The Fall of Macbeth

"Now! Be sure to write at least once a week--"

"Yes, Mum."

"And don't let those friends of yours get you into too much trouble--"

"Mum, I'm fifteen now!"

"Make sure you don't eat too many sweets from Honeydukes--"

"You're starting to embarrass me."

"Oh, and don't forget to change your un--"

"Mother! People are staring. I have to go, or I'll miss the train!"

"Oh, my! You're quite right dear! Have a nice time at school!" With that, the woman finally relinquished her hold on her son after kissing his cheek, and he moved to meld with the throng of students boarding the Hogwarts Express.

Peter Pettigrew was, by height especially, small for his age. At fifteen, girls who were thirteen and still had growing left to do stood at least an inch above him, more in some cases. Still, he didn't let it get him down. Maybe he still had a growth spurt left in him! What did bother him at some times was his weight. It wasn't that he was terribly heavy, but he'd always been a bit chubby. It didn't help that he hung around with James Potter and Sirius Black, who were both lean and built for athletics, even if Sirius didn't play Quidditch like James did. Then there was his other best friend, Remus Lupin. Because of his, as James dubbed it, "furry little problem," his appetite waxed and waned with the moon, and there were days where he refused food of all sorts. This left him rather thin as well, though Peter felt it was better to be overweight than underweight. Sure, he didn't have to cope with what Remus did, but he certainly was a lot more healthy than the other boy.

This might be the year, he suddenly remembered. Sirius and James had been sure, if their letters over the summer were any proof, that this would be the year that the three of them would master the transformation. This was the year they would each become an animagus. With the thought of such an amazing ability in his head, Peter gaily stepped onto the train, half dragging his trunk since it was packed a little too heavily for him to carry. This good mood lasted as he made his way through the train, peeking in a few compartments to try and find his friends.

He finally came to a compartment where there seemed to be quite a bit of noise and laughter that he was sure, even though a female tone was laughing too, that his friends were inside. Without hesitation, he opened the door. Unfortunately for him, the people inside were not his friends. Rather, they were some of the more "unsavory" crowd of Hogwarts.

"Aw," the female who had been laughing earlier purred, "a poor little Gryffindor's found his way to the viper's nest." Her dark eyes glittered with a sinister pleasure, and one thin hand reached for her wand. Peter inwardly had to curse his luck. Of course he'd disturb the most dangerous of Sirius's cousins. Bellatrix had never liked her cousin nor his friends, and now she had, and Peter had to admit it, the least skilled of the group right here. She was also old enough to legally do magic!

The three males sitting with her, Peter didn't know any of them, gave a sort of appreciative chuckle as Bellatrix reached for her wand.

"I can't wait," she cooed with that dangerous smirk on her face, "to show you some of the spells I've learned over the summer." She stood then, but she stopped before she could even take one step towards Peter. For a moment, the young man wanted to believe that it was because, in that split second she'd started to rise, he had pulled his wand out, but he knew better, and the real cause of her halt spoke a moment later.

"Leave the kid alone," a female voice came from behind and slightly above Peter, "or I'll be showing you some of the tricks I have learned over the summer, Bella."

"I'm not a kid!" Peter protested with a frown after the girl who had spoken for him had shut the compartment door again, so they were alone in the hall.

"Sure you're not," the girl said in quite the condescending voice. "I'll bet you're, oh, all of thirteen?" Peter turned to face her, glaring at this taunt. For a moment, when he looked at her, he considered forgiving her on basis of who she was.

The young woman, who Peter was sure was not in his year, stood a good three inches taller than him, and her pulled back hair would have given her a more severe look were there not free strands hanging across her face that had rebelled against her attempt to retrain them. She looked down on Peter with a clear presence of authority, though Peter saw the badge on her chest that proclaimed her a prefect. Still, she seemed to think herself even more superior than the badge would authorize.

"I'm a fifth year," Peter then corrected. It did not come out as angrily as he wanted it, and the look on the prefect's face seemed as though she were trying to control her own laughter. "Well," he then commented stiffly, not about to stand here and be insulted by a girl only a year older than him, "I need to go and find my friends." He then took up his trunk, beginning to drag it along again.

"Hey, wait," the girl then said, and Peter did halt. She flicked her wand with a mutter under her breath. "There. Lighter. Didn't you learn that first year?"

"Of course I learned the spell," Peter shot back, insulted. "But I'm not supposed to use magic, now am I?"

"You follow the rules? Amazing."

After years with Remus, Peter thought it would be stupid not to obey rules. It seemed as though he'd not only get in trouble with the Ministry or school, but he'd have Remus to give him a scolding too! He supposed he should be grateful, but still. This girl needed her ego cut down a few notches. Really, in a way she reminded him of James, except that James was at least polite to people he didn't know!

Peter then picked up the trunk again, heading down the hallway a bit quickly now, able to move faster with the lightened trunk. He couldn't resist glancing over his shoulder to glare at the Head Girl that had been so rude to him, and he saw her open a compartment door not far away from the compartment where Bellatrix was.

After about five more minutes of searching, Peter found his three friends in a compartment.

