After her birthday party, as promised, Celesta cleaned up, even making the twins help her.

Though she didn't get to see much of the twins, between all their studies and their Quidditch practice. Even Harry was having a hard time of it. Hermione had bags under her eyes matching Lupin's, and Ron was trying to find material to help Buckbeak.

Inter-House Rivalry was at an alltime high, though with unspoken agreement not to touch Celesta and risk the Malfoy Family's punishment. Instead the Slytherin's pretended she didn't exist, though they did make sure she wasn't in the crossfire of any spells thrown in the corridors as classes resumed and the day of the Quidditch final coming up.

By the end of the week she felt confident enough with her studies so far to get exemplary marks on her exams, even cracking open her History of Magic textbook and brushing up on the subject.

The night before the match was loud enough that after kissing her twins she headed to bed early to get away from the noise. As the day was supposed to be extremely sunny, to clear up the last of the snow and spring rains, so even with her potion Celesta would be uncomfortable, so she wished the team well, but she was going to study more during the match, preparing essays for the next few months, just in case any of the new material they'd be studying were on the exams.

She'd heard the Gryffindor dorm before they started trickling into the common room. Based on the cheering, she assumed they won the cup, and when Fred and George went and gave her long kisses that left her breathless, her heart racing and her core pulsating, she knew that they had. Gulping a bit, she cleared her throat and went back to studying a little while their party got started.

The euphoria had lasted about a week, the weather becoming bright and cloudless, though nearly no students got to enjoy it. June was approaching swiftly, along with their exams.

Finally, Exam week appeared, an unnatural hush falling over the castle. On Monday their first exam was Transfiguration, Celesta calmly finishing the written exam before heading to the practical part, her teacup turning into a brilliant tortoise. The proctor had even remarked that her skills were far more advanced than they had seen in third years for quite some time.

Lunch was a solemn affair before they headed up to Charms. She did well on the Cheering Charm, though Flitwick didn't play favorites, and the proctors certainly didn't either, telling them they'd get their results when they were posted.

Hagrid gave them their easist exam ever, watching over Flobberworms for an hour during their Care of Magical Creatures exam, giving them ample time to talk to Hagrid about Buckbeak.

Potions was very easy for her, Celesta breezing through the potion with a quiet air of concentration, only paying attention to her motions and ingredients, making sure they were up to both her own and Snape's standards.

Even Astronomy and History of Magic was a breeze.

Herbology was Wednesday afternoon, and with the hot early summer sun, she was given secondary potion, forced to rub it over her exposed skin after taking her daily potion. After the exam, she had to take a long shower to get the lotion off her skin, the oily feeling lingering. At dinner, she went to Professor Snape, giving him her analysis on the potion, which was similiar to the vampire sunscreen spf 1000, which, while worked, didn't feel great on the skin. In fact it was oily and almost abrasive when she went to wash it off.

Thursday morning was their DADA exam, an obstacle course. Due to the morning sun not being as bright as the afternoon sun, and with her condition, she was the first one to go. When she climbed out of the wardrobe, she was told she got full marks, and with a satisfied smile, she headed back to the castle to study for her Ancient Runes exam, which was scheduled after lunch.

The exam was a bit tough, but when it came to the practical she seemed to breeze through it instinctively. Professor Babbling told her she received full marks on the practical, but for the written she had to take a mark or two off. She'd recieve her compiled mark with the rest of her exams.

Satisfied with her exams so far, she met up with her friends in the common room. Harry was still at his exam, but they received the notice from Hagrid.

They'd lost the appeal.

Hermione went to get the cloak, which had been hidden in one of the passage ways for some time. They went to dinner with everybody, but when nobody else was in the Entrance Hall they slipped the cloak on, Celesta hissing at her friends.

"If you tell anybody about what you're about to see, I promise you I'll tell Molly Weasley and for you, Harry, I'll personally haunt you until the day you join me in hell."

No time to make them swear, she shifted so she'd fit under the cloak, leaping up into Hermione's arms, the girl whispering. "Later, you'll have to make an oath. And...Celesta will most likely modify your memories if you don't. She has very advanced magic for secret keeping because of this."

