Disclaimer: okay we should all know it how works by now if I don't own any of the HP characters or themes this is just my take on how things should have been.

Chapter 8

Peter's plight

Written By Empathicallychosen

Betaed by aerohead1980

"Do not be afraid of showing your affection. Be warm and tender, thoughtful and affectionate. Men are more helped by sympathy, than by service; love is more than money, and a kind word will give you more pleasure than a present." -- John Lubbock, Sr.

(o)(o)(o)

"Come now Dumbledore, for pity's sake we have enough difficulty getting teenagers to listen to us but now you want us to tend a bunch of four-year-olds too," exclaimed Professor Pictor the astronomy teacher.

"Not at all Jacob, there are only three of them and James, Remus and Sirius will do all of the tending. I am merely asking that you allow the children to be present during the boys' classes," the headmaster said with a mild frown.

Almost all of the teachers grumbled in protest once again.

"How are we supposed to teach seventh year students in the company of minors?"

"There is a reason young children aren't allowed in this school, Albus!"

"This is outrageous!"

"They're going to make a mess of this institution!"

"It's ab --"

"That's enough," shouted Professor Flitwick in a surprisingly loud voice for someone so small that caused several of his colleagues to jump. "Listen to yourselves, your squabbling like a bunch of caged mice! Now I'm sure, Albus has a fine reason for allowing the children to come here. Perhaps if you allowed him five minutes he would explain."

"Indeed thank you, Filius," said Albus gratefully.

All eyes were on the headmaster as he strolled over to the bookcase turning his back to the staff. Albus thought carefully about what he would tell his friends and his peers and what he would be forced to leave out. Nodding resignedly to himself he turned around and began to relay the story of what happened three months ago. Making Harry, Ron and Hermione out to be nothing but ordinary children of the current era of course. Albus paced around the room making certain to look each and every member of the staff in the eye at least once while he addressed them.

"... After James left his cousin Harry fell desperately ill and Aidan is worried about the safety of his nephew and we decided that the best place for them was here at Hogwarts."

Dumbledore looked around the room again when he finished speaking. Many who had opposed the new visitors were staring blankly at the floor. Several seemed indifferent. Others were staring at the headmaster with a newfound understanding and a handful of them still seemed contrary to the idea. Professor Pictor still appeared to be resentful of Professor Dumbledore's decision, (why no one knew for sure seeing as James, Remus and Sirius no longer took astronomy,) but Filch was positively beside himself and Mrs. Norris sensing her master's indignation hissed at the headmaster with her hair standing on end.

"I don't care how well behaved you claim the little vandals are. All children are stinky, messy, sticky and disrespectful. If you think for one moment that I'm going to --"

"The matter is closed," said Dumbledore softly in a manner that made it clear there would be no more discussion.

Filch blanched.

"I have a meeting in a few minutes with Mr. and Mrs. Stempel. It seems Michael has set off a bag of dung bombs in the girl's restroom again and I'm sure you all have things to attend to as well," said Dumbledore sitting down at his desk and pulling a piece of parchment toward him.

The teachers all left for their classrooms hurriedly, but no one scurried away from the headmaster quite as fast as Argus Filch.

"Filius, Horace, Minerva, Pomona, I wonder if I might have one more word with you," said Dumbledore without looking up from his parchment until it was only the four of them in the room.

"I was hoping you would inform your houses that there will be a feast tonight in honor of our guests and I should think it best if they would dress appropriately so as to make our new visitors feel welcome. Minerva, if you wouldn't mind alerting the kitchens as well."

Dumbledore turned back to his work signaling to the professors that it was time for them to leave as well.

-- -- -- -- -

"Come on, come on, let's go," bellowed Aidan from the hearth of the main fireplace.

It took a lot longer to leave the hospital then they had expected. Joshua had to check over Harry, Ron and Hermione one last time before they were allowed to be released. Unfortunately just as he came through the door he had to take care of a memory charm emergency. After Joshua gave the threesome a clean bill of health the admitting nurse lost Harry, Ron and Hermione's clothes so they had to go back to the manor so that the children could change out of their hospital gowns. Accalia had to run to Diagon Alley because Hermione didn't have a change of clothes and nothing in the attic fit her.

