Sirius and Grace tramped up the last little hill then trotted down the other side and came out of the forest they had walked through for hours. Grace had taken a different root to her house, saying that she was incredibly surprised that the trees even allowed them to go that way the first time. Sirius gave her the curious look she knew was coming but shrugged it off. It seemed plausible considering all that had happened that trees could up root them selves.
Sirius' face fell when he saw two enormous oaks on either side of a path leading into the same clearing where he first met Grace and this all started. His movement slowed considerably as he starred through the entrance, afraid of how she would react to seeing her house like that.
Grace pulled at his hand eagerly, not totally processing that the entire reason she ever met Sirius was because her house was GONE. It seemed unreal and there for she was just happy to go home, how bad could it be?
Sirius pulled back on her hand, getting her to come closer to him again. She cocked her head a little, asking what was going on.
"Hey Grace, I'm just warning you…you might be a little bit shocked, but remember that it will be ok, you can stay at the Potters, remember?" He sighed, he was acting overprotective, just let her see it.
Grace led the way through the trees, more consciously now because of Sirius' warning. She past the two familiar oak, a small smile creeping up on her face, they were her tree guardians. Soft foot steps carried her across the moss and brought her house into view. Or what was left of it. Only the cobblestone foundation was left, and parts of the floor. She could barely make out where the different rooms were. One single door frame was all of the wall that was left.
Her mouth fell open for a minute. 'No…no…this isn't it…..oh god it is…." Sirius came up behind her a put a hand on her shoulder. His wand was out, watching alertly around. Grace broke down a little. She wrapped her arms around his waste, barring her face under his arm.
Sirius sighed, he knew things would go like this. He held her tighter, and gently kissed her temple.
Grace hugged him tighter, trying to forget about the wreckage. It didn't work. When she calmed down a little, Grace peaked open one to look around. Sirius' baggy sleeve half covered her eyes.
Sirius loosed his protective hold and stopped running his free hand comfortingly down her arm "Come on, lets go see what's left" He said gently
"I found it" Sirius shouted triumphantly as he dusted to top off a large trunk that was almost berried in the rubbish.
Grace trotted over from where she had been searching. In the blast the trunk was not in the room where it was suppose to be. Grace sighed, relived to see that the charm placed on it worked perfectly, it was indestructible.
"Oh good, I was worried there for a while" Grace bent down and placed her hand over the lock that was imbedded in the cover of the forest green trunk. It had a metal border that was painted gold and leather handles with her name stamped in. The lid flew open obediently as she started to rustle through the contents. Everything seemed to be ok, thank Merlin that she kept her most loved and important items in this thing.
Sirius bent down next to her and looked at the contents inside as she began to take a few out and look at them.
After a bit of reminiscing Grace signed and slumped down off her knees "My wand isn't there, it had my great grandmothers hair in it." Her great grandmother had been a pixie.
"Oh, I'm sorry, that must have meant a lot too you" Sirius said quietly.
Grace just nodded and moved on next she held up a small gold key "Grigngots key" was all she said before pocketing it.
"You have a bank account?" Sirius questioned, I thought you made absolutely everything?"
"We did, but then again we had to get paid for all the potions and other stuff we sold didn't we?" She said by way of explanation
The next things that Grace removed she slowly unwrapped setting the small vile gently on the ground, and left the piece of fabric in her lap like it was more important. It seemed normal enough to Sirius, it was cut in a rectangle and was a little taller then grace, and about as wide as her elbows pointed out. The fabric was a light brow and worn but fuzzy. It looked like the kind of material a muggle parent would use to fix a whole in a child's teddy bear. It was left neatly folded in her lap after she ran her cold fingers across it a few times.
Grace let out an invisible sigh when she found her blanket in the box. She had stayed calm on the surface, but she was worried that it wouldn't be there. Grace continued going through all that was left of her belongings, knowing that Sirius would ask about it at some point.
Sirius carefully picked up the tiny bottles and starred at then or a good bit of time. One was a blood red color and thick, almost identical to blood. The cork at the tops smelled heavily of a substance that couldn't be placed. The other one was a shiny green color that you could see through, it wasn't at all thick and caught the sun and reflected it back at him. Sirius put on a questioning look and without Grace looking at his fame she knew he was curious.
"The red one is temporary counter to mind control and truth potions. So you could down it if you didn't want anyone to get into your mind. Nasty stuff though." Grace continued to shuffle, and pulled out a heavy travelers cloak and shook the dust from it, apparently unconcerned that the thing tiny bottle Sirius was holding was worth a fortune.
Sirius was well aware though. He gasped and placed it quickly on the ground well out of harms way in fear of dropping it. He opened and closed his mouth a few time. Few people had the capability's to make it. The potion master said that it was even beyhond his skills. Sirius knew that even if the directions were followed perfectly the chances of making it work were very slim. It could only be brewed by a master. The success of the potion came down to exactly when things were added, what time of day, setting of the sun, and where things were added in the cauldron. The brewer hand to have a truly clear conscious to have any chance of it working. In edition the ingredients were very rare, and often poisonous to the touch. If it was brewed the incorrect way the potion would be poisonous even after brewing. One of the most difficult ingredients was vampire blood mixed in with extracts from a haliousgenic plant and ginger in a separate cauldron to insure that the blood wouldn't hold any venom
"Hey grace, you didn't make that did you?"
