You'll be the Death of Me

Chapter 74

"Graham, you can put me down."

Graces was beginning to realize she was in deep water and on board a ship that was racing towards an iceberg. Graham had not broken his stride since he picked her up and carried her away from Neville, and he had not looked at her since either.

"Graham," she whispered, her nerves getting the better of her as he practically kicked the castle doors open. She didn't know what to say, if she should say anything at all. Dread had overtaken all of her senses and she gripped Graham harder so her trembling hands wouldn't betray her fear.

"This isn't the way to the infirmary."

"No, it's not," Graham agreed, kicking open the door to an abandoned classroom.

Graces would have screamed if she wasn't in such shock. Everything seemed to be happening with lightning speed. Before she could even contemplate where she was Graham was slamming the door with such force that the window in the corner shook with his rage. She moved back on the desk he had set her on and could barely breathe. If she had sense she would have grabbed her wand, but instead she just sat there frozen.

"NEVILLE LONGBOTTOM?!"

And there it was...

"TELL ME YOU'RE NOT THAT STUPID! TELL ME YOU'RE NOT LITERALLY THROWING YOUR LIFE AWAY FOR SOMEONE SO BENEATH YOU!"

The fear that she had harbored always in the back of her mind was now coming out. Suddenly, she wished she had listened to all the reasons she had for vowing to keep her distance from Neville. Graham was shaking her so hard that her good sense was coming back.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" She lied. Oh she had become so good at that in the past months.

"I should kill you now," Graham growled. "I would if it would save Draco. He doesn't deserve this! I DON'T DESERVE THIS! I am risking everything, everything for you two!"

"Whatever you're thinking, you're wrong!" she maintained, unsure if she was crying because she had been caught or because Graham's words were so right.

"Don't you dare lie to me." A threat. A promise. Oh she was in a tangled web. "Do you know what they will do to you? To Draco? TO ME?!"

"Graham, please—"

"The boy you mentioned. The boy you said you had a crush on in October. The boy you mentioned to me at the lake. It's—"

"Thomas," Graces finished, looking up at Graham pleadingly. "It's Thomas."

Whatever rage Graham was feeling died away. Graces hiccupped a sob, a real one, and continued on with her new web of lies.

"I love Thomas."

It felt so wrong to say that the tears came easily. She covered her face with her hands and let the sorrow take hold of her.

"Thomas?" Graham repeated, dumbfounded.

Graces only nodded and continued to sob. The lie felt worse than the truth.

"You're-you're in love with... Thomas? Thomas Higgs?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Graces croaked. "I almost died for him. I-I was going to drop out of school and raise a child for him. I—" Graces took a moment to collect herself. "I'm taking the mark for him." She stared up at Graham's face and knew he believed her. There was such horror and sadness in him as he looked down at her. "I love him."

Graham turned away and she sat motionless as he put everything she had said together. He looked over his shoulder at her a few times, before taking a seat.