Chapter 5
Peter
As a particularly cold morning slipped its way into Hogwarts, a small, blue-eyed boy rose awake, rubbing his sleepy, sensitive eyes with clenched fists, attempting to shake the sleep off and prepare himself for his first day.
'This is it,' he thought excitedly, 'My first day at Hogwarts!'
He stumbled from his bed, being welcomed by cold, penetrating silence. He was the first one awake. He picked up a loud snore coming from his right, the only thing piercing the otherwise constant silence.
Peter scrambled his brand new robes from atop of his trunk and crept into the bathroom as quietly as a mouse, not wanting to wake the others. Judging from the unfathomable darkness visible from the window, it were still early hours of dawn. Jumping into shower with a selection of several various taps, from bubbly, steam-hot water to freezing lashes of shockingly cold liquid, he let the water flow as he remained standing in the shower, accompanied by severe splashes around him.
He remembered seeing his mother's face as she bid him farewell on the station. Tears were glistening in her green eyes, so much alike his.
'Not my father, though,' the boy thought bitterly, turning the stream of water off and exiting the shower. His father did not see him off, being most likely slumped on the couch of his tiny apartment, ever-growing crowd of empty beer bottles surrounding him, a defenceless victim that has lost the will to fight. His father was perfectly comfortable in his own little word, living off benefits, away from Peter and his mother. Truthfully, Mr. Pettigrew tended to be different. He used to spend entire days with his son in the park, playing with him, entertaining him, anything for 'Pete', as he used to tenderly call him. However, ever since learning the truth about Mrs. Pettigrew, his desperate attempts to stay away from the 'weirdos' as he called them, increased furthermore. He ceased seeing his son, simply scared of what they were.
'He wasn't always like that,' thought Peter miserably, adjusting his scarlet tie proudly. To his own astonishment, he was selected into the house of the red lion. With his mother being in Hufflepuff, that was what he expected himself. Yet, as the hat roared the announcement of him, Peter Pettigrew, joining the Gryffindor table, he practically ran across the hall to the table, fearing that the hat may possibly change his mind.
Hearing numerous gossips about the house, he had to admit he was actually intimidated by the history of the house. As he stared at the portrait of a fierce looking man of wild, shaggy red hair glaring at him knowingly, he remembered reading about the famous founder of Gryffindor.
'Godric, above all, praised courage, determination and strength of will and heart above all else,' he recalled the introductory text of 'Hogwarts: A History', now safely tucked away in the corner of his trunk.
The more he thought about it, the less confident he grew. He just couldn't find any of these traits inside of him. He was just... Peter. He always thought of himself as average, possibly even below the standards. Throughout his eleven years of existence, he barely left the house, tutored by his mother and despised by his father. He accustomed himself to loneliness, discovering both its numerous advantages yet also haunting limitations.
'It's all past now,' he murmured stubbornly as he descended down the Bedroom Tower, entering the warm insides of the common room. Assuming he would be the first one there, he mused at a sight of a small, thin looking boy of brown, feeble hair sitting at the sofa by the fireplace, his eyes glaring at the fiery flames, himself absorbed in deep thoughts.
Peter froze behind the boy. After a moment of thoughts, he cleared his throat awkwardly to announce his presence. Not receiving any answer, he murmured shyly, 'Hello,'.
The boy suddenly flinched as if electrically shocked, a book placed upon his lap falling to the ground with a loud thump. He glanced at Peter shortly, his eyes glaring at the boy blankly.
'Hi,' the boy said, a small smile enlightening his face, 'Up early, huh?'
Peter grinned back, happy to actually make a conversation with someone.
'Could say the same about you,' he said, nearing towards the boy, his nerves ticking.
'Oh, yes. I... I don't really sleep,' the boy added, blushing, 'Not if a good book can help it,'
'I see,' answered Peter, glaring at the supposedly entertaining book. He enjoyed reading. Not a lot, he was never able to go through more than a chapter at once. Yet, he definitely enjoyed reading.
