Hello all! Sorry for the massive delay. I just started a new job and my hours have been insane. But worry not, I will continue to update as soon as possible.

Thanks to all of you who reviewed the last chapter! I'm so glad everyone is loving this so far!

ENJOY!

I don't own HP

Weeks passed and soon enough it was the weekend for Harry's Quidditch match against Hufflepuff. Arra came down to the Great Hall and noticed Harry, Ron and Hermione sitting at the Gryffindor table. A waving hand somewhere off to the left caught her attention and her eyes followed it to Draco Malfoy. He was trying to call her over with a desperate expression on his face. She scowled at him, turned on her heel, and sat next to her Gryffindor friends with her back facing the Slytherin boy.

"Hey guys." She said as she poured herself some coffee.

"Hey Arra." Ron said who was sitting across from her. He craned his neck and looked at something behind her. "I see you and Malfoy are still fighting."

"Yep. He keeps trying to talk to me but I'm still so angry that I don't think I have anything to say to him."

"He's looking at you." Ron answered. Arra shrugged.

"He's always looking at you Arra." Harry pointed out. "He stares at you constantly. I don't really like the way he looks at you." He said and Arra blushed at his protective nature.

Hermione glanced at her watch. "Harry, eat up, the match is going to start soon!" And he began to shovel food down his throat. The four of them finished and walked outstide and were instantly greeted by a violent rainstorm, complete with excess thunder and lightning.

Harry groaned and Arra gave him an encouraging pat on the shoulder. "Don't worry Harry, you'll do fine. I'm sure that you can catch the snitch faster that stupid Hufflepuff seeker no matter what weather you're playing in."

"Cedric Diggory?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah, him!" Arra said as she remembered his name. "Cedric," she spat out, "That sounds like a wimpy name. I bet he's super scrawny, weak, and his mum probably writes his name on his trousers." She laughed.

Harry gave a weak smile at her attempt to make him feel better. "Actually, that's him, over there." He said pointing.

Arra looked and saw a tall, muscular, and devilishly handsome boy. He noticed her looking and flashed a dazzling, flirtatious smile at her. She smiled back and then turned back to Hermione. "Whoa! That is one fine hunk-o-man if I do say so myself." Hermione nodded in agreement. Harry and Ron frowned.

"You're not helping." Harry said with a scowl.

"Oh, sorry." She apologized and they continued down to the pitch. Harry soon left them and Ron and Hermione became immersed in an argument concerning the attractiveness and Quidditch skills of Cedric Diggory. Arra was walking in silence, thinking to herself when she was suddenly pulled away from her friends with a jerk on her arm. She spun around quickly, preparing to fight off her attacker when she came face to face with Draco.

"Oh. It's you." She said with disgust.

"I need to talk to you." He said urgently.

"I don't need to talk to you." She said trying to walk away. He grabbed her upper arms and gently pushed her up against the nearest wall, so that she would be forced to listen to him.

Whoa, he's strong. She thought to herself. I bet his muscles are huge when he takes his shirt off…Wait! Stop it, Arra! Stop it! She scolded herself for thinking about him in a non-hateful way. You're mad at him. Stop thinking about him. "What do you want?" She asked out loud, going back to her angry tone.

"I'm sorry." He said sincerely. She looked at him expectantly.

"And?"

He groaned. She knew that apologizing was the one thing that Draco hated doing above almost anything else.

"And I didn't mean that no one cares about you. A lot of people care about you. Potter, Weasel, and Granger do. Dumbledore does. And I do. A lot. I need you back in my life Arra. I'm sorry for the things that I said to you, because I never meant to hurt you. You know me too well to think that I would purposely hurt you." He explained and Arra found herself hanging on his every word. "I love you Arra…" He said and her heart skipped a beat, "…like a sister." Her heart came crashing back down again.

She frowned. "Fine."

He doubled back, "Fine? Like you forgive me?"

"Fine." She said again as she walked away towards the pitch with her mind buzzing. I thought I had knocked him out of the picture, but then he just comes waltzing back in! And I thought he liked me too, for sure, but now I just…don't know. She soon found Hermione sitting among the other Gryffindors in the stands. She sat down and started to drum her fingers against the wooden armrest. Hermione's eyes darted back and forth between Arra and her energetic hand before asking, "Arra, is something wrong?"

Arra huffed and then turned to her. "What do you do when you like two guys, and they both act like they like you back, but then one says he loves you like a sister?" She asked quickly.

Hermione blinked. "I'm not the best person for you to talk to about relationship advice." And she turned back to the game.

Arra sighed and turned away as well. The topic of boys and relationships had always been a touchy one for the two girls, especially when it concerned Arra, due to the fact that Arra had already had two boyfriends and multiple offers, while Hermione had had nothing. Arra had once dated a boy over the summer she had met while staying at Ron's house, and the other was a fourth year Ravenclaw that Arra had gone out with during their second year. Neither had lasted long but Arra and the others could definitely see Hermione's jealousy, even though she acted supportive of Arra in front of them.

