Grace and Chance managed to make it back to the castle without being caught by another professor, but if Grace were a betting woman, she'd probably say that  neither were feeling especially victorious at that point in time.

They burst through the portrait into the Gryffindor common room and discovered that all but a few straggling seventh years had gone to bed. No one seemed to find it odd that their prefects were standing there, looking like they had just run a marathon, haggered and out of breath. They were prefects. That was their job to look stressed, right?

Grace finally released his arm from the death grip she had maintained throughout the trek back to the castle, as far away from the scene of the crime. She turned to face him and exclaimed, "Oh. My. Godric. That was crazy! I can't believe we did that." Her eyes widened as she thought back to what they had just seen. "I can't believe what happened. We are going to be in so much trouble! Did you see Bombay's face?" A small little laugh escaped her lips as her mind danced over everything that happened and all the possible scenarios that could unfold from here on out.

But then Grace took inventory of Chance's expression and her own softened. He looked pretty upset. "Hey, are you okay, Chance?"

It had certainly been an eventful evening, but Chance had no energy and seemed altogether depleted.  His expression was crestfallen, shocked, and contemplative.  He seemed miles away.

Ryker's eyes barely seemed to flicker about the common room with little to no interest.  It didn't really matter to him who was there or what they were doing.

As Grace spoke, the Irish Gryff lifted a brow to pay attention to her...while still staring off at nothing in particular. 

"Yeah...t'was crazy."

Chance was quiet and lacked the vigor that seemed to follow him everywhere he went.  For all that they had seen, Chance's mind was playing out dozens of other, far worse scenarios.  Yet he still couldn't get those images out of his mind.  Still couldn't escape the mental recollection of Myrni Levartian in Graham Bombay's arms.  And even worse, Graham laying all over her.  How could he touch her like that?  How could she allow it?  What type of woman was she anyway? 

Grace's voice brought Chance once again back toward reality.

"Hrm?  Ah...m'fine."

He lied by reflex.  That was just simply what was to be said when someone asked if you were okay.  Unless you were bleeding, hexed, or dying...you were "okay."  Being closed off emotionally was a trait he'd learned well from his emotionally stifling mother.  If not for his father, there was no telling what kind of person Chance would be.

Any stragglers in the common room had looked up when the two prefects entered, and anticipating some form of reprimand for still being awake, they quietly headed upstairs to the dorms. They also seemed to take note of the state both their prefects were in and didn't want to risk upsetting them

Grace watched Chance with interest, trying to gauge what his expression meant. Their partnership was still new so there was much she had to learn in the way of his mannerisms and what they stood for. She knew that she was observant and a quick learner, so it probably wouldn't take her long. But already she knew that his generally fair disposition had been soured by their excursion to Hogsmeade.

When he told her he was fine, Grace crossed her arms in front of her and her brow shot up skeptically. "Sure. Now how come I don't believe you?"

Chance was new to this whole prefect gig...and as such, wasn't accustomed to playing watchdog over people's curfews and things he considered minor rules.  Now when it came to keeping people safe...that's where Chance's concern really stepped up and came into play.  So when people scurried out of the room...he thought nothing of it. 

His mind was on other things.

Chance lifted a brow and turned his head finally to face Grace.

"Ah'm fine.  Why're y'so concerned anyway?  How 'bout ah ask how y'are yerself?  Somethin' wrong?  Somethin' buggin' y'Grace?"

Sometimes distraction was the best policy, but sometimes it sounded quite flat and empty.  This was one of those unfortunate times where turning the accusation around didn't work that well.  He was tense...agitated...and upon looking deep into those unnaturally green eyes of his, Chance Ryker seemed almost forelorn.

Grace watched as the others in the common room quietly cleared out and she managed to flash them all a fairly grateful smile for knowing that they needed a moment.

She then turned her attention to Chance and furrowed her brow more deeply as he seemed to turn the tables on the inquisition. He was trying to take the attention away from his own feelings and Grace was not going to let him.

