Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter if I did it wouldn't be harry-centric it would be marauder-centric and I would be rich.
I'm editing it now because I'm not Hemmingway and publishing drunk is never a good idea.
Plenty of girls at Hogwarts could say that they had dated a Marauder, but few could say that it had lasted longer than a date. It wasn't that any of them were incapable of having a relationship only that their friendship covered all of their desires, except the physical ones. For some reason though, I managed to keep a hold of one longer than most. In fact looking back the only relationship that lasted longer was James and Lilly's.
I wasn't one of the girls that tried to catch their attention; I had more self-respect than that most of the time. Nor was I constantly thwarting their advances like Lily Evans, I didn't have that much confidence. We all simple lived in the same school with very little interaction.
I was average in looks and heritage and was only slightly above in intelligence. All of these traits meant that I was rather forgettable, but somehow I still managed to become a Ravenclaw prefect. This is when I truly started to understand the marauders, as much as an outsider could, and why years down the road after we went our separate ways I still garnered an invitation to the Potter wedding.
It started one day in the library. It was abnormally packed, but with O.W.L's and N.E.W.T's around the corner it was hardly a surprise there were no empty tables and I had taken to studying on the window ledge. All of our fifth year class seemed to be hovering around the potion section as we tried to prepare for what Professor Slughorn had called a refresher test to get us ready for our exams. The only thing it had me ready for was premature greying.
Less than ten feet away from me sat Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew looking just as anxious as me. I had done a few rounds with Lupin and he had nodded my way when he first walked past me. It was a little disconcerting that I couldn't stop the icy nervousness that passed through my body when he acknowledged me. He would never like me that way and I was never going to do anything to change that ever and I didn't know him well enough for it to be anything other than a physical attraction. I had been telling myself that once again when I heard someone clearing their throat. I looked up to see the two boys standing in front of me. I hadn't even heard them approach. "Yes?"
Remus looked over to Peter who just stood there holding his parchment. He seemed to realize his friend wasn't going to take the lead and spoke first. "We were reviewing for potions and with James and Sirius in McGonagall's office-"
"And Remus is rubbish with potions." Peter interrupted seeming excited to have something to add. "So would you help us?"
I had been so excited when they asked but I stayed outwardly calm as I agreed. All we did was study but I couldn't stop my stomach from clenching every time Remus fisted his hair. It was dinner time before we all left and only at Peter's instance. Remus had been just as entranced in the books in front of us I had been so it took Peter a couple of times for us to even notice. For a brief instance I let myself believe he might like me too, but reason quickly pushed that thought out of my mind.
The next time it was James and Peter who asked me if I wanted to study and oblivious to any other motive I agreed. That night we had been studying charms and even though I didn't broadcast it I was easily top three in that class even some of my fellow housemates asked me for help, so why wouldn't they ask me for help. The pairs kept switching, but it was always Peter who was with them. It wasn't until James asked for help with transfiguration, a class he excelled at with unnatural ease that I realized what was going on and that it must have been Peter who liked me.
I hadn't paid attention to him before that and when I did I had to laugh. He wasn't funny looking, but like me was very ordinary. It seemed almost hypocritical that I hadn't noticed him. Some of our classmates had called him lumpy or fat but he wasn't. He was no bigger than Sirius he only seemed to lack the muscle definition of his friends. He wasn't stupid like some claimed, though when you're friends with some of the most intelligent people in the school it was hard to measure up to them. His eyes though not as mischievous or lively as Sirius or James, but there was a look of wonderment every time he looked around the room, like he couldn't believe this was his life. Then there was his hair a mousy brown that made it easy for him to blend into a crowd unlike Remus's hair which though a darker brown had so much natural contrast in it that it made it hard to pinpoint it's exact color. It all boiled down to that fact that if he had been part of any other group he would have been a standout but he chose a group of friends that even if they tried to push him forward, he would always be fourth.
He finally worked up the nerve to ask me out during one of our study sessions. It had been out of the blue as I went over the particulars of how to make a Draught of the living dead once again with Remus. Needless to say I had been caught off guard when he stuttered out the question. "Will you go with me to Three Broomsticks next visit?"