Seeing Peter's point of interest, the boy hastily snatched the book from the puffy carpet and concealed it from Peter's vision.
Embarrassed, Peter shrugged his shoulders and smiled blankly, desperately attempting to make a conversation.
'I'm Peter. Peter Pettigrew,' he said after a moment of awkward silence. He assumed it'd be best to start with his name, hoping the other boy will not just ignore him and actually reply. To his pleasant astonishment, he did.
'Pleasure. Remus Lupin,' the boy replied, shoving the book between the cushions and extending his arm.
Peter stared at it blankly, needing a minute to comprehend the gesture.
'Oh,' he squeaked loudly, hastily shaking hands with this new, strange boy.
The boy smiled widely, yet Peter noticed that the smile was somehow forced. His eyes did not twinkle even a little bit, with only one emotion visible. An emotion known to Peter very well.
'Well... I think it's about time for some breakfast,' said Peter, seeing the greyness outside being flustered by the early rays of incoming sunshine.
Remus smiled sadly and returned to his seat on the couch, digging out the previously buried book from behind the cushions. Peter remained still, looking at Remus expectantly. He really did not want to go down to the Great Hall all by himself. The crowds somehow seemed to scare him. He didn't feel comfortable amongst big groups of people. He felt like a rat, silently slithering through the crowd yet remaining largely unnoticed, almost ignored by most.
After a moment of silence in which Remus attempted to ignore Peter, he finally looked up, 'Oh, no. I'm not really hungry. I think I'll just stay and read for a while, my lessons don't start until much later,'
'What's your first period?' squealed Peter excitedly, not wanting to abandon the only company he had.
'Transfiguration,' Remus mumbled, not even bothering to look up. Upon answering, he buried his nose in the book and ignored Peter completely.
'Same here!' answered Peter loudly, his voice jolting with tension.
When no answer was heard, Peter remained standing in the very same spot, awkwardly joining his hands together as he attempted to think of something smart to say.
Realizing that he was no longer wanted, Peter hung his head miserably and started shuffling towards the exit, his mousy brown hair falling onto his forehead.
Just as he was about to exit, he heard Remus exclaim, 'See you there!', to which Peter smiled gratefully and left the common room, knowing that possibly, just possibly, he had just made a new friend.
James
James woke up with a sonorous scream, a large, shaggy head of red, evil eyes and sharp, ferocious fangs floating above him. As he jumped out of his bed, the head startled back and simply slid off, revealing a long haired boy of long black hair, now rolling on the floor and inviting the incoming spasms of uncontrolled laughter.
'Oi!' James exclaimed, throwing the pillow onto the entertained boy, 'I'll get you back for this!'
'Oh,' the boy managed to say during his short pause in laughing his head off, 'Why so Sirius?'
'You know,' James exclaimed, throwing the other pillow along with the rest of the things located on his bedside table, 'The name puns are no longer funny if the person takes the mickey out of himself!'
'That's the whole point of it,' answered Sirius, now getting up and shielding himself from the oncoming wave of thrown objects, a grin never disappearing from his face.
Suddenly, James stopped, taking a deep breath and calming down.
'Fine. You got me. Truce?' he said, putting his hands up in an innocent manner.
Sirius glared at him, blowing his long hair off his face lazily.
'Truce,' he answered, nodding at James joyfully.
'Vengeance is sweet,' thought James roguishly, 'Just you wait, Shaggy, I'm going to get you for this,'
Already scheming an equally entertaining joke, James looked at the mirror beside his bed. His hair looked as if a firecracker had just exploded inside it, black hair literally all over the place.
'Acceptable,' he thought, giving his hair a rough shake and clothing himself in his robes while Sirius still sniggered silently in the other corner of the room.
They left the bedrooms while ferociously discussing the subject of Transfiguration.
