It wasn't until three weeks before the ball that Grace chose a dress. After weeks of putting it off, she finally pulled out the catalogue that Abbey had given her, sat down and told herself the she couldn't get up until she'd picked something.
She ended up settling on a navy blue dress of medium length, with intricate lacy details. She filled in the slip on the back of the catalogue for mail orders and then set off for the Owlery with a bunch of letters in hand.
The dress wasn't the only thing she needed to order. She needed to order some Christmas presents.
The Marauders and the Hufflepuff gang (Lily included) had decided to get together and all get small presents for each other this year. This meant having to buy anything she couldn't get at Hogsmeade through the mail as well, or even getting her Aunty to send stuff over from Australia.
The Owlery was relatively empty when she arrived, with only two student inside. A small Slytherin second year and a taller Hufflepuff fifth year whom Grace recognised to be Sam Clemons.
"Hey Sam," Grace chirped as she entered, going over to where her wide-eyed Boobook owl, Frodo sat. "And hello Frodo."
"Grace!" Sam exclaimed, walking over. "Hi. Merlins beard, that's a lot of letters. What are they all for?"
"Well, most of these are mail orders for the Christmas thing we're doing. This one is a letter to my grandparents, this one to my Aunty and this last one is to order my dress for the ball," Grace said, holding up the three letters.
"You actually found something? Unbelievable. My mum just sent me my dress robes the other day and they're... interesting. There's just so much lace! Coming from everywhere! Every time I cut a bit off I find more!" Sam cried. "Apart from the excessive lace though, they're pretty good. I've seen much, much worse. Mine are only a generation old thank Merlin."
"Practically new. Have you found a ball partner yet? Abbey mentioned that you were having a bit of trouble."
Sam sighed. "Nope. I just... I don't know who to ask. I know that I don't have to have a partner – you guys are going as a group aren't you? – but I still kind of want to, you know. I just don't know who."
Grace was silent for a second, thinking. Would Abbey kill her if she... "What about Abbey? She doesn't have a partner." She paused for a second before adding "You two would make a really cute couple." Yep, she was definitely dead now.
"But she's one of my best friends, I don't think of her like that, I..." Sam trailed off, looking out onto the Hogwarts grounds. "Do I?"
"I don't know. Do you?"
Sam turned back to her, eyes slighter wider than usual. "Maybe I... Yes. I'll ask Abbey," he decided as he left the Owlery, a hint of a spring in his step.
Grace smiled.
"Hear that, Frodo," Grace said, patting her little owl on the head. "He's going to ask her! I mean, Abbey's still going to kill me for saying anything in the first place but... hopefully she'll kill me a little less if the outcome is them going to the ball together, right? And they'll-"
"Are you talking to your owl?" the second year boy asked.
"Um, yes. Yes, I am," Grace realised. "Is there... anything wrong with that?"
The dark haired Slytherin boy didn't answer, just left the Owlery, looking at her strangely as he passed her.
"Anyway Frodo, I'm going to give you this one," Grace said, tying the envelope containing her dress order to his leg.
She then distributed the rest of her letters amongst a few of the school owls, managing to get bitten by every single one of them.
After giving Frodo one final pat on the head, Grace left the Owlery.
---
It turns out that Sirius' questioning from their first full moon together wasn't over.
On the 18th of November, after their second successful full moon, they were silently trudging up the slight hill towards the castle when Sirius asked. "So Grace, do you like Remus?"
"Oh Merlin's beard, not this again," Grace huffed.
"Well, judging by the fact that you won't tell us, I'm going to assume that you do."
"You can't just-" Grace began to protest, but she was cut off by James.
"We've come up with a plan," James told her. "A plan to get you two together."
"You've what!? Why?"
"Because I've always wanted to become a matchmaker," James replied.
"And because we were extremely bored yesterday afternoon," Peter added.
"So, you know the ball is in two weeks?" Sirius asked. "Well at the ball, you'll ask him to dance, and then midway through the dance, you pull out that ukulele that Ely has and start to serenade him-"
"Oh my gosh. I can't believe for a second there that I thought this was going to be a serious plan," Grace sighed, before realising what she'd said. "Don't even-"
"But Grace, it was a Sirius plan. I wrote the song after all," Sirius said, before clearing his throat and deliberately singing in the most screechy voice he could: "Reeeemus, oh Reeeeemus, I really like you a lot-mus, yeah Reee-"
"Silencio," Peter said, pointing his wand at Sirius and then laughing when his voice was silenced.
Grace sighed. "Ah, that is so much better."
---
Also sorry for not uploading last weekend I was hella busy which is FUN but I'll still upload again this Sunday (hopefully).
-Grace
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The Forest - R.L.
Fanfiction(Remus Lupin - Marauder's Era ) She was wandering through the forest when she saw it. A wolfish being, about as tall as herself, with scruffy grey-brown fur and a snarl forming on its lips. But she wasn't afraid. --- Grace Thorne is an eleven year o...
