Special thanks to: LegendsNeverDie0103, fishywishygirl, the bohemian flow, Naruhina1519, anand891996, The Darkest wizard, RIOSHO, random, RedKitsune2016, sam, Malfoy Mouth James- MMJ, Guest, Janeth16, and junk1ord for the reviews! And as always to Denarrii 3

LittlePurpleDress thank you so much for the playlist you made for me. I loved hearing what songs reminded you of Neville and Graces.

Chapter 107

Graces sat in the library near one of the windows in the back, hidden behind long columns of book shelves, and examined the doubt that was slowly spreading in her mind. She thought of Juliet and her Romeo and wondered if she had fallen so blindly into a relationship that she was destroying everything she cared about. She loved Neville, she was sure of it. Hadn't she examined herself again and again to make sure that what she was feeling was true? And yet, as she sat there, she hated herself for it. She had betrayed Draco. She was betraying Draco. Her mind swam with so much that she didn't even feel that her thoughts were staying on track. One moment she considered her feelings for Neville, the next her guilt for lying to Draco, then her hatred for what it was in her that was so broken she had caused all of this to begin.

She took a breath to regain herself and stared out the window of the castle. Thomas despised her for her actions. And she knew he didn't just disapprove because of Draco and that cut deep into her. He didn't like Neville for her; he thought him beneath her. She had known people would think such things, but to actually hear it pronounced... It had oddly caused a sharp feeling of shame, shame that made her feel even more sick. She realized in that moment that she did care what people thought and she cared that people thought Neville was beneath her. She didn't believe that to be so, but she didn't like that he was still perceived that way. It wasn't enough for her to know Neville was skilled. She wanted the world to know, so that no one would be in doubt of their relationship being equal.

Merlin, if that wasn't a Malfoy way of thinking. Neville wouldn't care what people thought of their relationship, and she was sure his family and friends would have much to say, all negative, about her. He would endure and not care to try to prove them wrong. She, on the other hand, would want to prove things. She would probably push Neville to show more of his better traits, insist he make some of his accomplishments more public, and she knew she already had plans for his wardrobe. She was shallow, she had none of the depth Neville did. And if she was this shallow could it be her feelings were shallow as well?

She was torn away from such thoughts as she felt something brush against her wrist. She looked up to see Neville passing by the desk she was at and slowly making his way to one a few desks opposite of her in the corner. Her heart swelled at the sight of him and the echo of his touch lingered on her wrist causing her heart to quicken. So absorbed was she in this moment that she almost didn't notice the chocolate frog placed beside her. She looked down at it and couldn't stop the smile that came to her.

She gently picked it up and looked over to Neville. He smiled from where he sat and then took out his book, still grinning. Graces shook her head. It was clear the other boy was happy with himself, thinking he had been pretty suave in his actions. She stared at him a bit longer than she should and enjoyed the way his cheeks were pinking as he tried to pretend that he wasn't noticing her stare. He finally twisted his lips in a mixture of embarrassment and frustration and looked up—the temptation too much to bear—and gave her a stop-staring-at-me glare that was more cute than it was intimidating.

She loved him. There was nothing shallow in this feeling she had for him. It was pure, she knew that, and seeing Neville reminded her of it. She mouthed a 'thank you' and tucked the chocolate into her satchel, not wanting Madam Prince to see it. She would have it when she left. For now she would study and enjoy Neville being so near. He had sat so that they were facing one another, she could almost pretend they were studying together and that this was a normal relationship.

She wasn't destroying anything. She and Neville had created something beautiful. They fell in love against all odds. If Draco didn't accept them then it was he who was wrong, not Neville and her. Yes, she had lied. That was wrong, but not loving Neville. She just had to tell Draco.

