Chapter 1
Peter tried to enter the Great Hall without being noticed. This was a task, as barely anyone had come to breakfast so early. But this had been Peter's plan: if he got in and out of breakfast before the others, then they would not have a chance to gang up on him before lunch. Until then he would avoid them in class, sit in the very front seats where the professors could see him, and if push came to shove he would pretend to be ill to escape the wrath of his friends.
Peter found a seat near the staff's long table and sat down, pulling the butter to himself with glee as his beady eyes darted around the Great Hall. No sign of James and Sirius. His plan was working so far --
"Hey, Peter, ol' pal!" hissed James's sarcastic voice in Peter's ear.
Peter winced as his friends sat with a thunk on either side of him. They were in their seventh year and even more intimidating to him than ever. As first-years this had been their attraction, but ever since the incident with the map . . .
"You rat," James hissed in Peter's ear, "You sold us out! Where's the map?"
Peter trembled and said nothing. James wouldn't hex him in the Great Hall, not in front of so many watching eyes. All he had to do was say nothing and continue to eat . . . If James got hotheaded a teacher would rescue him. After all, they all knew what a bully James had been before he'd started dating Lily . . .
"Speak up," Sirius hissed, "or do you want us to worm it out of you later?" His wand was in his hand and his teeth flashed through his phony smile.
They were putting on a play for the teachers, pretending to be laughing and joking while in reality they hissed threats in Peter's ear.
"We know you stole it," James was saying in an undertone while pretending to laugh with Sirius.
The two of them pulled phony grins and slapped the table as one of the teachers eyed them, but Sirius's wand found Peter's hand as it was reaching to scratch his knee under the table.
"Tell me, Wormtail, do you like tentacles?" Sirius sneered. His wand prodded Peter's hand painfully. "Tell us where it is -- or it's slime and suction cups all the way."
"You -- you wouldn't!" Peter squeaked. "Not with teachers --"
James laughed, "You think the two of us are afraid of detention?" He looked at Sirius and they both burst into laughter.
"We saw you with the caretaker, Wormtail," Sirius said, "You gave it to him, didn't you? What did he give you for it?"
"A sense of safety and belonging under his stinking protection? Is that what you've become -- a snitch!" James growled.
"You handed in our names to him!" erupted Sirius, and James punched him lightly on the arm and jerked his head at the teachers.
"I can get it back!" wheezed Peter and went into his groveling, crouching mode as he shakily dropped the toast he'd been nibbling.
"You'd better," Sirius hissed. "We could get into serious trouble for that."
"And if you don't get it back," James added darkly, "we'll be hexing more than your hand, Wormtail."
But as James and Sirius were leaving the Great Hall, tall bodies swaggering confidently as Sirius snatched the toast from the Slytherin table, Peter glared after them. He would never steal the map back. James and Sirius were now a part of his past. He had found bigger bullies to follow, Death Eaters who were twice as cruel as they. The caretaker had shown him, had told him about the Death Eaters and the mighty lord they followed. This mighty lord was recruiting even now, and anyone who might stand against him in the school -- anyone -- had to be weeded out. That included James, Sirius, and Remus -- even the mudblood girl James was dating. There would be no mercy for those who would not follow his lord.