"Course I did" Grace answered looking up into his shocked and impressed face. "Oh come on Sirius I told you, brush witches have natural talent towards potions and herbology, it's not as hard for us as the rest of you. I doubt that a normal wizard would even be able to..." She mused to her self, and then just shrugged. Her eyes fell on the other bottle, and starred at it with slightly darker eyes, like remembering something long lost and past. She carefully reached for it, taking it in her hand that made a cup shape.
Sirius didn't notice her obvious nostalgia and was still looking at the vile "Why did you make it? For kicks?" He asked still slightly frazzled at how hard it was to make. The entire class had failed including the teacher and Dumbledore.
Grace shook her head. "Of course not, I had to bleed for that. I made it after my Grandmother had the controlling curse put on her. She was forced to make one like it for the death eaters. I didn't work because her conscious wasn't clear, so they killed her. When I was still grieving I made it in mass quantities. I don't know why, it was just my way of coping actually. The ministry then asked for the lot of it. Supposedly very few brush witches are willing to do business with them. That or they had to get vampire blood from other places besides their own wrist. That's too much work." Grace said bitterly
Sirius looked at her with a surprised and regretful expression. He hand never seen Grace bitter before, despite the fact she had ever right to hate how her world had changed.
"Look I'm sorry, really I am, I shouldn't have asked" Sirius said quietly, his handsome chocolate pools deep and concerned.
"No it's all right" Grace snapped. Then she checked in with her tone and continued in her normal voice "No, really, it's been two years, it's passed, and I just miss her." Grace chucked "In a way if fuelled my interest in potions made specifically for the war the ministry is sure is coming. It made me want to master truth potions, mind controlling potions, un mind controlling potions, invisibility, one of the more interesting one was the potion that temporarily whipped someone of any marks like figure prints, skin that could fall off, body oils, it also makes your iris untraceable." She stopped and grinned at Sirius proudly "That was my own invention"
A realization expression appeared on Grace as she flew into her trunk and started to dig deeply thought it muttering something like 'please be here, please, please, please, have it still be there'. This time she let out a loud visible sign of relief as she pulled out something that looked like a miniature trunk. She placed it on the ground and put a hand across the top. Suddenly it grew into a full sized trunk. The trunk had nine holes for a key. Grace inserted a small brass key she had gotten from the other trunk into the first lock. It opened to reveal different strainers, spoons, gold picks and different tools locked into place. She sighed, that wasn't it, then closed the lid and put the key in the second lock. It opened to loads of empty vile. She shuffled through the rest of the locks, each opening to different things including ingredients in vile, leaves, books, and more ingredients all neatly labeled.( Sound familiarly?coughsmoodycough) Finally she signed, she should have remembered it was in the last one. Finally the last lock opened reveal a many padded shelves with tiny jars. Each one had a label, it said if it was "finished" or what stage of the testing the potion was in. It also had the name and the use. On the other side of the case it had 12 leather note books, one for each potion. Grace flipped through them all explaining that theses were samples of the most powerful potions she was sending to the ministry. Most of them were here own and in the experimental phase, so the books were a detailed record of how she made them and any condition that could possibly effect them. It even said what type of shampoo and cloths she was wearing. After she explained all this to Sirius added
"Don't look so shocked. This is my life work. This is what my grandmother wanted for me. She taught me all levels of potion making and ever imaginable potion she hand me memorize. Then one day she gave me the instructions for the ministry after I the ministry saw this." On this she held up the blood red potion. "They then knew I capable of being a great use to them. After they saw this.." At this she held up the green potion, "they started sending me requests, just guild lines for what they wanted. The misery just gave me a few simple words for each, telling me to make the most effective thing possible"
Sirius couldn't miss the passion in her voice as he discussed her work, she almost started rambling. Grace couldn't help but get over exited, it felt like ages since she had worked on her creations. She was in the middle of a sentence Sirius took the green potion's book from the case, looking at it in a highly interested way. He looked at Grace and noticed her nervous expression as she took the book from him.
"Look Sirius, this is really top secret stuff, well not so much all of it, just this one potion."
Sirius nodded, seeing if that was a but out hint or if she was going to continue. To his slight surprise she did enlighten him.
"When this is complete, it can be used as a shot." She paused holding the bottle up to the light. "It...it...will be a protection against the killing curse, and an antidote…" She fell into the brooding voice again, lost in her own thoughts "you see, that's the leading cause of aerator death, so essentially it will progress to bring any victim that died due to magic back to life if it is swallowed. If it is drunk before death, it will counter the killing curse all together…" Grace pointed to the rest slowly each one in turn, naming one word for each "poison antidote, intractability(meaning the one that clears finger prints), invulnerability(red one), mind reading,
Sirius gasped and stumbled a bit in surprise, he looked almost insane as he tossed his head of shaggy hair around, looking for any movement, even thought none was there. He gingerly took the potion from her and locked it back in the trunk. He quickly closed the trunk, hooking all the locks quickly. It immediately shrunk and he restored it in Grace's original trunk. By now Grace had taken the hint and started packing the rest of her stuff. Between tasks she asked…
"Sirius, what are we doing?"
Sirius grabbed her shoulders frantically, turning her to face him. "Don't you get it, this is why they attacked you, they want theses potions! We have to go now!"
With that he grabbed her hand and placed his free hand on the trunk. He didn't care that he hadn't ever attempted to apperate with someone else. They needed to get out of there.
As soon as the pair disappeared a leaf cracked under hidden heavy feet. Bright wide eyes show from beneath the clock of darkness hidden in the bushes. A smile twitched upon the things lips before a gentle pop sounded. It was gone.