I prefer to choose which traditions to keep and which to let go.
-Theodore Bikel
Why? Why? Why?
Why would Peter, after all these years, go and be apart of the opposite side of the battle field? Why would he lie and cower behind a man, whose only goal was to gain power and cause destruction? Why didn't he just come and ask for help? James and Sirius and even Lily would drop everything in a heartbeat in order to help him...even if he already made his mistake, they would have helped him find a way to escape the Death Eater life.
James lip quivered slightly, and pulling up a chair to sit next to the not-moving Peter, he sat, putting his face in hands while trying not to let himself breakdown. He couldn't afford to allow his grief to gain attraction of the other Order members, who were currently repairing and cleaning the Weasley's destroyed house, and allow another situation to unfold... He'd much well prefer to sit here and think.
So, James remained in his chair, not allowing a sound to be issued from his lips.
He had lost so much ever since his graduation at Hogwarts: his parents found dead late at night just barely after the graduation ceremony, Remus being brutally murdered on Sirius' birthday, his freedom to roam around public places without fear, Harry...
His heart clenched just thinking about his five-year-old son. Somewhere out in this cruel world, Harry was alone. He was probably scared, trapped, and only God knows what the Death Eaters could be putting him through... At least James had reassurance that Harry was alive.
Now, James had just lost another valuable thing in his life, his friendship with Peter. Sure, James had lost friendships in he past, but the friendship with all Marauders was sacred, powerful, supposedly everlasting... Each member willing to do anything for one another, no matter what the cost...
A thought came up into James' mind, and his grief of loosing his friend was quickly washed away, replaced with blood-boiling rage. Remus had died at the Death Eaters' hands, but his home's location was only known by four people: Himself, Sirius, Lily, and Peter.
Lily, Sirius, and James hadn't thought much of his location being found at the time -it wasn't as though the Fidelius Charm was placed on the house-, but his home was hidden so well and so far from civilization that it would have taken at least a year to find the place. Yet, the Death Eater's that ambushed Remus had found him two weeks after he moved in.
Another thought struck him. If Neville's story was true, then Peter was the man responsible for Harry's capture. This man was the reason James wasn't able to see his son's smiling face, filled with innocence and curiosity. This man was the reason he lost one of the closest friend's he ever had. This man was the single soul that managed to take away almost everything that James held dear.
"How could you do this?" James whispered harshly to Peter, even if he knew that man was unable to respond. "You...You killed Remus, and now my son is in the hands of deranged psychopaths all because of just you." He glared at the man a few moments before continuing. "Why? Why? WHY!" He finally shouted, unable to control his emotions any longer. "WHY THE HELL DID YOU, PETER? YOU WERE OUR FAMILY! I'D DIE FOR YOU. FUCK, WE'D ALL FUCKING DIE JUST TO SAVE YOUR SORRY ASS."
James payed no noticed as Lily quietly entered the room, her wand pointing in every direction for a disturbance. Once she saw there was no threat, she went over to James slumped figure, though she did not put away her wand.
"James?" She spoke softly, putting a arm on his shoulder as her bright green eyes glistened in concern. "I heard yelling. Are you hurt?"
James shook his head quickly, his eyes never darting away from Peter.
"What are you looking at...? Is it a Dea-?" She stopped, giving a gasp of surprise, her bight eyes finally recognizing the figure on the floor. "PETER!" She exclaimed happily, a smile emerging on her face.
"Lily, he-," James tried to speak, but was ignored by the ecstatic Lily.
"Is he hurt?" She questioned to herself, searching his body for any type of injury. "What the...? Whatever is he stunned for! Those nasty Death Eaters must have stunned you with your back turned, hm? Here, I'll take care of that."
"Don-!"
"Rennervate, there we go. Oh, Pete, how did you manage to get back? Where were you? You know what, never mind that for now, I'm just so glad to have you back." She embraced Peter into a tight hug, not noticing how he stiffened or the glare James was giving. A tear escaped one of Lily's eyes. "Don't you dare do this again, Pete. I can't loose anybody else right now; I just can't." There was a brief silence of Lily hugging Peter, while James glared.