She really considered what it was she was going to say. She inwardly flinched at the thought of telling Draco that it was just physical at first. He definitely would not approve of that and may even think that Neville had taken advantage, or worse that he didn't have enough respect for her. At the same time she didn't know how to make the point that she fought her feelings well enough without telling him the whole truth. She considered telling him that they had grown close during Herbology and then closer when she started tutoring him, but then stopped herself. She couldn't lie. She needed to be open and honest with Draco. She just had to tell him, not try to paint her and Neville's relationship in a better light than what it was. It had indeed started off unconventional, but in the end they loved each other and their relationship now was great.

"Malfoy?" Graces' thoughts were torn away and she turned sharply to find Hannah Abbott standing next to her. Hannah looked down at her unsurely, her cheeks pinking slightly as Graces stared up at her. "I-I was hoping to have a word," Hannah murmured, shiftling slightly and looking away for a moment.

Graces blinked in surprise. She couldn't even fathom a reason why Hannah would need to have a word with her. The moment grew too long to be comfortable and Graces, realizing this, nodded and gestured to the seat across from her. As Hannah took the seat she spotted Neville staring wide-eyed at the whole scene unfolding. She was glad when Hannah blocked her view. The last thing that she wanted was to be exchanging glances with Neville at this moment.

The two girls sat for a moment, Hannah seemingly trying to find the words she had wanted to use and Graces still trying to make sense of what was happening.

"I'm sorry," Hannah began, her hushed voice sounding sincere. "About the other day with the notes."

"Oh!" Graces exclaimed quietly. It was impossible for her to hide how taken aback she was with Hannah's apology. "Erm, it's fine. Thank you," she added, unsure of what else she should say.

Hannah nodded, but didn't leave. She seemed to have something more she wanted to discuss. Graces waited patiently and did her best to appear inviting, even though she didn't smile. She fidgeted slightly with the ring Neville gave her and wondered if she should apologize too. She didn't particularly want to. Perhaps though she should, that way Hannah could leave and this could just be put to rest. A horrible idea came to mind for a moment that Hannah maybe would have questions regarding her behavior. Maybe she noticed that the attack on Hermione wasn't exactly something she did in a clear state of mind, or she had questions about how she became ill outside the greenhouse with Professor Sprout, or—

"My Great Aunt and Uncle really love Octavian. I mean it's all they have left of their daughter. I know that I was being petty the other day, but please don't punish them because of me."

Graces mouth came open slightly as all her breath was drawn out of her. She made a noise as if to begin and the sound died slightly past her lips. She regained herself shortly after and shook her head sympathetically. "That decision had absolutely nothing to do with you."

Hannah looked like she was about to burst into tears, she pressed her lips together tightly and Graces watched as she mustered all her strength to keep herself composed. "Come on, Malfoy. I think we both know it isn't a coincidence that after you and I have a row Octavian isn't allowed to visit anymore. My family all blames me. They think—"

"They are wrong," Graces stated firmly. "And I will write to them explaining so."

Hannah's mouth twisted with words she didn't dare say and she brushed away a few angry tears from her eyes. She was struggling to find words strong enough to make her point, but delicate enough to still keep this civil. Graces allowed her the time she needed and did her best to look less like her father and more as Neville would look in times like this.

"He's family. Why keep a child from their mother's family? If this was not to punish me then what other reason could you have?"

Graces took a breath and wished she had a better answer prepared for this. "Thomas made this decision. And he does not need to justify his decisions when it comes to Octavian. Those are private to him and I have the privilege of knowing his reasoning, but not of telling it to others. Know it has nothing at all to do with you."

Hannah shook her head. "You have no idea how much this is hurting my family, not just my Aunt and Uncle, but my father. Everyone is upset. They are all saying this is my fault and blaming him and my mother."

"You and your mother will always be blamed," Graces started with an air of matter of factness. "Your father's family, though they like to say are open-minded, are not that progressive. Everyone knows that no one wanted your father to marry your mother. It was a great scandal when he announced he was to marry a muggle. Sure, they said their main issue with the marriage was that your mother was going into it blindly, feigned worry over how she would react to find on her wedding night she was married to a wizard. They tried everything to stop his decision. Everything but saying what the real problem was. That she was a muggle and she was muddying up the family blood." Graces lazily gestured to Hannah. "You and your mother are always going to be blamed, because they are always going to be oddly frustrated with your existence. It doesn't mean you are to blame."

