InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "fax me, babe"

ruggedpotter (ruggedpotter) wrote in flippedrpg,
@ 2012-10-25 18:44:00

Entry tags:

! narrative, ch: love: james potter, ch: squib: peter pettigrew, p: annalisa, p: ashton

WHO: James Potter^love and Peter Pettigrew^baby
WHEN: Thursday evening
WHERE: Cemetary
WHAT: Honoring the holiday
RATING: TBD

James had been avoiding the cemetery since they got to this world. He didn't know whose grave he would see, and he wasn't sure he wanted to know. But as the day got closer and closer, and James thought more about his wife's death and his death in other worlds, and death in general, he had a thought. Death wasn't anything to fear. Everyone died, whether at a young age or when they were older. That got him thinking about his parents. They were old when he was born. Too old to have a child, but luckily, they were alive long enough to see Harry born, which was all they'd ever wanted in the first place.

It had been a long time since James had visited his parents' graves, so he kissed Lily on the cheek and set out to the cemetery, needing to be alone with them for a little while. It wasn't long before he found them. His mum and dad, right there in front of him. "Hey guys," he said, not really knowing what to say at all. "It's been a long time."

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rattingdidnt
2012-10-25 11:41 pm UTC (link)

The cemetery was a strange place. Peter had not seen a single unmarked grave on the first day out, and then after he'd realized that this time of year was when he'd betrayed James and/or Lily to their deaths in other worlds, he'd come out to find their graves here. It had disturbed him at first, and he had simply stared at them for a while before leaving, but then he'd come back.

Before he'd found them again, though, he found one that read ARTHUR WEASLEY. The date had the exact date of his friend's death back home, and he knelt to touch the engraving, wondering whether anyone else had seen this too. There were other worlds where Arthur lived. Where Sirius didn't get married to Molly, or married at all, and neither did he. It was such a strange thought.

He was startled out of his thoughts by the sound of a voice nearby, and got to his feet to see that there was a James Potter standing on the other side of the row of gravestones behind him. He hadn't noticed his friend come in, and he hadn't really been visible behind the headstones, so he wasn't sure if the words were really directed at him. He just looked at him for a second, feeling awkward because he wasn't entirely sure which James it was or whether he'd interrupted a moment. "You're not talking to me, are you?" he said after a moment of awkward silence, and then, "Sorry, I'll go."

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ruggedpotter
2012-10-25 11:51 pm UTC (link)

When he heard the other man's voice, James looked up and was startled to see Peter standing there. He hadn't seen Peter in quite a while, and he was older than he remembered, but he still saw the man that used to be his friend. "Peter," James said softly. "Hi, mate. No, it's okay. I was just... It's my parents."

James scratched his head and laughed softly. "I haven't been to their graves in a long time," he said. "And it was either that or Lily's, and that I just couldn't handle. Not with her sitting back in our unit, safe and sound."

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rattingdidnt
2012-10-26 12:34 am UTC (link)

"Hey," Peter said, offering James a smile. He wasn't sure if his company was really wanted or if James was just being polite, but he was talking to him, so it seemed rude to walk away now. "I was just visiting... Arthur. I only just realized he was out here. You and Lily are here too, even though..."

Even though they hadn't died in his world. He didn't understand how that worked, that he saw them here even though they weren't dead for him. Was it just because he knew that they died in other worlds? He took a deep breath. "Yeah."

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ruggedpotter
2012-10-26 02:34 am UTC (link)

"We're here from a lot of worlds, I gather," he said, glancing around at the headstones nearby. "A lot of Peters did a lot of wrong in a lot of places."

He sighed then, and looked over at Peter. "I'm really glad you're not one of them," he said. "It's good to have a Peter around. Never complete with you. I just wish some of the others would see it that way."

James didn't blame this Peter for what had happened. How could he? He understood blaming his own Peter, because he did, and he understood the others blaming their Peters. But blaming this Peter standing before him made no sense at all.

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rattingdidnt
2012-10-26 02:56 am UTC (link)

Peter raised a hand to scratch at his hair, awkwardly. He didn't really have anything to say to that last part. "I only saw the one. I don't know which world they're from. Colour, maybe."

That was the main world he knew about. That and genderswap, but then it would have been Jane and Luke. It wasn't this James's world, obviously, because only Lily had died because of him.

"I don't," he said. Merlin, why couldn't he explain this to the Marauders. "I think the way they see it is just fine."

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ruggedpotter
2012-10-26 01:27 pm UTC (link)

"It's not," James said with a shake of his head. "But if there's one thing we all have in common it's that you can't tell us anything. We're going to think what we're going to think and no one is going to be able to change that, even if the evidence is right in front of us."

Moving then, he perched on the edge of his father's headstone, running his hand over the rough granite top. "Tell me," he began, looking over at Peter. "Tell me about you, your world, everything. I have to say, I never imagined all of us being married and having a bunch of kids. It's what I wanted, but I never thought it would ever happen."

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rattingdidnt
2012-10-27 08:03 pm UTC (link)

"They know I'm not like their Wormtail," Peter said, as patiently as he could. "It's just that since their Peter betrayed them, they don't want any Peter around anymore. I remind them of their own Peter even though they know I'm not the same. Maybe it even hurts more to know that they could have gotten a Peter who was like me and then their whole lives would have been different." He gave James a slight smile. "It's you and the others who are trying to make them accept me that are the most stuck on the way you think, I think."

He could see everyone's point of view, and it was really this particular viewpoint (the one that James held) that seemed the most off. It was a nice fantasy, having all the Marauders running together and getting along perfectly all the time here on compound, but with the way the Marauders had broken apart in so many worlds, he didn't think that was really going to happen. He shrugged. "We're not in school anymore. Things don't have to be the same way they were back then."

Considering the question, he leaned against the angel statue at the end of the row and lifted a hand, absentmindedly ruffling his hair. "My world is, well. There's a squib epidemic, lots of kids being born from magical families without magic. The Ministry puts a lot of pressure on people to get married and have kids, to keep magic from dying out. We have some political issues, but there isn't any war... not in our lifetimes, anyway. We did have the war against Grindelwald."

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