"Well she was just seventeen, you know what I mean and the way she looked was way beyond compare. So how could I dance with another when I saw her standin' there?" – Elton John and John Lennon live recording, 1974
Peter Pettigrew covertly rolled his eyes as Aeryn pulled out her bag of vibrantly colored nail varnishes and placed it on the Gryffindor Common Room table in between them. Although he loved having his girlfriend around all the time, he really struggled to tolerate all her feminine tastes and activities; he much preferred to be with the boys. Aeryn softly hummed to herself - not paying attention to him as he eased back in his armchair - and Peter sighed. He never understood why she liked to paint her nails the Muggle way, but remained silent as she sorted through her collection. Aeryn huffed and silently flip flopped between colors.
"The red one," he said. "You always look better in red."
"Thank you, dear," Aeryn blushed. She coyly blew him a kiss before she dabbed some remover onto a cotton ball. Peter smiled triumphantly and placed his intertwined fingers over his belly. He watched her take off her current shade, a bright bubble gum pink, and when she got to her ring finger on her left hand, she paused. The Marauder felt his smile turn into a slight frown as she admired his gift.
Although he loved Aeryn dearly, his primary reason for purchasing the promise ring was for not for her benefit.
It was for his.
The ring was the result of a pact he had made with himself. Two days before the first Hogsmeade visit of the year, Peter finally acknowledged that a certain Slytherin occupied his thoughts almost daily. He knew it was only lust he felt for her, but after smoking a pack of cigarettes, realized that his urges were out of fear. A fear of being weak and insignificant. But he was the master of his fate, not anyone else, so he decided it was time for him to face the facts, become a man, and take his relationship with Aeryn seriously. After all, he'd been dating her for a year, which was no small feat.
And besides, they weren't the only ones at Hogwarts with promise rings. Many students pledged the same commitment due to the current volatile political climate. But it was only a promise of marriage, Peter reminded himself as Aeryn finished taking off her varnish. It wasn't set in stone.
"Sirius and Gemma seem to be quite the lovebirds," Aeryn began as she unscrewed the cap to her red bottle. Peter grinned. Although most people called Lizzie Richardson the biggest gossip in school, the Gryffindor knew that his girlfriend secretly gave her a run for her money. And he did nothing to discourage her. Peter loved knowing the school's secrets, since many of them involved the Marauders; he liked being reminded of his notoriety.
"He said he was going to lay low to stop the school gossip, you know. Gemma doesn't like it, but that's what you get when you start dating Sirius Black … urg, 'lovebirds' is an understatement though. I honestly don't know what's gotten into him. I've never seen him this wild before."
"He's not wild, he's in love," Aeryn chided. "I think he's being romantic."
"He snuck into the Slytherin Common Room to write 'Peace & Love' all over their furniture. That's reckless, not romantic. Do you know what they would have done to him if they'd caught him alone in their territory?" he countered.
"Oh come on, Peter," she said, raising a brow. "You lot go in there all the time to prank them."
"We never do it alone!"
"Fine, you never do it alone," she responded, rolling her eyes. "But he didn't go in there completely blind. He handled himself."
"I think he's worse than James used to be," Peter grumbled as he crossed his arms over his chest. "And that's saying something."
"Speaking of James," Aeryn said as she started to paint her pinky fingernail, "did you hear that Lily is no longer seeing Davies?"
"You are such a gossip," the boy scoffed playfully. "And yes, I did hear that."
"So? What is James going to do about it?"
"Er, nothing?" Peter answered, clearly confused. "She told him to piss off so he's been staying clear of her."
"You males are so thick!" Aeryn said incredulously, almost spilling over her varnish. "Don't you see what's happening? She went to Hogsmeade with Davies to shove it in James' face. And since he didn't seem to care, she scrapped the Ravenclaw Captain because she never liked him in the first place. She wants James!"
"How do you know that?"
"Because I'm a girl, Peter," she answered as she finished her last nail. "And because I overheard Alice muttering something about the end of the world as we know it."
"You have fantastic hearing darling," Peter grinned, showering her with unnecessary compliments. "You would be an excellent spy."
"Me? A spy?" Aeryn laughed before blowing on her nails to dry them. She shook her hands and blew again. "I don't think so. I'd be much safer behind a Ministry desk. Besides, I don't know everything going on in this Castle. For example, I don't know why Remus is acting like such a stroppy cow." She looked up at him as she began her second coat. "Perhaps you could enlighten me?"
