Peter wasn't one for romantic entanglements. Other than a few kisses and some brief fumbling, the sum of his knowledge on such things only extended to the stories his friends relayed. So it was with considerable consternation and horror that he found himself wedged underneath the Charms professors' desk, while the two students snogging on top of it did their best to expand upon the subject.

He cursed his entire situation, Sirius Black for taking James' invisibility cloak, and most especially the two randy idiots on the desk. Shifting his knees in an effort to get more comfortable against the stone floor, Peter peered around for a way, any way, to get out of there.

To his vast relief, and just in time by the heated sounds of things, the door opened and an amused feminine voice sounded in the classroom.

"Williams and Hill, what would Professor Flitwick say?"

There were some scrambling noises as the two lovebirds put themselves to rights and Peter grimaced. Thankful as he was for being rescued for their display, he would have rather gone without knowing the faces that went along with the noises.

"As much as I really don't care what you do on your spare time, I'm sure there's a better place and time to do it. Go on, up to your dorms, curfew and all that tosh."

Peter didn't dare peek around the desk, but there was just enough room between the bottom of it and the floor that if he laid one ear flat to the ground he could see a bit of the room. There was some grumbling and huffing and a bit of embarrassed shuffling as the snogging couple exited the room, but the girl remained inside the classroom. She sighed and Peter could make out a prefect's badge pinned to her robes. She moved closer and he felt a rising panic with every step she took towards the front of the room. What possible explanation could he give if she found him without looking like some sick pervert?

James could talk his way out of anything and after almost five years of being mates with him one would think some of that might rub off. Unfortunately it looked like that was just a false hope.

The girl came to stand right in front of the desk and Peter cowered, tucking himself into as small of a ball as he could manage. He cast a thought toward his animagus form but discarded the idea. He was still too inexperienced to pull it off successfully and the sound of effort might just attract her attention. He watched in horror as she crouched down to pick up the objects that had been knocked off the desk. As she replaced them the door to the classroom opened for a second time.

"Severus?"

"Lily, you came."

There was a pregnant pause and Peter cursed his luck. If only he just eaten his Honeydukes sweets instead of going down to the kitchens, he wouldn't be stuck here with his knees aching and forced to listed to whatever serious conversation that was about to take place.

"Of course I came," Evans replied with false lightness. "Why wouldn't I come? I mean, we're friends, it's not like lately you've been keeping our friendship your dirty little secret."

Snape flinched. "Of course we're friends. I just meant I wasn't sure you would. Lately you've been… well." Peter didn't care what she'd been, nor did he particularly want to know, but he figured James might.

"I've been what, Severus? Upset? Disappointed? Overreacting?"

"It didn't mean anything. The lads are just-"

"That's it!" Lily said exasperatedly, and not in an affectionate way. "You always make excuses for your nasty friends. You know how I feel about them. Since you've become all chummy with Rosier and Wilkes, I barely know you anymore."

"I-"

"I know what you and your friends did to McKenna Green." Evans continued in a quieter voice. "It was horrible. Severus, how could you do that? Especially after the hard time she's been having with her parents-"

"It was just a joke; just for laughs. It's not like we did anything to her that Potter and his friends wouldn't have done." A bite of acid joined in with the desperate note in Snape's voice.

"And that's another thing. I don't understand why the two of you just can't ignore each other. He's not so bad, Severus." Peter was shocked to hear the slight pleading tone in Evans' voice. He hadn't been aware there was any change in her regard for James. As far as he knew she'd maintained a healthy disgust for him. Apparently that wasn't the case.

"Not so bad? How can you, of all people, stand there and tell me he's not so bad?"

"He's a tosser, I know. But there's more to him than that, I'm sure of it. How else could you explain why he's got such great friends?"

"More to him? iMore/i to him?" Snape sputtered. "There's nothing more to Potter than a fat Gringotts vault and a wand. As for Black, he's nothing but an inbred bedlamite. And those other two aren't even worth mentioning, just a couple of sycophants."

"Remus happens to be my friend, and you're wrong about Potter. He's really rather all right." She trailed off uncertainly and the silence was frosty.

"Been hanging around Potter, have you?" There was a silky edge to Snape's voice that sounded more dangerous than his earlier anger.

"And what if I have? We're in the same house; we see a lot of each other. Isn't that the same as what you said to me?"

"No," He replied sharply. "It most decidedly is not."

"You're right," Evans replied quietly. "It's worse. No matter how stupid or immature, at least he and his friends don't actually hurt people."

"Don't actually hurt people?" Snape's voice was raised in anger, again. "Are we talking about the same git in your house? What about all the shit he's done in the last five years?"

"Pranks! They were all just stupid, childish pranks, Severus. Can't we just move on?"

"He's brainwashed you." The incredulity was almost tangible. "I can't believe he's gotten to you, too."

