Chapter 22
"Oh, look who finally dares to show his face!" Leah's voice rose over the bustle of the Great Hall and Grace dropped her fork back to her plate, her pile of eggs no longer appetizing. Terry's eyes widened as he drew closer, peeking behind him before determining he was indeed the target of Leah's rage.
"What are you on about now?" He grumbled, pausing at the side of the girls.
"You've been avoiding us both for months, and you thought we weren't going to find out?" Leah continued, Grace sitting silently across the table. She had felt so angry the night before, yet she was now realizing there wasn't much she could say that would sound anywhere as terrifying as Leah.
"Find out?" Terry asked, his eyes flickering between his friends. "I haven't been avoiding you, I've been a little busy-"
"Yeah, with secret meetings for your little secret club that we couldn't know about, right?" She spat, "I thought we were friends, Terry."
He bit back a sigh, running his hands through the hair that had fallen messily onto his forehead.
"Of course we're friends-"
"Oh, just not close enough friends to be included in the extra defense practice. Yeah, we'd both have hated the extra practice of the most interesting subject, this close to OWL's-"
"Well, Leah, what did you want me to do?" Terry's voice had raised now to match Leah's. "It's not my bloody fault she's taken up with a group of blood supremacists-"
"Fuck off, Terry-" Leah bit back almost in sync with Grace, who was growing increasingly aware of the looks they'd been drawing from the surrounding students.
"Even if I didn't have an issue with them, which I do, it's not only my decision. You're hanging out with them all the time, so sorry if no one trusts you anymore, Grace." He spat, a single finger pointed out in her direction.
"Yeah, I'm sure you were just begging them to be inclusive. I know how welcoming you are, Terry." Grace snapped, shoving her half eaten breakfast towards the center of the table and jumping from her seat. "You can all pretend you're in the right here, but you excluding anyone you don't personally like is just as bad as anything you think that they might be doing."
"Oh, not inviting a few students to study with us is just as bad as parading around in masks and attacking muggles? Supporting the darkest wizard to ever live? My apologies, Grace, I must have missed that lesson in History."
Grace didn't respond, already starting down the tables and towards the hallway, though she could still hear her friends arguing over the chatter as she passed each new group of students.
"Gracie..." A new voice rang over the hall, barely interrupting the ranting that had continued in her head since she had left the table, though she barely had time to turn towards Theo, the green eyes flickering between her and the hallway as a loud chorus of screams and booms rang through the stairwell.
It took less than a second for Theo to react, jumping forward to close the distance between them, his arm wrapping over Grace's shoulder and pulling her against his chest before sinking into the shadows beside the staircase, the colorful blasts of what appeared to be dozens of fireworks catapulting through the air high above them.
"What the hell?" Theo called to be heard over the chaos, and Grace's gaze landed on the redheads across the hall as they struggled to remain standing over their shared laughter, seemingly unbothered for if they were about to rack up an entire year's worth of detentions.
She turned to Theo, hardly registering his arm still resting around her shoulder, ready to point the pranksters out to him as an explanation when his eyes met hers again, narrowing at once.
"What's wrong? Why are you crying?"
She blinked, reaching to wipe her thumb beneath her eyes quickly and realizing her was right.
"Oh... Fucking Terry." She shook her head, turning back to the impressive firework display to avoid meeting his eyes any longer.
"Ah..." Theo nodded to himself, glancing back towards the Great Hall, though it would have been impossible to spot anyone in the crowds that had gathered to admire, or in some cases, race away from the Weasley's latest prank. "Let's get out of here. I don't fancy one of those smacking me in the face, or worse, Umbridge showing up and expecting me to help get rid of this."
He led Grace through the dimly lit tunnel and Grace stole one more look at the rainbow of colors before the chaos slipped away and silence overtook the both of them, her attention now fixed on the warmth of Theo's arm surrounding her, the way his fingers pressed easily to her lower back as they reached the bottom of the staircase and headed towards the familiar common room entrance.
"You guys are missing the most insane-" Theo started as they entered, his arm dropping from Grace as both of their eyes landed on the scene before them. Draco and Blaise were on the edge of the couch, meeting Theo's eyes nervously as Enzo's fingers stroked carefully over Daphne's back, the blonde girl sobbing into her hands.
"What's wrong?" Grace asked at once, hurrying over towards the group, though Daphne didn't look up from her hands and Enzo's gaze had yet to move from the girl at his side.
