Author's Note: If I owned Harry Potter, then I'd be one of the richest women in the world living in England. However, I'm not. It stinks. :(

Chapter 10

Peter was walking around the castle, proud of himself. He managed to get all his friends the perfect gift. He walked into the Entrance Hall and stopped. There was a girl standing in the Hall, looking lost. She had wavy dirty blonde hair and deep blue eyes. She was holding a suitcase and was not wearing any robes but Muggle clothing. Peter walked up to the girl.

"Can I help you?" he asked politely.

She turned to him and smiled gratefully, saying, "Yes, I'm looking for Professor Dumbledore's office."

Peter paused for a moment, lost in her blue eyes. "Um, uh, here, er, follow me," he said.

He took her suitcase from her, even though she protested, and headed off to the Headmaster's office. He decided to try and start a conversation, but nothing was coming to mind. All he could think about were those eyes. Finally, he decided to wing it. What would Sirius do?

"So, what are you doing here? I mean, I've never seen you around here before," he said.

"Oh, well I guess you've never seen me because I just got here," the girl said, quickening her pace to walk next to Peter, "My family just moved to England a week ago, we used to live in France but before then we lived in America. We only moved to France when I got accepted to a school there. Have you ever heard of Beaubaton's Academy?" Peter nodded and she continued, "That's where I used to go."

"I see," Peter said, noticing a very light French accent, "Is it nice there?"

"Not in the least," the girl said, shaking her head, "All the girls are horrible and nasty. They used to make fun of my accent. I hope this school's better."

"Oh, I think everyone here is very nice, except the Slytherins. You're going to want to avoid them," said Peter with a grin.

"You have houses here too! At Beaubaton's we had houses but they were all in French and I could never pronounce them. What are the others?"

So Peter began telling the new girl about the houses, which led to the subject of Quidditch, which got Peter talking about his friends and all their antics. He had gotten the girl in stitches when they reached the gargoyles guarding the Headmaster's office.

"Well, this is it," Peter said, waving an arm to the gargoyles, "I don't know the password to get in but I could run and get a teacher who knows it."

"That's all right, Professor Dumbledore gave me the password before I came. Thank you for everything, I hope to see you soon. What's your name by the way?"

"Peter, Peter Pettigrew. I'm in Gryffindor House. What's yours?" he asked.

"I'm Lindsay O'Riley. No house yet, but hopefully soon. Thanks again, I'll take my suitcase," she said.

Peter handed the suitcase over and wished Lindsay good luck. She smiled and Peter's heart skipped a beat. As he walked away, all he thought about were blue eyes and beautiful smiles.

...

"I can't believe that was our last Christmas at Hogwarts!" Alice said, leaning her head on Frank's shoulder at the breakfast table.

"Don't worry guys, even after we leave we'll still see each other." Alana said as she chewed her toast, "And if I don't know where you live, I'll get my Uncle Benny to find you."

This made everyone laugh. While Peter was laughing, he suddenly froze and dropped his fork on the ground. He dived down to pick it up and heard a voice call his name from above. His head shot up and whacked the table with a loud THUNK!

"Lindsay," he said, rubbing his throbbing head, "What are you doing here?"

"Um, eating breakfast. Can I sit with you?" she asked nervously.

"Of course," Sirius said with a smile, "I'm Sirius Black."

Lindsay smiled and pulled up a chair in front of Peter. Once everyone introduced themselves, they began asking her questions about her old school.

"I hope Hogwarts is better though," said Lindsay, "Peter was telling me all about it and it seems wonderful."

"So you're the new Gryffindor!" said Alice happily, "I saw your things in our room this morning but no one was there! Congratulations, Gryffindor is the best house here!"

"So I've heard," said Lindsay with a smile at Peter, "I've also heard that this is the group to be with if you love mischief?"

"Finally, someone who understands us!" said Sirius and Alana nudged him in the sides.

"And what are we, chopped liver?"

"No, you're to pretty to be that."

Everyone went, "AWW!" while Sirius kissed Alana's forehead. Alana felt eyes on her and turned to see a group of Gryffindor sixth years glaring at her with such fury that Alana was surprised her skin wasn't melting off. Sirius saw where she was looking and picked Alana up and placed her in his lap.

"Like when we first met," he whispered and said to the other girls, "It's a free country you know, I can date whoever I want without your approval so just piss off!"

The girls looked highly affronted and stormed off. Their group just laughed and Lindsay looked at her schedule thoughtfully.

"It says I have Charms first period, is anyone heading there?" she asked.

Everyone shook their heads apologetically but Peter said, "Yeah, I'll show you where it is." Lindsay gave him an appreciative smile and Peter felt his stomach flip again.

Once they were finished their breakfast, Lindsay and Peter walked to the Charms classroom. The corridors weren't very full because a lot of the students were still eating. They reached the door and Peter stopped, holding it open for Lindsay.

"I don't have class here," he explained, "I'm down the hall at Ancient Runes. I should probably get going."

