Before the Rooster Crows

"Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers."
But he replied, "Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death."
Jesus answered, "I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me."

Peter Pettigrew, for once in his seven years at Hogwarts, had not actually planned on roaming the hallways late that night. All he had been trying to do was to find his three best friends, who had slipped off for a kitchen raid a couple hours earlier while he was still buried under Transfiguration homework. They, of course, had breezed through it easily, while he was still being tortured by the theories of cross-species transformations.

"Now Peter, honestly," Sirius Black had drawled, "We've gone over this with you hundreds of times."

"We're just going to run to the kitchens," Remus Lupin had laughed, "We'll be back in no time, and with treacle tarts to get your brain going. In the mean time, look over those charts I wrote up for you. It really falls into place when you notice the connection between-"

"Have you started giving out homework now, Professor Lupin," James Potter had teased, "I dread the day a child of mine might have you as a taskmaster in this place. How could I ever encourage him to have fun knowing you were around to make him follow the rules."

"Oh?" Peter had asked innocently, "You and Lily have decided on a son, then?"

Sirius and Remus had joined him in laughing when James flushed crimson. Soon after, the three had left, with promises of food and more help to come soon. Peter had dutifully studied for hours after they left, the whole time wondering what mark McGonagall would give him if he transformed into a rat for his N.E.W.T., not to mention the expression on her face. Finally, when the grandfather clock chimed out midnight, and the common room had cleared of all but the most dedicated or desperate student, he decided he had better find his friends.

They had obviously taken James' invisibility cloak and the map, so he was left depending on his own abilities. In terms of subterfuge, however, he had one advantage over his friends. As soon as he was certain no one was watching, he transformed into a rat.

He went first to the kitchens, returning to his human form again to avoid being mistaken as a common pest by an over-eager House-elf.

"Misters Potter, Black and Lupin were here indeed, Mr. Pettigrew," a House-elf had told him, piling cookies and pastries into a bag. "They says you had a big test to study for, and couldn't come tonight. We sent along extra cakes for you." His statement was backed up by many wide eyed nods from the house-elves behind him. "Did you not get them?" he asked, his eyes growing even bigger in horror. Peter managed to make his excuses and slip out of the kitchens as the house-elves all tried to offer him all sorts of delicacies.

He slipped back into rat form again as soon as he passed the statue of Boris the Bewildered. He was contemplating whether or not to just head back to the common room when he heard footsteps - quiet footsteps, but footsteps none the less. He quickly darted far into the shadows, hoping it wasn't Mrs. Norris. No one appeared, however, and Peter began to wonder if he was just paranoid. But then he heard an unmistakable knocking further down the hall.

He scurried forward, full of curiosity. Three knocks, just as he heard them on the wall panels in this hallway should open... Sure enough, Peter stopped as the wall in beside him swung open. It was the hidden office he, James and Sirius had perfected their animagi skills in. They hadn't been back much since their fifth year. From his low vantage point, Peter clearly saw three people squeezed under an invisibility cloak shuffle into the room. He followed them, and was surprised to see a cauldron over a fire in the middle of the room. Before Peter could reveal himself to question his friends about their secret, the cloak was discarded. He felt his fur suddenly bristle in fear and shock. It would seem that James wasn't the only student at Hogwarts with an invisibility cloak, because beneath it were none other then Evan Rosier, Winston Avery, and Persephone Malfoy.

"Lumos," Persephone spoke quickly, waving her wand in one resounding swoop that lit every lantern in the room. Peter quickly scuttled behind a chair, thanking the fates he hadn't yet transformed. Of all the people Peter didn't want to meet alone in the middle of the night, these three Slytherins were definitely near the top of the list. Rapidly he tried to think of a way to get out of the room, but it seemed he'd just have to sit it out until they left.

"One thing's for certain," Evan grumbled, pulling various jars and bottles out of his cloak, "Severus takes over potion duty as soon as he passes the test."

"Are we certain we can really trust him?" Winston asked as he sealed the entryway with a few waves of his wand. "I mean, there's no denying he's got what it takes for the small stuff, but doesn't he still think Dumbledore-"

"Severus' feelings towards Dumbledore changed drastically a couple weeks back," Persephone interrupted, measuring a vial of blue powder. "He has finally, for lack of a better term, seen the light. My brother will meet Barty, Severus, and us on the next Hogsmeade visit. I already have permission for all of us to spend the night away from school, as Lucius wishes to take my friends and I to a concert that will last late into the evening." She had a wicked grin on her face, and Evan snorted in laugher.

