"One week to go, we can do this," James said one night after settling into bed.
Lily just giggled at this, handing him the warm compress from her bedside table before going back to her book.
"Like I mean," James continued on, slapping the compress on his knees before falling back into his personal mountain of pillows. "Where does all the energy come from? Or the arms for that matter! I didn't know Harry could throw so hard!"
"So that's where this is coming from," Lily laughed, setting down her book before turning to James. "You're a little sore from the snowball Harry whipped at you earlier. You deserved it you know," she said, smiling while she messed up his hair.
"What? How? I've been nothing but a loving and accommodating father to that boy," James joked. "Fine," he continued, taking in Lily's bemused expression, "but seriously, what did I do?"
"You pelted him with one first," she responded, smirking.
"Right…" he said, remembering the day's events.
The snow throughout the school holiday thus far had barely stopped falling for a minute, causing the mounds on the sides of the road to reach new heights. The boys were thrilled with the new winter playground and made a daily trip out there to mess around it, which normally ended up in some form of a snowball fight or another. Today though, James, Sirius and Remus had joined the boys, and they took it to them. James and Sirius were double teaming every boy they came in contact with, enchanting the snowball's to replicate themselves as soon as they approached their target, causing for mouthful's of snow to be unwillingly devoured by the kid they hit. Fred and George were by far their toughest competition; Percy took himself out a few minutes in. The twins and their devious methods caught the adult trio off guard quite a few times, causing for Remus to admit defeat early and join Percy on the front steps.
Ron was out next, being pelted by Sirius, and James thought Harry went with him, he himself being targeted by one of James' better throws. James was terribly mistaken though when Harry whipped one at the center of his back from out of nowhere, with an unnatural force. "I still don't know where that came from," James continued, rubbing his aching back.
"Put the compress on your back and go to sleep, James. Tomorrow is another day," she said, turning over and turning off the light.
"We've checked the Northern more parts of the country," Remus said, evaluating the map in front of him. "What about here next?" he continued, pointing to a place not far north of London.
"Should we continue looking like this, the results aren't as certain as we need?" James said, sitting back in his chair looking away from the mess of maps in front of them.
"What else can we do? He needs to be put away, Prongs!" Sirius yelled, standing up out of frustration, pacing the room.
"I get that—don't you think I know that!" James yelled, furious. "I'm just trying to think of a way to get this done quicker!"
"Why have a life to get back to, James!? Now that you've finally gotten rid of that guilt that forgetting about me brought down on you, you can get back to that perfect life you and Lily have described for us these past few months!"
"It's not like it was a walk in the park, Sirius!"
"Oh no, because living here with your loving wife and son—being able to walk around free is a really hard thing to do!"
"Sirius, James, calm down," Remus tried to reason.
"It is! Harry was threatened by the darkest wizard of all time having done nothing to him! His followers still wanted my son dead even when he was gone. We had to leave everything behind; leave all of our friends and family to keep him safe. Do you know how hard it is to leave behind everything you know: magic, friends, your job, life? It's the hardest thing I've ever done but I would do it again if it meant that my son, your godson would grow up safe and with a normal childhood. If it could mean that he would be the kid he is I would do anything!" James yelled, before finally slumping back down in his seat.
Sirius looked at his friend for a moment before pulling up a seat beside him.
"I know I left you alone, Sirius, and you too Remus. I left without a word and never bothered to check up—to help you out. Life got the better of me, but I needed to keep him safe," James said, his hands covering his face as his elbows rested on his knees.
"We understand, James," Remus said, sitting down on James' other side. "Sirius?"
"Yeah, I didn't mean all of that, it's just that all of this," Sirius said, motioning towards all of the maps and papers. "It's really getting to me, you know?"
"I know," James said, his mood getting better with each passing minute. "I think we should start here and go across and get some other's with us. The auror department still might yet send a few of their members our way, Merlin knows we need all the help we can get."
"We can start the day after the train leaves for Hogwarts," Sirius suggested. Both James and Sirius nodded in unison.
"It's a plan," Remus said, clapping his hands together and settling back in his seat, picking up his bottle of butterbeer.
They sat there for a while, enjoying the quiet. The silence was short lived though as they heard running on the stairs and the shouts of the two youngest residents.
"Scabbers!" Ron yelled, bounding down the Potter's staircase, followed closely by Harry.
"Come back here," Harry yelled, skipping a few steps as he jumped to the landing, hoping to reach it before the rat. It was too fast though.