Grace surprised herself when she stepped closer to Chance and reached up to cup his face in her hands, forcing him to look at her. She quietly told him, "You're not fine, Chance. Stop trying to deflect everything back to me, will ya? It's not all about me...."

Realizing how she was touching him, Grace released him and lowered her hands. She snaked her hand out to grasp one of his and pulled him over to sit down on one of the couches so that they could talk.

"Now tell me what's wrong...."

Chance seemed to ever be learning more about Grace, who had always seemed so lofty and aloof.  Little Ms.Perfect was suddenly becoming all too real and human.  Expectations and assumptions were quickly being thrown out the window left and right...

Grace had quickly seen through Chance's attempt to deflect her questions.  He really hadn't wanted to delve into things.  After all...surely he was overreacting?  The things that were troubling him were so superficial and...shouldn't he have been above them?  Grace's grasping of his face had surprised him for certain, but he'd expected a playful cheek smoosh at least out of it.  No...she was being quite serious and concerned here.  Chance shook his head a little bit, even though it was grasped.

"S'no big deal, lass...It's silly...really."

It seemed Grace wouldn't accept such an easy excuse, and she took his hand and led him to sit on a couch with her.  At this point Chance sighed, shaking his head again.  His unnaturally green eyes looked to her every now and then, but he was trying to deal with this emotional connection...and it was difficult for him to do so.

"Awright, awright...s'jes'...Myrni."

He hadn't said Professor Levartian...which may have been an indicator of the nature of the problem itself.

"She's always been s'good t'me...ever since she got 'ere.  An'...it's ruddy silly as anythin', but ah've kinda 'ad m'eart set on 'er fer some time now.  Daft, lit'l schoolboy crush...'at's all."

No matter how Chance tried to dismiss it with logic and reasoning...it still hurt.  He still saw images of Myrni with Graham...and his imagination was even worse than that.  What if there was more to this relationship than he'd witnessed with Grace?  That was a terrible thought indeed.

Grace stepped back away from Chance and hastily took a seat on one of the couches in the common room. She tried to play off what she had just done in touching him. It had been an impulsive move on her part, but one that had been necessary in getting Chance to stop deferring about what was wrong. It managed to shock them both, a little.

I see," she said quietly, the situation finally taking shape in her eyes. Chance looked up to Professor Levartian. But not just in the normal teacher-pupil way. He held her up as the model of womanhood that he so admired. She was perfect in his eyes. The standard all other women in his life would be held.

And unfortunately, Professor Levartian had now fallen from the pedestal that Chance had put her on. Even if what they had witnessed was purely innocent between her and Professor Bombay, there would likely always be doubt now in Chance's eyes when he looked at the arithmancy professor.

It was unfortunate. Grace truly believed that the dark haired woman was quite noble in her words and deeds. But then, how well did she really know her anyway? How well did any of them really know her?

"Diwgell*," she muttered in her native tongue. Now Chance had her doubting their Head of House. After shaking her head real quick, she righted herself and tried to reassure her male counterpart that everything would be fine. "You're right. It's no big deal. Professor Levartian slipped and Professor Graham was simply helping her...albeit a bit awkwardly." She raised her brows and frowned at her choice of words. "There's nothing going on between them like that," she stressed.

* Cornish equivalent to bullocks

So here the two Gryffindor prefects were, sitting on a couch in the common room, reminiscing about a bizarre night that the two of them never saw coming to such a conclusion.  Grace had gotten quiet and seemed rather contemplative after Chance had finally opened up and told her how he felt about Professor Levartian.

"Whut'zat?"

Chance watched Grace, analyzing her carefully.  Had witnessing the little scene between Graham and Myrni affected Grace more than Chance had thought?  Finally Grace replied...

"Y'really think so?"

Hopefully Grace was right, but still...Chance couldn't get those images out of his head.  He just couldn't.