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: A very special thanks to my beta Denarii for editing this chapter! My other beta is currently working on 18, so I am hoping to give you that one as soon as tomorrow possibly!

Special thanks to: Snakespur, spannieren, noone297, Chrissy, and TrueColorsNeverFade for their reviews! I'm so glad you all seemed to like Higgs, because we will see a lot more of him ;)

~Timeline! ~

1st week of September

Chapter one- When Neville was just curious about Graces.

3rd week of September

Chapter two, three, and four.

Chapter three was Neville and Graces encounter in the Greenhouse.

4th week of September

Chapter five, six, seven, and eight.

5th week of September

Chapter nine and ten and eleven 12 13

1st week of October

Chapter 14, 15,16, and 17.

PLEASE REMEMBER 14, 15, 16, and 17 are all in the same day!

Also….don't hate me after this chapter…

Chapter 17

Graces listened to the irritating Gryffindor professor prattle on and on about why her and Longbottom's behavior was unacceptable.

"You two will think about your behavior tonight as you transfigure these mice back into buttons, and stop rolling your eyes, Miss Malfoy. You should count yourself lucky that I did not involve your head of house." Graces briefly looked up at the tight-lipped woman for a moment before continuing to stare blankly forward. Professor McGonagall sighed, clearly exasperated, and headed towards the door. "I shall be back to check on the progress you two make for tonight."

"For tonight?" Graces questioned, turning around, now all of the sudden attentive.

"Yes, Miss Malfoy, for tonight," Professor McGonagall snapped as she strolled out of the room. "If not enough mice are transfigured I will be having you and Mr. Longbottom return until I appreciate the result. And I expect there to be no fighting while I am gone," she added before yanking the door shut as she departed.

With a low growl, the Slytherin girl whipped her wand out, and began to transfigure what looked like a button with three small paws and a tale. She had just accomplished getting the paws to disappear, and was furrowing her brow in concentration. She was trying violently to make the tail disappear as well, when she heard the very person she wanted to ignore.

"I'm sorry," Neville said quietly, his voice swimming with regret. "I... I didn't know."

The blonde just stood still for a moment letting the words wash over her. He was sorry? He didn't know? Well, that didn't change much of anything did it? He almost ruined her life. He walked away from her when she was trying to talk to him, and then ignored her in class. He gave her, Graces Bellatrix Malfoy, the silent treatment. And no, it wasn't the same when she did it to him. It was different. Very different. AND, to top all that off, he knew about her interests and he used them against her. It was something she would have never suspected from him. From other people yes, but not from him. That was probably what had angered her the most.

Angered? Or hurt?

She continued to work on the damn tail until it was finally gone. Then she moved onto a fully formed mouse, ignoring that Neville moved to stand beside her. "Graces, please. I am so sorry. I was just angry with you. You're not the easiest person, surely you realize that. It wasn't about Parkinson, or anything like that. I hated that you looked in my eyes and lied to me. After everything that happened between us you still couldn't even be open with me when we were alone." Graces continued to ignore Neville, picking up her finished button and dropping it in the box on the other side of him as though he were not there.

Neville sighed heavily. "I read the book because I thought you would have read it, and I wanted something to talk to you about that interested you," he confessed quietly, feeling defeated.

Graces stilled. He read the book for her? Nott would have never done that, even if it wasn't a muggle book. She couldn't even get her to take her to a concert if he didn't listen to the artist. Often times he would buy her a ticket, and then buy a spare one for Pansy or Draco, but he never actively tried to join her interests. Neville had read a whole book; a book she was sure he had to get help understanding. She felt her heart give an excited jump, and then she felt a whole new rage set on herself.

"Why on earth would you read that book for me!" She shrieked, no longer ignoring the boy beside her. Neville started a bit, and then frowned as though that was an insane question.

"You like it. I thought you would enjoy having someone to talk to about them."

Graces wanted to scream at how casually Neville said it all. Like taking interests in muggle books for a girl you're sleeping with was the most obvious thing in the world to do.

