Grace felt Noah take her hand as they walked down the corridor together back toward the Potions classroom. That was when reality hit her.
"What about Rachel?" she asked, stopping in her place to stare up at him.
"Rachel and I broke up weeks ago," Noah stated simply as he glanced down at her, not wanting to explain anything further. "She means nothing to me." He leaned down and pressed his lips against hers.
"I'll talk to Ryan tonight," Grace mumbled into the kiss. She felt Noah sigh and pull away.
"Let's not talk about Ryan while I'm kissing you," he said with a laugh, wrapping an arm around her.
Grace laughed in return, her smile reaching her eyes. "Sorry," she replied innocently, leaning closer to him as they continued walking.
Once they reached the door to the Potions classroom, Grace stepped away from Noah. "Maybe we shouldn't walk in together. It might look kind of suspicious, you know?"
Noah nodded. "Go ahead. I'll come in after you in a minute."
Grace opened the door, trying to shut it quietly behind her after entering the classroom. A few eyes flickered over to her, but most of the students were too occupied with their potions to notice anything. She headed back over to the table she was working at, Lavender stirring her potion with a sense of longing in her eyes.
Grace heard the sound of the door opening again, but she fought against looking up. She didn't glance at Noah again until he was across from her on his side of the table, taking a seat next to Draco.
Lavender finally pulled her gaze away from the potion to talk to Grace. "I think I'm doing this right. I put-"
Grace raised an eyebrow at Lavender as she stopped talking. Her partner's face held a strange expression. "What?"
"What's with your hair? You look like you've just walked through a gust of wind," Lavender admitted with a chuckle.
Grace's face flushed. She quickly brought her hands up to her hair to try to smooth it down to its normal position. "There must have been a draft in the corridor."
Grace heard Draco snicker across the table, but she tried to ignore it. She dived into a conversation with Lavender about the ingredients of the Amortentia potion, desperately trying to change the subject.
Draco turned to Noah, muttering with a smirk, "Your shirt is a bit wrinkled there, isn't it, Dolohov?"
Noah glanced down at his clothes. They were a little disheveled. He knew Draco had pieced the puzzle together. It wasn't that hard to figure out. Defeated, Noah shoved the boy roughly with his arm, a smile creeping on his lips. "Shut up."
The Slytherin boys turned their attention back to their potion. Noah attempted to tighten his tie that was off-centered, but he gave up, looking over to Grace, who was still using her fingers to comb through her hair. They locked eyes and tried to stifle their laughter. They were caught and they both knew it. But it didn't matter to them.
"Excellent work today, everyone!" Slughorn finally shouted. "I will see you all next class!"
Students immediately started cleaning up, putting away ingredients, and returning books to their bags. Grace finished tidying up and walked to Noah's side. Draco looked down at her, teasing, "Need a hairbrush, Parker?"
"Right? Merlin, Grace, if you need to borrow one you can just ask!" Noah added with a grin.
"Oh, shut up, you two!" She yelled with a blush, shoving the both
of them with a laugh. "I'll have to teach you how to iron sometime, Noah. It looks like you could use the help," Grace called, finally walking out into the corridor.
"She's going to be a real handful," Draco stated, clapping his friend on the back as he exited the classroom.
Noah couldn't help but smile to himself. His heart felt warm in his chest. He could finally be with Grace. He had wanted this for so long. After Grace talked to Ryan tonight, they could be together.
Noah met Grace in the corridor, who was patiently waiting for him a few yards down. He walked over to her, a concerned expression etched on his face. "Are you going to be okay talking to him tonight?"
"Yeah, it'll be fine," Grace assured him with a nod. She had to admit, she was a little nervous about how the conversation with Ryan would go, but she didn't want to say that to Noah. He probably already knew that anyway.
"Find me after, okay?" Noah asked, giving her hand a squeeze. "Meet me at the tree by the lake tonight?"
Grace gave him a small smile and a nod. "I'll see you tonight."
They gave their goodbyes, heading their separate ways to go to their different classes.
During Transfiguration class, which was dragging on terribly slowly, Grace's mind easily drifted to what lied ahead that evening. What on earth was she going to say to Ryan? She felt nauseous, her stomach turning uncomfortably. The sensation was reason enough for her to decide to skip dinner after class. Instead, she filled up on the words she would say to her soon-to-be ex-boyfriend.
Reaching the Gryffindor dormitory after class had finished, Grace stared at herself in the mirror, trying to visualize a strong girl staring back at her.
"You can do this," she told the girl in the mirror, repeating the words a few times for good measure. Convincing herself was a difficult battle, but she was ready to fight.
As the sun began its descent, Grace decided it was time to find Ryan. He would be heading back to Slytherin house from dinner in a few minutes. She grabbed her wand, slipping it into her pocket before making her way toward the Great Hall.
