Sirius's Problems- Chapter 4

A/n: ok, when we last saw Sirius, he was promising Lily that he was not going to tell James about the whole new step-dad thing. Sirius really can't keep a secret, but he will... for his best friend's gf...

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Sirius looked down the Great Hall at his best friend, and his best friend's girlfriend. He wondered if she told James what had happened. No matter, this was James' time to shine. All of the prefects were given a special badge by the Head Boy and Head Girl. Then Dumbledore beckened them to go up the stage and take their "vows" of honesty, responsibility, and loyalty to their house. James and Lily were the second pair to rise and looked directly into each others' eyes as they spoke this. Sirius figured that Dumbledore had this fixed so that Lily and James would be paired up together. Sirius hid a smile as the Headmaster had to "wake up" James from staring into Lily's eyes.

"This is a prefect ceremony, not a marriage ceremony, James," said the headmaster quietly. James turned bright red, but no one except Snape made any remarks.

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Sirius asked Lily if she told James about the step-dad yet. She told him not yet.

"He's so glad that he became a prefect. I would hate to spoil his fun with my problems."

"He thinks being a PREFECT is FUN!? Man, he needs help! I mean, it's okay if he's proud of himself for being 'responsible' but... FUN? Jeez, he needs a life." Sirius said, walking away.

"Sirius, wait up!" said Lily. She really didn't feel like telling James alone, and if Sirius was there, maybe James could deal with it more. Anyway, she asked Sirius to tell James with her.

When they got to the common room, James wasn't there. "Maybe he went upstairs," thought Lily. Sirius searched the boys' dorm, but James wasn't there. He did find a note, though.

'Sirius,

I went to the Forest. I heard Moony and he was screaming in this weird dream I had. I know that I think Divination is stupid, but this seems real. I don't know where Peter is, but I think you should follow him. I seriously don't trust him. I don't know what is wrong with me, but every time I see Peter, I think that someone evil is with him or something.

Tell Lily that I went to the kitchens, I'll meet you there at 11:00. I know she wanted to tell me something, but I think it can wait till then. If I'm not there by then... Peter's gotten to me. Go to the 4th year's dorm. If he's not there, he's following me. I think a stag can beat a rat, though. See you later, Padfoot.

-Prongs'

"Oh, boy..." thought Sirius. He went to the 4th years dorm. Sure enough, Wormtail was gone. He went back down to the Common Room.

"Well?" said Lily, looking kind of scared, even though she knew James was okay somewhere.

"H-he's in the kitchens. At least that's what Henry Ginkle said." replied Sirius. He figured that James could handle Moony's werewolf instinct, but if Wormtail was really using dark magic, then how was he going to stop him? It was 10:49. It would take them about 10 minutes to get to the kitchens. They started on their way. Sirius thought to use the invisibility cloak, but he knew that Lily didn't know about it.

"Hey, Sirius," said Lily. "Go get the invisibilty cloak."

"How did you know about it?" asked Sirius, surprised.

"James took me under it a few times," she said, with a wave of her hand. "Just get it. If I wait any longer to tell James, I might not be able to." Sirius got the cloak, and together they went through the school without running into any prefects or teachers.

They arrived at the fruit bowl painting. Lily was confused. She didn't know why Sirius stopped at this picture. Then Sirius tickled the pear until it laughed. The door creaked open. There were no house elves around. They didn't see James, either. He couldn't be invisible, because they had his cloak. They searched the kitchen. It was 11:06, according to Lily's watch. "Oh, man...Lily, we have to go on an...adventure. See, um... Okay, James is stuck with a potentially evil wizard-in-training, along with a full-grown werewolf in pain or something. I have no time to explain it really, but BE CAREFUL! I'm sure of what the werewolf is capable of, and I have no clue what Wormtail is gonna do. I just hope James is okay. Let's go, Lily!" Lily was shocked at what Sirius just said, and stood there. Sirius pulled her and she followed him to the Whomping Willow. He prodded the knot with a stick, and then he and Lily slid down to the bottom of the Shrieking Shack.

"Sirius, where are we? I'm afraid for us and James." Lily shivered and sat on an old couch.

"I don't get it. They're supposed to be here. Moony! Prongs! Where are you?" called Sirius.

A strange voice answered back, "Why not call your friend Wormtail?" A short, fat boy came out of the shadows. "Padfoot, you have many problems. One of them is your tricks, another is your reliability to your friends. And of course, the doozy. Should I say it out loud?"

"Peter, no! At least be fair! I mean, Lily's right here, and... I mean, I know you read my old diary and now you know all of my secrets, but you don't have to blab them out. You already made fun of me when I was alone, don't..." Sirius tried to stop Pettigrew from saying his secret, one that he had kept all his life, but it seemed useless. James was probably dead, Moony had escaped from the Shrieking Shack by the looks of the hole in the ceiling, and now Pettigrew was going to tell Lily, who would tell all her friends, who would feel sorry for him (which he hated). Sirius felt like screaming and pounding Pettigrew into rat juice. But that wouldn'

"You were born by SNAPE'S MOTHER!!! There! I said it! Ha ha ha! You have Snape's blood running through you at this very moment! Snape is your brother! Your mother liked him better than you, so they put you up for adoption! You were too kind to be related to them, so they gave you to a drunk man and his family!" Sirius looked horribly at Pettigrew, who was laughing maniacally.

Lily spoke up. "That's not a huge secret, Sirius. I know you hate Snape, but is that the reason why?" It was a good question. Sirius considered it, then replied "no."

"Okay. Does your father love you?" Lily asked. Sirius answered slyly, "In between drinks, and I know my mother loved me before she died. Then my dad married again, and divorced...you get the idea."

"Peter," Lily asked, "why do you have it in for everyone? What did you do to James and Remus?"

"Why should I tell you? I finally got Sirius back for spreading that rumor about me and that stupid...why am I telling you that anyways? Ugg. Lily, just leave me alone!!!"

"Wait. You just tortured Sirius because he spread a rumor?! You seriously need a life, Peter. Now tell me, what did you do to James and Remus?"

"I...uh, I... well, okay. I tied them up in the closet, and I kinda took a chunk out of Lupin's tail. The rat in me couldn't resist!" he added when Lily and Sirius looked disgusted. Lily kept an eye on Wormtail while Sirius untied his friends. James and Remus started complaining and threatened to hex Peter. They put some well-placed spells to annoy him, but didn't really curse him. They frog-marched him to Dumbledore's office. Before they could get there, Pettigrew whipped out his wand and put a memory charm on them. They never knew what hit him. Then, Pettigrew ran off to get me.

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"You? Why you father?" asked the young boy who listened to his father's long tale.

"Well, I was his accomplice in crime, back then."

"Father, Wormtail was (and still is) an idiot. Why did you work with him?"

"Well, the great Lord told us to. Lord Voldemort has powers you can only imagine! Plus, he is getting stronger every day. Now, continue listening to the story of my greatest Hogwarts day! It's almost done."

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"Peter ran off to get me. He told me of what he'd done and gloated about it to me. Even though we worked together, Pettigrew and I hated each other. The affected group, they barely noticed me, unless I was with Snape. They were the popular ones, and all along hated my guts. This hatred infected my insides, and was passed on to you. Now, where was I? Oh, yes. While we went to get our master, Potter's people were awoken from the charm.

They knew who they were, but didn't remember anything from that night. But on the night of the Potters' death, Sirius remembered as he cornered Pettigrew. This is partially why he is seeking revenge upon the moronic rodent. This is why we must find him and wipe his memory. If he is given a truth serum, it will be known that Pettigrew was on the dark side from the beginning. Come, Draco. We have work to do."