Peter's POV – July 1981
"Wormtail, I am growing rather impatient," The Dark Lord said. I bowed nervously in front of him.
"I am sorry my master but they've stopped seeing anyone but Black and Marsden." I stammered.
"Or that they've stopped seeing you because the Lupins live in China and you're too scared to go near them?" The Dark Lord sneered, "Stand up properly." I stood up and looked at him nervously. "Now tell me, what has Dumbledore done to their house?" He demanded.
"He's put some charms on it. Everyone knows of Muggle-repelling charms well somehow Dumbledore has put wizard repelling charms but they don't work in the same way as Muggle repelling charms"
"I've heard of them. It makes the house appear as if it's something it's not, like a tree. No wonder Lucius couldn't find it." The Dark Lord said, muttering to himself. "Marsden's doing no doubt, she's been trailing my Death Eaters for a while now. Wormtail. I want you to try and get Marsden off the trail of my Death Eaters. Get rid of her." I looked at him like he was crazy.
"G-get rid of April?" I asked, "H-how?"
"Kill her Wormtail. It's up to you as she won't be suspecting it."
"But what about the others, they'll find out. They have their reputations for a reason." I said nervously.
"If you don't want to kill her I can always get someone else to kill her but I'm very displeased with your Wormtail. I expected greater loyalty then what you've shown me."
"No, I'm always willing to please but I was merely suggesting that if they find out it was me then I wouldn't be able to supply you with information any more."
"Then make sure they don't figure out it was you." Voldemort said, "Now get out of my sight, I have important affairs to take care of." I nodded and apparated out of the room. I found myself in my house again. I looked around. I hadn't actually been home in a while. I'd spent a lot of time at my grandparent's house. I looked over at the mantelpiece. I had to kill April, I didn't want to but I had to. On the mantelpiece were photos of all my friends, the Marauders, April, Jenny and the Mudblood. They were up for the purposes of pretence for those rare occasions when they did actually come and visit me. I glanced at one that we'd taken some time last year. Just April and me. I frowned, could I actually kill April?
I decided to sleep on it. I'd sleep then I'd think of a way of killing her without anyone finding out it was me. I had to figure this out exactly, where she was living, she always seemed to move around homes but I think recently she's been living with Sirius. I quickly got changed and went to bed, my mind filled with uneasiness.
I was still asleep when I felt my duvet being pulled off.
"Wakey wakey sleeping beauty" I heard Sirius shout in my ear. I started in surprised and bolted upright. I saw Sirius standing by my bed.
"Padfoot!" I snapped at him.
"Sorry. That's exactly what Lily and James said." Sirius said.
"Only thing is that James nearly cursed you as well." I heard April say from the door. I felt a slight pang of awkwardness and hatred towards her.
"Yes, well how was I supposed to know he was naked." Sirius said.
"Maybe the lack of him wearing any top and Lily not wearing her usual sleeping clothes?" April suggested. "Ok, Peter get up, we have to go out and refresh Lily's fridge"
"Do I have to go?"
"Yes, you helped us to empty it, you help us to refill it." April said grabbing my hand and pulling me to my feet. I looked at Sirius.
"You saw James naked?" I asked disgusted. Sirius shivered.
"I would rather not think of it." He said. April rolled her eyes.
"Did you see Lily?" I asked. Sirius' face went into a slight smirk.
"No but I nearly did, I managed to see a bit of her-"
"Hey!" April said, "Don't talk about my friend like that" she snapped,
"You've seen her, what's she like?" Sirius asked. I could tell he was trying to wind April up, and it was working. She looked at Sirius with narrowed eyes.
"Do you want me to dump you again?"
"I'm just joking." Sirius said. "But yeah, at least you were fully clothed" Sirius said looking at me. I shook my head and looked at April willing her to leave the room so I could change.
"Come April my dearest" Sirius said leading April out of the room with a hand on her stomach. I changed and flinched as I felt the mark on my arm burn. Not now. The Dark Lord will understand if I don't go to him now. I pulled on a long sleeved shirt, even though it was in the middle of a stifling hot summer weather but I needed to keep the mark hidden. By the time I was ready to go I left my room and saw April and Sirius sitting on my sofa. Sirius was whispering something to April that was making her giggle slightly.
