Chapter 136

Monsters In Diagon Alley

Peter and James entered the Leaky Cauldron with Peter still laughing over one of James jokes. The others wouldn't have thought it was funny, but Peter always enjoyed James' humor so long as no one else would make fun of him for it. Whether it was a good joke, or just because it was James telling it, he didn't know.

Sirius was already there, a book in front of him that Peter knew involved animagi in some fashion. Even ignoring the fact that Sirius never willingly opened a book outside of class that wasn't about the subject, the table the hound had chosen was in a darkened corner of the pub far from the bar or it's keeper.

"You cut your hair," James accused as though it was a crime. "Half the girls in the school will cry if they see you like this y'know."

Sirius looked up as they sat own and closed the book, the cover was still transfigured to look like last years charms textbook.

"Yeah, I'll grow it back you when we get on the train, I don't really want to talk about it." Sirius' voice was solemn but he smiled at them.

"Is everything okay?" James asked and Peter observed the room, bored of Sirius' drama already. The pub was so empty it gave the rodent an eerie feeling. This time of year the Leaky Cauldron should have been packed to the brim with families buying things for their students, or witches crossing items off of grocery lists before prices went up in the colder months, but instead, it was quiet and still. Even the bartender was occupying himself with other things and looking up at them every once in a while to see if they wanted to order drinks to match whatever had been in the empty glass beside Sirius' book.

"Yeah, no, I'm fine. It's nothing." Sirius shook his head.

"Pads..." James started but Sirius rolled his eyes and turned to Peter, changing the subject on the stag.

"Alright, Wormtail?" he asked, Peter hesitated, unused to Sirius actually talking to him on his own without irritation or sarcasm in his voice. No doubt it was just because James was being annoying, but it was still weird.

"Almost, I'm having a little trouble with the potions essay, though," Peter replied hoping he could get them to let him copy theirs.

"Oh, man. That thing was killer, wasn't it?" James responded letting the previous matter drop for now, "I just fudged it myself. I couldn't find any mention of dragon's blood in the textbook at all."

"Andy said it's in our fifth-year textbooks, so I haven't even started it," Sirius shrugged.

"What?!" James cried frustrated, no doubt, about all that pointless work he'd done. "And you didn't think to share, mate, y'know I'm gonna have to rethink this whole best friends thing."

Sirius snorted, "oh, don't be so dramatic, Prongs," he said his grin acknowledging the irony of his words.

"You..." James started pointing at the hound, "aren't allowed to tell anyone off for being dramatic."

"Ever," Peter emphasized nodding and Sirius laughed.

"Starting without me I see." The three boys turned to see Remus coming towards them.

"Well, well, well if it isn't our resident prefect... Bloody hell, Moony!" Sirius started but interrupted himself when he turned and looked at him.

"What?" Remus asked startled by Sirius' reaction as he began to sit down, Mr. Lupin chuckled.

"Why are you so tall?" James answered for him, standing up and moving around the table, "no, stand up."

Remus obeyed rolling his eyes at their reactions to his growth spurt.

"Merlin, he's got at least two inches on you, Prongs." Sirius laughed at the stag's pout.

"No, you're not allowed to be taller than me. I'm supposed to be the tallest." James whined.

"Yes, because I can choose how tall I get." Remus had a sarcastic smile.

"Sure you can, I know a few good shrinking spells." James pulled out his wand and Moony took a step back grabbing the stag's wand arm and fighting to keep it away from him.

Peter moved his attention to Sirius and Mr. Lupin's conversation as the two of them wrestled, Remus was, no doubt, going easy on James or the stag would have lost in a second. Lyall asked Sirius about his summer and Sirius was giving vague answers.

Bored with that already Peter let his gaze wander about the pub again. Another customer, a grungy looking old man from the look of him, had entered at some point and was sitting at the bar, distracted from his drink by James and Remus' roughhousing, and Tom the bartender was cleaning.

"Did something happen?" he asked no one in particular, Sirius and Mr. Lupin were the only ones to hear him.

"I'm sorry?" the older man asked and Peter hesitated, not expecting to get someone's attention.