"Watch where you're going," Lily yelled across the room from where she had been sitting near the window. "James, Sirius, Remus! Can you help them already?"
"Scabbers?" Remus questioned James, not knowing what the boys were yelling about.
"I think it's Ron's rat, not too sure though," James answered, "Harry and Ron have been keeping him upstairs as not to frighten Lily. She's a strong woman but she does not fancy those rodents."
The men emerged seconds later from the old office, chuckling at the sight of the two young boys chasing the rat around the second floor room.
"Hang on a second," James said, pulling his wand out and pointing it at the rat. "Immobulus."
The screeching brown rat automatically froze in its place; just long enough for Ron and Harry to be amused by the spell yet still have time to pick it up.
"Take care of that rat, Ron," James joked, sticking his wand back into his back pocket before walking over to the boys.
"Let's see that thing," Sirius said, going to get the rat from Ron. "My brother used to have one that the old house elf found. Used to torment it but it still liked Regulus for some reason… hated me though…"
"Another member to the crew," Lily muttered under her breath, diving back into her book.
"Heard that," Sirius said over his shoulder to where Lily was. She looked up and smiled before returning to her pages. "Boy this is an ugly one, lost a toe and everything… looks famil—ow!" Sirius yelped, dropping the rat.
"Hold on—Petrificus Totalus!" Remus yelled, pointing his own wand at the rat, binding it in its place, frozen. "Look!" he merely said after looking the rat over again and again.
Ron and Harry looked at one another, confused by what could possibly be so interesting about Scabbers.
"No!" James shrieked, grabbing the frozen rat from Remus' grasp. "No!"
"Wha- it's him!" Sirius bellowed, taking the rat from James, shaking it madly. "You're the one that caused me to be there! I'm going to kill you I am!" Sirius yelled louder, drawing the attention of the rest of the Weasley's from where they had been in the kitchen just moments before.
"Sirius, it's alright, calm down," Lily tried to reason. "What's the matter?" she mouthed to James, who simply said, "It's Pettigrew in his animagus form. He's been right here."
"No," she gasped, taking a seat back down out of shock.
Remus stepped in and wrangled the rat free from Sirius' hand. "Let go," he said seriously, finally relinquishing the frozen thing from Sirius' hand. "Percy," he said, looking directly at the eldest Weasley. "Have you ever made a floo call before?"
Percy nodded a 'yes'.
"Very well. Please, go downstairs and floo the headmaster's office. Tell him that we've got Pettigrew and we need him and this minister as fast as they can come—can you do that?"
"Yes," Percy said, eagerly before he ran to place the call.
"Lily, keep the boys back," James shouted to his wife, who immediately rushed to the young boys side, pushing them back towards the room from where the men had just emerged.
"What's going on?" Harry yelled as he tried to reach around his mum to get a better look at the scene. "Mum, what's happening?"
"Just, not now, Harry," Lily said, exhausted as she tried to keep the boys in the old den. "Please, stay in here," she tried to say calmly before closing the door.
"But," Harry started but that was all he could get out before she sealed the door shut.
"What do you need me to do?" Lily asked hurriedly.
James, Remus and Sirius were standing in front of her, the rat still struggling on the floor in front of them. They created a triangle out of themselves and each was taking a turn trying to force Pettigrew into transforming. The freezing charm was slowly waning off and Lily was trying to creep forward to get a better look at the transformed Pettigrew, but James, who yelled for her to help Percy downstairs, pushed her back.
She was taken aback for a second, starring at the scene in front of her as the spells bounced off the walls but she ran down the stairs as soon as she saw they had him cornered.
Percy was downstairs, waiting anxiously on the couch for the fireplace flames to return to their emerald green.
"What did they say?" she asked timidly, pulling up a seat next to him.
"Dumbledore was on his way," Percy asked, his eyes still set on the flames.
"And the minister?"
"Dumbledore was going to fetch him, along with a couple of Auror's."
"Good," was all she could say, before the flames came to life turning their bright green colour that James had told her reminded him so much of her eyes.
The headmaster stepped out first, the Minister coming out only moments later.
"Lily, good to see you, is he…?" Fudge stuttered, but Lily stopped him moments later and pointed to the floor above, simply responding 'up'
"Come on, Pete-y," Sirius taunted the rat, "Come out and play," he continued, stepping forward and yelling spell after spell at the rat.
"Don't want to see us, Pete-y?" James continued on following in Sirius' footsteps.
Peter had been scurrying around the living room, unwilling to transform even as James, Sirius and Remus cornered him further and further giving him less and less room to get away.