The blonde emitted a sound that was between a growl and a scream. "You're not supposed to do that kind of stuff for me! This is just about shagging. You don't have to do anything except fuck me! No talking. No reading books I may like. No trying to understand me. Nothing at all like that! All you have to do is make sure I'm satisfied in bed. Thats it! Why can't you just do that, and that alone?!"

Neville closed his eyes for a moment and prayed to any deity that was listening for patience. "Not to sound rude or vulgar, but," Graces just stared at the boy before her. She watched as his cheeks began to grow more scarlet and she could tell that what he was going to say next was quite a bit more embarrassing for Neville to say. "I want something more than just a way to get off. I can do that fine on my own. I'm sure you and your wand can take care of that as well… My point is I'm not saying let's be Romeo and Juliet and be absurdly in love or anything. I'm just asking to be—"

"Romeo and Juliet were not in love," Graces scoffed, rolling her eyes in disgust. Neville frowned unsure of what to say.

"Ummm... I don't think we read the same book."

"Didn't we?" Graces asked coldly, moving so that she was nose to nose with Neville. "A 17 year-old boy goes to a party because he fancies a girl named Rosalyn, and is hoping to get into her knickers before she becomes a nun. Instead, at the party, he gets distracted when he spots a thirteen year old girl who he finds to be more attractive. And then -BOOM- he decides that he is in love with this new girl. This new girl, Juliet, is promised to a man that she doesn't want to marry and, as I would imagine any thirteen year old girl to be, flattered by the attractive man that is now trying to win her affections. So, without even a decent conversation, Juliet decides she is in love as well. I think she was more in love with the thought of having a choice in the matter of who she would be spreading her legs for. Romeo and Juliet then in their infinite rationality decide to get married just a few days later! So then they are married, finally able to shag, when they get separated. Both adolescents proceed to have mental breakdowns and die. Not giving a single fuck about their family. Never once thinking of the pain they were causing. They didn't die for love, they died for lust." Graces spat the last words with so much conviction that she surprised herself. She paused for a moment in thought before looking up at Neville who was watching her with hesitation. "And I'm smarter than Juliet," she whispered turning away from Neville, and walking over to the box of half transfigured buttons. "I know better than to throw away my whole life for a good romp. Whatever is going on between us has to stop."

"What?" Neville whispered. "You can't be serious."

"You and I obviously want different things out of this, and—"

"That's a load of rubbish," Neville snapped, "Don't you dare put this all on me. If you just wanted sex you would go to some bloke that your parents and brother would approve of. You could just screw Zabini if thats all you wanted. At least be honest with me now."

Graces took a few steadying breaths, "It doesn't matter the reasons why now." Graces said quietly. "I can't allow myself to trust you." Neville opened his mouth to argue. "It doesn't matter what you say, Longbottom, I can't trust you. I already am uneasy around you because you have so much over me. The dagger, the night terrors, the books and music I like." Graces waved her hand around idly instead of saying the rest. She looked miserable as though the world was beginning to weigh down on her. "Today frightened me. Today could have hurt Draco."

Neville made to take Graces hand, but she moved away. The Gryffindor sighed. "Graces, look at me." Neville took a breath. "Today I royally fucked up, and I know it. I swear it will not happen again. Please, I just want us to at least be friends. The times when you have your guard down and we are together are amazing. Even you can't deny we have fun. This will not happen again, I understand how secretive we have to be now."

"It doesn't matter," Graces sniffed, shaking her head. "I just want to have an escape from my hell. I want to get a good nights rest without needing a damn potion. I can't have either of those though now, because you want me to open up. You want us to talk, be friends, and I can't do that with you. I can't let myself trust you. Its too much for you to ask me. What if I do what you want, and we continue, and then it ends badly? You could tell everyone in this school things about me Pansy and my brother don't even know."

"I would never—"

"I would!" Graces declared.

"I'm not you," Neville stressed, trying hard to convey to the girl in front of him that this was not an issue.

"I just can't take that chance, Longbottom. The person to be hurt more out of any sort of relationship with you is Draco, and I won't allow that. I'm sorry, but this has to end."

"Do you want this to end?" Neville asked, trying to ignore the dread he was feeling welling up in his chest.