'Once, my dad transfigured an ugly jumper my auntie gave me for Christmas into a sack of galleons!' explained James excitedly.
'What, doesn't ickle James want to keep warm?' sneered Sirius, smiling mischievously.
They arrived at the already crowded Common Room, with a pack of older Gryffindors stretched out on the couches, the fireplace flickering merrily in the overall happy hubbub of the scarlet students.
As they were leaving the common room by the small, centred hole in the wall, one of their roommates fell right on James after tripping on his own feet.
'Why is everyone falling on me nowadays?' grunted James as he struggled to get up, Sirius experiencing another outburst of laughter.
'Easy question. You're simply beautiful mate,' sniggered Sirius as he helped the unfortunate oppressor up off the floor.
'How is it we always meet while you're laying on the ground?' the Black asked, pulling Remus to his feet, 'Really weird first impression, huh?'
Remus laughed nervously, nodding his head silently as he squeezed past them, exclaiming a quiet 'Sorry' as they walked past.
The rest of their journey to the Great Hall was spent on discussing James' handsomeness (and, in Sirius' case, comparing it to a cruelly ugly case of a grindylow attack), both of the boys anticipating their first day at Hogwarts impatiently. As they passed through the ajar doors of the Great Hall, they once again admired the truly stunning view of the lack of ceiling, the sky displaying a clear, blue plane hindered by a fluff of white clouds, looking like giant pieces of cotton candy.
They took their seats at the nearest empty slots on the Gryffindor table in the far left of the hall, squeezing through groups of students that were chattering happily. As they passed a group of particularly loud seventh year students at the Ravenclaw table, they were bid farewell by a immaculate explosion of a gassy substance, followed by an outburst of laughter from the Ravenclaws, one voice towering over the others as it informed the crowd, 'Told him he won't be able to transform orange juice into a goblet of Firewhisky!'.
The boys smirked as they took their seats at the table, James helping himself to an enormous bowl of porridge while Sirius swished up scrambled eggs hastily.
'So, have you heard about our Transfiguration teacher?' asked James, leaning over to Sirius sneakily.
'What about her?' asked Sirius while fishing out the very last of the scrambled eggs, pushing the plate away and getting up, James following as he explained.
'My dad went school with her. Apparently, even when she was younger, she had quite a temper,' explained James as they exited the hall. Upon their departure, they noticed that the goblet of supposedly transformed Firewhisky now turned into a swirling liquid of sickly yellow.
'How about we test that temper of hers?' proposed Sirius mischievously, sniggering at James knowingly.
'You have read my mind, mate,' answered James as, after fetching their bags and books from the common room, they made their way over to the Transfiguration class.
The walk was not an extremely long one – the Transfiguration class was located on the ground floor , on the left of the Middle Courtyard which happened to be a grassy area with statues of all four of the founders' emblems. As they reached the class, James' eyesight was met by a boy of greasy black hair, standing in the corner, part of him concealed by the wall
'Snivellus!' exclaimed James loudly, 'How miserable it is to see you again!'
Severus glanced at him angrily, his black eyes declaring a silent yet fierce war with James.
'Potter,' he spat furiously, crossing his arms on his chest, 'What do you want?'
James was about to issue Snivellus with the poor condition of his hair when suddenly, a red haired girl emerged from the corner by which Severus stood.
'Do everyone a favour and use a –' started Sirius before being violently interrupted in his tracks by James, who elbowed him discreetly.
Sirius casted a surprised look at his friend, only to notice the boy was not even staring at him. His sight was stuck to the girl, himself grinning widely as he kept his hands behind his back in an innocent gesture.
'Evans!' he exclaimed happily, 'How're you doing?'
Lily glanced at him, a hint of smile itched upon her face, only to shake her head sadly as she grasped Snape by the shoulder, turning them both around from the boys' company.
'You know, I'd say 'next time', but –'
'Don't you even try it,' exclaimed James, his teeth gritted hard.
