Seventh year gave Vincent the chance he was waiting for, he was constantly requested to monitor detentions by the Carrows. He was constantly exceeding expectations with his curses and painful headlocks and arm-bars, May was always cooing compliments in his ear about his skill. Finally, Vincent Crabbe was a professor's favorite, which was something he had never dreamed would happen to him, he felt like the king of the Slytherin house due mostly in part to no one daring to anger him.
"I love helping with detentions, Amycus has promised to hold onto Longbottom for a while after dinner." Vince bragged with a proud smile, he was beginning to wear this expression more and more. "Amycus thinks I picked a really great girl, so after dinner we're going to curse him for a little while."
Greg could only nod, he leaned on the table and glanced around the library. "So you're pretty serious about her?" Seeing the look on Vince's maturing face made him upset, Draco had left him and now Vince, but he was happy for his best friend, having found someone like May.
"Yeah, you should have been there last Saturday, she was asked to cruciate a couple second years and Alecto had to actually disarm her. May laughed about it and told Alecto to stop being such an amateur, I thought for sure May was going to catch a dose, but instead Alecto starts laughing." Vince continued as he chuckled. "You should ask to help with detentions during your free time." He leaned back in his chair and took a deep breath, his eyes watering from the humor he found in his own story.
"Where is she right now?" Greg tapped his fingers as he spoke. "I haven't seen her since lunch."
"She did kind of vanish, didn't she?" Vince grew quiet as he spoke. "She's probably prowling the halls." He opened his bag to begin stuffing away his books.
"You mean up to no good?" Greg asked with a grin, but a laugh escaped him. "We should find her, she might have fun without us." He slammed his book shut with his work inside, he couldn't help himself as he admired the difference in the way Vince carried himself now.
Vince laughed as he shut his book. "This work from McGonagall was boring me anyways." His chest was held sticking out as he rose to his full height from the chair, his hands still held hints of the clumsiness they once held, but he was losing that nearly every day. Leading Greg from the library once they had their things together, the pair wandered for nearly an hour before returning to the Slytherin dorm. "Wow, she really did vanish." It was meant more to break the silence between them than for conversation.
"I guess she found something to do." Greg muttered with his shoulders slumping, his head leaned back and eyes shut. "Maybe she caught someone putting up those posters again." He rolled his head lazily over his shoulder giving a groan of disappointment.
"There she is." Vince whispered as he stopped Greg at the edge of the common room. "I'm going to scare her, I bet she's reading."
Greg watched how May sat leaning on the arm of the sofa with her head bowed. "She looks busy." He thought for a moment his voice had been heard by the slight movement in May's shoulders.
Vince ran towards the sofa, vaulted over the back and landed on his bottom in the middle of it. "What have…" He stared hard at May who was pressing a wad of tissue to her mouth. "May, what happened?" He grabbed her shoulder and tried to get her to lean back, but it was useless, she didn't budge.
May let Vince put his arm around her shoulders, she remained silent. Her mind played it over again how she was shown up by a Ravenclaw boy, her pride hurt at least a hundred times more than her mouth.
"Vince, what happened to her?" Greg asked as he walked over to the sofa and looked at May, seeing the tissue in her hand left him with a cold feeling in his gut. "Someone hit you?"
"Tell me who!" Vince demanded, his fist clenched. After a few moments of not so much as a grunt, he punched the low table in front of the sofa, he turned his furious glare on May. He wasn't sure if it would loosen the story from her or not, but her green eyes softened.
May moved the tissue and touched her lip. "Caught the rat with some Dumbledore Army flyers, drew my wand, got disarmed then smack. He clocked me in the mouth and told me not to breathe a word of it or I'd be sorry. I'm a witch and fight with magic not my hands."
"You have us to handle all that, since Draco is gone it's been kind of lame around here." Greg said as he sat in his usual armchair, the fear within him subsiding. "I really don't mind tagging along with you." He could see his input was unwelcomed when Vince turned his glare on him, he shut his mouth tightly.
"I guess you won't tell me a name." Vince took the tissue, he dabbed the wound, his hands trembled, but were gentle. Nothing could have made his fury worse at that moment when he got a good look at the split in his girlfriend's lip, he cursed himself feverishly for not having been at her side when it happened.
