Disclaimer: Nope, don't own Harry Potter. Darn. I'm not getting paid to do this. Darn again. But I'm pretty sure I own the plot.
A/N: Hmm, what to say? Written because there must have been something good about Peter Pettigrew. And because I hate having characters 2-demensional and then stay that way, even for the fanfic writers. Oh! Right! AU Fifth year fic. I didn't really like it anyway...
A side note: Does anyone know how to keep the first line indents when a chapter gets uploaded? And keep the extra 'Enters', too?
On to the fic!
Come and See
Peter spun around Platform 9 ¾. It was filled as usual on September 2 with witches and wizards all bustling around the scarlet engine. He pushed through the crowds looking for anyone he knew.
Darius Malfoy was saying goodbye to his father and mother, his older brother Lucius nowhere in sight. Peter had never seen the illustrious Malfoys, they'd never come to the station even when Lucius was a firstie- at least that was what the older Gryffindors had said. Wouldn't dare to even be near Mudbloods... Peter glanced down at his jeans and Beatles T- shirt, feeling a bit out of place.
Every one here was wearing robes. Granted the robes varied from the elegant silk ones on Darius, (Did he cut his hair? It looked shorter) or the quite patched and grayed robes that fitted the graying man (he looked familiar?) who was boarding the train.
People were starting converge onto the train and Peter still hadn't seen any of his friends.
Remus would be late. He normally had to sprint to get on the train the last moment the whistle bellowed, or he jumped on as it chugs away, so Peter wasn't really looking for him.
But James should be here. The Potters always Flooed to the train from their gigantic mansion, they were so rich that they got a private floo line. He normally arrived well before Peter did and then Peter had to hunt him down.
And Sirius would either be here hours before and decked with in an inch of his life with frills and lace or he'd be on time and in plain Hogwarts robes. When Sirius's mother went with them, along with the numerous Black cousins, the whole group had to be up to her standards and that meant all out dress robes- complete with pointy shoes and slicked back hair. The Blacks had /standards/ after all.
And god forbid if one of them even /looked/ at Mud blood or any one with a muggle parent, let alone talk with one. So poor Sirius was forced to stay with his mother until boarding the train- to compartments with only people of higher breeding (i.e. not the Marauders).
He'd meet up with them all later, after ditching his cousins and they'd all get a kick out of trashing his pansy robes. Peter had done a truly stunning job of charming the back to show different Muggle bands every minute or so, last year. He hadn't gotten the time changes right- it had stayed on the Beatles for a minute and about two seconds on the Stones, but the fact that it had stayed on the fabric and changed at all was a miracle in its self.
He wasn't very good at charms, not that he was very good at any magic, really, but Charms most of all. Sirius normally spent the waiting time before the train left, when his mother wasn't around, explaining how the barrier to the Muggle side worked and other charmed objects. Sirius was rather good at explaining and Peter always learned something from his explanations.
And he should be here now to explain! Peter stomped his foot. Where was everyone? Had something happened? Sirius was late, but never this late.
The train was being boarded by some of the older students- trying to get the good back compartments and save seats for friends. Peter scanned the crowd searching, searching for his friends.
There was a group of Weasleys over by the entrance to King's Way train station. And nearby, talking to the now-very -tall second year Janus Weasley, (the poor girl's hair couldn't be charmed back, it was stuck at ear length for a long time) was.... James Potter!
The bum! He wasn't even looking for him!
Peter smiled to himself. He couldn't be mad at James, really. James never really could go looking for anyone. He'd start out looking Sirius, start asking people if they'd seen him and end up looking for a way to get to China to talk to a magic cat that would give directions to a pool that shows lost loved ones. This actually had happened, on the train ride back after winter break. (They'd never let him forget it either...)
"JAMES!" He yelled, cupping his hands together.
No answer. He was still in deep conversation with now boyish looking Janus and the brunette, a Ravenclaw, or Hufflepuff maybe, definitely not one of the first or second year Gryffindors.
"HEY! JAMESIE!" Peter tried again, yelling louder.
He was getting some very rude looks from the people around him. The older ones looking down their nose at him and giving Peter that snotty aristocratic sniff.
He shoved past one old lady- in a posh lacy dress robe, and she glared at him. She actually glared at him and it was one of those upper-class glares, too: the ones that said; 'You impertinent Mud blood. How dare you interrupt my conversation about my big fat arse! Just look at my bone structure.'.
Just because they got cheekbones and big wanking noses, some people think they're better than everyone else is. Her companions opted for the more gentile prissy sniff and upturned nose.
He growled at them, though not loud enough for them to hear, and turned in the direction of James, to growl at him for good measure. That bloody prat, How dare he be so deaf!
Peter stormed over to where James was talking.
"Hey Jamie! You deaf or something'?" He exclaimed, bounding in front of his friend. "Man, I've been calling you for-"
Peter trailed off as he took a good look at the boy he had jumped in front of.
This was not James. This kid had really green eyes, a jagged scar on a face that was way too oval to be James's. And he was way too skinny, too. The boy stared back at him.