"Barty Crouch too?" Winston asked, "Isn't he a little young?"

"He's the same age I was," Persephone stated firmly, her eyes daring further questions.

"Winston," she continued, looking at the labels on the bottles, "Did you get the Mudblood's hair?"

"Swiped it off her cloak in Divination," Winston said with a smile, pulling out a small glass tube. "She was so busy trying to see her first true love she never noticed."

"Good. We only need a couple more people now..." she trailed off, and then reached a hand to the collar of her robe, pulling out an amulet. The look of horror in her eyes was matched by the feeling in Peter's stomach. Sirius had an amulet like that. It grew warm when foes were around, and when they were very near it...

"We have a visitor tonight, boys," she said in a deceivingly calm voice, the amulet around her neck standing straight out pointed at Peter.

"Admoveo!" the chair Peter was hiding behind followed the quick movement of Persephone's wand, and he was revealed. He tried his best, under the circumstances, to look like a common, dozing rat.

"Well, well well," Evan said, rubbing his hands together, "What have we here?"

"It would appear," Persephone emphasized the last word "to be a rat, nothing but a rat."

"Things at Hogwarts - especially in secret rooms, are rarely as they appear," Winston said, wand in hand.

"And my amulet is never wrong, and I can't think of any reason why an ordinary rat would be a threat."

Peter tried to run off, thinking a real rat would probably do that rather then just sit at the feet of its natural enemy, but was stopped once again by a jet of light from Persephone's wand.

"Crucio!" The forbidden words left the blonde's mouth as easily as an exhaled breath, and Peter struggled through agonizing pain for his. It took every ounce of his will not to revert to his human form.

"Tough little vermin, isn't he?" Winston snickered.

Persephone laughed, and Peter was subjected to another round of pain. He wondered if the cries of a rat in pain would be enough to penetrate the walls of the room. Again and again the cycle of torture and taunting went on, until Peter was sure he would break if it repeated one more time.

"Enough!" Persephone said as Avery pointed his wand once again at Peter's quivering form. "I think it's time to find out just who or what our victim is." Wand aimed, she closed her eyes briefly as if to gather strength from some deep and dark place within her.

"Imperio!" Her voice was slow but sure, her stormy grey eyes focused directly on Peter. Instantly he forgot about his pain and felt his mind leave his body. "Show me who you really are," came the command. Somewhere inside him something faintly protested, but he was too weak to listen to that voice when the other proposed a more pleasing option. So Peter Pettigrew grew suddenly from a rat to a rather plump teenage boy.

"Peter Pettigrew?" Persephone swore scathingly at the appearance of the Gryffindor. "How in Merlin's beard did you manage to become an Animagus? You're barely passing Transfiguration!" Peter heard the question, but missed the shock and amusement in the voice that spoke it.

"James and Sirius helped me. I could never have done it without them. We did it in this very room, two years ago." Peter spoke in a monotone voice, only faintly aware of not wanting to say what he was saying.

"James Potter? Sirius Black? They're Animagi as well?"

"Yes, we learnt together." Peter would have continued, but suddenly felt reality crash back into focus. Feelings of guilt and fear whirled through his mind. Not knowing what else to do, he reached into his robe and grabbed his wand.

"Expelliarmus!" His wand flew from his hands to Winston's. "From what I've heard, you can't do much with this," he sneered, "But we never know what else James and Sirius have been secretly teaching you."

"I wonder what kind of fun we can have tonight," Evan rolled his wand between his fingers, his eyes alight with a glow that frightened Peter.

"Bind him first, will you?" Persephone sounded exasperated. Peter noticed for the first time that she had sunk into the chair he had been hiding behind, her hands grasping the sides. She was paler then usual. "Do I have to do everything around here?"

Avery rolled his eyes, and with a few words sent ropes from his wand which strapped Peter to the wall.

"We just want to have some fun," he said, his wand still pointed at Peter, who gulped hard.

"I'm curious to find out just how this rodent found his way into this room tonight," Winston commented, "I know I sealed that door after us." The look on his face, not to mention the wand in his hand made Peter realize he'd better answer quickly.

"I followed you in," Peter said, his tone hopeful as he continued, "It was really just a case of mistaken identity..."

"Mistaken identity?" Evan said skeptically, "Three students under an invisibility cloak sneaking into a secret room? Who did you think -" he stopped for a second, his eyes lighting up in understanding. "Don't tell me St. Potter and his motley crew have an invisibility cloak. Really, as Head Boy you think he'd consider his reputation. He's supposed to be reformed from his younger prankster days." Evan's tone revealed his skepticism that that was possible.

