Title: Remembering the Forgotten: I
Summmary: Peter Pettigrew has become synonymous with the words traitor, rat, and sneak but what if he's undeserving of that? This is the story of Peter Pettigrew's first year as a student in Hogwarts as he discovers friendship, self-acceptance, and courage.
Pairings: none for this one, I think
Feedback: All feedback is appreciated, as long as it is not needless flames. Those you can keep to yourself.
Rating/Warnings: PG/um...very disturbing mental images, I guess. (not disturbing to me...sighs dreamily)
Disclaimer: J.K Rowling's imagination owns: Hogwarts, the Marauders, Lily Evans/Potter, Frank Longbottom, Alice Longbottom (though Murphy as a maiden name is mine) Rubeus Hagrid, Severus Snape (swoons...sorry, I am in love with him...and I have finished the sixth book and I was terrified sobs hysterically My Sevvypoo would never do that! He's evil enough, sure, but not powerful enough), Quidditch, and anything else found in my stories that can also be found in the Harry Potter books. The only thing I make/earn out of writing fanfiction is to fill my endless, meaningless days and to distract myself from the pain of life. Just kidding, I mainly have a lot of fun. I did make a dollar once for completing a story, but it was bet...can I be sued for legal gambling? Well, to let you know ahead, the most you'd get is a four-bedroomed house, one room that smells permanently of guinea pig, even though he died five years ago sniffs sadly at memories. It's not my room, though. Oh, you might also get a blue Astro van that is...nine years old. The automatic passenger window is stuck shut, the driver's window can stick when it's open and the air conditioning doesn't work. And it smells faintly of cat pee, and there are a bunch of lollipop sticks that are years old, stuck to the carpet. Yeah, too much information...and this is the longest disclaimer I've ever read/seen/written. Did I miss anything?
Author's Notes: For anyone who might be reading this and live in London or near it, I live in Florida, USA...but I was really devastated when I heard about the attacks. I was at my friend's house when I heard for the first time on MTV news and we both started crying a little bit. Especially because she had an aunt staying there for vacation, but luckily she wasn't there during the bombs. And then very recently I heard that the man the police killed in suspicion was really innocent... and then the attacks in Egypt...it's bad enough the terrorists are attacking people for their religion, but to attack people of their religion? It makes no sense to me. I think it was about eighty-five died, and the majority were Muslim.
Okay...no more rants today. Just one last thing, in my world everyone starts Hogwarts when they're twelve and graduate when they're nineteen. So, yes, this is a bit of an AU. Enjoy. Oh, and a cool thing to try on MicrosoftWord is rand(1,5) and then press enter. You can change the numbers however you want, as long as they aren't too long. I think a hundred is the highest, but I could be wrong.
Chapter Two:
"You cheat," Professor Snape sneered, looking down his hooked nose at me. "Such a moronic imbecile as you could never even remotely concoct a potion that resembles the correct form."
"Hiding behind our impressive vocabulary, are we?" James murmured, just loud enough for Snape to hear.
"Excuse me?" he asked harshly, eyes narrowing. "Twenty points from Gryffindor. Behave, Potter." James grinned lazily and saluted, looking more amused then concerned. Two splotches of red appeared on his cheeks, and I cringed at the look of murder in his eyes. He opened his mouth to deal more punishment when Sirius interrupted.
"Behave, Potter," he mocked in a high falsetto. "Otherwise, we won't fu-" James cast a dark look at his friend and gestured very rudely. An image popped, unbidden, into my mind of James and Snape entangled together, but I banished it just as quickly, going red and pinching my robes between my fingers. What was wrong with me?
"Detention, both of you," Snape roared, just as Sirius stood and pranced around the classroom giggling like a four-year-old and plastering his hands across his chest. James, meanwhile, had dropped his anger and was busy stuffing lumps of potion ingrediants up his shirt. He finished but had to cup his enlarged chest so it wouldn't fall out.
"Kiss me, you fool," he cried dramatically to Sirius, pretending to be oblivious to Snape's shouting and the class's overwhelming laughter. He fell into waiting arms and fluttered his eyelashes. Sirius played along and slowly leaned down and for the first time I allowed myself to laugh quietly. But at the small release, everything else exploded in me and soon Remus and I were leaning against each other, laughing with our heads thrown back.
Just when their lips were half an inch away, the door burst open. For a moment it looked like Sirius would drop James, but then he recovered pulled him into an upright position, slinging an arm around his best friend's shoulder and grinning as innocently as he could. Professor Dumbledore stood in the doorway, eyes blazing, and I covered my head, bending over and resting on the desk.
They were escorted out, promised many detentions, and I caught Remus's eye, who was shaking his head as he smiled down at his books, carefully arranging them on his desk. He winked and nodded at the magically conjured time, which glowed in fiery red digital numbers on the wall. There was five minute left in class, and I turned to Remus, confused. Then I noticed every single student had stacked up their books on the corner of their desk. A piece of paper fluttered before me and I snatched it, flushing and watching Professor Snape studiously, waiting for his back to turn. When he did, I scanned the note, and chewed my lower lip out of anxiety, crumbling the note up and putting it in my pocket just in time to avoid Snape's angry glare sweeping the classroom. Obviously, he was in foul mood from the display James and Sirius had put on. Of course, I knew why they were being so disruptive today. It was the last day before the four day weekend we had for Halloween.
