Disclaimer: Of course I don't own Harry Potter.

A Glimpse of the Future

by Mayleesa

It was a night like any other. Peter had just finished another detention. Stupid "Marauders." While he loved the fun times they had, he hated the price they always had to pay for it. Nothing could ever be simple. Everything had to be overly complicated and dangerous. The escapade that had landed him this detention was a stupid prank on Snivillus during class. He didn't even have a problem with Snape, but James had convinced him to do it. All he did was throw some monkswood into Snape's cauldron. It blew up and the fumes turned him all red from his greasy hair down to his shoes. It was really funny, but now, looking back on it, it wasn't worth the four hours he just spent cleaning the floor of the trophy room.

Of course, he was just going to fall into the same trap as always. He looked up to his friends and didn't want them to think any less of him than they already did. Sure, he forgot things and was a bit clumsy, but that didn't mean he was a buffoon. He would get more powerful someday. Then he'd show them how great he could really be. But how? Peter sighed to himself. He looked up. Where was he? He didn't remember making a wrong turn or forgetting any oddities this route had on certain days. Peter bit his lip. He turned around and instead of seeing the plain hallway, there was now a strange mist covering the corridor he had just walked.

"What's going on?" Peter said to no one in particular.

Nothing happened. It was then that Peter realized how bare this particular corridor really was. There were no paintings, tapestries, or statues of any kind. Peter turned around and continued walking, trying to shake the eerie feeling he was getting from that mist. It seemed as if it was calling to him. He continued to walk forward, getting as far away as he could. How Gryffindor of you, Pete! Running away again. Maybe it was time to be as gutsy as his friends. Peter spun around and found that the mist was still directly behind him. Weird. Peter took a deep breath and stepped into it, shaking madly. As soon as he did, the world around him seemed to explode with a brilliant light. Abruptly, the light stopped flashing. He looked around at his new settings. There was nothing. Absolutely nothing. He was in a pure white void. It was almost too bright to see clearly.

"Hello?" Peter called out, squinting to try to make out any sort of shape.

Peter turned around. Nothing. It was all the same. There weren't even any shadows if he didn't count his own.

Peter growled, "Come ON! There has to be something here! Not English? Bonjour? Hola? Ciao? OI!"

"Hello Peter Pettigrew," a monotonic voice replied.

"Oh shit!" he stumbled backwards. "What do you want with me?" Peter was panicked. What was going on?

"What do you want?" the voice replied.

Peter took several deep breathes. A disembodied voice asking him strange questions. He had to get out. "Send me back home!"

The voice chuckled, "No, Peter. Think. What do you want?"

Peter paused. What did he want? Well, power of course. He had always longed to be as good as or better than stupid James and Sirius. They always did well at anything and everything they tried. Sports. Girls. School. Wandwork. Anything. Everything. Stupid bastards. No! They're not stupid. They're great friends. They just think they're better than me. Peter scowled, "I want to have as much power as James and Sirius."

"Ah, that I cannot give you."

"Why not? Am I not good enough? I'm smart! I may have to work at it harder than everyone else, but I'm still smart. I'm loyal. I try my best. I'm a harder worker than they are! I deserve it. I need power, and I'll get it. You'll see."

"Peter, would you like to see where this sort of power will lead you? Is that what you want?" the voice almost sounded sorry for him.

Peter was stunned, But," he paused, "how?"

"I will send you to the future for 2 hours. While you are there, no one will see you or hear you. It will be almost as if you were watching someone's memory. Would you like to do that?"

Peter stared unblinkingly out into the distance. Well, what did he have to lose? "All right," he agreed, trying not to allow his voice to waver.

The white flashed brilliantly, blinding him momentarily, giving way to a familiar sight...the front grounds of Hogwarts. What time was he in? Why was he here of all places? Was his future self at Hogwarts? He saw something going on over at Hagrid's cabin. Peter decided to go see what was happening.

Peter watched the sun set as he walked across the lawn. Suddenly, three people ran out of Hagrid's hut. There was a girl with bushy hair, a boy with red hair, and another boy who looked shockingly like James. Who were those kids? He jogged to catch up to them. The red head was struggling with a rat that looked a lot like he did when he transformed. That couldn't be him though.

