Lily had volunteered to help Mrs. Potter clear the table after the last bit of pancake had been scraped up by Sirius. Lily gracefully scooped three bowls up in her arms and shoved the swinging door that opened to the kitchen with her knee.

James padded behind her, trying to get her attention by scooping her up in his arms or poking her randomly causing her to sneak, jump, then throw him a loving glare. Sirius had joined in on torturing Lily for a while, mainly by trotting after her every step in and out of the kitchen. Grace watched the three of them jump and squeal (in Lily's case) or shove someone into a wall playfully (James and Sirius's case). The truly were a sight to see as she sat there with her letter from Professor McGonagall still in her lap, holding it like if she let go for a second she might wake up from the dream she was in. Sirius left the torture of Lily to James when he remembered his promise to take Grace to her house.

When Mrs. Potter got wind of the plan she bustled and fussed nervously, muttering something about one of her sons getting blown to pieces. Mrs. Potter was a very loving accepting woman who had taken Sirius' welfare into her own hands.

Grace shouldn't help but chuckle when Mrs. Potter tired of fussing over Sirius and turned to her. "Sirius, this is ridiculous, the poor girl will frezze to death, or catch a cold!" James snorted as he passed through to the kitchen, still following Lily; his mother made it seem like a cold was a fate worse then death.

"Oh, dear, I don't even have a heavy coat, there all in storage, what strange weather it is for summer, who would have known." She was more talking to herself now as she mumbled around collecting thermoses and poring freshly made soup into them, then putting a warming charm on them to keep them hot. Even though Mrs. Potter complained so much about them going, she still felt the need to pack a proper lunch seeing as it was a good ways away.

Sirius turned to Grace ignoring Mrs. Potter continuous ranting.

"Go Gracie, can you apperate?"

Sirius smiled at her quizitve look at the new nickname. He said it in fun, grinning ear to ear, like he did when he called James' Jamsie, or Lily Lilkins.

Grace shook her head, causing her dark hair that fell down her shoulders in beautiful loose spirals for fall over her shoulders and into her face. Mrs. Potter passed her a hair band with out a word while passing. "No, never needed to learn, being a brush witch and all"

A brush witch was a dieing race. They were witches, or wizards for that matter who lived solely off the land. Normally they had something else mixed in with their wizard blood to give them a flare of making powerful potions out of natural things. They were known for being very wise and resorceful. Their lives work was to make powerful potions used for a variety of things. They were known as healers, curing diseases of wizards and muggles smart enough to believe in them. Healing wasn't their only gift, the made off. They were known for being in touch with nature and speaking the language of any creature (like elves, mermaids, trolls).

Sirius nodded regretfully realizing that there best option just flew out the window.

He had passed his appeartion test, just earlier in the summer. "I suppose we could take the horses then" He said thoughtfully.

Graces eyes grew huge and mumbled quickly "No, no, please, I really don't want to" She didn't want to meet his eye so she looked down at her own feet.

Sirius looked at her curiously, chuckling at her eagerness not too. He let it drop, saying they would have to walk then, but he fully meant to bring it up on a later date.

As Grace pulled up her long hair into a high pony tail on her head, Sirius bounded up the stairs and re joined them pulling a large sweatshirt over his head, seeing as Mrs. Potter was right when she said it was a little nippy outside. Sirius came behind Grace and pulled a large grey sweatshirt he had in his arms over her head. Grace yipped and put her arms up, letting the long sleeves fall over he small frame. She grinned a little as the sleeves fell past her hands covering them completely, and the sweatshirt came well down towards her knees.

Mrs. Potter frowned a little, but handed a backpack that had there lunch in it to Sirius. She hugged him protectively "Now be well before dark, you might not notice it but poor Gracie here actually needs some sleep, and yes I do know you kept her up to all hours of the night talking. You're leaving for school in three days counting today, and were going shopping tomorrow, you all need your rest" with that she shoved the two of them out the door.

Grace missed a step as Sirius' long strides increased to make it over a shallow puddle. Grace tripped clumsily increasing her grip on Sirius' linked arm. He gave her a sideways glanced had helped to steady her teetering steps. The two had just barely dented the long trek ahead of them, but had finally wandered out of the eyes of their unknown spectators.

Grace fell back into stride with Sirius' big lazy steps. He walked with his feet never landing perfectly in front of him, as he watched the leaves crunch beneath his large feet.

They traveled in silence for a bit, arms linking as Sirius led her threw the woods she knew so well. They had enough conversation to fill this trip a thousand times over. Even though they had spent the past few days attempting to cover ever aspect of each others lives there was only so much you could say on paper.

Both the normally cattery peoples minds were wiring with silent thoughts. Grace pondered what it would be like to see Hogwarts and be plunged so fast into the world most wizards her age were more then comfortable with. She sighed a little, worried about how it would go when her new friend went back to their real world. She knew James and Sirius were quite popular, she just didn't know what that should mean to her.

Sirius was just itching to ask her more questions, but at the same time his mind was itching to see how she would do with the real world. He did not live in his own little world, and knew perfectly well that she would be a novelty item at Hogwarts just for being new. He was also well aware that people would wonder how she had gotten to know all the marauders so well. Truthfully he didn't want that to join the gossip circle. Another thing was playing at the back of his mind. Everyone from 5th year up knew that Brush Witches almost always had blood that was mixed with different races and never had any muggle in them. What else did Grace have? What ever it was he knew his parent would think of her as a half human. The Slytherins were sure too as well. Finally he asked her.

