This chapter took forever to write...mostly because I wanted it to be perfect...I don't know if I managed it but anyways...Thankyou to everyone that has reviewed, favourited or added this story to their alerts, it really does mean a lot!

Disclaimer: still only own Grace, Harry Potter and everyone else is JKs.

Chapter 12- Curiosity Killed the Cat

It was after the last of her exams that Grace saw the minister and the two of his ministry people. As soon as she saw them her heart sank. She did not need this right now. She was exhausted and very glad they were nearly at the end of the school year; it had been a long one.

"Ah Grace, I was hoping I would run into you," said Fudge warmly when he spotted her.

Grace eyed the other two men. One looked incredibly ancient (and was probably older than Dumbledore) while the other was looking at her with an evil glint in his eye. It was when Fudge moved towards her to greet her properly that she noticed that the man was playing with an axe. So this was Buckbeaks' executioner, Grace's eyes narrowed.

"How have you been?" said Fudge.

"I'm good. What are you doing here?" Grace replied innocently.

"Oh, it's well….it's a nasty matter actually," he answered, clearly not wanting to talk about it with her.

"I can see that," Grace said with a pointed look at the man's axe.

"We are here to deal with the mad hippogriff, Grace. Surely you have heard about it, the event occurred in one of your classes after all."

"And by 'deal with' do you mean kill?" she said shortly.

"The hippogriff is dangerous, we have an obligation to keep you students safe," Fudge said, all the warmth now gone from his voice.

Grace opened her mouth to retort but then stopped. She noticed Lupin standing at the bottom of the staircase behind the minister. He shook his head subtly and then gestured for her to follow before he started walking slowly up the stairs.

"I have to go," she said taking the hint.

Fudge seemed taken aback by her abruptness but then smiled. "Of course, I suppose your friends are waiting for you."

Grace just nodded and hurried up the stairs to catch up with Lupin. She didn't speak until the minister was out of sight.

"What was that?"

"Do you really think that it is wise to pick a fight with the minister for magic?" he said raising an eyebrow at her.

"It wouldn't exactly be the first time," she muttered.

Lupin looked at her strangely. It was the way he had looked at her when he had first met her; as though he wasn't really seeing her anymore, almost as if he wasn't even there with her anymore. They walked together in silence for a little longer before Lupin said goodbye and hastily took off in the direction of the staff room.

Grace however continued on to the common room to meet Harry, Ron and Hermione so they could go down to dinner together.

"Grace, there you are!" said Harry when she got there. She was surprised to see that he had his invisibility cloak with him. Everyone kind of looked on edge as well. Grace knew that look, it was the look they got whenever they were about to do something stupid and potentially dangerous.

"What's going on?" she demanded.

"We're going down to Hagrid's after dinner," explained Hermione. "He can't be alone right now. He needs us."

"And the cloak's for….."

"You know they won't let us go what with….erm…. well you know," said Ron awkwardly. Apparently they still didn't like talking about Sirius Black in front of her.

Harry headed for the portrait hole. "You coming with us or not?" he said.

"No."

Harry stopped and turned back to her in shock.

"What?"

"I'm not coming."

"Why not?" said Harry confused. Both Ron and Hermione were looking at her disbelievingly too; Grace had never refused to do anything that involved breaking the rules before. She was usually the first one out the door.

"Harry, I really don't think it's a good idea."

"Grace, Hagrid needs us."

"I just don't want to watch Buckbeak being killed or is that too hard for you to understand?"

Harry's expression softened. "No, it's not. You don't have to come if you don't want to."

Grace watched them leave, Harry tucking the cloak under his shirt as they went, preparing to sneak out of the castle at the first opportunity. It felt weird being left behind. She wanted to be there for Hagrid but she just couldn't. She knew that going down there would not help Buckbeak… or even Hagrid that much.

Grace skipped dinner; preferring to wait in the common room alone. After everyone had gone down to the Great Hall she had gone to her dormitory and brought down a bottle of firewhiskey that she had kept. The bottle was sitting, unopened, on the table in front of her. It was staring at her, daring her to drink it.

No matter how much she told herself that it was all in her head, that she didn't need to drink it like her whole body was telling her that she did, she couldn't help feeling like she was fighting a losing battle. Several times she reached out to the bottle before re-crossing her arms.

