The Most Popular Couple In School

Chapter 3: Peter Returns

Sirius blew the contents of his head out into the tissue (or so it felt), threw the tissue onto the ever-growing pile, and sighed. His overnight sojourn in the Shrieking Shack had taken its toll on his immune system. In plain English: he had a cold.

He'd never been so bored in his life. Lily, James and Remus were taking it in turns to sit with him (today being a Saturday), but at the moment they were all down at lunch, having promised to bring him up some (Remus promised to bring the whole of Gryffindor table, knowing Sirius' appetite, and James joked that they should bring Slytherin's instead, because while the Gryffindors deserved to eat, the Slytherins really didn't).

That was something for Sirius to ponder- James. James Potter, Gryfffindor Sixth year. It was decidedly odd that neither he nor Remus had noticed this guy until Lily introduced him to them. He seemed like a nice guy, good at pranks, not too law-abiding. But the way he and Lily acted? Sirius wasn't stupid, however much certain people might think he was. This James guy was going to be watched. Very carefully. Not that he didn't trust Lily- but this guy could easily corrupt her, couldn't he?

Sirius struggled with his inner self. Half of him was telling him that James was a great guy, that he really liked him, and that he'd never steal Lily away from him. But the other half, the sneaky, jealous half of him, said that James was a red-blooded heterosexual guy, and Lily was a gorgeous girl, who had shown him probably the first kindness any girl had shown him in a long time, and James was bound to fancy her.

Before he could sink too deeply into a "worst-case-scenario" nightmare (James stealing Lily, Remus abandoning him and him being left in pink pyjamas coming round a mountain- oh wait, that's a song not a nightmare) the door opened and in came a boy.

He was small, a bit chubby, had sandy hair and pale skin. He wore round glasses that looked like a cheap copy of James'. He was carrying a large trunk that was bigger than he was, and a handful of dark-covered books. His enormous navy cloak covered him almost completely.

The boy walked over to the bed that wasn't James', Sirius' or Remus' and put the trunk down by the end of the bed. He stacked the books on the opposite side of the wall to Sirius and shrugged off the cloak onto the bed.

Sirius, who up until this point had been staring in amazement at this boy who he had been sharing a dorm with for five years and yet didn't know the name of, sneezed. The boy jumped and looked around. Sirius laughed.

"Hi, I'm Sirius. I'm sorry, I must have spent the past five years with my head in the clouds or something, I don't know your name."

The boy, who was looking at Sirius with a stare akin to the one a rabbit would give an oncoming car, replied nervously, "I'm P-p-peter Pettigrew."

"Oh right," Sirius remembered, "You're James' friend. You were off sick," his tone switched to concerned, "Are you better now?"

"Oh yes, much b-b-better. And, excuse me asking, but since w-w-when do you know J-j-james?" Peter stuttered.

"Oh, well, while you were away, Lily met James and introduced him to me and Remus. He's a nice guy," explained Sirius, while inwardly thinking, and as far as I can tell you aren't. It wasn't that Sirius hated Peter- more that he was finding him annoying. All that stuttering, when he could simply charm his voice normal, it had to be some sort of "characteristic" that he thought would make him popular with the ladies or something.

At that point, luckily for Sirius (because he was about to slap Peter, and that really wouldn't have done his manly record any good (he should have punched him)), and luckily for Peter (because Sirius was about to slap him, and that really wouldn't have done his face any good), Lily, Remus and James entered the room. James' face lit up when he saw Peter and he ran over to him and hugged him.

"Peter!" James yelled. "I'm so glad you're back. How are you feeling? Did St. Mungo's treat you ok? I missed you man!"

"Yeah, I'm fine. They were fine. Are you sure? You seem to have made more friends in my absence than in our past five years together." Peter remarked dryly.

James blushed, and introduced everyone.

***

And so entered Peter to the lives of the five. But where exactly had he been all this time? The explanation given so far was that he was ill, being treated at St Mungo's. Ill with what exactly? And more importantly, had he really been there? Oh, sorry. You trust his word. Of course. But perhaps I can show you something that might make you doubt him just a little...

***

A few weeks earlier in History of Magic...

Peter groaned and held his stomach. He suddenly threw up all over the floor. James, busy scribbling down notes, the only person in the room doing that apart from Lily Evans, didn't notice. Susan Bones, a Hufflepuff, made a big fuss about the sick, and Peter got taken to the Hospital Wing. James still hadn't noticed. At the end of the lesson, he came out of his trance and looked around distractedly. Susan told him, kindly, for she could tell he wasn't quite with it today, where Peter was. James rushed off to visit him.

***

A few days after that fateful History of Magic class, Peter was rushed off to St Mungo's with Magickimyximatosis, a dreadful wizard disease that left you sick, drained of magic, and near blind. St Mungo's was in chaos at this time, there having been an outbreak of Magickimyximatosis- it was highly contagious, and managed to lose Peter, without realising they'd lost him.

***

Peter didn't really have Magickimyximatosis. He had been supplied a bottle of a potent potion, which when drunk gave the drinker the appearance of the symptoms of that disease, powerful enough to fool even the cleverest nurse without causing the drinker that annoyance of actually having the disease itself.

***

So Peter was alone in London, with Hogwarts believing him at St Mungo's, and St Mungo's not having the foggiest idea that he was even meant to be there. What was he going to do?

***

Back in real time, in the Gryffindor Common Room...

Peter had detention with Snape that night for "careless usage of his potion" (i.e. his had gone dreadfully wrong and Sirius had exploded it all over Lucius Malfoy.) The rest of the five were slumped in the cosy armchairs in front of the fire, Sirius and Lily sharing one.

"James?" piped up Sirius sleepily.

"Mmm?" replied the half-asleep James.

"Do we have to let Peter tag along?"

"He was my friend for five years. However fed up I may be with him now, I don't think it's very fair to just abandon him."

"Fine." Sirius sighed. "You know what, James?"

"What?" enquired James.

"You're just too nice."

James lazily threw a cushion at Sirius. This would have developed into a full-fledged cushion war but everyone was feeling too warm and sleepy.