Hi, so here is another chapter and I hope you all enjoy it. I did say early on that Mary was going to be the tragic figure of this story and so I hope that this makes up for. I don't know if any of this was one hundred percent canon as she was only mentioned like once but...but I like to think so.

Disclaimer-Nothing is mine.

And I tried to write Peter as well as I could. But considering what he turns into I found it hard to write him at all. Sorry, not sorry.

I intend to do one maybe two more chapters and then I will do a multiple update around Christmas. I always do this with whatever story I have and if you have followed my work you with know that. So if we get to December and there are no updates whatsoever please don't panic.


The Beginning Of The End

Chapter 13-Kill Or Be Killed

Again another parallel. Remus, Mary and Peter. Remus goes to the post office as all hell breaks loose, Peter takes his first steps towards being a coward and Mary pays the price for her father's views on Muggle Borns. Some Triggers for next chapter (also not Peter friendly).


Remus had been having a good night. His friends were actually getting their shit together which meant that he didn't have to put up with the poetic waxing (and it had been hard, and it had been years people!) and he was sure that once he doubled back to the Three Broomsticks, Mary McDonald would be waiting for him with a butterbeer.

"Lupin"

Or not.

"Mary?"

"Sorry" she said coming up the small hill to stand next to him. "I thought about going into the pub but it's just so crowded and there are Slytherins and…well…you know"

Remus did know.

"To be honest this was just to give Marlene and Sirius some privacy" he said quietly. "And to see where the hell Peter had gotten too"

Because Peter had just disappeared into the great unknown and Remus did not know what that meant but he knew it was probably nothing good.

Mary nodded. She was wearing a red coat over her skirt and her blouse. This was the opportunity for them to get out of the stuffiness that was robes and Remus was in jeans that had definitely seen better days and he knew it. thankfully if she did then she didn't comment on it. Remus didn't know what to make of all of this. It wasn't like anything with Mary could go anywhere. After all, what kind of relationship could he possibly have? When his life was already over. Had been over since the bite mark on his hip had branded him the eternal monster.

He had James, and he had Sirius and he had Peter and Remus had always told himself that, that was enough but in reality it wasn't. It wasn't enough when everyone around you was falling in love and all you wanted to do was the same thing and you couldn't. You couldn't do anything because what you were was so disgusting that people would happily watch you burn rather than help you.

Furry little problem indeed. Remus would sell his soul for all his problems to be a furry rabbit.

"Remus?"

"Sorry Mary I was away there for a second"

"Can we go back to the pub? I just…it's very cold and I don't…I don't feel scared when you're with me"

Clearly, she meant someone. Remus decided. She could not mean him. She clearly could not mean him. And if she did…well…there was no reason why butterflies should be taking root in his stomach.

Clearly it was the lack of food. Considering Madam Rosmerta tended to put on a spread when she knew they were coming he had abstained a little from dinner and clearly that was what was going on.

Obviously.

They began the slow walk back and then Mary stopped.

"Remus I'm going to say something and I want you to listen to me before you run a mile"

"Okay?"

"I know you're a werewolf"

Remus slipped on a bit of black ice. The bump to his arse and legs was nothing compared to the ice that had just slid into his whole system locking down his body as if he was expecting a mortal blow.

"Wh…wh…what?"

"I know" Mary said bending down and with considerable strength hauled him to his feet.

"And I wanted to tell you that I intend to keep your secret"

That sent some of the blood back flowing into his veins and he could speak again without that paralytic fear that made him want to vomit.

"You…oh…how?"

Mary rolled her eyes.

"Merlin do you think you're the Sherlock Holmes of the Wizarding World? Don't answer that but suffice to say I put two and two together and came up with the right answer. I know Remus, I've always known, Lily and Marlene know and I just wanted you to know that I don't care. I don't care about it, I never did. So will you stop looking so sad all the time and just kiss me?"

This was too much. This was everything and anything he thought he could not have. This was someone accepting him no questions asked and Remus did not know what to do with that. It had been different with his friends, he had been younger and they had been insistent and he had not yet fully understood the burden of what was going on, of what this…thing would cost him. He had been naive enough to think that maybe if his friends could accept him other people could too.

Merlin he had been stupid back then. So naïve in pretending that he didn't know how the world worked for people like him.

"Mary" he said quietly. She looked at him and he could see the stars reflected in her big blue eyes. And just as he was about to say something, (though what he genuinely did not know—even looking back years later he genuinely would not be able to tell you what he had been thinking of saying in that moment) Hogsmeade erupted into fire and screams.

For a second they were both frozen in fear and then it hit them. Or at the very least it hit Remus.

"Death Eaters"

Mary turned to him her face white.

"Are you sure?"

"Course I'm sure. Look at them"

And they did, they looked at them coming out the night sky as if they were stars shooting down on them. But they were not. They were the Death Eaters and they were in for the kill and Remus dove sideways and Mary dove the other way as curses began to rain from the sky and there was nothing that he could do but try and defend himself from an enemy that was in it to kill.

He knew Marlene and Sirius were at the pub, he knew James and Lily were on the other side of the village but for the life of him he did not know where Peter was and when Remus did find him depending on what state he was in he was going to either hug him or kill him.


