Olive nodded at Corvo, his lips were moving, but she was too wrapped up in her thoughts to listen. She still had Miffy and the other elves looking out for her, and she knew Regulus, Avery, Mulciber and Aubrey were conspiring, but could there be more of them? She tuned in again, just in time to catch the tail end of his story.
"…So I said: My dear Lady Ophelia, you wound me with such accusations; why would I have stolen your necklace? Do I look like a crossdresser?" Corvo winked at her as he pulled a glistening strand of pearls from beneath his collar.
"Right…Thankyou Corvo"
Olive hesitated, looking behind her into the corridor. "I've spoken to blonde woman in that painting you like, she's agreed to have a chat." Corvo, despite his over-large stomach and greying hair, believed himself the be quite the catch, he had been after the pretty Baroness for as long as she could remember "I'm sure no one will know I've been here, let alone that there is a 'here'?" She said lowly.
"My word girl!" He slapped a meaty hand to his chest, looking behind him for someone else as if the idea that she were referring to him was too great to comprehend "You give me too little credit. You think I won't keep a secret for my favourite little Ravenclaw? You know back in my time I was widely regarded as an honourable man!"
The offended look quickly slipped off his face as he toyed with his moustache, mumbling under his breath "Ah, but there was that incident with the beheading…poor Giralt…and I did…tell that man about th…bah! Never mind that girl" He looked up at her as he bowed his head respectfully "You have my word."
"Thank you Corvo" Olive turned quickly, hoping to make a quick escape to the Ravenclaw tower. She planned to wake up early tomorrow to pick some Monkshood. The other night she'd discovered a patch of the purple flowers out near the forest, if her calculations were correct they'd be at the right stage of their life cycle for picking tomorrow!
Just as she'd been imagining herself running through a never-ending field of Monkshood, basked in a heavenly glow from above, A flash of red caused her heart to beat wildly. Crap. Olive pressed up against the wall, making herself impossibly small. Of course Lily and Remus would happen to be patrolling this particular corridor, rotten luck and Olive seemed to be synonymous these days. She strained her ears listening to Lily's comforting voice.
"…and honestly, who would even believe a word that comes out of that Slytherin bint's mouth? She probably goes home and writes a notebook of all the cruel things she can say to people"
What a way to top off her already stellar day…
"James and Sirius would've hexed her into oblivion if they'd been there." She heard Remus say, unless Lily had taken up smoking and had a surge in testosterone since lunch, in that case the deep baritone could've been Lily …from her position pressed against the cold stone wall of the alcove she couldn't see a thing and her mother told her never to make assumptions…
"Well you're not them, are you? And thank Merlin for that!" A distinctly female voice said – once again, most likely, but not definitively, Lily…
"I just…sometimes I can't help but listen" After a lengthy pause, Olive heard Remus let out a long, exasperated sigh "Even Olive's afraid of me, I accidently touched her in class and she looked at me like I was going to murder her"
Well…she did have a habit of looking like a frightened kitten when she was upset, her already large eyes tended to widen and her lip was known to quiver on occasion, but she hadn't even meant to do it that day!
"Olive? God no! trust me, she's as skittish as a unicorn, she barely even has female friends, a male one would probably give her an anxiety attack." Olive nodded to herself, Lily had always been astute.
"Oh… I thought it was because of…" He cleared his throat gruffly. "You know"
"I doubt she's even noticed yet, that girl can't keep her head out of a book for two seconds, and it certainly doesn't help that you're friends with some of the most intimidating boys in school"
Oh Merlin! He probably thought she was one of those vapid and stupidly vain girls.
"I'll check the class room ahead and you can do the corridor with the grumpy portrait" She heard Lily say. The grumpy portrait? Olive's brows drew together as her eyes finally landed on Corvo. The grumpy portrait…Corvo. Merlin's Balls! Olive's stomach dropped, like the first time she'd ever taken off on a broom – that sinking feeling of utter despair. She raised a desperate finger to her lips, indicating to Corvo to remain silent, with a scathing look he closed his mouth, raising his chin haughtily with a 'hmph!'. Phew.
She pressed herself behind a tall pillar, trying to ignore her sweaty palms and shaking hands.