"I was just wondering why there were so few people here." Peter looked around the room for show then because he thought something had changed.

"Bella mentioned something about a fight breaking out in Diagon Alley sometime last week," Sirius answered looking around with a bored expression. He'd already noticed at some point. His eyes lingered on the dirty, silver-haired old man at the counter and his nose wrinkled as though he could smell him from his seat. Peter sniffed as he could smell was stale alcohol and Sirius' aftershave. Maybe he was just grossed out because the man was dirty.

"It was in the Daily Prophet there was a huge incident quite a few people were injured and someone died," Lyall answered as well, his eyes wandering around the pub now.

"S-should we be here then?" Peter asked with a frightened squeak.

"It would be best if we didn't linger." Mr. Lupin agreed. "Remus, James, c'mon boys."

They both froze, and James stepped back causing Remus to stumble, "well what are you lot waiting for?" Prongs said moving towards the door.

Sirius was out of his chair before James had finished speaking, racing the chaser to the entrance to Diagon Alley.

The two boys waited for them before opening the passage, James boasting his win while Sirius accused him of having a head start.

Diagon Alley felt emptier than the Leaky Cauldron had by virtue of being larger and was always bustling with activity. Every once in a while, they came across a witch who panicked at the sight of such a large group or a wizard who looked like he was up to something himself.

"This makes me feel nervous," Remus admitted, "it's so dead."

"Yeah, let's get out of here fast," James agreed.

"I need to get new robes," Remus answered looking at his father. Lyall nodded.

"That'll take forever," James complained.

"We'll split up, Wormtail can go with Moony and Mr. Lupin and we'll start gathering the books and junk." Sirius looked around at the empty street, "then we can go to Prong's house and hang out for the rest of the day."

"Sounds like a plan." James nodded, and Peter got nervous. This place was creepy enough without being stuck alone with a werewolf.

"Can I go with James?" Peter asked, looking from Sirius to James and back. They looked at each other and, judging by their expressions, had a nonverbal argument about it. James won leaving Sirius visibly upset.

"Sure, Pete." James nodded and smiled at Peter, making the rat feel less self-conscious about his fear as was, no doubt, the point.

Mr. Lupin was hesitant but it didn't take much for them to convince him, Diagon Alley was nearly empty after all.

"C'mon, Pete," James nodded down the alley, "we'll start with the potion ingredients so we don't have to carry books all over the place."

Peter followed, not at all happy about they're decision to split up, was it his paranoia or had the old man from the pub followed them out.

Shaking it off as his imagination they entered the empty potions shop. The shopkeeper barely acknowledged their entrance.

James grabbed the pre-packaged sets of potions ingredients that were labeled for the fifth years. Peter was quick to notice how much bigger it was then the one for fourth years and groaned causing James to chuckle. James knew exactly what he was thinking.

They then moved to a more remote part of the shop in James search for non-school required ingredients. He then realized the reason Sirius had initially chosen to come with James.

"You have to be over seventeen to buy those." Peter squeaked, this was for animagi stuff so he knew that wasn't going to stop James any.

"Good thing I'm not planning on buying it then," James replied looking around to see if there was anyone around and looking very suspicious while doing it. Peter did the same, he heard the door to the shop open, but neither that nor the counter were visible from where they were.

"You're going to steal it?" Peter whispered he didn't think James had ever stolen something in his life. "But there are spells preventing someone from stealing. We'll get caught."

James wrapped the goods in the invisibility cloak he pulled out of his pocket. He must have shrunk it before he left home because there was no way it would have fit in his trouser pocket otherwise.

"Those are all on the door, so we just won't use the door." James finished wrapping it and pulled out his wand looking around again. "Liviosa." he moved his wand towards a window, looked around one more time, and said another spell that Peter didn't recognize before putting his wand away.

"Where are they now?" Peter whispered following James back towards the front counter.

"Outside, we'll pick it up when we're done," James grinned at his own cleverness. "Let's hurry up and get the stuff we're actually allowed to own paid for."

Peter didn't really see the point of paying for their stuff when they were already stealing something, but he kept his mouth shut. James was weird like that.

"Something's wrong..." James said in an ominous voice just before they reached the counter, the shopkeeper didn't appear to be around.

