A/N; this piece was written because I believe there simply must have been a time when Peter wasn't all that bad, and since he's evil in all my other fics (or simply not present) I decided to write something where he's not quite bad, but not quite good either.
Besides, the plot-bunny was just waiting to be fed.
I direct readers of 'Veela Genes' to the A/N at the bottom. Thank you.
Disclaimer; if anyone believes I am the owner of any of the characters etc in this piece of fiction, I would like to direct them to the internet which is bound to hold the details about the Mental Institution closest to where they live.
Warnings; ummm….shrugs Is there any swearing in this? I'll rate it as a K+, because I have no ideas.
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Upon reflection, Remus realized that he really should have suspected that something was wrong with Peter from the very moment that the much smaller boy stopped liking chocolate.
Ever since his first taste, Remus had loved chocolate of all kinds. His father had shared this adoration of the sweet substance, but his wife had never approved, so every time Mr. Lupin took his son out alone, Remus would be treated to a bar of Honeyduke's finest chocolate – rich and creamy, with a hint of mint threaded throughout. The young boy loved being taken out by his father for that alone, although those occasions were rare; as young child, Remus had hardly ever been allowed sweets of any kind ("They'll rot all your teeth away, you silly boy!" His mother had once told him) and the likelihood of being offered some from a friend was remote (after he was bitten, his parents kept him away from other children – civilization as a whole, actually, for fear of someone discovering the dark secret). Chocolate, he had thought, was the Food Of The Gods, and only fit for such a God to eat; a Werewolf simply didn't qualify.
When Remus fist met Sirius, the dark haired boy had been eating some chocolate – dark chocolate, still in its wrapper and beginning to melt. Sirius has shook his hand (an act of politeness that Remus had only ever seen repeated once), asked for his name, and then offered the smaller, much more shy boy some of his chocolate – Sirius had been Remus' best friend ever since, simply because his child-like self had been enamoured with the boy who had thought him worthy of eating The Food Of The Gods.
James, of course, was Remus' best friend too, only in a different kind of way; somehow, Sirius had always been able to read Remus like an open book, but James had never had the patience to mull over the workings of such a complicated mind like that of his friend (it has always struck Remus as slightly odd that Sirius, who couldn't sit still for ten minutes and who was always looking for something new to do, had this patience, but somehow he still always knew what Remus was thinking).
Peter, however, was a marauder mainly because James had felt sorry for him; but Remus hated thinking of it like that. He had turned out to be a pretty decent marauder, for a time, and besides, Peter liked chocolate, and anyone who liked chocolate couldn't be that bad; that Voldermort person – who the marauders had only begun hearing about in their later years – had obviously never even tasted even the tiniest piece of chocolate, which was why he was so evil; being deprived of chocolate could do that to a person. It
To be quite honest, that was the main reason that Remus didn't like Snape; the Slytherin didn't like any kind of chocolate at all – wasn't even allergic, the boy simply didn't like it (if you were allergic to chocolate via one of its ingredients, you automatically gained the Werewolf's respect for surviving life with no chocolate). Remus couldn't stand him for that, but he wouldn't admit it if anyone asked; Sirius had found out anyway, but Sirius knew him so well that the bookworm would have been astonished if the older teen didn't figure him out.
Even Lily had loved to eat chocolate – even if she had only eaten it in small amounts, the point was, she liked it. Remus had loved each and every one of his friends dearly for who they were, but the chocolate helped.
About half-way through their seventh year, however, Peter had denied a square of chocolate when offered. This puzzled the other marauders greatly – and would have almost offended Remus had he been in his right mind and not still suffering Pre Moon Sickness. When asked, Peter had told his friends he was simply going on a diet; he wished for more dates and had been told that losing weight would do the trick. The rat animagus had then gone on to suggest that the other boys joined him on this diet – it would do them good, and besides, it was unfair on Peter if they all enjoyed the luxuries of sugary foods whilst he sat and munched on an apple.
Remus had, of course, been furious. He would give up ice-cream, cake, biscuits; hell, the werewolf would even give up fruit just so long as he could still eat his chocolate. Why should they be dragged into it at all, he had asked, it's not like they needed to lose any weight. Peter had replied with a sharp "the world doesn't revolve around chocolate,", and the two teenagers had not spoken for a week and a half.
This diet continued even after the left school, only, slowly, Peter began eating sweet things again, but never so much as touched a bar of chocolate. Remus had never understood it.
