Disclaimer: Anything you recognize from the Harry Potter books and/or movies is not mine.

Author's Note: Since I'll be quite busy tomorrow and probably the rest of the week as well and because if we had stayed on the every other day posting-schedule, I would have posted today, and also because I happened to have Uni work to do on the computer, I decided to give you this chapter now. It's the longest so far (by a good bit)! The next chapter will be up on Friday at the earliest. I hope you enjoy!

Chapter Thirteen

Thursday, June 9th 2022

Great Hall, Hogwarts, Scotland

There will be no chance for their usual quiet privacy today, Grace knows, not with OWLs finally behind all of them. Dinner is a noisy affair as the fifth and seventh years celebrate the fact that their studying has come to an end.

She sits next to Eva at the Ravenclaw table, Lorcan and Lysander have gone back to sitting opposite of them, and grins lightly as Dorian reaches out to pull Anna into his lap when she walks past. Her indignant squeal is lost in the uproar of laughter that is so very untypical at this table. But today is different.

That observation is reinforced by James Potter, who sits down between Grace and Eva and announces, "No practice today, Miss Malfoy." Grace sees Eva's raised eyebrow and her slight frown and knows her friend is not at all happy with that notion.

"Why?"

"Well, of course because we are being generous and allowing our fellow fifth years to use the pitch to have a party," James says as if it were the most obvious thing in the world and perhaps to him it is. He turns to the rest of the table. "You are all invited, obviously." The sweep of his hand encompasses more than just the fifth years and Grace leans out of the way to avoid being hit by his grand gesturing.

She catches Eva's eye and gets a grin and a nod, before looking at Lorcan and Lysander. Lysander is just as enthusiastic as his sister and Lorcan shrugs as if to say "We might as well," so Grace resigns herself to spending the evening at a party with a small smile.

She doesn't like parties, she never has, and she doesn't go if she can avoid it, but as James Potter gets up and she looks at her closest friends, she thinks that it might not be too bad.

There is a buzz of excitement that pervades the rest of their dinner and the moment Grace has taken her last bite, she is dragged from the hall by Eva.

"You have to wear the red dress," Eva is already making plans before they leave the hall.

Grace looks at her. "Which one?" she asks a little warily as she does her best not to stumble on their fast-paced way up the stairs.

Eva laughs. "The one with the lace," she says. "It's gorgeous on you and you know it."

"It looks better on you," Grace tries to argue, even though she knows that Eva has made up her mind and there will be no talking her out of this.

"No it doesn't," Eva waves her free hand dismissively. "Besides, I'm wearing the white one with the black bow."

Grace has to admit that it's a good choice for Eva, she looks absolutely stunning in both black and white. "But the red dress is kind of see-through," she argues. "Tim will have a fit if he sees."

"As if your brother will be there," Eva rolls her eyes and Grace is pulled into a shortcut. "I'm sure the seventh years are having their own party."

Grace sighs. "My cousin will be, though. And you can bet anything that Matt will tell Tim."

"Well, we don't care about your cousin. There are reasons you need to wear this dress."

"Reasons?"

"Yes."

Grace sighs again. She hasn't seen Eva this excited about something in a while. "I don't own a red bra," she tries feebly. It's a weak argument and they both know that Eva has won.

"Luckily for you, I do," the taller girl smiles widely and drags her friend along the hallway to the entrance of the Gryffindor common room. "Cover your ears so she won't have a fit?" she asks as they approach the fat lady.

The brunette complies and soon enough they're standing in the room Eva shares with the five other Gryffindor girls from their year. Sarah is already bustling about laying out clothes on people's beds, while Caitlin collects makeup from the bathroom and sets up at a desk. Grace can tell they do this often, especially when Bethany Alas enters and starts a humongous pile of shoes in the middle of the room.

"Oh! Eva, are you wearing the red lace dress?" Esther Hillard's eyes are wide and gleaming. She looks impossibly excited. Grace looks to Eva, who shakes her head and holds out the dress that she must have gotten from her wardrobe while Grace was watching the others.

"I'm not," she grins, "but Grace is."

As one, the Gryffindor girls turn to her and Grace feels a little like a mouse staring at a snake. There is silence for a moment until Bethany proclaims, "Well, I know the perfect shoes for that dress. Do you have the same shoe size as Eva or do we need to make adjustments?" Grace shakes her head. She and Eva regularly share shoes, after all.

"Perfect," Bethany and Esther start going through the pile to find what Bethany is looking for.

Grace blinks slowly and Eva wraps an arm around her shoulders, laughing. "They're great at this, Gracie. You should put on that dress and then Rosa or I can do your hair."

Grace does as she is told and when Eva and Rosa are working away at her hair, whispering occasionally, she finds herself enjoying it enough to agree to let Caitlin apply a touch of mascara to her eyelashes and use a shade of lipstick that matches the dress.