"Thank you Peter," Lindsay said sweetly, "I really appreciate this. I was hoping that maybe, if you don't mind, you could help me find my classes today?"

"S-Sure, I don't mind at all," said Peter, "I'll see you after class then?"

"Great!" she replied and watched Peter leave. The smile on her face disappeared and she rolled her eyes. "I can't believe how easy this is."

"Just don't mess this up," a cold voice said from the shadows. Lucius Malfoy came out from behind a suit of armor and stayed close to the shadows.

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Lindsay asked, crossing her arms across her chest, "Even if he doesn't suspect anything, his friends are smart."

"Do your job right and you won't have to worry about that," Malfoy sneered, "Use means of persuasion to keep him quiet."

"Ugh, I wish he was at least semi-good looking," she mumbled and Malfoy chuckled evilly and disappeared into the shadows. Lindsay sighed and went into the classroom.

…...

"What time is it now?" Sirius asked as he lounged on the couch with Frank and his fellow Marauders, minus Peter that is.

"Well, it's three whole minutes since you last asked so now it's eleven forty-eight," Remus said, wiping his dry eyes tiredly.

"Where the hell is Peter?" James cried out in annoyance, "This is ridiculous!"

"I think we should follow the girls' lead and go to bed," said Frank after a huge yawn, "This is getting ridiculous."

"And you're sure he's not on the map?" Remus asked James and the other boy sighed as he checked the paper.

"Still not, and I've kept my eye on it for the past three hours," James replied.

"Did he say where he was going before he left?" Frank asked, stretching and turning to lay on his back on the floor by the fire.

"Just that he'd be back in a little bit," said Sirius with annoyance, "Five hours is not a "little bit" in my book! Merlin, when I see him I swear I'm going to murder him!"

"Haven't you noticed a change in him though?" Remus asked, "He's been a lot more irritable and snappy lately."

"Yeah, and he hasn't left Lindsay's side since she got here," Frank added, "He follows her around like a lost puppy. It's been going on for weeks and it's getting ridiculous."

"Al was telling me that girl's a real bitch," said Sirius, "She has no respect for any of the other girls and treats her, her sister, and Lily like dirt. She's better with Alice but not much."

"What does he see in her then?" James asked, "Sure, she's kind of pretty but not when she looks like she's smelling poop whenever she's around us. And I don't like that she keeps Peter away from us, as if she thinks she's better company for him."

"So…do we tell him what we think?" Frank asked, looking around. There was a pause and all the boys said, "No" at the same time.

"This whole thing might blow over and things'll go back to normal," said James hopefully.

They nodded and kept their vigil until all of them were fast asleep. At two thirty, the portrait hole opened and Peter walked in quietly with Lindsay. She gave him a kiss on the cheek and headed up to her dormitory. Peter shoved his hands in his pockets and started walking to his own dormitory when he saw four figures lying by the fire. He looked closer and saw they were his friends. Had they been waiting up for him?

They probably fell asleep while planning something without me, he thought darkly.

The reason he was so late was because he and Lindsay had been talking. Lindsay told him that she thought his friends were extremely rude to him and thought he deserved better.

"Lindsay, that's nonsense!" he said with a laugh, "My friends are the best I could ask for, James, Sirius, and Remus especially. Why would you say something like that?"

"I see how they treat you all the time. You're always the odd one out because they all are in relationships and they do nothing to make you feel included," she said sadly, "They treat you like you're invisible and never ask your opinion on anything. They don't treat you like a good friend should."

"That's not entirely true," said Peter, but he was frowning.

Lindsay smiled, this really was too easy! She put on a sympathetic face and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"You know it's true Peter, they don't appreciate what an amazing person you really are. They're too busy with their girlfriends to care about how you feel. You deserve so much better."

Hearing Lindsay say those things, Peter thought of all the times he and the Marauders would work on pranks and they would never listen to his ideas. When he would try to voice his opinion on a subject, they would dismiss him with a wave of their hands. With a jolt, he realized she was telling the truth. They really weren't good friends at all.

Peter sighed heavily and trudged up to his dormitory and climbed into bed. He sat staring at his canopy and felt like someone had ripped his very heart out. He considered them his best friends, the only ones he trusted with his whole heart. But now he saw them for what they were: self-absorbed bastards who used him repeatedly. Peter rolled on his side and closed his eyes, trying to keep the tears he felt coming up. Eventually he fell asleep, a single tear rolling down his face and absorbing into the pillow.

Author's Note: I'd really like to know what you think of how Peter is portrayed in the story. Trust me, I hate his guts just as much as the next Marauder fan, but I always wondered how a boy who seemed so loyal to his friends could go about wanting them all dead. This is what I came up with and you'll see much more if you keep reviewing. Remember the Golden Rule of fanfiction, reviews=updates. Well, I don't actually know if that's the Golden Rule of fanfiction but it's pretty close! So please tell me what you think by sending me one of those lovely little reviews. CC is loved and appreciated as well. :D