Hello everyone! Thanks to all of you who reviewed. I really appreciate your guys' opinions and comments. Don't be afraid to suggest something or ask a question. I usually always reply to reviews either to say thanks for reviewing or to answer questions. I figure if you take the time to review, the least I can do is thank you. :)

Also, congratulations to Jokegirl for being my 100th review! For your prize, I give you chapter 15!

ENJOY!

How could she have been so oblivious?! She had spent weeks searching all over the castle for a specific rat, when it was just a person away all this time! She knew that Ron's rat just had to be Pettigrew. She had checked all of the other rats in Hogwarts--he was the only one left! And, she had asked Ron, just to make sure. As if an answer to her prayers, Ron answered that Scabbers had been in their family for 12 years and he was missing a toe! (According to Ron, this was due to an experiment of Fred and George in their younger years.) She was ecstatic when she discovered this information, but her heart sank again as she remembered that Scabbers was now missing. She was more than positive that he hadn't been eaten by Crookshanks. Pettigrew couldn't be stupid enough to be caught by a cat after evading capture for 12 years.

Arra was sitting in the common room with Hermione at the moment. Hermione had her nose buried in a book, while Arra had borrowed the Marauder's Map from Harry to look for Wormtail. Since Crookshanks had 'eaten' Scabbers, Ron had ceased speaking to Hermione. And Harry was also angry with her for getting his new broomstick (a firebolt!) taken away. It had come in the mail shortly after Arra's meeting with her dad. She immediately knew who it was from and that it wasn't dangerous. But the ever-cautious Hermione had immediately reported the mysterious gift to McGonagall. Thereby leading to the present fight of the three friends. Arra was stuck in the middle, where she usually was when the group separated temporarily. He had since gotten the broom back, and won the most recent Quidditch match against Ravenclaw with it, but was still angry.

Arra was following different names with her eyes along the map. She located Harry and Ron, who were in divination at the moment. Arra was supposed to be there as well, but she tended to ditch that class quite often. When she did show up, she would explain to Trelawney that she had suffered from a traumatic nightmare in which she was trampled to death by a pack of wild hippopotamuses, or something like that and that she had taken a mental health day in order to rest her 'inner eye' or 'chi' or whatever the hell that old bat was always talking about. Today, she had a 'feeling that danger was awaiting her on the staircase to Divination' and she didn't want to walk directly into the face of it. Or at least that's what she was going to tell Trelawney. Back on the map, Arra had found Draco with Crabbe and Goyle. They were in Herbology in the Greenhouses. Arra and Draco's friendship had gotten back on track after their small row. However, Arra was still having conflicting feelings about her two male best friends. For now, her first priority was freeing her father. She would worry about boyfriends later.

"Must you look at that map all the time, Arra." Hermione said suddenly when she realized what Arra was studying.

"I like looking at it. It makes me feel omniscient." She grinned widely at her use of a big word. Much like a 10 year old who just found out where babies come from.

"Do you even know what omniscient means?" Hermione scolded.

Arra glared at her. "Yes. And if I were you, I would back off. Since Harry and Ron aren't talking to you, I'm all you've got."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Oh, joy." She said sarcastically.

Arra grabbed a nearby eraser and threw it at Hermione's head.

"Ouch!" She yelled when it hit her. Arra began to laugh loudly.

Hermione took her pencil and chucked it at Arra, whom it hit in the arm. Arra gasped at Her. "Miss Granger!" She said in a perfect McGonagall impersonation. "I would have expected more mature behavior out of you! One thousand three hundred and fifty one points from Gryffindor!"

Hermione and Arra laughed together until they heard the portrait hole open and Ron and Harry scrambled through. They looked at the girls and said together, "Hi Arra." And then glared at Hermione, before going up to the dormitory.

Arra's eyes followed them up the stairs and then looked back at Hermione. She was staring down at the table. Arra reached across and placed her hand on top of Hermione's. "Hey," she said in a warm tone, "they'll come around eventually. They'll realize that you only turned the broom in because you were worried. And Ron will figure out that it's not your fault your cat ate the rat."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right." Hermione gave a small smile.

Arra later accompanied Hermione to dinner and sat far away from Harry and Ron. Arra tried to talk to Hermione and cheer her up. But as everyone knows, if Hermione is angry, then she is determined to stay that way. Later, they went back up to the dormitories for bed. Arra said goodnight to Ron and Harry and went up to her own bed and was soon fast asleep.

Arra's dream that night consisted of her chasing Wormtail with a giant hammer and later eating a rather large piece of cheesecake. She was about to take another heaping bite when she was suddenly awoken by an ear-piercing scream.

"What was that?!" She shouted as she bolted upright in her bed. The other girls were all looking around in fear.

"What's going on?" Lavender shrieked in a frightened voice and clutched at Parvati.