"Ok, where are we going?" I asked.
"Muggle supermarket." Sirius said, looking at me.
"I don't want to go anymore." April said pouting slightly.
"You got me up for nothing then?" I asked, slightly annoyed, no not slightly. Very annoyed. I was having a pleasant sleep, all thoughts of The Dark Lord and my friends gone.
"Ok, lets go. Also, I want to get something for Harry." Sirius said, "It's his first birthday soon."
"Merlin, he'll only be one, it doesn't seem like it does it?" April said.
"No." I said tensely. April gave me a smile and then turned to Sirius.
"Which muggle shop are we going to then?"
"Muggle? Oh yeah right, what Muggle food stores are there?" Sirius asked April. She rolled her eyes.
"Ok, Lily's given me a load of money, so there's Tesco, Safeway, Sainsburies-"
"Lets just go to Diagon Alley." I said.
"Yeah, that's cool." April said. "Meet you boys there, outside Flourish and Blotts?"
"Ok." Sirius said with a smile. They both apparated away, I followed their lead and found myself outside Flourish and Blotts. April was looking around lazily.
"Ok, lets go." She said, taking the lead. We walked through diagon alley.
"So, why aren't you at work?" I asked her causally.
"Day off." April said. "Actually, I'm not sure how long I have off because I'm supposed to be watching Lily and James and that means that I've technically got a bit of a break because of Dumbledore's charms on the house." She said.
"So why are you here?" I asked her curiously.
"Lily's asked me to do some chores for her." April said rolling her eyes. Sirius pulled her closer to him and we went and did a bit of shopping for the Potters. By the time we'd finished it was actually getting quite dark, we'd spent the entire day in Diagon alley! We apparated back to James' house and found Lily half asleep on the sofa with James reading a quidditch magazine.
"About time." Lily said stifling a yawn. I felt a shiver of hatred run through my body, no one noticed though.
"Sorry, we got a bit carried away." April said.
"No problem." James said not looking away from the magazine.
"Where's Harry?" April asked. "I want to play with him."
"He's asleep."
"Already?" April asked slightly annoyed. Lily rolled her eyes and turned over so that she was facing James' body. That was just rude. We were the guests and all they were doing was staying on the sofa. Sirius waved his wand and the food seemed to go into the kitchen on it's own. I knew it was because of magic. James put a hand on Lily's body and put the magazine down.
"Peter!" He said loudly.
"James" I replied, but not quite as enthusiastically.
"You boys up for a spot of Marauding? Remus and Jenny are-" Lily cleared her throat.
"We're not allowed out of the house." She muttered. James' expression fell
"Oh yeah" He said sounding depressed. I sat down in a chair as Sirius and April decided to share a chair between them.
"We could still go Marauding can't we Peter?" Sirius asked me.
"Um, yeah. Of course." I said. "April, do you think we could meet up during the week. I want to ask you something." April grinned.
"Ok." She said, "Just send me an owl." I nodded. I knew what I had to do but I felt so nervous. Over the day I'd slowly been formulating a plan in my head. I couldn't kill April but I could get her out of the way. April switched on the TV and we watched the Muggle thing for a while. They were showing some replay of some muggle game.
"Oh, tennis." April said interested. She shifted her position on Sirius' lap. I watched her carefully. I'd known April for half my life and now I- no stop thinking about it. Lily had rolled over to watch the tennis and I saw James' hand floating around her body. I suppressed a shiver, the closeness of those two was a bit scary. After about an hour I got up to leave and instead of going home I went to another house. It was a fairly large manor and was fairly dark. I was standing outside the front door. Two large knockers were on the door and an old fashioned bell pull. I pulled the bell pull and the door slowly opened. I stepped in and looked around. There was no one there. I turned and saw a house elf closing the door.
"Who is you here to see, sir?" He squeaked. His green eyes glittering with fear.
"Lucius Malfoy." I said.