When she is done, Caitlin leads her to a mirror, but Grace, not quite sure yet if she wants to look at herself, watches the others in the reflection. Eva is half dressed and painting Esther's nails a vivid shade of purple, while Bethany and Rosa discuss a pair of shoes to go with Rosa's pastel colored dress and Sarah is holding up two different necklaces, probably contemplating which one to wear. Caitlin, Grace sees, is dressed in dark green to accent her eyes and her hair is woven into a complicated set of braids she recognizes as Eva's handiwork.

"You know, I brought you here so you'd look at yourself, not at us," Caitlin sounds amused and Grace smiles half-heartedly. "Go on."

So Grace does. And can't help but smile for real. She looks like herself still, but somehow different. Her eyes seem larger and her mouth is a perfect bow. There are two strands of hair framing her face, but the rest is pulled away and pinned elegantly at the back of her head. And the dress… she has to admit that Eva was right and she does indeed look good in red.

"Well?" Caitlin grins.

"I feel… pretty," Grace laughs a little.

"You are pretty," Caitlin says simply, before turning Grace around to face the others. "Girls!" she calls. "What do you think?"

There are various exclamations of "Wonderful!" and "Gorgeous!" and "Stunning!", but after a moment they all turn to Eva.

"Perfect," Grace's best friend says. "We'll see some jaws drop today."

Grace rolls her eyes as the others laugh and looks at Rosa. "Do you need some help with your hair?"

The two of them sit on Rosa's bed and as Grace curls the dark hair she can't help but wonder if the red dress has significance she isn't aware of, because they all put a whole lot of effort into making sure she looks the way she does.

"Rosa?" she asks quietly.

"Yes?" Rosa is probably the quietest of the Gryffindor girls and Grace finds that, with the exception of Eva, she likes her the most.

"What's with the red dress?"

Rosa laughs softly. "The red dress," she says slowly, "is what Eva only ever gets out of the wardrobe when one of us wants to impress someone."

Grace frowns. "But I don't want to impress anyone," she protests, even as an image of blonde hair and grey eyes and a crooked smile flits across her mind.

"Well," Rosa turns slightly and smiles at Grace, "maybe Eva wants you to impress someone."

She resumes curling Rosa's hair in silence after that and tries to banish all thoughts of blonde boys with grey eyes and crooked smiles from her head, even if she knows it to be useless. He's always just at the edge of her consciousness.

She can't quite say how much time has passed when Eva stands up and looks around. "Alright girls, are we done?" It's a redundant question, they have been waiting on Caitlin and Eva to finish Eva's makeup, but no one seems to care as they give excited affirmations.

Grace smiles widely. Their excitement is contagious and she feels most definitely pretty tonight.

Eva beams and holds out her hand to Grace. "No piggyback rides today, I'm afraid."

The shorter girl laughs (she's the shortest here, too; she's always the shortest, but she kind of likes it) and takes her friend's hand. "I think I'll survive."

There is laughter all around the dorm and then the seven girls leave the room, taking their giddy smiles and excitement with them.

"We're meeting Lorcan and Lysander in the entrance hall," Eva says as they cross the common room and Grace nods, trying hard to hide the fact that she is suddenly acutely nervous. She sees Eva's small, hopeful smile and wonders for a moment what it means, but then her attention is drawn to Bethany who spins Esther around and asks them if they think Jason will be there.

The rest of their trip to the entrance hall is filled with a discussion on who will and who won't come and Grace listens as they debate whether Dominique will show or not for the better part of five minutes. Personally, she thinks she'll be there, but she doesn't offer her opinion and the others don't seem to mind that she stays quiet.

They reach the top of the staircase leading to the entrance hall and Grace spots Lorcan and Lysander only milliseconds before Eva says, "There they are." She silently consents to being pulled down the stairs and tries to figure out who they're standing with. Molly's red hair is unmistakable, and she thinks the blonde head next to hers is probably Meredith. On Meredith's other side she sees Quentin Dawson, who is talking to Jason, Noah and Lysander. Her attention is drawn to Lorcan without her consent when Molly touches his shoulder lightly and says something that makes him laugh. She squashes the strange feeling in the pit of her stomach mercilessly. She has no right to such feelings, after all.

Nevertheless, she is glad when they reach the bottom of the stairs and she can no longer see the group. Eva draws her closer to them, as always perfectly at home in a crowd and Grace squeezes her friend's hand just once. The answering smile calms her considerably and when Eva calls out to her brothers, Grace feels confident.

They turn, Molly's hand falls from Lorcan's shoulder and Meredith smiles at them. Noah wolf-whistles and gets a hit to the shoulder for his efforts from a laughing Eva. Lysander looks at Grace for a moment before he says, "You look lovely."

But it's not his words that make her blush, it's Lorcan's gaze so frighteningly intense once again coupled with that crooked smile that causes her heart to flutter. She drops her head and wishes for her usual curtain of hair to hide her flaming cheeks.

There are two fingers underneath her chin, making her lift her head, and she wants to think they're Lorcan's, but she knows he is too far away. Instead, when she complies and stops trying to hide, she finds herself looking at Lysander. "You shouldn't hide that pretty face," he smiles. It's a little lopsided, but it's not the crooked smile Lorcan always gives her, so she shrugs and tries to hide her disappointment instead of her face.

