Like Four Peas in a Pod
(Chaser 3 – Tutshill Tornadoes)
Prompt: Write about your chosen Death Eater (Peter Pettigrew) being at school.
Optional Prompts: (6) Word: inappropriate, (12) Word: tomorrow, (13) Class: Herbology
Word Count: 959 words
Rating: K
"Wormy? Do you know you've got mud in your hair? What happened?" laughed Sirius, catching sight of his torn robes as Peter approached their workbench at the far end of Greenhouse Four, "Did you trip over your own shoelaces again?"
Peter could feel himself flushing pink as his friend laughed at him. "No!" he exclaimed, crossing his arms defensively. "It was a tripping jinx. Some Slytherins caught me crossing the lawn and thought it'd be funny to make me late."
"Those slimy little insects." Sirius frowned, glaring over at the green-and-black-robed students on the other side of the greenhouse. "Who was it, Wormy? I'll bet it was Snivellus."
Then, before Peter had the chance to answer Sirius seemingly grew bored, turning away and crossing over to where James was leaning on the adjacent workbench, talking to two Gryffindor girls. He watched as they spoke – the pair of them laughing and glancing over at the Slytherins. Typical Sirius he thought, feeling hurt. Always more interested in everyone except me. Are they laughing about what happened?
A hand landing on his shoulder pulled Peter from his thoughts. He turned to see Remus smiling awkwardly at him. Was that pity?
"Are you alright?"
"I'm fine." Peter responded grumpily, feeling a little pathetic.
"Here," drawing his wand from the pocket of his robes, Remus pointed it at the brown muck in his hair. "Scourgify!"
There was a momentarily disorientating scrubbing sensation which left Peter reeling, his head feeling as though it had been doused in cold water.
"Ah! Could have given me a little more warning!" He complained, glaring at the werewolf. However, he immediately felt apologetic when Remus cringed. Taking in the pale form and the bags under his friend's eyes, realisation struck. "You're not feeling good? Is it that time already?"
"Full moon is tomorrow…" Remus told him, glancing around to make sure no one was listening. "Now come on, before Professor Sprout comes over. We haven't even started on our Snargaluff stump yet."
Pulling on their protective gloves and eye goggles, they approached the gnarled root. Bramble-like vines emerged from the top, whipping around in the air, one catching Peter in the cheek.
"Need some help?" An amused voice asked and they turned to see James and Sirius watching them wrestle with the tangled plant, evidently finished with whatever was more important that listening to Peter's run-in with the Slytherins. "We've thought of a good use for one of those pods…"
"What are you planning?" Remus questioned tiredly, darting out of the way of a stray branch.
"You'll see." Putting on their protective gear, James and Sirius joined them in fighting the plant. Together they managed to wrench open a hole in the writhing mass, into which James reached inside and remerged with a pulsating seed pod. All at once, the Snargaluff plant went still, the prickly vines disappearing back inside the stump.
"Got it!" James exclaimed, showing them the green pod.
"Excellent boys!" They turned around to see Sprout had approached them. "However, you seem to be a little behind the others… Mr. Snape over here has collected and squeezed three pods already!"
"Yeah, well it's just like Snivellus to like playing with disgusting little pods of pus..." Sirius muttered as Sprout walked away to continue overseeing the other sixth years with their Snargaluff stumps. "Hey Moony, how do you get the stuff out?" He asked, taking the pulsating sphere from James' hands and squeezing it.
Skimming through the appropriate section in his Flesh-Eating Trees of the World textbook, Remus found the instructions for extracting juice from the pod. "It says you have to pierce it with something sharp, then squeeze it out."
Exchanging a mischievous glance with James, Sirius said "Why don't you and Wormy here try and get another one of these little things, and Prongs and me will do the rest."
Feeling slightly left out from whatever the other two marauders had planned but not wanting them to laugh at him, Peter said nothing. Agreeing, he and Remus turned back towards the now innocent-looking stump.
"Do you want to wrestle with it or grab the pod?" Remus asked, looking apprehensive.
Honestly? Peter wanted to do neither. His knees hurt from where he'd been jinxed and tripped, his cheek stung from the bramble scratch… and now to top everything off his friends were trying to exclude him from whatever they were planning. Why do they always leave me out?
"Argh! Get it off!"
Startled by the angry cry, Peter looked up in time to see Severus Snape batting wildly at his robes, which were covered with what looked like wriggling green worms.
"That's what you get for messing with a Marauder!" Sirius declared, slinging an arm around Peter's shoulders.
Peter's heart swelled and he laughed aloud as he looked at Snape – Snivellus - covered in the plant pus. His friends did care, they hadn't been laughing at him– they'd been planning payback for him.
"Black! Potter!" Sprout approached, the normally jovial professor looking angry. "This behaviour is entirely inappropriate! You are not first years!Twenty points from Gryffindor."
"Worth it." James laughed, as Sprout returned to the front of the greenhouse to call the end of the class.
"So," Sirius began as they removed their protective gear and picked up their bags, "What're we planning for tomorrow night? I was thinking there's that area round to the east of the shrieking shack we could check out – might find another passageway to add to the map."
Peter was mostly silent as the four Marauders walked back up to the school, listening happily to his friends discuss their plans for the full moon, all the while basking in the sense of belonging to such a loyal group of friends.