Aidan couldn't believe they had not noticed Hermione had been wearing the same clothes every day. It seemed unfathomable to him. After all, they had pulled out James's old clothes for Ron and Harry and they had always made sure they changed their clothes every day. How could they have overlooked the little girl?

What seemed like an eternity later Accalia came through the fireplace clutching several different outfits. Aidan was getting very agitated by now. He hated to be late for anything.

"Keep your robes on. We're coming," snapped Accalia.

Accalia sighed at her husband's impatience. It was clear to her that they needed to take care of the children's departure to Hogwarts very carefully. Hermione was quite terrified of being placed in the girl's dorm without Harry or Ron to keep her company. Perhaps Hermione was taking so long to get ready because she was hoping to avoid the experience altogether.

Accalia was also very nervous about Ron. Ron liked to protect his friends from any perceived threat. With the new information about the boy's empathic gift, Accalia was very scared about how Ron would react in a new environment. Ron was a very sweet little boy. Once you got to know him, you could see that even at this young age his tough exterior was just a mask for his insecurities. The problem was that empaths had a very narrow sense of wrong and right. They were about to send Ron into a world of students who would lie and cause all sorts of mischief. Accalia was afraid that he might overreact. She shuttered to think what would happen if Ron used his elemental abilities in an attempt to protect his friends. She glanced over at Ron and started to laugh. Ron had both his trousers and his top on backwards. How could such an adorable little boy hold such devastating power?

"Come here dear and let me fix that for you," she said gently.

"I'm a big boy. I can dress myself," Ron protested.

"Yes you can. But don't you want to look your best for Miss Lily," she said calmly.

Ron nodded enthusiastically.

"Good boy, there that's much better," said Accalia stepping back to get a good look at Ron again after his robes were back on the right way.

Accalia didn't know much about the boy's background but he idolized Lily and James as if they were his own parents. Then again why should that seem strange? When they were there Lily and James treated both Ron and Hermione like one of their own. Still, there was something more to Ron. Hermione would stay up the first few nights clinging to Lily sobbing and begging her to send her back to her mother. Ron on the other hand rarely mentioned his parents and when he did he spoke as casually as if they were talking about the weather and then quickly changed the subject.

"Grams, if I go away to Hogwarts whose going to take care of you," Harry asked innocently interrupting Accalia's musings.

The past two and a half weeks with Harry had been wonderful. Harry had really bonded with Accalia and Aidan and best of all Harry had even grown to like magic. Accalia was amazed at how simple it really was. The first time Joshua had asked for Harry to do magic he panicked. Aidan decided to turn magic into a game with Harry. With an enormous amount of encouragement they managed to turn the most despicable thing in Harry's life into the most fantastic thing in his life. Still, Hogwarts was a big place filled with an overwhelming amount of magic. There was no telling how Harry would react.

"Don't worry dear, Tiramisu will take good care of us for you," Accalia laughed.

"Promise," said Harry doubtfully.

"Promise," said Accalia comfortingly.

When at last everything they needed was found, after Hermione picked out a lavender velvet dress, they were able to leave for Hogwarts just two hours behind schedule.

When they finally arrived at the school, Hermione forgot all about her fears about being separated from the boys when she saw the impeccable majesty of the extraordinary new world around her. The castle likewise seemed to give Ron a rare tranquility. Accalia especially was amazed at the unbidden behavior of the boy. But none of them received Hogwarts quite as well as Harry.

Harry knew that Hogwarts was a special place. He knew he would see things here that he had never seen in his life, but never in his wildest dreams did he expect to be overwhelmed by such dazzling enchantment. Harry took in everything from the polished white marble floors to the pictures that were pointing at the three friends and talking rapidly to one another. It was at that moment Harry new without a doubt that his aunt and uncle had to be wrong about magic. How could a place this wonderful be bad?

"Come on sweetie, we're very late. Don't worry, I'm sure James will take you around to see everything later," said Accalia gently placing a hand on Harry's shoulder.

Aidan led the way over to an incredibly gruesome monster. Hermione gasped and hid behind Ron.

"It's okay, sweetheart, that's just the gargoyle he keeps away people who aren't supposed to be here," said Aidan without looking away from the gargoyle. "Carsten's caramel camels."

