Wormtail's Revenge

Wormtail's Revenge

Pratima Gangopadhyay

The Marauders: Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs. The best of friends, always there in each other's needs. Yet I, Wormtail, was always the subject of ridicule and slander. I admit I was not as handsome as Sirius nor could I play quidditch as well as James and I definitely did not posses the intellectual capacity as Remus but I did love my friends. I loved the times I spent with them when they weren't talking about how dumb I was. James and Sirius were the ones who always had something to throw at me. If I admired the way James caught a snitch Sirius would say I'll wet my pants. If I said I wasn't sure I got all the points required on a question James would remind me that I don't have a sharp mind like him. Remus never said anything. Perhaps that was his fault. He never said anything to anyone. He never laughed at me. Nor did he ever tell the other two to shut their fat mouths.

Slow, thick, stupid, silly Wormtail: That's what they always thought of me. Just because I showed them some appreciation of their qualities because they were too haughty to show each other any appreciation, I became a "hero worshipper". I "hero worshipped Black and Potter". I admit I stayed their friend to be protected as people liked picking on me, but that doesn't mean I didn't care about my friends. We became animagi together: a feat that would save my life in the future and help me get my revenge, and yet they couldn't conquer the desire of being caustic.

Slytherins always asked me to be friends with them. They didn't care that I was in Gryffindor. The hated the rest of the Marauders but they seemed to have a soft corner for me. I guess they realized that one day I would be joining them, but my reasons for joining them would be very, very different from their own. They would always protect their family and friends. I, however, would join them to find a way of getting revenge on my so-called friends. The world will call me a traitor but I alone know the torment a young boy has to go through if he is subjected to hearing pejorative words all the time from his well-meaning friends. I, Peter Pettigrew, did love my friends; they ruined my regard for them with their own hands. They would have to pay for what they did.

After Hogwarts we still remained the Marauders. James got engaged to Lily Evans and Sirius went on flirting with every good looking girl he saw. Remus kept to himself as he couldn't have much of a social life due to the fact that he was a werewolf. Lily was a wonderful girl. I always liked her even when we were at Hogwarts. She could have gotten somebody better than that big-headed James Potter. I wasn't surprised that she didn't accept James till seventh year when any other girl would kill to stand next to him. Lily was always more sensible than the rest and James is indeed a lucky man to have her as a wife.

Lord Voldemort was becoming powerful and his reign of terror had begun. Dumbledore started "The Order of the Phoenix" which would resist the Dark lord along with the ministry in which many of the workers were spies for the Dark Lord. Almost immediately all of us joined along with many others. There were aurors and ministry workers and many of our classmates and school mates. We were each given tasks to do and most included trying to catch Death Eaters and find out their plans or their next victims. As nobody except James, Sirius, Remus, and Lily knew I could transform into a rat everyone was impressed at how I managed to gather so much information. For the first time in my life I was doing something better than my "friends". The Order loved me.

James and Lily's son was born on July 31. I loved Harry the first time I saw him but the more I looked at him the more I saw James. His messy black hair, his facial structure, and the worst bit of it were Lily's eyes. Her deep green eyes were stuck in James's face. Every time I saw Harry I saw a shadow of James. Lily's eyes in James's face was like a living, breathing, walking, talking taunt. I couldn't stand Harry Potter.

Then the opportunity came to me. One night I was listening to a Death Eater meeting as a rat when I heard Voldemort say that a prophecy had been made about the person capable of conquering the Dark Lord and that this applies to Harry Potter. Harry Potter is capable of killing Voldemort. Voldemort wanted a spy in The Order but that was impossible. We knew who all the Death Eaters were. None of those people would ever be allowed to join, let alone find where our head quarters are. Then a sudden idea came to me. It was as though someone had turned on a lamp in my brain. I could become the spy. I could help the Dark Lord get hold of Harry Potter and in the process I would be getting my revenge on James. My only regret was that it would also hurt Lily a great deal but as time heals all wounds, Lily would be fine after some time. If my friends ever found out what I was up to, the Dark Lord would protect me. No harm could possibly befall me, but James would soon be getting his comeuppance.

I went to Lord Voldemort the next day and told him that I wanted to join him. He considered me for a while and after I told him that I was in The Order and could help him get what he wants and how it is impossible for any of his current followers to join The Order, he let me join the Death Eater. He was even more pleased when I told him that I was an animagus and could become a rat and the Dark Mark was burned into my skin. I had become a Death Eater.

