Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

Author's Note: I've decided that I will try out the new schedule I mentioned in the last Author's Note, to see if that's something I'll be able to stick to. Which means you can expect the next chapter on Wednesday! For now, enjoy this chapter!

Chapter Fifteen

Thursday, June 23rd 2022

Ravenclaw Common Room, Hogwarts, Scotland

Grace draws her knees up to her chest and wraps her arms around them. "Tell me about your holiday plans again?"

He tucks a strand of hair behind her ear and smiles half-heartedly. "We're going to France on the first," he says. "The day after we get back from Hogwarts. Dad wants to show us this house in the country side, where he used to go as a child, and there are a couple of Clabbert trees and a herd of mooncalves that Mum wants to go see near there, and also this town called Chambord. We're going to the Cote d'Azur the second week, but don't ask me where exactly," he glances at her, "Evie still bemoans the fact that you can't go shopping with her."

Grace laughs a little, "She'll survive."

"Yeah, but I won't," he says. "Because you know she'll drag me along."

"That she will," she touches his shoulder. "But you'll be okay."

She can feel him lean into her touch as he continues with a soft smile, "The third week, we're going to see… Lyon and Mont Saint-Michel, I think."

He puts an arm around her shoulders and draws her close. "And then Paris," he says.

"And then Paris," she repeats with a smile. "Do you suppose we could go see Versailles?"

"Sure," she can feel him nod. "If the others don't want to we'll go just the two of us."

She leans against him. "Sounds good."

There is a lull in their conversation then, a comfortable kind of silence, and Grace closes her eyes. She won't see her three best friends for the first three weeks of their summer break. Granted, for two of those weeks she will be in Italy with her family, but she still doesn't like the prospect of not seeing them (him).

"Your Dad really won't come to Paris?" he asks.

"No, he has to work," she tells him, "but he'll come on the weekends and he might even bring Granny."

"That'd be nice," he says. He likes Granny, just as Granny likes him. When Eva, Lorcan and Lysander first came to visit Grace roughly four years ago, the old woman had instantly taking a liking to the middle triplet and he has stayed her declared favorite since then. Eva and Lysander don't really mind as far as Grace is aware, and Lorcan sometimes comes over just to sit with Granny.

"Maybe Mrs Narcissa could come, too," she suggests. She has never stopped using the strange cross between Mrs Malfoy and the woman's first name even when her friends have taken to calling Grace's grandmother Granny.

He laughs, "I'm still not sure how she lets you call her that."

Grace shrugs with a smile, glad that she has broken him out of his somber mood. "Do you think she would?"

"Perhaps," he says, "I'll write her."

"Do," Grace replies softly and she can once again feel him nod as he squeezes her shoulders slightly.

They haven't managed to hide that they will miss each other, Grace thinks, but they're certainly very good at not acknowledging it.

Thank you for reading! Have a wonderful day and if you can, please leave a review (or drop a PM in my inbox if you'd rather do that :))!