To Harry's utter amazement at these words the hideous creature came to life and jumped away like a frog. Ron clapped bursting with laughter and amusement as the wall split in two creating a pathway that led to a moving spiral staircase that sailed elegantly upward. Hermione smiled because it reminded her of the escalators she would ride on when she went on trips with her mother. She missed her mum very much.

"Okay everybody hop on," Accalia instructed.

"Hop, hop, hop," said Ron playfully as he jumped onto the stair next to Harry.

Harry waited impatiently to see what extraordinary sight he would see next and was slightly disappointed when he noticed the only thing at the top of the stairs was an enormous door. Aidan reached for the door but before he could knock the door swung open and in front of them stood a wary looking gentleman and an angry looking woman pulling on a blond boy's ear. This woman made Harry a little nervous.

"Matthew, Emma, it's nice to see you again," said Aidan pleasantly apparently unperturbed by the woman. "Michael's been up to his old tricks I see."

"Suspended for the third time," said Matthew in agitation as he passed.

Aidan chuckled to himself as he knocked on the open door.

"Ah, Aidan," said Dumbledore smiling. "Come in, come in."

"Sorry we're late Albus," said Aidan as he stepped over the threshold.

"Not to worry. It seems we are all running behind today," said Dumbledore waving his hand genially.

Albus smiled down at the children and extended his hand. Accalia nodded calmly to Harry and with renewed confidence in the old man he took it. When Harry stepped back, Ron shook Dumbledore's hand as well. When Hermione came forward, she hugged him. Harry wasn't sure if it was okay to hug this man. It appeared to Harry that Mr. Dumbledore was a very important man. Very important men like him did not seem like the type of people who were very receptive to hugs. Thankfully, he didn't seem to be mad at her. Once Hermione came back over to them Ron made a disgusted face at her and she stuck her tongue out at him.

"Harry, I would like you to meet a friend of mine," said Dumbledore.

He gestured to a stern looking woman that made Harry a little bit nervous, but she smiled and Harry found himself smiling back at her.

"My name is Minerva," she said kindly.

They said hello but Harry couldn't say her name. The closest he could come was Minnie. Harry was worried that she would be mad at him but thankfully she didn't seem to mind. The old man laughed and his eyes twinkled brightly

"If you run into any trouble while you're here come and find me and we'll see if we can't fix it," she said generously.

Then the adults started talking giving the friends time to look around. They were in a vast room that made an abundance of funny noises. There were a lot of strange looking silver toys all over the room. A few of them had legs that made them look like a spider. Ron did not like the toys very much. Some of the other decorations spouted out smoke of all different colors. These were Hermione's favorite.

Harry was busy looking at more moving portraits. These portraits were the most boring ones Harry had seen because all they were doing was sleeping and some of them were snoring but still Harry was fascinated by them. He looked at the big claw-foot desk where the grownups were still talking but his eyes only lingered there for a moment because on the shelf behind Mr. Dumbledore sat a decrepit old hat that was so dirty and full of holes Aunt Petunia would have fainted if she had seen it. Harry giggled at the thought.

A quivering note made Harry jump. He spun around and saw a tremendous perch. On it sat a beautiful bird the size of a turkey with glossy gold plumage.

"Wow! That's got to be the prettiest birdy in the whole wide world," said Hermione loudly.

Harry nodded enthusiastically in agreement.

"His name is Fawks. He is a phoenix," Dumbledore told them.

"Harry and me have owls. Their birdies too," Ron informed Fawks holding up Pig to show his new friend.

Ron and Hermione were deep in conversation with the Phoenix and didn't notice the soft knock at the door. Harry looked up when the door opened and four teenagers entered the room. Harry wanted to call out to the beautiful red-haired girl but stopped himself remembering that his grandfather had said to pretend that they didn't know her. It was part of the game. Instead he spotted James and threw himself around his father's waste.

"Prongs! I've missed you too much," Harry squealed.

"Harry," James shouted in astonishment.

"What is everyone doing here," asked Sirius.

"We go to Hogwarts now too," Hermione said before turning back to Fawks.

"What!"

"Boys, boys! Calm down. Harry, why don't you go over there and play with Fawks," said Accalia waiting until he was absorbed in fascination with the Phoenix before explaining to her sons that there "cousin" was an empath and needed to stay at Hogwarts. But they neglected to mention to Lily everything that happened before hand concerning the kidnappers and what led Harry, Ron and Hermione to be in the Potters' care.