"Lil-!" Peter started to speak for the first time.
"DON'T YOU SAY A FUCKING WORD," James bellowed, his anger finally reaching the boiling point. He grabbed Lily's waist, forcing her to let go of Peter.
"James, what the hell-?"
"This man cannot be trusted, he's a damn rat." Lily rolled her eyes.
"For God's sake, James. Just because he was MIA for a period of time, doesn't mean he joined the Death Eaters. Remember Remus-?"
"Of course I remember Sirius blaming Remus." He said calmly, forcing himself not to roll his eyes and deciding to take a different approach on things. The last thing he wanted to do was get in a fight with his wife on top of everything. "Just, this time, we have proof."
James turned to move, paused, and in a swift movement, spun back toward Peter, his wand pointing directly at his chest. "And Wormtail," He addressed with menace. Don't you dare transform, hell, if you so much as sneeze, I will not hesitate to Avada your ass."
Peter gave a audible gulp and nodded quickly, as James turned to pick up the white mask abandoned on the floor.
"See, Lily, he was wearing this when he came here...He tried to kill me, but I managed to stun him first." He spoke in a monotone.
"I-It can't be true!" She spoke indignantly. "He must have been Imperioused or something! Peter would never..." She broke off, the words unspoken already said. Never betray us.
The two glanced at Peter, who was fidgeting quite a bit under their gaze. The man seemed to be frightened to so much as moved with the two of them there. James and Lily made eye contact, a quick look communicating a whole conversation in an instant, and Lily gave a solemn nod.
James pointed his wand at Peter, stunned him, forced him into a rat, and placed him gently in his pocket.
"Now we know he can't get away."
Lily nodded, grabbing onto James' hand and giving it a tight squeeze. They could get through this. It would be though, there would be much grief and misery over this. But, they would get through this together.
"Is everything alright in there dears?" Molly interrupted suddenly, making James almost jump in the air. None of them had heard the motherly woman enter the room, her eyes filled with kindness and her clothes filled with dust. "You've been gone quite a long time, and everyone's concerned about you. Are you hurt James?"
"Oh, yeah, everything's fine, Molly." Lily spoke, refusing to meet the woman's eyes. "He's not hurt, just trying to have a private discussion."
"Whoops, I'm sorry about that, just wanted to check on you is all." She smiled kindly. "Here, I'll put a knock sign on the door." She waved her wand. "Just yell if any of you need anything."
"Alright, thanks a ton, Molly."
"Oh, it's no problem, dears," She waved her hand in dismissal. "I'll leave you two alone then, and when your done, I've got some pancakes on the table. I know it's an early breakfast, but all that fighting makes an appetite!" With that, she gave one last smile, and left the room.
Moments of silence went by as the Potter's made sure they were not going to be interrupted again. Lily eventuallywhispered a question.
"Do you really think that... that Pete could be innocent in all this?"
"Sadly, I doubt it," He said, his voice filled with grief. "Things are connecting, Lily. Things that didn't didn't make sense before..." He trailed off; betrayal, sadness, hurt, and anger rising again to the surface. "We need to do this is complete privacy. Talk that is. With Sirius. I don't want anyone to interrupt or listen in... For now, the whole war and everything aside, I want to just have a... a Marauder's Meeting. Just... Just us."
Lily gave a small smile at those last words.
"Oh, and may I attend this gracious meeting of yours?" Lily questioned, attempting to lighten the atmosphere. James gave a small smile and a nod.
"Why, of course, Mrs. Potter. Any spouse of the Marauders is consider a Marauder themselves."
"Why thank you, Mr. Potter. I will be honored to be there."
"We might as well get this meeting on the way," James said solemnly, sitting on the floor in Indian Style. "Lily-flower, can you get Messr. Padfoot? He must be in attendance."
