The Marauders' Tale

5

Almost two months later, James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter were sitting at the Gryffindor Table during lunch. It was a Saturday, so James and Sirius had just finished Quidditch practice and had come to join Peter and Remus with their appetites.

"Finch is ruthless," Sirius said to James, grabbing a few buns off a tray and taking huge bites out of them.

James nodded, biting into a chicken leg. "But he's captain. He's supposed to be like that."

Sirius stared at James with his mouth half open. "We've had five practices this week!! Prongs, that's mad!"

"Don't you have a Quidditch game soon?" Remus asked, wanting to get a rise out of Sirius.

"Yeah, so?" Sirius said stubbornly, not wanting to admit to what Remus was leading to.

"So we need all the practice we can get, you dolt!" James yelled over his second drumstick.

Sirius grumbled a bit and Peter asked, "Who are you up against?"

"Slytherin, Peter! We've told you before!" Sirius snapped, angry about all the practices.

"Sorry, sorry," Peter mumbled, bowing his head to his plate of potatoes.

James looked around the Great Hall. It was filled with students trying out new things they had just bought from Hogsmeade. To his left were two third-years tricking a first-year into trying on an ancient mustard-coloured bowler hat. The girl put it on her head, and was suddenly engulfed by a cloud of smoke. When the smoke cleared, James saw she had sprouted purple warts across her forehead. Chuckling, he looked over at the Hufflepuff table, where three fifth-years were sifting through a pile of Honeydukes treats the size of a small hill. Up on the High Table, Professor Dumbledore was offering lemon drops to Professor McGonagall, who curtly refused.

"Prongs, look," Sirius said, grabbing the last drumstick and pretending to play it like a violin. "It's your lady love."

James looked to the doors of the Great Hall to see Lily walking in, her face tinged pink from the cold outside. James grinned. "Brilliant. I think I'll go talk to her," he said getting up. "See you, mates."

*

"Lily!" James said, plopping down casually beside her.

She looked up at James and smiled. "Hey James. What's up?"

"Not much. So you went to Hogsmeade?"

Lily nodded, putting some roast chicken on her plate. "Prefect duties. I didn't really want to go. Hogsmeade's great, but I have loads of work, and there's nothing to do once you've seen it all, really."

"Well not during the day," James said, quiet enough so she didn't hear. "So what'd you do?"

"Oh, you know. Just patrolling, making sure the third years stay in boundaries. That sort of thing. I didn't see you there though."

"Quidditch practice," James said, holding up his Chaser gloves. "First game against Slytherin next week."

"Oh, right! How's that going?"

As they talked, Lily thought to herself about James. She knew she didn't consider him as anything more than a friend. But she really did love talking to him, especially since he'd turned over this new leaf. At least he's not begging me to be his girl every other minute.

Meanwhile, James inwardly swelled with happiness. His friendship with Lily had really grown over the past two months. They hadn't argued since the day Remus had run off from the infirmary; he figured it was because he hadn't asked her on a date since then. Nevertheless, James had discovered a lot about Lily and he had realized that there were other reasons to like this girl besides her looks. I really should have thought of this 'friends first' thing before, he thought to himself.

*

"Ten galleons says Evans still doesn't want James," Sirius said mischievously to Remus, who didn't answer.

"Moony!"

"What, Sirius?!" Remus said, not even looking at his friend.

"I said I bet that Prongs'll get turned down again."

"Sure, OK."

"No, James will get her," Peter suddenly piped up.

"Yeah?" Sirius challenged, turning on Peter. "What makes you so sure?"

"I don't know," Peter said, shrinking back into his seat. "James is James. He'll get her some way or an other."

Remus had tuned out his friends and continued to watch Jennifer scribbling something onto a bit of parchment.

I might as well go talk to her... he thought. "I'll see you later, guys. Herbology stuff."

Remus got up and walked over to Jennifer, leaving Sirius and Peter behind.

*

Jennifer looked up when someone sat down next to her.

"Remus!" she said smiling.

"What are you up to?" he asked her, feeling that familiar tingle in his stomach.

"Just writing a letter to my sister. It's her birthday tomorrow."

"Oh cool," Remus said, wishing he had a sibling to write to. "So did you go to Hogsmeade?"

Jennifer nodded. "Not for long though, I got Kathryn a gift and restocked on sweets. Did you go?"

Remus shook his head. "Peter and I just stayed back to finish some work." And besides, he added to himself, I don't need a Hogsmeade weekend to go there.

"So," Jennifer said, writing the last lines of her letter. "I'm going to mail this, want to come?"