Peter was in fact behind the post office. He had not bothered to come out during the fight. He did not want too either. He stayed there listening to the shouts and the screams and he transformed. He tucked his wand under a bit of straw and he transformed and so the rat stayed hidden and watched as one of the Death Eaters landed.

He strode forwards with solid intent. It was Dolohov. Peter knew him by sight as one of the Dark Lord's most prolific Death Eaters. He was known for the single handed dedication to the Dark Lord and his cause which was to protect the wizarding world from annihilation. Peter had never really believed what the Slytherin's had done but he had to admit that some of the policies did have a point. His mother had said as much as the same thing. Of course you could not express this opinion in front of James and in front of Remus and heaven forbid in front of Sirius but he had thought it nonetheless. The killings, the beatings, the torturing that was bad he would admit but Peter did sometimes wonder if maybe the Muggle Borns were being given a bit too much by the Ministry. Why just the other week he had overheard a Hufflepuff tell a Ravenclaw that the reason why her sister had been denied a job at the Ministry was because they had thought it would look better to have muggle borns in the department.

This was the year 1978 and such attitudes were common. Behaviour was shifting and Peter was not sure he liked it.

Dolohov however seemed to know what he was doing and you could hate the man but you had to give him the confidence to know what he was doing. He strode forwards as if he had expected the world to fall at his feet and he blasted Remus back into a tree with a thudding noise that made Peter wince and cower even though he was a rat right now and not a man.

Remus staggered a little but it was like something was holding him in place. The blast had knocked Mary back and Peter watched in slow motion from his hiding place as Dolohov reached and grabbed Mary by her hair. He dragged her so that she was looking up at him and he pointed his wand directly in her face. Remus swore but whatever spell he'd been hit with was keeping him locked firmly down even though he was screaming. Mary on the other hand just simply looked Dolohov in the eye and Peter had to give her, her composure.

He didn't know then at the age of seventeen but less than a year and a half later he would realise that she, like someone else he knew, would realise in that moment that death was coming and that it was okay.

Dolohov smirked.

"This will be a message to your father" he spat. "This is what happens to the blood traitors"

And he pointed his wand in her face and before either he or Remus or Mary could do anything he said loud and clear.

"Avada Kedavra"

Mary McDonald crumpled in a flash of green light.

She was dead before she hit the floor.

She lay there crumpled like a little doll and Peter didn't care anymore, he didn't care if he was a coward or not. He wanted to live. He had not signed up to be killed and he did not want to. What that made him Peter did not know but he knew there and then looking at the dead body of one of his classmates that he was always going to choose whatever side guaranteed him his safety. Peter could never say that to his friends but that was what he knew in this moment. And he knew that too. He knew that too.

For him it was over.

And for Mary it was over too. The first casualty in this war. Killed before she had even left school.

Dolohov sniffed the air as if something amusing had happened and then he disapperated. Peter transformed again half hidden from view grabbed his wand and stepped out.

"Where were you" Remus said looking at him from where he was half fallen over Mary's body.

"PETER WHERE THE FUCK WERE YOU?"

"Pinned down by the same spell you were" Peter lied as easy as he breathed. "It must have been a body bind spell, I was half behind Zonko's and I came up to meet you and it must have got me too. Mooney is she…is she…?"

"She's dead" Remus said shaking his head as if he was underwater.

"Yeah and we might be next" Peter said grimly. "I don't know what is going on but I don't like the fact that they've all just left. They didn't come out here just for Mary surely?"

Remus said nothing for a second and then…

"She knew Peter. She knew I was a werewolf and she told me she didn't mind, she wanted to be with me anyway"

There was nothing that Peter could say to that.

There was nothing he wanted to say to that.

"Not now" he said sternly. "Not now Remus we don't know where anyone is. We can…we can deal with her when this is over because it's not over. We need to move"

"Where the fuck where you?" Remus muttered again looking up at him and his eyes were clouded over with grief and Peter realised that he had slipped back into some kind of shock and there was nothing that he could do.

He tucked his wand into his pocket.

"I'm going down to find them" he said but Remus was still holding Mary with that stunned look on his face and Peter sighed. He was going to have to go down and find them but if…if it was dangerous then he was tailing it back to Hogwarts. He was not the kind of man for this.

This…this fuck up just solidified it.

And with that he transformed back into the rat that he was and scampered down to the Hogsmeade village to see if anyone else was dead.

If they were…well…it was a good thing that nobody relied on Peter Pettigrew anyway. In this kind of world Peter Pettigrew knew that the only person you could rely on was yourself. The only person you could trust was yourself and it was important in any world but especially this one to keep number one alive.

He didn't think that made him a bad person.

Do you?


And there you go, I hope you enjoy this chapter and I will bring you the next one sooner rather than later.

Next Chapter-Voldemort descends onto the village of Hogsmeade bringing himself into the war for the first time. James, Sirius, Marlene, Lily, Remus and Peter's lives will never be the same again as it's a fight to the death with no end in sight. And Lily and Severus find themselves finally on two opposing sides.