Stepping onto the main floor, Grace swallowed hard, looking for Ryan in the sea of students. She finally spotted him walking next to Jake, who was chuckling at something his friend had said. Grace watched the two of them carefully. She had to be cautious. She didn't want to have this conversation in front of Jake, but it would be difficult to get the boy away. She didn't even want to be near him after he had touched her the other night in the Gryffindor common room.
She took a deep breath, catching up to Ryan. "Can we talk?"
"Where have you been? It feels like you've been avoiding me," he said, glaring at down at her with his intimidating gaze. Jake crossed his arms, listening intently.
"I'm sorry, I just-" She stopped herself. Don't apologize to him! "I really need to talk to you." She glanced at Jake but quickly shifted her eyes back to Ryan. "Alone."
"Whatever you need to say, you can say in front of my friends," Ryan stated confidently, leaning back against the cold, stone wall of the corridor.
"Don't do this," Grace begged. "Please, I just want to talk to you. Don't make this more fucking difficult than it has to be," she snapped quietly.
Both of the boys' eyes widened slightly. Jake sneered, "I told you, Ryan. Quite the mouth on her."
"I don't know who she thinks she's talking to like that, because it sure as hell isn't me," replied Ryan, speaking to Jake in disbelief.
Grace scoffed, continuing, "Stop acting like I'm not even here! I'm not some fucking rag doll you can use whenever you want and throw away when you get bored!"
"Bored? Merlin, Carrow! Did you tell her you were bored? How could you be bored of a girl with an ass like that?" Jake teased as his eyes scanned over her, a smirk stretched across his face.
That was it.
Grace's fist collided with Jake's cheek, wiping that stupid smirk right off his face. His head whipped viciously to the side and he brought his hand up to wipe the blood that was now dripping from his mouth. Grace's knuckles were throbbing, but her adrenaline masked the pain. Her chest was rising and falling in anger. She felt so alive, but she knew from both of the boys' expressions that she was dead. Absolutely dead.
Grace looked around nervously. Students were staring at her like she had gone mad. She had just punched another student, for Merlin's sake! She brought her hand close to her chest, rubbing her knuckles gently.
Ryan knew he was in the clear to grab her in public. The rules were thrown out the window the second Grace had laid a hand on Jake. The Slytherin snatched Grace by her hair, dragging her down the corridor at an aggressive speed, leaving Jake to stand in the corridor tending to his face.
"You want to talk? We'll talk," Ryan said with venom in his voice. He pulled her roughly along the corridor, kicking open the door to an empty classroom. He shoved Grace inside, slamming the door behind him. "You must have really lost your fucking mind."
Grace rubbed her head, the roots of her hair aching from his harsh touch. Standing up straighter, she yelled, "I didn't do anything to him that you haven't done to me for months!"
"Watch it," Ryan warned, taking a step closer.
"No, you watch it! I can't do this anymore! You hit me, you degrade me, you tell everyone I'm easy, and you treat me like shit," Grace explained, narrowing her eyes up at him. Her heart was about to burst through her chest. "I don't deserve to be treated that way. No one does. Maybe you do, actually, but I certainly don't."
Ryan burst out in laughter, sending chills up Grace's spine. "So what? You're breaking up with me or something?" He asked, an amused expression on his face. "It's about that stupid Dolohov boy, isn't it?"
"It's about me! I feel like I haven't been able to breathe in months and I've had enough," Grace admitted, her voice cracking. "I'm finally doing something for myself. This is my decision. No one else's. And that's the way it should be."
"Oh, please. You were born to be told what to do, Grace," Ryan continued, crossing his arms. "People like you don't make their own decisions. They need someone to do it for them. I've been that 'someone' for you for awhile now. How will you survive without me?"
"I wasn't surviving with you," Grace spat. "I don't want to be with you anymore, Ryan. We're done," she said firmly, walking toward the door to exit.
Ryan seized her arm, stopping her from taking another step. "And what happens if I don't let you? What happens if I pretend this conversation never happened?"
"Some people would say that you're delusional," answered Grace. "I'd just say you're a dick."
"You know what, Grace? I don't give a fuck. Do whatever you want, whoever you want, wherever you want. I don't care, because one day you'll come crawling back to me. They always do," Ryan bellowed.
"I will never come back to you, Ryan Carrow. For as long as I live, I will never, ever let you treat me the way I let you for so long." Grace clenched her fists, bruises already forming on her knuckles. She ripped her arm out of Ryan's grip. "I'm finally going to be happy."
Grace, filled with pure strength and relief, tore her eyes away from him, walking out of the room. She stepped into the corridor where straggling students briskly paced by her.
Even though it was after sunset, everything around her felt brighter. The darkness in the sky was so far away that she knew the darkness in her life was, too.
For now, at least.
For now.