Chapter 35 – The Last Time
"Grace, wake up."
She felt someone lightly shaking her and blearily opened her eyes.
"Remus? What are you doing here?"
"We could ask you the same question," said a very familiar voice from behind her. Grace shot up and spun around to face her dad. Only then did she register where she was.
She had been lying on the couch of the drawing room in Grimmauld Place. Sirius and Remus were both watching her warily as she tried to get her bearings. Clasping her hands together to stop them from shaking, she started to pace.
"Remus found you lying on the grass outside," said Sirius cautiously but Grace hardly heard him. Her jaw dropped when she remembered what she had done.
"I apparated," she gasped, sinking into a chair.
"You did what?" Sirius said.
"I didn't mean to," Grace defended. "I didn't even know I could-"
"Grace!"
"I couldn't help it. That stupid woman was talking about you," she pointed to Remus, "and I just got mad."
"But Grace there is a reason you have to pass a test before you apparate. Anything could have happened to you!" chided Remus.
"How do you even know how to do it?" Sirius asked.
"I told you, I didn't know I could do it! I mean I tried over the summer-"
"What do you mean you tried?"
"Well Fred taught me the basics and-"
"HE DID WHAT?" Sirius roared.
"Hold on a minute," said Grace. "Weren't you an unregistered animagus by the time you were my age?"
"That's completely different-"
"How is that different?"
"Grace," Remus interrupted. "I think you should tell us everything from the beginning."
She explained the whole conversation with Umbridge as best as she could and how she had stormed out. Sirius was still angry with Fred (Grace made a mental note to warn him the next time she spoke to him) but he was just as offended as she had been with the things that Umbridge had said about Remus.
"So I walked out but I really didn't mean to apparate here," she finished, looking at the two men earnestly.
"We will have to get a message to Dumbledore," Remus said to Sirius but then he turned back to Grace. "You know you will have to go back to school."
"I can't go back there!"
"She's got a point, Remus," said Sirius thoughtfully. "We're lucky all she did was blow up a few plates and then come here. It could have been a lot worse."
"She can't stay here," he argued. "Umbridge won't let her get away with this. She'll have the whole Ministry out looking for her."
"But I don't want to go back there," Grace pouted.
"Let me send a message to Dumbledore," Remus said not unkindly. "He will tell us what to do."
"Actually, he should be here for the meeting soon anyway. We can wait until then, can't we Moony?"
"Well, well, I guess now there are two fugitives in the family," drawled a voice. It took Grace a full minute to figure out where the voice was coming from but when she did, she could have screamed. In the mirror above the fireplace was the head of Snape leering down at them. Sirius rose from his chair.
"What do you want, Snape?" he asked roughly.
Grace stood up for a closer look. "How is this even possible?"
"It's how the Order members contact each other when all else fails," Remus explained. "What's wrong, Severus?"
"Potter seems to be under the delusion that Black has been taken to the ministry-"
"What?" yelled Grace.
"Obviously, he is mistaken," Snape said, rolling his eyes as if the whole thing was nothing more than an inconvenience.
"Where is he now?" she asked.
"They left with Umbridge a few moments ago-"
Grace left the room abruptly. She knew Harry. She knew that if he thought Sirius was in trouble, he would do anything to get to him. She knew he wouldn't wait.
"Grace?" Remus' voice carried down the stairs but she had already made up her mind and he would only try to stop her.
Hastily, she unbolted the front door and stepped out into the fresh air and for the second time in her life, she disapparated.
...
Grace had been to the Ministry a lot but she had never before seen it completely empty. The effect was unnerving and she took out her wand. Crossing the atrium, she headed to the lift and did what any reasonable person would do in her position: she asked the lift where to go.
"I need to find Harry Potter," she declared.
The doors clanged shut and the floors flashed past until they came to a halt at the Department of Mysteries. At the other end of the corridor, she saw the door still open and she knew she was headed in the right direction. Luckily for her, Harry and the others had been in a rush because they hadn't shut any of the doors behind them so she carefully ventured further into the department and soon she could hear the sound of voices.
She caught up with them in the Prophecy room.
"Grace?"
Ignoring the others, she walked right up to Harry and smacked him.
"Harry Potter – what the hell were you thinking?"
"Grace, it's Sirius, he's here and-"
"He is not here! He's safe back at Headquarters, you bloody idiot!"
"How...how do you know?"
"Because I was just there with him!"
"What about this?" Harry asked with the air of someone desperately clutching at straws now. He held out the orb for her to look at.
"Very good, Potter. Now turn around, nice and slowly, and give that to me."