"I would say just ask him." Hermione said suddenly.

Arra looked surprised. "Huh?"

"The guy. Ask him if he likes you. And then decide which one you want more. That would be the logical thing to do." Hermione said without looking away from the game.

Arra smiled. "Thanks." She threw her arms around Hermione in a violent hug and Hermione patted her on the back, while still not taking her eyes off the game. She then began to look around with interest, as there was nothing too terribly exciting happening in the game at that point. Her eyes traveled along the stands, in search of something interesting. At games, she sometimes enjoyed what she called 'people watching' in which she would look around and see what random strangers were doing. It was always fun to find a couple randomly making out, or someone inconspicuously picking their nose, or something along those lines. She saw Draco, who was laughing with Crabbe and Goyle, more than likely making fun of Harry for something. He noticed her looking and waved with a warm smile. She returned it and felt a blush grace her cheeks, thankfully, the rainstorm hid it from his view. She looked up to the very top of the stands and noticed--a dog? What was a dog doing here? She narrowed her eyes and saw it more clearly. It was a big black animal, with long shaggy hair and big bright eyes, that were staring right at her. Her eyes widened, Is that dog looking at me? She thought. Wait a minute…OH MY GOD! She screamed internally as she stood up suddenly when she recognized the dog--but she wasn't alone.

Almost the rest of the audience suddenly shot up to a standing position and Arra drew her attention back to the game. She looked up in the sky and felt as though her internal organs had suddenly melted and suddenly evaporated from her body--Harry had fallen off of his broomstick and was now hurtling towards the ground.

"HARRY!" She shouted as loud as she could over the thunder and rain. She jumped up and leaned over the edge of the railing as if she were going to catch him, without even thinking, just shouting at him. Hermione noticed her and grabbed the back of her jacket to prevent her from falling over the edge and joining Harry. Arra didn't even register the fact that she was an inch away from suicide, she could only watch with wide horrified eyes as her best friend crashed onto the ground. "HARRY!" She yelled again as she took off running towards the staircase, practically throwing people out of her way with all of her adrenaline. She took the stairs by threes and never stopped running, even when she was smashing into random strangers, she just violently shoved them out of her way. She must have been running fast, for she reached Harry before even the rest of his Quidditch team.

She skidded to a stop on her knees and flipped Harry over so that she could look at his face. She held his head between her hands and called his name over and over. Before she knew it, tears were streaming down her face and landing on Harry's Quidditch uniform. The team, Ron and Hermione, Dumbledore, and most everyone else soon joined the two on the ground. Dumbledore knelt on the other side of Harry and started muttering spells and shouting orders at other people. Arra didn't hear anything until she felt a strong pair of arms lift her from the ground and away from Harry. She fought hard, but the person was just too strong for her. When she saw that Harry was being taken to the school, she slowly started to come back to reality. She noticed the person holding her and whipped around to see--Draco. He looked at her, and she knew that in his head, he was laughing at Harry's misfortune, but he put a somber face on for her. She threw her arms around him in a tight hug and he wrapped her in his strong embrace. She sobbed into his shoulder and clutched at his shirt. He ran his hand through her hair and whispered sweet condolences in her ear. They stood there in the midst of the madness, letting the rain drench them and wash away their previous argument. Even though she was devastated about Harry, Arra couldn't help but hold onto to Draco like he was her life support. As someone rushed past them, they knocked into Arra, which caused the two to break apart from each other. She looked up at his beautiful face and drenched platinum blonde hair, which was hanging down in his face. It made him look absolutely sexy, to be honest. Without his hair slicked back and his clean and proper look, he seemed more dangerous, and appealing. She reached up and took a separated piece of his hair between her fingers and tried to put it back into its normal slicked-back place, but it just popped back out. She giggled and they looked into each others eyes once more, as if trying to communicate their feelings telepathically.

"Arra!" Hermione shouted and the auburn-hair girl turned to where her friend and Ron were standing on a hill, waving for her to join them, as they were likely going to see Harry. Arra turned back to Draco and he gave her a small smile as if to say "go ahead." She smiled back and ran to meet with Ron and Hermione.

"Have you heard anything?" She asked when she reached them and they began to briskly walk towards the Hospital Wing.

"Nothing new. He was still alive when he hit the ground." Hermione said in a trembling voice. "I suppose Dumbledore slowed his fall or something. We were trying to tell you when we were down there, but you weren't really listening."

Arra let out a breath she was holding. So he was alive…for now. But she had to stay positive, Dumbledore was sure to fix Harry up. "Do you think he'll be ok?" She asked tentatively.

