Disclaimer: Everything you recognize belongs to JKR, anything you don't is mine.

A/N: Thanks HPJellicleCat, sweeteetwo, Duskfire1954, reddragon288 for the reviews!

This is Abbey's POV again.

Chapter 12

"S-Sirius?"

I stared wildly from Dad to Father, back and forth, back and forth, but neither of them seemed likely to move any time soon. They were staring straight at each other, Dad's wand pointed at Father's chest, Father's hands held up in a surrender gesture. They seemed to have forgotten that I was there already.

"Where is he?"

At first, I was confused – what was Dad talking about? – but then I realized that after I had left Hagrid's hut, he must have looked for Pettigrew's name on the map, and must have seen it, for he now seemed to know exactly what was going on.

Father reached down and pulled the rat out of his pocket. He was squirming and squeaking trying to get away, scratching up Father's wrists as he held him up, but he didn't seem to care about the scratches on his arms.

"But then...why hasn't he shown himself before now...Unless – " Dad paused, his eyes widening. I thought that I knew what was going on in his mind – he had probably just figured out everything – how Pettigrew had been secret-keeper, how he had killed those Muggles, how Father had been framed – okay, so maybe not everything, but some of it, at least.

"Unless he was the one – unless you switched – without telling me?"

His eyes strayed from the rat up to Father for the first time, who looked about to nod in reply when I slipped out of the room quietly, leaving my bag on the ground by Dad, who still held my wand. They had obviously forgotten my presence, and I felt like an intruder.

I leaned against the wall by the door, and was about to slide down and sit when I heard footsteps from downstairs. There were more than one pair – at least three – and they were all light, too light to belong to adults. I pushed myself off of the wall and walked slowly and quietly toward the stairs. I leaned over the balcony and saw four shadows moving in my direction and heard murmurs.

"Hello?" I called over the edge. The voices stopped, as did the shadows. "Hello?" I repeated.

"Abbey?"

Into my reign of vision came Riley. She was standing directly below me, and I furrowed my eyebrows at her as Ron, Harry, and Hermione joined her.

"What are you doing here?" I asked. To my surprise, Dad and/or Father hadn't heard us yet – or maybe they were choosing to ignore us – either way, I was surprised they hadn't come out yet to see who I was talking to.

"I could ask you the same question," she replied slyly.

"Well, I asked first," I said. She huffed – that had always been her favorite response as a child.

"We saw your name on the map with Peter Pettigrew in that tunnel, and then we saw Dad's name following yours."

"Peter Pettigrew?" I asked. "You've lost your bonkers, you have," I joked – I knew they would find out sooner or later that I knew what they were talking about, but I had nothing better to do beside mess around with Riley's mind. "Pettigrew's dead, you know that. How could he have been on the map? It must just be malfunctioning – "

"The map never lies," Riley spat. "You know that as well as I." I rose my eyebrows and shrugged.

"Well, then I don't know why – " but my words got lost in my throat as we heard Dad say loudly,

"Together?"

Riley, realizing who the voice belonged to, suddenly ran up the stairs, Ron, Hermione, and Harry right behind her. I tried to block their way by standing in the middle of the stairs, but she shoved me roughly to the side – it wasn't like I was much to push away anyway.

I growled as I grabbed onto the railing to keep from falling over it. It cracked, and then suddenly gave away and broke, falling to the side and to the ground. Somebody from behind me grabbed me around the waist to keep me from falling with it. I gasped as it crashed to the ground. Whoever had caught me pulled me to my feet – when I turned around I saw that it was Ron, and I smiled gratefully at him before he followed Riley, Hermione, and Harry up to the room.

I quickly dashed after him and into the room, where Father held a squirming Pettigrew, pointing my wand at him, and Dad had his wand pointed at him in turn. Both were staring from Riley to Harry to Hermione to Ron and finally to me.

"What the bloody hell is going – ?" Ron started to ask, but Dad interrupted him.