Two options swam through her head, the resultant scenarios flittering through her mind like movies.
One: He'd turn the corner, twiddling his thumbs and whistling like a half-wit from one of those muggle books. Like a caped crusader, or a cowboy – she had no real preference – she'd leap out, brandishing her wand menacingly. "Halt intruder, any last wishes?" She'd say effortlessly as she gazed down the 'barrel' of her wand. Remus would be so shocked by her sudden appearance that he'd remain frozen like a fool! And with a final Petrificus Totalus, he'd fall helplessly to the ground. Plan One was admittedly, a tad hyperbolic, but in essence, a carefully aimed Petrificus Totalus would give her ample time to escape the clutches of Remus, and then indirectly, the red-haired, green eyed beast.
Two: She'd admit, even now, that Plan Two was not in fact, a plan at all; but sometimes it was nice to see where her imagination took her. Plan Two's Achilles' heel was that it required her to have a certain reputation (Having a reputation involved people knowing who you were, just yesterday a girl from her dorm had forgotten her name). But that was beside the point, in scenario two the name Olive Oberg would be whispered among children. Old wives' tales would recount all the terrible, but great, things she'd done. A bit like Grindelwald or Dumbledore. The type of reputation that would leave people frozen in a stony terror as they saw her wand pointed at them. They'd know that their demise was imminent, that they should be running for the hills, but they'd be immobilized by fear – which would give her ample time to run off! Once again, escaping a fate worse than death at the hands of Lily. She liked plan two, though every great strategist knew that the plan most likely to succeed should be the one chosen.
Remus' shoes tapped lightly against the floor, each successive step louder than the last. Olive squeezed her eyes shut and gripped her wand tightly as her heart fluttered uncomfortably in her chest.
A couple more steps and he'd see her plain as day. "M-Merlin help me" she whispered as she settled on Plan One…a quick Petrificus Totalus and she'd sprint for her dorm. Narrowing her eyes, in determination, she jumped out from her hiding spot.
"H…Halt…" Her words fizzled into the night as she stood frozen in fear, her neck craned up to Remus who'd already pulled his wand on her. Ah yes…exactly as she'd planned. Remus Lupin. The git had reverse Plan Two-ed her!
"Olive? What are you doing ou-"
Rats. Time for Plan Three (Also known as Plan 'Holy-Shit-What-On-Earth-Are-You-Doing?').
Olive leapt forward, imagining herself like a grasshopper springing upward to avoid capture from a hungry bird – a comparison she quite liked, she'd always loved grasshoppers.
Her eyebrows drew together as she stretched her arms upwards toward his mouth, their differing height making this quite the task. In panic she looked down, settling on his feet to gain a few extra centimetres – he'd be fine, she probably weighed as much as a house elf. Not her finest plan…
"Mmmphm mmm" His speech came out muffled and his brown eyes widened in surprise, if not for her hand he almost certainly would have released a screech of surprise.
She looked at him imploringly, if Lily caught her she'd be toast! Not in the figurative way either, Lily would probably transfigure into bread and then pop he in one of those muggle toasting devices! She'd cackle evilly as the immense heat burnt Olive to a crisp, only to feed her to one of the more…spherical shaped Slytherins. "S-She'll hear us!"
What Olive should have anticipated, which should have been immediately obvious when she'd needed to stand on his shoes for extra height, was that Remus was by no means her prisoner. He reached up, gently encircling her wrists within his hands and pulled them away from his mouth, the corner of his lip pulling into a smirk as his role switched from prisoner to warden.
Olive looked from her wrists to Corvo, who'd lulled his head to the side as if sleeping, though she could see a sly smile on his lips. Bastard.
"What are you doing out of bed?" Olive heaved a sigh of relief as she noted his soft tone, he'd obviously gotten the memo: 'Lily is a tyrant and won't hesitate to toast you alive'.
She gazed up into his eyes, chewing on her bottom lip as her nerves returned. Ah, Right. Remus was waiting for an answer.
"W-well funny you ask…" Now to think of a good excuse, she chanced a look up again, noting his quirked brow. Now would be an excellent time for her brain to cooperate…"b-but I really must be going…N.E.W.T.s, you'd understand"
If she'd had free reign of her hands she most definitely would've slapped herself in the forehead. Fortunately, he seemed to find it funny, a dazzling smile broke out on his face.
