The Cullens had stayed for in a couple of the guest rooms at Potter Manor, despite not technically sleeping. It was a vampire thing; they never slept. They left the following morning with a farewell. 

It was safe to say everyone was beyond shocked that Nova was friends with a group of vampires. They were even more shocked seeing the sibling-like relationship she shared with them. 

When Harry questioned Nova about why she never told him, her answer was simple; she couldn't find the right time to. She had only just started opening up about what she had gone through in the war. Telling him about baby pineapple and Greyback only to move on to hanging out with vampires didn't seem to fit right. Even more so, not even two weeks later had everyone returned from the dead. Thankfully, he understood. 

When they had entered the pensive, the group watched their memories. 

It was safe to say there was great emotional pain on Sirius's part. He heard his daughter continuously denied any associations or ties to her parentage. He watched as he was the thing she feared the most. He watched as she suffered from the taunts and glances of her classmates all because of her heritage. 

When the time came for Nova to be disowned from the house of Morgenstern, his pain quickly turned to anger and then to pride.  

Harry got an ear-full from his mum at his pettiness he showed Hermione when she reported the firebolts. 

"Glad to see I'm not the one being scolded for once," James joked while Harry tried to shrink back. 

"She was looking out for you!" Lily ranted. "But all you cared about was a bloody broomstick! So much like your father!"

"Bad luck, Prongs," Sirius elbowed him. "Almost got outta that one."

"Don't even get me started, Sirius Black," Lily said scathingly. "You acted like a criminal! No wonder everyone was out for your head! Sneaking into the Common Room with a bloody knife!"

When Nova had exploded on Trelawney, she could practically feel Lily's disappointment. While Lily wasn't into divination and, much like Hermione, thought it was a wishy-washy subject, she wasn't fond of Nova's blatant disrespect for a teacher. 

"Nova!" Ron yelled. "Run! It's him! It's Black!"

Theo snorted, "You really thought that was gonna work?"

The group watched as Sirius tried to reason with Nova in the beginning. Nova, being more stubborn than her fathers, did not listen. 

"You just got your arse handed to you," James laughed heavily as they watch Nova kick him to the floor. 

They watched eagerly as Remus appeared, and told them the story of his Hogwarts career. They watched as Severus appeared, and tied ropes around Remus. They watched as Hermione, Ron, and Harry had knocked him out. They watched as Scabbers was placed into view. 

"S — Sirius . . . R — Remus . . ." Even Pettigrew's voice was squeaky. Again, his eyes darted toward the door. "My friends . . . my old friends . . ."

Black's wand arm rose, but Lupin seized him around the wrist, gave him a warning look, then turned again to Pettigrew, his voice light and casual.

"We've been having a little chat, Peter, about what happened the night Lily and James died. You might have missed the finer points while you were squeaking around down there on the bed —"

James doubled over in laughter along side Marlene. 

"Why are you so nonchalant about it?" 

"Remus," gasped Pettigrew, and Nova could see beads of sweat breaking out over his pasty face. "you don't believe him, do you. . . ? He tried to kill me, Remus. . . ."

"So we've heard," said Lupin, more coldly. "I'd like to clear up one or two little matters with you, Peter, if you'd be so —"

"He's come to try and kill me again!" Pettigrew squeaked suddenly, pointing at Black, and Harry saw that he used his middle finger, because his index was missing. "He killed Lily and James and now he's going to kill me too. . . . You've got to help me, Remus. . . ."

"No one's going to try and kill you until we've sorted a few things out," said Lupin.

"Sorted things out?" squealed Pettigrew, looking wildly about him once more, eyes taking in the boarded windows and, again, the only door. "I knew he'd come after me! I knew he'd be back for me! I've been waiting for this for twelve years!"

"You knew Sirius was going to break out of Azkaban?" said Lupin, his brow furrowed. "When nobody has ever done it before?"

"He's got dark powers the rest of us can only dream of!" Pettigrew shouted shrilly. "How else did he get out of there? I suppose He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named taught him a few tricks!"

Black started to laugh, a horrible, mirthless laugh that filled the whole room.

"Voldemort, teach me tricks?" he said.

Pettigrew flinched as though Black had brandished a whip at him.

"What, scared to hear your old master's name?" said Black. "I don't blame you, Peter. His lot aren't very happy with you, are they?"

"Don't know what you mean, Sirius —" muttered Pettigrew, his breathing faster than ever. His whole face was shining with sweat now.