As the rest of the class gathered round the classroom, James grew familiar with the faces of children that would accompany him for the next seven years.
There was a boy of wild ginger hair, freckles randomly thrown on his face. He was chattering avidly to James' roommate, a boy of squared, slightly plump face and short, black hair combed to the side. Next to him was a girl with frizzy brown hair that reached down all the way to her waist, herself staring around the corridor with understandable astonishment.
James also noticed the strange, lonely boy who was unsurprisingly sitting at the very end of the wall, almost unrecognizable as he kept his head down, patiently waiting for the lesson too start.
Precisely at five past eleven, the oaken, iron refurbished doors of the Transfiguration class swung open and the awe-gripped groups of students entered the designated room. It ended up being a large building with a high ceiling and grey-bricked walls. There were rows of seats arranged neatly, all facing the front where a single desk was located. It neighboured with a blank blackboard whose immense darkness was like of the dark, moonless nights.
As James and Sirius slipped through the students to acquire the seats a fair deal away from the front, they noticed various artefacts scattered around the walls. Some of them happened to be old worn out shards of jagged rock, other happened to be cages with live birds in them, who were now staring at James with their black beady eyes.
While taking their seats, James couldn't help but cast a short look in order to search for the girl. He smirked upon realizing she, along with Severus, took the seats at the very front, not a meter away from the teacher's desk. Suddenly, his observation was disturbed by an entering of the same stern-looking woman who led them to their Sorting. She threw a quick wistful look at the class, sweeping her eyes around every students for a short moment. As her eyes stopped at James, he returned with a short, mischievous smile that was immediately announcing 'I'll be trouble!'.
'As you all may be aware, my name is Professor McGonagall and from this day forward, I will happen to be your Transfiguration teacher,' she started briskly, her lips drawn back, as thin as a pencil.
'I will expect no trouble with any of you. If you respect me, I will respect you back,' she continued, smothering her grievously green robes while removing a wand from her cloak.
She swept the wand sharply, causing a long paragraph to emerge on the blackboard, white lines disturbing the calm black sea.
'Now, Transfiguration is by far the most complicated form of magic,' Professor McGonagall explained, gesturing the students to inspect the blackboard, 'It focuses on a change or transformation, hence the name of an object into something else entirely. Due to laws of physics, the reason such things can be achieved are due to our alteration with the object's molecular structure. We cause it do misshape so we can bend it to our will. There are four branches in the mastery of Transfiguration, however in your first year you need only worry yourself about the first one. Transformation. Now –'
Her speech was disturbed by Sirius' hand darting into air. James smirked as his friend whispered, 'Time to check,', his eyes fixed on their teacher.
'Yes, Mr.?' asked McGonagall, looking at Sirius disapprovingly.
'Black, professor,' he answered, looking at the teacher innocently.
'Well, yes, Mr. Black, what is your question?'
Sirius looked at the teacher blankly, confusion displayed in his eyes. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, as if unable to unroll the wave of speech that was stuck into his mouth. After a moment of an inner struggle, the whole class was looking at Sirius with surprise.
'Sorry, I must've forgotten,' exclaimed Sirius, smiling at the teacher happily.
'Right. Well, as I was saying –' continued McGonagall, completely ignoring Sirius' abnormal behaviour.
'She's not that bad,' whispered Sirius excitedly, leaning his head over to James who nodded positively.
'Now there are five factors that an individual must take under account, each equally important. Would Mr. Black be inclined to enlighten us with at least two?'
Sirius, who was still in partial conversation at James, bolted up straight upon hearing his name only to find out the whole class was staring at him in expectation, with Professor McGonagall glaring at him sharply. Once again, he opened and closed his mouth several times, this time in panic as he struggled to come up with an appropriate answer. James suspected Sirius did not even touch A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration ever since purchasing it.
'I... I,'
'I fear you must've forgotten,' said McGonagall, accenting the second part of the sentence.
