Peter woke with a start. In a moment of panic, he felt he wasn't at home, where he belonged. He peered dimly into the gloom, finally making out three other slumbering figures. He relaxed again. That's right. Hogwarts.

The sun chose that moment to begin to filter over the horizon, spilling slowly into the dormitory. Now Peter knew why he had awakened when he did. One always woke up at the crack of dawn on a farm, and even wizarding farms were no different.

Peter was already slightly homesick - he'd never been away from his parents and Dee before. He thought of the pumpkins grown specifically for pumpkin pasties and juice, the different flavored cockroaches they raised for candy, the herbs they cultivated for potion ingredients. He thought of his father, tall and sunburnt, who always had a moment for him no matter what he was doing. His mother, who could cook better than anyone else. His little sister, who was so precocious at magic that her uncontrolled charms tended to be occurring constantly around her.

With a shove, he pushed the thoughts away.

I will not get homesick, I will not get homesick, I will not get homesick he chanted silently to himself. He didn't want to let everyone know how much of a country bumpkin he was, but he'd rather do that than appear to be a wimp who couldn't live without his mommy and daddy.

As the light grew stronger, he found he just couldn't stay in bed anymore. Opening his trunk, he withdrew a uniform as well as shampoo and conditioner and wandered into the tiled bathroom.

The room was covered, ceiling to floor in a brick red tiling scheme, with a chosen row in the middle of the wall bearing a gold etched design of rampant lions. There was plenty of room for all four to be using the mirror at once, and two sinks. On the end opposite from the door to the room was another door, this time of frosted glass, that led into a bathing room, complete with a tub with four assorted faucets, a shower stall, and toilet facilities. It too was tiled in the same scheme. Probably wise, considering the likelihood of young boys to get into shampoo or toothpaste fights.

Peter dumped his uniform onto a shelf just within reach of the shower stall. Making sure there were towels, he popped into the shower, delighting in its heat. He was always cold in the morning, for some reason. No matter how hot outside, his toes were always numb.

After a short while, he emerged, using one of the incredibly fluffy crimson towels to dry himself off. Donning his uniform, he emerged through the glass door to the sinks, opening the door to the rooms in case any of the others needed to use the bathroom.

He spent a long time staring into the mirror, thinking. He was so deep in thought that when, ten minutes later, the one who had identified himself as a thief appeared suddenly in the doorway, it startled him.

The boy's eyes grew wide and a grin stretched across his face in delight.

"Wow."

Peter grinned at him, and bowed sarcastically, pretending to be a doorman.

"Welcome, gentle sir, to the bathrooms of Hogwarts."

Sirius laughed and shoved him good naturedly.

"Yeah, yeah, so I'm an ignorant street rat. What else is new? Hey, show me how to use the shower."

Peter blinked. Then shook his head. Of course a thief wouldn't have had an opportunity to use a shower - in fact, he'd probably made do with the rain, or maybe some soap and a sponge, by the look of the slightly clumpy hair that had become hopelessly tangled overnight.

"Ah - you might want to brush that mop of your before you wash it. Otherwise, you'll never get the tangles out."

"Huh? Oh, yeah, right. I'll do that. Though why you should know that, with that stubble of yours..."

"Stubble! It's a good 3 inches long, thank you very much! Maybe stubble compared to yours, but most normal guys don't have long hair, so there!"

"I like mine long. Course, I've never had it short, so why change it?"

Sirius finally wrestled the rest of the tangles from his strands while Peter brushed his teeth. Then Peter showed him how to use the shower and listened to fifteen minutes worth of yelps as the thief turned the temperature knob either too hot or too cold in his fascination.

Remus walked in next, looking remarkably awake, and somewhat astonished at not being the first awake.

"I thought I'd be the first one. I always am at home."

Peter chuckled.

"I'm always that last at home. Mummy and Pop are always up an hour before sunrise and Dee always manages to beat me out of bed. But I suppose I beat everyone because I live on a farm."

Remus nodded in understanding, then turned to a sink and doused his head under cold water. When he came up again, Peter realized that the alertness in Remus's eyes had just been the false bright-eyed look some people get when they first get up but aren't truly awake.

"That's an interesting way to wake up."

The brown-haired youth grinned at him, then laughed. He explained himself when Peter looked curiously at him.

"When I was little, I used to stick my head in the toilet, because I couldn't reach the sinks. My parents hated it when I did that, though. Can't imagine why."

A mischievous look glinted in Remus's teal eyes and Peter laughed.

"That's great."

"What's great?"

Sirius emerged from behind the glass door, furiously toweling his hair dry. The towels must have had a bit of magic in them, because when he finally pulled the towel away from his hair, it was dry, though tangled. And not greasy. Sirius fingered it and sighed in bliss.

"I have wanted to have clean hair for as long as I can remember. And now I have it. HALLELUJAH!"

The last was shouted and echoed off the tiled walls a few times. James stuck his head in and snarled just after Remus entered the bathing room.

