The Forgotten Girl

Chapter 3

With her wand taken away, Olivia spent her summer researching how she would be able to become an animagus because she was bored and it could provide freedom she hasn't been able to experience in a very long time. The first week she read every book she could on how to become an animagus. After her research, she saw that it did not require a wand to go through the performance, but there are many difficulties and it is very time-consuming. With Dobby's help, she was able to get a mandrake leaf and kept it in her mouth for the full month.

    She gave Dobby the chocolate she saved from her time at Hogwarts, and he was able to find all the ingredients she needed. After she made the potion, she locked it in her chest and waited for a lightning storm. Then, she drank the potion at sunset and hoped for the best. After taking the potion, she morphed into a lynx. Looking in a mirror in her animagus form, she saw that her fur was black like her hair, with white stripes cross-crossing her back as her scars did in her human form. Her eyes remained the same, the bright green they have always been, but they adjusted to the night and she was able to make up her leftover dishes from dinner in the dark corner in her room.

    "Success!" she exclaimed after she morphed back into a human. "Dobby!" she called out.

    "Yes, Mistress Olivia?"

    "I did it. I was successful," Olivia said and then morphed back into a lynx, only able to hold it for a few minutes.

    "Dobby is very proud of Mistress Olivia."

    "Thank you, Dobby."

By the end of summer, Olivia was able to keep the form for as long as she wanted. She used the form to sneak out of her room and used her cat-like eyes to see the dark passages leading to the garden. From there she shifted back into a human and just breathed in the fresh air, looking at the stars in the night sky when there were no clouds.

~*~

Angelina has always been an observant child. She noticed her mum was sick and hid her diagnosis from her. She knew she was a witch at the age of four after overhearing a conversation with her parents about what to do with her education. She was the first to realize that Olivia was not a talkative person and told the other girls in the dorm. She also noticed the faded scars on Olivia's back, ones from a whip. Angelina figured out that Olivia does not talk about her family or where she lives, which allowed her to infer that her family is the cause of her scars. On the train ride to Hogwarts, Olivia wore that same broken look on her face she wore her first year that Angelina and the other girls took months to take down, but there was something different about her eyes. Her eyes had a different gleam from the previous year.

    "Are you still thinking about trying out for Quidditch this year?" she asked Alicia, ignoring the gleam she saw Olivia's eyes.

"Charlie Weasley is the Quidditch captain this year and he is Seeker so that position is filled. Plus Oliver Wood has the position of Keeper and he's the only great player. Fred and George are trying out for beaters and they are almost guaranteed a position because they are Weasleys and the only Weasley who doesn't play quidditch is Percy. There's also the fact that their brother is the captain. So the only positions available are the three chasers. However, upper years are trying out so they would most likely get first priority unless they are really bad. We would most likely be a reserve," Alicia explained.

    "You really did your research for this. I'll try out with you. I have been practicing all summer," Angelina said. "Hey Olivia, how was your summer?"

    Olivia didn't hear the question. She was distracted and was focused on looking out the window. "Olivia?"

    "Hmm?"