Hannah glared at her from across the desk and Graces realized that she must have said something offensive to the girl before her, but she couldn't think as to what that was. She was just explaining truths that she had a feeling her father hid well away from her.

"It's only the truth," she said quietly. "I didn't mean to offend."

"Muddying up the family blood isn't offensive?" Hannah quipped. Graces sat unsurely. "You basically just danced around calling me a mudblood."

Graces considered the wording she had used and decided Hannah did in fact have a point. Though she hadn't meant to offend, she clearly had. "I'm sorry," she stated gently, careful to keep her eyes on Hannah and not look away in discomfort. "That was not my intention."

Hannah made some noise of distrust and stood up from the chair. She left too quickly for Graces to try and explain herself further, or reassure that she would in fact write to her family and say that she had no grudge with Hannah. She felt her throat tighten and looked up to find Neville had moved to sit where Hannah had.

"That's not wise," she whispered.

Neville shrugged. "Maybe Draco will catch us what better place for him to find us. I mean he can't exactly make a scene in the library."

Graces swallowed. "He wouldn't make a scene here," Graces sniffed. "He would leave. He would leave knowing I would follow and then in a place where he felt comfortable he would round on me with all of his fury."

Neville said nothing. He sat there silently, allowing her a moment. She could tell he wanted to reach out to comfort her, but he resisted.

"I doubted us today," she confessed. Neville's brows raised briefly, but he waited for her to say more. "Considered if I truly loved you or if I was like Juliet. A silly girl that just—" she didn't finish. "Some girls just want to fall in love and believe themselves to be."

Neville hummed a reply. "Some girls are like that."

Graces couldn't even bear to look up at Neville; she was so ashamed that the thought had even occurred to her.

"Graces," Neville said gently, his voice coaxing her to look at him. "Our relationship isn't normal for our age. It's too serious, it had to be. I'm not saying I don't want it to be serious, but we both were forced to grow up far too fast. Most people our age have never been through what we have and I think that if you grow up in one way it's impossible to not grow up in others. So when we came together we leaned on each other for things children don't need support for, because for most such problems are hidden to them."

Graces frowned, not understanding what Neville's point in this was.

"It's okay to have doubts," Neville clarified. "Something would be wrong if you didn't doubt."

"Do you have doubts?"

"No, but I'm far better than you," Neville grinned. "And I clearly love you more."

Graces laughed quietly at his words.

"I do think that comparing your love to how most teenage girls act at your age discounts not just all that we have gone through, but all you have," Neville said more seriously. "You are not one to give your affections freely, to love carelessly. Maybe you could have been if you kept your privileged life where no one could ever touch you, but—" Neville's voice wandered off.

"You're not cross that whenever I get scared I am quick to doubt us?"

"You're not quick to doubt us, you're quick to doubt yourself," Neville stated slowly, as though he thought the observation would offend her.

"Are you sure you want to be with someone who is so self doubting? Whose thoughts break often?"

Neville took a breath through his nose and relaxed a bit in the chair. "You're a stubborn thing. I'm willing to wager the thought came and then you adamantly fought it."

"I was in a spiral," Graces sniffed. "The only thing that stopped it was seeing you. Only then I could anchor myself."

Neville smiled and it was one of those smiles that had caught her attention in the beginning. It was warm and open, so Neville and nothing else. "I'll be sure to stick around then." They sat there for a moment and Graces debated telling Neville about all that had happened with Thomas. "Dinner started," Neville pointed out, disrupting her thoughts of Thomas and all he had said.