"Scabbers, it's me, you idiot, it's Ron," Ron hissed.

"Oh, Ron, please let's move, they're going to do it!" the bushy haired girl pleaded quietly.

"Okay – Scabbers, stay put --" Ron told the rat. The trio moved away. The rat continued to struggle for freedom.

Peter wondered what they were all so upset over, and turned to watch what was happening. He saw a man with a very sharp ax gazing longingly at a bird-horse thing that was tied up to a tree. Dumbledore was comforting Hagrid while a very stuffy looking man oversaw the entire thing. Peter suddenly knew why that girl wanted to get away. They were going to kill that animal. Peter didn't want to see that. He followed the trio. He heard the ax swish and thud. He cringed. The three teens in front of him were extremely upset. Understandable. Peter decided to focus on the rat again.

Why was he so obsessed with that bloody rat? It was still going nuts. Crazy rat…it was a wonder the boy hadn't hit it with something to knock it out. The James look-alike turned toward something. Peter glanced in the same direction. A large orange cat was coming towards them. The rat squealed louder. As the cat approached, the rat gave a large effort and finally got away. The trio chased after the rat. Ron was far ahead as the other two attempted to keep up. Peter decided to run after them. When he finally caught up to them, he saw the boy stuff the rat in his pocket.

The girl tried to convince the boys to hide; when suddenly a dog that looked stunningly like Sirius in his animagus form came bounding forward. The dog ran into the James wannabe before jumping onto Ron and biting his arm. The dog dragged the boy away as Ron's friends tried desperately to save him. The black haired boy and the girl were hit with something and were thrown backward. The boy lit his wand. They were in front of the Whomping Willow. Peter saw the dog stop the tree and begin to drag Ron into the tunnel. How did that dog know about that? It had to be Sirius. Peter slipped down the tunnel and watched the dog drag the struggling boy all the way up the stairs. The dog dropped Ron next to the bed and trotted over to the other corner. There the dog turned into a man.

Peter gasped. Was that Sirius? What had happened to him? He looked terrible! It couldn't be Sirius, but who else had that animagus form? Who else would have known about the Whomping Willow's secret? He couldn't believe it.

Ron whimpered, "S-S-Sirius B-Black?!"

Peter was shocked. It was Sirius. Time had not been kind to Sirius at all.

"Don't worry," Sirius said in a very dry voice, "I'm not after you."

"Yeah, like I believe that," Ron said in a pained voice. "Hey! Hey! That's mine!" Sirius had taken Ron's fallen wand. "What are you doing? Why do you want to kill me?"

"I told you, I'm not going to kill you," Sirius said in his hoarse voice.

The door creaked. The puffy orange cat strutted in, and went straight to Sirius. The cat rubbed against Sirius's legs, purring loudly.

"I knew you were evil," Ron glared at the cat. He moved his leg slightly and cringed in pain. The cat walked over Ron's leg and jumped onto the bed. Ron bit his lip trying not to scream out. He clutched his leg.

Peter looked over to the door when he heard people coming up the stairs. It was Ron's friends. They had figured out the tree's secret.

"Ron—are you ok?" the girl asked.

"Where's the dog?" the black-haired boy asked.

"Not a dog," Ron moaned. "Harry, it's a trap—"

So, the boy's name was Harry. Well, he could stop calling him the James imposter.

"He's the dog…he's an Animagus…" Ron continued.

Sirius disarmed the teens and walked towards them. The three of them had terror written across their faces. Why were they all so scared of Sirius? Peter had never seen anyone this afraid of well…anyone. He had to admit Sirius looked bad, but he didn't have a menacing air about him.

"I thought you'd come and help your friend," Sirius croaked. "Your father would have done the same for me. Brave of you, not to run for a teacher. I'm grateful…it will make everything much easier…"

Harry seemed livid. He looked like he truly hated the man before him. Peter had only seen Snape give that sort of look to Sirius. Harry tried to pounce at him, but was held back by his friends.

