This year was a white Christmas.
Or perhaps worse than a white Christmas, featuring the kind of blizzard that made you question whether it would ever be warm again. Cutting through courtyards to get to places was no longer even feasible, as the snow was deeper than all but Hagrid could wade across.
The last few days before Christmas were spent doing what Sirius called,"spreading holiday cheer". The remaining students helped to decorate the school as magically as they could, although it was perhaps their enthusiasm that made it certain that the teachers decorated alone for the future years.
James and Sirius were responsible for setting a small blizzard in the corridor outside the Slytherin common room that rivaled the real one, giving Severus Snape frostbite in his fingers as he tried to stubbornly cross it. It took Dumbledore to remove, although, he did leave a light flurry. Ellie was the one who enchanted the suits of armor to sing her favorite carols as people passed (although they didn't get the words quite right and tended to be rather monotonous). Rose found a way to grow real icicles around the banisters and trees that Hagrid brought inside.
Peter aggravatingly charmed some mistletoe to chase around couples, which turned out to be a terrible idea, as it meant that every few moments, Sirius would exclaim in surprise about the plant that he had apparently never noticed before, and kiss his girlfriend.
"We must stay in the holiday spirit, after all," he would say. It got old before it even started, and although Peter couldn't figure out how to reverse the spell, James settled the matter (after Sirius suggested that he should get himself a girlfriend and do the same) by lighting the mistletoe on fire, which resulted in a much more entertaining reaction from Sirius.
In retaliation for nearly singeing off his eyebrows, Sirius set a spell on Ellie's curly blonde hair that turned it completely black, and whenever he walked past her, he would hum "Paint it Black" by the Rolling Stones, his favourite wizarding band. Rose managed to convince him to change it back after two days of persuasion.
Remus was beginning to fall ill again, but in the meantime he managed to trick the house elves in the kitchens to feed Oliver Tray nothing but poached eggs over the entire break. It was beautiful.
Other than that, the days leading up to Christmas came and went without trouble, (although Oliver was beginning to go on hunger strike for better food).
Christmas Eve dinner had been somewhat uncharacteristically quiet. Although full of delicious puddings and pies (but not for Oliver), none of the marauders dared eat a thing. They hardly bothered to pull wizard crackers, although Peter ended up with a new toad (which was all the rage). No one bothered to so much as joke about turning it into a tadpole once.
Part of the reason why the Gryffindor table was so silent was because they were all terribly worried. That evening would be the moment that they would, at last, take the potion, and hopefully become full animagi. But, it was not going to be a seamless operation. Chances were, at least from what Rose gathered, that it would be extremely painful. They were presently in the process of fasting, and all of them hoped that none of the teachers would notice, and question their strange eating behavior.
As it happened, one did. The girls had waited to stay a moment longer with their friends.
"Gentlemen, wait just a moment. Why didn't you boys eat any of your supper?" Professor McGonagall asked, following the boys out of the great hall after their meal (or lack thereof).
"They-we all, that is to say, spent the entire afternoon raiding the kitchens, Professor," Remus supplied, with the perfect amount of sheepishness to make them seem guilty of the crime. James faked an upset stomach and Sirius grinned proudly. Peter stood, still shell shocked by her sudden appearance.
"I suppose Miss Bennett and Miss Claybourne accompanied you?" McGonagall inquired.
Remus nodded.
"Well, then, you'll have to be more careful of your eating habits, won't you? And keep out of the way of the elves, they do tend to get carried away if their orders are too flamboyant." The professor gave a rare smile, seemingly lost in fond memories. "Have a Merry Christmas, boys."
"You too, Professor," they chorused, not quite believing their good luck.
"What was that all about?" Ellie asked, coming up behind them.
"Remus just saved us from McGonagall," James replied. The girls fell into step with him. Sirius and Remus were behind them, discussing whether changing the only food that Oliver was served into haggis would improve his situation or not. Peter dragged behind, weighted by an important decision he was on the verge of making.
