InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "He vas my BOYFRIEND."

Peter Pettigrew (rat_patootie) wrote in beyondthepages,
@ 2010-05-23 21:49:00

Entry tags:

!jade, 2023 10, james potter, peter pettigrew, remus lupin, sirius black

RP: ...Always a Rat?
Characters: Peter
Time/Date: Dinnertime, October 23, 2023
Location: Gryffindor house
Warnings/Rating: TBD
Summary: Peter gets reenrolled at Hogwarts
Status: Limited, ongoing

The paperwork had taken longer to go through than the people at the Ministry had originally told him, and no one was exactly clear with explaining to Peter why that was. He was getting the gist of it, in small doses, while Ministry officials chatted when he was sitting, swinging his legs on a bench outside of someone's office, or getting something to drink.

He'd... done bad things in his adult life. Horrible, awful, unspeakable things. He'd broken codes of friendship, turned his back on the people he cared about most and seemed to have had no remorse over it, and chosen to support a madman pursuing a world that he himself didn't belong in over the people who had stood by him and supported him all the way through school.

And he didn't think there was a way that he could be more disgusted with himself than if they told him he'd been the one to brandish the wand that killed them himself.

So he'd delayed the process as much as he could. Played the stupid card wherever possible, feigned ignorance on things, forgotten what year he'd come back at and then remembered and made them go through the entire process again before finally, someone in records got fed up and said they had enough information, and it was time for him to go pester someone else. He was officially accepted back at Hogwarts.

He didn't want to go. He'd given some very serious consideration to just running away. How could he face his best mates, knowing what he'd done to destroy their lives? He must have done it, right? The history books said so. He couldn't imagine the circumstances that would have put him in a place where he would have made the decision to give Voldemort the information he needed to kill Lily and James, but... but that's what all the books said. That was the story that the Ministry officials knew.

But... he wasn't given an opportunity to flee. He was escorted the entire way to the Gryffindor common room, where the password was given to him as the portrait was swung open, and a friendly smile and wave encouraged him into the familiar dorms that were in a building that had an element of foreignness to it now.

He swallowed heavily, making his way through the commons to the dorms he'd been told he was staying in now. Bright smiling faces had let him know that his mates had already returned as well, but that just gave him a sinking feeling in his stomach. But he knew that he had to face them, had to atone for actions he hadn't even yet done but were still unforgivable.

At least it was around the dinner hour. Maybe he'd have some time to unpack first.

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rat_patootie
2010-05-24 06:47 am UTC (link)

Well, so much for some time to himself. He did feel a smile creeping across his face in spite of everything - it was really good to see a familiar face what with everything that had happened the last few days. "Hey Padfoot," he said, and then he frowned as he looked at his mate. "Did... did you know your eyebrows were smoking?"

He didn't want to, wasn't going to, bring up what he'd read unless they did, at which point he would do his very best to assure them that the history books must have gotten it wrong. He'd died before he would betray his best mates, and he was going to make sure that they believed him.

History books could be wrong... right?

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biscuitforblack
2010-05-24 07:45 am UTC (link)

Sirius reached up to touch his eyebrows and patted at them, making sure they weren't actually catching his face on fire. It'd be a terrible shame to rob the wizarding world of such good looks. He had to be careful about that sort of thing.

"Wormtail! Always here to state the obvious for me." Sirius smirked, hopping off the bed and crossing the room to the other boy. He patted him on the shoulder, smiled, and... propelled him into the nearest wall and pinned him there with one hand if the other boy didn't manage to duck away.

If there was one way to get a straight answer out of Peter, Sirius thought it was by scaring him senseless.

"So. Pete. We've heard a few stories and I was thinking you would let me know if it was all bollocks or if I need to hang you out the window by your tail."

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rat_patootie
2010-05-24 08:30 am UTC (link)

He'd been adequately lured into a false sense of security, tense shoulders dropping as Sirius approached. Maybe they hadn't heard the stories he had, or they knew that they weren't true.

And then all of a sudden he was being pushed backwards. He felt his back connect with the wall with a dull thud, and then his head smashed against it. He saw stars for a moment rather than Sirius' expression, but it didn't stop him from babbling.

"Bollocks, Sirius, it has to be. You know me. You know I would never - not to you, not to James, not to Remus, I would never! You guys are my mates and I would never do anything to betray you or hurt you and certainly not get you killed, please oh Merlin please Sirius I'm sorry I'm sorry but I swear the books are wrong!"

He paused, gasping for breath, and froze and looked up when he heard a noise at the door.

Coming back from his... erm... casual stroll along the grounds, where he got up to absolutely nothing untoward, James slid back into the dorm room. He glanced over to where Sirius had Peter pinned to the wall, raised an eyebrow, and then shrugged his shoulders, "Hey Pads. Pete," he said, walking past them towards his bed.

He honestly didn't know what to make of the whole Peter betrayal stories. He didn't like to think about anything that involved Lily. So he'd let Sirius deal with it, and trust his mate's judgment on the subject.

"You'll let me know if you need a hand there Pads, yeah?" he asked, picking up a textbook and starting to read. Or pretending to read, at least. He had too much on his mind to really process.

Peter whimpered, but he knew better than to call out to James for help at this point. James had just proven he wasn't going to call Sirius off of him. So it was going to be up to Peter to convince Sirius.

"Sirius, I swear, I would never," he whimpered out. "The stories... they have to have it wrong. Why would the Dark Lord go after someone like me? The Dark Lord would have killed me, and I would have died before I got James killed. Before I got any of you killed."