"Which brings us to your presence here, Miss Evans," said the headmaster. "I was hoping you might help the boys to take care of them and look after Miss Granger at night."

Lily looked over at the three children who seemed to have bonded remarkably well with the Phoenix on the floor next to them. They seemed so sweet and innocent and Mr. and Mrs. Potter were surprisingly kind and down to earth. How could conceited, selfish, hardheaded James Potter have such congenial parents? Still the thought of working with him made Lily a bit nervous. Now that Harry was well, wasn't it possible that James might start behaving arrogantly again?

"Of course headmaster, I'd love to," said Lily smiling down at Harry who was singing along with the Phoenix.

"Great," said James eagerly.

"Don't get your hopes up, Potter. I'm only doing this because leaving children in your care would be reckless endangerment," Lily snapped coldly.

Aidan chuckled when he looked between his son and the girl who would one day be his daughter-in-law.

Shaking his head Aidan bent down to Harry's level and said, "Harry, Accalia and I have to go now. You be good for James, all right?"

"Can't you stay," whimpered Harry.

Accalia shook her head. She looked like she was going to cry. Harry was very disappointed by this but was happy that she gave Harry an even bigger hug than either Ron or Hermione. When Accalia had finished her goodbyes, she rounded on her sons. She looked very severe and much more like Aunt Petunia then Harry could have imagined.

"You three had better take good care of these children, or else! Understood? Ron sweetheart, get your fingers out of your nose . . . "

-- -- -- -- --

Professor McGonagall stood outside the entrance hall with the trio. Hermione was chewing on her fingernails apprehensively. Harry had an unexplainable knot in his stomach. He didn't know why but he didn't think it was because he was scared. Ron was so exhilarated by Hogwarts he was jumping up and down on the balls of his feet unable to wait for the next surprise that the castle had in store.

"We're going to go in now, you go find James and sit down at the table with him as quietly as you can," Minnie told them as she opened the door.

Obediently Harry tiptoed into the great hall. When he stepped over the threshold, he was stunned. Harry had thought he had seen the best of the castle when he was in Dumbledore's office but he was wrong. The great hall was lit by thousands and thousands of candles that were floating in midair over four long tables, where the students were sitting listening to Dumbledore's speech. These tables were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets. At the top of the hall was another long table where the teachers were sitting.

"... They will be joining Miss Evans, Mr. Black, Mr. Lupin and Mr. Potter in the Gryffindor tower --"

Three of the tables sat in silence waiting for the end of Dumbledore's announcement but the table nearest to Harry, Ron and Hermione started to laugh and jeer. The three friends didn't know what it was that made them so uncomfortable about these people but some of them were so scary they even made Ron nervous. Dumbledore raised his hand for silence staring disappointedly at the laughing students.

"It is very generous of the seventh year students to be showing these children around, so I trust you will all be kind to them and our new guests . . . "

The rude students were silenced at once. One or two of them looked at their plates as though they wanted to break eye contact with Dumbledore because they were so ashamed. Harry looked around the hall terrified. There were so many people in this room and all of them were strangers. He wanted to get out of there. He wanted to go back to his grandparents at the big house and play with Tiramisu again.

"Harry, we lost Prongs," said Ron panicking.

Harry started shaking. He didn't feel so good anymore. Hermione bit her lip trying very hard to be brave. Just when the three of them were about to lose their cool, two figures came bustling up from the table furthest away from them. The pair of them looked like they were racing each other. As they got closer Harry recognized them, it was Lily and James.

"Exciting, isn't it?" whispered Lily, hoping that Ron was not going to start crying.

Harry had to admit, now that they were away from those scary people in back, with his parents everything seemed better. Even though Harry still felt very wobbly. He and Hermione nodded. Ron on the other hand was being oddly silent. Lily and James led their new charges to the Gryffindor's table. Harry sat in between them. Lily seemed keen on putting as much space between herself and James as possible. Harry was sitting next to James, Ron sat on Harry's left and Hermione sat next to Lily who was speaking hurriedly to her friends. Harry jumped a little when Professor Dumbledore announced the beginning of the feast. It seemed strange now but for a minute he had forgotten the old man was there.

"What would you like to eat," said James to Harry who was absorbed in the enchanted ceiling.

Harry jumped again, "What?"