"Um, Gracie, we learned that Brush Witches often have mixed blood….earm….ya" His voice was apprehensive, not wanting to offend her, but also incredibly curious.

Grace smiled both at her nickname and his uncharacteristic nervousness. Finally she answered through her chuckles " Don't worry about it Sirius. To make a long story short, My great great grandmother was a pixie. She married a famous brush witches son. Their son, my great grandfather married a wood elf. So my Grandmother was 1/3 wood elf, 1/3 pixie, and 1/3 wizard. My grandmother then married a wizard. That makes me 1/4th wood elf, 1/4th pixie and a half wizard." Grace smiled a little at him, seeing if he still followed. She wanted to get everything into the open now, no lies this time. But she also hoped he would let her stop there.

Sirius chuckled. He noticed that you could see there breath in the frosty air. He took Graces small hand that hand grown almost white in the cold in his own. "wow….is that ALL, I guess that's where you get your size from" He said very sarcastically. Grace wasn't a truly tiny person. She was a little over 5 feet, but she was all around very slight, making her small height even more apparent.

Grace couldn't bring her self to meet his eyes as she slowly continued "Well no…see you have to understand that Brush Witches are half wizard at most, and as I said my great great grandfather was a brush witches son. Well you see, I'm allergic to garlic…and I have the dark hair. The only people in my family that haven't been blond were my great great grandfather, his father, and me…" She still kept her eyes low, hoping he would respond better then the last time someone knew.

Sirius shook his head a little, trying to grasp what she was trying to tell him. She was part she actually turn people? Sirius wasn't too worried seeing as his friends and him ran around with a werewolf every full moon, but still a vampire. "Wait, what? You're a Vampire, can you actually turn people…"

Grace didn't notice the calmness in his voice, and had already started to wriggle away from him incase he freaked out like the last person. He mind flashed to a large scar that ran from where her neck met her shoulders down about 6 inches. "Wh…wh…well see, I'm only part vampire, I don't have fangs, and I don't ac…ac…actually have any blood lust….I actually cant stand the taste of blood, just biting my tough makes me gag…" She was wriggling violently now, but Sirius's grip on her elbow held fast partly out of shock.

Grace continued since she could get free. "please….my grandmother took me to get blood tests and have my teeth looked at. The only abnormal thing about them is I only got one set of teeth, no baby teeth, but that was a wood elf thing. Even if I could turn people witch the healers doubt, my teeth would do no good, there normal." She had worked her self into a small panic now, and was jerking at her arm, trying to free her self.

Sirius shook his head, getting over the slight shock of it to notice her panic. What had he done, he wasn't going to hurt her, why did she think he would. Sirius took his other hand and rested it on his shoulder, making her still and look him in the eye.

He was now facing her. "Grace, Gracie, to me your just my Gracie, just a witch. I you could be all alien for all I care. Maybe people in your past were Vampires, not you" He paused looking deeply in her large dark eyes that were still fearful, but starting to settle. He slowly said in a very soft rough voice "yes…just my Grace" she settled now from the loving tone of his voice and stopped her struggle, coming easily to him when he pulled her closer, taking one of her hands in his and letting other one wander to her cheek, brushing a long lock of dark hair from her face.

He softly said in an almost hurt voice "Why were you so afraid, did you really think I would hurt you?" He stood directly in front her, blocking her path of movement, one large hand was clamped around her shoulder just at the base of her neck. The other hand was on her opposite arm holding it to her small body.

Grace twisted a little, and was only slightly surprised by his strength. She truly couldn't move an inch, not for lack of trying. He didn't look like the kind of guy who wouldn't be able to make someone as small as her stay still. His grip made it perfectly clear that she wasn't going anywhere, but at the same time it made her just relax, it reassured her that he wouldn't hurt her, would be there to protect her. She finally turned her eyes away, seeing as he couldn't stand the look that was a mix of hurt and worry. His hand caught her chin, turning it up to look straight into his concerned eyes. Graces memory flashed, someone had found out, he had panicked and thrown a stake at her. The guy had been afraid, and stupid, violent in fear of a vampire. The stake didn't affect her like it would a vampire, but like a human. That was enough to leave a long scar that ran where her collar bone met her shoulder towards her neck. At the thought of the impact she could feel the stake rooting its self into her muscle all over again and she flinched badly at the spot. Sirius' eyes flashed immediately to her shoulder like a huge flashing sign with lights was telling him too.

Sirius looked at her curiously, and released the hand that was still clamped on her chin, going down to the neck of her sweater and pulling it down a little. His eyes never left hers until the neck of his sweater that was limp on her small frame was pulled away. His eyes slowly were cast down to the raised scar.

She closed her eyes and winced, nervous about what his reaction would be, but at the same time fighting to keep herself from wrapping her arms around him and just letting her knees go weak like they were wanting so badly to do.

Sirius just sighed, putting the missing puzzle pieces together by himself. He took a step towards her, putting his feet on either side of hers and looked down at her with a comforting look on his face, before pulling her arm towards him and wrapping his other arm around her shoulders in a hug.

Grace took the invitation and slowly wrapped her arms around him, and rested her head against his chest and tightened her grip around him. Grace squinted her eyes closed, trying to relax and get over the past.

Sirius knew that her efforts to forget were failing and he said softly "Don't worry Grace, were all here for you"

Grace smiled a little bit and collected her self and started to walk again, still holding on to his linked elbow.