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: Big thank you to my beta Denarii for editing the chapter!

Special thanks to bageltiger, Bharm, noone297, Blue Luver5000, spannieren, Lizzy B, bekkivobekki, Manoirmalfoys, blahicantthinkofaname, fairydaisy777, and Phoenix for their reviews!

I'm glad to see everyone is so happy about them being back together ;)

Chapter 38

Thomas kept glancing over at Graces as she ate breakfast with her brother. He wanted to talk to her about the whole potion incident, but he still didn't know how. He was so deeply ashamed. Graces had always done what was best for him, and he had sworn his allegiance to her, and then at the first opportunity betrayed her. That wasn't the kind of man he wanted to be. It wasn't the kind of action that made him proud of himself. She and Draco had seemed to make up fine, but he still had yet to speak to her. There never seemed to be an opportunity to get her alone.

Or I'm just too much of a coward to try and get her alone.

"Thomas, we should go to the courtyard today," Wendelin mused. "We could have lunch over by those rose bushes and after wouldn't it be fun to go to the Quidditch pitch this evening after classes? You could take me up on your broom. What do you say?"

Thomas looked across the table at the dark haired girl and shook his head.

"Why?" Wendelin asked crossly, folding her arms in front of her.

Thomas sighed at the question. It wasn't like this was the place he could answer it; they weren't alone in the common room, they were in the Great Hall surrounded by people. He tried to convey that he was sorry to the girl across from him and reached to take her hand, but Wendelin took her hands off the table and placed them neatly in her lap, challenging him to speak.

She knows I can't, Thomas thought, humiliation gripping his stomach and making it turn. Why is she doing this?

"The thing about being challenged, Thomas, is you look weak if you succumb, "Graces whispered quietly in his ear. Her hands gently rested on his shoulders as her hair fell over him, hiding his face. "Don't you dare bow down."

No sooner had Graces came over than she had gone: kissing him quickly on the cheek, stealing his blueberry muffin from his plate (which he knew for a fact she didn't even like) and grabbing her bag to leave sending him a flirtatious wink as she skipped away.

"What was that about?" Wendelin huffed, watching Graces leave. "Thomas?"

Thomas sat looking coldly at the girl before him. Wendelin was a very pretty girl, and he would be lying if he said he no longer wanted to continue with her, but at the same time he wanted more respect out of this relationship. He was tired of being her pet dog that performed tricks on cue for her. He wasn't stupid, he knew he was no catch, not an heir and a stuttering mess. There were many more prestigious men for her to be interested in, but it wasn't worth being pathetic. Graces had reminded him to demand the respect he wanted, she had told him many times that if he wanted respect he, unlike many of the others that could hide behind their name, had to demand it.

So with that thought Thomas calmly took his napkin off his lap, placed it down on the table and stood to leave.

"Where do you think you are going?"

Thomas raised an eyebrow at the young girl fuming in her seat, and, with no other motion of acknowledgment, strutted out of the Great Hall no longer needing to finish his breakfast.

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"Why did you take the muffin?" Draco asked, perplexed, as he and his sister headed towards potions.

"To seem playful and casual," Graces shrugged, wrinkling her nose at the blueberry pastry. "I didn't want her to know what I was saying to him, and I also wanted her to think that he had other options. Plus it is a reminder to her that Thomas is in our favor." Draco nodded, and was slightly impressed at his sister's attention to detail. "I really do dislike blueberries," Graces sighed. "Do you want it?"

"No," Draco chuckled. "Too sweet for my taste. I, unlike you, don't welcome sugar so early in the morning."

"Whatever," Graces scoffed. "If it was a chocolate muffin you would have accepted it. Oh, perfect!" Graces exclaimed as they rounded the corner. "Loon—uh, Lovegood," she called out, catching the Ravenclaw girl before she entered her first class. "Catch!"

Luna caught the muffin and gave Graces a grateful smile, before being shoved through the door to her classroom.

