Disclaimer: I am not JKR.
Author's Note: Hello :) I don't know about you guys, but by this point my friend/beta reader was insanely curious about what goes on in Lorcan's head and while we're not getting a chapter from his POV for a little while longer, if you want to know more, you should really check out "If I told you" by Nick Howard, it's the song this story was named after, and I'm a little bit in love with it :)
To the Guest (I don't have any other way of reaching you, so this will have to be it :)): Does it say what is incorrect? Sometimes, I apparently get the code wrong, but I can't remember if the error is called "invalid [something I forgot atm]" or "incorrect [still don't remember]". If it's not that code maybe you should try reaching out to the team :)
Chapter Twenty-Six
Thursday, September 8th 2022
Great Hall, Hogwarts, Scotland
Grace looks at Eva when Lorcan still hasn't showed up half an hour after their usual dinner time and bites her lip. "Did he mention something to you that he wouldn't be coming?" she asks, but Eva shakes her head.
"I'm sure it's nothing," she reassures her, "You know how he is. Sometimes he just gets so caught up in thinking that he forgets about everything."
Grace wants to point out to her that that's a rather rare occurrence when it comes to Lorcan, it's more likely to be Leigh or Lysander who get so lost in a project or a song or a book that they can't be bothered with things as mundane as eating, but she doesn't. Because Eva is right, sometimes Lorcan is nowhere to be found for a little and when he reappears all he will say about it is that he had to think something over. "Right," she says, as she gets up, "I'll see you tomorrow, Evie." She smiles at Rosa and Sarah, and walks toward the entrance hall.
"Grace!" someone calls and a moment later, Zoe catches up to her. She grins, "Hey. So you and Lysander, huh? Where did he go off to? He left really early."
Grace shakes her head. "Don't be ridiculous, Zoe. Lysander and I are friends," she says. "And don't tell me there's no such thing as platonic relationships between girls and boys, because there very much is. Just take you an Archie."
"You know that's not quite the same," Zoe replies, still grinning.
Grace rolls her eyes. "Are you not telling me about the part where you and Archie are in love? Because otherwise it very much is the same."
Zoe laughs, "You two are the ones that don't look like just friends." Grace looks at her and wonders how on earth she came to that conclusion.
"We are friends," she repeats. "Nothing more. You don't have to believe me, but it's the truth." Zoe just grins at her and they walk the rest of the way to the common room in silence.
When they reach the door, Zoe reaches up and uses the knocker. The eagle comes to life and looks at them for a moment before he speaks, "You will always find me in the past, I can be created in the present, but the future can never taint me. What am I?"
The two girls look at each other. "Something to do with time," Zoe says, and Grace nods thoughtfully.
"History!" they exclaim at the same time and the eagle inclines its head as the door swings open. They enter the common room and look around.
He's there.
Grace thinks she's probably less surprised than she should be (he missed dinner after all), but it seems so natural to her that Lorcan should be sitting on the couch in front of the fireplace, that she doesn't even question it. "I'll see you around Zoe," she says as she drifts toward the couch. Zoe giggles behind her, but she really doesn't care. Let her think what she will.
He's humming as she approaches him, but it's not a song she knows. When she sits down next to him, he stops. "What was that song?" she asks with a small smile.
He smiles, but he looks a bit caught off guard. "It's called 'If I told you'. It's a muggle song, about ten years old or so," his voice is quiet as he talks about it.
"How come you're singing it?" she inquires as she gets comfortable.
"I wasn't singing," he chuckles when she rolls her eyes at him, and continues, "It's just… it was stuck in my head and… it kind of feels like it fits really well right now."
"How come?" she looks up at him, but he just smiles.
"That's for me to know and for you to wonder about, Gracie."
She sighs, but accepts that he won't talk about it and changes the topic instead. "Why weren't you at dinner?"
"Wasn't hungry," he isn't quite looking at her and she wonders why for a moment, but then he reaches out, puts an arm around her shoulders and pulls her to his side. It sends the butterflies into overdrive and Grace can't really think about anything except that for a little. She takes a few deep breaths and tells herself to calm down. "Do you still stay up all night just in case you get a homesick first year?"
She shakes her head. "No, they know all the prefects by now, if they need one of us they come and wake us," she chuckles. "Angus is apparently quite popular with them, he complained about barely getting any sleep the other day."
"And you?" he asks her.
"Arlie comes and finds me a lot," she says, "Sometimes Sophie and Erin do too."
He doesn't say anything to that and after a while she turns slightly to look at him. She finds him looking right back at her, his eyes unreadable and a crooked smile playing around his lips. For a moment she is sure she can't breathe and she finds herself unable to break eye contact. Then, something shatters and someone curses on the other side of the common room and the moment is broken. Still, Grace wonders if she imagined his eyes flickering to her lips or if that really happened.
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