Once again, another Houses story! For Slytherin HOH, this is my round one standard. Instead of just one prompt, standards must now have two prompts. I have picked (character) Peter Pettigrew/Scabbers, and (event) shopping.
Enjoy, all!
Word Count: 1064
Betas: Aya, Ash, Dhrish
Lily examined the shops as she and Mary MacDonald, her best friend, walked down the High Street at Hogsmeade. It was a bitterly cold December afternoon, and all they wanted to do was finish their Christmas shopping, and then possibly go to the Three Broomsticks to get a hot Butterbeer to warm up.
"Hey, it's Scrivenshaft's!" Lily exclaimed, pointing slightly ahead to one of the smaller shops. "I need some new quills."
Mary pouted. "Lily! You always drag us to Scrivenshaft's! I wanted to go over and look at Quality Quidditch Supplies."
Lily thought for a second. She knew that Mary loved Quidditch, having played as Keeper on the Gryffindor team for three years now. "How about we each go where we want and then meet back up at the Three Broomsticks in half an hour?"
Mary grinned excitedly. "Oh, absolutely! Anything to not spend a second longer comparing quills. I'll see you in a bit!"
With a wave, she jogged off, leaving Lily alone in the cold. As promised, Lily headed over to Scrivenshaft's. It was one of her favorite shops; she loved looking at all the beautiful feathers used for quills. It only took her a minute to get to the entrance, and she quickly entered to get out of the cold, a wave of warmth washing over her as she did so. That's better!
For a few minutes, she scanned the clustered shelves, slightly moving along to the beat of the music the shop owner played through a radio. It took her several more minutes before she noticed a strange noise other than the music. It sounded like someone was crying.
Lily scanned the aisles of shelves and eventually came to a corner where someone was curled up into a pitiful ball. "Hello? Is everything all right?" Lily asked. She slowly approached the boy so as to not scare whoever it was.
The boy looked up, and Lily was startled to see that it was Peter Pettigrew. "Lily?" he said, trying to dry his eyes. "Um, hi. Er… nice day, isn't it?"
Lily smiled slightly. "Peter, it's freezing. And don't pretend you're fine, I heard you crying. Can't pull the wool over my eyes that easily, Pettigrew."
Peter averted his gaze as he said, "I didn't want anyone to see me. That's why I came in here. I didn't want James or Sirius to make fun of me for crying. They never come in here."
That made sense. Lily knew that her two least favorite Marauders had a penchant for being cruel to Peter whenever he couldn't keep up, and it seemed all too likely that they would turn to that method here.
Pursing her lips, she said, "Well, I doubt there's anything worth really crying about. I find that doing something about it is better, and it takes your mind off things. How about we go to the Three Broomsticks? Maybe there's something I can do to help."
Peter didn't seem able to speak, but instead, he nodded slowly.
It took them a few minutes to make their way to the Three Broomsticks, and a few minutes more of waiting outside in the cold before the innkeeper was able to get them a table. Finally, they sat down after ordering two piping hot Butterbeers.
"So," Lily finally said, taking a sip of the scalding liquid. "What happened?"
Peter sighed, cupping his freezing hands around the mug. "Well, there's kind of a lot, and I don't want to bother you, and…"
"Peter, I'm not gonna judge," Lily interrupted his ramblings. "What's wrong?"
"Well, part of it is that I can never keep up with the others! James, Sirius, and Remus are all top of the class, and I'm struggling to barely get by. I just failed a Charms quiz yesterday, and McGonagall says that if I can't get my Transfiguration grade up soon, I won't be able to get an OWL, and pretty much every career requires a Transfiguration OWL!"
As upset as Peter had seemed before he'd said anything, he seemed to look much more relieved after having gotten this confession off his chest. Lily smiled sympathetically. "Aren't the others helping you?"
Peter nodded. "Of course! They help a lot, but it just doesn't seem to help. It's me, I'm just stupid, and I hate bothering them again and again."
Lily was quiet as she considered the situation. What could she do? Would she be intruding on some secret world if she were to offer help to a member of the Marauders? Finally, she decided that she didn't care. "Well, how about if I helped you study? I'm rather good at Charms, you know, and I'm not half bad at Transfiguration, either. That's only if you wanted my help, of course."
Peter seemed dumbstruck at the offer for a moment before he nodded vigorously. "Oh, yes! That would be wonderful. I could use all the help I can get." He went silent for a moment before he said, "But how? How will anything you're going to do make a difference?"
Lily knew this answer immediately. "Because I'm going to try and understand. It seems like the boys kind of look down on you, and that makes you even more embarrassed than you normally would be. Maybe if something like that is eliminated, you could actually improve."
Peter looked down worriedly. "If you're willing to try, I'll do whatever I can. I don't mind it, but sometimes, I really hate their teasing."
Lily heard a resentful tone in his voice, but ignored it as she said, "It's going to be Christmas holidays soon, so we can start in January. Is that ok?"
"Sure, I can't wait!" Looking out the window, he spotted the other three Marauders. "I'd better go before they send a search party after me. I'll see you soon!"
Peter jumped up and hurried out the nearby door, leaving Lily to wait for Mary. She pondered what had just happened. I offered to help a Marauder. But what else should she have done? It was in her nature to try and help anyone who was upset or distressed. She wouldn't have been true to herself if she'd just looked the other way once she'd realized it was Peter.
She didn't know, but she had a feeling that getting tangled up with the Marauders was going to change her life.