Remus pretended to think if he had other things to do. "Sure," he said after a moment. "Let's go."

The two got up from the table and began walking out of the Great Hall.

"Moony!" Sirius shouted when Remus and Jennifer Atlas walked by him.

"Oh," Remus said, turning to see Peter and Sirius looking at him from the table. "We--we're going to--"

"Look over an essay," Jennifer spoke up.

Sirius looked unconvinced. "Uh huh."

"So, see you later," Remus said, tugging at Jennifer's sleeve to get her walking.

"Right," Sirius called after them. "See you kids around then."

And then, Sirius thought to himself, there were two.

Sirius turned back at James and Lily talking animatedly. I'm not going to just sit here with Peter while those idiots get to have their fun. "Uh," he said, standing up. "I'm gonna go talk to someone. Alone," he added, when Peter made to get up as well.

"What will I do?" Peter said anxiously.

"I dunno, Pete. Catch up on work or something."

"But I don't understand it without you or James!"

Sirius exhaled noisily, and his eyes fell upon the perfect opportunity to shake Peter off.

"Joyce!" he called to the girl walking past the Gryffindor table. "Wait up!" Sirius picked up his things and said to Peter. "Look, I'll see you later in the common room, okay?"

*

Remus and Jennifer made their way to the owlery, talking about the upcoming Quidditch game, the last Herbology test, and what they had planned for Christmas.

Up in the owlery, Jennifer whistled a short tune and a large screech owl came soaring from up in the rafters. The owl landed lightly on Jennifer's arm and nipped her ear affectionately.

"Remus, meet Athena." The owl leaned towards Remus, who reached his hand out and received a small nudge with her beak. "OK, Athena," Jennifer said, holding up the parchment. "This is for Kathryn." The owl hooted softly, then clamped her beak over the envelope and soared through one of the circular windows of the owlery.

The two watched Athena swoop over the grounds. Remus raised his hand to rest on the ledge of the window and realized he'd just covered Jennifer's hand with his. She looked up at him with curious eyes, but he couldn't seem to move his hand. A voice in his head was telling him to let it go, but Jennifer then turned her palm over slowly.

Oh God, oh God...Remus thought again and again as he looked into her eyes and she interlocked their fingers. He wanted to kiss her more than ever, but quite suddenly that damned voice in his head spoke up.

No, it said firmly. You don't deserve her.

As Remus continued to meet her gaze, he realized he was slowly drawing nearer and nearer to her lips, and he couldn't help thinking, Why not?

We've been through this before, Remus. You aren't even human.

But Remus didn't seem to care. He drew closer to Jennifer, and realized she had taken a step forward. His lips were inches from hers; he could feel the warmth of her breath. Suddenly a tiny owl zoomed through the window and knocked him in the head.

Remus jumped up in shock and rubbed his head. Then he remembered what he had almost done.

"Um," Remus said, shifting back from Jennifer, who looked down immediately. He cast his eyes around the room, desperately looking for a topic that would break the awkward silence. "So..."

"How about we get out of here," Jennifer said, recovering quickly. "It smells pretty bad, no?"

Remus nodded lamely. "Yeah. Owl... droppings... and stuff."

The two left the owlery, keeping about three feet's distance from each other, when suddenly Remus thought of something.

"Hey..." he said quietly. "Thanks for what you did before."

She looked at him with a curious expression.

"When you shook off Sirius for me."

Jennifer's expression became dark. "Oh. Him. Yeah, I figure it's pretty easy for me to get rid of that one."

Remus sensed her tension. He had decided not to ask about her relationship with his friend, but he couldn't help from commenting on it. "Sirius can be a handful sometimes. Trust me, he isn't the committing type. He's been interested in almost every girl at Hogwarts above fifth year."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

"It just means that prick can't spot something special, even when it's standing right in front of him." Jennifer stayed quiet for a few minutes as they walked to their common room.
Remus' mind was racing. He wasn't supposed to let Jennifer in, and he'd let his guard down. It just seemed so natural to want to be with her.

"Hairy hippogriffs," he mumbled when they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady. The password had been changed the previous week.

Remus was climbing through the portrait hole when Jennifer touched his arm and sent shivers up his spine. He looked down at her and she looked up at him. They locked eyes for a few seconds before Jennifer whispered genuinely, "Thanks, Remus," and hurried off into the common room, leaving the confused boy behind.

*

Sirius walked up to Joyce Gibbons, who was waiting at the end of the Gryffindor table.

"Hey Sirius!" she said, smiling at him.

"How's it going Joyce?" he asked as they walked out from the Great Hall.

