Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction created sorely to satisfy my imagination. Harry Potter and anything/everything related to the novels belongs to J.K. Rowling. I own nothing in this fanfic that might be recognizable as belonging to the canon of HP.

AN: To the lovely people that have commented and followed the story: Thank You, you guys rock! Okay, I hope all you dear readers are enjoying the story so far. Things are moving faster for now. This is how my head worked things out, and if it's not like this then this story won't get written so regularly. I've been posting every Wednesday thus far. I'm gonna try posting on Saturdays too. Fingers crossed. I wanted to say that, now no more.

Thanks again, enjoy, and leave me a comment ^-^

Chapter 17: The rat

I felt comfortable with Peter. I don't know why or how, but it didn't take more than two days for me to count with his presence in my life.

Maybe it was the lack of Lily Evans, or the fact that so far during the Christmas break I had spent my days utterly alone. Somehow, 'let's do our Potions homework together!' turned into 'I'll meet you for breakfast in the Great Hall and we can then spend the rest of the day playing Exploding Snaps in an empty study room'. Yeah, I don't understand it either.

Peter Pettigrew wasn't a big deal, and I guess that was probably why we hit off so well. During the time it took for us to make sense of our Potions' assignment, he was tense. His face was contorted into a wary frown that both made him look frighten and washed out. He would sweat profusely under his coat whenever I pointed out that we had done something wrong in our work, and no matter how many times I told him that he should shed the coat off he just said the problem was because of the strong fireplace. Needless to say, I didn't comprehend that logic.

There was a strange thing in him, something I couldn't just see, that made me stay by his side the moment I regretted inviting him to work together, and I did regret it as soon as we sat down. But I could feel it; deep inside, that I was comfortable with him in a way that I hadn't been with anyone else so fast. Lily was a different case simply because our friendship had been coordinated by the gods of destiny; she and I were meant to be friends no matter what, so I couldn't compare it with what happened with Peter.

So that feeling of comfort made me stay, and kept me as patient as I am able to be, and by the time we were finished with the assignment, Peter had eased his tense shoulders.

The next couple of days, I found myself stepping into a routine with Peter. I would wake up earlier than one is supposed to on free days, I would read a book or two about some subject I was lacking in, and when it was a reasonable hour, I would meet up with a groggy Peter for breakfast. Dumbledore had kept the one table, so we sat together for every meal, but that wasn't a hassle, considering we ate with all that had stayed in the castle. It wasn't as lively as one would think, and most of the conversations were led and tossed around by the teachers. Afterwards, sometimes we would go on a walk around the castle if it wasn't snowing or too unbearable under layers of warm fabric, and then maybe go to the library. A couple of days we just sat in a study room. We worked together, at my begging, on subjects that we were poor at, and tried to get better. But Peter wasn't into that like Lily was, nor would he humor me as also Lily did. After dinner we played games until our eyes hurt, and then we separated to go sleep in our houses. It was a boring routine, but I found myself enjoying it.

It was strange to me, to spend so much time not doing anything productive that would help further my academic status. Sure, I still could barely sleep, and I used that time to read, study, take notes and revise, but once Peter and I were done with the assigned homework, he refused to do anything else. He wasn't interested in bettering himself prior having to study for class, and that was something I wasn't used to or something I didn't expect would sit well with me. And it didn't. I didn't like it, but as January rolled by I stopped expecting getting work done around Peter.

The most I could get away with was revising the notes I had taken before sleeping, but other than that I couldn't. And it wasn't like Peter demanded my attention at every second. He didn't. We could do anything on our own while we sat together. I just don't know why I was alright with sitting there doing nothing half the time. The other half of the time we spent talking.

Peter wasn't the most eloquent of talkers; he tended to shy away whenever he reached a certain quota of words. It was hard listening to his stories when at one point he would just lower and lower his voice to the extent that I had to tell him to speak up. And most of what he had to tell had to do with his friends. I enjoyed how proud he was to be part of the Marauders, but I was more curious about his life outside of Hogwarts. Yes, I didn't know what fun it was to have energetic friends up to all sorts of trouble in school, but I didn't know what it was like to have a family either, and that held more interest for me. Lily had to endure all the questions I had for her once I learned of her mother and sister, and she had been gracious enough to answer all of them.

The one time Peter talked about his mother after saying he lived with just her, was when he was telling me why he stayed for Christmas in school alone.

"My mum was insisting last minute on staying with her sister, and I can't stand my cousins. I thought my friends would invite me over to their house, but it was too late to sort things with Mrs. Potter. So I'm stuck here."

