Memories: Happy Ever After
Summary: 4 year old Peter Pettigrew is at home when he uncovers a deadly secret kept by his parents. One that will cost a life time to get over. Two live. Four die. What's the secret? Set in 1964. Oneshot. Sequel to The Babies Meet The Parents.
Disclaimer: We don't own Peter but as far as I know we own the pretty little village of Clirion (which is in Dorset). If it is real, Please don't take us to court!
Date: February 21st 1964.
Written By: Aaralyn (with a small amount of help from Sav...this isn't uncommon for either of us to help the other...it's rarely our own works)
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Sitting in his small bedroom, 4 year old Peter Pettigrew was pleasantly content playing with his latest toy...a small 25 piece jigsaw puzzle that, when correctly assembled, shows a small boy with a small dog. His sandy hair flopped over his face as his tongue popped out of his mouth in concentration. Just as he was about to slip the last piece into place (one of the little boy's eyes, his nose and a bright smile), a crashing sound alerted him.
"WHAT DID I TELL YOU?!" Yelled an angry voice from the other side of the door. Peter recognised it as his father's, Edgar Pettigrew. Peter grew nervous. His father never shouted.
"I'm Sorry Edgar! It was an accident!" A soft voice cried. Peter's mother, Marcia, was crying hard and it sounded as if she was in a lot of pain. Peter pushed the door open a fraction, darted into the lounge (where both parents were situated) and hid behind an armchair that was, quite luckily, right next to the door. He listened intently.
"IF THAT WAS AN ACCIDENT THEN PETER'S A GIRL!" Cried Edgar. Peter's hands slid under the armchair as he crouched down and he came across something smooth and watery. His father's invisibility cloak. Wrapping it around his bony chest and over his head, he walked from his hiding place to the corner opposite where his mother was currently on the floor, a large cut running from her left eyebrow to her chin. It was bleeding heavily and the blood was dripping onto her white top.
"Edgar, I'm sorry! But please, stop! Peter will hear us!" Marcia cried. Edgar sneered. Peter went stiff. He could've sworn that for a second, his father's eyes met his and the evil grin on his face grew. He waited with baited breath.
"Who cares? He's not the son I wanted. I wanted a son that could be my heir!" Edgar replied, his eyes glowing. "I could've had the heir I wanted if I had married Lucinda instead of you, muggle scum!" He spat. "I would have the son I wanted instead of that whiney little brat. Not even a pureblood but a disgusting little mudblood! Oh how did I get myself into this mess!" he watched Marcia's face distort with hurt. He enjoyed every last minute of it.
"I'm sorry! I'll do anything Edgar! I'll have a termination! Please! Just forgive me!" Marcia had struggled onto her knees and sat, mascara running down her face, mingling with the blood. She had several bruises on her bare shoulders and a graze on her lower leg.
Peter had no idea what was going on and he had no idea what a 'termination' was but it sounded bad. And painful. Very painful. Careful no to disturb the cloak, Peter drew his knees up to his chin and a single tear fell from his already watery eyes.
Edgar processed Marcia's last comment before breaking out in an evil grin.
"Oh you'll have a termination alright. You and baby will both go. If you and the baby live, Peter goes." Marcia gasped in pure horror. He loved Peter! What would make him change his mind so suddenly? "Now you listen here. I am going out. You and the kid and it will stay here until I decide I am ready to return."
"Where are you going?" Marcia cried. There was pure hurt in her eyes and this made Peter, for the first time in his life, want to hurt his dad. Badly.
"I am going to Lucinda's. You see, dear, whilst you were here looking after our disaster, I was out living life. I'm surprised you never found out to be honest. You see, for the last year or so, I have been sleeping with Lucinda. Let me tell you now. She's better than you will ever be."
Being only four years old, Peter didn't see why this was so bad, in the terms his dad had used. He had always climbed into bed with his mum and dad after a nightmare and fallen asleep. This, he assumed, was something worse.
Edgar turned on his heel and left, slamming the door behind him. In under a millisecond, Peter had whipped the cloak off him and had wrapped his arms around his mother.
"Peter!" She cried, surprised. Out of the day's events, the thing that had hurt her most is that her little boy had seen everything that had happened.
"Mummy. Daddy's scary. I want to go. Please can we go now mummy. Scary daddy! Come on mummy please!" begged Peter, tears streaming from his eyes. Marcia swallowed hard and nodded, allowing Peter to help her to her feet.
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Lucinda Gravewick's face lit up when she saw who had rung her doorbell. It was no other than Edgar Pettigrew.
"I need a drink." He said tiredly once he had finished kissing his girlfriend. They shared another kiss before Lucinda went to the kitchen and came back with a large cup of coffee.