"You've got nowhere to go, Peter," Remus said, his eyes completely locked on the rat's trembling form.
The three watched, wands at the ready, as Pettigrew trembled and paced the small patch of room that they had cornered him in. The three stepped back a bit when they recognized the signs of Peter beginning to transform. It started slowly, his tiny paws gradually shifting back into their human forms, two hands appearing where two paws once were. They watched as the tiny scruff of hair on the rat's head changed colour slightly and thinned out a little as Peter's rat head changed back to the one they remembered growing up. His large rat teeth remained, only appearing more human—his rat like human features more prominent than they had been before.
Peter's eyes were wide in terror as he watched his once friends tear their eyes into them, looking at him for the first time for who he really was.
"How dare you!" Sirius exclaimed, breaking the silence. "How dare you betray Lily and James to him!" he stepped forward angrily, his hand reaching towards Peter's throat.
Remus pulled him back, "No, not this way, Sirius."
"Then what do you suggest, Remus?" James exclaimed, he himself advancing on Pettigrew. He looked Peter straight in the eye. "How could you? How could you put Harry's life on the line? Lily's? Forget about me—your once friend who protected you, helped you! How could you do that to my family, my life, Peter?" he asked, choking on tears and anger.
"J-J-James p-please f-forgive m-me, I-I didn't m-mean to. You don't kn-know what he can do. H-he w-was everywhere. How was I to kn-know that H-Harry would defeat h-him?" Peter pleaded with James, dropping to his knees.
"Don't you dare say my son's name," James bellowed, his voice jumping off the walls. He pushed Peter back from him.
"You trust your friends—that's what you do," Remus exclaimed, stepping in after James. "You die before you sentence them to death!"
"I'm not as strong as you!" Peter shrieked as Remus's strong hand wrapped it's way around his upper arm. "He offered me protection—he was winning and you know it!"
"What I know is that you betrayed us all!" Sirius bellowed. "You pitted us against each other with no regret at all! You sent me to Azkaban for what purpose!? So you could run free and live as a rat?! We were friends, Peter, Friends!"
"A-and we can be friends again," Peter stuttered squirmishly, Sirius want forcefully meeting his arm.
"Not a chance in hell!" James roared as he approached Peter, ready to deck him.
"James, no!" Remus yelled, grabbing his friends arm to restrain him from doing something he would regret. "He's not worth it. Dumbledore will be here soon and this traitor will go away for good—Harry will be safe."
The last few words seemed to do the trick as James relaxed a little in Remus' grip, but he charged as soon as Remus let go and let his fist meet Peter's nose square on.
"Nice one, Prongsie," Sirius said, high-fiving James with one hand while the other kept a firm grip on Peter's arm.
"So this is what Alastor taught his young auror class to do when they couldn't think of a spell that would do," Dumbledore observed, making his way into the room. "It's good to see you all," he continued, "though I can not say the same to you, Peter. I believe the sorting hat made a mistake all those years ago."
"Professor, now is not really the time," Remus urged.
"It is in the moments when one feels the most guilt that the lessons others have to teach them have the most significance," Dumbledore continued on. "The sorting hat sees that in, which we can not see in ourselves. It sees our longings and our talents far before we can even begin to recognize them. Peter had a longing to be brave, but it is our actions that show who we truly are, far more than our abilities, and that night, when you betrayed your friend's trust you showed who you truly were and that will sit with you always."
The Marauders stared in awe at Dumbledore, while the minister who had came in behind him, flanked by two aurors stood dumbfounded.
"Right then," Fudge said, finally getting past Dumbledore's word. "Hawkes, Resin, take him," he continued, motioning for his two auror's.
The two men came from behind Fudge and took over Sirius' position, both of their wands digging heavily into Peter's back.
"This way then," Fudge said, leading back towards the stairs. He turned back, just before he was about to head down. "Thank-you to you all," he added, nodding curtly. "Apologies again, Mr. Black."
"He's gone. He's actually gone," James muttered to himself.
"Can't believe that was the Peter we thought we knew," Remus said quietly, shaking his head as well.
"Bloody traitor," Sirius said, causing both Remus and James to look at him in pure amusement and astonishment. "What?" he said, taking a seat.
James and Remus looked at one another before bursting out in laughter, their eyes tearing up as they did so.
*All recognizable J.K Rowling content is fully hers and I take no credit for it. The rest is all my own imagination. Please take some time and review- I appreciate them more than you know!