Chapter 12

"Where is he? No! No! God damnet! Where did he go?!" Mattie kicked the snow around angrily.

"Mattie? What's going on?" Harry grabbed Mattie's forearms, making her stop.

"Black! He was here! I saw him! And now he's gone!" she cried angrily. Hermione, Ron, and Harry exchanged nervous looks.

"So you wanted to turn him in?" Ron asked, confused.

"Well I should hope not." Everyone turned as Sirius stepped out, in human form, from behind a clump of bushes.

"Sirius! Oh my god!" Mattie immediately broke away from Harry and ran to Sirius, throwing her arms around his neck. Mattie broke away hurriedly, though, and looked up at Sirius with an expectant face. "Tell me he's okay. Please, please tell me he's alive!"

"Shh, hush Lily, it's okay. Remus is alive and well." Mattie sighed thankfully and hugged Sirius again tightly, tears streaming down her cheeks all the while. "You shouldn't cry, your tears will freeze." Mattie chuckled and sniffed, wiping her cheeks with her gloved hand. "Oh, hello Harry, Ron, Hermione." Sirius smiled happily at them over Mattie's shoulder.

"Okay, would anyone like to take this opportunity to explain WHAT IN THE SODDING HELL IS GOING ON?!?!"

"Calm down Harry!" Sirius chuckled and walked over to hug his godson.

"How can you tell me to calm down?!?! She was going to turn you in!!!"

"Harry, please. I highly doubt Lily here will be turning anyone in. Damn, you are so much like your mother, one of the most highly strung people I've ever met!"

"And why in the bloody hell do you keep calling Mattie, Lily?"

"Harry, deep breathes. Sirius, what is going on?" Hermione stepped forward and put a hand on Harry's shoulder.

"First of all, I'm calling Mattie Lily because ... that's what her Mum would've wanted." Sirius looked back at Mattie and smiled. "I suppose we do have a lot of explaining to do, m'dear. Why don't we go to the Shack?" Mattie nodded and followed Sirius towards the Shrieking Shack, Hermione, Ron, and Harry followed a few seconds later.

The Shrieking Shack

"Okay, you might want to sit down. This is going to take a while." Harry, Hermione, and Ron sat down on the bed, extremely confused. "Firstly, Lillian is Mattie's middle name. She was named for your Mum, Harry. Lillian Matilda Evans and Matilda Lillian Mantreh." Harry looked at Mattie in astonishment but she just stared at the floor sheepishly.

"But why would someone name their child after Mum?"

"Look, Harry, don't be angry with us, Remus and I, for not telling you this. But there was a large chunk we kind of left out of the story. You've heard about your parents, Remus, and I, as well as a little bit about Gina and Toni. However, you're missing two of the most important people in your parents lives." Sirius sighed and sat down in the chair that was situated across from the bed.

"Your Mum's best friend of all time was Mae Anne Venetia. They met on the train in first year and remained friends until the day your Mum died." Harry swallowed; he still got a prick of sadness whenever anyone mentioned his parents' deaths. "There was also another member of the Marauders. He wasn't friends with us until the very end of first year, hence why the map, etc has Peter's name. He was Bryant Mantreh." Mattie sniffed and wiped a tear from the corner of her eye.

"So that was our group, throughout all seven years of Hogwarts. Lily and James, Mae and Bryant, Remus and Gina, and Toni and I." Sirius chuckled to himself, remembering how close they all had been. "We were closer than you could imagine ... told each other everything. Even about Remus' werewolf thing. It was funny; every full moon the four of us guys would come here. And the girls would stay at Hogwarts and worry all night until we came back the next morning. This little like ritual thing; it kept us close after Hogwarts because Lily refused to let that tradition die just because we were out of school.

"To make a long story short, Lily and James got married and so did Mae and Bryant. The war was still going on and we were all pretty involved in it, helping the effort and stuff. About a year after they got married, Lily found out she was pregnant. 4 months later, Mae found out that she was pregnant." Sirius chuckled, "If you'd have been a girl you would have been Anne Mae Potter. But you weren't, so you're Harry James. Anyways, you were both born and yadda yadda. Mae was your godmother, Harry. Your mum was Mattie's godmother and James was her godfather." Sirius swallowed; he hadn't ever had to tell the story of the Mantrehs' death. Remus had told it to Mattie and there was really no one else that needed to know.

"Voldemort found Mae and Bryant before they could go into hiding. Lily and James were babysitting that night, so Mae and Bryant could have a night to themselves. He caught them off guard and killed them like a damned coward." Sirius clenched his fists and Harry noticed, for the first time, that Mattie's shoulders were shaking with silent sobs.

"Lily and James took Mattie with them when they went into hiding, along with you, of course, Harry. Voldemort got through the Fidelus, thanks to Peter." Sirius clenched his fists and took a deep breath to calm down before continuing, "He killed Lily and James and went for you. If you hadn't stumped him, you'd be dead and Mattie would be ... well not exactly here." Harry sighed in shock.

"After they died, you two came to live with me. But when I had to start running there wasn't much I could do. We decided it would be better if you," Sirius pointed a finger at Harry, "went to live with the Dursely's and I'll rue that decision until the day I die." Harry shook his head dismissively. "Mattie went to stay with Remus and he raised her." Sirius sighed and slumped a little in his chair.

