Disclaimer: All characters belong to J.K. Rowling, except Graces Malfoy & Thomas Higgs, who are my own. I do not claim any ownership of the characters or settings contained within. This story is for entertainment only and is not part of the official story line.
Author's notes: As always thank you to my betas ArthurDent2 and Denarii! Both of which got this chapter our super fast! Thus the slightly early post.
Special thanks to Phoenix, Snakespur, noone297, and Olli for their reviews!
***IMPORTANT NOTE*** If you have not read Shakespeare you may be slightly lost at the beginning of this chapter. So, biting your thumb at someone is an insult; the equivalent of the middle finger. In Romeo and Juliet scene one Sampson bit his thumb at Abraham to start trouble in the streets.
Chapter 15
Neville watched as Graces emerged into the hall with Higgs. She had just said something to the boy and was now smiling in amusement as the overly confident looking Slytherin just gave her a small grin that made Neville's blood boil. The boy caught Neville staring and gave him a pretentious look before turning his nose up at him. Graces frowned at the Higg's sudden change in demeanor and looked over at Neville before doing the same as she passed by.
Neville didn't know what possessed him, maybe he just wanted to make Graces admit that she had indeed lied to him, rile her up, or maybe he just wanted to illicit some emotion from her, but before he really thought too much about it he bit his thumb over at the girl. Next thing he knew he was being pinned against the wall. Graces' arm was across his neck and her bag was discarded.
"How dare you bite your thumb at me! You—"
"Dissembling folly-fallen fustilarian," Neville choked out before bringing up his arms and moving the irate blonde off him. He massaged his adam's apple and looked up to see Graces' face completely devoid of color, her hand raised almost to her mouth. "Don't read Shakespeare, huh?" he asked. His voice still strained from the pressure previously put on it, but staring angrily at the girl before him.
"Miss Malfoy!" Professor McGonagall shrieked, making her way through the crowd of gawkers. "What in Merlin's name do you think you are doing?"
Graces looked around, realising all the people that had witnessed her outburst. Neville watched as she swallowed some sort of raw emotion before looking up at the deputy headmistress.
"You're supposed to be a prefect!" the stern woman continued, "An example for everyone, and here you are participating in muggle dueling in the halls!" The blonde winced at the comparison to muggles. "You could lose your position over this, you foolish girl, and—"
"I provoked her," Neville confessed loudly, causing the stern woman to stop her rant and gape at him.
"You, Longbottom?" Neville nodded solemnly and shot an apologetic look at Graces who was so angry she was looking dead ahead at nothing her lips pursed. "What did you do?" she continued, her voice edging on surprise and irritation as if she didn't completely believe him, causing Neville flushed bright red from shame. Neville's head of house pursed her lips, and leaned down to his ear. "Neville," she whispered softly, "you weren't… vulgar to her were you?"
"No, no of course not," Neville stammered, even more embarrassed that his head of house had to ask.
"Then what, pray, did you do?" McGonagall berated, irritated now. Neville winced as her voice became shrill, a sign that she was very close to losing her cool temperament.
"I, uh.. I," Neville paused, as the hall became eerily silent. He looked around still able to see people talking and whispering to one another, but he didn't hear them at all. It was as if a bubble had been put up around him, Graces, the Professor and the other Slytherin.
"Thank you, Thomas," Graces said quietly, looking over at the boy as he stood tall against the wall, a hard look plastered on his face. He nodded his head slightly in acknowledgement, before continuing to stare over at Neville hostilly.
"Mr. Higgs, I believe you have class. You may leave," McGonagall stated briskly. However, Higgs did not move, he stood like a statue against the wall, only giving her a sideways glance acknowledging that he heard her. Professor McGonagall's eyes widened at the insolence, and her lips tightened so hard they were almost white. "Mr. Higgs, if you do not leave this moment I will deduct points from your house for insubordination. Is that what you want?" Higgs looked over at her coolly for a moment before shifting his feet slightly and leaning on the wall to make himself more comfortable.
Neville caught a glint of a familiar spark in the professor's eyes, a spark that all the students in Gryffindor knew well. It was easy to forget that the aged woman standing before them was the same woman that many of the Death Eaters in the first war feared, but every once in a while when she caught the boys playing around with jinxes that could potentially be dangerous, or caught students out past curfew heading towards the forbidden forest, they caught a glimpse of the fierce woman that had fought so many battles and killed so many dangerous wizards. And right now, she looked as though she could kill Higgs. Her face turned red and her eyes narrowed. "Fifty points from Slytherin." The boy still did not move, the professor looked as though she were going to continue, but Graces spoke up first.
"I'll keep the silencing charm up, Thomas," Graces said, looking over at the boy and giving him an impish smile, "It's okay." Thomas didn't seem to want to go, but Graces gave him an encouraging nod. "Really, I'm alright." Thomas nodded his head to Graces and sent a scowl over at Neville. Professor McGonagall informed him that she would be speaking with his head of house before he departed.
Neville sighed and watched the boy disappear, noting that he ensured with a glare that everyone else did the same. Lavender and Parvati looked as though leaving was the last thing they were going to do, but both girls jumped and pressed their hands to their lips as though something had snapped inside their mouth. They turned reproachfully to the side to see that Thomas was looking at them pointedly and with one last howl from each girl, he sent another non-verbal hex. The girls bustled away, not willing to be stung any longer.
The head of Gryffindor looked as though she wanted to say something about his hex, but she realized she couldn't when it was done non-verbally. She then, with a huff, turned and glared at Neville obviously wanting an answer to her previous question. "I bit my thumb at her. It's a muggle gesture," Neville elaborated, when the professor just stared at him.