"What?" Peter squeaked, "Did we get caught?"

"Shush, did you hear the door open earlier?" James' voice was so low Peter almost didn't hear him.

"Yes," Peter whispered back.

"Then why is there no one else here?" James pointed to a stain on the wall and started to climb the counter. It looked black but Peter knew better than that. "The shopkeeper wouldn't just leave with two teenagers still... Blast! Peter, go get help!"

"What? What's going on," he peeked over the counter only to wish he hadn't. There lie the shopkeeper covered in his own blood, it looked like he'd been attacked by an animal, Peter screamed at the sight.

"What are you waiting for?!" James yelled at him kneeling to check for a pulse. "Go!"

Peter turned to do as he was told, happy to get away from the obviously dead man, but was stopped, a scream erupting from his throat. James jumped back over the counter at the sound of his fear, placing himself between Peter and the man blocking his exit. It was the old man from earlier, except he wasn't old at all. Peter had seen his gray hair and the lines on his face as signs of age, but there was nothing old about those eyes. They were wild, perhaps even crazed. And those weren't wrinkles on his face...

A werewolf.

Peter was happy to keep James in between him and the humanoid monster.

"So you were following us" James greeted without a hint of fear, had he not been so close to tears he would have stopped to admire the stag's bravery. "Good to know, it was driving Sirius crazy."

This made Peter curious, when had the two of them had a chance to share his information? Peter had been with James all day and Sirius hadn't mentioned anything of the sort. Maybe Remus was right and the two had invented some sort of telepathy.

"Such confidence, perfect, the cocky ones are always the most fun to break."

Peter jumped at the sound of another voice, three more were approaching. He didn't know who they were, but he knew what they were. And that was good enough for him.

"The fat one looks pretty tasty too." Peter jumped again as two more appeared behind them the speaker made himself comfortable sitting or the counter.

"Oh, scary." James mocked maneuvering himself so he was blocking Peter from as many of them as possible. "Look how tough they are, you lot honestly expect me to be afraid of you? You're the ones who are scared, why else would you need six werewolves to take out two fifteen-year-olds. Don't you think that's a bit much?"

If they were surprised by his attitude they didn't show it, if anything they appeared even more amused by his words, likely anticipating the pleasure of shutting him up forever.

"Don't antagonize the monsters trying to kill us, James," Peter whispered forgetting that the werewolves could still hear him. He couldn't remember James having this big of a death wish when they were kids so he blamed it on Sirius.

"Relax, Pete, I got this," James replied as unconcerned as ever. "Have some faith."

"I'm going to die," Peter emphasized.

"Thanks, mate."

The sarcasm Peter blamed on Remus.

"Well you don't scare me, I have a friend who's a werewolf too, but you already knew that, didn't you?" James smirked at them, Peter was confused, why was James even talking to them? Shouldn't they be running right now? There was even an opening.

Peter considered taking the opening, running now while he had a chance, but then if James had a plan and he ruined it they could both die.

With James was always safer than without James though so Peter stayed. The werewolves, now angered by James' word and careless attitude began to advance and Peter saw his opening vanish. He was already beginning to regret his decision.

"James, tell me you have a plan," Peter begged taking a step back into a display case knocking it over.

"Yeah, it's called, RUN!" James yelled jumping over the overturned display. Peter followed, they weren't even heading for the door.

"James, the door is that way."

James didn't respond, not to Peter anyway. "Rejuncto," with a backhanded wave of his wand James made a few hundred jars of fire ants explode spilling their contents onto the floor.

Peter would have been staring in awe if he wasn't running for his life, without looking James had, not only performed and aimed the spell perfectly but had chosen a target that would cause the most damage. Not just any fire ants could be used as potion ingredients, only the most venomous, the most aggressive, and the smallest ones were good enough, (smallest so they could fit more in a single jar, for your convenience, or so the advertisement said.)

Peter didn't have to look back to know it was working, he could hear their angry howls of pain as their bare feet got bit by thousands of tiny insects.