"An invisibility cloak? James?" Peter said nervously, trying to appear calm. "No, that wasn't it. I just saw the door open and..."

"You're a really bad liar, you know that Pettigrew?" Persephone stood back up now, although one hand still had a firm grip on the chair. "So why don't we try another question. See if you can tell the truth this time. What did you hear?"

"I heard nothing," Peter said slowly, hoping this sounded feasible. He'd already faced two Unforgivable Curses, and he had a feeling if these three thought he could spill the beans on his plans, he'd see the third.

"Nothing!" roared Evan, digging his wand into Peter's fleshy chest. "Did you not hear the lady when she told you not to lie?"

"Wait a minute now Evan, you're being far too hasty tonight. I believe Peter did tell the truth," Persephone shocked Peter by saying. Belatedly, he tried to hide the surprise from his face. She turned to face him, an icy glint in her eyes. "You heard nothing, and if you should happen to forget that you heard nothing, my wand will silence you forever."

"I heard nothing," Peter said again softly. His words were rewarded by the removal of the ropes that bound him.

"Give him back his wand, Winston," Persephone said as she started to idly pack up the potion ingredients. "I think we all want to get some sleep yet tonight." Winston handed Peter his wand without a word, but Evan couldn't keep quiet.

"You got off lucky, rat," he sneered. "You and your Mudblood loving friends had better watch your steps."

"Stupefy!" Peter pointed his wand straight at Evan, the anger he had been holding back all evening exploding into that one curse. Evan flew a few a few feet in the air, and before he even landed Peter's wand had been physically seized out of his hands, which were quickly magically bound above his head as if hanging from unseen shackles.

"Just what do you think you're doing, rodent?" Persephone exploded, her face inches away from his.

"Kill me," Peter said, the voice he had been suppressing the whole incident had finally risen to the top when he cursed Evan. "Kill me now and get it over with, since I know you'll do it anyhow, after I tell everyone what I heard." Peter returned the sneers he'd been getting all night with one of his own.

"I heard everything, and despite what you may think, I'm not stupid. I know you three are following You-Know-Who, just like that Death Eater brother of yours. You're going to do something to a Muggle-Born, and I will make sure Dumbledore knows just who to blame when it happens. Not to mention the fact that you're bringing Snape and Crouch to join you on the next Hogsmeade visit."

Peter could see that Persephone was livid with anger, her wand still pointed straight at him, but that didn't stop him. "If you're going to kill me for saying that, you might as well kill me now. It'll be pretty hard to explain away a dead student."

"You dare mock me," Persephone's voice had turned shrill, her eyes deadlier then many curses. "You think I jest when I say I can kill you right here, right now?"

"Persephone," Winston's voice was louder and firmer then it had been all night. "The rat's right. We can't afford a death at this point in the game." He turned to face Peter. "I wondered how long it would take for your foolish Gryffindor bravery to surface. Frankly, I'm glad it came now rather then later. It would be so messy later, having to explain things after you talked. So," Winston pointed his wand directly at Peter's face. "You're not afraid to die for your cause."

"No," Peter said softly. Fear was running through him, but he had made his mind up. He had a strange peace about dying a martyr.

"Godric would be proud," Winston said sarcastically. "However, you will not be going to join him tonight." Peter let out a deep breath and Persephone started to protest. Winston put up a hand to silence her. "However, I can't let you walk out of here and go straight to Dumbledore. Tell me, Peter. How close are you to James these days? Sirius?"

Peter gulped, a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach telling him where this was going. "We've drifted a little lately..." Peter lied through his teeth.

Winston smiled slightly, a cold, ruthless smile. "I thought we already established you weren't a very good liar, Peter. However, I think you're very good at figuring out riddles, so answer me this one. When the Ministry comes to investigate reports of illegal activity at Hogwarts, what will they find?"

"The Junior Death Eater Club out on their latest romp?" he said sarcastically.

"Three illegal Animagi," Winston said, pretending he hadn't heard Peter's remark. "Potter the Head Boy, Black the Quidditch Captain, such fine leaders you Gryffindors have. We can't forget about the teacher's pet, Lupin, either. Persephone, I believe your brother still has connections in the Department of Magical Creatures, does he not?"

Persephone was quietly laughing at this point. "Some very valuable connections. Severus told us about his little encounter with your friend, a few weeks back. Somehow it all makes more sense now. You'll find that not everyone is as understanding as that fool Dumbledore. I wonder if they'd let him take the N.E.W.T.s from St. Mungo's? It would be such a shame to waste all of that studying."