He didn't look up at me and Remus smiled into the book we had been sharing obviously pleased with his friend's courage. This had obviously been planned. It hurt me a little to see how unaffected he was over it, but I convinced myself that had nothing to do with my answer. "Sure."
"Be grateful if he didn't do it by dinner Sirius was going to make him do it in front of the entire school." Remus told me when Peter ran off to tell the others. I smiled and shook my head before finishing our studying.
It ended up being more than one date though and somehow we ended up dating. My crush for Remus faded though there were times when I was kissing Peter and his face would pop up, but he wasn't the only one. I liked Peter and the more time passed the more my feelings grew, unfortunately I couldn't see move past finding him cute. He would forever be a cute innocent puppy in my mind. We would never be in love.
I didn't realize it when I first started seeing him, but dating a marauder was hard. It really was a date one be in a relationship with four situation. It wasn't their friendship that bugged me because I had been expecting it. Women would come and go but the marauders would last forever, or so I'd been informed by an extremely drunk Sirius one night. Peter was passed out on James' lap at the time.
It was more than that though, plenty of things I hadn't expected. There were so many secrets that the group had it was hard to tell which one Peter currently keeping at any given time. Sometimes they had to do with a prank other times they seemed much darker. I always wanted to question where Peter went, but after the first time when he told me not to I hadn't asked. He had been so assertive about it that I didn't risk it, though I had my theories.
Another unexpected consequence of dating Peter had been the constant changing of plans. The group would pull a prank, get caught and get detention and it played the way a skipping record would. It may not have always happened when I had plans with him but it certainly felt like it. He would apologize though he was never truly sorry and I would kiss him and tell him that it didn't bother me though it did annoy me.
We kept our relationship going until the middle of seventh year. This meant that I had gotten quiet close with Lilly once she finally gave James, a chance. It was probably the stark contrast in the two relationships that shut the coffin lid on mine. Their relationship did mean that I was able to become good friends with Lilly.
Peter and I never had the passion that the two of them had and I was okay with that fact. My own personality would ensure that my love life would never be that sort of all-consuming love. I was okay with it, but Peter wasn't. At this point I had guessed that we would just keep muddling through the way we always had, a fact that didn't sit well with my boyfriend. He constantly wanted to fight about it but I never responded. At least it seemed to give him more confidence every time he brought it up to me. I thought for sure he was going to end it but somehow it ended up being me.
"Let's end it." We hadn't been fighting in fact in some sort of unintentional symmetry we had been studying in the library when I did it. It hadn't even been after a fight and it took us both a few seconds to realize I had said it.
"Sure." Neither of us looked up from our books during the entire conversation. In fact we both continued to study until it was time to leave.
At first I had been expecting some backlash or a rash of harsh pranks directed towards me, but they never came. In fact the only way they even acknowledged our breakup was when Sirius asked me if it had been because I couldn't handle Peter's animal behavior. A joke he found much funnier than it should have been.
Like always though life went on and we continued like we had when we had been dating, just no physical things. In fact I was the one who had introduced him to his next long term relationship, though significantly shorter than ours, it lasted until graduation.
I ended up as a Curse Breaker for a Russian bank so I rarely got back home. I did pull myself away for the Potter wedding, Lilly was a diligent pen pal. It was easy staying away after a while and I did try to keep in touch eventually it devolved in the barest of essentials. We all just wanted to know if the others were alive. The war made this even more important and meant that every time I saw one of their familiar owls I smiled. That stopped when I got a letter from Remus one November day.
I had missed all of the funerals and I couldn't bring myself to contact Remus to even let him know I got his owl. My life continued where theirs didn't and while I never went to Peter's grave, I didn't forget any of them. Form that day on I always said goodbye to a photo of all of us from seventh year that sat on my mantle.
I have dated a marauder and while we had never been in love I hadn't wasted a minute.
A/N: Okay honestly I just wrote this in one sitting because it just came to me. I might make it into a series with the rest of them but I don't know. If you like it or would like it to continue please review.