He had decided by the time they made it back to Gryffindor's chamber.
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"I'm not doing this." Peter announced boldly.
"What?" James asked, distractedly watching Ellie roll up her sleeves.
"This. I'm not becoming an animagus."
By now Sirius had turned to listen, Rose at his heels watching anxiously.
"Come off it, Peter. Of course you are." Sirius replied incredulously.
"No. I'm not." Peter's quiet demeanor was gone. Instead, he was standing on his own, firm about what he had decided to do.
"Yes, you are." Sirius replied, being as intimidating as he knew how to be.
The girls stayed back.
This argument was for the friends, the original marauders, to hash out. Rose had the distinct feeling that she had at least a part in the cause of this outbreak.
"No. I'm done with you, Sirius."
"Listen here-"
"No, Sirius, let him talk."
It was Remus, standing to join the circle facing Peter. Something had changed in him, something sparking, almost like a frenzied fear, an animal too cautious about being caught and killed, perfectly ready to fight if it was the only way out.
Peter trembled at the sight of all his friends standing against him, then thought of what he endured, about what Magda, his almost girlfriend, had told him in Hogsmeade the week before.
"Peter. I really would like to date you, but you never do anything except cling to Sirius and James. You don't have time for dating me. And even if you did, you still let them treat you like dirt. Take a stand for yourself for once. Then come find me." It had stung, but it was true.
He swallowed and did his best to look Sirius in the eye.
"Look. I'm tired of being treated badly. Sirius, everything that comes out of your mouth is an insult. James, you never stop bragging. And both of you, since you met them-" he gestured to the girls. "You wont so much as talk to me. I've always been on the outside, and I'm done with it. I want my own life. I want to be your friend, but really, choose. Me or them."
"Peter," James started. "You're being unreasonable. We can't choose. They are with us now. Marauders."
"Then maybe I don't want to be a marauder any more!"
The stunned look on the faces of his friends made him wonder if he had gone too far.
"Peter, please, you're doing this for me-"
"Remus, I want to help you, I really do, but you're asking for too much! You know how dangerous this is. One wrong move, and I'm like- like you, for the rest of my life!" Remus' newly sympathetic gaze turned cold.
"If I ever hear you talk to him like that again, you dirty little TRAITOR-" Rose pulled Sirius back, as he plunged forward after Pettigrew.
Peter stepped back and hung his head. He whispered.
"You know it's true..."
This time it was James who looked like he wanted to punch Peter.
He held himself back, barely, hands shaking.
"Peter... Are you... Are you sure?"
"I can't even look at you without feeling sick. I know what real friends are now, and I don't want to be around you any more." Peter stuck his chin in the air, and Sirius made a disgusted noise.
"You traitor! You scoundrel, you've always been a useless piece of garbage. Go, then. We don't want you. You're worthless, you stupid-" Rose urgently stood on toe and pulled his ear down to whisper something into it. Sirius promptly went white, and turned too look into her eyes, appearing for a moment that he might turn on her, but she held his gaze. He paled a bit more and backed down, giving her an apologetic look before giving Peter the evil eye.
"Speaking to Remus like that was rude. Do it again and you might find it harder to speak enough to make insults," Sirius threatened.
"I just want you to leave me alone. And I don't want to be an animagus. That's all."
James glanced at the cauldrons in the corner, and back at his remaining friends.
"We want to talk about it," James replied, sighing heavily.
"Fine. I'll stay in the side chamber. Do your fancy little silencing charm to keep me from eaves dropping if you must. Merry jinxing Christmas." He slammed the door behind him, and they did just that.
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Well. That chapter happened. I feel like I wanted to get Pettigrew out of the picture, so that he can't betray everyone in the future so that maybe we can get some happy endings this time around. Thanks for reading and reviewing! Don't let the muggles get you down!
post edit: kinda questioning my motives for ditching peter here, but i have a really great arc and some interesting ideas for him in the future. Thanks for sticking with it thus far!