From that day onwards I passed information from our side to the Dark Lord. The Order had a meeting one day with all its members. That was the first time I actually met all of them. We all had never been together under one roof. We all took a big group photo and agreed that one day, when the Dark Lord is defeated, we'd blow up that big picture, hang it on the wall, and have a big party under it. What I liked most about that picture was that I was next to Lily. In fact I was sitting between Lily and James. It was almost like a prolepsis. I would be separating them forever.

Dumbledore obviously knew about the prophecy. Someone from the Dark said had told him that Voldemort would be coming after the Potters. On my information the Dark Lord had gone to them three times but to no avail. He could not even harm James, let alone get to Harry. Dumbledore told the Potters to use a Fidelius Charm to protect themselves and offered to be their secret keeper but James told him that he would use Sirius. My whole plan would have been ruined if they had followed this because I would never find out where they are but fortunately they decided to use me instead of Sirius. They decided to use me not because they trusted me and knew I would never tell anyone where to find the Potters but because they thought it would be a perfect fluke. Now James and Sirius were using all the reasons they had in school to make fun of me to save the lives of James and his family. Voldemort would never come after worthless, talent less Wormtail. He would obviously come after the great Sirius Black. They used me as a joke but little did they know that the joke was on them this time. Dumbledore knew that Sirius was going to be the Potters' secret keeper and we did not tell anyone that it was changed to me. Therefore if the Dark Lord managed to get his hands on the Potters, everyone would blame it on Sirius. The plan was perfect.

The spell was performed and after a few days I told the Dark Lord where the Potters were. However I begged and pleaded with him not to harm Lily. He could do what he wants to James and Harry but he must not harm Lily. He told me he does not kill people for no reason and would not hurt her as he had no reason to. However if she made difficulties it would be a different story. I knew Lily would not let the Dark Lord harm Harry as long as she lived but I still hoped that no harm would befall her.

The Dark Lord went to Godric's Hollow and killed my friend James who died trying to fight Voldemort and give his wife and child a chance to live. Lily died trying to protect Harry and when the Dark Lord tried to kill Harry, the spell rebounded and destroyed the Dark Lord.

James was dead and so was Lily which was the last thing I wanted. I was not able to separate them even in death. The picture was not a prolepsis after all and Harry had lived. It was unbelievable. The spell that killed his parents and nearly destroyed his whole house could not kill a little child and only left a scar on his face through which James and Lily lived on. I managed to get James killed though and got my revenge on him. I heard Dumbledore would be taking Harry to live with his muggle aunt and uncle: Lily's sister and her husband. My next target was Sirius.

Sirius Black would be the first one questioned about the death of Lily and James Potter. Nobody would think that Peter Pettigrew was responsible for their deaths, and I intended to keep it that way. Sirius would spend his whole life in Azkaban. Only I had to make sure that people believed that he was a murderer.

With this in mind I set of the next day to find him. I knew he would be looking for me so it was pretty easy to track him down. We met in the middle of a muggle street and he did indeed look murderous. His handsome face full of sadness and fury, he came towards me. His furious eyes filled with tears at the sight of me and he was about to say something. I figured him saying anything would give away what really happened so before he could say anything, I shouted, "Lily and James, Sirius, how could you?!" At these words my friend Mr. Padfoot looked like he would rip me limb from limb and went to grab his wand from his robes but I was faster than him for the first time in my life. I blasted apart the whole street and transformed into a rat and ran into the sewer. There was a street full of muggle witnesses who would be able to tell the world that Sirius killed me and he betrayed Lily and James. Surprisingly Sirius stood there and laughed like a mad man and went with Ministry of Magic representatives when they came to take him away.

I went and started to live with the Weasleys. They were a pure blood wizard family and I would be able to keep an eye out for news about the Dark Side. I got my revenge on my friends. James was dead, Sirius in Azkaban for life, which was worse than death, and as Remus did nothing to me directly, I did nothing to him directly. His knowing that two of his best friends are dead and one turned out to be a big traitor is enough to punish him. In fact now he is alone because he has no friends. Who wants to make friends with a werewolf? He can suffer quietly, the way he let me suffer all our lives. The Dark Lord would rise again and then I would return to him and help hand to him the last Potter. Peter Pettigrew was not a traitor. His friends made him one.