"Dobby is going to get him, please wait here." He said before running off. I nodded and waited where I was. I'd never been to Malfoy's house before. I'd only been waiting a few moments when I heard some heavy footsteps. Malfoy came out of a door and looked at me.
"What do you want Pettigrew?" He demanded.
"I need a favour from you." I said, trying to disguise the fear in my voice.
"What could I possible do for someone like you?"
"I need you to attack me on Thursday." I told him. Malfoy raised his eyebrows curiously then indicated for me to follow him. I followed him through the large dark manor and into what must be his study. It was fairly big and was decorated like it was from the middle ages. There were books lining the walls though they looked as though they'd rarely been touched.
"Sit down Pettigrew" Malfoy sneered. I did. He sat behind the desk and looked at me. "Now why do you want me to attack you?" He asked with a smirk.
"Well, I've been given the order to kill April and I need to make it look like it's not my fault that she's dead. So basically I was wondering if you could maybe devise something where you don't exactly kill her but do you think you could dispose of her without ending her life?"
"But you were asked to kill her." Malfoy said.
"Yes but I don't want to kill her, she could give us more information, she's closer to the Potters then I am." I said, trying to think up an excuse.
"If you mean put the imperius curse on her, we've already tried, she's too strong for that." Malfoy said lazily. "We didn't get much information out of her then."
"Then get Snape to make some Veritaserum." I said like it was obvious. Malfoy grinned maliciously and got out a quill and dipped it into some ink. He wrote something down.
"Ok then. Take Marsden to Hogsmeade and walk out of the village. We'll attack you then, would you like to be injured or uninjured?" He asked without looking up.
"I think if I got into St. Mungos it would look a bit more realistic" I said hesitantly. I really didn't want to get myself hurt.
"Ok then. I'll see you on Thursday Pettigrew." He said with a smirk. "Now get out of my house." He said. I nodded and apparated away before Malfoy did anything, I was scared of him, him and the Lestranges. They were nearly as bad as The Dark Lord himself. When I got home I slumped on my sofa and picked up the daily Prophet. I hadn't read it much recently but all that seemed to be on the front was news of more deaths. Every time the front page had the news of another family that had died. I looked at the headline.
ATTACK ON MINISTER OF MAGIC CANDIDATE
I read it casually, it was nothing that I didn't know about. I'd been told of this attack before hand. I put the paper down and went to the bedroom. There was nothing I could do now but wait until Thursday.
"How's being an Auror?" I asked April as we met up in Hogsmeade. We went to the Three Broomsticks and ordered some drinks.
"It's alright." April said with a smile. "I mean I do get attacked quite a lot. I actually have scars now" She said pouting slightly.
"Oh, and that's bad?" I asked lightly. April gave me a look that told me she didn't think it was funny.
"It's weird but Sirius seems to like them." She said, more to herself then anything.
"Why?" I asked, "No, wait do I want to know why?" April laughed.
"No not really." She said. She looked slightly disturbed herself. "I actually rather not know but I don't have that luxury." She said. I chuckled slightly. "How's you life been since last Saturday?"
"Eh, nothing new. Trying to stop Magic getting out, passing on information to you aurors." I said, "too much Death Eater activity if you ask me." I said.
"I know, tell me about it! I'm getting almost a maximum of two hours sleep a day now." She said, "I mean, you'd think that once Death Eaters had figured out that they couldn't find Lily and James' house they'd stop, but no, they keep coming." April said, sounding slightly fed up.
"So have you caught any new Death Eaters?" I asked casually.
"No, they're so slippery." April said with hate. "You'd think that people would have better things to do then killing people-"
"You know, I heard Sirius was a Death Eater." I said. April, who had been taking a sip of her drink seemed to nearly choke on it.
"What?" She asked me. "Sirius is a Death Eater? No, he can't be." She said. Serious denial. It was true, it had been going down the grapevine and I was talking to someone who said they'd seen Sirius at several Death Eater meetings.
"Well that's what I heard." I said.
"Who from?" April asked with narrowed eyes.
"Just some people at the office were talking." I said casually. April didn't look too pleased.