Draco explained at last, sitting up straighter. "Daphne went to Snape... About Montague. To see if he was sick or if he'd gone home for something..."
"Right..." Theo nodded for someone to continue, though a sinking feeling was already filling Grace's chest at Draco's pause.
"Snape confirmed that Montague is missing... No one's seen him in days and the professors have been searching through the nights... They're very worried. His parents have been called and they're coming this afternoon."
"Missing?" Grace echoed, her eyes latching to Daphne's shaking frame. "What do they think could have happened? I mean, he's a good student, right? He wouldn't have... wandered..." She trailed off, wincing as Daphne wailed, Enzo shooting Grace a sharp glare.
"It could be anything." He whispered, more to Daphne than to Grace. "Hey, it could be nothing. He could have snuck off, thought no one would notice. He could be back by this evening all up in arms that anyone even made a fuss-"
"H-His friends..." Daphne blubbered, finally looking up to Enzo's eyes. "They don't even know anything. He wouldn't have gone alone!" She sniffled, and Grace was not surprised to notice that the blonde still couldn't manage to look any less than perfect, even as she ran her sleeve beneath her nose and let herself fall back against Enzo's chest.
"They're going to find him, Daph." Draco promised, looking entirely uncomfortable at his friend's display. "We're going to go to Snape and ask how we can help. If everyone's searching all at once, you know... He can't... He can't have disappeared." Draco stood from the couch, Blaise at his side.
"Yeah," Theo nodded, making his way towards the last two Slytherin on the couch. "We're going to find him, Daphne." He reached down to ruffle through her hair messily before turning back to Grace.
"I'll go too, Daphne." Enzo whispered against the blonde's forehead, though he looked as though there was nothing he'd rather be doing at that moment.
She looked up, her eyes flying open as she shook her head. "Please don't..." She mumbled, hardly noticing as Grace, Theo, Draco and Blaise started towards the hallway. "Will you stay with me, please?"
Enzo glanced back just as the walls slid shut, his friends already on their way to Snape's office before he was nodding, wrapping his arm back over Daphne's shoulder and resting his chin on her head.
"Yeah. Course I will." He said, his voice soft, though they were now alone in the common room. "Of course I will."
➺
Grace stepped over the green sludge that spilled over from the swamp the Weasley twins had left. A goodbye gift for Umbridge they had called before flying out of the castle to a massive applause.
It had been two days, and Umbridge and Filch were no closer to cleaning their swamp from the staircases, though students had lost count of the amount of attempts that had been made. Umbridge had even ordered other professors to try, and though Grace was under the impression that the combination of McGonagall and Flitwick could never fail in it's attempts, the swamp remained.
She muttered yesterdays password against the stone walls and sighed in relief as it slid aside, stepping through and into the common room where Daphne was sat with the boys, looking rather pale, slight circles painting beneath her eyes.
"Hey." Grace said softly, sinking onto the couch beside her friend and setting the plate of food on her lap. "Brought you some dinner."
Daphne nodded, slightly, though she didn't reach for the plate, her gaze stuck onto the fibers of the dark carpet at their feet.
"If someone doesn't figure out how to get rid of that swamp, I might start taking my meals in here with you too... It's starting to stink." She joked, eyes meeting Draco's who offered her half a shrug, shaking his head.
Before anyone else could speak, the door slid open, Viola and Adelaide sprinting through the common room, their eyes latching to Daphne at once.
"Daphne!" Viola sputtered, struggling to catch her breath. "They found him! Graham! They... found him." She was practically bent over now, hands resting on her knees, though Daphne had already stood from her spot, the plate shattering against the floor as everyone's eyes widened in surprise.
"Where?" She asked, her voice sounding horse, and Grace realized she really hadn't been speaking much lately.
"Well, they..." Adelaide started, "They're saying he was stuck... they found him-"
"Jammed in a toilet on the fourth floor." Viola answered, apparently recovered now from their race down from the infirmary.
"Jammed in a toilet?" Daphne's voice was half a whisper.
"A toilet?" Enzo repeating, and Grace could hear his attempt to swallow his laughter, "How would one even fit-"
"Enzo." Blaise said, warningly.
"Pomfrey just asked us to find you." Adelaide looked back to Daphne, "He's asking for you. He's a bit out of it..."
"We're supposed to go find Professor Snape." Viola continued, though she seemed as if she'd rather been asked to crawl into the toilet to pull Montague out herself.
Daphne had already started towards the exit, Theo's hand curling over the blonde's shoulder.