Now, sitting in the dim light of the kitchen in Grimmauld Place, the aging werewolf sighed heavily as he finally realised what had been there all along. He should have known, right from the very moment Peter had said "No." It wasn't the chocolate he had been saying no to, it was James who had offered him some. He had denied them as a group, as friends; simply by denying the very thing they (or Remus at least) prized most.
He should have known.
The creaking of the stairs startled him, and he sat up straighter as Sirius entered, trying to stifle a yawn with the back of his hand.
"Remus," the older man said, jumping a little, obviously just as surprised as Remus was that he was not the only one awake at such an ungodly hour of the morning.
"What are you doing up?"
Remus shrugged helplessly, ignoring the sceptical look his best friend threw him as he passed him on the way to the kettle.
"Oh, come on Moony," Sirius coupled the line with a pout, prising a small grin from the reluctant marauder "we've known each other for years."
Here he paused, each man regretfully turning their mind to the years which they had lost between their friends' deaths and that very day. Sirius smiled, filling the kettle up with water and setting it to boil. It didn't matter, those few missed years; what counted was the time entitled now.
"You were thinking about things that don't need thinking about."
Remus didn't reply, only giving a small smile to signal the affirmative. Sirius tutted, pulling two mugs out of the cupboard above his head.
"Thinking is bad for you Moony; why do you never listen to me when I tell you that?" Sirius asked, smiling good-naturedly. Remus was too tired to tell him otherwise, opting to remain quiet instead. The animagus studied him for a few moments in silence, before turning around to make the drinks.
"Were you thinking about Prongs and the Missus'?"
Remus gave a dry sort of laugh; Lily had hated being called that – "Makes me sound like an old woman who's married to a nutcase," she had once said, only for Sirius to reply with "That's funny, I had always assumed you were." The bruise had turned an ugly purple and yellow kind of colour on the third day.
"No, actually," he finally replied "it was Wormtail."
Sirius scowled at the mention of their old friend, and Remus suddenly wondered if the marauder deserved the knick-name any more, finally deciding that it was only fair for him to keep it; after all, there had once been a time when the boy liked chocolate.
"Don't waste you thoughts on vermin that have a death sentence hanging over their heads." Sirius had always remained adamant that he would be the one to kill Peter, no matter what. No matter what. Remus had always remained adamant that he would be right by his side when it all backfired, ready to find a way to make him a free man once more; after all, if the ministry released Sirius after Peter's capture and then had to charge him with murder again – Remus vaguely wondered if Sirius could be let off on the grounds that Peter would have been kissed by the Dementors anyway, and Sirius had after-all spent all that time in prison…he'd have a plan when the time came.
"Besides," Sirius continued, placing a steaming cup of hot chocolate in front of his Werewolf friend "there was nothing to be done for the bloke after he stopped liking chocolate."
The two friends shared an odd sort of smile, and Remus had gratefully taken a large gulp of his drink. Chocolate truly was The Food Of The Gods, and he considered himself lucky that Sirius still, after all this time, thought him worthy of tasting it.
And yes, Sirius did know him far too well, and yes, perhaps there really wasn't anything that could be done to save Peter from 'the Dark side' after he had stopped liking chocolate…
Remus could remember a time when Wormtail had liked chocolate; a time when all four marauders would while away the evening talking, plotting and eating an abundance chocolate, a time when they would sneak down to the kitchens late at night to ask for just a little bit more (only to return with armfuls of all kinds of sweets, not just chocolate), a time when Peter would never know what to buy him for his birthday, but would still always remember his favourite type of chocolate (berry, with dark chocolate drops, crumbled up and sprinkled over double-choc-chip ice-cream).
And besides, anyone who liked chocolate couldn't be that bad after all.
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A/N; thanks for reading, reviews are appreciated!
To all readers of my other fic; even though I will write a more formal thank you in the next chap of V.G, I would like to extend my gratitude to all those who reviewed to the A/N; although I wasn't ready to reply individually at the time, and am now to swamped by them to do so, I would like all of you to know how much your reviews mean to me. I have attempted to write the next chapter, but Lucius was dead by the end of it (maybe I was feeling just a little vindictive when I wrote it) so the real next chap (which won't have any death in it) won't be up for a little while yet. Please be patient with me. Unfortunately, I have no idea how to handle the events of late, and so am simply taking life as it comes at the moment.
Thanks for reading!