A/N: This is for June 28 Hogwarts Online Professor Flitwick's Challenge of the day, "A friend in need." Based on characters created by J K Rowling.
A Friend in Need
"Come on, Sirius, the boy follows you around like a puppy. Throw him a bone," James Potter said to his good friend as they stole away to their hideaway near the lake.
"But James," Sirius said, "he's such a whiner and he's so, so needy. I can't stand him." He shuttered. "Peter Pettigrew, just saying his name gives me the creeps."
"But his parents send him the best chocolate and treats," Remus said. "And his cousin, Arabella is the hottest witch in Hogwarts. I'm sure he'll introduce you."
That thought cheered Sirius up a bit. He looked over to where he knew Pettigrew would be hovering and he sighed dramatically. "Oh all right, if you both insist."
Remus and James looked at each other and grinned. "Excellent!"
"Great!" James said gleefully. "You won't regret this at all."
Sirius harrumphed and sniffed. "But I bet you will," he said.
So after that day, Peter Pettigrew became one of the Marauders. He followed the three of them around, laughed at their jokes, ran their errands and took Sirius's nearly cruel ribbing with good humor and as expected shared this cache of chocolates and sweets. He even introduced the boys to this sexy older cousin.
Peter was assigned the stoop work, of course. When the boys discovered Remus's "furry little problem," and the decision was made for them to learn to become animagi, Sirius insisted Peter should become a rat. The humiliation was lessened slightly when James told him that he would be the most important element because he would be able to stop the whomping willow. He felt slightly better knowing that.
One of the problems with Peter was that he wasn't very good at magic; a rat or a hedgehog was about the only animal he could transform into. James helped him out as much as he could and even Sirius grudgingly helped him as the poor boy struggled with his studies and magic.
While Peter loved being part of a very handsome and popular group, he was still a major pain. He managed to antagonize his classmates and the rest of the Marauders were always coming to his rescue. Sirius had less patience with him than anyone, but James took everything with good humor.
"Tell me again why we have that little Prat as part of the Marauders," Sirius asked one day when they had to save him once again from a group of angry Hufflepuffs sworn to tear him limb from limb. "It's a bad thing when Hufflepuffs swear out revenge."
James laughed. "He's our friend."
"But he's so damn needy," Sirius said, drawing out the word.
"Sirius," Remus began, "you know what they say, 'a friend in need'…"
"Yeah, yeah," Sirius repeated, "a friend in need is a pain in the arse."