"He hasn't said anything to us," Peter answered mournfully as he leaned back in his armchair.
It was true. The boys first noticed something was wrong with their werewolf friend shortly after he came back from his recent Hogsmeade outing with Marianne. They tried to ask him what was wrong, but he evaded their questions, saying it was related the upcoming Full Moon. It wasn't until after Remus' monthly transformation that they knew something was truly amiss; he didn't attack them, only himself. Peter shuddered as he remembered when Remus had peeled back all his bandages the day after.
He had sent himself through the ringer.
If he told Aeryn this, she would have pushed him to investigate further to uncover the truth, but he couldn't tell her for two simple reasons. She didn't know anything about the boy's lycanthropy and Peter was not about to spill that secret. But moreover, Remus had invoked a sacred Marauder law when they finally cornered him and demanded to know what was going on – if someone says back off, you had to back off and keep quiet. Peter remembered when Sirius had invented the rule after coming back from his Winter Holiday at his parents' house during their Fourth Year. Sometimes, they all agreed, a Marauder just needed space to process without his friends' input.
However, there was a time limit to their gentlemen's agreement. The Marauder in question only had until the end of the term to remain silent before the others had the right to ask again. It was finally November, which meant that Remus only had until mid December to keep his secret.
Peter twitched. He hated waiting.
"Is it his mother?" Aeryn asked, slicing through his thoughts. "You don't have to tell me the details."
"I said he hasn't told us Aeryn," Peter responded, rolling his eyes.
"Fine," she huffed as she finished her second coat of red varnish. "But you do know how you pulled off your Halloween prank. How on earth did you manage to have everyone's costume turn into their opposite?"
"We figured out how to cast a massive, complex switching jinx without leaving a trace," Peter grinned, thankful that someone had noticed their meticulous dedication to humor. "It really only worked with those who had well planned costumes - that's why we picked such neutral ones to wear. Except for James. He actually wanted to switch from a student to a teacher just so he could sit at the Professors' table in the Great Hall as a joke." He sighed and smiled with a glazed look in his eyes. "Boy, that was a good prank, wasn't it? I'll never forget the look on Gruntilda Avery's face when she realized her witch costume had turned into modern Muggle clothing."
"Well it serves Rose right for dressing up like an angel. Everyone knows she's been a hotheaded devil ever since Sirius and Gemma starting dating."
"Well yeah, but Miranda's change was even better. She went from a young girl's doll to an adult sex toy."
"She probably didn't mind the male attention," Aeryn grumbled as she looked over her nails. "She's a whore."
"Aeryn!"
"What? You know I've hated her ever since she yelled at me during our first match of the season. But I'm not wrong you know. I have it on good authority that she's snogged half the Castle."
The pair continued to playfully gossip and bicker as the sun slowly began to lower towards the horizon line. Students bustled in and out of the Common Room, but neither Gryffindor seemed to notice; they were too entrenched in their own conversation. Peter finally threw a glance out the window next to him and sighed as he looked at the yellow, pink, and orange hued sunset reflected across the surface of the Black Lake. He marveled at the landscape's natural beauty and his fingers automatically found their way to his pocket. After a quick inventory check, he counted six cigarettes left in his packet.
He grimaced. He'd had ten this morning.
"I'm going to have a smoke, dear."
"Oh, Peter," Aeryn wined. "I do wish you'd stop. It's such a disgusting habit."
"Well it's an addicting habit," he replied and got up from his seat. "Nothing I can change about that. I'll catch you later. We've got another prank to set up tonight so I won't be back until the wee hours of the morning."
She beamed as he leaned down and kissed the top of her head.
"Be careful! And remember to make Fletcher's life a living hell for me!"
"I'll do my best," Peter chuckled as he playfully ruffled her hair before exiting the Common Room.
He trotted down the enchanted staircases and exited the Castle by the back doors, which led to the greenhouses. Once he settled on a bench in the abandoned courtyard, he fished a cigarette out of his pocket. Peter lifted his wand and muttered a spell; his cigarette caught fire and he immediately sucked in the smoke. Relief flooded through him as he leaned back against the stone column behind him.
Suddenly, Peter heard an odd clacking sound. He scrunched his brows together and peaked his head around the column to check if anyone was there. He took another drag when he realized he was still alone in the courtyard. He must have been hearing things. However, the sound continued and then progressively got louder. Peter's nerves began to buzz through his body as he checked his surroundings again.
