1Peter sat quietly in his living room with Sirius and Remus.

Peter wasn't sure why they were grinning stupidly at him, and he didn't like the feeling. Either they knew something they weren't going to tell him, or they would eventually tell him, and he would be the last to know, again.

"Come on, you guys," Peter begged.

"Okay," Sirius nearly shouted from excitement.

Remus interrupted him immediately, voice almost as excited. "But you can't tell James, because he doesn't know. And you can't tell Lily that you know, or she'll kill me for telling you guys."

Peter was getting worried. That was a lot of people to avoid broaching a subject with, especially if it was as exciting as they made it out to be.

"Alright," Peter tentatively agreed.

"Lily's going to have a baby!" Sirius blurted.

There was a moment of awkward silence, Remus and Sirius expecting an outburst of happiness from their friend. But Peter was floored. He hadn't even considered that possibility before.

"What?" he whispered.

Sirius' smile faltered slightly at the look of disgust on Peter's face.

"It's James' baby," Sirius assured, confused by Peter's reaction.

"Why?" Peter asked aloud, though more to himself than to the others.

Remus answered carefully, aware of Peter's attitude, "To make up for all of the easy years of James' life. It's payback time, and this kid's my hero."

"Ooh!" Sirius realized. "Diapers!"

"And bottles, late nights, early mornings, slobbering..." Remus appeared to have thought the entire thing through. "When he walks, he'll be into everything, if he's anything like his dad."

"He?" Peter piped in questioningly.

"Oh," Remus shyly backtracked. "It has to be a boy, right? What would James do with a girl?"

The three of them began to laugh so hard at Remus' observation that Peter forgot to feel upset. He wasn't even sure why he felt that way to begin with.

Peter held up a good front until the others left, but the idea of Lily having James' kid was upsetting him again as he sat alone in his living room. He'd never told James, but he sort of felt abandoned when James got married. And now this kid would be the focus of James' world forever.

Peter really wished that he could be happy for his friend, but he wished even more that he could have his friend's life. James always had everything that Peter dreamed of; popularity, smarts, Lily and now this kid. But most importantly, James was significant. He held power. And Peter really wanted power.

Peter was beginning to feel bitter. He was beginning to resent James, but he didn't have much time to dwell on this, as the other two were back soon with drinks.