So finally, the 3rd chapter! Myfantastic beta finally got round to beta-ing it for me, though it was kinda my fault...forgot to give her the document! whoops!Anyway...this is Peter'schapter so i apologisein advance forthere being no Remus and Sirius present this time!
Thank you to Wolfstar and Georgie's girl for the lovely reviews! I really apprieciate it.
Just a note, this is AU i suppose, coz i really don't think this would happen...anyway...
Right, i quite like this chapter, but not really that much...i seriously hope this starts to get better or i might just give up...but enough of me talking...on with the story!
Chapter 3 – Wanted Dead or Alive
I guess, looking back on it now, it was the stupidest thing I ever did. It was the biggest mistake of my life and now, now I'm left to face the consequences. But, back then, it hadn't seemed like such a bad thing to do. It just spiralled off from all the other mistakes I'd made in my poor, miserable life. Each one leading me nearer to the big finale, the final blow. Oh, I'll admit I didn't have to make it. I could have resisted but by that point I was powerless to do anything more than follow when my anger, or my jealousy, led the way. It wasn't my first mistake, but it was the only mistake I realised I couldn't come back the same way I had entered.
My first mistake, unless you count being born, was making friends in my first year at Hogwarts. I was incredibly young, rather stupid and, to be honest, quite fat. I'd never had friends before that, I'd never really tired hard enough to make friends. That was until I met James Potter.
Peter Pettigrew looked up from his writing and gazed out the open window. It was colder than normal for the time of year and he silently cursed his Master for choosing to hide out in a castle with no glass in the windows - at least not in the room he was in. Sighing, he listened to the dull thud of the rain on the roof above as he idly tapped his fingers on the desk to a half remembered tune. This wasn't how he'd expected to live his life, spending more time as a rat than a human and hiding in an old, almost ruined castle somewhere in the north of Scotland with his Master while the Ministry of Magic ran around like headless chickens trying to sort out the mess they had made in denying the Dark Lord's return. But then, he wasn't really sure what he had expected out of life.
When he'd been younger, just after he and his friends had left Hogwarts, he'd imagined a life surrounded by them, with a wife and maybe a child or two, all the while trying to accept that the person he loved would never be his. But that had been his downfall, he realised now. He wasn't able to accept, he'd been driven by jealousy that they would never be his, angry at them for not noticing him, and angry at himself for not trying hard enough. And then the war swept them all into its centre.
He'd had a fight, he remembered, with James over something so small he couldn't even remember what it was now and had stormed out to be on his own. He remembered sitting in an empty park not far from the Potters' house, smoking a cigarette and staring out into the darkness as he wallowed in his own pity and self-loathing.
Flashback
The old Muggle swing creaked slightly beneath him as he rocked slowly. The cigarette perched on his lip glowing a dull orange in the dark park. His mind dwelled on the argument still fresh in his mind. It was stupid, he couldn't even remember what had started it. Just that he'd arrived at James' house, talked about old times and suddenly they were arguing.
Laying his head against the cold steel chain, he sighed. In his mind he could still see the blazing anger that rolled between them as James shoved him out the door, could still feel the pain where he had fallen and scraped his knees on the Potters' drive. He could see James now, still fuming while Lily tried to comfort him and tell him it didn't matter, kissing him. Wincing, he tried to block the thoughts of jealousy springing to his mind as he thought of Lily and James together.
"Pettigrew." A voice drawled from behind him.
Tangling the chains of the swing together, Peter spun to face the owner of the voice. A cloaked figure stood just inside the shadow of the climbing frame, their hood up so he couldn't see their face.
"Who are you?" He voiced his thoughts without realising it.
The figure stepped forward, a little light from a nearby street lamp glinted off blonde hair, and a pair of grey eyes gleamed. Lowering the hood, the figure revealed his face. Peter gasped. He recognised this face. Alright, he hadn't seen it since his first years at Hogwarts but that was enough. The owner of that face had made his life hell for a whole year.
"Lucius Malfoy." The figure held out his hand.
Reluctantly, Peter shook it.
"So, Pettigrew, how are you these days?"
Peter took a drag on his cigarette. He couldn't be bothered with this right now.
"Don't bother with small talk, Malfoy. What do you want?" he said irritably.
Malfoy sighed and moved closer. Leaning against the steel support, he lowered his voice, "I have a proposition to make."
End Flashback.
Slumping back against the hard back of his chair, Peter found himself staring down at his paper. He remembered that day as if it were yesterday, the day his life changed course forever. Once you're in, he thought as he coloured in the loop on the P of his name, you can never back out. He dipped his quill into the ink pot
James Potter. He wrote. I remember the first time I saw him….
Before long he was immersed in his writing. It was his way of looking back on his life, of realising where he went wrong and preserving it forever on the page. In a way it was something to remind him of what he had been, of the life he had lived before his Master had recruited him. But mostly, it was to remind himself of the one person he would never see again.
"Wormtail." Drawled a lazy voice from the doorway.
Torn from his writing, Peter looked up. Malfoy (A/N: I'm aware that he was arrested in OotP so this is slightly AU) stood in the doorway, a smirk on his face and twirling a silver knife in his hand.
"Don't you knock?"
"Watch it, Wormtail." Warned Malfoy. "I was sent to tell you that the Dark Lord wants to see you."
"H-He does?" Despite his current situation, Peter still felt nervous in the Dark Lord's presence; hell he felt nervous whenever he thought about him.
"Yes. He does."
"Oh. Okay… I'd b-better go then, hadn't I?" said Peter, wishing he was braver then he felt.
He followed Malfoy out the room and along a dark corridor until they came to a crumbling set of stairs. Peter began to descend down them. The stairs were old, and dangerous if you didn't watch your step. One misplaced foot could send you through several floors of rotting wood. Eventually, he arrived at the only surviving door in this wing of the castle. It was large and made of, probably, thick oak with a distorted image of what seemed like an angel carved there.
Knocking twice on the door before stepping into the room, he glanced around him, taking in the decor - something he did out of habit nowadays. The room was dark with ornate stain-glass windows, one of which was smashed, and more ageing figures of angels carved upon the stone. A fire was burning in the fireplace and the arched roof gave Peter the idea that this had once been a private chapel of some sort.
He walked over so he stood beside the large armchair by the fire. Kicking absentmindedly at a tuft of grass poking up through the stone floor, he turned to the wizard in the chair.
"Wormtail."
"Yes, my Lord?" said Peter.
"I want you to tell me what you know of the Order of the Phoenix."
"The Order? But, my Lord…"
"No buts, Wormtail." Said the Dark Lord. "Tell me who was in it last time."
Peter took a deep breath. He preferred not to think about the Order, thinking about them meant… "Well…" he began.
He thought back, trying to remember the names of people he had forgotten long ago, and trying to forget the names he did remember.
"Well…?" Said Voldemort.
"There was…Dumbledore, Moody, Benjy Fenwick, Edgar Bones…Gideon Prewett…err…"
"Yes, yes I know all those. Who else?"
"L-Lily…Lily and James," Peter hung his head. "…Sirius B-Black and Remus…"
"Exactly."
Peter blinked. Surely he didn't mean…? What was he planning? "Exactly what? My Lord?"
"Exactly that. Wormtail." An odd sort of smile appeared on Voldemort's mouth. "Exactly that. I want you to bring me Remus Lupin."
Right, well thats the end of Chapter 3! please tell me what you think...
Next Chapter: Sirius learns more about the land of the dead!