"I meant alcohol." Edgar replied, smiling to show he was joking. As soon as Lucinda had placed the cup onto the small wooden table, Edgar pulled her onto his lap and began kissing her. Lucinda only pulled away when Edgar made for her top, slapping his hand away playfully.
"I love you." Lucinda whispered into his thick black hair. Edgar rubbed her pregnant belly and was rewarded with several hard kicks from the baby inside.
"How long until I get to see my son?" Edgar whispered. When Lucinda had gone for her scan four weeks previous, the healer had determined it was a baby boy – much to the parents' pleasure.
"Oh not long now darling. He's due in about 3 weeks! And I'm glad! I look hideous and I can't see my knees!" Lucinda complained.
"You do not look hideous and why would you want to see your knees?" Lucinda shot her boyfriend a mischievous glare that only caused him to kiss her again. And again. And again.
"What about the others?" Questioned Lucinda. She had known right from the beginning about Edgar's double life but this only made her love him more. She loved the idea of him escaping his false family life to come to his real life. With her.
Edgar sighed deeply. "Funny you should mention them. Marcia announced she was pregnant but she said she was getting a termination. I didn't mean to but I lost my temper and hit her. And threatened her." Edgar now deeply regretted his earlier words but didn't let Lucinda see this. Lucinda put her arm around him and kissed his cheek.
"Maybe you should go and see them." She offered but Edgar shook his head.
"No Lucy. I said I would spend this weekend with you and that's what I'm going to do." Lucinda rolled her eyes and gave Edgar her famous 'do-as-you're-told-or-you're-in-knee-deep-shit' look.
"Okay I'm going!" Edgar cried in mock anger, kissed Lucinda and rose to the fireplace, preparing to floo.
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Marcia and Peter were now situated in Springbourne, a small area in Bournemouth. Walking up and down the various intertwining roads, Marcia spotted something.
"What's that, Peter?" She asked the child, who was fiddling with a piece of cardboard. He held it up and showed his mother the final piece of the jigsaw he had been playing with earlier. The piece with the little boy's smiling face and sparkling eyes on it. In all the shouting, he must've still been grasping it when he ran into the lounge, completely forgetting he had it.
"Why can't we be like that mummy? Why can't we be happy?" Marcia let out a small sob but grabbed Peter's hand and ran to the nearest bus stop, where a bus was fast approaching.
Climbing aboard. Marcia had a thought.
"I wonder what Edgar's doing now?" She paid the fare (always keeping muggle money handy, considering she was one) and stated she needed to go to Bournemouth Hospital. She went and sat down next to Peter, who was looking at the people out of the large window as the bus set off.
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Back at the family home in Clirion, Edgar was frantically searching around for his wife and child. Crazy thoughts filled his mind, each one containing a more horrid fate than the last.
"What have I done?" He thought to himself. "I've messed up everything. My Marcia. Gone. With Peter and the baby as well!" He had enough. He admitted he had a drinking problem and he admitted he couldn't live without either of them. The last thing he admitted even surprised him. He wanted the baby.
He had also realised that he didn't really love Lucinda – he was using her. His family had never approved of him marrying Marcia and called him a blood traitor just before Peter was born. Peter never knew his grandparents although they secretly kept in contact with Edgar, offering him various 'wives'. When he heard of Lucinda, he was very excited. He went along with it for a bit but he was only pretending that he loved her.
He finally realised that there was no point to life anymore. His time had come to an end.
Slowly drawing his wand out of his breast pocket, he pointed the tip right between hi eyes and muttered the famous words.
"Avada Kedavra."
Edgar Pettigrew was dead before he hit the ground, his eyes screwed shut, his wand still near the spot where the curse had hit.
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In the waiting room of Bournemouth General hospital, Marcia Pettigrew collapsed onto the floor in agony. Clutching her swollen abdomen, she staggered to her feet as she was helped into a wheelchair by a friendly looking male doctor. He had floppy black hair that hung over his soft blue eyes and he had a tanned complexion. Marcia's green eyes lit up as she saw his soft gentle face. He was about a year older than her and so handsome. He was also very good with Peter.
"Hey little guy! Don't cry! It's all gonna be okay I promise." He muttered to Peter, who was clutching his mother's hand and crying.
He scooped Peter into his muscled arms and sat him on his shoulders whilst a female receptionist came along and pushed Marcia's wheelchair.
"I'm Troy by the way." Said the black-haired doctor. He let go of one of Peter's leg and shook Marcia's hand.
"Marcia," She replied, mesmerised. "That's Peter."
