Possibilities

Spring, 1977

As Peter nosed opened the entrance in the Whomping Willow, it felt almost like old times. He couldn't believe that this was his last night at Hogwarts, but it felt appropriate to spend it in the Shrieking Shack.

Peter scampered down the familiar passageway. Ahead of him, he smelled Remus and Sirius; seconds later, he heard them.

"Did James tell you what he wanted?" Remus asked Sirius.

"No, but if he and Lily are announcing their engagement, I'm going to hurl," Sirius replied.

Peter transformed into his human form with a brief sigh of regret. His rat form was more comfortable, not to mention sleeker and faster. "Hi!" he said cheerily and had the satisfaction of making both Remus and Sirius jump.

"Don't do that to me," Sirius growled. He slowly lowered his wand.

Peter just smiled. Sirius would never hurt him. Not really. His bark was much worse than his bite.

The three of them walked the rest of the way in silence. "James! Where are you?" Sirius called out as they entered the shack.

"Up here!" James called back.

"I hope this is just some sort of end of school festivity type thing," Sirius said as they entered the upper floor of the Shack.

Lily was perched on the bed, while James was seated in a chair next to her. "Partly," he said and tossed a bottle of Ogden's Firewhisky.

Lily deftly summoned it back. "Not yet. You can get smashed later," she admonished.

Sirius lowered the hand he had risen to catch the bottle. "You're no fun, you know that?" he grumbled at Lily as he sprawled in the nearest armchair. "Come on, James, toss me another one."

James looked at Lily who had her eyebrow raised. He shrugged apologetically.

Sirius graphically jammed his thumb into the side table and ground it as if squashing a bug all while cocking an eyebrow at James. James flushed and looked at his hands. Lily narrowed her eyes at Sirius, who met her gaze unapologetically. Peter marveled at their ability to carry on an entire conversation without words.

"Let's move on, shall we?" Remus suggested mildly. He took the last remaining chair leaving Peter to sit on the floor. Peter supposed that he could join Lily on the bed, but had never really felt comfortable around her.

"So what's with the secret meeting? Besides for getting drunk, that is," Sirius said.

"I have something to tell you." James glanced at Lily. "Well, we have something to tell you."

Sirius buried his face in hands. "Oh no. I am definitely going to need alcohol for this conversation. And I categorically refuse to give any opinions about flower colors whatsoever."

"What?" Lily frowned.

James, however, kicked Sirius. "Prat. We met with Dumbledore. He runs a secret group that's fighting against Voldemort. We're joining and he said that we could invite all of you."

Sirius breathed a sigh of relief. Remus furrowed his brow. "What kind of group?"

Lily answered. "It's called the Order of the Phoenix. The Ministry doesn't know about it; it's entirely independent and invitation-only."

"So like the Death-Eaters, but good guys." Sirius remarked.

"No brands." James raised his forearms, which were perfectly bare.

"What? Tell me we at least get magical communicator rings." Sirius grinned.

Lily rolled her eyes. "Would you two knock it off?" She glared at both of them, who looked entirely unrepentant.

As James explained more about the Order and what exactly they did, Peter noticed that Lily wasn't listening but was rather watching the rest of their faces because, of course, she already knew all about the Order. Time once was, James would have spoken to them, or at least Sirius, first. Lily was the one on the outside. Peter jerked his eyes back to James when he caught Lily looking at him curiously.

"Why is the Order kept secret from the Ministry?" Remus asked.

"That's what I wanted to know," Lily remarked.

"Because the Ministry is a bunch of cowardly prats with their heads up their asses?" Sirius suggested.

"And that's what I said." James grinned. Sirius and James enthusiastically slapped hands. Peter laughed along with them – who cared what the Ministry did or thought? They weren't getting rid of Voldemort, were they?

"Ignore them," Lily informed Remus. "Professor Dumbledore thinks that the Ministry has been infiltrated."

Remus paled. "It's that bad then?"

Lily nodded gravely.

"How does this work? Dumbledore hands out assignments? We run around and target suspected Death Eaters?" Sirius cocked his head. Peter's heart thumped unpleasantly; he didn't want to "target" anybody.

"Less targeting, more spying. Dumbledore isn't really the leader; he's just the one who organized the group. He's like an advisor," James replied.

Sirius nodded and looked thoughtful.

"So, what do you think?" James asked after they had all sat in silence for a bit.

"I think we're in." Sirius and James grinned at each other.

"Remus? Peter?" Lily asked.

"Yes," Remus said easily.

Peter swallowed nervously. Joining a group dedicated to taking down Voldemort didn't sound like a recipe for a long peaceful life.

"Peter's in," James said. "Aren't you?" James looked at him hopefully.

Peter met James's eyes. He smiled to reassure himself. He couldn't turn down James, not when it meant so much to him. "Of course." Peter hoped that James couldn't hear the tremor in his voice.

James smiled at him and it was like looking into the sun. "Fantastic. And now, we drink. To Hogwarts!"

Later, as Peter lay on the floor in a mildly drunken haze, he began to think that joining the Order was the best idea in his life. He would be in Auror training just like James and Sirius (Remus had been refused on the grounds of insufficient personal qualities, which everyone knew was code for "werewolves not allowed") and they'd fight together and in the end defeat Voldemort. Maybe even he would be the one to do it. Peter fantasized about receiving the Order of Merlin. Anything was possible. Everything was possible.

A/N: For all the Americans out there, the gesture that Sirius makes is the equivalent of telling James that he's whipped. Originally I had some dialogue where Sirius tells James that, but according to my beta Brits don't use that term. Any other inadvertent Americanisms are my own fault.I realize that writing a Peter-centric story is somewhat masochistic, but if you made it this far, do me a favor and drop me a review.