"I can do this," she kept muttering to herself. "I don't need it. I don't need it."

"No you don't."

She had been concentrating so hard on the firewhiskey in front of her that she hadn't even heard him come in. Great, she thought. Of all the people that could have walked in on her, it had to be him. However, when she turned around, she found that she was wrong. It wasn't him. But it was his brother.

George Weasley came and sat next to her. "Has the bottle talked back yet?" he asked jokingly.

"Not yet," she sighed turning back to the bottle.

"What are you doing up here, all alone? Where is Harry, Ron and Hermione? I thought you were all best friends again."

"They went out."

"And you didn't go with them?"

"Didn't want to."

"No. I'm sure sitting up here talking to alcohol is a much better pastime than being with your friends," he said with a smirk.

Grace just shrugged. That bottle was suddenly becoming much more appealing to her.

"Grace? Can I ask you a question?"

She tore her gaze away from the firewhiskey to look at him.

"Fred really likes you."

"That's not a question," she observed.

"I'm not finished. He really likes you and you really like him. So what's the problem? Why don't you want to be with him?"

"I don't think that's any of your business," she said curtly, standing up.

"Where are you going?"

"I don't think that's any of your business either," she said before leaving the common room and George behind.

Everyone would be coming back from dinner about now anyway, she reasoned with herself as she realised that, in her haste to get away from George, she had left the firewhiskey in the common room. You can't drink in peace with a room full of nosy students.

Grace wandered the castle for quite a while before she thought that enough time had passed that she would be able to get out onto the grounds without passing anybody in the entrance hall. It was nearly curfew time so that meant very few people would be out of their common rooms now. She didn't give much thought to how she would get back into the castle afterwards. If she was lucky she would bump into Harry with his invisibility cloak on their way back from Hagrids', if she wasn't…..well she would cross that bridge when she got to it.

She liked the Hogwarts' grounds at night. It was so peaceful. There was nobody there to stare at her as if she was an alien or glare at her as if she was a mass murderer. She sat down on the grass, her back leaning against a tree and her eyes closed. She wondered if anyone would notice if she just spent the night there, it was very relaxing with the wind blowing softly to keep her from getting too warm and the odd star glinting at her from behind the clouds and the sound of footsteps…..wait footsteps? Who would possibly be out at this time?

Grace shrank back into the shadows and looked in the direction that she thought she had heard the footsteps. Sure enough, after a couple of seconds she saw Severus Snape running towards the Whomping Willow. He stopped and grabbed a branch from the floor. He jabbed into the trunk of the tree as she watched and the tree suddenly froze as though he had just cast a spell on it. He disappeared under it and Grace waited for him to re-appear. Only he didn't.

After waiting for a few minutes, Grace thought it was safe to venture slightly closer. She edged towards the tree, making sure that she was still hidden in case Snape decided to jump back out on her. However, when she got to the tree, he wasn't there. That's impossible, she thought. How many times had Hermione told her that you can't apparate or dissapparate anywhere in the grounds? He must be there somewhere….

As she looked closer, she noticed the small, black hole at the foot of the trees' trunk. That must be it. Grace studied the tree, it appeared to still be frozen and she approached it cautiously. After several wary steps forward, Grace raced to the opening in the ground, not taking any chances and sure enough, just as she jumped into the hole, she heard the sounds of the trees' branches swiping violently around again.

Grace looked around. She was in some kind of tunnel and she sped onward as quietly as she could. What was Snape up to? Why would he come here?

When she entered the derelict house, Grace didn't know what to think. This was something big, she could feel it but she didn't know what and that made her apprehensive. What was going on?

Just as she spotted the marks in the dust leading away from her, she heard Hermione's scream. She followed the sound of voices upstairs. When she entered the room, she was met by a strange sight. Lupin was tied up on the floor, Ron was clutching his leg and looked as though he was in quite a lot of pain, Hermione looked scared out of her wits, Snape had his wand out and was looking particularly triumphant about something and Harry was looking intensely at something behind Snape.

"What the-" Everyone turned to look at Grace as she stepped a little further into the room. It was only then that she spotted the other person in the room. Sirius Black. Her father. Harry's godfather. The murderer.

Originally I was going to write all of it in one chapter but then as I typed that last bit, I thought it would be better to end it here but you won't have to wait long for the next one...I'm already a good way through it!