Grace turns to the others. Noah seems about to start wolf-whistling again, but Quentin elbows him and he stops. Jason smiles knowingly. Meredith glances at Molly, before offering Grace a smile. Eva looks caught off guard, her eyes flickering from Grace and Lysander to Lorcan and back constantly. Grace looks at Lorcan as well. His smile has turned tight and his posture is rigid. Molly's knuckles turn white where she is gripping his arm.

Lysander seems oblivious to all this. He drops his hand and offers his arm to Grace. "Shall we?" he looks at the others.

"Yes," it's Molly, who answers. She takes Lorcan by the arm and leaves for the Quidditch pitch without waiting for the others. Grace doesn't miss the glance she casts Lorcan's way or the small, consoling pat on his elbow. Before she can think about it too much, the rest of the group starts following and she finds herself drawn into Eva and Lysander's conversation about card tricks and wrackspurts.

When they reach the pitch, Eva is whisked away by James Potter, who demands "a dance with his favorite beater" and Lysander claims he is off to get drinks, but Grace is quite sure he's simply seen Carissa Smith over by the snack tables. She looks around for Lorcan, but before she sees him she is approached by a tall, blonde girl that looks vaguely familiar.

"Hi… Grace?" She nods, a little perplexed. "I'm Anwen Fawley, but just Ann is fine. I was wondering if you might have a moment to talk about Runes?"

"Sure," Grace says, because she always has time to talk about Runes and now that she's been deserted at a place she was never going to be comfortable at, she will welcome this familiar distraction with open arms.

Anwen smiles widely, and Grace thinks that she could like her. "I was hoping you would say that. I have a question and no one I asked could help me out so Rose asked her cousins and they said you might be able to help and then Helen pointed me your way as well and I figured I might as well try."

"You're one of Helen's friends?" Grace asks. It would explain why Anwen looks so familiar. She's seen most of her cousins' friends at some point, but she can't seem to keep them straight.

Anwen nods and then launches into an explanation of her question. It's delightfully complicated and as the two of them start their discussion they gravitate away from the main party and towards the bleachers armed with a quill and a few scraps of parchment.

Grace discovers a few more tidbits of information about Anwen over the course of their conversation. She's a Gryffindor and her best friend is named Elisabeth. Her twin Angus is a Ravenclaw, her brother Bran is a Hufflepuff in Ashlyn's year and the three youngest siblings have not yet started attending Hogwarts. Ann, as Grace has been repeatedly reminded to call her, has a tendency to go off on a tangent that has nothing to do with the subject at hand. She is younger than Grace by almost exactly a year, but taller and has a mind as sharp, if not sharper, than Grace's own. All in all, she makes for wonderful, intelligent conversation and an hour has passed before they emerge from their little bubble of runic arrangements and translations with a satisfactory solution.

"Thank you," Ann beams. "Now I'll be able to sleep again."

Grace laughs. "I'm glad I could help."

"I should go now, Ellie's getting impatient," she points to another blonde in a purple dress, who Grace thinks must be her best friend Elisabeth. "Maybe we'll see each other around." And then she disappears with a little wave and Grace is left alone again.

She scans the crowds for her friends, but she can't see them and she's actually rather comfortable up here in the bleachers. It's far less noisy that's for sure.

"I was wondering where you'd gotten off to, you know," says a voice and someone sits down next to her.

She smiles. "I've been up here," she tells him. "Talking about Runes."

"Who did you find that will talk to you about Runes for… how long?" She doesn't have to look at him to know he's smiling.

"An hour," her hands have ink stains on them now and the Gryffindor girls that poured so much effort into making sure she looked perfect would probably be appalled, but she feels a whole lot more like herself, "Her name is Anwen Fawley. A Gryffindor. Fourth year. She has a twin in Ravenclaw." She pauses. "I wonder why she isn't there with him. She's incredibly intelligent."

He chuckles. "You know there's more to houses than that. I mean, who would think Lysander was a Ravenclaw when first meeting him?"

She nods, but there's a kind of tense silence now that he's said his brother's name. It shouldn't be there, Lysander has always been overly affectionate bordering on flirtatious and they've all grown used to it, but something has changed. Grace supposes, it's the two of them, even if she can't quite say how they've changed.

"He was right," his voice breaks her out of her thoughts, "You do look lovely tonight."

She turns to him finally and smiles. "You look great, too." She reaches up to fix the collar of the blue button down he is wearing above a white t-shirt even though there's nothing to fix.

They sit in silence once again, but this time it's comfortable.

"Eva was looking for you the last time I saw her," he says after a while.

"Oh," she looks at the pitch. "I suppose we should go find her then…"

He nods, but neither of them moves to leave. Grace wonders if he wants to stay sitting here just as much as she does, but she doesn't dare ask. Instead, she gets up and offers him her hands. "Let's," she says softly.

He takes her hands and rises as well. "That way," he nods in the direction of the stairs. They let go of each other's hands, but as they walk he puts an arm around her shoulders.

In the privacy of her own mind, Grace allows herself to admit that she is happier than she's been all night.

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