The rest of his stories began with either James Potter, Sirius Black or Remus Lupin.

The night before the full moon I was woken up. I found it strange simply because I knew for a fact that I was alone in my House and there was still a couple days left before the term began. As I fought against the exhaustion that wanted to stretch over me for a couple more hours, I was on edge. There was a heavy hand on my shoulder, one that shouldn't be there in my dorm waking me up

"You too, Mr. Pettigrew."

Those words were enough to bolt me right up. I thought I was sleeping in my dorm room, but no. I was sitting; a table stretched in front of me, and on the other side was Peter. He had his face flat against the wooden surface, and his body was shaking as Professor McGonagall insisted on waking him.

"It is way pass curfew and I would like it very much if my pleasant night would not be tarnished. Only this time I will let you off with a warning. Even you, Mr. Pettigrew. Up, up the two of you to bed."

Peter took a few more shakes to fully be conscious, and when he realized what was happening he was a bit mortified as he wiped drool from his chin. McGonagall offered to walk me to my dorm as I gathered my things to which I declined. I knew I was the furthest from my house, but the last thing I needed in my life was for a teacher to escort me. It wasn't anything bad; however I could still feel the stares I got when Madam Pomfrey walked me around after coming back from the hospital. That was something I didn't want to experience again. I said goodnight to Peter, not too enthusiastically as I normally did, and walked away.

Hoping that Filch and his cat were prowling some other side of the school, I walked to Slytherin House. I was cranky as I went, dragging my feet and trying to ignore the particular freezing air that invaded the hallways during the night. The paintings were already curled up to sleep, and at one point I had to pull out my wand to light the way.

On the way, I bumped into Peeves, who would greet me on such a fine night by yelling.

"Fara-fara, far-a-way, far away I found you." He sang using the snide nickname Hestia used for me too. I always wondered if he came up with the nickname or if it was Hestia. Either way, I ignored him, even as he followed me a couple steps.

Just as I was nearing the stairs to the dungeons, Peter appeared from nowhere out of breath. One moment I was alone, and the other he screeched to a halt next to me. He gave me a fright, and I stood there for five solid seconds trying to understand what had happened. He gathered himself, and in the while light of the tip of my wand, his cheeks looked flushed. "Peter! What are you doing here?"

"I gave McGonagall the slip." He said, and I was about to ask why when he spoke again. Whatever had happened to him on his way to his dorm made him look lively, and at that second I didn't like it much. "Hey! You want to go somewhere exciting with me?"

"I'm cold enough as it is." My intention was to keep walking like nothing happened, but Peter stepped in the way.

He shook his head. "Not icing, exciting. It's outside Hogwarts."

I wasn't feeling his elation. Honestly, I was still annoyed at being woken up in the study room and having to walk back to my empty dorm. "What's more exciting than my warm bed in a school that teaches magic?"

There was no saying 'no' to him, if I even ever had the chance.

Peter took a hold of my arm and dragged me away. At one point he asked me to turn off my lumos spell, claiming that he knew the way well in the dark. It was after hours and I didn't fancy detention so I did as he wanted. A smart person wouldn't had let herself be pull off to the unknown so close to midnight, but my friendship with Peter was young, and I had the thought that if I didn't humor him it would alienate him from me. I won't say that I seriously expected to be good friends with him for the long run, not like I expected to be of Lily. But I was curious as to how far it would go.

In my mind, I expected it to end as soon as his Marauder friends got back.

The boy kept pulling me, my robes blowing in the wind as we made it out of the school. The grounds stretched out covered in a thick blanket of snow that not even in the broad daylight should be braved. Peter followed a path that had been plowed by Hagrid as it was the route he took back and forth to his hut. Before going down there, Peter stopped and pushed through the snow to the side. I followed him five steps in until I looked up and saw what the almost full moon lighted up. Aside from the strange sensation the naked moon ran through my spine, all I could look at was a shadow that loomed, curiously unmoving to every leaf even in the winds of winter. It didn't take much to guess that Peter was pulling me to the strange tree in the school grounds, the Whomping Willow. It was directly in front of us and that gave me some trepidation. I pulled out of his grip, planting my feet on the ground like I should have done when he invited me out. Peter stopped to look back at me, surprised that I had forced my arm away.

"That's it. You better tell me where we're going." It seemed too late to insist on that now, yet I had to.

He smiled; a thin line obscured by the shadows the moonlight and the night formed in his face. "It's a surprise; you'll like it I promise." He went to grab my arm again, but I moved it aside before he could.