"As you wish, Messr. Prongs," She answered, giving a fake bow, and turning to get Sirius.
Most people would consider doing things like this, especially at the age they were, but it felt like it needed to be done.
When the Marauders had first discovered Remus' 'furry little problem', they had no clue on how to discuss it without anybody completely freaking out at once and creating a whole mess of chaos. So, James quickly came up with the idea of a 'Marauder's Meeting' -James' twelve-year-old self thought it was a rather clever name at the time-, which every situation, argument, circumstance, or even a prank could be worked out in a no chaotic manner.
From the Marauder's Map to Sirius' prank on Snape, they had solved everything important to them in those 'meetings' from then on. Though, as the Marauders grew, they reserved these meetings to be for serious situations only, to insure they always had a way to help solve their problems.
This was going to be one of the worst and toughest discussions James would ever had, but at least he knew it would be somewhat worth it in the end.
James gave a final sigh, and took the stunned Peter out of his pocket, placing him next to himself. He took out his wand, forced Peter back into his human form, but didn't dare to allow him to move until this meeting began.
Sirius and Lily arrived a moment later, Lily walking slightly ahead of Sirius, whose face was filled with worry and slight confusion.
"James, what's-?"
"Messr. Padfoot, please address me as Messr. Prongs." James said, his tone not playful in the slightest. Sirius' face immediately became one of pure confusion.
"Messr. Padfoot would like to send his apologies to Messr. Prongs, as Messr. Padfoot does not quite understand what's wrong." He said, sitting down next to Lily.
"Messr. Prongs accepts Messr. Padfoot's apology and would like to inform Messr. Padfoot that a Marauder's Meeting is taking place." Sirius rolled his eyes.
"Messr. Padfoot would like to inform Messr. Prongs that he is not an idiot. Messr. Padfoot wants to know why a Marauder's Meeting is happening at," Sirius glanced around the room, until his eyes landed on a clock. "Six thirty in the morning?"
"Messr. Prongs agrees that it is an early hour, but says that this is a problem that can afford to wait. Messr. Prongs now asks for Messr. Padfoot's permission to continue this meeting?"
"Permission granted."
"The Marauder's Meeting now has begun, so a spell of silence shall be issued. Mses Lily-Flower, would you like to do the honors?"
"Mses Lily indeed would, Silenco."
"Very good. Nobody of the human, that indeed includes werewolves, species may leave this room in any way, shape, or form until this meeting is deemed complete. Standard rules will apply here, no biting, no talking over one another excreta. All are here and counted for, excluding our deceased friend, Messr. Moony -may he rest causing havoc in the afterlife. Mses Lily-Flower, as of today, officially inducted into the Marauders. Has Mses Lily-Flower taken the Marauders oath and agreed to be an honorary Marauder?"
"Mses Lily reminds Messr. Prongs that she took the oath on their son's first birthday and agrees to be a honorary Marauder."
"Messr. Prongs apologizes for that small mistake, and shall now ask the Marauders if all of the above stated is agree."
"Messr. Padfoot says yes and would like Messr. Prongs to get on with this."
"Mses Lily agrees with Messr. Padfoot for once."
"Messr. Prongs agrees with the conditions stated and would like to bring the attention of this meeting on the situation of Messr. Wormtail, Rennervate."
Sirius' eyes widened, as Wormtail began to move once more, his eyes darting around the room fearfully. Sirius opened his mouth to say something, but was quickly interrupted by James.
"Messr Prongs informs Messr. Padfoot that he does not have permission to speak yet. At this time, Messr. Prongs gives Messr. Wormtail a few uninterrupted minutes of speaking his side. Then, the floor will become open for questions.
The three nodded, and James gave a small nod himself.
They were going to fix this, even if that meant loosing Peter as a friend and his 'Marauder status' being revoked. If that meant trust and smoothness being restored, it would be worth it.
But, the Marauders were going to talk this it out and fix things up in the same way they always have. Just like old times.