"He hasn't done anything, Severus. Why can't you just admit that people grow up; people change. Maybe it's time you did as well." She brushed past Snape towards the door, but Severus' soft voice stopped her from completely exiting.

"He'll disappoint you." he said, with a complete lack of emotion. "He might seem okay on the surface but pretty soon he'll disappoint you. And then you'll see just how horrible he really is."

She left and Snape viciously kicked one of the chairs before sinking down into one with his head in his hands.

Peter bit his lip and waited until Snape left before uncurling his stiff body and racing back up to his dorm. Remus was flipping through a textbook and glanced over at him curiously as Peter flopped face down on his bed.

"You were gone for ages. Are you all right?"

Peter groaned into his pillow. He was silent for a long moment before deciding what to say. "Remus, am I a sycophant?"

Remus looked amused. "Peter, would a sycophant be able to complete an animagus transformation at the same time as James and Sirius?"

"I didn't though," Peter mumbled. "I still can't get it right. And they always helped me loads, you know that."

Remus sighed. "Just trust me, Peter; I know how it is to feel like just a hanger-on."

Peter turned his head to the side to look at Remus. "But that's different. You've got your problem and even still you're just like Padfoot and Prongs. At the heart of things you're all adventurers and I'm the bloke telling you all to be careful."

"Caution has its uses as well, Wormtail. We'd be a mess without it." Remus tried, but in the end Peter went to bed with a sense of dissatisfaction. It didn't help when Sirius and James came crashing in a little while later, laughing over whatever shenanigans they'd been up to that night.

The next morning found Peter in an even worse mood. On his way to breakfast he'd overheard a group of girls twittering on about his friends, most particularly Sirius. It was nothing new, girls were always talking or giggling about Sirius, but what made it different was that after discussing the merits of his friends' features they'd included him in the conversation. To say the least, it was not flattering.

"I don't understand why they let him hang around; he's nothing but a bumsucker." One of the girls scoffed as the other sniggered.

Peter slunk into the great hall and plopped himself down at the Gryffindor table. The other marauders were already working their way through breakfast. Nothing looked particularly appetizing, but he spooned himself a bowl of porridge anyway. Remus shot him a sympathetic look as Peter dragged his spoon through his bowl without taking a bite.

"Peter, you'll never believe what we found last night. Sirius-" James started excitedly, but Peter was in no mood to hear about the fantastic things he obviously had no part in.

"James, I'd rather not listen to it right now. Thanks," he interrupted; scooping up some porridge and watching it dribble back into the bowl. James exchanged a confused look with Sirius.

"Well, all right. But we were waiting for you to get started. That's why we came back so early last night."

Peter snorted. "Why would you need me? You and Sirius are perfectly capable of pulling off pranks on your own. Don't need my help." He half mumbled. Peter knew he was being a prick, but at that moment he didn't really care.

"What a load of bollocks, of course we need you. What the hell do you think we keep you around for, decoration? We need your sneak skills. Wouldn't go very far without them, would we?" Sirius scowled in annoyance and reached for his morning coffee. "Stop being a git, you sound like Snivellus."

Remus grinned and Peter felt his lips quirk upwards in an answering smile. Sirius wasn't gentle but he had a way of getting to the heart of things.

James poured Peter a glass of pumpkin juice from across the table. "We don't let just anyone call themselves a marauder, you know. We wouldn't trade you in for two more of me or Sirius." James winked at him. James Potter always seemed to come off as one of the most self absorbed people to anyone who didn't know him, but sometimes it even surprised Peter how much the bloke actually saw.

"Possibly Remus," Sirius said, contemplatively.

"And we didn't call ourselves marauders," Remus said wryly. "It was Professor McGonagall who did. You just decided to use it because you know it drives her mad."

James grinned at him. "Well, yeah, but that's just a perk, I swear."

It was stupid, or at least it should have been. It was such a small, stupid thing to get emotional over. If any of them knew how much their words meant to him, they didn't show it as they went back to eating their breakfasts and joking over inconsequential things.

Peter's eyes began to water and he looked down into his porridge, sniffing as he ducked his head to hide his tears. Sirius began to get that look of unease and Peter, well aware of Sirius's lack of patience for tears, attempted to eat and alleviate them.

"All right, Peter?" Sirius asked, still eyeing him with suspicion. Peter gritted his teeth as he swallowed a thick, painful lump of gratitude, relief, and porridge as Sirius continued with hesitation. "You're not…?"

"No!" He gasped before Sirius could continue. "No, it's just-" Peter searched for something to describe the coalescing happiness building up in his chest and welling from his eyes. His face crinkled up as tears began to flow down his cheeks. "It's just the best damn porridge I've ever had." He choked out before bursting into tears as he fled the great hall, leaving behind said porridge and an astonished looking Sirius.

James dumped another heap of eggs onto his plate as he shook his head. "Well thank Merlin he didn't get to the waffles yet. Can't imagine what he'd do after a bite of those."