"Miss Thorne?" Professor McGonagall asked, peering at the two people who had just entered her office.
"She was attacking one of my patients and-" Madam Pomfrey began, before she was cut off by McGonagall.
"It's okay, Poppy. I think Miss Thorne can tell me what happened," she said, looking directly at Grace.
"Oh, thank you. I really must be getting back," Madam Pomfrey replied as she left, closing the door behind her
"Now, Miss Thorne, care to explain what has happened?" McGonagall asked her.
"Well, I was in the Hospital Wing and-"
"From the beginning."
"I don't understand wha-"
"Several Prefects reported to me that Mr Potter, Mr Pettigrew and yourself were running through the corridors last night. Then Mr Snape shows up in the Hospital Wing with an enormous gash on his chest, claiming that he was attacked by the Whomping Willow. And now Madam Pomfrey has come to me saying that you were attacking one of her patients. I want you to start from the beginning."
Grace sighed. Professor McGonagall really didn't miss anything.
"Sirius, he... Snape was bugging him yesterday afternoon, right? Saying that we're up to something and all of that and then Sirius told him that he'd show him. So he took Snape down to the Whomping Willow and went through to the Shrieking Shack, and Remus... you know... attacked him. Not that he could control it at all. But when Sirius hadn't come back to the Common Room, James realised what he must've done and we ran down to stop it. James managed to get Snape out of there and we took him straight to the Hospital Wing."
"And then this morning?" McGonagall pressed.
"Snape was saying some... not so nice things about Remus' condition when he woke up and... I just... I don't know," Grace trailed off, looking at the ground.
"Miss Thorne, could you please go and get Mr Black, Mr Potter, Mr Pettigrew and Mr Snape if he's been discharged from the Hospital Wing yet and bring them to the Headmaster's office in half an hour?" McGonagall asked.
Grace went pale. Now they were all going to get in trouble and it was her fault. "Of course Professor."
---
Sirius was the easiest to find. He was still up in the boy's dorm, after deciding to skip breakfast to avoid meeting James and Peter down there.
"Uh, Sirius?" Grace called as she entered the room, surprising him.
"Grace?"
She refused to meet his eyes. "We have to... um, go down to Dumble..." she trailed off, mumbling the last words. After what he had done, Grace could only imagine the punishments that would come out of that meeting.
"What?"
Grace sighed. "Dumbledore's office. In half an hour," she finished, before turning out the door and leaving.
She then made her way down to the Great Hall, where she easily found James and Peter sitting in the middle of the Gryffindor table. Neither of them said a word as she sat down beside them, just stared at their plates gloomily.
"McGonagall knows," Grace started, breaking the silence.
"Did you tell her?" James asked, looking up from his plate accusingly.
"She already knew before I told her, I swear. But now... she wants us to go see Dumbledore. In half an hour. You'll be there, right?"
"Is Sirius going?" Peter asked, glancing at James.
"He has to. So does Snape. And so do we," Grace said, getting up from her seat. "I'll see you there."
She then went up to the Hospital Wing, where she found Lily Evans waiting outside.
"I'm assuming Severus is still in there?"
"Yeah, but Madam Pomfrey came out and said that she'd release him in ten more minutes. That was about... seven minutes ago," Lily replied, looking at her watch.
Lily attempted to start a conversation, but quickly realised that Grace was preoccupied. She was far too busy thinking about the meeting and what she would say and what the others might say and what that would mean for her and if-
"What are you doing here?" Snape asked, the second he entered the corridor. "Back to try and kill me again, are you?"
"Severus- what?" Lily asked, turning to Grace.
"Look, we don't have time for this. Severus, we need to go to Dumbledore's office. Now," Grace instructed, know that by the time they got there, their half an hour would be up.
"Why wou-"
"Severus, we don't have time for this, come on!" Grace cut him off, raising her voice.
Snape opened his mouth to argue again, but obviously thought better of it and closed it, before following Grace down the corridor, leaving behind a very confused Lily.
When they reached the gargoyle statue that guarded the entrance to the Headmaster's office, Sirius, James and Peter were already waiting for them.
They waited for a full minute in heavy silence before professor McGonagall came down the corridor and stood in front of the statue.
"Chocolate frogs."
On response to the password, the platform that the statue was on suddenly rose upwards, revealing a stone staircase beneath. McGonagall, then stood back and motioned with her hands for the students to enter.
Grace had only been inside Dumbledore's cylindrical office on two occasions. The first was when she was in her first year. She had been with her parents, and they were discussing the arrangements of having their daughter at the school they taught at. When Grace was allowed to visit them, how she should be treated in the classroom and so on.
The second was not long after, when it had become apparent that Grace knew of Remus' condition, and Dumbledore had just wanted to make sure that she wasn't going to spread it around the school.
"Take a seat," Dumbledore greeted them once they entered the room. There were five wooden chairs arranged in a semi-circle in front of Dumbledore's main desk.
They each sat down, James and Sirius at either end, Snape in the middle and Grace and Peter on either side of him. McGonagall stood behind them, and Proffesor Dumbledore went over to his desk, opting to lean against it rather than sit in the chair behind it.
"Now," he began. "Would anyone like to explain what has happened?"
---
AnOThEr uPdATe?????
There's so much other work that I need to do but OH WELL here have this.
Also thank you SO MUCH for all of the votes and comments I know I say it at the end of every chapter but I still can't believe that so many people are reading this and i love you all THANK
- Grace