"James!" Peter heard Remus' voice from out of nowhere and James turned a corner revealing the friendly werewolf peeking out from a secret door in the wall, no doubt a storage room for merchandise. So that's where James was heading, had he known Remus would be here? Why hadn't they let Peter in on this plan if both Sirius and Remus knew?

"Look out, " Remus warned and both of them looked where he was pointing.

James yelled something but Peter was too focused on the display case hurtling through the air at them and the lack of time there was to run. Peter felt his balance fail him before realizing James had pulled him closer to himself, his wand already in the air. This time, Wormtail had time to be amazed. With almost inhuman reaction speed James transfigured the entire thing into sawdust, just before it could hit them.

Before Peter had the chance to recover from his shock James was pulling him again towards the hidden door. They almost reached Remus when Peter felt himself being grabbed, it was his only warning before he was thrown into the air.

He heard screaming, but he couldn't distinguish it from his own high pitched squeal.

Peter landed with a roll, thankful he hadn't landed on glass or anywhere near the fire ants he chose to stay still. Maybe they'd think he died or would just forget about him. James was the one who insulted them after all. Refusing to so much as open his eyes he listened, but was unable to interpret the yells and thuds and angry howls into something he could understand. All he could gather from them was that his friends weren't dead and Remus could get loud when he really wanted to.

It wasn't until he heard an explosion and the room started to heat up that he opened his eyes.

"Why is the store on fire?" Peter asked as James and Remus ran towards him.

"Talk later, run now," James responded he and Remus were now running towards the main exit, why they couldn't go the way there were planning Peter didn't know. As per usual, he had no idea what was going on.

He'd learned to just roll with it by now.

A few of the monsters followed them out, both to get out of the burning building and in an attempt to continue their attack.

Lyall Lupin made short work of that plan, though, even from three stores down his aim was exquisite. He had the three werewolves on the ground before they knew he was there. Peter was impressed, to say the least.

"So much for our plan," James complained before their chaperone could catch up.

"Your plan was stupid and reckless," Remus argued, he looked fine, a scratch on his arm and his hand was starting to swell, though Peter wasn't sure if it was an ant bite or if he'd punched someone too hard. James was in far worse shape. There was a red mark around the stag's neck that no doubt would turn into a bruise if given time, several bug bites had left angry red marks on his arms, and he had a large cut on his forehead, and that was just what wasn't covered by his ripped and bloodied clothing.

"You think all my plans are stupid and reckless." James gave the werewolf a smirk he was on the ground, his breathing heavy and he was pulling at the collar of his tee-shirt as though it was too tight all the sudden. Peter also noticed James was shaking, he couldn't understand why, though. It wasn't cold, and surely James wasn't scared enough for that, only Peter got that scared. So there must be another reason for it.

"Are you hurt?" Lyall asked when he caught up, kneeling in front of James to check his wounds. It was obvious he was in worse shape than everyone else. Sirius wasn't far behind him, the hound looked like someone who was about to get in trouble. Odd for Sirius as he was one to laugh when given detention and considered it an accomplishment to get sent to the office during class.

"I'm fine." James shook himself off and to they're surprised Lyall let him.

"Remus?"

"I knocked one of them out," Moony gave him a smirk and raised his hand to show him. Lyall's laugh was fake, as was his smile.

"There were more of them?" he asked looking around as though searching for someone.

"There were six altogether," James answered his breathing still heavy but the shaking was less noticeable. Nearby shopkeepers were beginning to rush out their shops at the sight of the fire, now demanding information out of Mr. Lupin.

James turned to Sirius, "What happened to the plan?" he whispered while their chaperone was otherwise occupied.

"Remus got suspicions," Sirius tried to act confident, but Peter could see cracks.

"And you just spilled?" James glared at him pulling himself to his feet. "What did he do? Growl at you?"

"Of course not, I'm not scared of Moony." Sirius was insulted, Peter could see it on his face. He marveled that they could be so brave, Remus was still a werewolf after all. How was it that they weren't even a little frightened of him.

"I didn't need too. If there's one good thing that came out of that fiasco with Snape, it's that Sirius'll do whatever I want him to do. Padfoot's my puppy now, not yours." Remus said with his arms folded and a cocky grin on his face. It wasn't a look that graced his face very often but it looked good on him. Made him look younger, or look his own age at least.