"Tell me, do you find that one in the morning is a productive time to study?" The Marauders never did miss a beat, no doubt she could've used a couple of those right now.
"Incredibly, I…I was studying just now…" Sweet Morgana, why had she allowed herself to get so close to him?
Olive jumped as Lily's voice cut through the air, she would've fallen if not for the hands around her wrists. "I spoke to her the other day you know, she was mortified. She's a good person she just gets so nervous around new people"
"I suppose you heard what we were saying just now?" He said to Olive, the smirk finally slipping off his face.
"I wasn't eavesdropping!" Olive said a bit too quickly, "For all I know you were discussing fine cheeses…m-my favourite is Brie" Again, if her hands were free she'd have made good use of them; she could've slapped her forehead, buried her head in them, transfigured herself into cheese and hoped for a quick, but painless death. Really, the possibilities were endless.
Lily mistook his lack of response for ignorance. Though she couldn't be blamed, when wondering why Remus wasn't replying, the fact that he was conspiring around a corner with Olive would hardly be her first thought.
"You have a habit of doing that you know? When you don't know what to say you just drift back into that head of yours. I can see why the hat almost put you in Ravenclaw. Anything on your end?"
Olive looked up at him pleadingly, would he dob her in? She would hardly call them friends…and he was a prefect, he didn't have any reason to cover for her.
"Not a soul" He called out to her, before lowering his voice and smiling cheekily at Olive "And my favourite is Cheddar, but I'm more of a chocolate man"
Her relief was almost palpable as the tenseness left her shoulders.
Chocolate man. If Beatrice were here she'd make a witty joke about chocolate men…a witty joke…Olive stared blankly at him as she pleaded with her brain; Chocolate man could be anagrammed to 'Canal Eco Moth', she loved moths, but that wasn't interesting, was it? She must've been thinking for too long because he spoke again.
"Will she really get mad at you? You're a prefect anyway" He muttered under his breath as the back of his ears turned red, not that Olive noticed, she was feeling too flustered herself.
"It's not my round tonight and she's already mad at me! she'll give me detention and take away one thousand points! I don't even like toast!" She said dramatically, without her signature stutter.
"Toast?" He said, regaining his smile.
"Well anyway Remus, She's quite pretty, isn't she? Don't think I forgot what you told me in third year" Lily called out from the adjacent classroom.
H-He thought she was pretty?
Remus winced, releasing her wrists suddenly, she was sent scrambling back, not that she minded. This time when she looked over at Corvo his sleeping act was over, he was grinning at her with a bemused expression, his twinkling eyes peeking over the top of his spectacles.
Corvo would never let her hear the end of this…the old bat wasn't having any trouble seeing now, was he? Traitor.
"Uh…yes I suppose she is" Remus said, looking down at his scuffed shoes, letting his hair fall into his face once again.
"Hah! Suppose? What were the exact words you used again?" Lily said.
Olive avoided his eyes. She noticed that the ceiling had an odd white splotch on it and she was sure there was a pair of knickers hanging off one of the high wall hangings, they looked an awful lot like the ones Beatrice owned…
"What was that you told me the other day about James, shall I repeat that?" Remus said in an almost confident voice, the wobble in the middle somewhat diminishing his desired tone.
"And here I thought you were the nice one! I knew I should've gone for Peter"
She'd counted seventy-four roof-tiles when she finally heard Remus clear his throat. "…You better be off then" He said, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.
"Y…you're not going to take away points?" She asked nervously.
"No" He tried to smile, but it was more of a grimace, "Just be quick, before I change my mind"
"Lily's right, you are the nice one. H-Here" Olive pulled a little butterfly from her pocket, placing it on the underside of his hand, she tapped it quickly with her wand before breaking out in a sprint toward her common room.
Remus was left in her wake, smiling at the pretty little butterfly that had come to life on his hand, and partly because of the pretty little witch that had disappeared, not that he'd admit it. It glowed a brilliant shade of blue before flittering off toward the window, illuminating the sky around it as it fluttered off.