"What are you all doing here?" He looked at me as he said it, and I rose my eyebrows, lifting my hands in surrender position as Father had earlier.

"Don't look at me – I've been here the whole time! And I tried to stop them from coming in, but Riley pushed me – and broke the railing, by the way." I glared at her, but she refused to look away from Dad.

"Scabbers!" Ron exclaimed suddenly, his eyes wide as he first noticed the rat in Father's hand. "What are you doing – ?" he started to ask, but Hermione interrupted him.

"I don't believe it!" she screamed. "You – you – !" she pointed wildly at Dad. I didn't see an end to this anytime soon, so I leaned against the door frame into a comfortable position.

"Hermione – "

"You and him! I didn't tell anyone, I've been covering up for you – !" Shoot, Hermione had figured it out – she had figured out that Dad was a werewolf. " – I trusted you! And all this time, you've been his friend!"

"You're wrong," Dad said calmly. "I haven't been Sirius's friend, but I am now – let me explain."

"NO!" Hermione screamed. "Don't trust him, he's been helping Black into the castle, he wants you dead too, Harry – he's a werewolf!"

There was silence. Dad was calm, but slightly pale, smiling slightly at Hermione.

"Only one out of three, Hermione," I said quietly when nobody said anything. Everybody turned to me, seeming to notice me for the first time – what, am I invisible or something? "He hasn't been helping him into the castle, nobody in this room wants Harry dead, but – "

"I can't deny that I'm a werewolf." Ron took a step back, and said,

"You're a werewolf? We trusted you – !"

"Being a werewolf doesn't change who he is, Ron," I said, with the tone that people use when talking to small children, at the same time as Father said, "What difference does that make?" Ron glanced at me and then Father and then Dad before finally resting his eyes on Riley as she said,

"That really doesn't change who he is."

"Wait," Ron said. "You knew? And you didn't tell us?" Riley laughed humorlessly.

"Honestly? After how you took the news just now? You think that Dad's a terrible person suddenly because he's a werewolf – are Abbey and I terrible people because we are half werewolf blood?" The three shut their mouth instantly, looking ashamed of themselves. "Just because Dad's a werewolf doesn't mean he's been helping Black. Although I do think it looks like he has been."

"He hasn't," I said. She turned to me.

"How do you know that he hasn't?" she asked me suspiciously. I felt the eyes of everybody in the room on me as I smiled slightly at Riley. Even though I knew what her response would be, I asked,

"How do you know that he has?" She narrowed her eyes.

"I asked first." My smile widened – she had said just what I had wanted and expected.

"Because," I said slowly. "Because I havebeen helping him." There was a ringing silence, much like the one when Hermione had said that Dad was a werewolf. Then, suddenly, more than one voice said sharply,

"You've been what?" I laughed.

"Oh come on! It's not that surprising. Wasn't I the one that everybody had, initially, followed here? I was the one who had had doubts since the sorting. I was the one who had tried to make it obvious to Dad that I knew the truth – or, rather, that I thought the truth. I was the one who had brought Pettigrew here – " I motioned toward Scabbers.

"Did you just call Scabbers Pettigrew?" Ron asked, bewildered. I turned toward him, and smiled slightly at him.

"Yes, Ron, I did. And it wasn't a mistake."

"He's an Animagus," Father said, jumping to my aid. "By the name of Peter Pettigrew."

"Peter Pettigrew's dead!" Harry yelled. "He killed him 12 years ago!" He pointed at Father, who opened his mouth to speak, but I interrupted.

"But didn't you see his name on the map yesterday, too?"

"How did you know that?"

"I know more than it seems I do," I replied slyly.

"Well the map must have been lying – "

"The map never lies!"

"You've been helping him?" Dad asked suddenly. I turned to him to see him staring at me with his eyes wide and mouth half open.

"Oh come on – now that you know the truth, can you blame me?"

"And what's the truth?" Riley asked.

"Come on, Remus," Father said impatiently. "Let's do this!" He pointed my wand at the rat in his hand, but Dad dove in front of it. Father groaned.