He meant it, too. Whatever the stories said, they had to be wrong. He could never see himself betraying his friends like that. Not after everything they'd done for him.

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biscuitforblack
2010-05-24 08:57 am UTC (link)

Sirius gave James a brief nod, recognized that he had free reign here, and casually slid his wand out of his sleeve and into his hand (he never had it far from hand now that Tom Riddle was at school with them). Turning his attention back to Peter, he held the point under his chin and allowed his expression to turn dark.

He wasn't a Black for nothing. He could do dark and dangerous as well as his cousin.

He wasn't going to fool around with this.

"What if they had you just like this, Pete?" Sirius asked, recalling any of the details Harry had given him. "Where you couldn't get away and none of your mates are around to bail you out? D'you think you'd die, or d'you think they'd scare you into being their rat?"

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rat_patootie
2010-05-24 09:06 am UTC (link)

He couldn't breath. Not because Sirius was restricting his windpipe or his lungs, but just out of sheer fear and terror. His eyes were wide, and he was pulling back against the wall in an attempt to get away, but that was mostly instinctual more than anything else. If he really wanted to get away, he thought he could have. Sirius was only holding him with one arm, he could wiggle around and break loose. Or he could shift, become a rat and run away forever.

But he didn't want to. He just wanted things to go back to the way they should be.

He took a shuddering breath. Closing his eyes for a brief moment before he forced himself to open them, "Swear on my mother's grave, Sirius, there's no way any sodding Death Eater's scarier than you when you're pissed off."

He couldn't actually look at Sirius any longer without succumbing to a full out panic attack, so he closed his eyes and turned his head and tried to remember how to breathe and hope dearly that this would all be over soon.

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biscuitforblack
2010-05-24 09:24 am UTC (link)

Sirius considered that for a moment, turning it over in his mind as he tried to decide if that was a good enough answer. To him, it seemed like it was. As long as he continued to be good at scaring the living daylights out of Peter, they had nothing to worry about.

How could they have ever, anyway? Sirius was still convinced the books and Harry and everyone else were wrong.

...was he really scarier than a Death Eater?

Should he be pleased or offended?

"All right, mate?" Sirius asked, stepping back and shoving his wand up his sleeve. He grinned, suddenly all good nature like nothing'd happened.

"What took you so long getting here? Even Moony wasn't this slow. Did you get lost in the Great Beyond?"

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rat_patootie
2010-05-24 09:34 am UTC (link)

It took him several seconds before he realized that he'd been released. He eased himself away from the wall, not by moving, simply by shifting his weight, patting down his chest briefly to make sure he was still mostly intact. Then he let out a low whimper as his legs gave out from underneath him, and he crumpled to the floor, curling up in the fetal position at Sirius' feet.

That had been entirely too traumatizing. He never wanted to have to go through that again, ever.

"Sirius. Did you break Peter?" James asked, shutting his book with a snap as he pulled up to his feet, walking over to where Peter had slumped down onto the floor. He bent over and poked Peter on the shoulder once or twice, frowning when Peter just whimpered.

"Yep. Broken. Suppose we should take him down to the hospital wing? How do you diagnose 'scared into a coma?'"

He was dying, absolutely dying to make some sort of crack about how Sirius was scarier than a Death Eater, but he had to find the right words and the right moment first.

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biscuitforblack
2010-05-24 09:58 am UTC (link)

Sirius was the picture of surprise. He had no idea what could be up with Peter. He'd only asked him how he was, yeah?

Shrugging and deciding Peter was just crazy, Sirius crossed to his trunk. He'd bought a load of chocolate frog cards trying to see what new ones had popped up in the years since his demise. He'd found Dumbledore on the first one he tried.

Retrieving a box from his stash, Sirius turned and tossed it towards Peter's face. "Heads up, Wormtail."

Sirius crouched on Peter's other side and poked at the opposite shoulder as he glanced at James. "D'you think he's just overwhelmed with happiness at seeing the two of us? I know we're amazing, but a line needs to be drawn."

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lukeios
2010-05-24 07:36 pm UTC (link)

Remus had just come back to the dorm to grab a book before meeting up with Tris but from what he saw when he walked in, Tris was going to have to wait for a little while. He took in the scene with a glance and then sighed his best world-weary sigh... which was pretty world-weary and not anywhere as near as serious as it seemed.

"Sirius, James," he chided as he walked over to the where Peter was curled up on the floor with James and Sirius on either side of him. "You're not supposed to terrorise or otherwise break friends."

He crouched down in front of Peter and poked at his shoulder as he grinned, pleased to have him back and sure, sure, sure that he couldn't be a traitor. "Come on, Wormtail. Remember our mantra... Pads and Prongs are idiots."

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foureyedwonder
2010-05-25 12:51 am UTC (link)
"Oi, I resent that Moony," James said, crossing his arms and smirking. "We are not idiots, right Pads? We're just misunderstood."

He needed to tell Remus that Sirius was scarier than a Death Eater. It was a compulsion. He needed someone to give him this opportunity.

Peter groaned, rolling slightly and shifting his weight so that he could look up at Remus. Remus would protect him from James and Sirius and their cruelty. He smiled sort of sadly up at his mates before he moved to sit up, stretching out muscles that had gotten sore from slamming against the wall, or being so tense while Sirius questioned him.

"Thanks Moony," he said, before he decided that he would just start over at the beginning and forget this whole mess had occurred. He seemed to have been forgiven for events that hadn't occurred yet, at any rate. "It's... it's good to see you guys."
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