Ron was standing and looking woozy. He said fiercely, "If you want to kill Harry, you'll have to kill us too!"

Peter was amazed, "What a kid!" That was the first time he had spoken aloud the whole time. This experience was really weird.

Sirius told Ron to lie down. Ron, who didn't seem to be listening, clung tighter to Harry and continued, "Did you hear me? You'll have to kill all three of us."

"There'll be only one murder here tonight," Sirius grinned manically.

Peter gasped. Sirius wouldn't kill anyone.

"Why's that?" Harry was infuriated. "Didn't care last time, did you? Didn't mind slaughtering all those muggles to get at Pettigrew…What's the matter, gone soft in Azkaban?"

Peter fell back. Sirius killed a bunch of muggles? There had to be a mistake! Why would Sirius do that? Sirius wouldn't even kill the spiders in their dorm. He'd pick them up and put them out the window. Maybe he was under the imperious curse. Yeah, there was no other explanation. Peter was taken abruptly from his thoughts by Harry's shouts.

"HE KILLED MY MUM AND DAD!" Harry broke free, punched Sirius, grabbed his wrist. Their wands began to set off sparks. Harry continued to punch him until Sirius's hand wrapped around Harry's throat.

Peter was speechless. This was madness! Pure and utter madness! Sirius had killed James and his wife? No way! There was no way. Peter was distracted by all of the commotion to be able to think properly. The girl ran over to the fight and kicked Sirius off of Harry. Ron tackled Sirius's arm. How that boy was still able to move was beyond Peter. Harry squirmed out of the mess and reached for his wand. The cat tried to stop him. Harry kicked at it and grabbed his wand.

"Get out of the way!" Harry pointed his wand at Sirius who was sprawled on the floor. The wand was poised directly above the man's heart.

"Going to kill me, Harry?" Sirius whispered.

"You killed my parents," Harry said, his voice shaking, but not his body.

"I don't deny it, but if you knew the whole story."

"The whole story? You sold them to Voldemort. That's all I need to know."

"You've got to listen to me," Sirius said sounding panicked. "You'll regret it if you don't….you don't understand…"

"I understand a lot better than you think. You never heard her, did you? My mum…trying to stop Voldemort killing me…and you did that…you did it…"

Before Harry could do anything, the cat jumped onto Sirius right between the wand and Sirius.

Sirius looked at the cat in amazement, but muttered, "Get off."

The cat didn't budge. Harry raised his wand glaring furiously and obviously thinking hard.

Peter couldn't move. It was so mind boggling. He heard someone moving on the stairs.

"WE'RE UP HERE!" the girl screamed. "WE'RE UP HERE – SIRIUS BLACK—QUICK!"

Peter turned toward the stairs. The door burst open in a flash of red. He had never been so shocked in his life. It was Remus. He seemed stunned as well. It was a very bizarre situation to be in. Ron on the floor, the girl in the corner, and Harry standing over Sirius who had a cat on his chest. This was not a sight one saw every day.

Remus disarmed them all, "Where is he, Sirius?"

Peter and the trio looked puzzled. Sirius pointed at Ron. The trio now looked even more bewildered.

Remus even seemed somewhat confused. He started at Sirius, "But then…why hasn't he shown himself before now? Unless—unless he was the one…unless you switched…without telling me?"

Sirius nodded. What were they talking about?

"Professor," Harry said, "what's going on –"

Before Harry his question answered, Sirius and Remus hugged as if they hadn't seen each other in a very long time. Harry looked horrified.

"I DON'T BELIEVE IT!" the girl screamed.

Remus let go of Sirius.

The girl continued, "You—you—"

"Hermione—" Remus tried.

"—you and him!"

"Hermione, calm down—"

"I didn't tell anyone! I've been covering for you—" Hermione exclaimed.

"Hermione, listen to me, please!" Remus shouted. "I can explain—"

Harry was shaking with anger, "I trusted you and all the time you've been his friend!"