Graces closed her eyes for a moment before she turned and started working on another mouse. "It doesn't matter what I want," She breathed, so quietly Neville had to strain to hear her. "This has to end."

Graces prayed that Neville would just let this go. That he wouldn't pester her any longer about the subject. But, when he actually turned away and began working, she just got a horrible knot in her throat, a knot that hurt whenever she swallowed, and a terrible feeling was growing through her chest.

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Neville clambered up to the Gryffindor boys' dormitory exhausted, but not from the work he had been doing, he was just mentally run down. Part of him missed his simple life, the one where he kept to himself and didn't go chasing after girls like Graces Malfoy. And yet another part of him felt more alive and happy than he had ever been ever before in his life. It was an odd feeling. He wasn't one for excitement really. He didn't enjoy mystery or crazy adventures, but he did enjoy Graces. Even on her bad days he enjoyed fighting with her, because he still had this feeling she was something worth fighting for. Now, all he needed was a way to show her that he wasn't going to expose her if she gave him the privilege of knowing her.

He entered his room to see that the rest of his dormmates were all still up playing exploding snaps and wizard's chess on the floor of the room, their beds surrounding them.

"Hey!" Ron exclaimed excitedly, abandoning his chess match with Harry. "I heard you and Malfoy had a row today in the hall!"

Harry, Dean, and Seamus all turned their heads towards him. It suddenly occurred to Neville that they may have all been waiting for him to come in for the night to ask about this. He felt his heart race at the attention, and nervously ran his hand through his hair.

"Oh, that."

"Yes, that!" Dean laughed. "Well come on, Nev, don't keep us waiting. What happened?"

"I was rude, and she shoved me," Neville dismissed with a shrug of his shoulders.

"You were rude?" Seamus asked skeptically.

Neville just nodded and began getting ready for bed, his mind still thinking of what to do to get Graces to try again.

"You're never rude," Harry pointed out, his voice an octave higher in surprise.

"Well," Neville began slowly, "today I was rude."

"What did you do? What does Neville Longbottom do to be rude?" Ron asked, making a joke of the situation.

"I am capable of being rude," Neville sighed, very much regretting his actions. While at the same time realizing how little his friends knew of him.

"I've never seen you be rude," Ron stated stubbornly.

"Today, I was rude." Neville maintained, pulling his nightshirt over his head, trying to prevent himself from letting out a frustrated growl.

"Were you staring?" Seamus asked, packing up the playing cards.

"Staring?" Neville repeated confused.

Seamus reddened a bit. "Uh, you know.. Ogling her or whatnot. She once hexed me when she caught me looking. It was at the Yule Ball, and she was wearing that black dress. The one that had a slit up the side showing her leg."

"Why were you looking at Malfoy?" Ron cringed, wrinkling his nose in disgust.

"Are you blind?" Dean exclaimed, looking at Ron with great surprise. "She's bloody gorgeous. How can you not look at her?"

"Because she's an evil, wicked witch," Ron muttered venomously, looking at all his friends as though they had all betrayed him.

"I wouldn't mind her doing some wicked things to me, mate," Seamus smiled, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively and making Neville's blood boil. "I mean, I'm not saying that I want to spend a moment talking to the girl. She's vile when she opens her mouth, but I could think of other things to do that would put that mouth to good use for a change."

"Will you shut up!" Neville snapped, causing all three other boys to look over at him. "You think she's vile when she opens her mouth? You should hear yourself."

"Woah," Dean said, putting his hands up defensively. "Someone is a bit touchy when it comes to Malfoy. Fancy her or something, Nev?"

"No way," Harry exclaimed. "Neville isn't into Malfoy, he has a thing for Abbott."

"Yeah," Ron agreed. "They went on a date the other week. How is that going, Nev?"

Neville flushed, and moved nervously from foot to foot. "Uh.. well, it isn't."

"What?" Dean asked looking sympathetically up at his friend. "Did she break it off?"

"Uh… well no, but I well.. I want to. I didn't think I had to though, because it was just one date, but people seem to think we're an item so I'm going to have a talk with her."

"You better hurry on that, mate," Ron said slowly. "I mean, girls can get really upset over things like that."

"I know," Neville groaned. "It was only one date though, and it didn't even go that well."

