Disclaimer: None of the characters or places belong to me except Grace, Terrence Jittery, Teri, Jess, Laurie, and most of the first years. Everything else belongs to the wonderfully talented JK Rowling.

The Poet and the Secret

Grace turned and followed Professor Bowtry into the classroom. There was a row of windows along one wall of the large room, strong sunlight gleamed in and glinted off his hair. She blushed a little and quickly slammed her books down onto the nearest desk, hoping he hadn't noticed.

But Professor Bowtry was making his way toward his own desk. He leapt up onto it, swinging his legs slightly back and forth. Grace stared at him – she had never seen a teacher so … so relaxed and comfortable.

Professor Bowtry looked as if he understood her thoughts. "I've only graduated a couple years ago," he said softly, confidentially. "Class of '92, to be exact. Never thought I'd be back here so soon."

Unsure of what to say, Grace muttered, "Really?" but otherwise remained silent.

"The school grows on you," he continued, staring out the window as if he were speaking more to himself than to her, but she knew he was aware of her presence nonetheless. She watched his profile, silhouetted against the sunlight. "It's unlike any other place I've ever been, it sucks you into it, so you are totally consumed by the ravaging beast …"

And he reached dreamily into his bag, pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill, and started jotting something down.

Grace stared at Professor Bowtry, her mouth slightly open and one eyebrow raised, but she was spared the necessity of answering by the sound of the bell and the entrance of the rest of the class.

There was a general buzz of noise while Professor Bowtry finished scribbling on the parchment. He looked up suddenly, as though surprised to see so many people in the room.

"Settle down!" he called, his voice cracking a little. Grace grinned to herself. She looked around the room for someone to share the amusement with, but the only people she recognized were Marigold and Mark, the Parkinson cousins. It seemed like the Slytherins and the Hufflepuffs had Defense together. Marigold was sitting in the center of a large Slytherin crowd. Mark was sitting on the outskirts, looking thoroughly disgusted at both his cousin and their teacher.

Professor Bowtry jumped off the desk and cleared his voice. "Settle down," he repeated, a little bit deeper. Grace did some quick calculations – if he had been 18 in 1992, then that meant he was 22 now. Too old for her … I mean, too young to be a teacher, she quickly corrected herself.

"Right, I expect you're all waiting for an introduction of some sort," he called out once the class had quieted. "Well, you won't be getting one. If you had been paying attention during the Welcoming Feast you would know my name, and unless you're blind, you'll be able to see the sign outside the door quite clearly. I don't have time to go into my grading system and note taking and tests and all that, so let's jump right in at the beginning, shall we?

"Everyone open your books, turn to page 6, and read section one. You have … ten minutes, starting now."

Grace, along with the rest of the class, goggled up at their teacher. This young professor was nothing like strict, rigid McGonagall or tiny, controlling Flitwick. He was … a race onto his own.

He was perfect

Stop that, she scolded herself, lowering her eyes to her book. He's your teacher, that's all. Besides, he's twenty-two!

Professor Bowtry had apparently just noticed that most of the class hadn't even opened their books yet.

"Would you say you'd all be ready to be quizzed on section one right now?"

At the blank stares from the students, Professor Bowtry smiled grimly at them all. "Then get to work!"

Grace buried her face in the book and read:

The Salamander

The Salamander has many magical properties that oft-times make it a highly sought-after pet. The tail of a salamander, for example, can be used in several Burn reducing potions …

Ten minutes later, Professor Bowtry hopped back on the desk and clapped his hands together three times.

"Right, can I have everyone's attention, please!" he called. Grace looked up, though she wasn't even halfway through the lesson.

"How many of you finished the reading?"

A few hands were raised tentatively in the air. She was relieved to learn that she was not the only one who hadn't completed the assignment.

"All right, five extra credit points to … Tiffany, Mark, Janet, and Larry. Everyone else, finish reading the section for our next class, I think that's … Thursday?"

"Wednesday," one of the Slytherins called out from the back.

"So please have the section read by Wednesday," Professor Bowtry concluded. He paused a moment and waited for the flurry of movement of students reaching for their homework planners to die down.

Grace scrawled, "Read sec. 1 4 Wed." on a scrap of parchment and slipped it into her book. She didn't feel much like digging for her planner now.

"Natalie, if you could pass these out," Professor Bowtry was saying up at the front of the room, handing a Hufflepuff girl was long, blond hair a stack of parchment. "You can work on these worksheets in pairs for the rest of the period," he continued. "Use your book to find the answers."

"Will they be graded?" someone called.

"No."

"Do we have to work in pairs?" Grace asked, her hand in the air.

"No," came the reply. She took the parchment that Natalie offered her and looked at the first question. What are three ways the grasshopper is useful in Defensive potions?

Grasshoppers, Grace thought to herself as she skimmed section one. Nothing came up. There was no mention of grasshoppers in section two, or in section three.