Graces reached over and looked at Neville's watch. Dinner had already begun and they were late meeting McGonagall. She cursed, but before she could stand to pack Neville pulled her over and kissed her soundly. Graces was flushed as he pulled away and she was glad to see that Neville, while not flushed, certainly looked a tad bit frustrated.

"We should go meet McGonagall."

Graces bit her lip. "You don't exactly look like you want to meet with your head of house tonight."

Neville's eyes narrowed. "Don't play with me, Malfoy."

Graces giggled and gathered her things. Neville went to take her satchel, but she reminded him of himself. She then suggested he go up ahead of her and she would meet him at McGonagall's. Neville nodded, though begrudgingly, and hurried on his way. By the time Graces arrived it was well past the time they should have met. She suspected the other woman would be cross, but McGonagall just waved her through the door and had her take her usual seat.

"How did things go with Mr. Higgs?"

"Well," Graces lied, looking up briefly at Neville. The other boy frowned slightly, but seemed to understand they had something to talk about in regards to Thomas.

The other woman hummed a reply and placed Graces plate before her. "He has agreed to it all then?"

"He has," Graces swore, looking down at the dinner that was prepared. She paused before taking a bite and quietly reached over and switched her's and Neville's plate. Neville scowled at the action, but didn't argue, while McGonagall just serenely watched her from where she sat. Graces waited for the other woman to argue, or say something in insistence she kept the plate given to her, but the Gryffindor said nothing. She took a bite from her own plate and seemed to be fine with the switch.

Graces eyed her warily.

"I am fine if you want to switch plates, Miss Malfoy, I just think it's a shame that Neville will regain some of the weight he's taken pains to lose this year."

Neville dropped the fork on the plate as though the piece of pie on his fork were poisoned.

"I knew it," Graces whispered, shaking her head.

"Knew what?" Neville demanded, looking between both women.

"McGonagall is trying to fatten me up, like in the muggle stories they tell to their kids. The witch takes the little boy and girl and fattens them up.

The older woman raised her brow. "You think I'm planning to eat you?"

"Wait, what? Why would you eat me?" Graces asked, appalled.

"That's the story," McGonagall said slowly. "She fattened up the children to eat them."

Graces jaw dropped. "They think we eat children!" She exclaimed scandalized.

Neville frowned. "No, they don't think that."

Professor McGonagall shook her head in bemusement. "They don't even think you exist," she reminded, fighting the urge to rub her temples. "And I am not fattening you up, Miss Malfoy, I am trying to get you to a normal body weight."

"You could have told me what you were doing," Graces said haughtily, begrudgingly taking the plate back as Neville pushed it towards her.

"In my experience with young women they don't typically like the idea of being, as you call it, 'fattened up'. And I wanted to save you from the uncomfortable discussion of your body weight."

"How do you feel regarding your weight?" McGonagall asked, taking a bite herself of the meal.

Graces looked up at the other woman and shrugged uncomfortably. She didn't really know how to answer that, or if she wanted to in front of Neville.

"Do you think you're too thin?" McGonagall prodded, wanting more of a discussion.

"Obviously," Graces snipped. "I just don't like that you're giving it to me without telling me."

"Fair enough," McGonagall conceded, continuing on with her meal. "Do you care to discuss with me why you don't eat?"

"I just feel sick," Graces answered.

"Sick how?" The other woman prodded.

Graces wasn't sure how to answer that. "I don't know. Not ill, just... unwell, pit in my stomach sort of thing," she murmured, taking a forced bite.

McGonagall nodded and then looked very solemn. "My former student that I told you about, the one that works with mental health in Germany wrote to me. She would like to speak with you. Both of you," she clarified. "She doesn't know who you are, I have kept that from her, but she is insistent that she cannot help unless she establishes you two as patients. And she has stressed that she feels this is a need not an option for both of you."

"Both of us?" Neville scowled.