Arra rolled her eyes at her annoying roommates and got up out of bed quickly. She headed towards the door.

"Where are you going?!" Hermione, Lavender, and Parvati screamed together.

"To find out what's going on." Arra said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"It could be dangerous!" Parvati warned.

Arra scoffed. "What's life without risk?" She smirked as the other girls looked at her, horrified. Arra turned her attention to Hermione. "You coming?" She asked her best female friend.

Hermione looked at the other girls, shrugged her shoulders in defeat and followed Arra out of the room.

Once they were in the hallway, they saw some other brave souls out to investigate. She could hear frantic voices coming from the boy's dorms.

"Come on." She muttered.

They trudged up the stairs and soon found the source of the screaming--it was Ron. Almost all of the Gryffindors had packed into the tiny dorm room in order to see what the commotion was about. Arra pushed her way through until she could see her best friends.

"What happened?" She asked with worry.

Harry started to say in a doubtful voice, "Well, Ron thinks that--"

"SIRIUS BLACK JUST TRIED TO KILL ME!" Ron cut him off.

Arra's heart stopped momentarily. "What did you say?" She asked quietly.

"He was here! Just now! I woke up and he was standing over me with a knife!" Ron explained in a shaky voice.

Arra's eyes widened in shock and her knees buckled. She swayed on the spot and began to fall over to one side. Harry's arms shot out and caught her securely.

"Arra? You OK?" Harry said in a concerned voice.

She wasn't quite registering what was happening until she felt his strong arms holding her up against his body, making sure she didn't fall. That she didn't get hurt. She looked up into his eyes and saw them filled with worry. Arra was normally the strong and solid one out of the group, and to see her like this must have been scary. "Yeah, I'm fine." She said slowly as she stood up on her own, with Harry's help of course. "I just need some air or something." And with that she quickly exited the dormitory.

Once out of the portrait hole, she took off running towards the one-eyed witch passage. She knew that must be the way he was planning to escape. She reached it and scrambled down the hole, breaking into a sprint as soon as her feet were on solid ground. After running for a while, she noticed a shape in front of her. "DAD!" She yelled.

The dog turned its head around in surprise at her presence. He began to run back towards her, slowly transforming back into a person. "Arra! What are you doing here?"

"Are you MAD?!" She yelled at him. "We both agree for you to stay AWAY from Hogwarts, and then not even a few weeks later, you bust in with a knife in the dormitories!!!"

"I was looking for the rat." He said with a shameful face.

"I know that!" She raised her voice again. "I've known that Scabbers is Wormtail for a while now. Scabbers ran away though, so I don't know where he is!"

Sirius looked down in shame. "Oh. I didn't know that."

"Yeah! I figured! Do you even realize what you just did?! You could have been caught, and you could have gotten me and Lupin in trouble as well! Did you even think about that?"

"I just wanted to help--" He started.

"Well you didn't! You just caused security to be tightened and make Wormtail even more aware of your presence!" She explained. "And why did you come to kill him? That was my job. I was getting it done. Did you not trust me? Or did you just think that I couldn't do it?" She interrogated.

"I just--"

"Forget it." She said in a stern tone which silenced him immediately. "I don't want to hear it. Just stay away from here and I'll finish the job myself. I don't need your help." She scowled as she turned on her heel and left.

***

As Arra had said, security had been tightened extremely and she had no sign of Wormtail. At breakfast one morning, while Arra was sitting with Harry and Ron (who was once again telling the story of how he narrowly escaped death from Sirius Black in the dead of night for the umpteenth time) Hermione came over with a letter clutched in her hand.

"Come to turn us in for something else?" Ron said with a sneer. Arra kicked him under the table.

"No." Hermione scowled at him. "I just figured you might want to know about this." She said, placing the letter on the table.

Arra picked it up and read it aloud to the others: "Dear Hermione, we lost. I'm allowed to bring him back to Hogwarts. Execution date to be fixed. Buckbeak has enjoyed London. I won't forget all the help you gave us. -Hagrid."

The other three kids looked at each other with somber faces. "They can't just kill Buckbeak!" Harry shouted finally. "Just because Malfoy caused him to kick him! It's not fair!"

Arra suddenly stood up. "Where are you going?" Hermione asked.

"To talk to the dumbass behind all of this." She scowled and walked away. She stomped her way over to the Slytherin table until she spotted her platinum blonde haired friend.

He saw her and smiled. "Arra!" He said with a happy tone.

"Don't you dare act all buddy-buddy with me! How could you do this?!"

Draco blinked with confusion. "Uhhh…?"

"Buckbeak, you idiot! He's been sentenced to execution!" She yelled. By this point, almost all of the hall was staring at them. Arra had always been a loud person, especially when she was angry.