"You haven't been hiding from me for twelve years," said Black. "You've been hiding from Voldemort's old supporters. I heard things in Azkaban, Peter. . . . They all think you're dead, or you'd have to answer to them. . . . I've heard them screaming all sorts of things in their sleep. Sounds like they think the double-crosser double-crossed them. Voldemort went to the Potters' on your information . . . and Voldemort met his downfall there. And not all Voldemort's supporters ended up in Azkaban, did they? There are still plenty out here, biding their time, pretending they've seen the error of their ways. . . . If they ever got wind that you were still alive, Peter —"

"Don't know . . . what you're talking about. . . ," said Pettigrew again, more shrilly than ever. He wiped his face on his sleeve and looked up at Lupin. "You don't believe this — this madness, Remus —"

"I must admit, Peter, I have difficulty in understanding why an innocent man would want to spend twelve years as a rat," said Lupin evenly.

"Innocent, but scared!" squealed Pettigrew. "If Voldemort's supporters were after me, it was because I put one of their best men in Azkaban — the spy, Sirius Black!"

Black's face contorted.

"How dare you," he growled, sounding suddenly like the bear-sized dog he had been. "I, a spy for Voldemort? When did I ever sneak around people who were stronger and more powerful than myself? But you, Peter — I'll never understand why I didn't see you were the spy from the start. You always liked big friends who'd look after you, didn't you? It used to be us . . . me and Remus . . .and James. . . ."

Pettigrew wiped his face again; he was almost panting for breath.

"Me, a spy . . . must be out of your mind . . . never . . . don't know how you can say such a —"

"That, ugly arse rat," Nova smirked. "Is what makes the best spy. One that can slip through the cracks."

"Lily and James only made you Secret-Keeper because I suggested it," Black hissed, so venomously that Pettigrew took a step backward. "I thought it was the perfect plan . . . a bluff. . . . Voldemort would be sure to come after me, would never dream they'd use a weak, talentless thing like you. . . . It must have been the finest moment of your miserable life, telling Voldemort you could hand him the Potters."

"Professor Lupin?" said Hermione timidly. "Can-can I say something?"

"Certainly, Hermione," said Lupin courteously.

"Well — Scabbers — I mean, this — this man — he's been sleeping in Harry's dormitory for three years. If he's working for You-Know-Who, how come he never tried to hurt Harry before now?"

"She's got a point," Regulus nodded. 

"There!" said Pettigrew shrilly, pointing at Ron with his maimed hand. "Thank you! You see, Remus? I have never hurt a hair of Harry's head! Why should I?"

"I take that back," Regulus pursed his lips. "There's no point at all. There isn't a single good point made in that argument."

"I'll tell you why," said Black. "Because you never did anything for anyone unless you could see what was in it for you. Voldemort'sbeen in hiding for fifteen years, they say he's half dead. You weren't about to commit murder right under Albus Dumbledore's nose, for a wreck of a wizard who'd lost all of his power, were you? You'd want to be quite sure he was the biggest bully in the playground before you went back to him, wouldn't you? Why else did you find a wizard family to take you in? Keeping an ear out for news, weren't you, Peter? Just in case your old protector regained strength, and it was safe to rejoin him. . . ." Pettigrew opened his mouth and closed it several times. He seemed to have lost the ability to talk.

"Er — Mr. Black — Sirius?" said Hermione. Black jumped at being addressed like this and stared at Hermione as though he had never seen anything quite like her."If you don't mind me asking, how — how did you get out of Azkaban, if you didn't use Dark Magic?"

"You look like you were slapped!" Marlene lost it again. 

"He's an animagus," Nova answered. "Dementors are less affective to animals."

"That's right," Black said looking at his daughter curiously.

"You're mental!" Peter yelled. "I w-wouldn't do s-such a thing!"

"Drop the act, rat," Nova growled. Everyone turned to her, but her gazed remained on Peter. It wasn't a gaze. It was a glare. A glare that could make Voldemort himself flinch.

"I'm not-"

"It's an act." Nova declared. "Yes, your story is a possibility. But it's not your story that leads me to my answer. It's the way you and padre dearest act."

"Padre dearest?" Sirius questioned.

"It's best to just roll with it," Harry advised calmly but he was ready to attack. He was on edge. He was ready to block any spell that was sent flying towards himself or his friends.

"I've come to ask myself; Why would my godparents make Sirius the secret keeper?" Nova began to explain. "As he said, it's the obvious answer. Besides, all Voldemort would have to do is kill Sirius, and everyone that knows the location of the house can run to him."

"How do you-?" Hermione began to asked.

"I did my research. Now stop interrupting me." Nova said without her glare easing on Peter. "Now that could simply be a technicality. Then I remember deer Minnie saying how inseparable James and Sirius were. Flitwick claimed it was similar to me and Harry

"And I know I wouldn't betray Harry. I'd rather die." Nova stated. "So I began to wonder. I went to the library, as one would do if looking for a particular yearbook. During your years at Hogwarts, the 'Marauders' or whatever the hell you called yourselves were thick as thieves for years one through six. Then during year seven, itty bitty Pettigrew drifted from his friends. You could see it throughout the photos."

