Spy in the ointment Keeperoliver Chapter 3
The year was slipping by quickly, and Peter hadn't been called that much, and to date had not been called upon to hurt anyone, just spy on Dumbldore and report anything that could be deemed useful. He reported to the Dark lord of Albus forming the Order of the Phoenix, and of the few members he knew of like Alastor Moody, and Fabian and Gideon Prewitt. Severus had heard of two other members, Molly and Arthur Weasley. They knew there more, but the names eluded them.
Peter had hung around in his rat form, trying to gather information, but was unsuccessful in gathering any useful information. It was nearing the end of April, when he finally came up with something useful. He had heard The Dark Lord having a private meeting with Bellatrix, where he had her place an item in her vault at Gringotts, that was very important to him. In no way was she to tell anyone of the placement of this object. It was a cup, with the Hufflepuff emblem on it which meant it probably belonged to Helga Hufflepuff at one time. Why it was important, Peter did not hear.
One week later, Lily and Peter had heard that Alastor Moody had been attacked by six Death Eaters, and been seriously injured. He had however taken down all six Death Eaters, before collapsing from his injuries. All six Death Eaters were incarcerated in Azkaban, not in the best of shape. Moody had lost a leg, and an eye, in the fight. If Dumbledore wished to continue with this war, he was going to have to fight fire with fire, and start using more permanent solutions. He was stuck to his belief that they, the Order, would not stoop to the level of the Death Eaters. This was his greatest weakness, and the Death Eaters played up to it. They knew to what extent the order would go to in order to fight back, so they learned to heal and and the Ennervate spell to reanimate their fellow Death Eaters. Their losses after this were practically nil.
Peter had been asked to do other tasks, which he completed, until he was asked to find the Identities of the Marauders, and try to get them to join the Death Eaters. When he reported to The Dark Lord that he was unable to discover the identities, Voldemort's reactions were violent. He put Peter under the Cruciatus curse for three minutes before he released him. Peter could not move when it was over. He could not even hear the tirade of Voldemort's following the torture. When it was time to return to the castle, he had to be helped back by Severus. Severus left him by the picture of the Fat Lady, knowing this to be the entrance of the Gryffindor Dorm, after walking Lily back after a walk, while they were still friends.
James, Sirius and Remus were returning from the kitchen, after a late night snack, when they found Peter, curled up in a ball in front of the Portrait, whimpering in pain. They took him to Madam Pomfrey, where she asked what had happened. James responded with, "We don't know what happened, we were returning to the dorm, after studying in the Library, and found him curled up in a ball and in pain. Can you tell us what has happened?"
Poppy ran her wand over Peter, to scan for injuries, and found traces of the Cruciatus curse. This what she told the Marauders, and the probability of the length of time he was under it. A minute more, and Peter would be a vegetable. She kept Peter over night, and as soon as the boys left, she notified Minerva of the situation. Minerva said she would talk to Peter in the morning, after he rested. Poppy gave him a dreamless sleep potion, to keep him from reoccurring nightmares.
Minerva entered the wing at seven o'clock, to find Peter sitting up, eating breakfast. He saw Minerva coming towards him, and he put his fork down, so that they could talk. Minerva closed the curtains around Peter's bed, and placed a silencing and imperturbable charm around them so that they could not be heard, and not be disturbed. He told her everything, leaving out nothing. Minerva thought a minute, and said, "I believe it is time to let your friends know of our little spy ring. They will be quite suspicious of where you had been and the reason you had been put under the Cruciatus curse they may be mischief makers, but they are smart, and true friends. They would eventually find out anyways. By the way, how is the charm doing for your lost finger, is it holding up.?"
"Yes, the charm is doing fine, I have received no comments about my missing finger as yet. As for telling my friends the truth, Yes, again, I think we have to. It is getting to hard to explain my disappearances. Besides, I believe we could come up with some pretty believable false information between us. I still prefer to keep it from Professor Dumbledore though, as he is apt to act on some of the information, and get someone hurt or killed. I cannot believe he sends his Order members out to catch the Death Eaters, rather than to do damage to their numbers. The Death Eaters are wise to his tactics, and have learned spells to keep their numbers intact, while the Order numbers are dwindling. He will soon have no one left to fight his battles."
"I know Mr Pettigrew, Albus is a good leader, but his heart is in the wrong place. While protecting the Death Eaters, he is hurting the Order members terribly. Now have you heard anything else about The cup in Bellatrix's vault?"
"No Professor, I haven't. But I have seen him give other items to different Death Eaters, like a Diary to Lucius, and a crown to Regulas. What they have done with them I don't know. I do know that Regulas is getting concerned about something though. He does not have the same ambition he had when I first joined. He is becoming more secretive. I believe he is having second doubts about his joining the Death Eaters."
"Well, If Regulas was given one, then the chances are he has hidden it in the castle, as for Lucius, it is probably in Malfoy Manor. When do you intend to tell your friends about our plans. The sooner the better I think?"
"You're right, if we could be held for detention this evening, as well as Lily, it should be then."
"Very well, if you could do something around all of them, so as it would appear anyone of you could have done it, I will say since it could have been anyone of you, you will all serve detention. Please inform Miss Evans before hand so that she she will be alerted."
When they were in class, Peter had put a disillusioned stink bomb on Siriur' chair, and when he sat on it, it went off, filling the class room with the horrible odor of rotten eggs. She quickly put the five Gryffindors in detention for that evening, but gave Peter a disgusting look, as if to say, couldn't you have found a less noticeable way for me to give you detention. Peter gave her a quick smile before departing the class room.
That evening, as they made their way to Professor McGonagall's office, there was little chatter, as each of them made like they were mad, because they were not let in on the prank, Lily pretending to be mad, because she had detention for sitting with idiots.
When they entered the classroom, Minerva had them take a seat. She then had Peter and Lily take over. The Marauders were shocked at what they heard. They did not believe it, until Peter showed them the dark mark on his left arm, and his missing finger. They wanted to know why he trusted Lily with information, and not his mates. and Peter replied that Lily would not jump to conclusions and give her sound advice, where as his friends would have tried to go out and kill the bastards. Not really what Peter was wanting, getting his friends killed. With about two months left to school, plans had to be made to continue this groups plans, and to find out the significance of these items that have been hidden.
A/N: I feel it is fair that I tell you Nagini has not been made a Horcrux as yet, as I don't think he even has her yet. so therefore, there are only five Horcruxes. The ring, Pendent, the diadem, the cup, and the diary. Thank you to the readers of this story, and I hope you continue to enjoy my attempt to make Peter a hero, of sorts. The Keeper.