Chapter 23 - Petty Pettigrew

** Warning for mention of child abuse **

Peter hadn't enjoyed being home for the Easter holidays. His sisters had been delighted to see him, dragging him along with them and their friends to the village fair, where there was a tombola, Easter egg hunt and Morris dancers. He'd seen Richard Davidson and his gang, including Barny Fletcher, here. He'd tried to ignore them, quickly going over to buy himself a hot cross bun from a trade stall, but they'd spotted him and made their way over.

"Peter Pettigrew!" Richard said, throwing an arm around him and grinning (though they weren't friends). "How the devil are you, old sport?"

Peter extracted himself from Richard and folded his arms, made more difficult by the sticky bun in his hand. "I'm here with my sisters." He said, not that this helped his credibility (or answered the question).

"How's school?" Barny asked, smiling at him. "Mum said you're somewhere in Scotland?"

"Ooh aye." Richard said, in a terrible and rather rude imitation of someone Scottish. "You seen the Loch Ness monster yet? Ooh Nessie, I'll kill ya!" He turned to Barny and Barny laughed.

"It's very good." Peter said, feeling himself going pink as he ignored Richard's comment. "I'm the best in my year."

"That's great." Barny said as Richard gave an unconvinced snort. "Well, we won't keep you. Just wanted to say hi." And the two of them walked off together.

Peter watched them go, the boys he'd known at primary school, and didn't know what he felt. He wished James, Sirius and Remus had been here. They'd have known exactly what to do. But he, Peter, had none of James' affability, Sirius' confidence or Remus' kindness. He left the fete despondently, not bothering to find Clara and Annabelle and tell them he was leaving. They were busy chatting with their friends and eating candy floss. They didn't really care about him either.

He spent the rest of the holidays doing school work (he knew he needed to catch up before the end of year exams) and consenting to play board games with his sisters. They asked him a thousand questions about life at Hogwarts and he felt a little better knowing that here at least was something he had that was his own and made him interesting.

He met his friends on platform nine and three quarters. His mother waved frantically at James' dad (recognising him from last summer) and hurried over to talk at length with him, to Peter's great embarrassment.

Remus and his father joined them, and then Sirius (who appeared to be alone) a short while later.

"Hello, dear!" Mrs Pettigrew said to him as he joined their group. "I'm sorry we missed you over the summer. Aren't parents unfair?" And she gave a (not at all) comical roll of her eyes.

"It's been known." Sirius agreed with a grin. "Thanks for the invite anyway. I can try and sneak away this summer."

"Well, why don't I talk to your parents about it. Where are they?"

"Oh they're not here. I walked. I only live in Islington."

Peter's mother frowned. "Didn't they want to see you onto the train?"

Peter rolled his eyes. Of course they didn't. If they had wanted that, they'd have done it. His mother really was incredibly interfering.

"I guess not." Sirius said with a shrug. "How are… Clara and Annabelle?" He asked, correctly remembering the names of Peter's sisters.

Mrs Pettigrew talked at such length to Sirius that they were forced to run onto the train as the warning whistle blew. "Goodbye Peter! Goodbye!" She called, running along the platform as the train began to pick up speed. Peter thought he saw a few people on the platform laughing at her.

He turned back to the others with a scowl, furious with his mother for embarrassing him and almost making them late.

"Good Easter?" James asked him and Sirius.

Peter nodded noncommittally and Sirius didn't look too enthusiastic either.

"Oh come on, it can't have been that bad." James said laughing. "How was your mission of great importance?" He asked Sirius.

"Sodding waste of time." Sirius said irritably. "I overheard something brilliant. Apparently there's a core group of the Knights who are referring to themselves as the 'death eaters', I know, don't ask… so I wrote to tell Dave and Bill about it, and this is what I got back." He dug in his coat pocket and pulled out the scrap of parchment they used to communicate with the aurors.

'Knew it already.'

He scowled and stuffed the parchment back in his pocket. "I needn't have bloody bothered."