"Yes, both," the older woman confirmed, looking at Neville with more knowledge than Graces felt she possessed. She considered for a moment and wondered when Neville had filled out that form. He apparently had and she bit her lip against the impulse to want to know when he had and also what he had said. "She said she could come down as soon as next week."

Graces shook her head. "I can't. I—" She stopped and tried to calm the panic welling in her. She couldn't talk to someone because then they would know about Draco, her family, the task, and Draco was still working for the Dark Lord. She has been operating under this belief that once she told Draco he wouldn't complete the task that they would somehow get out, but what if Draco refused? What if he disowned her, she just told all his secrets to McGonagall. She suddenly felt very lightheaded.

"Graces," Neville was now beside her and she was near tears. She looked up at him morosely and just shook her head.

"This is important," Neville murmured, bending down on a knee so she was forced to look at him.

"I know, but I can't. I-I can't until I talk with Draco," she pleaded, wiping her nose.

"Graces," McGonagall began patiently. "I don't think it's wise to wait. I'm concerned that you might have another episode and—"

"I won't," Graces swore, looking at Neville to believe her. "I won't."

"I agree with Graces," Neville stated firmly, his eyes not moving from hers. "It's too dangerous for her to speak with someone now. We need to wait."

He didn't agree. Graces stared into Neville's eyes and knew without a shadow of a doubt that he wanted her to speak with this woman as soon as possible. She could already tell he was wondering if this was a mistake, but he held firm.

"As soon as Draco knows we will see her," Neville said, giving Graces a long look that let her know this was a stipulation to their united front. "And we will both do whatever she feels is required."

"Neville, what if—"

"We will do what she thinks is best," Neville stressed, cutting Graces off and standing to reclaim his seat.

"There is no reason why you couldn't speak with her," McGonagall pointed out, looking at Neville.

Graces looked hesitantly at Neville, who seemed to bristle with just the idea. "I really don't think it's that needed. I'm fine and I would rather wait and do this with Graces."

"This isn't exactly a couples activity," the older woman pointed out.

"Maybe for us it is," Graces said nonchalantly. Ignoring the look Neville was giving her, as if he didn't have a dark sense of humor. Graces distinctly remembered his joke about his father's whiskey.

McGonagall shot her a look that let her know her humor wasn't appreciated by her as well and continued on.

"Neville, have you considered that getting help immediately could help you in being there for Graces?"

Neville balked at her idea. "I am not unwell."

Graces frowned herself at the other woman's words. "Neville is always there for me."

"I am not saying he hasn't been there for you, but... the toll it has taken. Don't you think that you need to tend to yourself as well?" She asked Neville. "You have carried so much this year, why not take some time to ensure that you can continue to do so?"

"Graces isn't a burden," Neville scowled.

"I'm not saying she is," McGonagall sighed. "But there were a lot of events that you two experienced this past year that weigh on a person."

"There was a lot that happened to Graces." Graces watched as Neville shook his head dismissing the notion that anything that had happened was traumatic. "Not me."

"Neville," Graces whispered, barely able to breathe as she stared over at his hazel eyes. "I think we know that's not true."

"Nothing happened to me," Neville scowled.

"But plenty happened to Graces," McGonagall pointed out quietly. "And you had to witness that, sometimes helplessly."

Graces watched as something closed off in Neville. Sometimes she felt like there was this door in his soul and when people got too close to him and all that he felt he would go inside of it and lock the rest of the world out. She felt like she was looking at Neville, but through castle doors.

"I am fine," Neville stated firmly.

"You can be fine and still want to see her," Graces pointed out quietly. "I mean, a lot did happen."

"A lot happened that I can't talk about until you've told Draco," Neville pointed out. "Unless you want some stranger to know about us, which I do not think wise."

Graces flinched slightly at the anger under Neville's words. She flushed and picked a bit more at her plate.

"I didn't mean to sound cross," Neville sighed.

"It's fine."

"It's not. I'm sorry."