Remus was getting along with James' murderer? This didn't make sense at all. They were best friends. All four of them! He still couldn't understand how could Sirius do such a thing? James and Sirius were like brothers. They never left each other's side. James even welcomed Sirius into his home after Sirius had left his own. Why was Remus siding with James' murderer? It just didn't fit. No wonder these kids were mad! Peter watched in astonishment. In running through all of the possibilities that could have lead to this situation, he could hardly hear the conversation anymore. This was pure and utter madness. Peter heard Harry shouting. Moony had been trying to help Padfoot sneak into Hogwarts? Moony denied it, but why was he being to nice to Sirius? It just didn't make sense! Peter then heard perhaps the most shocking thing he had heard all night.

"That's not a rat," Sirius said.

"What d'you mean – of course he's a rat –" Ron said.

"No, he's not," Remus quietly said. "He's a wizard."

"An Animagus," Sirius finished, "by the name of Peter Pettigrew."

Peter's mouth dropped open.

"You're both mental," Harry stated after several moments of stunned silence.

"Ridiculous," Hermione muttered.

"Peter Pettigrew's dead! He killed him twelve years ago!" Harry pointed directly at Sirius.

Peter felt dizzy. Sirius had—no—no way--Sirius had killed him. Peter felt numb. His mouth was dry. He swayed on the spot and fell forward.

Peter moaned. He moved slightly. Was he lying on the ground? He heard someone yelling. Peter felt all around him. Flat, cold, hard, dirty. Yup, had to be the ground. He groaned again and lifted himself off of the floor. Older Sirius. Older Remus. James' kid and his friends. A greasy looking man. Was that Snivellus? It all came rushing back to him. He was in the future. Sirius had killed James and him. Remus was helping Sirius kill Harry. He was dead! That voice had lied! It wasn't showing him what would happen if he had power! How could he have trusted a stupid voice? He was such a fool! He should have been in Hufflepuff. Naïve and cowardly. That's what he was.

Wow! Those kids just disarmed Snape and knocked him out! Wow! They sure had power. Maybe the Hermione girl was his kid! He raised her with awesome power!

What were they arguing about now? They seriously needed to cut to the chase. The rat. Scabbers? Being him? Ridiculous.

Sirius held out a paper clipping. Peter moved closer to look at it. It was of the Ron kid's family.

Sirius started talking, "Fudge. When he came to inspect Azkaban last year, he gave me his paper. And there was Peter, on the front page…on this boy's shoulder…I knew it was him at once…how many times had I seen him transform? And the caption said the boy would be going back to Hogwarts…to where Harry was…"

Remus looked closely at the picture, "My God. His front paw…"

"What about it?" Ron asked.

"He's got a toe missing," Sirius said.

Peter moved in closer. Sure enough, there was a toe missing on the rat. No way.

"Of course," Lupin muttered. "So simple…so brilliant…he cut it off himself?"

"Just before he transformed. When I cornered him, he yelled for the whole street to hear that I'd betrayed Lily and James. Then, before I could curse him, he blew apart the street with the wand behind his back, killed everyone within twenty feet of himself – and sped down into the sewer with the other rats…" Sirius explained.

"Didn't you ever hear, Ron?" Remus said. "The biggest bit of Peter they found was his finger."

Peter sat back onto the torn up bed. He looked at the rat's paw. He looked at his own finger. How could someone cut off their own finger? The thought alone made him feel sick. Peter put his finger down and looked at his hand. He stared at it for a minute before shuddering. He couldn't even imagine it. He watched his hand carefully as he moved his finger up and down again. The feeling of the finger being sliced off. The muscles. The bone. The blood. Eugh. Peter felt himself about to get sick. He ran out of the room and emptied his stomach. Even though he knew they couldn't see him or hear him, he just couldn't throw up in front of other people. When he had finished, he came back into the room.

"THAT'S NOT TRUE!" Harry yelled. "HE WAS THEIR SECRET-KEEPER! HE SAID SO BEFORE YOU TURNED UP! HE SAID HE KILLED THEM!"