"Did you just give Looney a muffin?" Draco asked, startled.

Graces frowned for a second.

"Oh my gods, I did," she breathed, astounded.

Draco was about to start questioning whether the potions were starting to get to his sister, or if she was dabbling in cheering potions, but before he could Neville Longbottom was walking up. Draco scowled at the boy's presence and wanted to punch that peculiar smile he seemed to have as he looked back at where Luna had disappeared and over to Graces.

"Playing nice, Malfoy?" he asked pleasantly, causing both the twins to grit their teeth.

"What do you want, Longbottom?" Draco snarled.

Neville pretended not to hear the distemper in Draco's voice, and just turned his attention to Graces.

"Are you busy tonight? If not would you be able to work with me?"

"She's busy," Draco deadpanned, not at all liking the way Neville had ignored him.

Neville bristled at Draco's words, but didn't concede.

"I wasn't speaking to you," Neville informed, a shade of red appearing around his neck. "I was speaking to your sister."

"I am aware," Draco drawled, pulling himself up to his full height and looming over the Gryffindor. "And I am speaking for her. She's busy," he repeated slowly. "Or are you too dense to understand that concept?"

"I believe your sister can speak for herself, Malfoy," Neville countered, still flushing from Draco's last comment.

Draco laughed at Neville's defiance, and placed a possessive arm around his sister's waist.

"Be my guest then, Longbottom. Ask her," Draco ordered, laughing.

Neville tightened his jaw and looked over at Graces patiently waiting for her to answer.

"If my brother says I'm busy, I'm busy," Graces muttered, looking away.

"And if he says you're free?" Neville asked, looking over at Draco for a moment.

"Then I'm free."

Draco grinned as Neville pursed his lips and then turned towards him again.

"Malfoy, please can you free her for the night. I really need her help with this essay."

"Hmmm… no," Draco clipped, taking Graces and ushering her in through the potions door.

"My gods, how much time does that nit wit need with you. He seems to always be needing your help. I don't believe I've ever met anyone as useless as Neville Longbottom."

"He's not dense," Graces said quietly, pulling out her cauldron. "He, well, he fancies me."

"He what?!" Draco exclaimed, dropping his books unceremoniously to the table. "You have got to be joking with me."

Graces shook her head. "No, he, uh, just likes me… I don't even think he needs me to tutor him, I think he just enjoys my company."

"Why in Merlin's name are you still tutoring him then?!"

"Well, you see, he does this thing with his tongue, and—"

"Oh gods, not this again, Graces," Draco groaned, clutching his stomach as though he were going to be sick. "It's not funny. It really isn't. All it does is put these vile images in my head that make me want to burn my eyes out."

"You asked," Graces teased, taking out her notes.

"In all seriousness, though," Draco continued, looking sideways at his sister. "How did you know he fancied you?"

"The mudblood told me," Graces laughed. "She literally told me to keep away from him."

"Did she now?"

Graces, hoping it would spark her brother to have a change of heart about her being busy, nodded and both twins turned around to scowl at Hermione who was talking to Neville.

"I changed my mind about you being busy tonight," Draco declared, watching Hermione darkly. "You're not busy. In fact, I think after class you should inform Longbottom that you are free… Maybe be a bit more… friendly when you do it too."

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"Hermione, I think you need to pinch me," Neville whispered sitting dazed. "Did Professor Snape just say that-that he will no longer be teaching potions after Christmas? Did I hear that right or is this a dream?"

Hermione laughed at Neville's reaction to Professor Snape's announcement.

"No, you heard him. He will be teaching Defense against the Dark Arts, but yeah, no more potions. I sort of saw this coming though, you see Dumbledore had been trying to convince Slughorn to take the job over the summer, I suppose he finally managed to do that."

"This is probably the second best day of my life," Neville grinned, moving to pack his things.

"Yeah, I bet… I guess that means you won't need Malfoy to tutor you."

