Disclaimer: I still don't own anything that was created by JKR.
Author's Note: A little longer this time. Enjoy!
Chapter Eight
Thursday, May 5th 2022
Ravenclaw Common Room, Hogwarts, Scotland
Grace isn't sitting on the couch. There are only four and a half weeks left until OWLs and she still isn't quite happy with her knowledge of antidotes, so today she chooses to sit at one of the small round study tables. She finishes writing another word quite forcefully and her quill is starting to feel bristly in her hand, but she pays it no mind as she finishes her sentence by jabbing it onto the parchment in what was to result in a full stop. Instead, it punches a small hole in the sheet of notes. She sighs in frustration and her grip on her quill tightens. It breaks in half.
Grace stares at the quill, her blue eyes impossibly wide. She has never broken a quill. Someone sits down next to her and a much larger hand gently pries her fingers from where they are clenched around the remains of her favorite quill. When the broken parts are strewn all over her notes, he gently massages the appendage. "Come sit with me, Gracie?"
She nods numbly and lets him lead her over to the couch in front of the fireplace. They sit and he pulls her to his side. She leans her head against his shoulder. "You're stressing yourself out too much," he whispers and she feels his breath ghosting over the top of her head. So he's looking at her then. He's probably worried. She doesn't want to worry him, but she needs those grades, she's been looking into early admission to the healer's training program and they take only the very best right out of school. "Grace?" his fingers are underneath her chin and he's making her look at him and she isn't sure if she wants to. She doesn't want to see how worried he truly is.
She meets his eyes uncertainly. "Gracie, you need to stop working so much. It's not healthy. You don't eat enough and I have it on good authority that you don't sleep nearly as much as you should." She opens her mouth not sure if she wants to argue or not, but he just shakes his head and continues, "You'll do fine, Gracie. You'll do great. If you don't get your OWL results back with at least seven O's then I'll eat Eva's broom." She closes her mouth again. His fingers are still pressed to her chin lightly. "But you can't keep going like this; you'll pass out from exhaustion one of these days." He sighs quietly.
"Please," his voice is so quiet she barely hears it. "Please, Gracie. Take a break." She finds herself nodding if only to make him look less worried and he smiles in relief.
"You know, Molly is apparently just as in love with that patty-cake song as you are," he tells her, "I saw her drag of Coral, Diane and Alex to practice the other day. Anna and Dorian have been getting quite cozy these past few weeks. And Dominique tells me that Archie has a thing for Zoe. Is that true?" Grace hums an affirmative and leans against him. "And Brandon has been acting strange lately…" she listens to him talk about their classmates without really hearing his words and lets the sound of his voice soothe her to sleep.
Thank you for reading! Also if you would leave a review and brighten my day a little (because my computer crashed just when I was making progress on the chapter I'd been stuck on for a week), that would be great!