"What's going on?" Ivy asked, walking up to the quartet staring sadly down at Hagrid's Hut. She was previously sitting at the beech tree, but when she saw them from there, she wanted company so she decided to go over.

"Buckbeak just got executed." Christi wept. Her head was in her hands and she was crying softly with Harry trying to comfort her.

Ivy gasped and put her hands to her mouth, "Oh my goodness!" she sighed and swept a tear from her cheek, "That poor, helpless creature… Is this because of what he did to Malfoy?"

"Yeah." Harry answered.

Hermione cut in, "That git! He thinks he can do whatever because he's pureblood… Because he's got power… Because he's got money! Merlin, I hate him!"

"Hermione punched him." Ron commented.

"Really?" Ivy asked, impressed. She laughed once, still wiping her last tears from her eyes.

Ron nodded, "It was wicked. Right in the nose."

Ivy smiled and gave Hermione a high-five. "Good job. Christi's rubbing off on you."

"Not too much." Christi defended herself, "Draco got her really angry. That was the first time I've seen Hermione act out like that."

Hermione blushed and smiled. "It was an accident."

The four others laughed at that, and she joined in. They stopped and stared quietly at Hagrid's hut for a while. Their silence was interrupted by a yelp from Ron.

"Ouch!" he exclaimed. He dropped the rat in his hand—Scabbers—and shook his hand out. "Scabbers bit me! Come back, Scabbers! Come back!"

Ron began to chase after his rat, and the other four followed him. "He only just found his rat, and its already trying to get away…" Harry said sympathetically.

"Maybe it really doesn't like him." Christi suggested. Ron finally dove and caught the rat.

"Gotcha!" he began to get up, but they heard a loud growl.

A big, black dog ran up and grabbed Ron by the leg with his teeth. Ron screamed and was still screaming as the dog dragged him away. They all chased after, and saw Ron and the dog disappears into a hole at the base of the Whomping Willow. Ivy looked horrified. She was gaping, and while the others were equally horrified, Ivy looked like she was about to hyperventilate.

The Whomping Willow was swinging its branches again. It started out slow, and Ivy suddenly darted for the hole. She dove into it from a run just as a branch was about to sweep her off of her feet. She got in successfully and they heard her scream, and then go silent.

The hole was dirty and dark. Ivy could barely see. The sky was dark outside. She thought it was about eight o'clock. She crawled through the hole, which was very low ceilinged at the beginning. She was finally able to stand and found herself in a saloon sort of area. The room was very shabby. It had peeling grey wallpaper, torn up furniture and creaky wooden floors. Everything was coated with a very thick layer of dust, and it was very dark. There were muddy footprints on the floor, which led up the stairs, so Ivy chose this path.

She walked cautiously upstairs, trying not to make much noise. She was only halfway up when she heard several thumps and grunts. She looked over the railing into the saloon where Harry, Christi and Hermione were now emerging. They followed Ivy upstairs and they entered a room. Ivy held back at first, just peering in. She entered when she saw Ron laying on the floor, clutching Scabbers in one hand and his leg with the other hand. It was all bloody and sort of broken. He seemed clueless to what was going on.

Finally, Sirius emerged, looking sort of shabby. Ivy frowned and leaned against the wall, sinking to the floor while Harry, Christi and Hermione entered the room further.

"You're an Animagus?" Hermione asked, "How? There's only been four reported Animagi in all of history."

"We're illegal Animagi, Hermione." Sirius answered. Ivy rolled her eyes, which he caught and smirked at her.

Ivy sighed and her voice broke as she asked, "What'd you do to Ron? Why?"

"I was just trying to get to Peter."

Remus and James entered the room, and Remus went to Ron's aid. "Pads, I told you to get the rat, not Ron and… All these children."

"Merlin, Padfoot," James groaned, looking from Ivy to his own son to Christi, and then to Hermione and Ron, "What did you do?"

"How was I supposed to know everyone would follow?"

"What's going on?" Ivy asked again as Remus stepped back, his eyes on the hand that Ron's rat was in.

"Ivy, you need to leave." He said in a demanding voice.

Ivy looked at him, gaping in disbelief. She stood up quickly and raised herself to him, "Absolutely not!"

"Ivy, you better leave right now, or else—" Ivy cut him off.