"What do you mean?" Neville frowned. "I'm still not good at potions. Just because I don't have Snape to fear doesn't mean I don't want to continue doing well."

"Neville, you can't be serious. I mean—"

"Longbottom!" Hermione looked up as Graces practically skipped over to her's and Neville's desk.

"Remember how I was busy tonight and couldn't help you with your potions assignment?" Graces reminded excitedly, smiling from ear to ear as Neville nodded. "Well, I'm free now," Graces winked. "Aaannnd I was sort of hoping that if I helped you with your potions assignment, you would help me with my herbology?"

Hermione clenched her fists together as Graces coyly played with the ends of Neville's textbook waiting for an answer, looking up every once in awhile and batting her lashes.

"Uh, yeah, sure. That would be fine," Neville grinned, clearly getting drunk off Graces' flirtatious behavior. "What time were you thinking?"

"Well, I was thinking we could meet af—"

"Neville, did you still want to work on muggle studies together?" Hermione interrupted. "Because I'm free tonight as well, and it's the only night I'm free till the weekend. And we have that test coming up and I could help you with it."

"Oh, that's okay," Graces sighed sadly. "If you have plans, I suppose we could just meet tomorrow."

"No, no," Neville said quickly. "Tonight is fine. I can meet you anytime after dinner. Tonight's fine."

"Are you sure?" Graces asked slowly.

"Yeah, it's fine."

"Neville!"

"Hermione!" Neville echoed back sarcastically.

"Thanks, Longbottom," Graces smiled, reaching over and placing her hand on his. "I really appreciate this."

Hermione glared at the blonde as she moved around the desk and headed to meet her brother at the door.

"Oh, and Longbottom, I really need help with this herbology assignment… Would it be okay if I kept you a bit late?"

"How late?" Hermione snapped.

"Oh, really late," Graces purred, causing Draco to snort out a laugh.

Neville didn't seem to notice though he just grinned like a fool and said it would be fine.

"Great," Graces cheered. "I'll see you tonight."

Hermione could feel her blood boil as the blonde skipped off, giggling in her brother's ear as Pansy and Blaise chuckled behind them. Neville didn't deserve this. Her trying to help him appeared to have just made things worse. Graces seemed to now make it her goal to defy her.

This is my fault, I should never have told her, now Neville is going to be heartbroken.

"Neville," Hermione said quietly, guilt bubbling up in her voice, "I don't think you should meet Malfoy…"

"I know you don't," Neville shrugged, packing up his last remaining potion supplies.

"Neville, I-I have to tell you something," Hermione started nervously. "It's, well, it's about Graces. You see, I-I think she is toying with you. Making you believe she is interested when she's not to get back at me."

"And why would she do that?" Neville asked, staring intently at his friend.

"Well, I sort of told her you fancied her…"

"You did what?" Neville hissed. "When did you do that? Why did you do that? What did she say?"

"I-I... Neville, you were so upset that day in the owlery. You were crying, and I just thought if I made her aware of your feelings, she would be human for a change, and try to be cautious with your feelings. But Instead she is making this a game to hurt you and I tried to tell her to keep away from you, but—"

"You had no right to do any of that," Neville snarled, standing up from his seat and knocking the stool he was sitting on over. "None. If I want to keep away from Malfoy, I will, but it's my decision."

"Neville you are going to get hurt. I don't think you understand what kind of person she is. She's—"

"You don't even know her!" Neville snapped, moving towards the door. "No one does. I want to know her. That's my business, not yours."

Hermione jumped from her seat and ran after her friend, determined to make him see reason. "Look at how she acted with you today!" she screeched, as she entered the hall. "This is a game for her. You're the mouse and she is the cat. She's just toying with you for the time being, but she will get bored and then—"

"Hermione, I don't know how many times I have to tell you to mind your own business, but let me remind you again. My business is my own, I don't need, nor do I want your help. I'm not some poor sap that needs to be rescued! So stop treating me that way!"