"Death eaters?" James said curiously. "What does that mean?"

"I dunno, I was wondering that. Do you think it's immortality they're after or are they just trying to scare everyone by using a big word like death in their name?"

"But death is scary!" Peter exclaimed.

"If you say so," Sirius said, "but there are things beyond death, aren't there."

"Are there?"

"The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death, my dad says." James told them. "Don't know what it means though."

Sirius looked at him thoughtfully. "I think he means like an afterlife. Like living beyond death. These death eaters, as I supposed we'd better call the Knights now, they want power, but only on their terms. They're basically just grown up, greedy Slytherins who won't share. They don't realise there are some things that are worth sacrificing. They can't see there's something bigger, something worth dying for. They won't win." He was looking fierce now.

Peter didn't understand at all, but James was looking at Sirius thoughtfully. "What's it for you?" He asked eventually.

"What's what for me?"

"What's worth dying for?"

Sirius smiled. "Well that's easy. You, you prat."

As James grinned back at him, Peter was left to ponder over the idiocy of his friend. It was really Sirius who was the prat here. If he was prepared to die for his friends, what on earth did that say about him? Wasn't he more important? No one in their right mind would genuinely sacrifice themselves for someone else. But he supposed Sirius wasn't in his right mind. He didn't seem to have a normal person's sense of self-preservation after all. Peter wouldn't be caught dead sacrificing himself for others. Did anyone actually do that?

They discussed the death eaters and what on earth they were seeking (edible or otherwise) for the remainder of the train ride. Peter had to confess he didn't find the topic quite as fascinating as James and Sirius seemed to. He wasn't sure what three second year wizards could do to help stem the uprising tide of darkness, though he knew the others fancied themselves aurors in the making. How did they all have the energy for it? Peter was busy enough with staying on top of his homework, let alone finding time to investigate things grown adults were unable to solve.

They met Remus in the entrance hall where he'd been waiting for them with a little plate of cream cakes he'd stolen from the kitchens (to everyone's delight) and after a good catch up in the common room, the four of them headed down to the welcome feast together.

Lily Evans appeared to be very upset. She kept breaking out into tears over her meal and it seemed that nothing any of the girls in her dorm said cheered her up. Peter wasn't sure what to make of it. James and Sirius it seemed had either not noticed or not cared.

Later in the dormitory, there was the usual first night back chaos. "Oh sod it, I left my clock at home." Sirius said, running an agitated hand through his dark hair as he tossed his various belongings out of his trunk and across the dormitory. Remus flicked back a stray sock that had landed on his bed.

"You mean my clock." James corrected from over the magazine he was reading. "The one you took apart last year and still haven't fixed properly."

"Yeah, that's the one." Sirius said, unabashed. "Oh well." He took an armful of clothes from his trunk, threw them into his wardrobe and then went off to take a shower.

"Unbelievable." James said, shaking his head, but he was grinning as he went back to his magazine and Peter knew he didn't really mind. James would forgive Sirius anything.

Peter began untangling the yarn his mother had wrapped around his school textbooks to stop them getting damaged in transit (she could have made it a bit less fiddly!) and Remus, who of course had nothing to unpack, had propped himself up on his pillows to read.

"Well, I have to say it's great to be back." Sirius said, emerging from the bathroom and throwing his towel unceremoniously onto the floor. "I, for one, can't wait for…" but he stopped dead as he noticed James and Peter, who were both looking at him in wide-eyed horror. "Er, why are you staring at me like tha..." And then his eyes widened. He swore, grabbed his pyjamas and quickly pulled them on but it was too late. They'd already seen.

"Sirius," James breathed, staring at his friend. "What happened?"

Sirius was sitting on his bed, resting his chin on his knee and not looking at any of them. "I didn't want you to sodding see." He said. "Not when... not when you can't understand."

Peter didn't understand. He knew some kids got beaten by their parents and he knew he was lucky not to be one of them but surely the impact wasn't usually this bad. The damage to his friend's previously unmarred skin was quite horrific.