"Boot." May breathed, grabbing tight to Vince's forearm. "Please don't." She didn't know exactly what Vince would do to the boy, but knew he'd suffer a detention with the Carrows for it. Her fingers couldn't stay off the wound even though the touches did nothing more than make the stinging worse.
Greg stood up and looked at Vince who was also on his feet. "What're we planning on doing to him?" His mind could hear Vince saying let's go take him to the bathroom, it was one of his favorite things to do. Either physically carry the student or be lucky enough to find them in the bathroom and then experiment with new curses or give an old fashion beating, it excited him.
"Amycus will see that lip and want to know about it, will you tell him?" Vince spoke as he pulled May to her feet. "This is almost like that time Draco got hit in the mouth by that Mudblood Granger."
"Yeah, but that was kind of funny." Greg admitted, his excitement faded into disappointment instantly to think the Carrows would have the honors of serving the punishment. "But what are we going to do about Boot?"
Vince watched how May held tight to his arm. "I guess we let him go, is that what you want?" It was painful to see how she continued to hold onto him, he knew the answer before it was uttered from her swollen lips.
"For now, I don't want to get caught alone again." May whispered as she took the tissue and held it on her lip. "Geez, what a blood traitor." She didn't have a better insult at the moment so her favorite would have to do.
Greg snorted as he looked at May. "Draco would have us hunt him down." He couldn't just outright admit it to either Vince or May, but he missed Draco's methods and policies.
"Yeah, Draco didn't go hardly anywhere alone to make sure things like this didn't happen." Vince said as he pulled May's head close to his chest. "Where was he when you last saw him?" He prayed she would say some remote location that he wouldn't likely have left.
"Over by Muggle Studies." May grumbled, she looked at the blood on the tissue and was struck with an idea. "We set him up." The idea sounded good, it played well in her head, but didn't seem likely. Boot had to know Vince would see her before dinner, giving him a chance to hide the backpack and the flyers to avoid immense punishment from the Carrows.
"How?" Greg's voice was confused, but he was still grinning. His mind portrayed May slipping poison into the boy's food while he sat distracted, but it didn't seem likely he would get that pleasure while still in school.
"I know plenty of non-verbal magic, I'm fairly good at it, at dinner I rip open that bag of his and those flyers will be all over the ground." May said as she stood up straight, smiling weakly. "I'm going to…"
"Will you go with me to hold detention after dinner?" Vince asked quickly his mind had begun to wander before May had stated her method of revenge. He looked dreamily at her unaware he was completely off subject.
Greg's smile faded as he watched Vince and May begin talking about their plans, he looked at his feet. "So I'm left out again?" He was expecting the usual response from Vince, which was a poorly thought out babble about wanting time alone.
"You can join us, you're my best mate, Greg, it's not like we're going on a date or anything." Vince said as he slapped Greg in the shoulder. "Come on, we can find something to do until dinner, right?"
"I think we should probably get our studies done before dinner if we're going to help the Carrows." May crossed her arms as she spoke. "How have you two been doing with Transfigurations and Dark Arts?" At times she felt as if the two Slytherin boys before her cheated and blackmailed their way through Hogwarts.
"Not that well in Transfigurations, it's insanely hard." Greg said as he picked up his bag. "We were working on our studies before coming down here." He scratched through his bag, not wishing to show May exactly how horrible he was in the subject.
"Then we will continue to work on them." May said as she sat down on the sofa and relaxed, she could feel the headache setting in. It would be like every other time she attempted to help them, Greg would get to horsing around and Vince would become increasingly more interested in her lips than his work.
"May, oh dearest May!" Millicent yelled as she walked into the common room. "There you are, I saw you in the bathroom and found Professor Carrow, and she wants you to show her your injury."
"Have her come in here, I'm not standing out in the hall for everyone to gawk at me." May replied coldly as her cheeks flushed, she shouldn't have went into a commonly used bathroom.
"She wants you to come in here, says she don't want everyone to see her face!" Millicent yelled as she headed back to Alecto. "Must have got beaten half to death, poor thing."