"Neville, I—"

"Don't touch me!" Neville spat, moving his arm away as Hermione reached to touch him. "Just-just leave me alone," Neville choked, leaving to go to his next class.

"Well, that worked out better than I could have ever hoped," Draco smirked, watching the scene between Hermione and Neville unfold from a distance.

"Yeah," Graces breathed, watching Neville disappear from view into the next hall. "I better get to class, I'll see you at lunch."

"Yeah, hopefully we'll get another show then. I would love to see Granger try to talk to Longbottom again," Blaise commented gleefully.

"Maybe he'd finish her off?" Pansy snickered.

"Longbottom? Nah, doesn't have the stones that one."

Graces turned the corner and groaned at how far ahead Neville was from her. Not knowing what else to do, and not wanting to run after him, she decided to pull a Draco and hex his bag to rip apart.

Neville cursed as the contents of his bag fell all over the castle floor. Everyone scrambled around him to get to class while he was on hands and knees trying not to get his fingers stepped on as he reached for his inkwells, parchment, and quills. It was right as he was about to crawl over to the remnants of his older wand that he realized Graces was on the floor with him picking things up. Everyone was now gone from the corridor and in class, leaving just the two of them.

"Hi," she said shyly tucking a piece of hair behind her ear.

"Hi?" Neville repeated. "Hi? What happened to you being overtly flirtatious with me?" Neville asked angrily, causing Graces to blush and look down. "Right… so it really was a show."

"It was and wasn't," Graces murmured, standing up and handing Neville his old wand. "It was more a show for Draco, the other Slytherins and Granger, not for you."

"I looked like an idiot."

"Come on, Longbottom. You had to have known something was up. Besides, it's what got us our time together tonight. After I told Draco what Hermione told me he changed his mind about me being busy."

"Why did you tell him what Hermione told you?!"

Graces blushed and fiddled with the strap of her bag.

"He-he was saying you were dense and that's why you needed me to tutor you so badly…"

"That's nothing new," Neville growled, trying to organize his bag so everything wasn't a total mess in there after the spill.

"I just didn't want him thinking that. You're not dense. So I told him you had a crush on me, and that's why you were always wanting tutoring…"

Neville paused and thought about what Graces had just said.

"You didn't want him thinking I was dense? Why does that matter? He's always thought that. The whole bloody school thinks that."

"It just matters. I don't want Draco thinking that."

Suddenly it all clicked in his head why it mattered to Graces.

"Anyways, I need to get to class," Graces stated awkwardly. "I won't do that little display again… I didn't think it would cause you so much trouble… I honestly didn't know Granger would tell you about our little conversation. She's such an odd one. She goes behind your back and tells me your secrets and then rats herself out. Anyways," Graces started over, clearly remembering her main point. "I'll see you tonight."

"Right, okay." Graces was almost to the middle of the hall, before Neville called out to her to ask one last thing. "It's because you like me right? The whole not wanting Draco to think I'm daft thing. Right?"

"Shhhh," Graces shushed, looking around the corridor and turning bright red. "Are you mad? You can't just go shouting that kind of stuff." Neville rolled his eyes and waited for Graces to respond. "Ugh, yes it is. Isn't that what I just said?"

"Yeah, I guess you did. See you later, Malfoy," Neville called, smiling as Graces sent him a dirty glare before disappearing.

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Graces tried to ignore the way her heart flip-flopped in her chest at the sight of Neville waiting for her in the classroom. It wasn't as though he looked especially dashing. If anything his clothing choice was horrid. He was wearing a sweater that looked as though it was a hand-me-down from someone his gran's age and his jeans had definitely seen better days, but none of that seemed to matter as he looked up at her and smiled.

She hadn't realized how much she missed that smile that Neville wore when greeting her until it was gone. But now she watched transfixed as his smile grew like a sunrise at the sight of her, making her feel warm without any real heat.

"Good evening," Neville smiled, standing up from his seat to greet her with a soft kiss.

