Author's note: Sorry it's been a while, but please review, I hope you enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 5: Detention.
"We're going to be late!" Remus moaned, pulling 'Quidditch Weekly' out of James' hands and yanking him to his feet.
"It's a detention, Moony. It doesn't start till we get there anyways." Sirius remarked as he strolled down the stairs, Peter hot on his heels.
"But if we're late we'll have to stay longer." Peter scuttled to the portrait and threw it open. "Come on, quick!"
Slightly confused by the support of Peter, who normally sided with James and Sirius, but nevertheless grateful of the help; Remus clambered through after him.
"What's the big rush, Wormtail?" James complained, "it's normal for Moony to not want to be late but you?"
"Yeah, Wormie. You going somewhere tonight or something?" Sirius questioned as he and James hurried to catch up with the other two, especially Peter who was nearly sprinting.
Wormtail froze, making James nearly run into the back of him. "No, of course not, why would you think that? I would never…I don't…I'm not… No!"
Sirius, James and Remus shared a look.
"Right, whatever." James said at last.
Peter didn't reply, just continued to run down to the Potions Dungeons, leaving the other three to try and catch up with him.
"You're late, boys." Professor Slughorn rebuked as the four boys panted into view.
"We got held up-" Remus began.
"See, my owl-" James continued.
"Who's name is Horace-" Sirius added.
"In honour of you!" Peter exclaimed, as if Slughorn hadn't quite worked it out for himself.
"Is feeling-"
"A little"
"sick" James finished, pretending to sniff as though upset.
Slughorn rolled his eyes. "It was your toad last week, Mr Potter."
"Oh! Sluggie the toad! Don't worry, he made a full recovery!" James remarked cheerfully.
Slughorn rolled his eyes again. "Fine, come in then, but you better not be late again or I'll double the time you have to stay."
"Yes sir!" Sirius saluted.
The teenagers trooped into the classroom (literally, they were marching like soldiers).
"I want you to do an essay for me on the effect being late has on your school work." Slughorn announced, waving his wand and sending parchment in front of all four seated teenagers along with a quill, as usually they went through the whole, 'my cat ate my quill!' business which ate up a lot of the detention time.
"It doesn't have an effect, I'm late a lot and I still get all Os." Sirius argued arrogantly. "And James and Moony get all Os too."
"Then the effect is has on Mr. Pettigrew's schoolwork!" Slughorn snapped.
Sirius and James both snorted.
"Wormie could get here four hours early and he still wouldn't get more than a Dreadful." James snickered.
"Oi!" Peter whined.
"Just write the essay!" Slughorn lost his patience at last, turning round and storming into his stock room.
"34 seconds." Remus whispered.
"I win, I win!" Sirius did a celebratory dance, they always took bets on how long it would take for the teacher doing the detention to lose patience and Sirius nearly always won.
Grumpily, James, Remus and Peter handed over a galleon.
"You cheated." James complained.
"How did I?" Sirius retorted.
James was about to reply when a yell from the stock room shut them all up.
"No talking! And you'll be staying here 'till you're done!"
"We can still write notes." James whispered, ducking as something green and slimy was thrown at him from the stock cupboard.
"That's an extra ten minutes for you, Potter. Talk again and I'll make it twenty!"
"Yes sir, sorry sir!" James called, eager to get the last word but knowing Slughorn couldn't punish him for that.
Carefully James tore a bit of his parchment off and began to write carefully. Before folding it neatly and passing it across to Sirius, who smirked as he read it.
You going to see the Quidditch championships with us this summer, Paddie?
You bet! I might have to imperious my parents though.
Remus sighed as the note went straight past his nose again, it was hard to concentrate when they kept doing that. Maybe he would have to join in…
Sirius! You wouldn't really do that, would you?
Of course not, I'd use Avada Kedavra.
James snorted and was about to add a bit about crucio when Peter reached forwards and snatched the parchment off him.
"Oi!"
"Twenty minutes, Mr Potter." The voice floated in from the stock room again, where Slughorn was supposedly stock-checking.
You aren't going to be near Herbology on Wednesday, are you?
I don't know, my wormy friend. What time?
Hmmm…bout 7?
Paddie?
Dunno
Well, don't be.
We'll make a special effort to be there.
No!
Why don't you want us there?
Peter?
Peter?
Peter?
He's gone all weird on us again, oh well. Let's talk about Moony!
Why me????
Correction, lets talk about Amelia Bones
Yeah, Moony's in loooooooove.
Shut up!
Have you kissed her yet?
We've only been going out for a few hours!
That's as long as it takes for Paddie…in fact…make that a few minutes.
Oi!
Are you seeing her tonight?
Maybe
That means yes.
So we'll be aaaaall alone. Just me, you and Wormie; Pads.
I'm going out too.
What???? Where???? We said that earlier and you said you weren't!
Don't tell me YOU have a girlfriend too?
No, just got to…go somewhere.
Where?
…
…
…
Fine, be secretive. We don't care!
What would you do if you had one offer that was good and then another offer came up and it was better?
Errr…take the better one. Duh!
Why go for less money when you could have more for the same thing?
Peter smiled as they finished off their essays and then left, leaving James behind for his extra time. He had made up his mind, it didn't matter that Sirius and James were talking about money and he was thinking of protection and glory. He did get both from being a Marauder but he would get much more as a death eater…and that's what Peter was going to be.