"Your puppy?" James repeated with an eyebrow raised.

"My dad's right there, I can't swear. Pity too, because it would have made a brilliant dog pun." Remus explained, making James laugh and irritating his throat judging by the way he started pulling on his collar again.

"Y'know I'm right here, right?" Sirius' expression grew increasingly irritated as the conversation continued.

"The ingredients are by the window in the back left of the shop, Padfoot." James took the opportunity to change the subject since he was planning to ignore the hound anyway. "You'll be the least likely to be missed. I assume you don't need Moony to come with you?"

Sirius made a rude gesture with his hand but ran off once he'd confirmed the adults were otherwise occupied putting out the fire. None of them were all that interested in rescuing the werewolves inside though Peter had a feeling Lyall's reason was different than the other shopkeepers.

"How did the fire even start?" Remus asked, his gaze had followed Peter's to the adults struggle. They could have helped, but manually carrying water buckets around wouldn't do much in comparison to the water jets exploding from the fully grown wizard's wands. "They can't even do magic, and neither of you was in any position to cast anything." The light from the fire cast a sinister light on his face and Peter realized that Remus had the potential to be just as dangerous as the monsters they'd just escaped from, and they slept in the same room at school. Remus' humanity was the only thing between him waking up in the morning and him waking up in the afterlife most days.

It wasn't a comforting thought.

"My wand went off when one of them knocked me over. It slipped out of my hand and then exploded. Properly distracted quite a few of them, managed to get away from the bugger thanks to this thing." James held up his wand as though proud of the glorified stick.

"You mean it did magic on its own? Without you casting a spell?" Peter asked impressed surely James was a powerful wizard if his wand could do magic on its own. Those werewolves had never stood a chance.

"Yeah, some wands will do that under certain conditions, James' appears to be if it is forcefully separated from him. My dad's wand will do crazy stuff if he asks it to do a whole lot of mundane spells. One time he tried to turn a tomato into an apple and it backfired so bad his entire arm was red for about a week." Remus answered reminding Peter of the werewolf's intelligence. The ones that had been attacking him had been quite the opposite. Dumb enough that six superhumans weren't enough to kill off three fifteen-year-olds at least. Perhaps it wasn't just Remus' humanity that protected his roommates but his intelligence.

Peter could not understand what it was that gave Remus the courage to fight his own instincts. After spending the entirety of his life hiding behind James Potter, Peter couldn't understand courage at all. So he attributed Remus control over himself to the older boy's intelligence and his other two friend's sacrifices to a mix of cleverness and arrogance. It was all he could do when he couldn't fathom the love they had for each other. Instead, he watched them, baffled by the things they did for each other and confused by their desperate need to stick together.

And he felt left out.

When Remus knew James needed him to pull Lyall away from the crowd of shopkeepers still trying to extinguish a now multicolored flame to start healing up some of his wounds before the stag passed out without James saying a word, or when James knew Sirius was behind him despite the latter being underneath his invisibility cloak.

Peter wasn't part of this group, he was an observer. A mortal surrounded by gods. No matter how much James and Remus tried to include him, Peter knew he was just the tagalong kid in a party of superheroes. They kept him safe, and that was enough for him, but he knew they were friends only because of his shared past with James.

And he was just fine with keeping it that way.

A/N) Sorry, I'm late guys. I took a couple weeks off to focus on other fandoms that I like. It's difficult for me to write Harry Potter fanfiction when I'm feeling nostalgic and binge watching Digimon all weekend long believe it or not. But I'm back now. In fact last Friday was the anniversary of the day I uploaded the first chapter of this story so of course I had to end my break and upload a chapter, (naturally this chapter refused to be written in a timely fashion and now it's Sunday night and I'm just now uploading it.) To celebrate I'm going to upload a one-shot that I intended to be the beginning of a rewrite for this. The reason I changed my mind is because when Rowling posted information about the Potter family it contradicted my characterization for James' parents and I like this new characterization better, but I couldn't just throw this away, because I'm actually really happy with how it turned out. So watch my page for a new one-shot