"What would you like to eat," James repeated patiently.

Harry looked down at the table. Where there was once nothing there was now piles and piles of food. He had never seen so many things he would have liked to eat on one table: roast beef, fried chicken, pork chops and lamb chops, sausages, bacon and steak, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, fries, Yorkshire pudding, peas, carrots, gravy, ketchup, and spinach which Harry absolutely did not want.

"WOW!" Hermione shouted.

"Does that happen every day?" Asked Ron

"Mostly," said Sirius between bites of steak and kidney pie.

Ron gaped at Sirius in disbelief. Both Harry and Ron ate quickly and barely had room for dessert. When Harry looked at everything there was before him he couldn't help but think that even his whale of a cousin couldn't have devoured even a portion of what was on the table tonight.

That didn't stop Harry. For once he could have dessert without fear of being reprimanded. The only problem was deciding which one of the delectable treats to try. There were blocks of ice cream in every flavor you could think of, apple pies, treacle tarts, chocolate éclairs and jam doughnuts, trifle, strawberries, fudge and rice puddings.

Harry looked around the hall. He never would have imagined there could be this many witches and wizards all in one place. He wondered how many of the students families still love them. Surely there must have been some families that hated magic as much as the Dursleys. When he asked, James told him that his aunt and uncle were nutters and that people should be proud to have a witch or a wizard in the family.

"Like Lily's mum and dad," he said glancing distractedly over at Lily.

James could not pine over Lily for long. Within minutes he was wrapped up in an argument with his friends. It seemed that Peter was not exactly pleased to have Harry here. Harry felt awful. He just wanted to be with James. He never wanted to make anyone angry. To Harry's relief however the dispute was three against one. Harry was still sad that the marauders were fighting but it made him feel better that James, Remus and Sirius wanted him to stay.

Harry heard footsteps coming up from behind him. He and Ron turned around to see Lily storming up to them looking rather frazzled. Harry vividly remembered how similar this look was to the look on his mother's face earlier that summer when Ron had hid after his accident. He sank back into his chair. Lily wasn't angry though Harry noticed. She was sad, sad and worried.

"Potter," she said, as she got closer to Prongs.

James who was completely engaged in his dispute with Peter did not hear her.

"Prooongs," Ron interjected impatiently. "Pay 'tention. Lily is scared."

"... Sad too, don't forget that," said Harry dejectedly.

James whipped around quickly, "What's the matter?"

"I was just wondering if it was true about Hermione's arms, I mean," Lily seemed to be having a lot of trouble getting the words to come out.

"Hey guys, why don't I introduce you to Lily's friends," said Remus steering the boys away from the head boy and girl.

Lily watched the boys walk away and then continued on as though there had been no interruption at all, "she says --"

"She was tortured. They all were. It was bad from what we understand," Sirius stated grimly.

"Like it wasn't bad enough that Harry was getting abused," said James darkly.

"I have to admit I'm surprised she said anything to you. She doesn't really talk to anyone about it," said Sirius interrupting James's rant before it went too far.

"Merlin! I had no idea, " said Lily astonished.

Harry, Ron and Hermione all arrived at that moment cutting their conversation short. Harry was appalled that Lily was even sadder now than when they had left. Reproachfully Ron demonstrated "the right way" to cheer someone up by doing a water-juggling trick he had picked up while in the hospital. Unfortunately a Hufflepuff girl saw it, which led to a crowd of people asking Ron to do the trick for them. Ron was overwhelmed by this many people and he was still more than a little traumatized by the events of that summer. He started to cry and Professor Flitwick came over and broke up the crowd.

Peter watched grudgingly as Remus, Sirius, Lily and James all fussed over Ron.

"Sniveling brat," he muttered.

Everyone in the hall from the ghosts to the students and even the portraits were talking about Harry, Ron and Hermione. All of the girls at the table thought that the threesome was very cute, but Peter didn't. He was determined to get rid of them.

At any cost.

a\n well there you go I told you I wouldn't have to wait too long. It would have been up this weekend but my Internet was down until last night. But the chapter is nine pages long so in the end it all works out lots of love to aerohead1980 for the hours work it took to make everything perfect

next chapter Sirius realizations where Sirius of course takes advantage of Harry Ron and Hermione and they end up lost in the castle what's a poor empath to do

read and review pleeeeease