"Can I work with you?"

She looked up and saw Mark Parkinson, the Slytherin, standing above her.

"Why?"

"Because you're the only one actually doing the work, and I want to finish the worksheet as well."

Grace looked around. It was true, Professor Bowtry had gone back to scribbling on his parchment and the rest of the class was gathered in small groups of three and four, chatting comfortably.

"We're probably going to have it as homework," Mark continued, "and I'd rather get it over with now."

"All right," she said, reaching across the aisle and pulling a chair up. "Have you gotten very far?"

"Not past number one."

"Me neither," she said with a small smile, and they began to work.

Class ended, and the first years hurried to their fourth and last class of the day: Potions. Grace dreaded going into the dungeons; she'd heard enough stories of Professor Snape's general nastiness that she wasn't looking forward to the next forty-five minutes at all.

The Hufflepuffs had Potions with the Ravenclaws, and Grace was once again left sitting at a table all alone. She set up her cauldron and waited for class to start. It was a long wait.

The door to the dungeons banged open suddenly. Everyone turned in their seats to see who had come in, and shrank back when they saw it was none other than … Professor Snape.

"Eyes up front!" he snapped.

They all turned to face the front of the room while the professor strode between the rows of cauldrons.

"Potion brewing is a very different branch of magic than that which some of you are used to," Professor Snape said quietly. "Not many wizards are skilled in this area, and I don't expect many of you to exceed either. I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, stopper death … the question is, have you got brains enough to understand me?"

The Challenge, Grace thought to herself. Well, she'd have to continue the Potter tradition and make Professor Snape look like a fool in front of everyone, wouldn't she? She vowed then and there to brew every potion he set them perfectly.

Professor Snape began roll call, pausing every so often to play "Wizarding Geography" with a student.

"So you've got a cousin out in Bristol?" he asked one terrified girl in pigtails. "I have family out there as well, what a coincidence."

"Do you happen to be related to the Kent Diggles?" he asked a Ravenclaw boy.

But Grace knew that when he got to her name, she would not be asked a question about her relatives … Harry had told her how Professor Snape had embarrassed him during his first lesson.

"Grace Potter …" he said silkily, a nasty look on his face. Starting on me already, are you? "Just when I thought I was rid of your insufferable cousin," with a slight emphasis on that word, "another Potter comes along."

"Yep, that's me," Grace answered as haughtily as she could. "Insufferable Potter's cousin. I'm sure he's just as glad to get out of your class as you are that he's left."

Professor Snape stared at her, along with the rest of the class. Quite possibly, no first year had ever stood up to him like that before.

"Taking after your cousin already, are we, Miss Potter," he sneered. "Ten points from Hufflepuff," there were soft gasps from all the Hufflepuffs, "and … a detention with me tomorrow night. Eight o'clock. Dungeons."

Grace drew back into her seat, dejected. Ten whole points! There was no way any of the others would talk to her now …

Harry lost one hundred and fifty points, a tiny voice in the back of her head reminded her, and people still like him.

So she stuck out her chin. "See you then, sir," she shot back at him with a grim smile.

Professor Snape stared at her a moment longer before returning to the roll call.

They didn't get a chance to brew a potion that day; Professor Snape had them take notes on different potions ingredients. He said they wouldn't actually be making a potion until after the holidays.

There were still plenty of ways to show him up in class, Grace decided. She planned to spend a good few hours looking over her notes and reading ahead in the textbook that night.

Grace sat with Teri, Jess, and Laurie during dinner. Just as she was finishing her pumpkin pie, Harry, Ron, and Hermione entered the Great Hall, all three looking disgruntled about something. Harry waved the other two on and went straight for the Hufflepuff table.

"Want to go walking?" he asked Grace.

"Sure," she said quickly, remembering the thing he had wanted to tell her earlier. She grabbed her bag, said good-bye to Teri, and followed her brother out of the Hall.

They walked side by side quickly and silently. Grace had no idea where they were going; she followed Harry's lead, up the marble staircase, down two corridors, up another flight of stairs …

Harry halted suddenly next to a large mirror. He scanned the bottom of the gilded frame, searching for something …

"Dissendium," he whispered, tapping his wand against a small golden pendent in the shape of the Hogwarts crest. The mirror swung forward creakily and Harry ushered her inside.

Behind the mirror it was dark and dusty. Grace muttered "Lumos" as Harry climbed in after her and pulled the back of the mirror shut behind him.

"Good thinking," he said, lighting the tip of his wand as well.

"What is this place?" Grace asked, peering into the darkness.

"It's a tunnel that used to lead down to Hogsmeade," Harry said, "but you can't get out of it anymore, it's caved in. Dad and … Sirius and Lupin used to come through here. Filch doesn't know about it."