"We've got to explain!"

"We can explain afterward! Now move, Remus!" Father snarled.

"They've got a right to know everything! Ron's kept him as a pet! And Riley, and Abbey, and Harry – you owe them the truth, Sirius!" Father suddenly dropped my wand to his side and groaned.

"I already know the truth," I pointed out. Both Dad and Father shot me a warning glare, and I shut up instantly.

"Fine. Tell them. But make it quick, Remus. I want to commit the murder I was imprisoned for."

So, slowly but surely, Dad started to explain how Pettigrew, Harry's father, and Father became Animagi for him.

When I guessed he was halfway through explaining, I felt myself drowsing off – Father had explained this to me already, and I knew the whole story. But suddenly, a hand clamped over my mouth and I was drug out of the room. Of course, nobody noticed – they either had their back turned to me or were so absorbed in Dad's story to pay me any attention.

The intruder pulled me into the hallway, behind the open door and close to the stairs, spun me around and pinned me against the wall, their hand still over my mouth. I found myself face-to-face with Snape.

"Well, well, well," he said quietly and maliciously, throwing a silky-looking cloak onto the ground and pulling out his wand, which he pointed directly at my chest. My eyes widened as I realized that Father still had my wand, so I had no means for self-defense. "Miss Lupin. Out after hours. Out-of-bounds. With a convicted murderer and werewolf. You and your friends will be in big trouble for this – possibly even face suspension."

I wanted to respond – to tell him that he was an idiot and had it all wrong – but he kept his hand firmly over my mouth as he glanced through the crack in the door. I could hear Dad getting read to tell Harry, Hermione, Riley, and Ron of the joke that Father had played on Snape when they were in school. Snape growled at the memory and then turned back to me.

"Tell me, what exactly is going on here. Don't," he added sharply, "say anything else." He slowly removed his hand, but I kept my mouth firmly shut. "Come on, girl!" he said louder than before. Somehow, still nobody heard him. "Tell me."

"I think not." Snape growled, grabbed the silvery cloak, and said rougly to me just before he put it on,

"Stay here. Or else you'll be sorry." He threw the cloak on and I realized that it was an Invisibility Cloak, for he disappeared.

I heard somebody – Hermione? – say something,and then I could see Snape pull the cloak off of himself from the crack in the door, pointing his wand directly at Dad.

"Abbey?"

I spun around to see a very confused looking Sam standing at the bottom of the steps.

"Sam? What are you doing here?" I asked at the same time as he asked,

"What's going on?" Our eyes met and he ran up the stairs two at a time. When he was by my side, we both looked through the crack to see Snape pointing his wand and yelling at Dad, who was trying to make him see reason.

"Severus," Dad said. "Don't be a fool – "

"It's a habit by now," Father spat.

"Quite, Sirius!"

"Look at you two, quarreling like an old married couple! The creature and the criminal."

"In case you've forgotten – " Father started, but Snape cut him off, pointing his wand at the door Sam and I hid behind.

"After you. When we get up to the castle, the Dementors will have two little kisses ready – "

I couldn't suppress my rage – neither, it seemed, could Father, Riley, or Sam, for Sam and I both burst into the room, and Father let out a howl of rage. All three of them turned their wands on Snape – well, in Father's case, he turned my wand on Snape – as Snape turned from one of us to the other before realizing that I had no wand and pointing his wand at me. He made no move to curse me, however, and instead just jeered at us.

"Mr. Lupin, I told you to go back to the castle. Like father, like son," he sneered. "Your father also found no reason to set store by the rules – "

"Remus followed the rules better than even you, and you know it," Father spat. Snape turned on him.

"I'm not talking about Lupin." I saw Harry, Ron, and Hermione exchange looks of confusion, and I knew that, somehow, they were going to find out that Black was our father, and that, somehow, in turn, the whole school would find out.

