Chapter 7
Moony
Sirius choked Peter.
He jumped up like a hound and bounded up the stairs and burst into Peter's room and nearly killed him in his bed. He was screaming the whole time, raving, a madman. He looked like his cousin, Bellatrix, or like his mother, her portrait screaming downstairs, egging him on.
I pulled him off, and tackled him to the ground-like when we were boys, except we’ve never had a fight like this. I held him there until he stopped, and Peter was coughing and retching in bed.
Now we all sit in the room, Sirius back against the window, Peter still in bed, terrified and throat red. I stand between them, wand drawn and eyes darting.
“What the hell do you mean?! How the hell do you end up becoming one of them?! Does what we fought for-what we all risked our lives for mean nothing to you?!” Sirius is howling.
Peter straightens, face turning dark. “I was persuaded! You know I have a half-sister. You know she’s a squib! She almost died! I had to do something!”
“Persuaded?! Peter Pettigrew?! The great Gryffindor was persuaded into joining the Dark side?! Bullshit! You were always power hungry, and you went a step too far!”
I study Peter, who looks genuinely honest. But then again, Peter was the best manipulator out of all of us. “Sirius, you know his half-sister is a squib. And if she’s a Pettigrew they were going to want to weed her out.”
Sirius is prowling now, pacing back and forth, acting like his animagus. “Still. You have the Dark Mark, Peter! THE DARK MARK !”
I didn’t know that.
I stride over to the bed and rip Peter's sleeve up to his shoulder, who scrambles, trying to stop me. There, plain as day, as sharp as the scars covering my own skin, is the tattoo of Voldemort's most loyal supporters. My nails dig into his skin, and he lets it happen. He starts to cry.
“Peter…”
I look at my best mate. One of my brothers. I loved him like the air I breathed. Sirius was the stars, James the sun, Peter the earth, all of them my world. My chest tightens, and I find it hard to breathe.
“Moony, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. Crouch Jr. found me and Peggy, and was about to take her away so I tackled him, and he took me instead. Voldemort gave me a decision, to become a part of his group, or watch as my family was killed and the last of my line died with me. You know how good I am thinking on my feet. I let him believe I was fed up with being in your three’s shadow, I let him believe I was willing to do whatever it took to get power. Until it got too much, until he asked me to bring James and Lily. That's when I went to your brother, Sirius.”
Sirius inches closer to the bed. “Why?”
“Because he is the only one who might give a slight damn about James. Because of you. Because of how James saved you from this fucking house. And he said he was willing to help me. So I got James out of his house, and to Regulus. I was going to get Lily, but then I was attacked, and woke up here. He betrayed me.”
Sirius is quiet for a millisecond, and he reminds me of Regulus, who took his anger and turned it into stone, who hardened it into weapons of words and calculation. Then he explodes. He is nothing like his brother.
“Of course he betrayed you! He’s a Black! That's what we do! He is Voldemorts boot licker! He does not give a shit about anyone but himself. Only what Mummy and Daddy and fucking Voldemort thought about him!”
I doubt he even realized he associated himself with them . He hasn’t done that in years. When we were twelve was the last time I ever heard him call himself a Black, but now he's done it twice in one day.
Peter is standing, and I want to tell him it’s a bad idea. Sirius fights like a dog. Sirius literally had his hands around his throat ten minutes ago. “I did it to survive, Black. I would’ve thought you of all people would understand that. I did what I had to to survive. You had to run from the darkness, I had to run into it.”
Tears are forming on Sirius’s face, and streaks line Peters.
“But Jamie?”
Sirius’s voice cracks.
“You had to give them Jamie?!”
“I didn’t want too! I never meant too! He is my brother! He is the first friend I’ve ever had. We are family. You know how much it hurts!”
I believe Peter. I want to believe him. Mistrust still sits in my stomach like a bad meal, but my instinct is telling me to go and allow my brother in.
“Peter…”
He whips around to me. I nod to him. He visibly relaxes.
“Remus!”
Sirius looks betrayed.
“I want to get James back,” I say, “Peter can help us. And if he doesn’t…” I clench my wand and raise it up.
“I am more than willing to get James back.” Peter cries. “I will do whatever it takes!”
Sirius looks between us, face hard and impassive. He plays with the ring on his pinky finger. I notice with a pain in my chest it’s his family heirloom, the crest of his house, a gift he gave me when we dated, to allow some part of his past into his future, he said. To give a fuck you to his family and heritage. I chucked it at his head when we broke up.
He sees me looking and drops his hands.
“Alright, Wormtail, but if you betray us one more time we’re having rat for dinner.”
Peter breaks out into a weak smile and it's like spring has bloomed.