Graces nodded and gave him a smile that she couldn't make look as sincere as she felt. It wasn't Neville's words that hurt so much; it was the added realization that her not telling Draco was going to prevent him from also speaking to this woman. She considered how much this year's events must have hurt Neville and wondered if he allowed any moment to feel that pain, or if he just persevered through it.

Neville sat there and desperately wished he could take the words back. Or wished they could be alone so he wouldn't feel so foolish speaking to her. She was wanting to help and he snapped at her.

"Why don't you consider it," McGonagall said gently. "In fact you two can discuss it now privately if you would like. I have some things to attend to. Feel free to continue dinner, there is some tart in the kitchen, and I have some games by the mantle you two are welcome to. Just behave," she added giving them a knowing look. "If you wouldn't do it in a busy corridor then don't do it here."

"So don't talk or even make eye contact," Graces nodded.

"You know what I mean, Miss Malfoy, don't be cheeky."

An enormous sense of relief washed over Neville the moment McGonagall walked out the door. He looked across the table at Graces, whose eyes were still lingering on the door. Neville wondered if she had hoped that perhaps McGonagall would stay and continue to mediate between them.

"Graces," he began, moving his chair over so it was beside her. "I am sorry. I didn't mean to—I know I get defensive and—"

"You're fine," Graces promised softly, shaking her head and taking his hand. "It wasn't that."

She gently brushed the fringe from his forehead, her eyes following the hair she had just arranged before looking back to him.

"I love when you do that," Neville laughed quietly, his cheeks heating with the admission. Graces' brows raised slightly at the confession. "I mean, not that specifically, but also that, but it's—" Neville shook his head. "You have this way of touch. I don't know how to explain it, you reach out and touch me—like you did there—but it's so soft and meaningful in the oddest of ways. And your eyes are here with me, but at the same time it's like you're far away dreaming, but I know you're thinking of me."

"I am thinking of you," Graces whispered tightly, moving closer and resting her forehead to his. "I'm going to tell Draco. Tomorrow."

Neville sat there a moment, before sitting back so he could look at her. "You do not have to do that," he stated firmly.

"Yes, I do," Graces shuddered. "I do, Neville. I do because Draco deserves the truth and I do because you deserve—"

"I have everything that I want," Neville interrupted. "Everything," he swore. "I can give you more time. Happily. What's a few more weeks, months when I get to be with you—" He didn't want to say forever. Somehow it felt silly and unreal, an idealistic dream that young lovers say.

"I want you to be able to talk to this woman," Graces sobbed. "I want to talk to her. I want Draco and I to no longer be strangers. Even if he hates me afterwards, at least he will know me. And I want you to know me! Which you never can, not fully, because you don't know me with Draco." She bent her head into her palm and shook with emotion. "Draco may hate me and not only will I lose my brother, but you will never understand what I lost, because you've never really met him."

"Draco will accept this, maybe not right away, but eventually," Neville swore, unsure if he could keep that promise, but somehow having faith in Draco. "You will not lose him."

"I might," Graces sniffed, looking up at him.

Neville wished he could continue to deny any chance, but he knew he couldn't. He looked down at the floor and hated that Graces had to do this. He never blamed her for putting it off, because in an odd way her putting it off relieved him. She didn't have to risk losing anything for him.

"I'm so scared, Neville," Graces admitted. "I'm scared losing Draco will kill me. No love could fill the hole left in me without him, because he is me. I'll bleed out. It won't matter how much I love you, I'll be broken without him."

Neville looked at the girl he had come to love. He watched as her tears rolled down her cheek and drifted down her neck. He thought of all the times he worried that she would break, that he would never be able to get her back and yet here she sat with him.

"No, I don't think you will be," Neville whispered, brushing her tears away. "I think you're made of something far stronger than ordinary flesh and bone. Everytime I think I have a good understanding of you, that I have deciphered something new about you, you change and surprise me."

"What do you mean?"

