Here's chapter 11 ...quite a few things happen in this chapter (even though it is a bit shorter than most of the others). But anyway hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: i think you should all know by now but i dont own harry potter.

Chapter 11 - Forgive and Forget (….or not)

After that night, Grace spent a large amount of time avoiding people. She avoided Harry who looked like he wanted to say something to her every time she entered the same room as him. She avoided Lupin who she caught watching her at every opportunity probably looking for signs that she was going to break down again. But most of all, she avoided Fred who was proving to be very difficult to discourage.

In the Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, Grace sat in the front row cheering Oliver (and only Oliver) on very loudly and when they won, Grace was just as excited as everyone else.

Through the entire party that night in the Gryffindor common room, Grace never once left Oliver's side. She talked enthusiastically about the match with him and, for the first time in a long time, he was paying as much attention to her as she paid to him. This made her feel guiltier than ever. Just as she was debating whether or not anybody would notice if she put a little bit of rum in her drink (one drink wouldn't kill her after all), McGonagall came in and told them all that it was time to go to bed.

Grace went up to her dormitory gladly, got changed and snuck into the seventh-year boys' dormitory as usual. She crept into Oliver's bed and Oliver promptly put his arms around her, obviously having been expecting her.

She fell asleep almost instantly. She dreamt that she was wandering around the castle alone. It was pitch black and she looked around her nervously, shivering slightly. She didn't like it. She wanted to go. Suddenly Lupin appeared out of thin air reaching out a hand to her. "I'll help you," he said but it wasn't his voice. It sounded like Lucius Malfoy. Grace cringed away from him and turned quickly to run away. As she turned she bumped (quite literally) into someone else. Looking up she saw Fred looking down at her. "Come on," he said and she followed him without hesitation, only he was walking too fast for her. She couldn't keep up. She opened her mouth to yell after him-

"AAAARRGGGHHHH!"

Grace jerked awake. It took her a second to realise that the scream was not from her dream and then another second to recognise it as Ron Weasleys'. She got out of bed quickly, grabbed one of Oliver's jumpers and was pulling it over her pyjamas as she hurried down the stairs to the source of the commotion with Oliver and his friends close behind. Dimly she heard Oliver's friends asking what she had been doing there and a few comments about her being in his bed but she ignored them.

"IT WASN'T A NIGHTMARE!" Ron was yelling as she came into the common room. "PROFESSOR, I WOKE UP, AND SIRIUS BLACK WAS STANDING OVER ME, HOLDING A KNIFE!"

"What?" said Grace in disbelief. Ron turned to face her. He looked absolutely terrified, his face was pale under the freckles and his eyes were wide. He didn't look as if he had only had a nightmare.

"I'm telling you, he was here!"

"That's ridiculous, Weasley. How could he have got through the portrait hole?" said Professor McGonagall.

"Ask him! Ask him if he saw!"

Grace didn't even wait for him to finish, she beat McGonagall there. She stumbled out of the hole with the Professor who was looking at Grace as though this was all a joke that she was in on it.

"Sir Cadogan," said Grace, her voice trembling. "Did you just let a man into the tower?"

"Certainly, good lady!"

"You- you did?" said McGonagall stunned. "But- but the password!"

"He had 'em!" said Sir Cadogan proudly. "Had the whole week's, my lady. Read 'em off a little piece of paper!"

Grace and McGonagall re-entered the common room slowly. Grace felt about ready to pass out. She met Harry's eyes as she stared blankly around the room and from his expression, she knew that he didn't blame her in the slightest for this. He knew that she wouldn't be involved in this.

She spent the rest of the night sat between Oliver and Fred (she tried to ignore the irony in that) waiting for news, alternating between fiddling with her necklace and biting her nails. Nobody seemed to know quite what to do or say so they mainly just sat in silence until Professor McGonagall came back to tell them that, once again, Sirius Black had escaped.

Over the next few days, a lot of things changed. Security became so much tighter, teachers became much stricter and, more importantly, after nearly six months of silence, Harry was talking to Grace again.

He had come to her the next morning to apologise but he made it look very hard. After several seconds of him opening and closing his mouth like a fish, he finally spoke.

"Listen, Grace-"

"Harry," she interrupted. "Just spit it out."

"I shouldn't have acted the way I did."

"No you shouldn't have."

"I should have listened to you."

"Well that would've been helpful."

"I- I know. Can you forgive me?" he said awkwardly.

"Wait, was that an apology?" she said raising one eyebrow. "That was quite possibly the worst apology I have ever heard. You even managed to do it without saying the word 'sorry'."

Harry looked at his shoes and didn't say anything. Grace waited for a minute, torturing him slightly before deciding that he had had enough.

"But aside from that. I understand Harry, I do. I would have been mad too," she said. "Apology accepted," she added brightly.

...

The next few weeks flew by. It was exam time and that meant that work was being piled on them. Hermione spent most of her time looking like she was about to burst into tears any minute. Grace was forced to miss the next Hogsmeade visit to spend the day in a detention with McGonagall to catch up with some of the work. Even Fred and George had been spotted working in the corner of the common room.

All in all, the Quidditch final came as a welcome distraction. The atmosphere in the crowd was electric. Grace watched the match intently and by the end, her voice was hoarse from cheering and shouting so much. She wanted Gryffindor to win as much as everyone else and when they did, she ran onto the pitch with everyone else. She hugged each member of the team at random but paused when she got to Fred.

"What? Don't I get a hug?" he said. Grace looked towards Oliver but he wasn't looking their way.

"Course you do," she said in a brave attempt at indifference. She reached up to hug him but as she put her arms around his neck, he put his around her waist lifting her clean off the ground.

"Fred!" she said indignantly.

"What?" he said innocently.

"Put. Me. Down," Grace hissed.

He laughed but did what she said. "Relax, Grace. We could blow up the Quidditch pitch around him and Oliver still wouldn't notice anything."

"That's not the point, Fred. And you know it."

"Hey, it's you that won't dump him. Not me."

Grace glared at him and went over to congratulate Katie without another word.

The next few days were tense. Grace couldn't look Oliver in the eyes anymore. She knew what she needed to do but he just seemed so happy. Even the exams hadn't spoilt his mood. Finally one night she couldn't take it anymore.

"Hey Grace. What's up?" he said as he entered the common room and spotted her sitting alone in one of the more secluded corners.

"Revising," she said shortly.

"You look like you need a break," he said with a smile.

"Can't, got an exam in the morning."

"Cheer up Grace. You'll do fine, don't worry about it," he said sitting next to her, still smiling.

"You know Oliver, not everyone can be as happy as you are over a stupid Quidditch game!"

"What are you talking about?"

Grace looked at him. He was staring at her with his eyebrows raised.

"Oliver….we need to talk."

It was the hardest conversation she had ever had. He was upset. She was upset. She didn't mention Fred though. Their relationship may be broken but she didn't need to ruin his friendship with Fred too. She told him the same thing that Fred had said to her, that he would be leaving at the end of the year and they wouldn't see each other anymore. She told him that they would both be moving on and it would be better for both of them if they broke up. He seemed to accept that and considering the circumstances, they parted on fairly good terms.

When they had finished talking, Oliver got up to go to bed and left the common room. She felt terrible. Surely, surely if this was the right thing to do, she shouldn't feel this bad. Why did she feel so….so devastated? Grace saw, out of the corner of her eye, Fred moving in her direction and she got up without looking at him and all but ran to the girl's dormitories.

Please review and let me know what you think!