Peter Pettigrew realised, that to be successful in life, you needed three things. To be able to love, trust and have a good sense of humour. Unfortunately, he didn't have either of those things.
There were four in their group. To outsiders, fellow classmates, they were known as The Leader, The Prankster, The Bookworm and the Follower. To the teachers they were known as James, Sirius, Remus and Peter. In between themselves, and to only their closest and most trustworthy friends, they were known as Prongs, Padfoot, Moony and Wormtail; or otherwise the Marauders.
It had always been clear that three of the Marauders would reach to great heights. Three of them could love, trust and laugh. Three of them could be themselves and be loved, be trusted, and, well, could be laughed with.
Peter Pettigrew however, had always been the black sheep. Let us start with the first characteristic.
Love.
Well, Peter had had a lot of experience when it came to love, he couldn't deny that. Everyday he saw the things that Prongs went through to get the attention of his beloved, Lily. Everyday, he saw the things that the female population of Hogwarts went through to get the attention of Padfoot. Everyday, he saw certain girls who weren't happy to settle with the loud, boisterous Sirius focus their shy glances instead on the quiet heart-throb, Moony.
And yet, no-one loved him. No-one stared at him on the way to class, no-one waved shyly while the passed him out of the Great Hall, no-one started giggling uncontrollably when he neared them.
Not even his parents loved him properly. He had always been an only child. He and James and Remus were all on the same boat; no-one to boss around, no-one that would tell on him. He had always thought that because of this, because of him being an only child, he would always be showered in love.
He had been sorely wrong.
From the minute that he'd turned one, to the second before they'd died, his parents had shown him nothing but neglect. It wasn't as if they'd forgotten him or anything, although sometimes he wishes that they had. No, every year, right on cue, they gave him birthday presents, every Christmas without fail, he got the most expensive item on his wish list. Every single year, however, he only got the gifts from his parents. Never had they given him a hug, said that they were proud of him, never had they told him that he was a big boy, that they loved him, that he was a brilliant son. Never.
He'd always thought that he'd be like Prongs; too loved. Always showered with love, swimming in affection, basking in glory. He was always neglected however. He was never loved.
He supposed that the reason he had never loved was actually because he had never really been loved, to know how to love, you had to know what love was and how to love first.
Therefore, he didn't know how and wasn't able to love.
The second characteristic was, of course, trust.
Trust was something that kept the Marauders together. Breaking the trust or betraying someone wasn't tolerated. Not as people, but as humans, and friends who wanted to protect one another. Trust came with a few things. There was the trust that you trusted your friends with your most precious and guarded secret. There was the trust that your friends would protect you forever. There was the trust that these trusting rules were kept, because friends weren't friends without trust.
Typically, the other three knew all about trust. Perhaps there were four secrets that were quite common to the group; one for each person, their deepest darkest secret.
Prongs' was perhaps the easiest to guess, as his wasn't exactly a secret. Moony, Wormtail and Padfoot had known it from the first time that their dear old Prongs had laid his eyes on Lily. This secret was that Prongs loved Evans, and this wasn't exactly a secret, so this was their secret that wasn't really a secret.
Moony's was perhaps the next well-known. It had been common fact between the Marauders since second year that Moony had lycanthropy, or otherwise known as being a werewolf. They'd kept his secret from the whole school, and had dedicated hours and hours to the library of all places, just to help him overcome it. They would take this secret to their graves, and would protect Moony from it every step of the way. This was their most dangerous and guarded secret.
Padfoot's secret was the most secret of all secrets. He had finally confided in his friends half way through first year that his parents were often cruel to him, and that they didn't love him. He had confided his feelings about feeling lonely, and being scared that he wouldn't make any friends at Hogwarts because of his being a Black. His friends had become closer than ever, and they had protected Sirius from the Slytherins, who didn't actually need protecting at all. This was their secret that they pretended didn't exist so as to make Sirius feel better.
Then, of course, came Wormtail's secret, which couldn't really be called a secret, because he never told anyone. Wormtail's secret was the same as Padfoot's with only one difference; Padfoot confided in his friends, whereas Wormtail never bothered, or rather, never trusted. This was the secret which couldn't be called a secret because it had never been said; therefore, it could never be told.
His friends had all confessed to him, and trusted him, however, he had never trusted anyone, nor had he confided in anyone.
He couldn't, therefore, trust.
The third characteristic was much happier and less sappy than the other two; the ability to have a sense of humour.
If anyone wanted a good laugh, you just had to go to the Marauders. They would come up with a prank in a jiffy to amuse everyone. They would tell a loud joke, and it would actually be funny. They left room for others to tell jokes as well.
Peter? Well, no-one came up to him in the first place to make them feel better. But, when it was just the Marauders…
Prongs was always the easy-going, easy-to-make-jokes-and-laugh-with-people guy. Whenever Sirius felt down about his parents or Remus felt down about his lycanthropy, Prongs could always be relied on to come to the rescue. He would say gentle but amusing jokes, or else relate his latest escapade with Lily. These escapades secretly hurt him a lot, usually when she rejected him again, but he went through it just to make his friends feel better.
When Prongs was the one down, Sirius would be found holed up in his room, usually bent over a seemingly stray piece of parchment, whispering to himself. Little did anyone know that he was plotting his next prank, which would be pulled in the next half-an-hour. Prongs, who loved pranks of any kind, would be found hooting with mirth when Gelda Martin's hair vanished, and instead grew all over her body, or else Jerry McGough's hair had turned slimy, hi clothes turned into dark, button up robes and his nose turned hooked.
Remus had his own way of cheering people up. He would relate funny things that had happened to Sirius or James, depending on who was upset. He would quietly remind them that their friends were there for them, and then he would proceed to give a new brilliant idea for a new practical joke.
Peter was never left with the task of cheering someone up, or telling jokes. It was usually when all the others were all having one of their laughing fits, and he was with them, and he tried to make up something funny, and it wasn't that very funny. His friends would laugh, but he could tell that he had ruined the moment; the tears would stop gushing out of their eyes, it would sound fake, and a few seconds later, there would be an awkward silence, often punctuated with him muttering about going to the kitchens and leaving.
It wasn't that they purposely didn't laugh; they were awesome friends who wanted to make him feel good. The truth was that he couldn't be funny to save his life, and he had a rubbish sense of humour.
That ruled out all three of them. Love, trust, hilarity.
Hey guys! I just wanted to clear up a few points;
Firstly: I know that it doesn't include the betraying James and Lily thingo. If I've got the wording right, then this should take place when James is trying hard to win Lily, and she's slowly relenting. So the betraying hasn't come in the Trust section.
Secondly: I KNOW that I've portrayed that all the characters are depressed. But I do not believe that! I know that they are all happy chappies, but every adolescent has problems, and they just fitted with the story, so I'm sorry.
Thirdly: There MIGHT be a sequel; that is, after the betrayal. I kind of have an idea…
So yeah! Please review.
ranDUMM