"I think you gain strength in these moments. The ones that I thought before broke you down a bit. I had this image of you being a cup, constantly shattered against a wall," Neville admitted. "And this horrible feeling that something would happen and you wouldn't be put right." Graces seemed shocked by the revelation and Neville did his best to hold back his own discomfort. "But you're not a cup. I don't know what you are. You're not like the rest of us though. You change and adapt and take pain and find a way to channel it."

"I don't channel anything," Graces wept. "I am broken and I am a mess. I am that cup."

"No," Neville swore. "You're amazing. I never expected you to help Thomas' Aunt and John. I'm ashamed to say how shocked I was to find that out. And I honestly didn't think you were going to handle things well with Hannah earlier." Neville gave her an apologetic look. "You're not broken and you're not a mess, you're Graces. And I cannot believe how easily it is for you to make me fall more in love with you."

Graces let out a sob and threw her arms around Neville. He held her as tightly as he thought he could without hurting her and kissed the side of her head.

"I don't want to live with McGonagall as her ward."

"You're not going to," Neville swore. "Draco will accept this and if he doesn't right away, I have my heart pretty set on you being with me."

Graces pulled back to look at him. "Even if it angers your Gran?"

"I don't give a damn if it angers my Gran," Neville proclaimed, earning him a small smile. "But you're not going to be living with McGonagall or me, because Draco will accept this." Neville rolled his eyes dramatically. "And I can forget getting a single moment alone with you once he does. You two will be attached at the hip and I have no doubts your brother will want us courting properly and being chaperoned."

Graces giggled at the truth in his words.

"So stop teasing me with this talk of you possibly living with me, Malfoy. It's not going to happen," Neville sighed.

Neville wondered if any other girl had a smile as brilliant as Graces, or if it was his affection for her that made it so brilliant. He reminded himself that he had seen Graces smile for years and never thought it so wonderful, so it must be his feelings. She never smiled like this all those other years, not in front of me.

"Would you kiss me in a crowded corridor, Miss Malfoy?"

Graces smirked. "I actually don't like public displays of affection."

Neville's face was taken aback for a moment. "Really?" Graces just nodded. "Would I be an exception?"

Graces kissed him firmly in reply and when she tried to move away Neville pulled her back in.

"If you keep kissing me, Neville, then we're snogging and I would not snog you in a crowded hallway," Graces giggled against his lips.

"We're in a darkened corner of the hallway," Neville whispered, pulling her closer so she was practically on his lap.

"No, we're not, we're in your head of house's quarters," Graces corrected, gently taking his hands off her waist and shaking her head.

"Would you snog me if we were all alone? By the lake? Outside around lunch tomorrow?"

Graces scoffed. "Are you asking me out on a date? When we're supposed to be laying low?"

"Why not? You're telling Draco tomorrow. Let's have a small date before all the chaos."

Graces bit her lip to hide her smile. "Could you get Cornish Pasties from the Three Broomsticks? Apparently, you can owl for a delivery."

"Cornish pasties?" Neville repeated in surprise. "When have you had Cornish pasties?"

"With Professor Hagrid," Graces shrugged.

Neville was sure his face told Graces just how much that surprised him. "Yes, I can do that. Are you sure you want that though? It isn't too low brow?"

"Well, I may as well get used to low brow since we are going to formally court."

Neville shook his head and considered a reply, but when no good one came he decided to firmly kiss her instead. He grinned against her giggles and counted himself the richest man in the world, because no upper crust man alive was getting to kiss Graces Malfoy as he was now.

"So it's a date?"

"It's a date."

Thanks so much reading! Don't forget to review!

Also, I made a one shot for another Neville/OC ship. I love Drew Winchester on instagram and we collaborated and I did a short fic for her OC Audrey. It's on my A03 account and the title is "Together". If you're interested definitely check it out she did a lot of illustrations for it :) Also, a reminder that her OC Audrey is not my OC, I wanted to gift her this fic after she was sweet enough to draw Graces for me.