Grace and Al did not speak for the rest of the lesson

Hi guys! Thanks for the love and the reviews and everything. I really appreciate it. I can't say that enough. Anyway, Part Two is almost done. I crave to write some parts of it haha. Anyways, read, review and enjoy!

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May We Look Ever Forward

Part Two: Your Arms Around Me

Chapter Two

Grace and Al did not speak for the rest of the lesson. When class ended, Grace raced out, ignoring Rose as she called her back. She went to the girls' bathroom, hid in a stall, and took great, gasping breaths until she calmed down. "I will not cry. I will not cry" She told herself this over and over but it didn't help. The tears spilt onto her books, and her hands shook violently. She and Al had never fought, not once in 7 years. And it was such a stupid fight too. What did he care if she was going to Hogsmeade with Denny? Why would he possibly care?! And he just had to drag up all that crap about Louis. Didn't he know that she had long ago realised that dating Louis Weasley was the worst idea she'd ever had? He had been so nice to begin with; kind and sweet and funny. And then, slowly but surely, he had shown her that he was, deep down, a conceited, insufferable prat. And not to mention a coward. It had been a painful day when she had realised that whatever he felt for her, it couldn't have meant much to him. Regardless of her feelings for Al at the time, she had cared about Louis. Regardless of a lot of things, she had cared about Louis.

"Grace?" Said a voice tentatively, "Are you here?"

She jumped in surprise, and then called out "In here, Rose,"

Rose walked towards the stall, "What happened?" She asked

Grace shrugged, "Al had a go at me for agreeing to going to Hogsmeade with Denny."

"Why!?" She asked, perplexed

"Your guess is as good as mine," She said sulkily

"Come out of there, Gracie. Let's go get lunch."

Grace sniffed, "Do you think it's the wrong thing for me to do? Going to Hogsmeade, I mean,"

Rose sighed, "No, I don't. Don't let that git cousin of mine change anything for you."

Grace came out of the toilet, "Rose. I…It's just that…"

Rose stared at her, "it's just what."

Grace contemplated saying the words out loud that she had been hiding for two years, wondering what it would even sound like, "What if there was someone else?"

Rose continued to stare, "What do you mean?"

"Someone else that I fancied."

"Like who?!"

Grace sighed, and covered her face with her hands, "What if Al's the one I fancy?"

Rose didn't say anything for a few seconds, and then said, "…What?"

The girls stared at each other in silence, "For how long?" Rose asked finally

"Since 5th year,"

Rose whistled, "And you've been hiding it all this time,"

Grace nodded, defeated, "He doesn't feel the same way, I just know it."

"And how do you know that?"

"When has he ever acted like he does?" Her voice rising an octave, "When has ever shown the tiniest bit of interest!"

Rose stared at her like she was stupid, "Um…Today??"

Grace gave a dismissive snort, "Oh please. This is just that, 'over-protective male thing' that comes from his Weasley genes."

Rose looked at her, and then sighed, and said, "Alright, then. So you don't want to tell Al. But that doesn't help you with Denny. Are you still going to go to Hogsmeade with him?"

Grace washed her face, trying to cool herself down "Yes, I am."

Rose smirked at her, "That's the spirit."

"It still feels wrong, Rose. Wrong to do this to Dennis, I mean. I just… He's nice. He's great. He's the sort of boy i would want to bring home to meet my parents. But..."

"But?" Prompted Rose

"But he's not Al." Whispered Grace, "And he never will be."

Rose sighed, "Oh, Grace."

"I know, Rose. This is silly. I shouldn't go. It feels wrong."

"Well, did it feel wrong with Louis?"

Grace shook her head, "No, not really. A bit I mean, at the beginning. I felt guilty, because I felt like I wasn't, you know, being true to myself, or to Louis. But it took me a few weeks to realise that I really liked Louis, and that whatever I felt for Al was going to have to be put aside because he just didn't feel the same. And Louis did."

Rose looked at her, "And how much do you like him?"

Grace raised an eyebrow, "What?"

"How much do you like Al?"

"Too much, Rose. Far too much."

"You should talk to him about it, then."

"How can I?! If he doesn't feel the same, which I am sure he doesn't, our friendship will be totally ruined."

"You can't know how he feels until you've asked him," Rose said gently, "Al would never want to ruin your friendship, you mean the world to him. He doesn't know how to function properly without you. Lily was right; he moped around for the majority of the summer because you weren't there. He even read Wuthering Heights for goodness sakes."

Grace sniffed, "It'll ruin everything," she looked at herself in the mirror, disgusted, "Look at me Rose. What kind of a Gryffindor am I, if I can't even go for what I want because I'm scared,"

Rose hugged her from behind, "There's nothing wrong with you, Grace. You're not a coward; you're just trying to get by whichever way you can,"

Grace sniffed again, "Thanks Rose. God, what a mess I am. Thank you for putting up with me,"

Rose laughed, "No problem. Now, can we get lunch? I'm starving."