"I heard you kissed," Harry said frowning.

"Hermione really needs to learn to keep her mouth shut," Neville muttered darkly, looking up at the ceiling. "She kissed me and I didn't want to... well, offend."

"I'm glad I'm not you," Seamus laughed, getting up and heading over to his bed.

"Says the boy that is currently snogging no one," Neville chided with a wicked smile.

"Hey! Totally uncalled for, mate!"

"He's right," said Ron smiling widely. "At least Neville here is snogging someone."

"I'm not snogging anyone," Harry broke in, offended.

"Yeah, but you kissed Cho last year.. AND.. you're the chosen one. You could snog all the girls in the school if you chose to." Harry thought for a moment before nodding his head and smiling. "See, so Seamus here is the only one that is currently not snogging anyone," Ron stated matter of factly.

Dean laughed exuberantly over this until Seamus glowered at him. "Well, at least I'm not currently snogging my roomies baby sister."

"OI OI OI!" Ron bellowed, covering his ears and shaking his head as though he could shake what he heard out of his head. "I don't want to hear that!"

"Despite what you want, it's happening," Neville reminded, enjoying the sight of his friend turning a sickly shade of green.

"Didn't you kiss Ginny 4th year?" Harry called over to Neville, a not so innocent smirk on his face.

The sandy haired boy sent Harry the darkest glare he could muster, until Ron eventually caught on.

"You kissed my sister too!"

Neville pinked and looked up at the ceiling."Umm…" He ducked as a pillow came shooting towards him.

"OI! I only kissed her once, and it was totally innocent! Dean over there is the one snogging her senseless any chance he gets!" Dean sent Neville a look before Ron sent over another pillow to hit him.

"You suck, Nev," Dean pouted, pulling feathers out of his hair.

"Yes, well I'm not sucking Ginny Weasley's face and sleeping next to her brother," Neville teased smiling. "I would sleep with one eye open, mate."

Dean shrugged his shoulders as though to say 'it was worth it' and quickly closed his curtains before Ron could throw something harder than a pillow at him.

"No one else in this room better kiss my sister," Ron proclaimed. "And, Nev, you're a great friend, but you better never be trying to kiss my sister again."

"I prefer blondes anyways," Neville smiled, turning towards his own bed.

"Hannah's blonde," Harry commented.

Neville rolled his eyes. "Yes, well I like other things as well. Blonde isn't the only thing I care about."

"Yeah, or he really might be into Malfoy," Seamus added. "She's as blonde as they get."

"Luna is blonde," Ron piped in.

"She's," Neville paused, "like a sister."

"She's not your sister though," Dean said frowning, while emerging a tentative head from his curtains.

Ron nodded in agreement.

"I know what he means," Harry murmured thinking of Hermione. "Wouldn't feel right and all. Right, Nev? You think of her as your sister, therefore she is."

"Yeah, exactly."

"Yeah, that's how I feel about Hermione," Harry related, heading to his own bed.

"You think of Hermione as your sister?" Ron asked frowning.

"Don't you?"

Ron pinked a bit. "Uh… no. Definitely not."

"You look at Hermione?" Dean questioned, his eyebrows raised.

Ron reddened so much he was almost purple. "What! No, of course not! I mean.. I'm with Lavender… and, well it's Hermione and no. Of course not."

"Methinks thou dost protest too much," Dean quoted with a wide grin.

"Careful, Dean," Ron warned, narrowing his eyes. "I still haven't forgiven you yet."

Dean's eyes widened and he disappeared once again behind his curtains. Everyone in the room laughed for a good five minutes before deciding to call it a night.

Neville couldn't help but smile a little as he made his way over to his own bed. He entertained himself for a bit imagining how Seamus would react if he knew what he had done multiple times with Graces.

He spent the rest of the night lying in bed until a solution to his problem finally came. Neville laid in the dark for a few minutes thinking over his idea. It could very well still not work. He thought, turning over his plan in his mind. Well it's still worth a shot, I suppose. Its not like she can do anything with it if there is no cause.

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Chapter 18 is going to be up really soon, I promise! Please don't forget to follow/review!