Alecto walked quickly to the sofa and stood looking nearly enviously at May. "Let me see." She reached to grab May's jaw, but gasped to have Vince grab her wrist. "Release me, Crabbe." Her face became red as she brushed off her sleeve, but didn't reach for the student's face again.
"Don't touch her, professor or not, Boot got her good." Vince said as he let go of Alecto. "May, we're not going to laugh about that boy hitting you." His size was usually all he needed to intimidate anyone, even professors, he crossed his arms with his muscles flexed.
May leaned her head back and looked at Alecto. "Terry Boot, he had some papers about Dumbledore's Army." It took everything she had not to smirk seeing the apprehension in Alecto as Vince attempted to make himself look even larger.
"I don't think that's so bad, it's going to swell, but nothing to fret about Blauvelt." Alecto spoke quickly, nearly panting. "However, this army nonsense is quite the news, I've seen their scrawling up and down the corridors." Once again the professor's eyes moved to the looming threat Vince potentially posed to her.
"He was handing them out to anyone stupid enough to take one." May spoke quietly, her lip still stinging. "He was up by your classroom." She touched her lip again and sighed to not see blood on her fingertips.
"I will check everything over, I will also track him down and see how much he likes to hit ladies when I'm done." Alecto cackled as she rubbed her hands together. "Oh I feel so giddy to punish those Potter supporters." She glanced again at Vince who hadn't moved, she quickly headed for the dorm entrance.
Vince stood glaring until Alecto left. "I might enjoy helping her with detentions, but I get edgy to see her reaching for you." He let his arms go back to hanging limply at his sides, his pulse was still skyrocketing purely from thoughts of May being cursed.
Greg dug out his Transfigurations manual and opened it. "Why can't these books have more pictures and less words, this thing gives me a headache just looking at it." He of course couldn't just outright confess to May what kinds of pictures he wanted the textbooks filled with.
"If they were filled with nothing except pictures you wouldn't learn anything." May muttered as she looked over at Greg. "Hand it over, what are you having trouble with?" She flipped the pages looking at the doodles of a lonely teenage boy, but didn't speak a word of it.
"Everything, that goes for the both of us since you always pair up with Millicent." Greg said as he closed his eyes and leaned back. "Can't you just fill our brains with everything in that book?" His imagination conjured up thoughts Daphne Greengrass practicing an invisibility charm on her school robes.
"I'm not Kwikspell and I don't know of any potions that Kwikspell makes, so I'm afraid you will just have to do it the old fashion way and focus." May said with a light chuckle. "Come on we can make this fun."
"How is nonverbal transfigurations fun?" Vince was now grumbling, thinking of what May could possibly have in mind. He looked at the page May had opened Greg's book to and groaned to think about actually doing his own work instead of bribing or threatening someone else to do it.
"Watch." May said as she got slowly to her feet, drew her wand and looked around. "Vince, grab that goblet and toss it into the air, you two will like this one."
Vince dug his wand out of his robes. "Aren't you scared your wand will fall out of that little pocket?" He enjoyed watching her open her robe, the skirt and knitted vest fit perfectly.
"No, I sewed this pocket into my robes, it's like a sleeve and my wand goes nowhere, it's easy to grab, see." May said as she put her wand away and pulled it quickly from the inner pocket on her robe. "Now please toss the goblet into the air."
"Accio." Vince grumbled as he caught the goblet, he tossed it up over his head, but yelled to have a cat land on him. "How did you do that?" He looked at the brass colored animal sit next to him staring with flame yellow eyes.
"I took the liberty of going into the library and reading, it's a nonverbal spell I found." May said with a smile. "Grab that thing and whenever Greg is ready, give it a toss." She lowered her wand, but stood ready to correct anything that could go wrong.
"Hold on!" Greg nearly yelled as he stood up. "I can barely transfigure something that is sitting perfectly still right in front of me, I can't do it on something wiggling and flying through the air." He looked at the abnormally colored cat and shuddered to see it looking at him.
"This is how I taught myself." May said as she walked over, grabbed the cat and tossed it into the air, cast and smiled as the brass goblet hit the floor. "It's fun, like playing a game." She started towards the goblet, but looked over to hear the rustling of robes.
Vince got up quickly and grabbed the goblet, he tossed it up, but his spell missed. "Damn, that's a little harder than it looks." He threw his wand down and growled as he kicked the goblet towards Greg.