Remus looked up from his book. "What did I miss?"

No one answered him. James was still staring at Sirius in shock. "Understand?!" He yelped. "Of course we don't understand! It's..." He gestured helplessly at his friend and shook his head. Apparently whatever it was was too awful for words.

"See? This is exactly why I didn't tell you." Sirius said crossly. "You don't understand. You can't understand. The worst your parents ever do is dock your allowance or take away your broomstick," he gestured at them in turn and Peter remembered how he knew this. They'd told him, up in the owlery in their first year. "Well, it's not like that for everyone." Sirius said, his voice cracking a little. "It's just stupid to try and fight it. You won't win. Please, let's just forget it."

"That is the biggest load of bollocks I've ever heard." James said. "Come on, we're going to McGonagall. We can stop this." And he got to his feet.

But Sirius didn't move. He was looking at James from his position on his bed with an expression that could almost have been pity. "Go on then James, what do you suggest I say to her? So sorry to bother you but my parents disagreed with something I did and they punished me for it. Can you please write and tell them very kindly not to next time? 'Course she won't. It's not exactly a crime, is it?"

If it wasn't, Peter was quite sure it should be. "What did you do to make them so angry?" He asked instead.

Sirius gave a humourless laugh. "I committed the oh so terrible sin of sticking up for my cousin Andromeda and… no, that was it."

"Yaxley." James said, filling in the blank for him.

Sirius glanced at Remus then back at James. "I don't think it helped." He admitted. "But they'd have found something else. You know what families like mine are like. Rule with an iron fist so your kids turn into perfect clones of you. Works a charm… usually."

Peter didn't know what families like Sirius' were like. He'd never experienced anything like this before.

"You're unbelievable." James said, staring at Sirius. "You're actually defending them. This is ridiculous. We're going to McGonagall, right now." He took a step towards the door and Sirius stood up too.

"OK!" He said, grabbing James by the arm, his eyes frantic. "OK, I admit it's not right what they do. I'm not wrong for defending my friend or cousin. I know that. But please James." And there was genuine pleading in his eyes now. "Please don't make me tell McGonagall. I can't bear... that."

James looked back at his friend and his hazel eyes were full of compassion. "I just feel so helpless."

"You're not helpless." Sirius told him firmly. "You have no idea how much you're helping me through this."

James moved forwards and hugged him so fiercely it was as though they were one another's lifelines. They stayed in the embrace for so long it was as though they'd completely forgotten the others were there.

"We'll get you out of there." James said, clapping him on the shoulder as the pair finally broke apart. "We'll get you out."

They didn't speak much after that. Though James was clearly still upset and Sirius still embarrassed, they didn't mention his parents again. A few hours after they went to bed, Peter woke to see a dim light on over behind Sirius' bed hangings. His friend had either woken in the night too or hadn't slept yet. If he'd been James or Remus he might have gone over to see if he was alright. But Sirius never seemed as pleased to see Peter as he did the others. No one ever seemed pleased to see Peter, he thought bitterly. The memory of Richard Davidson at the Easter fair came back to him again. The loch ness monster indeed… now he came to think about it, that was exactly the kind of stupid comment Sirius himself might come up with. He punched his pillow and fell into a restless sleep. When he woke again a few hours later, the dormitory was in darkness.

Breakfast the next morning was a subdued affair. James kept looking at Sirius as if he was gravely ill which annoyed Sirius so much he left the table early, saying he was going to the owlery and when he came back could everyone please stop looking at him like he was a sodding china teacup. "It's really not that bad!" He said, which Peter was sure couldn't be true.

They met up with him again in defence against the dark arts, where he spent the lesson glowering at their teacher and saying nothing, then they had potions, where he cheered himself (and James) up by exploding Snape's cauldron, causing the Slytherin boy to receive a face full of the swelling solution and making his already large nose twice its usual size.