Sirius and James were talking excitedly with a calendar stuck to the outside window, marking the dates of the full moon. They were sitting across from one another, and Remus was sitting beside Sirius. Well, he was half sitting. He was also half stretched out on his half of the seat, slightly leaned against Sirius. Either he was sleeping, or he was trying to sleep. There were dark circles under his eyes, and he seemed to have a new scar on his face, but it had been treated well, so it looked insignificant. His hair looked about as unkempt as James's, but Peter knew that wouldn't last for long. Once Remus was fully awake, he would straighten out his appearance. At least he could make his hair behave! James never seemed to be able to, and they had all tried practically everything they knew. Everything else, James's mother had tried. Of course, James had long since learned that girls loved how his hair was, and he seemed to devote quite a lot of time to keeping it unkempt rather than making it behave. Oh, and, wait! There was also a prefect badge on Remus's chest! Though, that wasn't that much of a surprise, Peter decided as he thought about it while settling into his seat beside James.

"There's Peter," James said with a grin. "We were beginning to think you wouldn't show. Thought you had," he made a face of mock hurt, "abandoned us!"

"Of course not," Peter replied with a grin.

Just as he had settled fully in, the train let out a whistle, and it began to move. The trip to Hogwarts had finally begun! The slight jolt that the train had made before it had really started moving awoke the sleeping prefect.

"Damn it," Remus muttered as he shook off the feeling of sleep lingering in his senses. His eyes were wide as he looked around, and he stood quickly, heading for the compartment door.

"Woah! Remus!" Sirius said, half laughing. "What's the hurry?"

"Prefects are supposed to report to a special compartment! I'll try to stop by later. I have to patrol too!" The young man curses again under his breath, turning to leave the compartment and head down the hallway. Sirius shook his head as their friend left.

"Guess I should have woken him up earlier, eh?" he asked of the other two with a grin. It widened then as he looked at James, who was now taking down the calendar from the window.

"So," James then said, chuckling a little, "should we tell him?"

"I think we should wait," Peter replied. "I mean, he'll be happy either way. But--"

"He'd be happier if he could see the finished product," Sirius finished for him, and Peter nodded in agreement. He was used to that from Sirius. The other finishing his sentences if he made even a slight pause. Some might have been offended, thinking that the other meant to imply that they were not intelligent enough to know what they planned to say, but Peter couldn't argue with Sirius. After all, he was Sirius Black! Peter, in some ways much like Remus, felt honored that the others even let him hang around. After all, James was a talented athlete, Sirius was the most charismatic, and they were both highly skilled with their wands when they chose to put effort into it.

"We've been working for three and a half years on this," James said with a grin.

They'd started about the middle of their first year. It wasn't hard to start getting suspicious when he disappeared every month, and James happened to mention one night that Remus was unlucky to miss the perfect view of the moon that they had. It had been large at ten o'clock that night, and it was a pale orange color. Then Sirius had sat up in bed after staring it for a moment and had been muttering about Remus's absenses. He'd tried to reconstruct them after pulling out a calendar and, between the three of them, they pegged the majority down. Then they'd realized it. Remus was always gone on the full moon. From there, it wasn't hard to guess the rest.

Then they'd all shown up at the Hospital Wing the next morning and found Remus, sure enough, lying in a bed there, rather worse for the wear, their suspicions were confirmed. When Remus awoke, they questioned him about what they had found and, after they promised Madame Pomfrey wasn't around, Remus confessed to what they had figured out. Yet shortly after that, they had all sworn their friendship hadn't wavered. In fact, the next month they brought chocolates up to the Hospital Wing for him.

"I can't believe it's been that long," Peter muttered after a moment. They were fifth years. That meant they had to take O.W.L. tests this year. Thank God he had Remus! He'd never survive those without him. Peter also had the feeling that now more than ever Sirius and James would be begging Remus for his notes. With them, they were fine, but they could never quite manage to pay attention in most classes long enough to take down anything about the lesson.

"So," Sirius said, looking at James with a smile, "did you bring them?"

"Had a hard time convincing my mum to buy them, but here!" James was grinning as he stood up and climbed onto his seat so he could reach his trunk on the rack above. He fiddled with the straps, opening it after a moment or two. He pulled out three identical books, and he closed his trunk afterwards. After handing Peter and Sirius each a copy of Letting Out the Animal Within by Diana Actaeon, James sat down on his seat again with his own copy. "This is supposed to be the best guide for how to do it," he announced proudly.

"How much--" Peter began to ask, reaching for his own trunk, which he'd stored under his seat rather than above.

"Don't worry about it," James said as he waved his hand dismissively. "My treat. You can pay me back by lending me your notes when Remus gets mad at me." They all knew that, at some point, Remus would get fed up from something Sirius and James did, and he would revoke their note-copying privileges. Peter almost laughed at James's planning. This was, he was sure to have notes that he could take down. After all, despite what Sirius and James did, Remus wasn't likely to get angry at Peter for anything, so he'd still be willing to lend him the notes.

When the first sounds of footsteps came near their compartment, the three boys stashed the books away, and they did not pull them out even when the steps continued past them without interruption. After all, Remus had promised he'd stop by, and they didn't want him seeing the books and ruining their surprise.

For the rest of the long trip to Hogwarts, the three, sometimes four when Remus kept his promise even if he never stayed for long, boys caught up on their summer and made plans for the coming year.