"It is good practice, if you can hit that cup then you can hit someone running, flying or tumbling on the ground." May said as she summoned the goblet and tossed it, but jumped and covered her head to have it shatter.
Greg quickly dropped his wand and looked at May. "Wow." He scrambled to grab his wand up, he tucked it back into his robe pocket hoping no more spells would accidently go off.
"What spell was that?" Vince asked as he laughed to watch May repairing the goblet. Seeing the level of skill she held made him wonder how she really felt about him now that she had witnessed his nearly complete lack of skill. He still hadn't told her how he really felt and knew he had to sooner or later because she would find someone else if he didn't, that was something his mother told him.
"I don't know, I just waved my wand around like mad and focused on my old man." Greg said as he pulled his wand out again and smiled. "I'll show you." He at first aimed at Vince's feet.
"Point it at something other than us." May said with a smile. "This is fun, isn't it?" She looked over at Vince who had gone silent and knew he was thinking about something.
Dinner came and went quickly, helping with detention went by quickly, and Vince soon found himself climbing into bed that night and looked over at Greg who was digging through his trunk. "What are you looking for?"
Greg shut the trunk, grinning. "Nothing, well, I lost my stupid Dark Arts book and Amycus is going to blow up." He put a foot on the trunk lid and yawned, his arms stretched out and up above him.
"We'll find it in the morning, I'm sure he won't mind if we share." Vince said as he pulled his covers up and smiled. "I think I might…"
"Hey fat head, you going to keep blabbing all night, again?" Blaise asked from his bed. "You have been more talkative since you met that American." He kicked his legs until his covers laid just right over him.
"Have you seen her? She's amazing." Vince said as he got up and crawled to the foot of his bed. "Isn't she beautiful?" He leaned against one of the posts, stretching out his legs.
Blaise laughed as he sat up. "She's ok, I wouldn't have figured her to like you though." He wriggled in his bed violently as he struggled to get nestled down just the right way, he hit his head onto the pillow a few times and smiled.
"She likes how he tortures people, she's always going on and on about it." Greg said with a laugh, watching how Vince sat in a pair of sweatpants and undershirt, he was thinner than Vince, but envied the body mass the boy had.
"Obviously looks aren't in her top priorities." Blaise remarked, but laughed to see Vince getting out of bed. "What are you going to do, I saw how you three horsed around in the common." He watched Vince stop just steps from the foot of his bed, the last thing he wanted was to fist fight with him.
"Who cares about looks, she's with me so if you have a problem, let's solve it right now." Vince said as he watched Blaise continue to sit in bed, he laughed and took a step back towards his bed, but stopped.
"I don't have a problem with it, but I heard a rumor about someone having eyes for her." Blaise got out of bed cautiously and looked around the boys' dorm. "There is a certain boy who was heard saying she's the cat's meow, I could tell you or I could make you pay for my information."
"How about I don't break your pretty face and you tell me?" Vince growled, but glanced over at Greg who was now at his side. Even though they didn't have Draco to plan out their every move, he knew the two of them could intimidate their ways through most anything that went on in the dorm.
Blaise laughed as he motioned for the door. "No need to get everyone here involved, let's step into the hall." He walked haughtily for the door, every move he made looked over exaggerated.
"You just don't want to lose in front of everyone." Vince growled, but followed Blaise into the hall. He took his wand from Greg who was trying to push it into his hand, he grinned to see Blaise had his wand on him.
May lay on the sofa in the common room looking at photos of her parents, she put them face down on her stomach to hear angry voices coming from the boys' dorms. She lay listening for a few minutes, but leapt to her feet as a spell caused something to shatter, she rushed to the dorms as another spell let out a loud snap. "Vincent what's going on! Are you ok!" She yelled, prepared to cast a shield, but found Vince, Greg and Blaise were the ones fighting.
"Mairead, tell your boyfriend about your new friend." Blaise's voice was low and pleading, he lowering his wand. He didn't dare put it away with Vince worked into a rage mere steps from him and no Draco to call him off.
"What new friend?" May asked, looking at Vince's red face. "What is he talking about?" She stomped her foot to not receive a prompt answer, she smoothed down one eyebrow to keep from focusing on the time it took for the boys to think of anything.