"No, no, no, no, no! I'm not gonna leave until I learn what the hell is going on here! First Sirius comes out and drags Ron by the leg in here, and now you're looking at his rat and telling me to leave! I absolutely deserve to bloody know!"

"So do we." Harry added, "We went through an angry tree's branches to get here!"

"I think it sprained my wrist…" Christi muttered.

Sirius finally exclaimed, "We want Peter!"

"Peter Pettigrew?" Harry asked, "But isn't he dead?"

"He's on the map, Harry." Remus answered.

"Then the map's lying. Peter blew up the street, tried to blame it on Sirius."

"Load of good that did him…" Sirius muttered, "I was easily proven innocent."

Harry said, "And Peter died! The map is lying."

"The map never lies Harry." Ivy interjected, "Never!"

Remus nodded, "Never."

"So Peter is alive? How?"

James answered that one, "Peter is an Animagus, like Sirius and I."

"Well still, it makes no sense."

Sirius sighed irately, "He blew up the street. The only thing they found of him was his finger! Ron, your rat, Scabbers, is missing a toe, isn't he?"

Ron nodded, "Well, yeah, but he's always been like that."

"And you've had him for how long?" James requested.

"Percy had him before me… He's been in the family for about twelve years…"

James and Sirius nodded, and Ivy got a horrified look on her face, even more than before. "My God, I think I'm going to be sick."

Sirius nodded, "It's sickening, isn't it? Peter is the rat. On that night, he didn't die. He disappeared into the sewer with the other rats! He's been acting as your pet for all this time, Ron."

"And now you're going to kill him?" Harry asked. Sirius was the only one who answered, nodding.

"I'm going to commit the murder that I was accused of twelve years ago."

"The dirty rat who betrayed us." James said, and Harry gasped. "Give up the rat, Ron."

Ron hesitated, but let go. Scabbers—or Peter—scurried around the room for a moment. The three grown men chased after them, and finally Sirius pointed his want at the rat and it grew into human form.

The man himself was timid, balding, and shaking. He breathed heavily, and squeaked when the three men pointed their wands at him.

"James! Sirius! Remus! My dear old friends, my—" he collapsed to the ground before their feet and all of them stepped away sharply. "Oh, please don't kill me! Please, don't! I'm so, so sorry for what I did! James, I, I… I'm so sorry!" he wheezed, crawling to James, who backed away further.

"Get away from me!" he spat.

Ivy, who had backed up to stand next to Harry, grabbed his hand. He gripped hers harshly, not letting go. He was scared, and Ivy knew it. He didn't want his dad to get hurt. Ivy also knew he felt a load of rage for Peter Pettigrew. She did too. He hadn't done anything incredibly personal to her, but she went with everyone else and hated on him.

"You betrayed James and Lily, Peter!" Sirius bellowed, "We're going to kill you no matter what!"

"Please, please don't! I had no other choice! He was going to kill me! I didn't have a choice!"

"Then you should have died!" Sirius yelled, "You should have died than betrayed your friends!"

"Any of us would have died rather than sell another out!" Remus yelled, "We even would have for you—back then, that is!"

"Lily wouldn't want you to kill me!" Peter begged James, "Please don't!"

"Lily hates you as much as I do!" James spit at him.

Peter's lip trembled, "Please, I…" he crawled over to Harry, "Harry, Harry, you're so grown up! Please don't let them kill me, please!" Harry was disgusted at him, as was Ivy. "Ivy, Ivy Lynn…" Peter sobbed on her feet, "Please, Ivy!"

Ivy squeezed her eyes shut and shuddered, "Ugh!" and tried to back away, but backed into the wall.

"Get away from my daughter!" Remus yelled, clenching the back of his shirt and pulling him backwards. Peter fell to the ground on his back and started to sob again.

"Please don't kill me!" he sobbed.

"We're going to, no matter what!" Sirius screamed. They all pointed their wands, "On three… One… Two…"

The door burst open at that moment, and a voice cried, "Expelliarmus!"

All wands flew all over the place, and Ivy caught one of them. They all looked to see who is was, and Christi gasped. It was her father. Snape was in there now, glaring at everyone.

"Christi," he hissed, grabbing her arm and pulling her to him. He glared at Remus especially hard, "Why, Professor Lupin… I expected better of you. This is no example to set for your daughter, your nephew, your students… I expected this from Black, but not you… Or Potter…" he sneered at James, who sneered back.

