Peter's tiny body practically quivered with excitement and anticipation. Tonight was the night!! Tonight, he would get what he deserved. He could just imagine the look on his Master's face, when he told him the news. Who would've imagined!! He laughed silently to himself. He couldn't believe Sirius had trusted him...it was a perfect bluff...yes, Sirius would be after his blood now, but who cares?

A tiny pang of regret washed over him as he looked around to make sure everything in his house was in place. Lily had always been so nice to him. James, too. Oh well. They just felt sorry for him. He had new friends now. They didn't feel sorry for him.

Sirius did, just like James and Lily. Sirius had trusted him. Peter could still barely believe it. It had been so perfect, so easy to play the little insignificant timid fool. Of course, that's what he was, most of the time. Even around his new friends.

But not tonight!! They were always mistrusting him, but not tonight!! Tonight they would see him for what he was really worth.

Well, it was time. Time to go to his Master. Sirius would be livid when he found out. He would have to do something about that.

Oh well. Time enough for plotting against his friends later.

Now he had a job to do.

Peter took one glance around his house to make sure nothing was missing, then walked to the middle of the room and Apparated. Funny how James and Sirius had taught him to Apparate, and now he was using it against them...just like he was using everything against them.

I don't care, Peter thought stubbornly, as he stepped out into his Master's headquarters. I have new friends now.

Peter's eyes blinked once and opened to meet utter darkness. Ugh, he thought, It's too early to be awake. He remembered his dream well enough, but...he had relived that so many times...with a yawn, he rolled over and went back to sleep.

Peter walked down the Muggle streets, for once in his life looking for Sirius. He had no doubt the man would be there; he had been raging for a couple days now, and the slightest hint of where Peter might be would send him racing off.

And Peter knew for a fact that Black had the tiniest hints of where he was.

He had no choice, really. The Dark Lord was gone...the Death Eaters all split up...well, they could pretend they were under a curse. He knew he couldn't. Sirius would never believe that.

So this was his only option. Peter checked his watch. Any minute now...there were footsteps behind him. He turned around quickly. Perfect. He turned around and stared. "Sirius!!"

Black's eyes narrowed. "Peter."

One look at his eyes and suddenly what Peter had to do didn't seem too hard after all. There was madness there...madness, grief, shock and anger. Terrible anger, the kind that could kill him in a second. None of these were a good combination. Peter immediately burst into tears. Sirius was staring at him, staring at him with those coal black eyes, eyes that seemed suddenly on fire.

"How could you, Sirius?" he sobbed, "Lily and James, Sirius! How could you?!" He made to reach for his wand, but of course he already had it ready, behind his back.

"You traitor," Sirius gasped, barely able to believe it. Peter waited til his old friend had his wand out before saying the curse.

The sewer beneath him blew apart, taking the whole street with them. In the midst of the explosion and the screaming Muggles, Peter cut off his finger and changed into a rat. He had stained his robes red beforehand, so the Ministry would think it was blood.

Rats, normal rats, poured out of the sewer. Among them, who would notice one tiny insignificant rat scampering down into it?

But of course Sirius did. He stared in horror as Peter disappeared down into the sewer, and then he threw back his head and laughed. Peter's ears nearly split in half at the sound of it. "Finger in a box..." he was saying, still laughing hysterically. Tears were rolling down his face as he laughed, and Peter knew enough to know they were not tears of joy; they were tears of madness, of anger, and of grief.

Sirius knew he was hopeless now. Everyone would think he had done it. No one would suspect poor, innocent Peter, who had so bravely given his life in memory of his friends. Well, now Sirius knew how it felt to be the hopeless one.

Peter stayed long enough to listen to the Ministry wizards take Sirius away, still laughing. He smiled a little to himself. Oh, Sirius was laughing now. Just wait til he got into Azkaban.

And Peter the rat scampered off. He had had his moment of triumph.

Now he must wait.

He would find a wizard's house, and watch the news, and wait for the Dark Lord to return.

Peter's eyes popped open for the second time this night, but this time he was decidedly more shaken up.

It had been a long time since he had that dream. He smiled to himself. That had been a good day, and even better, it was his own idea.

The only good idea he had ever had.

But somehow, Sirius's eyes kept coming back to haunt him. Those two fiery slits that used to dance so merrily, glaring at him as if he would rather be dead than deal with such slime.

And then he remembered the two hollow, dead holes they had been after Sirius got out of Azkaban. Peter gulped in fear at the memory.

A voice played tauntingly in his head. Two voices, in fact.

"You don't understand!! He would have killed me, Sirius!"

"THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE DIED!! DIED RATHER THAN BETRAY YOUR FRIENDS, AS WE WOULD HAVE DONE FOR YOU!!"

Fear flooded Peter again. No...not that memory...the look...his eyes...and Harry...Lily's eyes, staring at him with horror and hatred forming in them...

"You should have realized," said Lupin quietly, "if Voldemort didn't kill you, we would. Good-bye, Peter."

A shudder shook Peter and he rolled over on his stomach, sweating and shaking. His old friends' faces swam in front of him. How could he ever, ever think there was something to get out of killing James and Lily? They hated him now...even pity was better than the hatred in their eyes...and the Dark Lord, he couldn't even think his real name, the Dark Lord mistrusted him, treated him like filth...he was such a fool...

But no. Peter shook himself quickly. What was he thinking? There was no way out for him now. And anyway, he got more respect here. He was his Master's most trusted servant, with a place of honor among all the Death Eaters. He was bound to them.

And anyway, this was what he wanted, right? Protection from the Dark Lord. There was more here than with Sirius and Remus. Sirius, the escaped convict, and Remus, the werewolf. The very idea of protection from them was laughable.

He was safe here.

Wasn't he?