Pierced Ears Peter
Breakfast was a normal affair. There were only a handful of Gryffindors at the table, but that was a typical occurrence. The house of Lions were not early birds. The Marauders, however, were. It made sense that they were, because mornings was when there was most mischief to be made, and when everyone least expected it.
Today, though, there were no pranks. Remus was dozing off, his eyes shutting before abruptly opening as the raisins Sirius and James had taken to throwing at him smacked his face. Peter, meanwhile, was brooding.
This act was not a typical occurrence.
Peter wasn't usually a brooder. Whenever he had problems, he would talk it out with one of the Marauders, have a heart-to-heart, or write meaningful letters to his Mum - that sort of thing. He never brooded. That was Sirius' shtick.
James was the first to notice, and he elbowed Sirius just as he was about to launch strawberries out of a catapult he made out of spoons. Unfortunately, the elbow to the ribs startled Sirius as he was strapping the strawberries on to the catapult, and they soared out of his grasp, hitting the sleepy werewolf in the neck.
Remus' eyes flashed dangerously as he settled his gaze on the two sheepish boys. The full moon was two days ago, and Remus was normally extra grumpy along those days, and even the littlest things upset him. Last month, he locked Peter out of the room because he was wearing Remus' socks by mistake.
Fortunately, they were spared from any outbursts when James quickly gestured to Peter, who had taken an interest in flattening his breakfast to mush with his spoon.
"I think he's broken," whispered Sirius, but was actually quite loud.
Remus sighed wearily. It was too early in the morning to deal with this, but he still took the bait, "What's wrong, Peter?"
The fourth year played with his spoon. "I asked Macy Clarke out last night."
"What'd she say?" asked Remus, but he had a feeling he already knew the answer.
"No," said Peter sadly.
James gave him a sympathetic look, "Try, try again, that's what I always say," he sent a charming smile to Lily Evans at the end of the table. The redhead paled, before ducking behind her friend, but James didn't seem to notice. His grin actually magnified.
"Did you ask why?" asked Remus.
Peter nodded, "She said it's 'cause I'm a nice guy. She said she likes bad boys, like blokes with criminal records. I don't have a criminal record. You see my problem?" Peter's face suddenly brightened. "Hey, what if I get my ears pierced? Do you reckon she'll reconsider? Because blokes with pierced ears always seem to have criminal records. I'm brilliant!" He munched on his bacon. "What do you think?"
"That's mental," said Remus, at the same time Sirius said, "Splendid idea!"
Remus glared at him. "No it's not. He's not going to change himself just because a girl would go out with him if he had a hole in his ear. That's just stupid."
Sirius scowled back. "Peter can do whatever he wants to do. You're not his mum." He turned to the meek boy, and asked in a nicer tone: "You want to get your ear pierced, don't you, Peter?"
Peter nodded eagerly.
Sirius stood up. "Then let's go." They dashed off, and Remus sent a helpless look at James, who was still making googly eyes at Evans, oblivious to everything.
"What did I do to get stuck with these dunderheads," muttered Remus, dragging the boy out of the Hall and after their friends.
Peter was sitting on a chair in the middle of their dormitory. Sirius was circling him, humming sagely as he twisted Peter's head at odd angles.
Remus was sitting on the floor, his back against the door with a resigned look on his face. After James snapped out of his trance, he immediately sided with Sirius in the matter and Remus was outnumbered.
"Hmm…uh-huh, okay. Simple enough." Sirius took out his wand. "Peter, you're going to have to sit still, mate."
Peter almost nodded, before catching himself and said, "Got it."
"Reduc - !"
"Are you mad?" shouted Remus, as James tackled Sirius who had been midway through the spell. "Reducto would blow his head off!"
"I'm kidding, I'm kidding! Would you get off? Honestly, I'm not a complete idiot, I was trying to loosen you up a bit. You're going to scare Peter."
"Why?" asked Peter. "It's not going to hurt, is it?"
James gave him a pitiful look. "Maybe a tiny bit. I mean, a hole's going to get drilled in your ear, mate. Imagine if it gets infected and your whole ear falls off instead…"
Peter's face drained of all colour. "I-I don't know i-i-if I want to d-do this anymore…"
"Nonsense," said Sirius, flicking through Witch Weekly – no one asked him where he got it from, and he didn't offer any explanations. "We're already here, so might as well finish what we started."
"We haven't started anything, unless you include your murder attempt on Peter – "
"Eureka!" Sirius interrupted with a cry of triumph. "OK, Pete, this might sting a little, so Jamie, I'll need you to hold his head still, while I get this incantation right... how the hell do you pronounce that?"
Remus put his head in his scarred hands, wondering for the thousandth time what he did in his life to get stuck with these dunderheads.
"Macy, wait up!"
The Ravenclaw turned around, smiling when she caught sight of Peter galloping towards her. "Hey, Peter. Groovy earring!"
Peter beamed wide. His ear was still a bit red and sore from the handling it had gotten from Sirius and James, but he had to say it was a neat job. Sure, he had burst into tears when the spell had hit his ear, and maybe he had fainted when he saw a trickle of blood run down his neck, but the end result was all that mattered. James had found a golden hoop earring for Peter to wear. James didn't answer when they asked where he got it from, but Peter didn't care. "Thanks," he said.
"You're definitely not as innocent as I thought you were, Pettigrew. Are you busy tomorrow?" asked Macy, as they began to walk to lunch. "I've decided to take you up on your offer."
"No, I'm not busy," said Peter. Outside he looked calm and collected, but inside, he was dancing up a storm. "I'd love to."
Macy opened her mouth to respond, but was cut off by a loud voice:
"PETER TIMOTHY PETTIGREW, WHAT ARE YOU DOING WEARING MY EARRING?"
The boy turned around, shrinking instinctively when he saw his Evans, looking ready to kill. One of her ears was missing an earring - a golden hoop earring. Peter swore. ...So that's where James had got it from.
A/N: Just a random one for you guys. Thanks for four hundred, I'm speechless, really. :')
Chuggamuffin: Heat of the moment, totally! I think Lily was just so happy, that she just went for it, hahaa. Remus would never do that to James...would he? Oh dear...! (JILY4EVER)
Remus' daughter: Hahahahaha distractions! I just had to do it, I wanted to make you uncomfortable...did it work? :DD
Harry1675: Oh wow, that's a huge club! I think my scrabble club only had like 8 people, and you started it?! Wow! Thanks for reminding me about the cheese bit! You'll see it sometime soon!
chaosshotgun: Love the prank idea, a very Sirius thing to do. I wonder how he'll mix it all together? *Any PJO fans out there? Read The Weapon Thief by chaosshotgun now!* Hopefully this'll get you to update your brilliant story. Enjoy your summer hols too!
BELVISPRESLEY: Sure it does! Thanks for reviewing! :))
shadowkat678: Yeah, that's been happening to my email too lately, grrr... Glad you liked that chapter, it was very interesting to write!
Crystalline-Enchantix: Thanks for the idea again! You're amazing! I get you on the club thing, other than Scrabble, clubs and me don't mix...
IWishICouldThinkOfAUsername: Hahahahaa, glad you liked that bit! I'm pretty sure my family are already in the process of shipping me off...meet you there? Thanks for reviewing! :DD
Hpdwlotr24: Oh, that sounds amazing! I'd join in a heartbeat, but my school doesn't have that, ugh! Excuse me while I go sob.
Our Mismatched Socks: Now that's what I call a club! Hope you had fun! Thanks for reviewing :)