"I am well aware of the meaning, Longbottom. I am just surprised that you know it." She then turned to Graces. "Or that you knew it Miss Malfoy." Graces just stared coldly at Neville, a look of deep betrayal etched in her face; she wasn't even acknowledging her superior. "Do you read Shakespeare, Miss Malfoy?" McGonagall asked gently, and Neville thought he heard a hint of hope etched in her words.
The question seemed to have woken Graces up to the situation, because she was then staring up at the light witch with a scared look in her eyes. "No, of course not," she murmured, obviously trying to seem convincing.
"Liar," Neville muttered under his breath, causing both women to look over at him.
"I'm not lying!" Graces shrieked, sending a dark look over to the boy beside her, before looking up at her professor again. "It was obvious that what he did was some sort of insult so I reacted."
"You ARE lying," Neville declared venomously. "Luna and I heard you speaking the quotes the other day. Luna said you must read a lot of his work, because those were all from different books."
Graces' face drained of all color, and she looked as though she would vomit. She raised one of her hands to tuck a piece of hair behind her ear, and Neville noticed it was trembling slightly. Graces soon realized this as well and immediately dropped her hand down. She then looked up at her Transfiguration professor, "Please, please don't tell anyone. Please, you can take my badge, take house points, give me detention, expel me, but please don't tell anyone." Graces' voice was so heavy and thick it cracked almost on every other word.
"I won't tell a soul, Miss Malfoy." The older woman vowed, looking pityingly on the girl before her, wanting to tell her that she understood and knew what it was like to have to hide a part of yourself from the world you reside in, but knowing the young Slytherin would just turn away from such comfort. "I have to punish you for your actions towards Mr. Longbottom though, so you will both be serving detention with me tonight, but I won't tell anyone your secret." Graces closed her eyes in relief and swallowed down a sob. "You may go, Miss Malfoy, but I expect to see you after dinner."
Graces nodded and didn't even glance at Neville before she left. He stood there watching her and felt a deep sinking in his stomach. He didn't understand why Graces had reacted like this, but he had a feeling he made a grave mistake. One that could seriously cost him his chances with her.
"Follow me, Longbottom." Professor McGonagall ordered dangerously, walking towards her office. Neville followed, the sinking feeling becoming worse as he realized his head of house seemed too mad to even glance at him. As soon as they entered the room she turned on him. "Tell me, Neville, do you hate the Malfoys so much that you would ruin that girl's whole life?"
"Wh-what? I… I don't... what?" The sandy-haired boy did not even know what to make of that statement.
"I understand that they and their family has put you through a lot, but to try and ruin that girl's life over it is—"
"I am not trying to ruin Graces' life!" Neville interrupted making his head of house fall silent. "I would never hurt Graces, at least not on purpose! I have no idea what you are talking about."
Professor McGonagall surveyed the boy in front of her. "Then tell me, Neville, why you would do something as damaging to her as this if you didn't want her life in shambles."
"SO she reads a muggle book and I wanted her to admit it!" Neville cried in frustration. "How does that equate to wanting to ruin her life? She just was giving me a hard time yesterday for reading it and I wanted her to admit that she did too. I don't want her life destroyed, how could you even think that?"
Minerva sighed and slumped into her chair, raising her hand to her head as though she were soothing a headache. After a moment she sat up and indicated for Neville to take a seat in the chair across from her.
"You're a pureblood, right Neville?" Neville nodded. "Surely you know how other pureblood families work."
Neville flushed for a moment, "Gran and I don't really socialize with purebloods, most of them are dark and Gran doesn't want anything to do with dark witches or wizards. She knows the Weasleys and a few other light pureblooded families, but no I don't know all the social feelings of the pureblood community because I was raised to believe blood didn't matter. Culture matters to gran and I know courtesies and traditions, but nothing else really."
The professor stood up and began speaking as though she were in a classroom. "In the strict pureblood society Miss Malfoy lives in, the news of her reading anything from muggle culture and enjoying it would ruin her. No suitable man or woman would marry her. It would be considered a great scandal. Her peers would abandon her, her inheritance would possibly be stripped, and she would be cast out from all of the pureblood high society functions. That is all the best outcome if her family doesn't disown her. She will be viewed as the Weasleys and you are viewed, as blood traitors and muggle sympathizers. That may not seem like a big deal to you, who has family and friends that all support the same things and live in a house that celebrates such titles, but for her it would be awful. Imagine for a moment her own brother treating her the way that he treats Mr. Weasley."
Neville felt as though he was going to be sick. "Oh Gods, what have I done," he moaned, cradling his head in his hands. "I didn't know, I thought maybe people would be mad, but never… she's going to hate me."
McGonagall frowned at the statement. She knew the Malfoys. She was aware of their belief system and even how they raised their children. Graces should have hated Neville on principle alone before the ministry ordeal, which she suspected was just the icing on the cauldron cake. "You don't think that she hated you already? You did aid in getting her father sent to Azkaban."
Neville stilled, realizing that once again he was giving away too much. He looked up into his professor's suspicious face, and said the only thing he could think of. "She dislikes me greatly, but she doesn't hate me. The Malfoys hate Harry, Ron, and Hermione. They just think of me as an annoying dog they enjoy kicking once in awhile, but now…"
Neville was relieved to see that she bought his lie, and stood silent the rest of the time while she lectured him about his "appalling/negligent" behavior. He hadn't heard a word, though. The entire time he was just thinking of what he would say to Graces when they met again tonight for detention.
Don't forget to review/follow! Next chapter is Higgs! In case you all didn't know Higgs is my own character too. He is the younger cousin of Terence Higgs; he was briefly mentioned in the first book as the Slytherin seeker. This is important later.