"Oh, um... sorry er.... From the back you do a number on one of my mates and... sorry." Peter trailed off and he could feel his neck redden.
How embarrassing and stupid of him. To think that this kid was James. Though they could be related. The boy didn't look like a firstie, and he knew he hadn't seen him before (they would have teased James about it)...
Damn, his face was getting redder.
The boy looked at his companions- the redhead, who was clearly male and not the second-year female Janus Weasley, and the bushy-haired girl who had no pin just yet, but could be a Ravenclaw- she had that knowledgeable look at her
"Oh, ... so, what house are you in...then?" Peter asked, trying to save his ass.
The James-look-a-like spoke up. "We're Gryffindors. Fifth year."
Oh, good, that would explain it. And that's why he didn't know them, they were years older than him, and there wasn't anything wrong with his memory, at least no more than usual, since he must have seen them around at least once, and here he was gaping at them like they were total strangers...
Peter jolted himself out of his thoughts as he came aware that the group was obviously waiting for him to say something. He was going to die of embarrassment.
Either that or his face would explode.
"I'm G-Gryffindor, too. Third year."
The trio nodded, so in sync that it was quite creepy. The James-look-at- like spoke first, clearly more of the leader in the group.
"I'm Harry Potter." They focused more intently on him, waiting for a response. So Harry was related to James. Well, then how come he hadn't been introduced? Odd...
But he just nodded and turned to the red head boy. If he was wizarding, he's related to Weaseley's, but if he was muggle born, then he could be anyone's family, probably Irish though, with that red hair.
"Ron Weasley." Ron said, and Peter nodded. There were oodles of Weasleys at Hogwarts. He turned to the girl.
She glared at him and her hair puffed up even more when she did.
"Hermione Granger, Muggle-born." She obviously expected some sort of scorn, but Peter grinned.
A common connection!
Having things in common with people was good. He and Remus had, on whim, (really just a whim, no ulterior motive) bought "Making Friends for Dummies", and poured over it last summer.
The Marauders had done almost everything wrong, it would have it, but hey, insulting everyone first and then being best friends had worked fine for them. They didn't need to go by any silly book.
And besides, Peter wasn't really looking for new friends. He was just trying to get strangers to stop beating him up.
He grinned even wider at the group. They gave him uneasy looks.
Great Peter, now they think you're a weirdo, said the little nasty voice in his head. It sounded an awful lot like Remus, but Peter rather suspected it was his conscious. Honestly, No sane person smiles that much- well except Sirius, but he doesn't count- he's not exactly sane.
"Well. I've never seen you at Hogwarts. Who are you?" the girl, Hermione, said, giving him a little sniff. She clearly had already decided not to like him- his intellect was probably below her standards, anyway.
'And everything about her so far says 'Whoo, I'm smarter than you are!' She had to be a bookish Gryffindor. She and Remus would get along fine. They might have even met,' Peter thought, 'during their winter hibernation in the library. Although since she didn't have pages or smell old and musty, Remus probably hadn't noticed her.'
"Peter, Peter Pettigrew." He said. The train whistle blew and Peter waved and dashed away, hopping on the train.
He looked around, but he didn't see Remus running to do the same.
OOO
James looked up from his book at the jingle of the bell as a black-haired blur flung himself under the chair next to his.
"Don't tell them I'm here." Said the chair. James didn't have time to wonder who the boy meant. A girl, similar looking to the boy under the chair stalked into the shop, the bell on the door clanking against the shelves from the force of her push. She surveyed the room and then saw James staring at her.
"Hey you!" she barked. "Have you seen a kid run through here?"
James shook his head and flipped another page. The girl brindled at his simple brush-off of her, but she didn't do anything, just stalked out the door.
"She's gone?" asked the chair. James nodded, remembered that the boy couldn't see him nodding and answered "yes"
A head poked it's self out from under the chair. "Thanks mate. Thought for sure she was gonna skin me that time." The blacked boy wiggled himself out from the chair and plodded down on it. "You wouldn't know where the nearest girl's loo is, would you?" He gave a lopsided embarrassed smile at James, who raised an eyebrow.
Why would this kid want the girl's loo? He was a boy, wasn't he? Could he be a girl? James leaned in for a closer look and squinted his eyes. He looked liked a guy, James thought and squinted again. But he was kinda blurry around the edges and he wore a wrinkled shirt so...
Maybe a girlish boy? Or a boyish girl?
He, she- it- just rambled on, muttering loudly to it's self. "I could hide in the girl's loo until we leave, that might work. She could send 'Roderick'" he said the name with hatred and then continued plotting his escape. "in the guy's, but she never goes in public loos so that might work..."
The bell tinkled as the mannish girl, er... girlish guy... it wandered out the backdoor of the little bookshop, still muttering.
"...but then I'll need a way in Nocturne Alley. Maybe I could find that singing purple hamster to show..."
James shook his head. What a weirdo, he thought and turned back to his book.
OOO
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