Troy swung Peter off his shoulder as they entered a cubicle and placed him on a chair to the left of the bed. "I'll be looking after you whilst you're here. Rhianne, could you go and get Marcia's notes off the database please?" Rhianne, the female receptionist nodded and, after collecting some family history, trotted off to the computers.
----
2 Hours later, the news had been made official. Marcia had miscarried her second child. A baby girl she decided to name Carla.
Peter was led off to a small crèche type area to play whilst Marcia was given time to grieve. She requested Troy stay with her so she could talk to someone. He agreed and refused to go home when his shift was over, saying there was no point.
The conversation then got more personal. Marcia found out that Troy was 28, a single year older than she was, was unmarried, had no girlfriend and his family all lived in Cornwall.
She broke down into more tears as she told him about her family. About what Edgar had done, careful to leave out the bit about the magic.
Their discussion ended when Troy planted a small kiss on Marcia's forehead.
----
In her small house in Cornwall, Lucinda felt a large pain in her stomach. She knew she was going into labour but felt afraid to floo to Edgar's other home, fearful of what Marcia would say or do. But Edgar had promised to be with her at the birth.
Stepping apprehensively into the fireplace, she grabbed a handful of powder.
"The Pettigrew's, Clirion!" She said clearly.
She spun off into a bright green light.
----
Back at Bournemouth Hospital, Troy had just left, promising Marcia to come and see her first thing when he arrived the next morning.
A small bed from the children's ward had been wheeled down for Peter. They had plenty of room as Marcia had been offered her own room. Peter had several books, puzzles and toys in a small corner and they kept him happily amused for a while.
Marcia leant back on her pillow and thought about life.
----
The small brick fireplace that sat in the large lounge in an even larger house in the small village of Clirion glowed green. Lucinda Gravewick stepped out to a horrific sight. The father of her baby was lying on the cream carpet, dead. Lucinda staggered backwards and grabbed onto the fireplace to support herself.
After several minutes of looking at the pale lifeless body of Edgar, she walked over and kissed him where he had cursed himself. To save too many questions, she pocketed Edgar's wand and took hold of his wrist.
She pictured a hospital. One she had never seen before but a hospital. She pictured an area where nobody would be. In a flash they were gone.
----
Moments later, Lucinda had apparated herself and the dead body of Edgar to Bournemouth Hospital, where he had been pronounced dead and she was in a very hard labour.
When they tried to find the baby's heartbeat, it was undetectable. Lucinda was assured this sometimes happened but was encouraged to try and give birth quickly.
She did. To a dead baby boy.
Steven Edgar Pettigrew.
----
As Troy was walking part the ward, he heard a young woman crying. He stopped and tracked the sounds to a ward at the very end of the corridor, the slightly open door revealed that he'd correctly identified that the crying had come from a young woman. The woman was curled into an upright foetal position and was crying into her knees.
"Are you okay?" Troy asked, immediately regretting this choice of words, as the woman was clearly not okay. She looked up at him sharply, her face streaked with tears.
"Do I look alright to you?" She snapped, she then made a wailing sound and continued sobbing into her knees. Troy slowly walked over to her and sat on the end of her bed. "The love of my life just died and then my baby was born dead!" She cried. "I knew I'd get cursed for stealing another woman's husband…Merlin why do you do this to me?"
Troy was momentarily stunned by the woman's exclamation, along with her strange choice of wording, and was about to put a hand on her arm when something clicked.
"What's your name?" Troy asked carefully. The blonde woman eyed him suspiciously, before answering slowly.
"Lucinda Gravewick. Why?" She answered, rather spitefully. Troy's eyes widened. Was it a coincidence? Who was Merlin? Confused, he asked one final question, making sure to choose his words very carefully.
Failing to do this, he asked her bluntly.
"Do you know Marcia Pettigrew?" Now it was Lucinda's turn to be surprised. She muttered something so Troy asked if she knew her husband was dead. She said she didn't and could Troy tell her? He reluctantly agreed.
----
A darkly-dressed figure entered Bournemouth Hospital and requested to see a Lucinda Gravewick. When asked if he was a relative, he stated that he was her brother. He was given directions to her cubicle and was instructed to knock before entering.
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Lucinda heard her door handle turn and assumed it was that nice doctor that had come earlier. A black haired man entered and walked to her bedside, saying nothing. She looked up at him nervously. Drawing out his wand, he cast a silencing charm around the ward and stunned Lucinda. Whilst she was out, he slipped the contents of a vial down her throat, before placing the tip of his wand near her heart.
"Ennervate." He muttered, before pocketing his wand and leaving the ward, making sure to remove the silencing charm on his way out.
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Marcia Pettigrew let out a cry as she was told of the fate that her husband had chosen. Although he had threatened her and Peter, she loved him. Troy slipped away quietly.