This situation reminded me of something I couldn't quite remember completely. I looked up, to the moon. It was like the caress of a feather, its rays beamed down to me with the promise of the following night. The thought of the lack of rationality I would suffer in the full moon was enough to keep me rational at that movement. "No, Peter. This is far enough. Where are you taking me?"

My feet were planted on the ground, and the boy's eyes went down to them more than once. He seemed defeated, making me feel like I was betraying some trust that I had agreed to be part off. It wasn't a pleasant feeling, but I had to put my foot down, less he think he could do whatever he pleased with me. I had enough people trying to do that with me, I would not add Peter Pettigrew onto the list. I saw how he shivered in the cold, feeling now that the adrenalin had left his system. "There's this tunnel under the Whomping Willow that leads to the Shrieking Shack. My friends and I go there all the time."

The mention of his friends didn't get pass me. "What's the Shrieking Shack?"

"It's this run down house outside of Hogsmeade."

An image flashed inside my head as I shivered with the cold. For a moment I thought it was the image of an old dream, one that I had forgotten as soon as I had woken up. That wasn't the case. I knew from where it was from, and it made me take a step back. It was hazy, the image and the thoughts that swirled inside my head, but they kept at it at a pace that almost made me want to cradle my head. My body shook and this time it was not because of the cold.

The realization dawned on me heavy, abysmally shocking and as fast as a lightning bolt. "Which one are you?"

"What?"

"Which animagus are you?" I demanded, my voice stronger than it should have been. But Merlin's beard, I was angry. I was livid! The nerve of him, to play with me so uncaringly! Since Christmas, I had been under the assumption that I was making a friend, that we were enjoying each other in our time of solute, yet that wasn't the case. The memories of my adventures during the full moon, the ones I tried to ignore on a daily basis were clear as day. I might be high as a dirigible during the one night of the month, but there was no forgetting the pack and what they were. Wait, how could I forget what they were when it had sent me to the St. Mungos?

My cheeks burned up the more I thought things over.

The pack. He was one of them, an animagus for I knew he couldn't be the werewolf. Studies aside, somehow I knew that with the time I had spent with Peter, I would have been able to tell already. Bloody hell, how could I not see it before? The pack were Peter and his little friend group.

The Marauders, there were four of them, and four in the pack. They were an assortment of strange creatures with a mystery as to why they were together. An odd combination of extroverts and introverts that worked together as a team with the fluidity of being one solid person. And both in human and animal form, they were inseparable. On the three times we had been together, one thing was clear; the pack and I could do anything. I had felt it then. They could do anything, for they were in their Kingdom, their playground. And the way Peter had dragged me out from school gave sign that he could do as he wanted, that somehow he knew every nook and cranny and was therefore able to do as he pleased. Only them the infamous troublemakers, could get away with what the pack was doing. I had wondered myself, I remember, during a fleeting second just what they were doing there. I always tried to ignore it. What, why and who questions had run amuck in my head numerous times, and I ignored them.

With Peter; standing both of us in the freezing cold, after curfew and in the middle of the school grounds, I chastised myself for not giving it more detailed thought. His eyes were wide to a point where I thought they would just roll out of his sockets. For a moment, I thought that I shouldn't be as angry as I felt with him, that this wasn't his fault, but damn it he had been hiding the truth for days.

"T-th-the r-rat." His voice was the smallest I had ever heard it, and if he could, he would disappear into his coat with how much he was slouching over with mortification. That didn't make me feel bad. Maybe it should have, but as he stuttered over his words, my irritation remained. "But, h-how do you know I'm an animagus?"

That seemed strange to me.

Suddenly, my face could feel the cold again as his words stunned me. Half of me wanted to call him out on his bullshit, but the other half could see the truth in his eyes. Though I had been preoccupied with the fact that I felt betrayed and that I was trying to recollect all the memories I had on the rat, I knew his surprise to be genuine. And I couldn't quite understand why. "You don't recognize me?"

He stared up at me confused, squinting his watery and puffy eyes like he always did. Taking a good look to me, as if he was seeing me for the first time, he shook his head. "Should I?"

I thought he was joking, leading me on into his little lying game to not come out as the loser. How could he not recognize a woman braved werewolf and walked away from it alive? "We've been meeting in the forest for the last three full moons. You have ridden on my shoulder for hours."

"N-no, I—" I saw the moment in his blue eyes when he realized who I was, and I in turn realized that he was not lying to me. "You can't be her!"

We stared at each other with a new light.