After lunch they had charms and transfiguration and then they went to the common room where James and Sirius discussed more ways they could spy on Yaxley for 'Dave and Bill'. Peter's stomach growled loudly. This conversation was so boring and dinner was ages away.

"Is food all you ever think about?" Sirius snapped after Peter asked the others if they would accompany him on a trip to the kitchens to save him the wait.

Peter scowled at him. Every time Sirius made a suggestion for things to do they always went along with him. It was so unfair that it always had to be on his terms. Just because he and James fancied themselves private investigators didn't mean they all did.

"I don't always think about it." He said crossly. "But I'm thinking about it now."

"Well good for you. We're thinking about how to bring down that bastard Yaxley." He snapped. "Slightly more important, wouldn't you say?"

Peter wanted to throw something at him. "No." He said angrily. "I think what you're doing is a waste of time. If the aurors haven't caught him doing anything wrong, then I think you're just as arrogant as Lily says you are if you think you can."

"Oh bore off Pettigrew." Sirius snapped at him. "If you want to go and stuff your face in the kitchens then just go for it. Send the house elves my best and don't let the door hit you on the way out."

Peter looked at Remus and James, but neither of them looked like they were willing to accompany him either, so he turned on his heel and left the common room, feeling furious with all three of them.

He didn't need them. Like he hadn't needed Barny Fletcher at primary school. Peter was used to doing things alone. He was the only man in his house and he was the only wizard in his village. He was quite capable of looking out for himself. They'd all see.

The kitchens were in the basement. He wasn't sure if students were supposed to go there really, but the others hadn't let it bother them and he wasn't scared either. He marched determinedly forwards, reaching the stone corridor that led to both the Slytherin and Hufflepuff common rooms.

"Well well well… if it isn't petty Pettigrew."

He spun around. It was Mulciber. He was with Snape, Evan Rosier, Rabastan Lestrange and Rupert Wilkes. The five of them were walking towards him along the corridor. Mulciber had drawn his wand and was smiling nastily at him.

"Where's your blood traitor friend today then?"

Peter felt his heart pounding quickly in his chest. He knew Sirius or James would say something cutting or witty right about now. But there were five of them and one of him. What could he say to get them to leave him alone?

"He's in the common room." He said, giving a straight answer to an (almost) straight question.

Mulciber smirked. "All alone… shame. Well you're in luck Pettigrew. Because we want someone to play with. And I think you'll do quite nicely."

Peter's eyes darted around the group. All five boys had their wands out and were all pointing them at Peter. What would James or Sirius do? They'd probably fight back. Peter put a shaking hand in the pocket of his robes but his wand wasn't there. He must have left it up in the common room. Drat. The corridor was deserted, there were no teachers or prefects around. The boys were standing in a line so there was no way he could run past them. He did the only thing left to do that he could think of. He sunk to the ground and put his arms over his head.

There was a roar of laughter from the group. "Oh Pettigrew, you flaming coward." One of the boys laughed. "Oh well, it's probably easier like this. Incarcerous!"

There was a flash of light and the spell hit Peter, who, though he had his eyes closed, felt tight ropes bind him and hold him in place.

"Now we've got you right where we want you…" another boy's voice said. "Ascendio!"

Peter felt his body lift briefly off the ground and then fall back down onto the hard stone with a thump.

There was the sound of cruel laughter. "Nice try Rosier. But Pettigrew's so fat you'll have to try harder with that spell. Here, let me try one… furnunculus!"

Peter yelped as he felt a stinging sensation across his arms, face and legs. He opened his eyes to see his skin covered in angry red boils. He tightened his grip around his knees, hoping that this would be the last of the spells.

"Mucus ad nauseam!"

Peter gagged and choked as his throat suddenly burned and his sinuses were blocked. He couldn't just sit here and let them continue to attack him. He struggled to his feet but then remembered he was bound with ropes and fell to the ground again, toppling over onto his side.

"Help!" He screamed. "Help! Someone! Anyone! Help!"