Grace could have sworn her heart stopped at the sound of that voice. She didn't have to turn around to know that it belonged to Lucius Malfoy.
"Hand it over and no one needs to get hurt."
Harry stepped past Grace to talk to him. She knew he was trying to buy them some time but for what? They were trapped. It wasn't until someone knocked over a prophecy accidentally that she had an idea. Subtly, she tugged on Hermione's sleeve.
"Bring the shelves down," she breathed.
"Don't do anything yet," Harry said quietly.
"Do you hear him?" shrieked a woman to Malfoy's right. She stepped into the light and Grace recognised her as Bellatrix Lestrange. "Giving orders to the others, like he thinks he's going to fight us!"
"Oh you don't know Potter the way I do, Bellatrix," said Lucius.
The longer they talked, the more Bellatrix seemed to lose her patience. Grace tried to signal to Harry that it was time to go but it was as though he was waiting for something. What it was, Grace didn't know but just as she was about to give up and do it herself, Harry shouted.
"NOW!"
"REDUCTO!"
All seven of them shouted the spell and as the orbs smashed to the ground, pearly white figures rose up. They talked over each other, until they were surrounded by a jumble of voices and ghostly figures.
"RUN!" yelled Harry.
They sprinted away, shooting spell after spell behind them, too eager to get away to see if any of them connected with their targets. Reaching a doorway, they flew through it, locking it behind them.
"What do we do?" asked Hermione.
"We need to get out of this place," said Ron.
"The Order will know that we are here by now," said Grace. "So we shouldn't have to outrun them for long." She was looking at who Harry had decided to bring along with him. To an extent, Hermione and Ron were used to being in these kinds of life-threatening situations but Luna and Neville were pale faced and panting. She looked at Ginny and thought of Fred; he would kill her if she let anything happen to his only sister.
Suddenly, they heard voices on the other side of the door.
"Move!" she ordered as the door blasted open.
Dispersing in different directions, Harry, Hermione and Neville went through one door and out of sight. Grace, Ron, Ginny and Luna almost fell through another door. As soon as the door clicked shut, they were in absolute darkness and floating. It was like someone had switched the gravity off.
She felt Ron bump into the side of her and reached to get hold of him.
"Ginny? Luna?"
"Grace?" came Ginny's voice from somewhere across the room. "I can't see anything."
"This place is strange," said Luna.
"Try to stay together," said Grace. "Me and Ron will try to come-"
Just then, the door opened with a bang and instantly they dropped to the ground heavily. Ron was the first on his feet, Grace could just make out his silhouette in the doorway, but the death eaters hit him full in the face with a spell she didn't recognise.
"Stupefy!" Grace aimed for the door as she got to her feet. "Let's go!" she called.
She grabbed a handful of Ron's jumper and dragged him to the door on the other side of the room. She could see Luna help Ginny up and follow her. Together they hurtled into a circular room.
"Grace, what happened?"
Grace only just had time to register that they had somehow stumbled upon the others before Ron threw himself at Harry, laughing his head off.
"I don't know what they did to him," she replied helplessly. "Ginny, are you okay?"
"I think she broke her ankle," Luna answered for her when Ginny just scrunched her face up in pain. "I heard it crack when we fell."
"Harry, we need to get out of here," said Grace with a sideways look at Neville who was sweating and carrying Hermione over his shoulder.
Harry picked a door at random and led them through it. They were in the Time Room now; it wasn't the way out but they could hear shouting behind them. They had no choice.
"They're in there!"
"Help me lock the doors!" Grace cried, racing forwards to start shutting the doors.
"Hey Harry!" said Ron, gleefully pointing at the tank in the corner. "Look at those! Those are brains. Accio brains!"
"Ron, no!" Harry yelled but it was too late. The brain was soaring across the room towards Ron's outstretched hands.
The death eaters were nearly there now but Grace shut the door in their faces while Neville and Luna were doing the same on the opposite side of the room. Then she heard Ginny scream.
"Harry! It's suffocating him!"
Grace whirled around. Harry was frantically trying to get the brain away from Ron; its tendrils had snaked all the way up Ron's arms and they weren't stopping there. But at the same time, the death eaters were breaking through. She saw Luna fall and then Ginny as she shouted spells at them, trying in vain to keep them out.
Bellatrix entered the room. "Get Potter!" she screeched.
"Harry, go!" Grace shouted. "I'll help Ron, just get out of here!"
"Oh, I don't think you will be helping anyone."
Grace hadn't even seen him come into the room. Her blood ran cold when she turned and came face to face with Lucius. He smirked as he waved his wand and the breath caught in her chest as she crashed to the ground.