I checked the time again. A minute until class ended. I began to sweat nervously on my palms and licked my lips before reaching out and, as quietly as possible, stacking my books up. Just as I reached for the last one, Remus accidentally hit the table with his knee as a Slytherin on his way to the supply cabinet kicked him from behind. My sweaty hands couldn't hold on to the slippery protective cover and it crashed into my mountain of five text books, toppling them all onto the floor with a crash that silenced the rare and muted whispers through the classroom. Snape whirled around, eyes narrowed, just as Remus picked up his books and dropped them heavily on the ground, on purpose. I felt my eyes go wide as Snape directed his beam at Remus, who was humming innocently and kneeled onthe floor, picking up his books as if the murderous-looking professor hadn't just witnessed him slam his books on the floor.
"Sorry professor," he said as genuinely as possible, flashing him a wide smile that looked out of place on Remus's - there was no other way to describe them than gentle - features, to me at least. "Bug." Professor Snape, his face going red, opened his mouth in a snarl jsut as clas ended. Remus swept his books into his bag and disappeared out the door before anyone else ahd registered class was over. I grabbed a fistful of my robes and began twisting, too stunned to move, and eventually pulled myself from my daze. No sooner had I finished packing up than Professor Snape swept over, robes billowing as he scowled. Severus hung at the back, gloating as he watched his father yell at me. I focused on blocking out the words, flushing deeply as I worried my robes, until he reached the part about my actual punishment.
"-fifty points from Gryffindor, and detention for a month," he finished, attempting to scowl and smirk at the same time and ending up with something dangerously close to a humane smile. Odd...
"Yes sir," I mumbled, not caring I would miss the Halloween festivities. Most of them required a date, and even the first years would have one...except I wouldn't. People obviously thought I didn't see the pitying looks I got, mainly from girls as they walked around in packs. Like wild animals on the hunt...
I grimaced at my strange thoughts and pushed them away, focusing instead on the fact I would be scrubbing cauldrons for the next month. I had the impulse to smack my head against something, but substituted that for slamming my bag on my Transfiguration desk, only to realize I had Charms next. I came close to swearing but decided to put the effort into spritning towards the classroom, on the other side of the castle, a few people laughing as they saw my...weight, you could say, jiggling as I ran. And although no one knew it, that was the reason I snuck down to the kitchens (which I had discovered in the first week, so disgustingly food-obsessed was I), at midnight, to pig out on anything with chocolate.
At lunch, I stared up at the mournful face of Remus Lupin, who looked vicious despite his...sadness? He was stabbing his broccoli as if it was responsible for world hunger and kept muttering nonsense things. James and Sirius were too involved in reliving their potions experience for third years to notice, so I decided to ask.
I took a deep breath and blurted, "Why?" Remus looked up, eyebrows raised.
"Hmm?" His noise of bare interest lowered my confidence nominally and once more I reached for as much robe as I could hold in my hands. I was actually starting to get annoyed with this particular habit and forced myself to let go. Instead, I picked up my spoon and swirled my soup.
"Why d-did you do what y-you did...you kn-know...um, in p-potions..." I trailed off as he looked up sharply before sighing, running a hand through his hair.
"Can we talk about this later? I'm not in a very good mood right now," he answered, slightly testy, and I blinked in surprise. He must have read something on my face because he sighed again. "Look, it's not about you. My mum's very ill and I need to go visit her." I went white at his last sentence and looked down.
"Yeah, I kn-know," I muttered.
"What?"
"I mean, m-my mum's sick too. She hasn't g-gotten out of b-bed in a year," I explained, feeling embarassed as James and Sirius had started listening.
"Oh, Peter..." he let my name die and James and Sirius exchanged looks.
"N-no, it's alright," I assured the three, suddenly tingling in happiness at their obvious concern. I'd never told anyone about my mum before, because I'd never had any friends. The only people who knew were dad and my grandma. My grandpa had died before I turned five and mum was an only child. I didn't know about dad's parents or siblings because he'd been disowned when he was sixteen.
"We're going to go exploring tonight," Sirius said after a few moments of silence. "Want to come?"
"W-won't we get caught?" I asked, worried. James laughed and shook his head.
"I'll show you after dinner," he murmured just as he stood and looked at Sirius. "Time for flying lessons. You coming, Remus, Peter?" Remus nodded and took one last bite before standing and brushing his crumbs off his robes. He dipped a finger in water and rubbed a smear of something off his face. I smiled when he caught my eye, for I would never have expected Remus to be a messy eater. He grinned back and we left the Great Hall. It was a five minute walk and James and Sirius started a challenge to see who could find the most varaties of non-magical plants growing on the Hogwarts grounds. James and Remus died, with ten different plants, and Sirius was second with eight. I was last with three, but it was still fun.
"Was that Whomping Willow there before?" James asked Sirius, who had a brother and two cousins already in Hogwarts, although I didn't know this for a while. James's father and mother were wizards, but his mother was muggleborn and his father was halfblood. Sirius was a pureblood however, and Remus's family had been completely magical for the past century. When we discussed family, I didn't mention that I was a mix of a Muggle and a Squib.
"No, they never threatened to leave me tied to the Whomping Willow," he said, just a hint of dark anger in his voice. "Obviously, that means it doesn't exist." I noticed Remus was concentrating on his feet and his strides had lengthened but I remained silent and hurried to catch up, leaving the other two in a conversation of complaining about siblings.
Madame Hooch looked like she was barely out of Hogwarts, but I had heard she was an emergency replacement, due to a flying accident the other instructor had. She had amber eyes and spiky black hair, and something about her scared me. Remus also tensed up when he saw her and she nodded at him, a strange look on her face.
"You know her?" James whispered as we stood beside a school broom.
"You could say that," he answered sourly, kicking at a clump of weeds. "I'll tell you later." I didn't realize it then, but with Remus it was always later.