Graces had to hold herself back from leaning in slightly and kissing Neville again. It felt so amazing to be kissed like this, casual and sweet like waking up in a warm bed with fluffy pillows and soft down sheets and not having to get up. That's what Neville's kiss was like: warm, soft, familiar.

"I didn't realize we were kissing to greet one another now," Graces blushed, remembering herself and moving away to place her books onto a near by table.

"Do you not enjoy me kissing you?" Neville asked patiently.

"No, I-I enjoy it." Graces was sure that Neville could visibly see how red she was, and tried to stop fidgeting with her hair as he continued to stare down at her.

"You enjoy it, you just don't welcome it," Neville summarized, leaning on the desk. "That makes sense."

"No, I never said I didn't welcome it. I just feel like, well, like it's… I don't know. It's not necessary is it?"

"Necessary?" Neville repeated.

"Well, we don't need to kiss to greet one another," Graces pointed out lamely.

"Graces," Neville whispered, brushing her cheek lightly with the back of his hand causing her to hold her breath. "Don't do this."

"Do what?" Graces squeaked, knowing exactly what Neville was referring to, but unable to stop herself. "It's… it's just an odd thing to do. I mean we never did it before, and now all of the sudden you seem to want to kiss me when I walk in the door. I mean, why is that? It's not necessary. It's a bit much don't you think? Especially considering that—" Graces thanked the gods for the soft knock at the door that saved her from saying more stupid strings of words.

Neither student made any motion towards the door. Neville seemed to be trying to gain back some of his composure, and Graces stood timidly in front of him her right hand toying with her left ring finger. I think I've made him angry… definitely frustrated.

Well, you are being frustrating.

"I-I'll just go get that," Graces muttered quietly, after the second knock occurred.

It really isn't that big a deal. It's not like kissing him hello is going to magically change things between us, she thought as she opened the door.

"Thomas," Graces exclaimed startled. "What are you doing here?"

Thomas looked over at Neville before looking back at Graces who blushed at her momentary slip.

"Longbottom," Graces started, turning to face the Gryffindor. "Would you mind giving me and Thomas the room for a bit?" Graces could tell that Neville did indeed mind, and that turning him away when they were in the beginnings of a rough was probably not going to do anything positive for the situation at hand, but Neville didn't argue and began walking towards the door to leave them. "It shouldn't be long," Graces promised, receiving a brief nod before Neville shut the door.

I hope I won't be paying for this later, she thought, turning from the door to face Thomas. Who just continued slouching in the middle of the floor, making no motion to speak. He's still such a child.

"Is there something you wanted, Thomas?"

"I w-w-wanted t-t-to app-pologize," Thomas stuttered, looking down. "I sh-should n-never h-have d-d-druged y-you…"

"I see…" Graces had long ago forgiven Thomas of his trespasses against her. Draco had been the one at real fault, Thomas was just a pawn in his plan. Do you want him being a pawn? Better to teach him a lesson now.

"I j-j-just w-w-wanted t-to h-help y-y-ou," Thomas explained after a pregnant silence. "Y-you w-w-weren't ac-c-ct-ting l-like y-y-yourself."

"So you chose to help me act like myself by drugging me," Graces finished, raising an eyebrow. "Not a very good plan, Mr. Higgs."

"I d-d-didn't kn-know wh-what t-t-to d-do," Thomas choked.

"You are a child," Graces clipped coolly. "It is not your place to deal with these matters, and Draco should have never asked you to."

Graces felt a sting of guilt when Thomas hurriedly wiped his eyes from tears. He looked so small. He was everything she was saying, just a boy, and she was standing there chastising him for it. They were all supposed to be just children, and all of them were being forced to be more. Someone was supposed to be taking care of them, and no one was.