Snape looked around, keeping his wand on me, taking in Dad standing, trying to be calm but failing, Sam, with his wand pointed at him, Riley, lowering her wand slightly, seeing no other way out, Father, who could kill Snape with the look he was giving him, me, standing there helplessly, and Ron, Hermione, and Harry, who looked as confused as ever.

"Look at this," Snape said, smirking. "A nice little family reunion." I laughed.

"If it was a nice reunion, you sure wouldn't be here." Snape shot me a glare, but I wasn't fazed – he didn't scare me.

"Hold your tongue, Miss Lupin. You are already facing suspension from this school. What a pity – all of the Lupin kids, along with the boy who lived, know-it-all Granger, and one of the Weasley's, will be suspended. Or maybe even expelled." He smirked. "What a pity – Black finally gets to see his children, only for him to get a little kiss and for them to get expelled."

Hermione, Ron, and Harry gasped, their eyes traveling from one Black-Lupin to the next, over and over.

Father, Sam, and Riley were outraged. They all pointed their wands at him and shouted,

"Expelliarmus!" Snape was flung toward me – I had to jump to the side, next to Harry, to avoid being hit by him as he hit the wall and slid down. His wand flew in an arc and I caught it. Hermione's hands flung to her mouth and she shrieked, I stared, shocked, at his unconscious body, Father looked gleeful, and Dad even looked a little glad, and the others all seemed to just realize what had happened as a dribble of blood dripped from under his hair.

"Oh my God – you attacked a teacher!" Hermione muttered.

"Who cares?" I asked, making a disgusted face toward Snape.

"The git had it coming to him," Sam agreed, glaring at Snape.

"He wasn't being serious, was he?" Ron asked, his eyes traveling from Father to Dad. "About – about – ?" I was tempted to make a comment on the pun, but I restrained. Dad looked at him, but Father had gone back to glaring at Pettigrew.

"Yes, Ron, he was," Dad said quietly.

"How is that even possible?" Harry interrupted, disgust evident in his voice. He inched slowly away from me and I sighed, throwing my hands up in annoyance.

"Oh my God! We're part werewolf, and we're Blacks, and we are suddenly terrible people! Hermione – you're amuggleborn – you're a terrible person! Ron – you're poor, and a Blood Traitor – you're a terrible person! Harry – you can speak to snakes – you're a terrible person!" I failed to convince them that we weren't terrible, though, and they kept shooting Riley, Sam and I mistrusting glares.

"It's time we offer you some proof," Dad said suddenly. He turned to Father, who held Scabbers out in front of him. "Together – ?"

"Wait!" Ron said suddenly.

"Look, Ron," I said before he could say anything. "They know what they're doing – just let them do it." Dad and Father nodded in agreement.

"But there's no way to be sure that – !" Ron said, but I interrupted him.

"What's the biggest part of Pettigrew they ever found, Ron?"

"His – his finger – so?"

"So," I said. "Scabbers has a front toe missing, right?" Ron opened his mouth – to object, I'm sure – but I said before he could, "Don't even say that – that he lost it in a fight with another rat, or something. Who're you kidding? You know as well as I that that is highly unlikely." Ron gave me a dirty glare, but I ignored him – he didn't scare me.

"But then why, if Pettigrew is alive, did they only ever find a finger?" he asked angrily, looking toward me with a smug look on his face – I returned the look in kind.

"To fake is own death, of course," Dad said.

"And why did he fake his own death?" Harry asked, suddenly angry again – I had thought that we might have him convinced. "Because he knew you were about to kill him like you did my parents!"

"Harry," Dad said urgenlyt, "don't you see? All this time we've thought Sirius betrayed your parents, and Peter tracked him down — but it was the other way around, don't you see? Peter betrayed your mother and father — Sirius tracked Peter down —"

"I don't believe you. You've both lost it," Riley said, shaking her head slowly. She looked toward me, her eyes narrowed. "And you must have cursed Abbey – she wouldn't believe this nonsense – "

"Ready for the proof?" Dad asked, ignoring her. "Ron, if Scabbers isn't Pettigrew, it won't hurt him." After a moment of hesitation, Ron nodded slowly. "Together?" Dad asked. Father nodded.