"Can't you all be quiet while I'm trying to get some sleep?! It's bad enough that you're all up at an ungodly hour, but do you really have to shout?!? Good Lord..."

He withdrew his head of messy(er) black hair and Sirius looked at Peter with innocent brown eyes.

"Oops, did I do that? Ignorant little me, not knowing that SHOUTING in the bathroom would make an echo."

A pillow flew in and hit Sirius on the head while Peter glanced at his watch.

"James, you've only got half an hour before breakfast starts!"

"Go away!"

Peter shrugged and sat on a wooden bench to watch Sirius tie his hair up at the nape of his neck. Five minutes later, James trudged in with a thunderous look on his face. Sirius noticed and began to make sickeningly sweet minutes.

"Good morning, sweetie-pie. Ready to face the day, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed?"

James glared and began to brush his hair in vain, trying flatten it against his skull.

"I think that's a pointless task, dearie."

Sirius jumped back in alarm from the mirror. His eyes were wide and astonished and Peter doubled over laughing at the expression on his face. Remus was leaning against a wall, tears of laughter beginning to spill down his cheeks and even James came out of his grumpy mood enough to grin at Sirius's surprise.

"Mirrors talk?"

"Yes, of course we talk, my boy. I just wasn't awake until this one here decided to brush his hair."

"Oh."

Half an hour later, the four boys headed down the stairs to the Common Room. Peter, talking to Remus behind him walked right into Lily, who was not at all offended and seemed grateful for the fact the she had run into the four.

"I am going to die if I have to spend another minute with either of those two air heads."

Peter noticed she was wearing jeans and a Gryffindor polo instead of the normal female uniform of a skirt. He commented on this and the girl grinned.

"I had a talk with Professor Dumbledore about the dress code this morning, when I found skirts. We decided, that since I have never worn anything but jeans, shorts, and athletic pants my entire life, that to wear skirts would turn me into something I'm not, perhaps a complete air head."

She sent a dark look back up the stairs at the two girls following distantly behind them as they made their way down to the Great Hall.

"He's a very reasonable person, Dumbledore is, and said he would make jeans a House polos part of the school uniform, since not everyone is comfortable in skirts or slacks."

Her green eyes darted sharply to Sirius and Peter, who was most definitely uncomfortable in slacks, having never worn them in his life. He squirmed under her direct gaze, but Sirius became melodramatic.

"My savior! The most astounding feat the Lily of the Valley has accomplished yet, to defeat the evil dress code and undermine the authority of the teachers themselves. Praise her! Praise her!"

Lily punched him in the arm, but she was grinning.

They entered the Great Hall and sat down at the Gryffindor table for breakfast. Peter noticed it was a measure of everyone's personality of what they decided they wanted. Lily chose a HUGE bowl of plain Cheerios, but nothing else save a glass of orange juice. Sirius nibbled on a roll, assuring everyone that he just wasn't used to breakfast and would make sure to stuff himself at lunch and dinner. Peter had sausage and scrambled eggs and Remus swallowed a few pancakes rather rapidly. James, however, had a cinnamon roll, french toast, a bagel and cream cheese, two waffles, and a pair of sunny side up eggs. Peter stared at him as he devoured it all.

"Whaf?"

James had finally noticed everyone had now turned to look at him in amazement and commented on it halfway through his bagel. Peter was the only one who answered him.

"Where do you put it all?"

"My leg. Where else? Isn't that where everyone's stomach is?"

The other four laughed and started to return to their own meal until a third year passed them their schedules. Everyone took one and Peter passed the sheaf of papers on to the next person.

It was a mad scramble after that, because they had to return to the dormitories to get their books, then run all the way down to the dungeons for Potions. They got their books without mishap, but on their way down, Peeves jumped up in front Peter and cackled, pointing at the stairs. They vanished, becoming a steep ramp and Peter, who was last in the line of five, skidded and fell, knocking down the other five. The ended up in a pile at the bottom of the ramp, which returned momentarily to being stairs.

"Ow," groaned James.

"Can you all get OFF of me?!" Lily's voice was muffled from the bottom.

They extracted themselves and limped once more towards Potions, managing to get there without any more Peeves encounters. They sat down in their seats just as the bell rang, James partnered with Sirius, Peter partnered with Lily, and Remus taking the last table available, as everyone else in the classroom was already paired off.

Professor Guidry entered and the class began.

Diclaimer: Characters of Rowling's = not mine

Ok, I know not all of you are going to agree with me, but I don't think Peter was ugly, and in fact intend him to be one of the cutest guys in the bunch in his 5th year. Right now he is chubby from baby fat, but in cute way. Since teachers and parents tend to remember you the way you first were when they saw you, even though Peter is going to be quite handsome, all the teachers are going to remember him as "the chubby one". Also, I believe he is quite decent, and only something that later makes him resent the other four is going to make him turn. That won't happen for a while, so no dark!Peter for a while. Not everyone is going to agree with my assessment, but all the other four must trust him or they wouldn't be his friend in the first place, let alone a Marauder.