Sirius blushed slightly, a clear shade of red displayed upon his pale, squared jaw. Unable to answer, he merely nodded hastily, a feeble forced smile itched on his face.
McGonagall shook her head and turned around to face the board. As she did so, James noticed what might have been a warm small smile in the corners of her lips, her mood so carefully contained.
'I take that back,' murmured Sirius nervously.
The rest of the lesson passed on Professor McGonagall explaining the basics of the Transformation branch ('Remember, the most important thing is your precise pronunciation!'). James and Sirius expressed their boredom through supporting their heads by their arms, practically laying on the desk. Every now and then, they flung their heads down dramatically, pretending to take a quick nap.
The last half an hour of the lesson was announced by a box of matches passing through all of them, landing a single match for each of the student. They were about to experience their first attempts to Transform a match into a needle, as instructed by the teacher.
'The key is to imagine the sharpness and pronounce the incantation immaculately. Remember: Teriforte!'
James sat up cockily, pointing his new wand and observing it for a moment. His trip to Ollivanders Wand Shop was one of the first, most exciting stages of becoming a wizard. As he enter the dusty room filled with shelves full of wands, all entangled by the inpenetrable darkness in the corners of the location. He was on his own, he specifically asked his parents to select his wand alone. He wanted to prove he was no logner a child.
As he grasped numerous wands, they felt... normal. There was nothing in the pieces of wood that made him feel special. They were all normal for him, average sticks that did not feel powerful.
Finally, as the old, grey haired shopkeeper granted him with yet another wand, he felt a strange tingly sensation in the tips of his fingers. Warmth swooped his entire body like a huge wave of heat wave when entering a steamy sauna.
'Eleven inches. Mahogany. Unicorn's hair' he remembered the old man saying, proudly packing the wand as James paid seven shimmering Galleons and left the shop, excitedly clutching the wand in his right hand.
Now, this was his first real test. He grasped the wand tightly and clearly said the incantation, swooping the wand over the match. When no effect took place, he repeated the process. Realizing that absolutely nothing had changed in the match's appearance, he glanced over to see his Sirius was doing.
His newly met friend was spitting the incantation angrily, his mood worsening with each failed attempt. In the end, his anger reached such standards that he smashed the wand at the match, causing the wand to release red sparks from which the match caught fire after which it went flying across the room only to end up in the frizzy brown hair of the girl at the front of the classroom.
The girl shrieked as she felt the heat rising up her neck. Sirius' expression was somehow mixed between extreme embarrassment and an unhealthy urge to laugh. The first one seemingly succeeded as he jumped to the front, burbling 'I'm sorry' loudly while trying to get to the girl and put the little fire out.
He was relieved of the task by Professor McGonagall who, with an instant swish of her wand, put the fire out, leaving the hair utterly unscathed. The only memory of the incident happened to be the frightened girl who constantly attempted to turn around and inspect her hair closely.
'It's okay, Emmeline,' her friend kept on repeating like a mantra while looking at Sirius angrily. The Black heir was simply standing by them, rooted in the spot, bombarding the girl with numerous apologies. Upon firm confirmation that her hair was not changed in any way, the girl smiled at Sirius weakly and accepted his apology.
Professor McGonagall cleared her throat, casting yet another disapproving look at Sirius as she gestured him to return to his seat. For the entirety of the remaining lesson, Sirius huddled in his seat carefully, waving his wand as gently as possible, casting nervous glances at McGonagall every now and then.
Upon exiting the classroom, James noticed his roommate that had a strange tendency for falling walk past him. It would be nothing extraordinary if not for one detail that specifically clung to James' attention.
A wide, long cut that was just visible over his collar.
Sorry for a shorter chapter but I am now suffering from a sudden empty head. Wanted to share this with you, hope you enjoy it, always leave a review if you like it!
All copyrights go entirely to J.K Rowling.