"Thomas, you are not anywhere close to being a man," Graces said gently, taking both his hands. "Don't look offended, it's just how it is. You're a young lamb that needs to be lead. Draco should have been a better leader. I'm not mad at you Thomas, I'm disappointed. I know one day you will be a good man, a strong man, but you need more confidence in yourself. A man that lacks confidence will easily fall behind others. I just want to teach you now how to be that man."

"What was your first instinct when you found out what Draco was doing?" Graces asked calmly, brushing off a stray tear from the younger boy's chin.

"I d-didn't ag-gree…"

"What prevented you from arguing?"

"I t-t-trusted D-draco…"

"Do not blindly trust anyone, Thomas. If you do not agree fight harder. Even the greatest of men make mistakes. Were you completely convinced it was best for me, even after discussing it with Draco?" Thomas slowly shook his head. "Then you should have continued to argue."

Thomas nodded and closed his hand around Graces' fingers. He had no idea how to atone for what happened. Graces had always done so much for him and he had let her down. He was a disappointment.

"Thomas," Graces whispered, moving up and comfortingly wrapping her arms around him. "You are not a disappointment. You just disappointed me this one time. I'm very proud of you. I just want you to continue to grow. And right now you need to grow in your confidence; in order for you to grow into a great man you need to start thinking of yourself in a higher regard. You are not a disappointment to me, nor are you to your family. And you certainly do not need to settle for a girl like Wendelin."

"Y-you're p-p-peeking in m-my h-head?" Thomas squeaked, mortified that Graces could see all that.

"I don't have to," Graces murmured. "It's obvious."

There was a long silence after that. Graces just held Thomas close and allowed him to have some comfort away from home. The Higgs were more touchy than other purebloods, and she wondered if he missed this the most about his family, having people that hugged and touched you all the time. She tried to be more affectionate towards him, but she was so busy lately it couldn't be enough. Maybe that's why he likes Arisanti so much…

"...I l-like W-wendy."

Graces hummed an irritated response, but knew it was no use. The heart wanted what it wanted, and Arisanti had placed her talons in Thomas'.

"Okay, my darling," Graces cooed, motherly kissing the top of his head. "If you want Arisanti, for the time being, I shall not object. However," the blonde began again darkly, "You better start demanding more respect out of that girl; she's treating you like a pet, not a boyfriend. If I ever see her disrespect you like that again, I will burn her heart out of her chest. And I know the spell to do it with."

Graces couldn't help but smile proudly as Thomas gave an audible gulp, nodded awkwardly and left the room. She seriously prayed that he would take all of her advice to heart.

"Are you done with Higgs?" Neville asked, walking back into the room, obviously a bit peeved.

Graces nodded, and before Neville could say another walked over and greeted him with a soft kiss.

"Can we start over?" she asked hopefully.

"Can you stop having intimacy issues?" Neville responded, kissing Graces back and lingering near her lips. "What's going on? You said you liked me romantically, and then you cower away when I—"

"When you act romantic," Graces finished, letting out a frustrated sigh.

"Heaven forbid the boy you're shagging makes some effort, huh?" Neville teased playfully, wrapping his arms around the girl in front of him to prevent her from moving away further.

"You know it's not like that?" Graces whispered. "I just am protecting myself."

"From big, bad Neville Longbottom?"

"From funny, kind Neville Longbottom," Graces murmured, laying her head down on his chest despite herself.

"Would you like me to be a bit more unpleasant?"

"That would be helpful," Graces agreed, smiling at Neville's humor.

"Okay… Well, I think that you are the most spoiled girl I have ever met."

Graces snorted a laugh and waited for Neville to continue.

"Also, I hate your owl."

"You do not!" Graces exclaimed, pulling away.

"I do, if it were up to me we would roast Loki for the Halloween feast, really crisp him too."

"You would never harm Loki," Graces laughed, not realizing that she was hugging Neville tighter.

"I would if I was being unpleasant," Neville argued, trying very hard to look serious, but failing miserably. "Telling you, Malfoy. Halloween, Loki is going to be served as your main dish."

