Oh, what a valiant roar
What a bland goodbye
The coward claimed he was a lion
I’m combing through my bed of lies.
—-----------
Peter couldn’t breathe. He didn’t even know how he got to this point.
He fell onto his knees in front of the Dark Lord, keeping his eyes low, “Any-anything for you My Lord. An-an-anything.” He shuddered with fear as he stumbled over his words.
“Anything, Wormtail? Anything?” The grating voice above him spoke.
He winced. He hated hearing that name be spoken by anyone but his friends, “Y-yes My Lord, anything.”
“It’s come to my attention that you have some information I need.”
Peter slowly raised his eyes from the dirtied floorboards underneath him. Trailing them slowly up towards the Dark Lord’s face, a terrible pit that had begun to blossom in his stomach grew tenfold as he saw the smirk that rested on the man's face.
Something is wrong here, he thought to himself, why am I here? How did it come to this?
“You will bring me to the boy I have heard of. The young Potter boy.”
For Peter, everything broke in an instant. He paled as he felt his heart drop to his stomach and horror grew on his face as he realized what his Master was planning to do.
“He is only a young boy M-my Lord,” Peter tried to reason, “Surely he can’t be of any major threat.”
“QUIET,” The Dark Lord bellowed, “YOU DO NOT SPEAK AGAINST ME. CRUCIO!”
Peter screamed as his body contorted and he dug his fingers into the floor as he yelled out in agony. He scraped his fingernails into the wood feeling nothing but complete agony and turmoil as he struggled to breathe and keep fighting the pain. It could have been seconds, minutes, even hours before he finally felt the curse pull back and his senses flood back into him. There was a faint, distant ringing in his ears and he blinked rapidly as he tried to come back to himself. His throat raw from screaming, his body was twitching violently and he looked down to see his fingernails scraped completely ripped open. He was so scared. He had never felt terror like he did when he thought the Dark Lord might just tire of his games and kill him already.
The Dark Lord hissed,“You may have had it differently before. I know how you are used to running around with your little Order at home. Playing with your friends, listening to Dumbledore. Taking care of your Mum.” He let out a scoff, “Here, everyone listens to me. Everyone takes care of me.”
“Yes My Lord. My apologies.” He responded hoarsely.
“Get out of my sight and get me to the boy.” The Dark Lord stepped carelessly around Peter’s broken body and opened the door to the foyer. Bellatrix Lestrange, waiting outside the door for her Master, cackled wildly at the sight of Peter laying on the floor.
Upon hearing the door shut once more, Peter was left completely alone. He rolled over with much effort onto his back.
“Oh Prongs I’m so sorry,” Peter whispered as he looked up. “I didn’t mean for this to happen.”
He could remember it so well. The day his life changed, the day his life began.
The day he met James Potter.
~~~
“Bye Mum! Yes, I will owl you as soon as I get to Hogwarts and get sorted.” Peter hugged his Mum tightly before lining up to board the train.
Looking back over his shoulder he saw her standing there crying and waving at him. He looked forward, took a deep breath, and moved onto the train.
He watched as the students ran to grab their compartments, easily making friends and no-one was looking his way. He couldn’t blame them. He wasn’t much to look at. At age 11 he was shorter than average and wider than most. Mousy thin blonde hair fell into his face that he consistently swatted out of his eyes. His robes were just a tad too big on him, making it look like he was swimming in his clothes. He held his hands clasped in front of his body, hoping to make himself as small as possible.
Finding the first empty compartment he threw himself down on the seat by the window and stared out at all the parents hugging their children. One family however, did not look the slightest bit happy to be there. The mother, a long scary looking woman in all black seemed to be chastising her oldest son, who was about to board the train. She was pointing at him with wide, crazy eyes and speaking so fast that even Peter was a little scared of her from the inside of the train. The father of the boy looked bored by the situation, his hands grasping the shoulders of the younger brother who looked to be a year or two behind the elder. Peter watched as the younger boy shook with unheard sobs that he tried very hard to conceal and not let out. While his mother was still talking, or yelling (Peter couldn’t tell), the boy ruffled his brother's hair and turned around, running towards the train with a bright smile. Peter watched as the boy’s mother attempted to call for him once more, ultimately being ignored, before rolling her eyes and straightening her shoulders and painting a smirk on her face in a way that made the hairs on Peter’s neck stand up before turning away and walking from the station.
Peter was still looking out the window when he jumped in surprise at hearing, “Hiya!”
Peter whirled towards the door where a boy slightly taller than him was standing, smiling cheerfully at him. Peter noticed right away what he would say was the boy's most noticeable feature, his hair. It was huge and unruly, just a mess of curls. Somehow the hair looked great on him.
“Hiya, me?” Peter said dumbly, blushing when the boy laughed at him.
“Yeah you! Mind if I sit here? I’m James Potter, nice to meet you! Have you grown up in the wizard world? Have you heard of Hogwarts? Well of course you’ve heard of Hogwarts otherwise you wouldn’t be here. I wonder what house we will get put in. I’m going to be in Gryffindor like my dad. That's the best house. Don’t tell my mum I just said that she would be so mad at me. She was in Slytherin but she’s the only good one to come out of that house. Are you gonna be in Gryffindor?” James spoke so fast, face animated and arms flailing about wildly as he made crazy gestures while he was talking. Peter was just staring at him, mouth agape as he tried to concentrate and wrap his head around one thing James was saying at a time.
“Hello? Buddy, are you ok?” James asked him, starting to look at him a little warily.
“Oh,” Peter said with a slight chuckle, “Yes sorry. I'm Peter. Peter Pettigrew. If you say Slytherins are bad then I’m taking your word for it, I don’t wanna be in that house. . . I won’t tell your mum of course!”
James barked out a laugh at that and Peter let out a small smile.
“You’re funny Peter. We’re gonna get along great.” James smiled at him.
And James was right.
They got sorted into Gryffindor along with the boy from the scary family outside the train, Sirius, and another boy who was covered in all these scars, Remus. Peter liked the two plenty , but Peter adored James. He wanted to do everything that he did. They created a little group amongst the four of them and James quickly got close with Sirius. Sirius got closer with Remus, and Peter just stayed in their group. It was no bother, Peter would always be there for James.
He would always be there for James.
~~~
And he was there for him. Over the years their bond grew and they stood together through many challenges. The death of James’ parents, Sirius getting disowned and losing his brother, all of Remus’ transformations every full moon, the beginnings of a war, the deaths of their friends. Once James and Lily got together they worked tirelessly to stay safe and start a life together. They chose Peter to be their secret keeper because they knew the Dark Lord and Death Eaters would suspect Sirius. Peter was more than happy to step up to the challenge.
Then they found him. The Death Eaters. Cornered him and threatened him and his mum.
He was there for James again.
On October 31st 1981, Peter knocked on the door.
Peter shuddered as the Dark Lord placed his hand on Peter’s shoulder, standing behind him.
Blinking away the tears he could hear as James said, “Lily Wormy’s here! Come downstairs.”
The knob turned.
“Hiya Wormy!”
Peter closed his eyes.