"That ugly brute?" He asked as he stood up. He looked more intimidating when he was towering over her. "He's too dangerous to be around students!"

"Liar! You know he's not!" Arra screamed at him.

"He attacked me, Arra!" He defended himself.

"Because you insulted him!"

"So this is my fault?!"

"Well at least we agree on something!" Arra yelled.

Draco formed a look which was a scowl crossed with surprise. "Since when did you take their side over mine?" He asked. Arra immediately knew who 'they' were.

"Since you started acting like your father!"

That did it. Malfoy frowned in fury and stormed out of the Great Hall. Arra let out a sigh and looked back at the Great Hall. Every eye was staring at her with shock. She glanced at the Slytherin table before moving back to the Gryffindors.

"You and Malfoy fight like an old married couple." Ron pointed out when she returned.

As much as Arra still liked Draco in 'that way' she was too furious to think about being married to him at that point. Arra scowled at him for bringing up such a topic. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Harry frown at him too. He obviously didn't like the thought of Arra marrying Malfoy either.

***

Since they had learned of Buckbeak's execution, Ron and Harry had made up with Hermione. They worked for nights on end, studying appeals and trying their best to come up with the very best case in Buckbeak's favor. In addition to that, they were all trying to cram as much information into their heads for the upcoming exams. Hermione was just as frantic as ever, Ron and Harry were procrastinating, and Arra honestly didn't really care--she had too much on her mind.

She was beginning to think that searching for Wormtail was a lost cause. Sometimes she didn't even want to look anymore. She was still angry at her father for not trusting her with the task. She knew that she was extremely capable of killing a tiny rat herself! Therefore, her exams were taking a backseat in her mind. Besides, she already had enough money and a house to live in for the rest of her life--who needs school?

"You do!" Hermione shouted at her when she expressed her view on the exams. Of course, she left out the part about the rat.

Arra rolled her eyes as they exited their potions exam. "Let's face it Hermione, my Confusing Concoction was absolutely dreadful! I try in all my other classes! Except for Divination, that's a load of rubbish." She said. "Oh, and History of Magic too. That's too boring for me. I have no idea how you stay awake in there!" She said with fascination at her best friend. Hermione huffed as they, along with Ron and Harry, headed down to Defense Against the Dark Arts, which was outside.

All four friends did exceptional on this exam, with Arra and Harry both receiving full marks. Like Harry, DADA was Arra's best subject. In fact, it was the only one that really interested her. As they were walking back up to school, they spotted the Minister and some other men talking in hushed voices. Arra scowled at them. She knew that they were here to decide Buckbeak's fate.

"Harry!" The Minister shouted excitedly when he spotted them. He approached and grimaced when he realized who else he was talking to. "Miss Black." He nodded curtly.

"Fudge." She responded shortly with a sneer.

Fudge looked back at Harry, not even acknowledging Ron or Hermione. "I'm here on an unpleasant mission I'm afraid. Something to do with Hagrid--"

"We know why you're here." Arra cut in with a scowl.

Fudge, startled at her audacity, continued, "Yes, well. Must be off then." And with that, he left.

"Oh I hate him!" Arra yelled, frustrated. "He doesn't even care what happens to Buckbeak! They're going to win unfairly and Hagrid won't even stand a chance!"

"You don't know that." Harry said even though everyone could tell he didn't mean it either. They all knew what was going to happen.

After they completed all of their exams, a letter from Hagrid came from Hedwig. It said that Buckbeak was to be executed at sunset. They all decided that it would be best to go down and be with Hagrid when it happened.

A bit before sunset, they all gathered under the Invisibility Cloak and exited the castle. They knocked on the door, and Hagrid let them inside, scolding them for their lack of obedience.

"Yeh shouldn't've come!" He said as they all sat around the table.

"We weren't going to let you do this on your own, Hagrid." Arra said comfortingly.

"We'll be here. And we'll tell them what really happened. Once they hear the real story, they can't possibly execute him!" Hermione said.

Hagrid's eyes widened. "Oh no yeh will not! I won't have the three of yeh watchin that!" He said pointing to outside, where Buckbeak was waiting. "An' besides, you two," he pointed at Harry and Arra, "aren't even supposed teh be out a' night."

Harry said, "We're not going to leave you." The other three agreed.

Hagrid just shook his head, unable to think of a valid argument. "How about I make us all some tea?" Arra said as the got up.

She could hear the others talking behind her as she put the kettle on. She reached for the bottle of milk in the back of the line of containers and shrieked when she felt something move inside it and saw something big, dark, and alive swimming in it. She immediately dropped the bottle and watched it shatter into tiny pieces. Her eyes widened and she gasped when she saw the creature inside--it was a rat. And it was missing a toe.

YAY! The excitement begins! Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Be sure to review and you may have some spaghetti!