"Okay, I changed my mind," Graces giggled. "Go back to being pleasant."

"Are you sure you can handle it?" Neville joked, moving away and going over to his desk.

"I can't handle the thought of you roasting my sweet, little Loki," Graces cooed, as though the evil bird was around. "So I suppose I must put up with your pleasantness."

"Good," Neville chuckled, digging something out of his bag. "Now that we are back to allowing me to be pleasant I have a surprise for you."

Graces furrowed her brow and then scowled as Neville took out an old radio.

"I just thought we could listen to music as we worked today."

"Oh, yeah, that would be nice," Graces nodded, passively.

"Yeah… I, uh, was thinking we could put it on that one muggle station…" Graces stilled and just stared at Neville dubiously. "I just thought that—"

"We should get to work," Graces interrupted, clearly wanting to just ignore what Neville just said. "I was thinking that we could work on the potions essay first, but I really do need help with herbology."

"Uh, yeah," Neville nodded, fiddling with the knobs of the radio, but not turning it on. "So, uh, what do you think about the music idea?"

"I don't care if you want to listen to music," Graces shrugged. "Just put up a silencing charm around the room at least."

"But… you want to listen to muggle music right?"

"I want to work on these essays. Come on, better get them out of the way now. I wrote my herbology one last week, but I really would like your input on the last page. I feel like it's lacking. I need Mr. Longbottom's expertise," Graces winked gesturing for Neville to join her.

Neville knew Graces was avoiding his attempt to share in something she liked, but he decided not to press the issue. He turned on the radio to the muggle station and began working on the papers like Graces wanted. They were actually having a good time, behaving almost normal together.

They worked on herbology first where Neville, despite himself, ended up going on for an hour about the possibilities of cross breeding certain plants. He imagined this wasn't the kind of topics that most girls would find interesting, and a few times he meant to end the discussion, but Graces just smiled and gestured for him to continue.

It was odd having someone hanging on his every word like this, and a few times it made him slightly uncomfortable, but Graces pretended not to notice his discomfort. She asked question after question, and eventually it evolved into her asking if crossbreeding magical plants would make potions for medicinal purposes easier to create.

"Is this the healer in you asking?" Neville teased.

"Yes, and the healer in me would greatly appreciate if the Professor in you would answer the question," Graces laughed, resting her head in her palm and waiting patiently.

"It could make medicinal potions easier to make," Neville acknowledged." The problem is making the plant have just as much potency as the originals on their own. Or you would be using more plants to get the same reaction from the potion."

"Would it be worth the cost to buy the crossbreeds then?"

"Awww, business Malfoy is out," Neville chuckled. "It would be worth it depending. If we could crossbreed some of the plants with other plants that tend to be more expensive because of the distance they have to be imported then yes, this would be completely worth it. It all just depends on what plants we are crossbreeding and how they are designed. There are some instances where it would be unnecessary though."

Graces hummed a reply and bit her lip as she thought something out.

"I wish I could see in that head of yours sometimes," Neville murmured after a while of staring at Graces.

"I don't," Graces laughed. "I quite like having my mind all to myself. I trained very hard to make sure no one could penetrate my thoughts."

"Did Snape train you?"

"No, why would you think that?" Graces frowned, as though that was just a preposterous question.

"He's your godfather, and he was helping Harry last year for a bit and—"

"He was helping Potter!" It was then that Neville realized that that was probably not something to tell Graces, and instead of answering outright, allowed his silence to answer for him. "Figures," Graces choked. "Fucking half-blood piece of dragon dung."

"I-I'm sure he cares about you," Neville offered lamely. "He-he was told to help Harry. He didn't even want to. He refused to help him too after a few tries."

"He doesn't care about me," Graces said softly. "I don't know what my father expected. A half-blood can't care and love for a magical child the way they should. They just don't have the capacity."