Quietly, the boys nodded, and besides glancing to the fox, they made it outside, heading to Hagrid's. Once at the hut, Celesta transformed back, glaring at Ron and Harry, but Hermione knocked before any more words could be spoken. She trusted the boys, sure, but did she trust that they could keep the secret? No. Not really. While their backs were turned, she did a quick memory spell, carefully using Legillimens to make sure she was removing the correct part of their memories, without screwing anything up.

When they were able to take the cloak off, she was slightly sweaty from magical exhaustion from the memory work, and with a quick look at Hermione to keep her mouth shut, she pretended to have been human the whole way there.

While trying to make tea, Hagrid broke a mug, the half-giant looking as hopeless as she'd ever seen him. Quickly, she and Hermione cleaned up the mess and went to make more tea, but when Hermione picked up the jug of milk, she gasped.

"Ron! It's Scabbers!" she'd exclaimed.

But Ron and the Rat, as Celesta had begun calling the thought-dead rodent, didn't get much time to reunite. The executioner, Fudge, and Professor Dumbledore were seen approaching from the window.

"Quickly now! Go out the back!" Hagrid exclaimed, letting them out the backdoor. Quickly, the four friends scrambled out, hiding behind a few pumpkins while the executioner and others went inside. Before they were caught, they ran up the path back to the castle, stopping to watch at the barrier as to which they were allowed outside. A tear went down her cheek when the axe was brought down, Hermione turning to sob on Ron's shoulder for a moment.

They didn't get to mourn long as the sun was swiftly setting, just a few slivers of light left. Scabber bit Ron's hand to get let go, before running off, the red-haired boy chasing after his rat, she, Hermione, and Harry running after him. Ron finally caught up to the rat...right under the Whomping Willow, the girls and Harry stopping.

"Ron! Ron!" Harry called, trying to get his attention. Celesta tensed a little, before relaxing, smelling her cousin. Surely, Sirius would be able to save her friend from trouble.

"Harry, behind you!" Ron cried, pointing, his skin nearly as pale as her own. "It's the Grim!"

Biting her tongue to keep from laughing, she turned to Sirius, who was growling. Eyebrow raised, she watched, the dots connecting in her head, as Sirius lunged for Ron, no, for Scabbers. But He saved her friend, which was even more important, a soft "Thank you, Sirius." leaving her lips before she ran after her friends, the dog animagus dragging her friend into the passageway under the tree.

Barely, she was able to make it into the tunnel while Harry and Hermione distracted the tree, Celesta pausing, before transforming back into a fox and heading into the shack. She could always claim to have gotten lost, and this way she'd be safe. After all, it was too close to the full moon for her tastes. It -was- a little bit of a maze in the tunnel, more entryways hidden in the forest after all. And with the dementors out and about still, one could never be too careful.

She came into the room and growled at the Rat, who she now knew to be Pettigrew. Though with her friend injured and scared, she didn't advance, instead going to the corner of the room and making herself as small as possible when she heard her friends coming up.

Celesta didn't pay much attention to what was going on with the words, but when Lupin appeared, looking haggard as if he hadn't taken his potion, Celesta knew she'd chosen the best course of action for herself, gritting her teeth and curling into a ball, hiding under one of the pillows and peeking her head out to watch. Seeing Lupin and Black seeming on the same side, she breathed a quiet sigh of relief. Snape appeared after Sirius started yelling for Peter, a quiet squeak coming from her which was quieted by the others, thankfully.

But then Harry stunned Professor Snape, Celesta shuddering a little when she heard the crack on the head the professor got. It'd take him a bit to recover, for sure. Finally, it seemed that the Rat was exposed, Celesta yawning a little. This day had gotten a bit -too- exciting for her tastes. She followed after them all as they started heading back up to the castle to inform the magistrates and the dementors about Pettigrew being the cause of what happened all those years ago, Lupin levitating Snape.

They had just gotten outside when the charm failed, Lupin spotting the full moon. Pettigrew, taking advantage of the distraction, turned back into a rat and ran off. With a whimper, Celesta looked between her friends before running after the rat with a growl. Maera met up with her in the forest, both of them chasing Pettigrew.

They must've ran for hours through the forest, chasing his scent, even catching the rat once or twice before it'd wiggled from their jaws, bleeding heavily. Finally, he transformed back, and stunned the two of them, whining from the pain of their bites while they lay paralyzed. Huffing a bit, he almost cast the killing curse on them, before he apparated away.