"This is none of your concern, Severus." Remus addressed him, "Take Christi and leave."

"I see that Pettigrew is here too… Were you about to kill him for what he's done?"

"Could you blame us?" Sirius asked.

"It's punishable by Azkaban…" Snape commented idly.

Ivy narrowed her eyes at him and raised herself to him like she had done to Remus, "You wouldn't do that, though. You wouldn't tear two families apart and another life by sending the three of them to Azkaban. I know you loathe them all still, despite the years you've come to spend with our families, but honestly… You're soulless to do that."

Snape narrowed his eyes at Ivy, and Christi tapped his arm to distract him. "Daddy, you're a good person…"

Snape sighed and nodded, "I know, sweetie… We all need to leave now. Remus, you could get fired for this, but seeing as I'm a good man—"

Sirius snorted at that. Snape and Sirius suddenly entered a glaring match. Ivy tossed the wand to James, its rightful owner, and Remus went over to her.

"Are you okay?"

Ivy didn't answer, but looked around the room. She looked at her frightful friends, to Snape clutching Christi's arm, then to Sirius, who was fuming, and James, who was working on getting Ron better, with his broken leg. She only glanced at the quivering Peter.

"What are you gonna do now?" Ivy asked.

Remus was about to say something when Peter suddenly morphed into his rat form and made a break for the door. Sirius and James rushed after him immediately, trying to get through the door at once. They were heard stomping down the stairs and throughout the Shrieking Shack.

Meanwhile, Remus helped Ron with his wounds. Ivy sat next to Harry and Hermione and asked them, "Are you guys okay?"

Hermione shrugged, "I've known for a while…"

Ivy furrowed her eyebrows, "What?"

"Not about Peter or the Animagi, but about your father."

She narrowed her eyes at Hermione, "What about my father?"

Hermione scoffed, "That he's a werewolf… Harry didn't even have to tell me about it. I could guess… I mean, it's obvious, how he's always ill during the full moon, and how Sirius and James always come at that time. I recognized all the signs, but I especially got it when Snape was filling in for Professor Lupin when he was sick and Snape gave us the lesson about werewolves and Animagi."

Snape smiled a little and helped with Ron.

"For the record," Harry interjected, "I didn't know… This is news to me…"

Ivy nodded and said, "Christi didn't know either."

Christi sat down with them and said, "I thought I saw some signs, but I was too busy to pay that much attention to the lunar cycle."

Remus glanced at them, to see Ivy's worried expression. She said, "You guys can't tell anybody. My dad will lose his job for it… All the parents will hate him."

They all swore they wouldn't as Sirius and James walked back in, out of breath. James said, "We lost him."

Harry clenched his fists and they all stood up. Sirius and James helped to hold Ron up throughout the house and tunnel so they could get outside.

"We need to get Ron quickly to the Hospital Wing." Remus said.

Sirius looked down and said guiltily, "Sorry about that, mate."

Ron shook his head and said, "It's okay, I understand."

Sirius let out a bark-like laugh and they all managed to get through to the outside. They moved way away from the swinging tree.

"Is this safe?" Ivy asked quietly, but everyone heard her.

"Why wouldn't it be, Poison Ivy?" Sirius asked. Ivy glanced at the sky. The full moon was hidden behind a fairly thin cloud. Remus wasn't transforming yet though. She sucked in a sharp breath as a wind caught the trees. The breeze ruffled around them, and slowly the cloud moved out of the way.

Remus dropped his wand and was seized by a tremor. He seized, still standing up, and shook. Sirius rushed to him while James supported Ron and shielded the kids along with Snape.

Sirius clutched Remus while he shook, and slowly started to transform. His clothes ripped and Ivy watched in terror, her eyes leaking tears. Remus grew fur and grew much larger. His arms lengthened and he grew a tail, ears on his head and his eyes turned yellow. His teeth turned very, very sharp. He turned into a beast right before their eyes.

Sirius transformed into his Animagus form and they started to fight. Whether it was real or fake, Ivy didn't know. They tumbled down the hill and out of sight, and James began to gather everyone up. "We have got to get you all back to the castle. Come with me, right now. Come on, let's go."

As he ushered the kids across the grounds, all Ivy heard was her father growling and barking and roaring loudly.