Ron and Hermione looked at each other, then back at Arra before Ron answered. "Harry's been through worse than this before. He can handle pretty much anything." He said confidently. "After all, he is the 'Boy-Who-Lived'." He said with a smirk as the three of them thought fondly of their famous friend.

While walking, she remembered what she had saw during the game and quickly turned back to the pitch to find it. But the dog was gone.

"Something wrong, Arra?" Ron asked.

"No," she said turning back around. "I just thought I saw someone I recognized."

For the rest of the journey, the three friends walked in silence, each absorbed in their own thoughts. They waited outside of the Hospital Wing for what seemed like forever until Professor McGonagall came outside and granted them entry. Arra walked inside and her eyes were immediately drawn to Harry's lifeless body sprawled out on one of the beds. Her feet felt as heavy as lead as they dragged her towards him. Hermione and Ron took two chairs on either side of his bed while Arra sat on the edge of it. With a trembling hand, she slid it into his and held it. It was still warm, so she knew that blood was at least running through his body, and that thought comforted her. She gently squeezed his hand, as if to let him know that she was there with him. And it may have just been her imagination, but she could have sworn there was the smallest squeeze back from him to her. The doors suddenly opened and the rest of Harry's team gathered around the bed as well.

"How is he?" Oliver asked with concern.

"Madam Pomfrey says he'll be just fine, rest is all he needs." Hermione answered.

All of the team suddenly dropped their tensed shoulders, for they were all preparing themselves for the worst news possible.

"Lucky the ground was so soft." George said.

"I thought he was dead for sure." Fred added.

"But he didn't even break his glasses." Alicia pointed out.

Arra suddenly felt some movement from Harry as she turned to him just in time to see his eyes snap open.

"Harry!" Fred yelled as the rest of the group suddenly started pestering him with questions and Harry discovered the outcome of the match, and the ill fate of his Nimbus 2000 broomstick. The whole time everyone was talking, Harry never let go of Arra's hand and she only stared at him with soft, caring eyes.

Soon enough, the Quidditch team left, but Ron, Hermione and Arra stayed with Harry.

"You've been awfully quiet, Arra. Is something wrong?" Harry asked.

She snapped back to reality when she heard her name. "What? Oh, I just…I'm just happy you're ok." She smiled and he returned the gesture.

***

Within the next few weeks, Harry was feeling much better, with the exception of the upcoming Hogsmeade trip. Once again, Harry and Arra were not allowed to attend, as it was too dangerous, even though Arra knew that there was nothing to be afraid of. While Harry had gone to see Ron and Hermione off to Hogsmeade, Arra had gone to visit Professor Lupin.

"So Peter Pettigrew framed my father by cutting off his finger?" Arra asked incredulously while sipping her tea.

"Insane, I know. But I'm afraid that's how it happened." Lupin answered with a small chuckle at Pettigrew's expense.

"And now you and my father suspect that Pettigrew is here in the castle?" She asked.

"We're more than positive."

"So why hasn't he been caught?" She asked with confusion.

"He's incognito." Lupin said mysteriously.

Arra blinked. "Incognito? Like in disguise?"

Lupin nodded.

"As what?"

"A rat." He said simply and Arra almost choked on her tea.

"A rat?" She almost yelled. Lupin shushed her. "He's a rat? Are you kidding?"

"No. We've known Wormtail for a long time, and his alternate Animagus form seems the most logical for an effective disguise."

"He's and Animagus?"

"Yes." He answered. "We all were in one way or another. Well, I'm a werewolf, as you know, your father can turn into a dog, James could become a stag, and Peter was a rat." He said simply.

"And you all just decided to do this one day?"

"Yeah. Your dad's idea. He was always ready to do something adventurous. Especially if it was illegal." He smirked. "You remind me of him so much."

She laughed. "So how are we supposed to find Pettigrew in this giant castle?"

"With this." He said as he got up to go to his desk and take something out. He sat back down and proudly gave her…a piece of parchment?

"What's this?" She asked looking it over.

"Our most prized possession, and secret weapon."

"Is this…no way! Is this really the marauder's map?" She asked excitedly. The memories that ministry uncovered made her remember everything, including her father talking about this map.

Lupin's eyes widened. "Wow, that memory spell really did work." He chuckled and removed his wand as he tapped the paper. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." And suddenly, a map and tiny words appeared on the paper.

"Oh my goodness, this really is amazing." She said as she looked it over. "Can I keep this?"

"Of course." Lupin said. "But, I only want you to use it to find Pettigrew. Don't do anything stupid with it." He said with a warning tone."

She smirked and got up to leave. "Of course not, Professor." And from the look he gave her, she could tell he didn't believe her one bit.

***

"Harry!" Arra yelled as she ran into the common room.

It was empty except for him, sitting in an armchair in the corner.