Nothing.
Yet, just as suddenly as it came, the sound stopped. He deeply sighed as he exhaled; everything was going to be fine, he told himself as he turned back to his original position. However, his cigarette dropped out of his mouth when he realized Luciana was standing in front of him.
"Hello, Pettigrew," she purred. "Got a light?"
He was speechless. The Slytherin's long dark hair was pulled into an effortless chignon, her eyes were rimmed with black kohl, and although she was wearing the standard issued Hogwarts uniform, a couple of the top buttons on her white shirt were undone. He tried not to look at her cleavage, but found that her legs were equally distracting.
She tapped her foot impatiently and Peter realized that her heeled boots were the source of the earlier clacking. He quickly picked his cigarette off the ground and placed it back in his mouth. Where had she come from? And why did she want to talk to him?
"I'm waiting," Luciana drawled as she pulled out a cigarette from beneath her robes and put it between her lips. She leaned down towards him and he found he had no choice but to immediately mutter a spell to light the tip of her cigarette. She took a deep inhale and smiled gratefully. She could have used her own wand, but had successfully gotten him to do it for her.
As Luciana sat down on the other side of the stone bench, his promise ring felt heavy on his left hand; he glanced down at the silver band and then back at his new companion. Peter gulped nervously. Luciana had previously been a figment of his imagination – the subject of his daydreams - but now she was next to him, looking at him hungrily as she blew smoke in his direction, and he had no idea what to do.
Peter felt his hand shake as he lifted his cigarette back to his mouth. He couldn't bring in a third party to solve his dilemma; she wasn't breaking any rules, so he couldn't report her to a Prefect. He thought about taking the Sirius route - which entailed cursing the living hell out of her so she would leave him alone - but the Gryffindor quickly decided against it when she pulled her wand out of her jacket pocket and put it on the bench between them. He had done his homework and found out from James that she was an excellent dueler and would eat him alive if he tried to attack her, so that option was off the table too.
Luciana apparently didn't want to wait for his decision. Peter's eyes widened as she suddenly shifted her body forward and crawled on all fours across the bench towards him. Her smirk was permanently etched on her face and he couldn't help but compare her to a snake hunting its prey. Yet, he couldn't look away from the budding dominatrix either. She made him want to throw off his ring and act on his carnal desires, with her at the controls.
"So I hear you've promised yourself to Aeryn Miller," she sneered as she transitioned to sitting extremely close to him.
"I have," he finally squeaked. He tried not to enjoy the fact that they were now touching.
"Such a shame," she sensually whispered in his ear. "You should be with a real woman Peter Pettigrew, not a young girl. You have so much potential."
Peter knew he should have questioned her motives and defended his relationship with Aeryn, but he felt his brain turn to mush. Her proximity was electric and his mind instantly wandered to naughty places as her hot breath touched his earlobe. Peter didn't care that he was a virgin and had no idea what he was doing. He was certainly miles away from his normal monogamous state of mind.
The Slytherin moved to capture his lips with her own when he heard something snap across the courtyard; he glanced to his right to see that a passing bird had ripped a twig off a tree for its nest. The sound was enough to shatter Peter's sexual fantasy. He quickly jumped to his feet and threw his cigarette to the ground. He didn't care that her devious smile had turned into a menacing sneer. He did the only thing he knew how to do.
He ran for his life.
When he flew through the doors to the Castle and rounded the corner, the Gryffindor immediately tucked into a secret passageway to catch his breath. He put a hand up against the wall and coughed several times, still not believing what had just happened. Was he dreaming? Would he wake up soon and forget the whole episode because it was a figment of his imagination?
Suddenly, his packet of cigarettes dropped out of his pocket onto the floor. He stopped panting and stared at them cautiously. Although the pack remained still, images of what Luciana would look like naked flashed across his line of sight. His unconscious desire told him to pick the cigarettes up and light one on fire, but he instead put his shaking hand into his pocket.
Aeryn was right. He needed to stop smoking or else it would be the death of him.
Author's note: Luciana is Jennifer Lawrence with dark brown hair. So like Katniss, just more evil :D
I originally wanted to quote "The Bitch is Back" by Elton John but I went with "I Saw Her Standing There". I know it's a Beatles song from the 1960s, but Elton and John Lennon played it live at Madison Square Garden in '74 and released it on one of Elton's albums. It was Lennon's last live performance.