"Shut up!" One of the Slytherin boys said, coming over and kicking him.

"HELP!" Peter screamed again.

"Can someone shut him up?" The boy who'd kicked him asked the others.

"HELP!"

"Oh sod it." The boy said, and Peter heard the sound of running footsteps as he lay, trapped and bound on the floor, sobbing and yelling.

"What on earth?!"

He felt a gentle hand on his shoulder and felt himself being lifted upright. He blinked at the stranger through his tears and her face came into focus. She was a blonde girl of about sixteen. She frowned as she took in his appearance and said "finite." Which caused the ropes to vanish, his throat and nose to feel normal again and his skin to stop itching.

"Are you ok?" She asked concernedly.

Peter wasn't ok. He was shaking badly and his eyes kept darting down the corridor, expecting his attackers to return at a moment's notice. "It was Mulciber." He told the girl. "Mulciber, Snape, Lestrange, Rosier and Wilkes."

"OK." The girl said, putting out an arm and helping him to his feet. "I think we'd better go and speak to McGonagall."

Professor McGonagall looked very grave indeed as Peter told her what had happened to him in the basement corridor. She nodded as he reeled off the names of who had attacked him again and assured him the 'matter would be dealt with.' She then offered him a ginger newt and asked if he'd like her to fetch James, Sirius or Remus for him.

"No." He told her. He wasn't going to bother them. They hadn't bothered with him.

"Are you sure, Pettigrew?" McGonagall said, looking at him with concern. "You've had a terrible shock."

Peter insisted he was fine (though he wasn't) and McGonagall reluctantly dismissed him.

He was late to dinner. His friends were already there and looked up curiously as he joined them. "Where were you?" James asked. "We went to the kitchens to see where you'd gone but you weren't there."

"I was attacked by the Slytherins." He said. He looked up, hoping to see guilt and regret in his friends' faces. Surely they'd feel bad for letting him go to the kitchens alone now.

"Oh." Was all Sirius said. "Which ones?"

"Hope you gave as good as you got?" James asked.

Peter was incensed. Sirius had hexed Mulciber before Easter for saying that Remus looked 'like death warmed up', which, Peter had to be honest, he had. And now here Peter was, having been cursed by them, and all he could say was 'oh'? Enraged, he turned to his dinner, ignoring them all. And after a while, they seemed to give up on him and fell back to discussing the best way to sneak out of Hogwarts without getting caught. A mission Peter certainly wouldn't be joining them on.

He sulked all throughout the rest of the day, and even though Remus was kind to him, asking if he'd reported the Slytherins to McGonagall, he was still furious with James and Sirius. Sirius in particular, who seemed to have no problems defending anyone else, and whose fault it had been that Peter had been alone in that corridor in the first place.

He plotted all night ways to get revenge on his friend. He considered making up a story to get him in trouble with McGonagall, but he knew she was too sharp to fall for anything that wasn't completely true, and besides, Sirius wouldn't have cared anyway. No, he had to get him in trouble legitimately and even better, with the very person he feared getting in trouble with most. And just before midnight, the idea came to him. It was quite a good one, he had to admit. Sirius often teased him for being 'thick' but Peter knew he would be the one laughing tomorrow. When justice was served.

"Oh sod it." Sirius said as the four of them got ready for their lessons the next morning. He'd been rummaging through his untidy stack of books in his wardrobe and frowning. "I can't find the bloody thing."

"Your sense of humour? Your self-preservation? Your ability to behave yourself in Yaxley's classes?" James suggested from his seat on the bed where he'd been tying his shoelace.

"Yes, that, the last one." Sirius said distractedly. "My sodding textbook's gone missing."

Remus came over to have a look. "I've looked already!" Sirius told him. "You won't find it."

"When did you last have it?"

"Well presumably in our last defence class. And then I'll have put it here with the transfiguration book as we had that after… and that's right here! It makes no sense."