"Graces," Neville began cautiously. "Blood status has nothing to do with that. I know lots of people that are not purebloods that are amazingly kind and loving. Blood status has nothing to do with anything." Neville was about to continue and talk about how it was only used to divide their world, but stopped when he saw the way Graces was glaring at him.

"I hate when you say foolish things like that," Graces said darkly. "It's like you really don't realize or appreciate who we are."

"I appreciate our culture," Neville said patiently. "But I do not believe I'm better than anyone because my ancestors only slept with other witches and wizards."

"You are, though," Graces pressed, placing her hand on Neville's. "We were chosen. We can trace our family's lineage down from when the Gods gifted our family members with magic."

"Graces, that doesn't mean anything, it—"

"You think it was just random?" Graces asked in disbelief. "You think that we were chosen at random? We weren't. We were made different because we were better. We were meant to be better. We are better. Why would they make us different if we aren't different?"

"Graces, you don't know for sure that is how the gods felt," Neville countered, knowing he was on dangerous ground. "Some speculate that we were made different to work better with muggles. To protect them and—"

"And then they turned on us. We defeated dragons and battled with their kings and they tried to kill us. We had to go into hiding because of the genocide they were waging against us!"

"We had begun to try and take more power over them," Neville reminded, surprised at the harshness that was now in his voice.

"Because they were barbaric," Graces growled. "They wage war against one another and—"

"Then they are no more barbaric than we are."

"Our war is different."

"How?" Neville snorted. "How is it different? We're killing our own kind."

"Our war is about the preservation of our kind," Graces declared passionately.

"We preserve it by killing those that are a part of it. That is such an amazing plan," Neville scoffed.

"What do you know about being apart of it?" Graces queried darkly. "Your family abandoned it long ago."

"What are you talking about? My family still practices loads of traditions and—"

"No you don't. Your family adopted muggle traditions. Like Halloween. Your family hasn't come to a Samhain festival in forever."

"And your family has?"

"Of course, I go every year. All the Slytherins go every year. We all get mailed care packages with a portkey to the celebration."

"You're kidding," Neville deadpanned. "You actually go dance naked around a bonfire and slaughter animals in a field."

"You have no idea what has been denied to you," Graces said sadly. "Our holidays now have this stigma to them of being odd, because of muggleborns coming into our world and bringing in their puritanical beliefs."

"I think even by your definition dancing naked with hundreds of people around is not at all conservative. You blush when you wear revealing clothing, but you're telling me that you have no reservation being stark naked in front of all those men?"

"It's not like that," Graces dismissed. "It's completely different. It's spiritual."

Neville didn't seem to accept anything that Graces was saying. In fact he looked pretty bothered by Graces' holiday activities.

"You should come."

"What?"

"You should come," Graces repeated excitedly. "You should come to the festival. You're a pureblood, you would be completely welcome at the festival. Everyone puts all political feelings aside at them, it being a religious gathering and all, you could rediscover our culture and—"

"Graces," Neville interrupted softly. "I can't go to that festival. I'm my family's patriarch now, we decided long ago to not participate in those things, and I, well, I find it… odd."

"Please," Graces begged. "I-I'll do a disillusionment charm on you. No one will know you are there, you can portkey in with me and just watch it all from a distance. No one will know. And you can be with me," Graces added. "It's Thursday after the Halloween feast. Please, please. It would mean so much to me if you came."

Neville really wasn't sure if this was all a good idea, but he couldn't say no to Graces. Not when she seemed so excited about the possibility of him coming. And when she had invited him to something so dear to her. Praying that this wasn't going to turn into a mistake, he nodded.

"Really!" Graces squealed excitedly, lunging forward and hugging him.

"Yeah," Neville groaned, closing his arms around her as well. "But I am not, let me repeat, not getting naked, and you better make me invisible. I mean it, Graces, I do not want to be seen."

"Okay, okay, I promise," Graces swore, kissing him enthusiastically on the mouth, before spending the rest of the night telling him everything about what was going to happen Thursday.

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