"Harry…I as good as killed them," Sirius told him. "I persuaded Lily and James to change to Peter at the last moment, persuaded them to use him as Secret-Keeper instead of me…I'm to blame, I know it…The night they died, I'd arranged to check on Peter, make sure he was still safe, but when I arrived at his hiding place, he'd gone. Yet there was no sign of a struggle. It didn't feel right. I was scared. I set out for your parents' house straight away. And when I saw their house, destroyed, and their bodies…I realized what Peter must've done…what I'd done…"

Sirius turned away, his voice breaking off. Peter was taken aback once again. He couldn't have done that.

"Enough of this," Lupin said coldly. "There's one certain way to prove what really happened. Ron, give me that rat."

Peter closed his eyes. He couldn't take this. He'd probably get sick again, if he was able. He wanted to run off. But he couldn't. He had to see if it was true.

Ron finally gave up the rat. Peter watched as they cast the spell. The rat turned into a short, balding, old man. That man was...no…that man was…him.

"Well, hello, Peter," Remus said pleasantly.

Peter looked up. Was Remus talking to him? Could Remus see him? Peter scoffed at himself. Wrong person.

"Long time, no see," Remus finished greeting.

"S—Sirius…R-Remus…my friends….my old friends…"

It was all true. Good God. Peter found himself breathing very fast. No! No! He had double crossed James. Sentenced Sirius to a life in Azkaban. Left Remus all alone. He put his head in his hands. He couldn't deal with this.

He ran down the stairs of the shack. He didn't care about the conversation anymore. It didn't matter. Peter continued to run until he reached the exit of the tunnel. He snuck past the Whomping Willow and sat underneath the nearest non-violent tree. He tried to collect his thoughts, but found it impossible.

There were so many bad things, but then again…he had finally gained the upper hand. They had finally come to realize just how powerful and great he was. He shook his head. But he had cut off his own finger. He just couldn't get over that. His finger. He lowered that finger again and looked at his hand without that finger. Sick.

Peter looked up again when he heard voices. They were coming out of the shack. Should he run again? No. Not much else could possibly happen now.

When finally the entire group had climbed out, he saw that they had him chained up. Damn it. He couldn't even get betrayal right. He was such a loser. His older self had to get away. He just had to!

"One wrong move, Peter," Remus threatened, his wand pointed at the older man's chest.

That was it. That was all Peter saw before a blinding white light flashed.

Peter found himself now in the void. Now what?

He got no answer to his mental question.

He sat down, thinking about what had just happened.

Peter sat stunned. He knew he should move, but he couldn't. Not after that.

What had he done to deserve this sort of fate? Caught! Going to be turned over to dementors! His future self was a fool. What kind of moron would let himself be seen by both Sirius and Remus? That was just suicide. This time, he wouldn't do that. Oh no. This adventure had taught him that at least. He would triumph over James and Sirius. Now who was looking down on whom? He wasn't the one who would come out on the bottom. What was he saying? He couldn't do this to his friends. They looked out for him. They made him laugh. They were the only people who paid any attention to him. They were great people. Yeah. What was he thinking? He could never do that to his friends.

"Well?" The voice asked.

Peter tried to form words, "That was…certainly educational."

"I'm glad you learned something from it. Now you know what that kind of power can do to you."

"I do," Peter said slowly. "Is--is there any way I can get back to the common room now? I'm really tired."

The white flashed once again, and he covered his eyes this time. When he finally lowered his hand, he saw the Fat Lady in front of him.

He could change things now. Make his situation better. Maybe he wouldn't even have to do this to his fellow marauders. But if he did, he definitely knew not to get caught by them this time. Peter smirked to himself and muttered the password to get into the common room.

---some years later---

As soon as Peter felt Ron's hands grasp him, he knew he had to get away. Peter realized then just how much of a diluted fool he had been. He thought he had made sure this wouldn't happen! Damn it. He struggled and squirmed. He had to get free. Fast.

' 'End' '

I know Harry and Hermione went back 3 hours, but Peter doesn't see them talking to hagrid and he doesn't see the hospital wing scene, so I figured that cuts back around an hour.

Thank you for reading.

Melissa