Betray-io?
Sad stories always start with regrets, and in the case of Harry Potter, there was nothing Peter regretted more. He swallowed around the wand Lily stabbed into his neck, and—not for the first time in his miserable life—wished he were dead. It was regrettable, really, that rats seemed to have even more lives than cats—maybe a curse, specific to him, that even though he warned them time and time again that he was poison, trouble, not worth the effort, they kept giving him a million fucking chances. He eyed the wand thoughtfully and wondered how far he could push before her magic lashed out on its own. Its angry, protective heat already seared his throat with the furious silencio she threw at him when the truth came out. (When the truth was dragged out like half-dead kneazle being mauled by a wolf.)
“Don’t think about it.” Her voice was ice cold and quiet. They had restrained him earlier—she elected to stay behind to watch him while the others went to Surrey. He was surprised she didn’t go along at first, but after watching his memory, they all agreed that putting Lily’s wild magic in front of her muggle sister would only complicate the situation. She agreed to give them thirty minutes before coming after them (“Ministry, be damned, Jamie. That’s my son.”) and Amelia made her vow to keep Peter relatively unharmed for questioning. None of it was probably copacetic—even in the eyes of the wizarding government—but when your husband’s the head of the DMLE and your best friend is the head of Magical Family Welfare and you yourself are a Charms Master well known in the wizarding world for bringing down fucking Voldemort…well, they tend to allow you to do what you want. And Lily never had any problems doing what she wanted.
James and Sirius and Remus and Amelia left twenty minutes ago and with each minute that passed, Lily’s magic filled more of the room. The tension climbed unbearably and Peter—about to seal his death by actually saying something—flinched when the floo fared and Amelia came through, several strands of hair falling out of her ponytail.
“Lils—” She held up her hands placatingly at Lily’s wild-eyed look.
“Where are they, Ames?” Peter shuddered at the cool, seemingly calm tone that always spelled trouble when it came to Lily Potter. Amelia and Peter shared a look before they both remembered he was being detained for some very unforgivable shit. Amelia quickly looked away, scoffing at him. She pulled Lily into a hug and over to the couch in front of the fireplace.
“Breathe, first, hon. It’s going to be ok.”
Lily shook her head quickly, red hair falling into her eyes. “No, stop that. Where are they? Where’s my son, Amy?” Peter kept his eyes on the floor, and flinched again when he heard her stand up suddenly. “Where’s my son, you bastard?!” He felt her hands in his hair, yanking him to eye level—
“Ooh, Petey’s got a crush.” Sirius and Remus “oohed” as James slapped him on the back. Peter blushed and rolled his eyes. Lily ruffled his hair as she walked by rocking Harry in her arms. The 11 month-old had been fussy and he refused to sleep unless he was being held. Peter shook his head, “Stop. It’s just dinner. Besides, I told her no. I can’t miss little man’s birthday.” He held out his arms and Lily handed the baby to him. Harry blinked sleepily at the exchange and gurgled. “That’s right, mate. You tell them to stop teasing me. We small guys got to stick together.” Harry smiled and then proceeded to sick up all over his new shirt. His friends didn’t stop laughing for an hour straight.
— Amelia pulled her away as she slapped him. They were all breathing heavily in the silence and Amelia had Lily’s face in her hands as they sat on the floor in front of Peter’s chair.
“Lils. Listen.” She was stern but kind, almost like she was delivering a report to her supervisor. “We went to your sister’s house. Your nephew and sister were out of the house, but we could tell there was another person inside.” Lily grabbed Amelia’s arm and Peter shifted his weight against the chair. He felt like he was downing—whether in guilt or his impending death, he wasn’t sure.
She continued, “We rang the doorbell—we were dressed as muggles. I thought that it might be less intimidating for him. He answered the door,”—Lily gasped—”but got spooked. He apparated. We think it was accidental magic—James is dealing with Moody and Shacklebolt right now. The Ministry sent some aurors to investigate the house and situation and James is managing that. Sirius and Remus are working on tracking him. James said to tell you to get the snitch—that you’d understand what that meant.”
Amelia delivered the instructions without taking a breath, and Peter watched as she carefully waited to see how Lily would respond to that deluge of information. Lily blinked as if coming out of a trance, nodded once, and stood up to walk out of the room. Before she closed the door behind her, she stopped and turned.
“Look at me, Pettigrew.” She whispered it, but the threat was implied. Against his instincts, he lifted his head slowly to meet her eyes.
“I don’t know why you did this, I don’t know what you were thinking, but I promise you will wish James killed you nine years ago if I do not see my son safe and in my arms by tonight.” She turned and left, and the door shut softly behind her.
Amelia sighed heavily as she checked Peter’s bindings with her wand. “It’s hard for me to believe you did this on purpose, Pete. But I can’t come up with any other explanation.” He shook his head, but kept his eyes on his lap. “I can’t imagine an explanation that will ever let James and Lily forgive you for this.That child looked like he had been through hell.”
Peter could only think about a small, cheeky baby with brilliant green eyes. If Harry had been through hell, then Peter was the one who put him there. But hell was better than the alternative—not that Peter would be around long enough to explain it.
Waiting until Amelia was fully ensconced in reading a file from her briefcase, Peter closed his eyes and channeled his magic into the hidden rune he had tattooed on his back. He was out of the house before either of them realized he was gone.