Pettigrew quivered.

Black had a proud grin on his face. Lupin had a similar expression.

"I may not like homework. I may draw pictures for some assignments rather than completing them. However, when I have a goal, I won't stop till I reach that goal. This was after the Christmas Holidays, after Harry and I snuck into Hogsmeade."

"You . . . snuck into Hogsmeade . . ." Lupin said slowly.

"Yes!" Nova exclaimed. "Let me finish!"

"Yeah, Moony!" James teased. "Stop interrupting!"

"I'm going to kick you off the roof," Remus glared. 

"Anyways . . ." Nova began again. "This would've been after I was disowned and after my friends and I heard the story. I wondered what would cause Black to betray one he considered his brother. I had two solutions. One, he didn't. Two, he wasn't as close to James Potter as everyone thought.

"That's when I decided to look through the yearbooks," Nova informed. "I studied the photos. There were many of you and your friends spread sparsely throughout it." Nova stated. "Wizarding photos move. Meaning, that it isn't just a picture. It moves. Meaning that you could see how the boys interacted. Pictures of a particular group of boys smiled and laughed. One boy who looks scarily like my best friend. One with long curly dark hair and grey eyes. One boy with scars, and hair and eyes similar to my own. And then the last boy. He was sorta lumpy, but his friends adored him. You could see it in their eyes how close the group was to one another. You can't fake a friendship like that. As I said before, one of my solutions was that Sirius Black and James Potter weren't as close as everyone thought. But a look at the yearbooks discouraged my theory."

"There aren't any years books in the library," Lily furrowed her brows. "How did you-"

"Sh, mum!" Harry hushed. "You'll miss it."

"Shush me one more time," Lily threatened. 

"This of course confused me beyond belief." Nova let out a soft chuckle. "It wasn't until I found the yearbook from your seventh year. The lumpy boy wasn't in as many pictures with the boys. When he was, his eyes were distant, and he seemed to dislike them.

"Now, all of this could be one massive coinkydink," Nova said with a shrug. "But then! When you came from your rat form, you periodically looked at the door. Which is completely understandable. Two big strong men were out for your blood. You were scared.

"Then you began to stutter, and sweat," Nova said with a smirk. She looked scarily like Sirius Black. Pettigrew shrunk back.

"Nova!" Harry objected.

"Zip it, Harold! I'm getting there." Nova insisted.

"Then, as you spoke to Sirius, I began to wonder," Nova claimed. "I thought back to the Library. I thought back to the yearbooks . . ."

Peter whimpered.

"Imma let you in on a secret, Peter. I was a hat stall. The hat debated for minutes upon minutes. I had the traits for all the Houses. I had the kindness of a Hufflepuff, but I neglected to show it. So the House of the Kind was out. I had the intellect for Ravenclaw, but I lacked the motivation to put forth the effort to be in said house." Nova stated, her smirk growing. "I was described as cunning and brave with the need and willpower to do anything to protect those I love. Would you like to guess the two houses the hat was stuck between?"

"Gryffindor and Slytherin," Ron breathed out.

"I bloody knew it!" Regulus exclaimed happily. "I knew it!"

"The house of the lions and the snakes," Nova informed. "The house between your master's followers, and the house of the friends you betrayed."

Pettigrew began to wail.

"I'm sorry!" He cried. "I didn't mean to! I didn't mean to betray them!"

Nova's smirk grew.

"Thank you, Peter, for your confession," Nova said her malicious grin growing. "Now, I have yet another confession."

Peter whimpered again.

Nova's smirk dropped. Her face fell into her resting bitch face.

"There were no yearbooks," Nova snarled. "I made that up in hopes of you breaking. However, I did overhear a particular conversation a few months back. Someone said that you became distant in your last year at Hogwarts. I don't know who said it, but I decided to rely on their information.

"It's basic psychology," Nova informed, kneeling down to his height.

"Holy sweet mother of Merlin," Dorcas aired out. 

"You were distant the last year of school. Meaning . . ." Harry trailed off.

Nova glared into Peter's eyes as they were eye level.

"You intended for Lily and James to die." Nova hissed. "You intended for Harry and his parents to die. Meaning, when Harry didn't die you went into hiding, just as the Potters had."

"Have I mentioned how much she scares me?" George whispered to Fred. 

The memories played on. They watched as Nova already started giving her fathers a hard time; not telling them where she was living, and telling them they had a grandchild. 

Then Lupin transformed.