Rose and Grace made their way to down to the Great Hall for lunch. They sat away from Al and Scorp, and Rose spent most of the lunch hour alternating between eating with gusto and glaring daggers at Al. Al stabbed moodily at his food until Scorp said

"What did we do now?"

"We?" Replied Al, "Not 'we'. Just me."

"Oh," Said Scorp, "I really thought Rose was trying out her Basilisk stare on me, too."

Al didn't say it out loud, but he really thought Scorp was a self-cantered git sometimes.

"So, what'd you do? From the look on Grace's face, you'd think you murdered her first-born."

Al growled and threw down his fork, exasperated, "Can you leave it alone already? Stop making jibes and quips and trying to be funny! It's not funny, and I don't want to talk about it!"

Scorp looked taken aback, "Alright mate, no need to bite my head off,"

"Sorry," Al muttered, "I didn't mean to, it just came out."

"Don't worry about it." Scorp said with dignity.

Rose and Grace avoided the boys for the rest of the day. He understood where Rose was coming from, trying to back up Grace on this, but it bothered him anyway. They were family, after all, and shouldn't blood be thicker than water? He mulled over that until he remembered how much he had hated Louis when he'd started dating Grace. Actually, he still hated Louis, and had since they were children. He had always been the biggest show off, the biggest bully and he went through that stage where he spoke with a French accent like Aunty Fleur's. He shuddered at his thoughts, and decided that sometimes blood wasn't really that thick. As Grace went up to bed that night, she bid goodnight to Rose and Scorp, and even patted Lily on the shoulder as she finished off an essay. But she ignored Albus, and nothing had ever made him feel worse in his whole life. He went to bed, his stomach churning. He didn't want to fight with Grace, but he didn't want to see her with Dennis Longbottom either. Not that he didn't like Denny, because he did, but it was just… He didn't want to watch that again. Watch Grace be happy with someone else- laugh with someone else, hug someone else, kiss someone else. And of course he wanted her to happy; he just wanted her to be happy with him. It was such a selfish thought that it made him feel even worse. But it was the truth. He tossed and turned for hours before deciding it was useless, and that he was never going to sleep. He went to his trunk, and pulled out his father's invisibility cloak and the marauders map. James had passed the Map on to him over the summer, saying very seriously, "This map has helped 3 generations of Potters and 2 generations of Weasleys break the rules. Use it wisely." Thinking that a nice cup of tea and some biscuits would help, he threw the cloak over himself and headed out of the dormitory, his plan to get to the kitchens.

Grace was in her pyjamas, asleep on the couch by the dying common room fire. Obviously he hadn't been the only one who couldn't sleep. Grace seemed to have found some peace though. He considered waking her up and sending her to bed, but he couldn't bare to think of how she would look at him. And, if they had to talk, he didn't know what to say. Her book had fallen out of her hands and onto the floor. Al sighed and walked over to her. He picked the book up off the floor, took the bookmark out of her fingers as gently as he could and put it in its place. Then, closing the book, he put it on the end of the couch near her feet and covered her with a tartan blanket someone had left on the couch opposite hers. He took once last look at her, and walked towards the portrait hole, when he heard someone say in a clear voice,

"Albus."

Al froze, then turned, realising it had come from Grace. But she couldn't see him; he was wearing the invisibility cloak! "Albus," She said again, clearly. She's sleep talking! He realised, Sleep talking, about me! The emotion that filled him was beyond anything he could comprehend. He grinned widely, not sure what else to do. Should he stay and listen to see if she said anything else? Then she sighed in her sleep, and nuzzled into the couch, muttering, "Albus don't put stockings on the pumpkins," Al laughed loudly, and went and sat on the couch opposite hers, his thoughts of a tea completely gone. She wrapped the blanket around herself more closely and then said, "Shall we take a walk by the lake? I think that could be nice. There's a full moon tonight, that's very romantic." Al leaned closer to her, his heart beating too fast, trying to hear what else she might be muttering, but he couldn't make much sense of it. Suddenly, she began to snore quite loudly, and Al laughed again, having completely forgotten that she snored. He took off the invisibility cloak, and walked back up to his dormitory. She didn't hate him; she was dreaming about him. Tomorrow, he would apologise for his outburst about Longbottom, and they could be friends again. She dreamt about him. Of all the people she could be dreaming about, she was dreaming about him. Not Longbottom, not Louis, not any other boy. She was dreaming about him, and that meant something. He wasn't sure what, but it meant something. Albus Severus Potter went to bed that evening, thinking that he was perhaps the happiest man alive.