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The rumour that Peter Pettigrew had a crush on Suzie Gibson spread quickly around the school. None of the girls knew how it had got out. Lily, Caroline and Sarah were desperately trying to stop Suzie from hearing it, and she was humouring them by pretending she hadn't.

All of this, however, was unknown to Peter, although his blissful ignorance was about to be interrupted.

'Wormtail! Why didn't you tell us?' said Sirius loudly, slapping him on the back. Peter looked up from his homework, startled by his sudden appearance. He hadn't realised Quidditch practice was already finished.

'Tell you what?'

'I can understand,' said James, coming up behind Sirius, 'She is pretty. Nothing on my Evans, though, of course.'

Peter shook his head, confused. 'What are you talking about?'

'Yes, I'm curious too,' put in Remus, looking at Sirius and James over the top of his book.

'Well,' said Sirius, 'I was talking to Amanda Bishops, you know, the Chaser, and I said, "Hey there, Mandy. With you in the Quidditch team, we definitely meet our cuteness quota." And she said, 'The team doesn't need me to fulfil it. You're plenty as it is." And then I said –'

'Get to the point, Sirius,' said Peter.

'We don't need to hear the details of your love life,' added Remus.

James glared at Sirius. 'Especially details which aren't even true! It was me that was flirting with Amanda.'

'Since when do you flirt with anyone other than Evans? And, anyway, Bishops hates the name Mandy. You're both liars, aren't you?' pointed out Remus.

'Um…'

'Please, I want to know what you're talking about, get to the point!' snapped Peter. Sirius resumed.

'Anyway, Amanda said that she heard from Nicole Simpson that she'd heard from John Spencer that he'd heard from Amy Morrison that Olivia Downsworth had overhead Sarah Davies and Lily Evans saying that you have a crush on Suzie Gibson!'

Peter's mouth hung open. 'Me? Gibson? What?'

He looked over to the other side of the room, where Suzie was sitting, doing some homework, and twirling her braids, as she often did. Peter tore his eyes away from this sight, which always seemed to hypnotise him, to look at his friends, who were now all wolf-whistling in bad harmony.

'Don't try to deny it, pal, you just looked at her!' said James.

'I looked at her because you mentioned her,' protested Peter, through gritted teeth.

'Peter, you've never seemed to show much interest in girls before, so it's nice to see you finally getting your hormones going,' said Remus, 'and Gibson is a pretty choice.'

'Excuse me, Mr. Girl-Expert, but I used to have a girlfriend, and one that James 'Love-machine' Potter over there still can't get after years of trying. That's more experience and interest than can be said of you.'

'Moony has had experience,' butted in Sirius.

'With who?'

'Davies!'

Remus scowled. 'Are you ever going to give up on that?'

'What do you think?'

'Think or hope?'

'Think.'

Remus sighed. 'Damn.'

'Correct. 10 points for Gryffindor.' Seeing Peter packing up his things, Sirius added, 'Wormtail! You're not trying to escape us, I hope?'

'I'm only going to the dorm. I know you'll come up in a few minutes and try to get me to confess about the Gibson thing, which will be difficult, seeing as it's not true.'

He slung his bag over his shoulder, and went up the stairs to the dorm. He lay on the bed, thinking. He liked Davies and Evans, and had always thought they liked him. Why would they say such a thing? Or had Downsworth heard wrong? That could have been the case. No, it couldn't – there weren't any other students with last names similar to Pettigrew. Could the mistake have been further down the line? Or was it just people making up rumours? Peter sighed. Both were unlikely - one wouldn't forget the actual gossip but remember who had said what to whom, and so forth, and no one had ever made up a rumour about Peter before. He wasn't an 'important person' in the school's standings – he wasn't on a Quidditch team, and nor was he particularly outgoing or famous. What reason would they have? But then again, it was possible. Trying to fathom out the intricacies of the Hogwarts grapevine was impossible.

However, he probably had to pin it on Davies and Evans. Why would they have said that, though? Making up a rumour, especially one that involves one of their best friends, with no grounds to base it on didn't seem like their type of thing. He was going to confront them about it.

He got up, and strode back into the common room. The other Marauders tried to get his attention, but he ignored them and went over to where the girls were sitting. They looked at him as he stopped before them. Suzie was on the floor looking up.

James and Remus are right, he thought, as he stared at her, she is pretty. Peter! Snap out of it! You're here to tell them it's not true, not give them more evidence!

'Davies, Evans, can I speak with you a moment?'

'Oh, um, sure,' said Sarah, looking confused. She removed her textbook from her lap, and she and Lily went with him into a corner.

'What is it, Pettigrew?' asked Lily. Peter took a deep breath.

'Well,' he said, 'I heard from Sirius Black that he heard from Amanda Bishops that she heard from Nicole Simpson that she heard from, uh… John Spencer! That's it. Well, he heard from Morrison… Amy Morrison, that Olivia Downsworth heard you two saying I had a crush on Gibson.'

'What? Didn't catch that,' said Lily.

'Oh, we didn't realise anyone overheard us talking, so sorry about it spreading. The thing is you were just so obvious! If you don't want people to find out, then you need to be more subtle,' giggled Sarah, who had understood his ramblings, being very familiar with rambling speeches herself.

'The problem is, Davies, that I don't have a crush on Gibson.'

Sarah and Lily both looked confused.

'But… but… but asking about her when she was ill!' said Lily, 'And generally staring at her!'

'And comforting her the night Lily and Black went out!' added Sarah.

'That… that… that doesn't mean I like her!' said Peter, in a rather high-pitched voice. He was now starting to doubt his own words.

'It doesn't?' said Lily, looking shocked. She and Sarah glanced at each other, bit their lips and groaned.

'Sorry, Pettigrew!' squeaked Sarah, 'We just misread the signs! It just… seemed like it.'

'Never mind,' said Peter.

Now I'm starting to think I misread the signs, thought Peter, This is worrying. Hold your resolve, Peter. You do not have a crush on Gibson.

'Hey, it could be worse,' said Sarah, 'Suzie never found out about it.'

'She didn't?'

'No. She didn't.'

Peter felt relieved. She didn't know about his crush on her! Er, he corrected himself, his supposed crush on her.

'Good. The boys have found out though, try and avoid them, they might tell her something.'

'OK, then,' said Sarah, 'Is that it?'

'Yep.'

'Bye.'

'Bye.'

He walked back towards the stairs, but had only managed to go up a couple steps before the Marauders charged at him, knocking him to the ground.

'Oi, get off!' he yelled. The boys bounced up off him.

'What were you talking to Evans and Davies about? Asking them to help you go out with her, were you?' said Sirius, grinning.

'No, actually, I was telling them the truth,' Peter growled in response, 'That I don't have a crush on Gibson!'

'Methinks the lady doth protest too much!' said James, grinning. Peter scowled, and stormed up the stairs.

'Way too much,' he heard Remus say. Peter slammed the door to the dorm and sat on his bed. That had been a confusing half-hour. If someone had told him he had a crush on Gibson half-an-hour ago, he would have found the idea laughable. Actually, he had been told this half-an-hour ago, and had found it laughable. But now… now he was unsure. What exactly were his feelings for Gibson? They didn't seem as entirely platonic as they did earlier. What was up with that?

If you want, talk about handbags. How come stuff always gets lost in them, no matter how small the bag is, or big the object?

Hepsa