"Oh you know... the usual. NEWT year is pretty stressful."

Sirius draped his arm casually over her shoulder. "I'm sure you'll do fine."

The girls at Hogwarts were pretty used to Sirius. He was very up-front and, as a lot of the seventh-years called him, quite the ladies' man.

Joyce wasn't as stupid as the other girls. She knew that he didn't really have any true feelings for her, but she didn't mind the attention from Hogwarts' most good-looking guy.

"Hey I forgot to thank you for those pills you gave me a couple of months ago!" Sirius said, hitting his palm to his forehead.

"Oh, no problem. How'd they work?"

"Like a charm!" Sirius said, flashing his grin at her. "So where are you off to? I think I should know, since I'm steering."

"Well I'm going to my common room. I've got to work on a Transfiguration paper."

He looked baffled. "On a Saturday?!"

"Oh, wait till next year, Black." she said smiling, as Sirius continued to walk her to the Ravenclaw common room. "You'll see what NEWT classes really mean."

Peter sat in the Great Hall, arms crossed, brooding about his current situation. His friends had all left him for girls. Some friends, thought a voice in his head. You oughta pay them back.

Shut up, said another voice firmly.

Peter glanced around the Great Hall. He didn't want to look like a complete loser, so he rummaged through his bag for some parchment. At least he could look like he was occupied when people passed by.

Bugger! he thought when he didn't find anything to work on. Might as well go back to the common room now...

Peter walked through the doors of the Great Hall, making his way to Gryffindor Tower when he suddenly heard some laughter behind him. Bloody hell... he thought as his stomach dropped.

"Hey! Pettigrew!!" shouted someone from behind him.

Peter quickened his pace, recognizing the voice.

"HEY!" another person yelled as Peter practically ran down the corridor.

Suddenly a jet of blue light shot over his shoulder, missing him by a fraction of an inch. Peter ducked and looked up at where his head might have been, seeing a portrait of a past Headmaster covered in ice. A hand reached down and grabbed him up by the collar.

"Pettigrew."

Peter looked up into the face of Avery Nott.

"H-hi... Avery," Peter said, shaking. "I d-don't think I heard you."

Nott pinned him against the frozen picture. The ice felt like it was piercing through his clothes, burning into his back. As Peter let out a whimper, the Slytherins behind Nott snickered.

"Don't toy with me, Pettigrew," he said, drawing his wand and pointing it at Peter's face menacingly.

"I-I'm not--" Peter began with wide eyes.

"What's wrong?" barked Narcissa Black, Sirius' blond haired cousin. "You scared, little baby?"

Peter again responded with an incoherent whimper.

"Stupid Gryffindor scum," spat Nott. "Where's that noble courage now?"

"Should have chosen your friends more wisely, little Petti-kins," Narcissa said with a sneer.

Peter hung his head, as the ice continued to burn into his back. Where are they? Peter thought sadly. If it were one of the others, they'd be here in a second.

The Slytherins continued to torment Peter for the next few minutes, but Professor McGonagall came walking by, shouting about Slytherin losing house points, and they all scattered.

"Come on, Pettigrew," she said to the sobbing lump on the floor that was Peter. "Oh, don't be a child! Think about that before you go walking around the corridors alone! Merlin knows you need to shape up those wand skills. Defend yourself next time!"

McGonagall walked Peter to the common room. As he climbed through the portrait hole, the professor looked at the boy with an expression of pity. "Pettigrew. Maybe you should learn some tricks from Black and Potter. That might help you in the future."

Learn some tricks from Black and Potter.

Peter replayed these words again and again as he sat in the common room staring at the roaring fire. Black and Potter. Black and Potter. Black and Potter. Were they on everyone's minds?

Peter practically hated his best friends. They were everything he wanted to be, if not more. Why should he be in Gryffindor? Nott was right. He didn't belong in the house known for courage. If Sirius or James had been attacked by a group of Slytherins, they would have fought back to no end.

But I just let it happen, Peter thought miserably.

Admit it, Pete, said another voice in his head. You're just not like them.

I could be courageous. I could be powerful.

Uh huh. And you can't even stand up for yourself.

Peter looked up to see Remus, Sirius, and James walk through the portrait hole.

Big surprise. They arrive together.

The three boys sat down to join Peter by the fire. Any other day, he would be bursting to tell his friends what Nott's gang had done to him. Any other day he would be thrilled to hear how Sirius and James would plan revenge. But not today...

There are other forms of courage, Peter thought as his friends sat down. It is better to be underestimated than to be considered a threat.