"So do we have an understanding, rat?" Winston demanded. Peter had never felt so torn in his entire life. He well remembered Remus listing off the punishment for illegal Animagus status when he found out what his friends did. If the matter was just up to him, he felt he deserved it for his blunder, but to place Sirius and James, not to mention Remus...

"Well, do we?" Winston's temper which had been very even all night seemed to be reaching its end.

"Winston, something I forgot to mention earlier, when I talked to my brother last, he said that our Master was looking for an example of a wizard from a good pure-blooded background who had an unfortunate liking for Mudbloods," Persephone said, her tone casual while the look on her face suggested otherwise.

"Really?" Winston looked pointedly at Peter as he continued. "We'll have to tell him we found the perfect example. The Griffyndor Head Boy...so young...so foolish...."

"Alright," Peter finally said, closing his eyes to try and shut out the scene. "We have a deal."

"Excellent," Persephone said smugly.

"I knew we'd get it all worked out in the end," Winston said, releasing the magical bonds that held Peter's hands above his head.

"If anyone at Hogwarts dies," Peter said, rubbing his sore wrists, "the deal is off."

"Fair enough," Persephone said, and held Peter's wand out towards him. "Take this, and get out of here before I revive him if you know what's good for you. Evan's not very good at peaceful negotiations."

Peter took the wand, opened up the door to the hallway, and stepped out. Immediately after he transformed back into a rat, and started racing towards the Gryffindor common room. He became human again just in time to tell the very sleepy Fat Lady the password. Once inside, he sat down in front of the fireplace to think about what had just happened. He didn't know what he was going to do. Already the guilt was weighing him down like a stone in his stomach. He didn't see how he was going to keep his side of the deal. Persephone had been right about one thing - he was a lousy liar. His friends laughed at him all the time because of it, and would barely let him talk at times for fear he would give away their latest escapade.

Just then, Sirius, James and Lupin came through the portrait door. "Where were you?" the tension he was feeling made Peter burst out in anger.

"Prongs, I told you he'd wait up on us, poor sod," Remus said, smacking his hand across his forehead.

"Sorry to keep you up, Peter, we didn't mean to be so late coming back," James said, sounding truly apologetic.

"You'll understand when you hear what kept us though. It's dreadful, so much hard work, all gone. He's evil I tell you, evil!" Sirius said melodramatically.

"What happened?" Peter demanded, suddenly scared. It wasn't possible that his friends had run into the same type of situation as him.

"Filch has the Map! Our precious Map! It's gone..." Sirius put his head down into his hands as if he was weeping.

"The House-elves overloaded us with food and James dropped the map," Remus explained.

"Thankfully wiped clear, or you'd probably never see us alive again," Sirius interjected, and Peter couldn't help but wince.

"Filch picked it up. We knew he wouldn't know what it was, so we kept hoping he'd drop it again," James said, rolling his eyes at that possibility.

"We followed him around for the last five hours, trying to quietly shuffle through the hallways behind him," Remus continued.

"I swear that cat can see through the cloak!" Sirius said bitterly. "One of these days I'm going to transform in the halls and we'll have a real evening of fun."

"Sure, and get yourself expelled, or worse, when Filch finds out who you really are," James laughed as Peter winced again. He tried to listen in on what his friends were saying, and show the appropriate face of concern, but somehow, the Map didn't seem that important anymore.

"We followed him until he took it into his office. There's no hope for getting it out of there," Remus shook his head.

"At least not tonight," Sirius said with a mischievous look in his eyes. "Say, you're awfully quiet Peter, all that studying get to you? Here, have a biscuit, they only got slightly smushed."

"How did your studying go Peter? Don't tell me you were up this late with your head in a textbook?" Remus asked, looking slightly concerned.

"Studying? I did nothing but studying all night long. I think I'm really starting to get the hang of this," Peter said, trying to keep his tone steady and light. His attempt at lying failed however, and James snorted in laughter.

"Wormtail, you spent the whole night flirting with Deborah, didn't you?" he teased, and the others laughed.

"Come on, let's head to bed. Quidditch practice is going to come early tomorrow, eh James?" Sirius said, scooping up the bag of sweets he'd laid out on the table.

Peter followed his friends up the stairs to their dormitory, brushing off their continued teasing of his apparent romantic interlude with a couple of laughs. He knew one thing for certain. He was going to have to learn to lie. Fast.