Grace held her wand up a bit higher. This was where her dad had sneaked out of the castle … gone down to Hogsmeade to buy candy or firewhisky or a bag of Zonko's tricks …

"We don't have much time," Harry continued in an urgent whisper, so reminiscent of Professor McGonagall when she had whisked them out of the Dursleys' house in the summer. "I'm not supposed to … right, so last night, Dumbledore talked to all of us who were in the D.A. last year – you know what the -?"

"Yeah."

"He talked to us about the Creeveys and Jittery, wanted to know whether we wanted to … that's not important … He was talking to us and told us where they had lived … they lived in Westerham."

The name hit her terribly, Grace inhaled sharply and held her breath, her heart started beating very fast, pounding against her rib cage.

"Are … are you sure?"

"I talked to Dumbledore about it right afterward, he said not to tell you, he said you were too young," Harry made a face, "but I couldn't … I mean, you have to be prepared, don't you?"

"And they got the whole town?"

"The whole town, everything was destroyed."

Westerham … the orphanage … Derkhall Lane … her home for two years … it was all gone.

"Any survivors?"

"None."

Mrs. Starling. All the kids at the orphanage. Gone. Colin and Dennis Creevey. Terrence Jittery, Teri's brother's friend.

Something Harry had said brought her back to her senses. "What do you mean, 'be prepared?'"

He hesitated a moment. "When I asked Dumbledore about it … he said the Death Eaters went to the orphanage first." Her heart nearly stopped. "Looking for – you."

Grace stared at the light coming out of her wand. The light was too bright, her eyes began to water, but she didn't look away. She stared into the almost-white light for a full minute, then said quietly, "Why me?"

"I don't know," Harry said, just as quietly. "I thought … maybe since you were the only one around when Wormtail came to him, a witness, you know? Maybe he wanted to find you …"

"When were the attacks?" she asked softly.

"Sometime in the summer … two weeks ago, I think."

"I wasn't there," Grace whispered. "I wasn't there. So why'd they … they didn't have to …"

"That's what Death Eaters do," Harry said, his voice slightly raised. "They like doing that. They like killing innocent people …"

"If I'd been there," she muttered distractedly, "they'd have taken me and left everyone else alone."

Harry shook his head. "They'd have killed them all anyway."

A new thought had just come to her. "They wouldn't … follow me here, would they?"

"Probably not," Harry said. "Voldemort's afraid of Dumbledore, there's no way him or his Death Eaters would come anywhere near here, even if they could get past all the wards and everything."

Grace nodded. That was the same thing Teri had told her … had it been just this morning? She thought of the book, Hogwarts, A History, stashed inside her bag.

"Are you going to be all right?" Harry asked urgently. "You're safe at Hogwarts, okay?"

"Okay," she replied, though shakily.

"I've got to head back to the tower now," he said, "but I'll walk you down to your common room, if you want."

"I can find it on my own, thanks."

Harry smiled a bit, trying the ease the tension. "Come on, you can tell me all about your first day. How was Potions?"

"Ten points from Hufflepuff and detention tomorrow night."

"Wow," Harry said, almost reverently. "I didn't get detention from Snape until … I forget, was it third year or fourth year?"

Grace shook her head at her brother's attempt to change the mood. "I'll tell you about it some other time, okay? I … can I be alone?"

"Sure," Harry said, giving her a quick hug that wasn't comfortable for either of them, opening the mirror, and climbing out.


It was past midnight, and her roommates' snores filled the air, but Grace had her wand tip lit again and was reading through Hogwarts, A History. Teri and Harry had been right, it was nearly impossible to enter the castle at all. You had to have been shown in at least once by the Keeper of the Keys, that was why Hagrid always took the first years to the castle by crossing the lake. And even then, you had to walk onto the grounds unless you knew the password to get in through the fireplaces or by portkey. Apperating didn't work, of course. There were wards placed in the air as well, so that unless the headmaster invited you in, you couldn't fly onto the castle grounds either.

Yes, Grace thought as she put the book away at half past two in the morning, I am perfectly safe. There is no way for Voldemort to get into the castle.

Hundreds of miles away, Voldemort was laughing.


A/N: I'm not going to switch back and forth between Grace and Voldemort, and he's not literally laughing, it's just a saying. This story is actually starting to form in my mind! Thanks everyone who's reviewed so far!

10/10/04: I've just read through some of the reviews and remembered some things I forgot to put in my A/N last time. I know Bowtry sounds a lot like Lockhart, but he'll turn out different. I know the story's moving slowly. I'm trying to balance here, I have another part I want to start around Christmas time ... I know this story (to me at least) seems like it's running in a hundred different directions, but I know where it's going and you'll have to bear with me because that's the way I write. I haven't forgotten about any plotline, trust me. If you don't remember something I bring up, go back and reread some part of the story because most likely that's what I did.

Just another little sidenote: Harry will not be the main focus of the story, so I'm not going to get into shipping or NEWT classes or anything. Yes, he is still the Boy-Who-Lived, but my story is about his sister.