A/N Apparently, when left unsupervised, I cannot be trusted not to start a new fic, and so here we are.
My dearest Pierre, this is for you.
Fragments [of life, love & loss]
Remnants left behind from the true story of Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot & Prongs.
thewaterfalcon
Prologue|1981
Sirius.
His curse missed, but only narrowly. He felt only rage; a white hot and raw anger that encompassed his entire being. At present, the loss and the grief didn't matter.
Only killing Peter mattered.
He snarled, openly, as the other man dodged again.
"Are you mad?!" Peter cried as he threw up a magical shield with a slight twitch of his wand.
"MAD? OH, I'M WAY PAST MAD YOU TRAITOROUS BASTARD!"
This time, his curse actually grazed the side of Peter's head.
"I don't know what the hell you've taken this time, Sirius," Peter began, his words were dragged out and staggered, due to a constant need to dodge and place more shields in front of himself, "but you need to come down from it, really fast."
Sirius, wand still sending a barrage of blazing curses, was breathing haggardly. His words erupted in a scream. "HOW COULD YOU?!"
Peter's breathing was equally as strained. "HOW. COULD. I. WHAT?!"
"WE WERE BEST FRIENDS. THEY WERE YOUR BEST. FRIENDS."
"I DON'T KNOW WHO OR WHAT YOU'RE SCREAMING ABOUT, YOU RAVING LUNATIC!"
The growl that echoed from his chest didn't come from Sirius, but Padfoot, and when he spoke he did so with the hint of a howl. "THEY'RE DEAD!"
Peter threw up a final shield and Sirius could just see the whites of Peter's eyes and the twist of his features before the hot tears distorted Sirius's vision. "WHO SIRIUS? WHO IS DEAD?!"
"JAMES AND LILY!" Sirius spat, raising his wand once more. "But don't pretend you didn't know that."
Even Sirius, in his state of pure blind rage, didn't miss the crack in Peter's voice. "Know- what, WHAT DO YOU MEAN DEAD. DEAD HOW?!"
"THE ONLY WAY POSSIBLE. THEIR SECRET KEEPER BETRAYED THEM."
"And you- you think it was ME!?" Peter screamed the last word.
"I know it wasn't me, and I've just found out it wasn't Remus. That only leaves you!"
"Sirius," Peter began as he lowered his wand and began to walk towards Sirius, "it wasn't me. I told them no. I told them to make it one of you. I didn't want it, didn't want to fuck it up."
"YES IT WAS! IT WAS ONE OF US!"
Sirius felt the ground meet his knees before he realised he had fallen forward, and hands grip his shoulders before he knew that Peter had closed the gap between the two. "It had to be- it wasn't me, it wasn't Remus, it wasn't-"
"I will take veritaserum, I will go under a legilimens," Peter's speech was laboured but assuring, "Sirius, I was not the Secret Keeper."
And all Sirius knew as they knelt in the crowded Muggle street, in the mess that was his life, and the loss that was almost all that his heart held, was that Peter, one of the people he loved most in the world, was telling the truth.
Peter hadn't betrayed Lily and James.