"Dumb foxes."

The paralysis wore off a few minutes later, Celesta limping back to the castle. She made it nearly half an hour before midnight, collapsing in front of Snape's quarters and transforming back with a light scream of pain, the spell cast on her having broken her arm in several places. "P-professor!" she cried hoarsely, tears strolling down her cheeks.

"Celesta! What are..." he stopped then, seeing the blood around her mouth and the broken arm. "We need to get you to Pompfrey." he nearly growled. "Foolish girl. What happened?"

"No! I can't...she can't...I'm an animagus. Please, godfather. Not even Lucius knows. Nobody can know." she growled, crying out each time he tried to touch her arm. "I need your Vow."

Snape had glared, trying to get into her head, but after failing, he'd nodded, Luli coming when he called to witness. "Your secrets are yours, and unless you say I can disclose them, I solemnly vow not to tell a soul verbally or mentally. Now tell me, foolish girl." He'd growled out, levitating her into his quarters.

"Pettigrew...he was the rat." She got out as she downed the potions handed to her. "He escaped when Lupin was transforming, and I took after him. Sir, he was the one who betrayed the Potters. He killed those muggles, not my cousin." She had to pause there, biting down on a scrap of leather while Severus reset her arm, the girl screaming in pain. "I went after him, sir. He doesn't know...nobody can know. Only trusted people, people I'd trust to jump in front of the killing curse for me, know. Narcissa, Hermione, and my twins."

She ignored his scoff at the comment about her twins. "He got away...he stunned me and Maera. The spell...I must've landed wrong. It broke my paw..." she said finally, the adrenaline from the pain wearing off, leaving her exhausted. "Got a few bites in though..." was the last thing she was aware of.

She woke up the next morning in the hospital wing, Pompfrey having been told she'd fallen out of bed, resulting in her broken arm. She was fully recovered, when she and her friends were able to leave at Noon. She got all caught up on what happened with her friends, before they learned about Lupin resigning, Harry going and trying to convince him to stay.

He wasn't able to. On the last day of term they got their exam results back. Celesta had gotten exlemplary results on all her exams, along with a note from Snape, explaining that she'd be talking to him at her new residence about getting a schedule set up as well as divulging all her secrets. Apparently, though the ministry kept it hushed up, he'd been assigned her new Guardian, and she his Ward, since she was getting disowned by the Malfoy's and going to be his apprentice. She would have her own household, obviously, but he'd be in charge of her care.

The next day as they loaded up on the train, Celesta laughed a bit at Ron's new owl, before heading to spend time with Fred and George. They spent the rest of the trip snogging and talking about the summer, Fred and George convincing her to come to the World Cup with their family. She'd promised she would see if she could, but there would be no promises.

When the train pulled into King's Cross, Celesta reluctantly parted from them and refreshed her make-up charm before disembarking, Maera trotting at her heels loyally.

"Mother, Father." she greeted, Lucius holding out his arm for them to disapparate. With only a little hesitation, she took it, arriving at the Manor and being told to start packing immediately.

"I've been told you've gotten a new residence, and that Snape will be your guardian. You have two weeks to get your things together, and I've gifted you a few books from the library. The last gift you'll receive from me." Lucius told her, Celesta nodding as she headed to her room.

"Yes, Father."

"Celesta." Lucius called before she was out of sight, the girl turning. "After these two weeks, you'll no longer be welcome through the wards without authorization. I will know if you appear. For both our sakes, don't come back. Your mother will help you move."

Celesta nodded, before continuing on to her room, Draco and Narcissa arriving after she'd gotten to it. It didn't take her long to pack her clothing and books, a couple photo albums getting placed into her bag. Luli was able to grab seedlings from the garden already, and Narcissa had already moved everything important and not replaceable. For the next two weeks, she'd most likely be coming and going from her new housing, to make it seem like she still lived here while the paint dried in her new place.

Author's Note: I TOLD YOU! I got my groove back, baby! Not one, but TWO chapters in one day. How do you like that, writer's block?!

Haha, all jokes aside, thank you once again to those following my story. I love every one of you guys and I'll get the next chapter out in the next day or two, okay? I know you're all excited to read about what her new place looks like!