The Marauders

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Harry Potter and all of the characters belong to J. K. Rowlings and some book companies.

A/N: Here is where the story really begins. And I do realize that this image of Peter Pettigrew will be extremely different than the one you've seen in most other fics. I like to be different.

Italics for thoughts.


As the years had passed, Peter had grown closer to the other three, having a slightly different, yet distinct, relationship with each of them. James was a leader. The other three looked up to him, and accepted his decisions almost without question. Sirius was witty, charming, handsome, funny, intelligent… he was James's closest friend, and Peter very nearly worshiped the ground he walked on. Remus was their conscience, and their brain. He restrained their plans, and helped work out details. Peter… Peter was a shadow. His influence, though strong, went unnoticed by almost everybody. He was, seemingly, just a loser riding on the tail of his friends' popularity and cleverness. In fact, however, he was possessed of an almost Slytherin cleverness, and his plans were the ones they used to get Snape without being caught. He had a remarkable ability to evade notice; thus he also was the actual executor of many schemes which were credited to James or Sirius.

In the first year, he discovered Remus's lycanthropy. In the fourth year, he was the one who first had the idea to become animagi. The day after, while they were celebrating their accomplishment, Peter had an epiphany.

"You know, now that we have this done, we ought to have nicknames, something that goes with our animagus forms… for our first, I submit to you 'Moony' for Remus."

Remus nodded. "Good idea… hmm… Wormtail?"

Peter grinned.

James looked at Sirius. "What do you think? Padfoot?"

Sirius grumbled, his smile belying his irritated words. "…Sounds stupid…" He trailed off, then raised an eyebrow at James. "Prongs?"

James nodded, then spoke. "That works… but if we all have nicknames, we should have one for our little group as well. Something… dashing, and roguish."

Peter snorted. "You make us sound like pirates."

Remus, however, looked thoughtful. "Pirates? No. How about… Marauders?"

The other three looked at each other. Sirius grinned. "Sounds good."

James nodded. "Marauders it is."


Peter lay in his bed, staring at the ceiling, dark thoughts pouring through his head. Words ran through his head… Avada Kedavra… Crucio… Imperio… Something about those words just felt so sweet. As if they were the ultimate high, a narcotic to the emotions… A way to forget the people who called him 'That fat boy who follows around Sirius and James.' The worst part was the sheer innocence with which they said it. If it had been meant to hurt, it would be different; but that was simply how they thought of him since no one could remember his name. He daydreamed about killing them, torturing them, making them all bleed… That would show them, they have no fucking clue what they're doing to me.

He reached over to his nightstand, where a small dagger rested. He grabbed it gently, feeling it's weight, then holding it to his wrist. Hell, that would show them too… He shook his head, knowing he didn't have the guts to do anything like that. Cursing his cowardice, he put the dagger back, then rolled over and fell into a fitful sleep.


The next day was a Hogsmeade weekend, and The Marauders were sitting in the Three Broomsticks, deep in conversation, when Peter suddenly stopped, grinned, and pulled an envelope out of his pocket.

"I just remembered, Mum sent these this morning!" And he pulled four pieces of paper out with a flourish. "Tickets to go see Cruciatus in concert!"

Remus' eyes lit up. "Ah, the greatest rock band ever."

Sirius smirked. "Yeah, they sound good… of course," He got a dreamy look in his eyes and continued. "Of course the best part is their motorbikes."

James chuckled at Sirius, then turned to Peter. "Say, Wormtail, when is the concert?"

Peter grinned and spoke one word, getting all their attention. "Tonight"


That night, during the concert, Peter looked up at the stage, and just listened to the lyrics. On one side of him Sirius was talking to a large group of girls, promising each of them in turn at 'The Big Dog' as he seemed to have started calling himself. Stupid, really, but none of the girls seemed to care. On the other side, Remus was laying back, as if sleeping, but if you watched, he was rocking his head slightly from side to side, losing himself entirely in the sounds pouring from the stage. James had a group of girls similar to Sirius's, but he seemed to be trying to get rid of them.

Peter's attention drifted. So many people had sort of floated toward the four, but nobody had even said a word to 'the fat boy who followed Sirius and James around.' He set his head back and closed his eyes for a depressed evening, but then heard a wonderful voice.

"Hey"

That voice was so beautiful… he assumed that the owner of the voice was trying to get Sirius's attention, but it persisted. He opened his eyes and looked. The owner of the voice was a girl his age… not a great beauty, despite her voice, but pretty nonetheless.

"Yeah?"

She looked at him for a second. "You look familiar… aren't you--?"

He cut her off. "Yeah, yeah, the fat boy who follows Sirius and James around. No, I won't talk to either of them for you, or Remus for that matter."

She looked affronted. "That's not what I wanted!"

"Oh?" His face showed his surprise. "Not a lot of people want to talk to me."

She started to answer, but then took a longer look at him. Over the years, he had built up from the dumpy little boy he had been, and though he was short, he was actually well muscled and not at all bad looking. He had merely picked the three most handsome guys to enter Hogwarts since Dumbledore was a student as his closest friends. Also, he had that aura around him which seemed to force people to ignore him.

She smiled. "Why not? You seem okay to me…"

"I don't know, really… people just don't seem to notice me." He shrugged. "That's just the way things are."

She shook her head. "Well, now you have a friend. I'm Maria Wood. I'm in Ravenclaw."

"Peter Pettigrew, Gryffindor."

"Nice to meet you… so, you like Cruciatus?"

"Yeah… they're pretty awesome. Some of those Muggle bands are better, but try telling that to anybody at Hogwarts."

She grinned. "I know. I'm Muggle-born, so I have first hand experience… my favorite band is Queen. Nothing beats "Bohemian Rhapsody."

Peter nodded, then smiled… "I dunno, there are some American bands that—"

She cut him off. "That is sacrilege. What do the Yanks know about rock?"

Peter quirked an eyebrow. "One might almost consider claiming that they invented it…"

Maria shook her head adamantly. "That's just what they want you to believe." She shifted her eyes around in mock-suspicion.

Peter laughed. Then he remembered something. "What did you want to talk about in the first place?"

Maria started to say something… then stopped. "You know, I honestly don't remember…" She shrugged. "Must not have been important… I'll probably remember some time later."

Peter grinned. "Yeah, we all forget things. Here, come sit with us. We don't bite…" He snickered slightly, thinking of Remus, then explained it away when Maria looked at him. "Inside joke."

The two of them continued to joke and mess around for the rest of the concert… and by the end, they had a date scheduled for the next Friday.


That night, Peter kissed his dagger before bed, then locked it away in a drawer. His thoughts were untainted by dark curses as he laid his head down, and went to sleep.