November
IWSC- Practice Rounds
Mahouttokoro: Dark Beginnings
Prompt: (word) Alone
Additional Prompt: (character) Remus Lupin
Word Count: 3263
THC - Monthly Challenges
Theme Two: Memories define our life.
Prompt: (speech) "Stop! That's black magic."
Peter Pettigrew
He nervously tugged on his robes. His legs shook with anticipation and his palms were sweaty as he approached the chair. Everyone was staring at him. Sitting down too quickly, the boy almost fell from the chair.
From up here, the Great Hall looked terrifying. There were so many students sitting around the four long tables, and they were all staring at him. The stern Professor placed a hat on his head. He flinched as it started talking.
"Peter Pettigrew," the Sorting Hat started, "Where am I going to put you?"
The Sorting Hat went on and on contemplating all four of the houses. It got later and later and Peter was feeling extremely uncomfortable. None of the houses seemed to fit him. He wasn't wise nor loyal or ambitious. And he certainly wasn't brave.
He fidgeted with his fingers, they were slick from all the sweat and he bit his lips with his pronounced incisors. His stomach was twisting and turning, no one wanted him. He wasn't good enough. Hogwarts had no place for him.
The other students were impatient or making jokes as the hat pondered over its decision.
"How about Hufflepuff?" the hat suggested.
No one wanted to be a Hufflepuff, Peter thought, his parents would surely be disappointed.
"Ravenclaw doesn't feel right. You might find a home in Slytherin…"
The most successful wizards have all been Slytherin. He could be like Merlin.
"Gryffindor."
"I'm not brave," Peter protested.
"But you want to be."
His gaze wandered to the Gryffindor table. He spotted the young Sirius Black laughing and joking with a few older students. His sorting earlier had caused quite the stir at the Slytherin table. His cousin Bellatrix was throwing insults. He shook his longish black hair, enjoying all the attention he was getting.
Yes, he wanted to be brave and courageous. He wanted to be like that, like Sirius. Peter was tired of being always trampled over. Not daring to make a sound, he nodded to himself.
"GRYFFINDOR!"
There was cheering. Surprisingly from all the houses. They must have been really desperate for his sorting to end.
Peter stumbled to his table. He sat down to a quiet boy he had never seen and already forgotten his name. Sirius was chatting up a second-year girl. Wasn't he a little young for that?
Peter was sitting there and watching, not quite knowing what to do. Was he supposed to say something? Before he could figure out what to do the next students were already sorted. That was fast.
His table jumped up, cheering as James Potter joined them. He had a presence that no one could overlook. He high-fived the other students before sitting down. A red-haired girl was rolling her eyes at his display.
The prefect, Frank Longbottom, led them to the common room from where they took the stairs up to the boy's dorm. Not three minutes in the dorm and James and Sirius were already throwing cushions at each other.
"Epic," James said, throwing himself onto the bed.
"They're so cool," Peter said to the quiet boy.
The boy nodded, not stopping to unbox his trunk. He stored his neatly folded clothes in the closet.
"I didn't catch your names," James said.
"I'm Peter Pettigrew. I'm so excited that we are in the same house. I always wanted to have friends like you."
"I'm Remus Lupin. I don't do friends," the boy said and returned to store his belongings.
Sirius and James were almost glued together. Entering the classroom for the first time, they sat down next to each other in the last row. Peter tried his best to make contact with them but they had their own thing.
Not knowing what to do, he sat down next to Remus. He still avoided him and everyone else. Remus didn't seem to be interested in making friends. But Peter didn't have anyone else. They were meant to be. Couldn't Remus see that? If he continued to shut them all out then Peter would be all alone and the students of the other houses were already making fun of him for being a hatstall.
He was sitting on the couch. James and Sirius were playing with the little baby while Lily tended to her cauldron cakes. Remus was sitting next to him. "They're so cool, aren't they?"
The werewolf glared at him. He stood up and took Harry out of their arms. "You can't throw a baby around and there is nothing cool about being reckless. We're all going to die."
Without saying anything more, he stormed out of the living room and joined Lily in the kitchen.
"It's not easy for him. All the other werewolves have joined the other side," Sirius justified him.
Peter was staring at the ground. Why were they all acting so weird? They used to be together and now all there was, was conflict and war.
In no time, James and Sirius were back to having fun and joking. "Did you see what I did to this Death Eater scum?"
They were both laughing as if that was nothing. As if there weren't evil people, armed with wands out there, just looking for an excuse to kill them.
While James and Sirius were bragging about their heroism, Peter stood up and walked to the kitchen. Leaning in the doorway, he watched Remus and Lily.
"Everything will turn out alright," she said, placing her hand on his shoulder.
Remus huffed. He handed her baby-Harry. "I shouldn't stay, it's that time of the month again."
"Just be careful," she said, handing him a piece of cake.
Peter was running after him. "Remus! Wait! You can't just leave!"
"Of course, I can. You can stay and drool over Sirius and James while I try to find a safe place where I don't have to fear killing someone." He slammed the door shut behind him and Peter flinched.
Returning to the living room, he found Sirius and James, still bragging about their actions. They didn't even notice that he was still here. But that was because he still didn't exist to them. Peter wasn't that brave, he had done one shift of patrol once and it was horrible.
He had been strolling through Diagon Alley, making sure that no one was raiding the stores. His partner was having fun, telling him the most gruesome stories. The slightest sound put him on high alert.