"What?" He said jumping up in alarm.

"Go get your invisibility cloak!" She said as she pushed him towards the dormitory.

"Why?"

"We're going to Hogsmeade!" She yelled.

"Huh?"

"Go. I'll explain on the way."

He got the cloak and the two covered themselves up and headed down the corridor towards the one eyed witch.

"So you stole this map from Flich's office while you were in detention?" Harry asked with wonder.

"Yep." She lied. Obviously, she couldn't tell him how she really got it.

"Wow." He said while they started down the secret passageway. "You keep up stuff like that and you're going to be joining your father in Azkaban." He joked.

"Relax, Harry. You're starting to sound like Hermione." She smirked.

"What?" Harry faked hurtfulness and dramatically placed his hand over his heart.

She laughed at him. "If I go to prison, I'm taking you with me Potter." She warned while wagging a finger at him.

"Now that's just unfair. You're the one who does all the dangerous stuff, I'm the innocent one who just comes along to make sure you don't die." He explained while trying not to laugh.

"Sure, Harry. You just keep telling yourself that." She said as they reached the cellar of Honeydukes and began to prepare for their discovery of Hogsmeade.

"No, Ronald! Harry doesn't like those!" Hermione scolded as they were looking through the candy, obviously trying to find gifts for their friends, who were left behind.

"Well, how am I supposed to know?!" Ron argued back.

"How about some licorice wands for Arra?" She asked.

He grimaced. "No. She hates those."

"How do you know?"

"She got a box once and we threw them at first years because she didn't want them." He laughed as he remembered their antics that so often pissed off Hermione. She scowled at him.

"On second thought, you should get me a box of those. I'm running out of ammunition for my first year targets." Arra laughed from behind them as her and Harry approached.

Their friends jumped in surprise and began to pester them with questions about how they had escaped the walls of Hogwarts. In return, they told them their story, and about the Marauder's Map.

"Brilliant!" Ron said when they told them about it's many wonders.

"But you're not going to keep it, Harry. You're going to turn it in?" Hermione said expectantly.

"It's not mine. It's Arra's. She's the one who knicked it from Filch." Harry said.

"Yeah, well I want Harry to have it." She said and her friend's jaws dropped.

"Me?" Harry asked.

"Of course. You seem to have people constantly wanting to kill you, so it might be useful." She poked fun at her friend's constant misfortune.

He laughed, Ron looked dumbfounded, and Hermione looked like she wanted to hex them all into oblivion. Soon, they all decided that they wanted to go to the Three Broomsticks for a few butterbeers.

They entered and took a table in the back corner. Almost immediately after they received their drinks, a group of people came in and sat at a near table. Before she knew what was happening, Arra and Harry were pushed underneath the table and out of sight. She was about to punch Ron in the foot for what he and Hermione had done, but then she heard the voice of Cornelius Fudge and some other Professors from Hogwarts including McGonagall and Hagrid. She was suddenly thankful for Hermione and Ron's quick thinking until she tuned into the nearby conversation.

"It's such a shame what's been happening lately. All this hullabaloo about Sirius Black wanting to kill poor Harry Potter!" Madam Rosmerta said at some point during the talk. "Especially since Black and James Potter used to be best friends back in their Hogwarts days." Harry's eyes went wide as he stared at Arra in wonder. She gave him an apologetic look as the conversation continued.

More was said, and with each word, Harry looked at Arra with bewilderment and her embarrassment just kept rising.

"Black betrayed the Potters. Just about handed them over to You-Know-Who!" Fudge shouted sometime later.

"Keep your voice down, Minister!" McGonagall shushed him. "Yes, it's true that he did, but that's not even the worst part of it. After all of these years, Black still remains Harry Potter's Godfather."

Harry almost choked at his point. Arra looked almost on the verge of tears because she was so upset that Harry had to find out all of it this way.

"Black is horrible. We all agree on this. It's a wonder his daughter hasn't turned out the same way." The minister scoffed.

Hagrid came to her defense. "Don't you dare say a bad word about that girl!" He warned. "She's had a rough past, but there is no way she would ever do something like that."

"When the ministry tried to get information out of her, she wouldn't talk. But we all know she's hiding something. My bet is that she's working with him. How else could he have possibly broken into Hogwarts?" Fudge barked.

"She wouldn't! Ariana Black cares about Harry more than anyone I know!" McGonagall said.

"Well, if I were Potter, I wouldn't trust her." Fudge said and the adults soon left afterwards.

Ron and Hermione's faces appeared under the table, both staring at Arra, lost for words. Arra quickly glanced at Harry, who was looking at her as if waiting for an explanation for everything. Not knowing what do to, she bowed her head in shame and began to pick at one of her shoelaces.

Hope you all loved it! After reviewing, I will give you pancakes! :)