"Hey," He spoke softly, "I'll walk you?"
Grace was already on her feet as well, nodding along to Theodore's words as the two hurried to catch Daphne in her race towards the stairs.
"I'll get Snape for you, Viola." Draco offered, ignoring the obvious relief that sank into the Slytherin's face at his words.
"Really? Oh, you're the best, Malfoy!" She grinned, wasting no time as Draco followed his friends through the doorway and turning towards Snape's office.
➺
Grace pushed some rice around on her plate, only partially listening to Leah's story which had Blaise and Enzo practically in tears. Neither of them had felt like sitting with Terry, or rather most of the Ravenclaws lately and had been spending most of their time at the Slytherin table. Daphne, however, had taken to eating each meal in the hospital wing so that Graham wouldn't be alone, though she said he still wasn't speaking much and no one had quite worked out yet how he came to be stuck in the fourth floor lavatory.
Draco leaned closer to her, her eyes flickering to meet his at the unexpected movement. "Why aren't you eating?"
"I am." She lied, taking a bite to prove him wrong and his lips pulled into the start of a smirk.
"OWL's tomorrow?" He asked, knowingly. "Why are you so nervous? You're brilliant."
"We'll see." She forced out a short laugh before pushing her plate away. She had been mildly successful in avoiding the anxiety that had been creeping into her chest all day, throwing herself into some last minute studying, and even forcing Leah to the library with her for most of the afternoon, though now, with the morning's exams less than twelve hours away, it was impossible to keep her mind away any longer.
"You know, my parents are good friends with the head of the Wizarding Examinations Authority — Griselda Marchbanks. She’s a bit strict, but she can be chatty. I can mention your name-"
Grace laughed effortlessly now, some of the tension seeping out of her muscles. "Don’t do me any favors, Malfoy. We're still suffering from the last one."
"No, if I remember correctly, that was you doing me a favor." He grinned, pulling her plate back in front of her and pointing his fork at it forcefully. "You're not done. You've got to eat something."
"Grace, you're going to be fine. You can sit next to me, if you want. I'll let you copy." Enzo offered, the rest of them bursting into laughter.
"Her paper would be blank." Draco muttered, grinning towards his cousin.
"You lot are going to feel really bad when I come out of this with the best marks." Enzo shrugged, helping himself to seconds as Grace let her cheek rest on her fist, glancing around at the friends before her eyes met the green ones across the table, holding Theo's gaze for only a moment before his mouth curved into it's familiar smirk, enjoying the light pink that settled in her cheeks before she forced her attention back to Leah at her side.
➺
Grace had always like charms, ever since first year. While other students often gravitated towards defense or transfiguration, or in Draco's case... potions, she always felt the most comfortable in Flitwick's class. Charms was simple, and useful, and unlike potions, you could practice as much as you needed until you got the hang of whatever spell you were working on.
She tried to remind herself all of this as the fifth years sat in the hallway, the sun shining in from the windows high above their heads as the silence echoed between them. Everyone was either too nervous or still partially asleep to bother making conversation, and Grace's heels clicked rapidly against the stone floors without her notice before a warm hand settled against her thigh. Her eyes flew up to meet Theo's green ones, the breath leaving her lungs as her foot stilled, his fingers tracing lazily along the sheer material of her tights.
"Abbott," Flitwick called, his voice breaking through the silence as Grace jumped from her seat, missing the warmth from Theo's fingers at once, her eyes finding Hannah across the room at once. If she had felt nervous, it was surely nothing compared to the look her cousin wore now. Was it possible for someone's face to actually turn green? She pulled her eyes back to their professor who nodded at both girls to follow him into the testing room.
"Good luck, Grace." Draco called, offering her an easy smile and she nodded back quickly, pretending not to notice the lazy wink Theodore shot her before the doors shut behind the girls.
The long tables had disappeared since breakfast, and smaller tables had re-appeared throughout the Great Hall, each with an older looking witch or wizard in matching tall, perfectly pointed hats.
Grace heard Hannah take a shaky breath at her side and turned, watching the blonde girl's eyes scan the room as if they were about to face an attacker, and not simply one of the rather polite looking examiners.
"Hannah," Grace spoke before even realizing, her cousin's eyes going wide as she spun to face her. "Good luck." She tried for a smile, though guilt settled into her stomach at the surprised face she'd been met with.
"Oh! You too." Hannah muttered quickly, before Flitwick pointed each of them to tables on opposite ends of the room, hurrying back into the hall to fetch the next pair of students.