His hand was clenched around his wand. He could hear the beating of his own heart. Everything happened in slow motion. He was a couple of steps behind his partner when he saw the shadow. Peter jumped up and started screaming, his arms were clenching around the witch and he squeezed his eyes shut.
His partner shoved him, away with enough force that he fell on his ground. With a swift flick of her wand, she took care of the situation. She was looking at him laughing loudly.
"You're freaked out because of a cat, and here I thought you were a Gryffindor." She was cradling the beast in her arms, showering it with kisses. "Aren't you a wizard? What do you have a wand for?"
Peter swallowed hard. He didn't know what to say. If he was James or Sirius, he would have come up with a clever reply. Something witty that would make her want to spend her time with him. But the only time he was ever approached by witches was when they were trying to get close to his friends. Even Remus was more interesting than he was, dark and mysterious.
And there he had thought that they were his friends, that he was his friend. Peter stood there in the hallway, contemplating what to do next. Sirius and James clearly had better things to do than socialize with him and Remus was already gone.
"Can you grab us a beer?" James shouted from the living room.
"Of course." Holding his head down, he went back to the kitchen. Grumbling, he grabbed the beer and handed them a bottle each.
As soon as they had what they wanted he stopped being interesting to them. Remus would have scolded them, but he was already gone, not caring what was going on with him.
Without saying goodbye, he left the house. They would notice that he was gone eventually, or not.
It was dark outside. He couldn't see far. The gravel made sounds under his feet. Peter flinched, ducking his head. He wasn't alone. And there were Muggles living in Godric's Hollow.
Where was Remus when he needed him? He always excused everything with being a werewolf and how dangerous he was to other people. But it was Peter who was out there, alone and defenseless. There was no one looking out for him, but everyone was supportive of Remus.
He was sitting in the last corner of the Hogshead. He could see Sirius flirting with a couple of witches. Remus rested his head on his hands. He hadn't even touched his Butterbeer. Peter had tried to talk to him all evening, but the werewolf blocked him. He hardly saw James anymore unless he was looking for a babysitter.
Without saying goodbye, Sirius went home with a witch, and Remus left shortly after. And there he was sitting in a shady establishment, all alone and abandoned by his friends. Peter emptied his Butterbeer and was ready to leave when a bunch of young wizards sat down next to him.
Peter rubbed his fingers in front of his face, hiding behind his rodent-like gestures. They were squeezing themself closer against him. He didn't know how close they were to the Death Eaters, but they looked scary.
"You looked like you could use some friends," one of them said, ordering a round for them.
Peter stood up. "Maybe I should go…"
They grabbed his arms and dragged him back down. "Stay, you don't want to be alone out there. It's a scary world outside, we don't know what could happen to you."
One of them discreetly, pulled the sleeve of his black robes back showing him the tattooed snake and skull on their wrist.
His heart was racing. He could barely breathe. Something was pressing his chest down. His body was shaking and the door was so far away.
It got later and later and they poured more and more Butterbeer down his throat. By the time they left the Hogshead, he couldn't stand on his own feet. They were dragging him out laughing loudly.
A fat cat was sitting a few steps ahead of them, licking its lip, as if it could smell the rat in him. One of them pulled out his wand and shot a curse at the animal. The cat was thrown up in the air. For a brief moment, it looked twice the size before it fell back to the ground.
Loud laughter erupted and completely drunk, Peter joined in. One thing led to the next and the next and he was the one with a raised wand, hexing the cat. They took rounds at the animal and at some point, one of them offered to show him something impressive.
Peter was holding his head a little higher, he couldn't believe that there was someone wanting to show him something. That they were sharing their secrets with him.
For a moment he was absolutely clear in his mind despite the level of intoxication. He watched closely, as he learned a new curse. It was new, thrilling, and exciting. Pointing his wand at the trapped cat.
The animal cried in agony, and Peter couldn't help but laugh. It got what it had coming. The arrogant and all-mighty creature was now under his control. He repeated the curse, watching the cat struggle to break free.
Waking up, he felt relaxed and at ease. His head was pounding, but that wasn't something that couldn't be taken care of with a Hangover-potion. His cheeks were glowing and his chest felt wider. He knew his friends if that was even something he could call them, would be furious, if they found out that he had been drinking with Death Eaters, but Peter had fun and he wasn't going to tell.
Sitting in a park, he waited for Remus to pick him up, so they could drop by James and play with Harry. Bored he threw a stone at a pigeon, but the animal hardly moved. He repeated it but didn't hit.
Looking around, he saw nobody who could observe him. Peter withdrew his wand and checked his surroundings again. With a shaking hand, he pointed at the pigeon. He never felt quite as special as the moment the curse poured out of his wand.
"Stop! This is black magic."
Peter flinched. Ducking, he looked through his fingers to see Remus standing right in front of him.
The werewolf stared at him. Peter had no idea what his friend was thinking. Remus took a step back from him. He was still staring at him. He looked as if he had never seen him before. His hand reached for his wand and he disapparated right in front of his eyes.
Peter felt like someone had stabbed him. His hand clenched around his chest. His heart was still beating, but he knew it was over. The werewolf had looked at him as if he was a monster. His hand formed a fist.
Remus was only jealous because he wasn't alone and weak anymore, he was now protected. Because they had sought him out, to be friends and not Remus. Because he was nothing more than a humiliation for his kind. But Peter was worthy of their attention and their allegiance. They would keep him safe. And they would appreciate and recognize him for all the things he knew...