A flash of blue light erupted from my wand and Dad's wand. Scabbers hung, frozen in midair, and then fell onto the ground. Then, quite suddenly, a short man with small beady eyes and colorless hair with a bald spot appeared where the rat had been. I let out a small shriek – of anything, I hadn't expected him – why did I keep screaming when these things happened?

"Well, hello, Peter," Dad said pleasantly.

"S – Sirius," Pettigrew croaked. "R – Remus. My friends...my old friends..." Father let out a growl from deep in his throat, and he went to lift his wand, but Dad gave him a warning look. Pettigrew suddenly turned on Harry.

"Harry! You look just like your father. We were the best of friends, he and I – "

"How dare you talk about James in front of Harry!" Father yelled. "After you sent him to his death!"

"I didn't – "

"Lily and James switched secret-keepers to you, Peter," Father growled. "Don't try to deny it – !"

"No!" Pettigrew exclaimed suddenly. "Remus – you don't believe this...wouldn't Sirius have told you they'd change the plans?"

"Not if they thought that I was the spy, Peter," Dad said calmly. He didn't even ask Father if that was why, but we all knew that it was.

"Forgive me, Remus."

"Not at all, Sirius," Dad said. "And will you, in return, forgive me for believing you were the spy?"

"Of course," Father replied. "Now, Peter, you will pay for sending Lily and James to Voldemort."

"I didn't mean to! The Dark Lord, you have no idea what weapons he possesses. Ask yourself what you would have done, Sirius! What would you have done?"

"I would have died! Died rather than betray my friends!"

"You should have realized, Peter, that if Voldemort didn't kill you, then we would," Dad said calmly. "Goodbye, Peter." I wanted to intervene – they couldn't kill him, because otherwise they had no proof, but Pettigrew beat me to it.

"No!" Pettigrew looked around and laid eyes on Ron. I noticed that he was staring at him in disgust. "Ron! Haven't I been a good friend? A good pet?"

"I let you sleep in my bed!" Ron exclaimed. I almost laughed, and took this as Ron silently admitting that he believed us.

"If you made a better rat than wizard, it isn't much to boast about, Peter," Father said harshly.

"Sweet girl – clever girl – surely you won't let them – " Hermione stepped back out of his grasp. Pettigrew looked around – he knew talking to Harry would make Father yell at him, and Sam and Riley were both giving him the dirtiest looks ever. I knew they all believed Father, Dad, and I now – they just didn't want to admit that they had been wrong. I, on the other hand, was leaning casually against the door frame – mostly to block his exit if he tried to run – and he turned on me, stepping toward me.

"Abbey – "

"How dare you talk to my daughter!" Father exclaimed, jumping between me and Pettigrew and pointing his wand at him.

"In case you've forgotten, Scabbers," I spat around Father, "I was the who brought you here. Don't try to beg to me for freedom. And, I'm the reason you're going to the Dementors, not getting killed. Don't even think for a second that you will get away now." Pettigrew stared, his eyes wide, at Father.

"Shall we go back up to the castle?" Dad asked suddenly. When everybody else nodded, he conjured up manacles and soon one of Pettigrew's hands was chained to one of Sam's, the other to one of Father's. I picked up my bag and led the way out – behind Phoenix and Crookshanks, of course – with Riley and Dad walking beside me, Dad floating Snape along behind us, Harry, Ron, and Hermione behind him – I think they still hadn't gotten used to the fact that Riley, Sam, and I were Sirius Black's kids – and finally Sam, Pettigrew, and Father.

A/N: Like it? Love it? Hate it? Leave me a review to tell me your opinions! Constructive criticism is appreciated! You can even tell me what you'd like to see happen later in the story if you want.

By the way, in case you think you missed something, Sirius and Remus told Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Riley about how Pettigrew blew up the street and framed Sirius and how they switched secret-keepers while Abbey was in the hallway with Snape.