"Well he's not." She said to herself and took another sip of butterbeer. We sat and talked for a bit longer before we left and went for a walk over the countryside near Hogsmeade. April pulled off her auror robes and just wore the muggle clothes she wore underneath but strangely she wore a skirt under the robes instead of a pari of trousers like most people. All the time we just talked about nothing in particular and my feeling of guilt and betrayal rising with every moment I spent with April. I glanced nervously around. I couldn't see anyone. Suddenly April stopped and got her wand out.
"Did you hear that?" She asked in a quiet voice.
"Hear what?" I asked her. A jet of red light shot out from a clump of bushes.
"Reducto" April said pointing her wand at the bushes. It burst into leaves and splinters. There was no one behind it. She dropped her robes and looked around.
"Get your wand out Peter." She said to me as she looked at a small group of trees. I did and held it nervously. April took a step towards the trees when a shower of spell came from the trees. April dropped to the ground and pulled me with her.
"Ow." I said as I hit my head on a rock.
"Peter," April said glancing at me. "You ready to fight?" she asked. I looked at her and bit my lip. She turned and held her wand out. "Stupefy!" She shouted. Her spell seemed to his someone as some one dropped out of a tree.
"Um...Stupefy!" I shouted as well, I deliberately missed and saw a flash of green light miss me by a few centimetres. My heart was pounding, holy shit. April was letting out a stream of jinxes and hexes. Suddenly someone came up behind us, without us noticing and sent a very strong stunner at April's back. She immediately went limp and got knocked out cold on the floor. I turned and saw a cloaked figure above me.
"Now sit still Pettigrew, let me rough you up a bit." He said. My eyes widened and I felt him put the Cruciatus curse on me. I felt like every inch of my body was ready to explode. It was all on fire and I had knives stabbing every inch of exposed skin. The curse was suddenly lifted and I lay on the floor panting. Some Death Eaters were picking up April between them.
"Take her back to my house and lock her in the basement. We'll see to her when I get back" Malfoy said. The Death Eaters nodded. I looked back at Malfoy. "We'll see you around. Stupefy!"
When I woke up I found myself in a strange room. I'd never been here before, it wasn't St. Mungos, it was obviously someone's house. I tried to sit up straight but I felt like I'd just been lying in a hole for a week.
"Stay lying down" I heard a female voice say. I had to shake my head before I recognised it. I turned and saw Lily sitting near me. She gave me a grim smile. "How are you doing?" She asked, "I've tried to fix you up as best as I could."
"What happened?" I asked.
"You were attacked by Death Eaters" She said. "Someone from the school found you." I nodded and tried to clear up everything in my head.
"What about April?" I asked stupidly. I kicked myself when I said that, I shouldn't have mentioned her.
"April?" Lily asked, "What about April?" she asked, I could hear panic in her voice.
"Oh, nothing." I said. She helped me to sit up.
"No tell me, was April with you?" Lily asked. I was kicking myself, I'm an idiot! I really am.
"Um, yeah. We were talking then I can't remember what happened after that" I lied. Lily's eyes widened and she ran out of the room. I sat in the bed and decided what I should do next. I had to get in contact with Malfoy, and I wanted to make sure that April was still alive, not free but alive. The door opened and I saw a tiny head look in curiously. It was Harry, his messy black hair and his green eyes looking at me curiously. He had his thumb in his mouth and he was looking at me weirdly. I felt uncomfortable under the little boy's gaze. He was looking at me like he suspected me for something.
"Harry, get out of the way." Lily said as she picked up the boy. He looked at her and held onto her tightly. Lily came back to me. "Peter, you have to tell us what you can. What happened to April?" She asked. She placed Harry on her lap as she sat by me again. I didn't want to tell her, no, she's just a piece of-
"Well, I don't know. We were just talking about stuff, and then she sense someone coming of something, I can't remember exactly and then there was a fight and I was stunned. I can't remember really." I said. I glanced at Lily, she seemed to be chewing on one of her nails and she looked anxiously at the window.