Peter smiled to himself. He'd hidden Sirius' defence textbook under his mattress. Let's see the brilliant Sirius Black try and extract himself from this one.

"Oh don't worry." James said. "You can share mine. He won't notice."

"We sit right under his nose. How can he not notice?!" Sirius said and Peter was pleased to hear the note of panic in his voice.

As Sirius was Sirius, unfortunately he didn't let the incident dampen his mood too much. He perked up over breakfast, flicking bits of cereal at Lily Evans when she wasn't looking, and earned himself ten house points in charms for being the first person to demonstrate a somersaulting teapot. He kept his head down in defence against the dark arts, avoiding the professor's eye throughout the lecture and when it came time for them to use the textbook, James subtly pushed his own into the middle of their desks for Sirius to read from too.

"So as you will see on page one hundred and fifty seven, there are a number of ways to defeat the Red Cap. Black, please read me points one to five."

Sirius grabbed the textbook from James so he could see it more clearly and Yaxley, noticing the movement, looked up and frowned.

"Where's your textbook, Black?"

Peter watched in satisfaction as Sirius flushed and cast his eyes down to the table. It seemed he wasn't quite so quick to talk back to the professor when it was his own sorry skin that needed saving. People like Sirius irritated Peter. They were all for helping others, but surely it was all really for show if they couldn't even be bothered to help themselves when it mattered. Wasn't that a form of cowardice too?

"That's his, sir." James said quickly and Peter gaped at him, furious James was going to rescue Sirius from this mess Peter had set up for him. "I was just borrowing it. I'm afraid I must have left mine in the library while reading up on the curse of the banshees. Sorry." He grinned apologetically.

"That's not true." Sirius said, pushing the book back at James. "That's James'. I lost mine."

Yaxley strode over and picked up the textbook and opened the first page, where James had of course written his name. He looked furiously from James to Sirius.

"Detention, Black, for being unprepared for my class. And detention, Potter, for lying to me. I'll see you both at eight o clock. My office."

Peter wanted to scream in frustration. How was it that Sirius managed to survive absolutely everything? Well, Peter supposed he hadn't exactly got away with it, but he'd be in detention alongside James at least. He didn't know what Yaxley set them in detention, never having been unfortunate enough to receive one himself from the man, but it would surely be much more enjoyable together. How bitterly, infuriatingly unfair.

As he had feared, James and Sirius seemed to have had a brilliant time in detention.

They came positively running back into the common room just before curfew that night, grinning broadly and waving a piece of paper. "Look what we found!" James cried, holding it out so Peter and Remus could see. "Nicked it from his desk drawer while he was in the bog. It's evidence!"

Peter looked at the parchment. It appeared to be a note. It read: 'Corban, be at the Hog's Head at nine sharp on Friday. Tell no one you are coming. Thanos.'

"Thanos…" Remus said, reading the signature at the end. "Thanos Avery?"

"Yes!" James said excitedly. "That idiot who wrote that article about the Knights last year. This is proof. Yaxley's up to his eyeballs in it! We're doing two things. We're going to the Hog's Head on Friday night and we're telling Dave and Bill."

"Already on that one mate." Sirius said, a quill in his hand as he scribbled a hasty note to the aurors.

"I told you we'd do it." He said, grinning at the others. "We really are brilliant."

Peter was forced to listen as the two of them went on about what Yaxley and Avery might be planning until almost the early hours. Peter was exhausted, having been up late the night before plotting revenge on Sirius, and now he just wanted to go to sleep.

Furious at the pair of them (and Remus too for not having the guts to tell them to shut up, though he clearly wanted to as well), he took his pillow and duvet down to the common room.

He sat, glaring at the fire for a while, stewing over all that had happened that day and the day before. He'd been attacked by Slytherins, his friends hadn't defended him, they'd let him wander off alone, and now they were ignoring him. It was not fair and it wasn't right. Peter would just have to try harder next time. He'd ensure justice was done. And especially, and direly, to Sirius Black.