Harry stood up and strode over to Mattie, pulling her onto her feet. He cupped her face in his hands, worry etched all over his face. "So Remus Lupin is your guardian?" Mattie nodded silently. "I'm so sorry I got angry ... I'm so sorry I didn't know, that I didn't –"

"Harry, don't." Mattie kissed him lightly and pulled him into a tight hug. She pulled out a moment later and smiled weakly. She turned to Ron and Hermione, though still talking to Harry at the same time. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you all. I just couldn't."

"It's okay, Mattie, we know you had your reasons." Ron smiled as he and Hermione stood up and engulfed Harry and Mattie in a four-person hug. A few moments later, they all pulled out of it, Mattie and Hermione both a little misty-eyed.

"Sirius? Can I see him? I mean where is he?" Sirius smiled at Mattie and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"Old Moony's doing just fine, Lily. I'll pass on the message that you'd like to see him. Full moon's in two nights. Why don't you come up here then?" Harry, Ron, and Hermione turned to Mattie with confused, shocked expressions.

"Sirius! You know she can't! Werewolves are so dangerous to humans! How could you suggest that?!"

"Hermione, slow down. Who said I was suggesting she come as a human?" Mattie sighed as Sirius chuckled.

"Well since my oh so wonderful uncle here has just let the cat out of the bag, literally, I might as well explain it to you. I'm animaigus, just like my dad was. Wasn't genetic or anything ... Remus taught me when I was really little so that he wouldn't hurt me on full moons." Mattie shrugged as her friends opened the closed their mouths several times, as if trying to find the words.

"Wha ... why ... what's your form?" Mattie chuckled at Harry's interesting question, but decided to answer it anyways.

"Black cat."

"So that's how you got out of the school?" Mattie smiled and nodded at Hermione.

"I ... I've got a question. I know that Voldemort wanted to kill my parents because Mum was a muggle-born and Dad refused to join him. But why did he want to kill Mattie?"

"I never said he wanted to kill her, Harry. You know how powerful you are, but imagine if both your parents had been purebloods. Mae and Bryant were. Voldemort doesn't want her dead, he wants to make her his queen." Mattie growled involuntarily.

"Bloody bastard really thinks I'd even consider that."

"That's why we would be in danger if we knew about your family?" Mattie nodded at Ron's question.

"And now that you do know ... you don't know how hard it is for me not to perform a Memory Charm." Harry rolled his eyes and chuckled.

"And we all know that you won't. Its not like Voldemort is any more or less after us. Bloody hell! Its midnight, we really need to get back to school." Harry gave Sirius a quick hug.

"I'll see you for the full moon then, love." Sirius kissed Mattie on the cheek and hugged her after giving Harry a hug and a kiss on the crown of his head.

"Mm-hm. Thanks Sirius." Mattie and Harry walked out of the Shrieking Shack, hand in hand, followed by Ron and Hermione. "Please tell me you're not mad."

"How could we be mad? That's preposterous." Hermione smiled at Mattie as she and Ron caught up with them.

"You're number 4 of the fabulous quartet, you won't get rid of us that easy." Ron smiled genuinely as Mattie let out a sigh of relief.

A/N: Okay, I know the part about going to Hogsmeade was a little random, but I'm having creative issues with this story and I couldn't figure out why they should go to Hogsmeade! Mattie's secrets finally revealed! Happy times! Hope this clears up a lot and I hope you all liked the big reveal! You probably all guessed who Mattie's guardian was, but now there's no question! He'll be showing up in a little while. Yes, she's unregistered animagus, isn't that fantabulous?! I hope you liked it all! Please review!

DarkRose: Yes, I gave it mucho love! Haha, remember the snogging conversation we had in Prescott?! That was great! (not what you think, people!) Thanks, please let me know what the typos are and I will fix them you dummy! Here's more love for ya, how'd you like it?

Stacey: Holy mother of Moose! I'm so flattered! I hope this cleared up some mystery! The next chapter should come soon ... this was a big hump I needed to get over in this story! Thanks so much again! I have no intention of stopping writing and I hope you have no intention of stopping reading and reviewing! How did you like this?

Sandofia: Oh my goodness! I am so flattered you can't even imagine! I'm glad someone likes my baby; it's my favorite too! Hehe. You were super close on who Mattie's guardian was. I'm amazed at your powers of deduction, LOL! No, Mattie isn't leaving Hogwarts though. It's the safest place she could possibly be, next to Gringots, but she can't very well go there (haha, did you catch that one?!?!). I'm sorry about your class; I've got a crazy old bat for an English teacher, so I feel your pain. I'm so jealous that you are taking Swedish! All we're offered is French, Spanish, and Chinese (but I couldn't have taken it bc I took French last year and wouldn't get college credit if I switched languages). I'm addicted to caffeine too! Coffee is like ... heaven in a cup! Thank you so much, don't worry about complaining, I do it in the A/N's too! How was this one?

Disclaimer: My henchmen are coming for all of those who think I own Harry Potter ... beware the squrls, they have nuts! They bear the message that I do not own Harry Potter!