"You didn't happen to see who-"
"No." I said. I knew she was going to ask who it was. Lily nodded and nervously held Harry. "What are you going to do?"
"I can't do anything. I've just told James and he's going to tell Dumbledore. Oh crap, this is all my fault." She said. I looked at her slightly confused. She jumped to conclusions quickly.
"What?" I asked. Ok, I may work for The Dark Lord and I may not like Lily that much but I'm still confused. "How's it your fault?" Lily stood up and rocked Harry slightly, he was still looking at me. I hated that baby, he was cute but he just kept staring at me.
"Everything that's happening now is my fault. God, I should have never gone to Hogwarts. First Petunia hating me, then my parents, April going missing, going into hiding. It all comes down to me being a witch." She said, looking away.
"I don't understand." I said slightly confused. Lily turned to look at me.
"My sister hates me because I'm a witch, My parents are dead because I'm a witch, April's missing because she's my best friend no doubt and why is she y best friend? Because I'm a witch. If I didn't go to Hogwarts none of this would have happened." Lily said sitting on the bed looking very distressed. I frowned, I felt a slight pang of sympathy for her. "It's like being a witch was like a curse on my life." Harry turned to Lily and lifted his hand and wiped her eyes.
"Well, think about it this way, if you weren't a witch you wouldn't have James or Harry" What was I doing? "It can't be that bad and then there's us and Jenny and even if we don't get April back, aren't you just glad you knew her?" I've lost my mind, I'm sure I have. What am I doing? Lily looked at me and gave me a sad smile.
"Thanks Peter but it's not that simple." She said. She brushed some of Harry's hair away, he just seemed to look at Lily worriedly. He was a fairly intuitive young boy.
"No it is. If you weren't a witch you wouldn't have met any of us and don't you prefer having magic in your life then being a Muggle?" I said. I've cracked, someone help me!
"I suppose." The door opened and James came in looking quite serious.
"I've sent messages to Sirius and Dumbledore." He said. He looked at me. "How are you doing?" He asked seriously.
"I'm alright, just trying to cheer up Lily." I said. James looked to Lily again and gave her a slightly sad look.
"Lily, it's not your fault." He said as if reading her mind. Lily stood up and glanced at James before leaving the room with Harry. Harry soon appeared in the room again and went to James. James gave him a soft smile.
"Lily's been a bit emotional recently." James said, "I think it's that time of month." I nodded, I really didn't need to know that. "So, what happened?"
"Death Eater attack, got stunned, that's about the gist of it." I said. James nodded.
"And April was with you?" I nodded. "Oh, Lily's really not going to like that." James said with a sigh.
"What are we going to do about it?"
"Well, you will be staying here until you're fully recovered. Lily's orders, she dropped out of healer training but she knows what she's talking about. We're getting the guys back. I also sent a message to Remus and Jenny asking if they could come back. I think Lily could use Jenny's company." James said. I nodded.
"So have you made any progress on the Fidelius thing yet?" I asked him. James frowned.
"Lily's making the potion but both us still have our doubts. Dumbledore has offered to be our secret Keeper but we really don't know what we want to do. We know it'll be the best thing we could do but in a way it means we can't leave the house because neither one of us wants to leave Harry with only one parent." James said.
"Well, you know, I'll always be happy to be secret keeper if you want me to." I said. Outside I was being serious, inside I was smiling as I saw James contemplate it.
"Thanks but I think we'll think about it first. You know, we can't be too sure." I nodded. Well, at least he was considering me now.
"James, Dumbledore is here." I heard Lily say. James got up and gave me a look then left the room. James had only been gone a few minutes when the door opened again when Harry poked his head in again. Honestly, didn't that kid have anything better to do? He stood by the door and just stared at me, he clutched a teddy bear in his hands and had his thumb in his mouth. That kid was a bit weird.