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"Who was that man?" Troy asked Rhianne as a dark haired man exited Lucinda's cubicle.
"Dunno," She said, blowing bubbles with her gum. "Said he was her brother." Troy frowned and darted into Lucinda's cubicle. She looked slightly pale and shaken.
"Lucinda, was that your brother?" Troy asked, concerned. She shook her head.
"I only have 3 sisters." She answered. Troy frowned more. He poked his head out of her cubicle but nobody was around. He shook his head and turned back to Lucinda but she was laying flat on her back, dead.
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Lucinda Gravewick had been poisoned with an unidentifiable substance that had the medical experts baffled. From everyone's stories, the man had claimed to be Lucinda's brother, went into the cubicle, drugged her and she died.
Marcia was told. At first she felt like this was justice. Then she just felt empty.
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Two weeks later, the four funerals had taken place and Marcia had been released from hospital. She kept in contact with Troy and she and Peter moved into a small flat a couple of doors away from him. Peter started a new nursery school and during the day when Troy was at home, he would check on Marcia. Marcia looked forward to hearing his cheerful knocks on the door and random chatter over cakes and tea.
"So, any dramatic changes on the life front?" Marcia asked casually one Thursday afternoon. Troy laughed.
"One main thing happened," smiling at Marcia's perplexed look. "I think I've fallen in love," Marcia's heart broke, but she was careful not to let it show. Thankfully, there was a knock at her door, so she could escape Troy, even for only a few seconds.
She walked to her front door and looked though the small glass window, to see her neighbour who brought Peter home from Nursery. She opened the door to allow her son in and thanked the neighbour, before returning to the kitchen.
"Troy!" Peter gasped, running into the man's strong arms. Marcia leaned on the doorframe and smiled at her son.
"Hey mate!" He exclaimed, sitting the boy on his knee and handing his a biscuit from the plate on the table.
"He'll make such a great dad someday," Marcia thought to herself. "Shame it's not for Peter," She was pulled from her thoughts by a hand on her shoulder and blue eyes gazing into her green ones.
"Are you okay?" Troy asked, looking worriedly at Marcia. Marcia shook herself out of the trance she was in.
"Yeh, I'm fine," She answered, with a false smile on her face. Troy cupped his hands around her own, much smaller ones and looked into her eyes.
"Why does she have to be so beautiful?" Troy asked himself, wanting to tell her how he felt but feared it was too early.
"Now, what's wrong with you?" Marcia asked, after seeing his eyes unfocus and he drifted off into his own world. Troy nodded, but wouldn't say anything. Marcia looked at him questioningly but, still not receiving an answer, rolled her eyes.
A few seconds later, Troy realised that he was still grasping Marcia's hands so he abruptly pulled away, causing then both to blush.
"I should go," Troy stuttered, not looking at Marcia. Marcia nodded and walked him to the front door.
"Troy, I-"
"No, it's me. I'm sorry I just can't…" Troy exhaled and ran his hands through his hair. He turned back to Marcia and placed his hands on her shoulder. Marcia looked down at her shoes but Troy tilted her head gently upwards so she had no choice but to meet his eyes.
"You can't what?" She whispered, her voice wavering, afraid that she was going to have to watch as the man she loved walked out of her life.
"I can't…get rid of the feelings I have for you. I know I shouldn't have them but the more I see you the more I fall in love with you." He breathed, shivers running down his spine.
Marcia gave a watery smile, despite what Troy had said tears were stilling running down her cheeks. Troy returned her smile and caressed her cheek. Marcia grew nervous as his face inched closer to hers. She could feel his breath on her cheek. She closed her eyes, not quite deciding whether or not she felt ready for this type of relationship.
"Marcia," He murmured, nuzzling his nose into her neck, "I love you,"
With the kisses that followed, Marcia knew that she had finally found her Happy Ever After.
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We are so, so, SO, SORRY!!!
We said we'd update soon…and here we are 10 months later….after much debating…and cringing…and the loss of our wills to live…finally with the 'sequel' to The Babies Meet the Parents.
Aren't we HAPPY to be here now?
[Savaria dies (This is her typing by the way) You cannot believe all the blood, sweat and TEARS that went into this story. I felt like DYING during this, and it's not even MY story!!! This year at school has been so hectic, and EVIL, that we haven't actually had ANY time to sit back and look at this story long enough to write the end…
We're hoping that because our summer holidays are coming up we can finally wake up our creative minds…
Aarlayn's Turn to apologise now…
This is (or was) my story, so it's basically my fault that this story is 10 months late…this is actually going to be part of a chaptered story, but none of the stories are going to be related…as you will know…because you've read this story…hopefully…if you love enough…or you love our (very limited) writing talents…
Adios!