Disclaimer: I own it all! Mine! Mine! MINE! OK, in the real world none of this is mine, so don't sue.
Author's Note: Final ramble! Yeah! This one is about our least favorite Marauder: Wormtail. This one is Wormtail's thoughts in the few seconds in the fourth book before he killed Cedric. This chapter is semi-inspired by Star Wars, like how once you start going down the path to the Dark Side, you can't go back.
Oh, yes, and just pretend that Voldemort killed Bertha Jorkins, not Wormtail.
from Rambles With a Magical Flare
Down the Path
"Kill the spare."
My heart started beating fast, like a train speeding off its tracks. In my hiding decade, I had forgotten what it was like to kill.
Once you go down the path, you can't go back.
The last time I had killed—almost fourteen years ago—it was a despicable Muggle who said that he was sent by Voldemort. He wore a pair of white gloves that he protected carefully, like her didn't want any blood on them. Snape was the one who convinced me to kill him. He kept on saying things like 'Reasoning with Muggles is the other side's job… He's befouling the Dark Lord's name by claiming to be in servitude to him…Killing this man would mean something to the Dark Lord…'
Because I have never been one to ignore a command, especially someone as sinister as Snape, I killed the Muggle. His eyes were widened in surprise, his mouth half opened as though he was about to make his case. If only I had known what killing him had meant…
By killing him, I had sealed Lily and James' fate. It didn't matter if it was their Secret Keeper or not, I had killed an innocent man. I was not the same chubby, but just child I was in school. If I could kill a stranger…I could not imagine what I could do to my closest friends. I had gone too far down the path; I couldn't go back.
Then the dreams came.
Every night, every time I tried to get sleep, I would see their faces. I could see the look on James' faces when he saw Voldemort in their sitting room…the final look on his face would loom over mine…
My mind came back to the present and I raised my wand to the face that I looked so much like James…I moved my wand a couple inches to the boy next to Harry and yelled the incantation that had destroyed so many families and killed so many dreams.
"Avada Kedavra!"
Once you go down the path, you can't go back.