"What?" I asked him. Harry just stood and stared at me. It's strange but I felt slightly uncomfortable under his gaze, like he was the only one who could see straight through me. A thought occurred to me. Could I risk getting killed by Lily and James? I could. It was so easy, I could just take Harry right there and then and take him to the Dark Lord. That was it, it would be the end of his searching. I winced as I sat up. I saw Harry straighten as he looked at me. I saw him holding his teddy a bit tighter. I felt the pain going through me and I had to stop exerting myself. I let myself flop back on the bed. Maybe I'll wait a while. Harry just stood there and looked at me. I shook my head and looked towards the window.
"Harry" said Lily gently from outside the room.
"Mummy." Harry said, he looked at the door. Lily came in.
"Sorry about Harry, I don't know what's going on with him today." Lily picked up Harry and started talking to him. "Don't annoy Peter, he's not feeling very well." Lily said closing the door behind them. When she'd closed the door I felt my arm burning. I quickly pulled up my sleeve and looked at my arm. The mark on my forearm was burning brightly on my skin. I gritted my teeth, I couldn't go to him now, I could barely sit up. I'd go and see them when I felt better, which would probably be in a few days.
Wow I was right. One day I'm lying in bed, Lily all distraught and James trying to comfort her, next minute I'm walking down into the basement of the Malfoy house. It's the securest place we know of. Well here and The Dark Lord's lodgings but he doesn't want to see April right now. I followed Malfoy through the house with Lestrange and a few other Death Eaters.
"Remember don't mention his name." Malfoy said pointing at me. "We need him undercover." I glanced around, why did we need so many people? Was April really that dangerous?
"Why do we need so many Death Eaters?" I asked Malfoy. I lifted my hood up so that April wouldn't see me.
"We don't, it's just like a guard in case she escapes" Malfoy said. "We've kept her unconscious for a few days now while we sort out some more permanent accommodation for her." He came to a door and opened it with his wand. I immediately regretted what I'd done. In the few days April had been here she looked like she'd been here for a few weeks.
"What happened to her?" I asked Malfoy.
"Bella and Rudolph decided to have some fun." Malfoy said. I went to April and slowly crouched down and pushed her over onto her back. She winced as she rolled onto her arm. She let out a pained moan and her eyes fluttered open for a moment. Her eyes seemed very unfocussed and she looked confused. I bit my lip almost nervously. If she found out it was me. She rolled her head over and I lifted her so that she was sitting up.
"Will she be ok?" I asked.
"Why should we care?" I thought for an answer.
"Well, the healthier she is the quicker she's going to give us answers." I said. April let out another moan and winced slightly. I stood up and turned to Malfoy. He didn't look that convinced.
"Very well, we'll cut down on the torturing but it's always more fun torturing a witch then a muggle."
"What influence is that on Draco?" I asked him. Malfoy tensed. I felt someone tug on my robes and saw April holding them. I pulled them out of her grip and then looked at Malfoy.
"I'm going" I said. I left the room and apparated away. I couldn't stand being in that room for much longer with April like that. I really don't know why. I'm the reason she's there. I closed my eyes as I stood in my apartment. Ok, breath for a moment and let myself calm down. Why was I getting worked up over this? I'd tried to kill Jenny once and I've attacked Lily before. I shook myself and took off the Death Eater robes. Ok, again, my answer to everything, sleep on it and figure out what to do tomorrow.
A/N:-Thank you for all your wonderful reviews. And just to tell you....JAMES AND LILY WILL NOT DIE!!! there will be a seperate story thingy where i'm gonna paste the Alternate ending. I'll tell u when it comes to it. Had a good week last week, got a loverly nice tan from the Isle of Wight, it was much better then i thought, and I have many incriminating photos of my friends, mwahaha. Anyway, hope you liked this chapter, or hate Peter, your choice, Next chapter is Jenny's chapter and The Chinese Rescue (big up the Chinese!)....no i'm not Chinese, I'm half Korean but i've been going through a Mulan and Pocahontas obsession recently. CUrrently listening to Reflection....HOW GOOD ARE DISNEY SONGS?!?!?!?! So as a result....I'm writing something about native Americans and british colonials......haha, Anyway, please tell me what you thought of this chapter there is about......5 chapters left of this story, I'm currently writing the alternate penultimate chapter...I have to write 2 versions of Lily's POV.....grrr.