Vince couldn't speak, he was shaking was anger, he was fighting the desire to use the killing curse on Blaise. He could see himself casting it, perhaps greatly impressing May, Death Eaters controlled the school, would they really expel him for killing someone. He couldn't chance it because his dad would for sure kill him for getting kicked out.
"Blaise is starting trouble, he says some guy likes you and your leaving Vincent, is that true?" Greg asked, his voice sounding hurt, his face held the same expression, it was completely obvious he was more than upset.
"No it isn't." May whispered, the photos falling from her hand. "I care about you, Vincent, I really do and I'm not going anywhere. I don't think you recall, but when you pulled me out of the lake last year and I said no one else would have done that for me… well, what I meant was I didn't want for anyone else to have done that for me."
"If you're leaving him…" Greg started as he tried to make himself sound like the authority figure among the group in the hall, but could see May wasn't fazed by it.
"I'm not leaving him!" May yelled as she aimed her wand at Blaise. "You like trouble, do you? You like to stir up drama, do you?" She took a few small steps, just to get enough space in case Blaise decided to duel with her, but the way his hand shook, she didn't figure he'd do anything.
"No, it's just, um, that I heard, well… about Lofthouse having a, um, crush on you." Blaise stammered, dropping his wand and raising his hands. "I was just joshing about that whole going to leave Crabbe for a better looking guy."
May stood staring at Blaise, but her gaze turned to Vince who stood with his head bowed and shoulders slumped. "I've never seen such cute nose on a man, those cheeks turn all pink when I hold your hand and I must admit I'm a sucker for brown eyes." She half mumbled, her cheeks now flushed red. "You're strong and you protect me, I admire you powerful curses… I… I think I…" She couldn't finish, instead, she turned and rushed to the girls' dorm.
Vince walked over to the photos laying on the floor and picked them up, he looked at the black haired man who looked as if a great grandparent could have had a streak of giant and a woman with the same auburn hair as May stood holding his hands. "These must be her parents." He thought aloud looking at the clothes he thought to be fit for a wedding.
Greg stood watching Vince. "Hey, you want me to see if I can get her out of the girls' dorm?" He looked over at Blaise. "So when did you hear about Lofthouse?" He thought for a moment he wasn't going to get an answer, but when he cracked his knuckles his answer swiftly followed.
"Just a few days back, he was in the bathroom talking to some boys about her." Blaise said quietly, stooping down to pick up his wand, his face was red with the shame of letting a girl scare him.
Greg stomped down to the common room. "Millicent! Pansy! Daphne!" He bellowed as he walked towards the girls' dorms. "I know you can hear me!" He took in a deep breath to start yelling again, but Pansy voice stopped him.
"Go away!" Pansy yelled in reply. "We cannot hear you!" She stood in the door to the seventh year girls' dorm, furious about all the yelling and crashing from the boys' dorms, she glanced at May who was pacing.
"Don't make me pull you out here! I want to talk to May!" Greg yelled as he leaned against the wall, but he got no reply, he rolled his eyes to think about the girls being allowed into the boys dorms, but boys' couldn't get anywhere near the girls dorms.
May soon went out to the common room. "What?" She ruffled her hair with both hands as she prepared for the worst news Greg could possibly have to tell her.
"You left your pictures, Vince has them." Greg said as he watched May go back to the boys' dorm, he followed after May, but stopped at the beginning of the hall to see Vince hadn't gone back to bed yet.
Vince stood in the hall waiting for May, he smiled as he handed them over. "Sorry we got you upset." He watched how she studied them for a few moments, her eyes looking glassy, there was nothing he could say that could make things better for her.
"I'm ok, I wanted to say something, but it sounds stupid." May whispered as she looked at the photos of her parents. "I've never even told my own parents this."
Vince gently took her hands. "Nothing you say could sound stupid to me."
May put the photos into her robe pocket and leaned closer to Vince. "I love you."
Vince was now in shock, he didn't know what to say in reply so he stood silent. His pulse quickened and his eyes stared at May, but he wasn't really focused on her, he gave a grunt and nodded. He turned on his heel, went quickly into the seventh year boys' dorm, and slammed the door behind him.