the mystery truth breaker
Later that morning after breakfast, Remus came over to see Sirius and the others. The trio had talked about what had been said at dinner over breakfast and had unanimously agreed that Remus would never do such a thing. One because he was a loyal person and why would a werewolf tell a very conservative witch and wizard that their adult son was hanging out with them and was dating another. While Loopy was taking care of Hadrian they explained the situation to Remus, hoping another person's outlook would help find who it was.
He was rightfully upset that someone they loved and trusted had done such a horrible thing, someone he thought of as part of his pack. They sat in the sunroom, soaking up the first days of warmth spring would give them while they discussed.
“So, who all knew about the surrogacy and godparents?” Remus asked. James ran down the list in his head while speaking.
“The people who knew about Lily being the surrogate were Snape, Mr. Tonks, Narcissa and Lucius. Wormtail, you, Padfoot of course, and Mary knew everything. really only people who needed to know. Dorcas and Alice did know about everything, but since they are Lily's best friends, I don't think they would betray her. Regulus wanted Hadrian to be a Suprise for his friends” James rambled as he sat back in his seat.
Remus hummed, rubbing his scared cheek. “Does Lily know yet?” Sirius asked. “Not yet, she had said she was working on a sensitive potion today and wouldn't be able to be contacted until tomorrow” Regulus supplied.
“What's Mr. Tonks stance with your parents Siri, Reg?” Sirius shrugged “Eddie is married to our cousin Andromeda. Their union wasn't expected because he's a muggle-born” he said, and Regulus grimaced. “Their reaction being bad was an understatement, our aunt and uncle torched everything in her room along with her face on the family tree”.
Everyone at the table grimaced with Regulus at that information. “Well at least we can confidently say he doesn't have a good first impression on the Black family” Remus said, trying to sound hopeful.
“What about Snape?” Padfoot asked, opening his arms as he sat back in his chair. “He would never do anything to hurt Lily, even if that meant keeping us safe as well. He wouldn't want a repeat of 5th year.” Remus debunked.
“Cissa’s relationship with our parents is civil at best, she's conservative but not that conservative. Lucius had a similar upbringing as us with his mother so he’s hesitant to even interact with them, so Cissa has cut majority of her contact with them anyway. She doesn't even know about who the godparents are yet either” Regulus said, rubbing his temples. James rubbed his hands over his face “and Dorcas was out of town helping the Aurors with a case while Alice was having her own trouble with her pregnancy”.
They all sat in silence for a while stewing in frustration at all the good alibis and reasons to not talk to the gloomy and short-tempered Walburga and Orion. Remus seemed to notice it first and a flash of distraught ran over his face from his thoughts.
He ran a hand under his chin, feeling the rough starts of a beard. “The only person we haven't talked about yet is wormtail…” he said forcibly.
James snorted, “why would Pete snitch, he’s one of our closest friends” he said leaning his head far back on his chair to look at the ceiling. Sirius was nodding in agreement, Regulus seemed to be thinking. “Think about it, he doesn't even have to mean to do it. He's scared shitless of your parents, and your parents know it. If they wanted to know something about your life or Regulus’ they could just show up and threaten him” he said to Sirius who still lounged in his chair.
“Then why wouldn't he tell us; we don't even know when they found out. If he did, we would notice him acting differently either way; he's terrible at lying with us” Sirius countered.
“I don't know why he wouldn't tell us…” Remus confessed. Even if it was only theory, it still scared the three marauders in the room; someone they trusted, went to school with, cried with, protected, laughed with. Peter was like family and was part of Remus’s inner pack.
Just the thought of someone so close to them willingly hurting them like that scared them far more than they wish it did. Regulus looked between the three and cleared his throat. “Why not test him. You said it yourself that he can't lie to any of you. invite him over and confront him about it. It'll be pretty clear then if he did it on purpose or not.” Regulus said and the others turned gloomy.
After a long minute of silence James finally spoke. “I should contact Mary…if what we fear is true, I don't want Hadrian here.” James said quietly as he got up and left the sunroom, presumably to owl Mary.
“But if it's true…, has he told anyone else about the secrets we trusted him with?” Sirius said, hurt plain in his voice. No one answered him, too scared to face what could be the truth.
That afternoon they made plans for the next day that Hadrian would spend the day with Lily and Mary at her home. They invited Peter over for lunch that day and planned to confront him and ask if he’s the one that did it. Sirius and Remus went back to their own home for the rest of the day and said they would be back tomorrow before lunch. Regulus and James were currently playing with Hadrian in the playroom upstairs after his nap.
They wanted to spend as much time as possible with him before needing to drop him off after breakfast tomorrow. “What happens if Peter actually told them willingly?” Regulus asked while laying sideways, head propped up on his arm, looking at James play blocks with Hadrian. James did not respond right away…he didn't have an answer for something so painful. It wasn't just the fact that he might have told Walburga and Orion, it's the possibility of if he had, has he said anything to anyone else about things James trusted him to keep secret? Has he told someone about when he asked Peter what it felt like to be gay because he was still questioning himself? Did he tell a person about the times he defended people from other houses when people rarely even talked outside of their houses? Has he told anyone else about the bruises his dad had given him that one bad summer?
All the possibilities have come far too close to real for James’ liking…so James answered honestly… “I don't know,” he said, choking on his words. The rest of the time was spent in silence, Regulus not wanting to push James on something that hasn't even been proven yet; and still reeling on the possibility of someone close to him and his husband hurting them in such a way. If push comes to shove and Peter has hurt James and the other people he has grown very close to, he’d hurt him badly; Peter will learn, instead of fearing Regulus’ parents he should fear him more, he won't let his newfound family be torn away because of some rat.
Sleep came restless to all of them. Remus couldn't sleep more than an hour, having been a few days after shifting and the newly added stress of one of his pack mates not being as trustworthy as they thought; it made moony howl in anger inside of him and it kept him up. He had a less rocky relationship with his wolf after he was able to form his dysfunctional pack. A werewolf can't live without some type of pack, it makes the human side and wolf side restless and less in sync which in turn makes everything difficult.
And Moony was distressed which makes Remus even more distressed than he already was. He didn't want to wake Sirius, seeing how much even the possibility of wormtail betraying them hurt him. Regulus and James were in a similar situation. James stood by his baby's crib, watching the little boy sleep. James saw the look in Regulus’ eye earlier that day, he knew he was already angry.
He smiled to himself at Regulus being angry more than he was about it. Regulus always seems to take everyone he cares about slights and make them his own. You anger or hurt someone he cares about, and he comes double that for them.
James still couldn't comprehend how or why Peter would do such a thing willingly. If they threatened him, sure but…him doing it on purpose? James can't even see him doing it unwillingly, Peter’s a Gryffindor for crying out loud! James has seen Peter do braver things than James has done before, and he's stood up to those fools in the past after he found out about Sirius running away.
…on the other hand, his family and the Black family have always been close. He could have done it on his own family's orders…he’s always wanted the attention of his family even if he didn't notice it himself.
that revelation made James start to tear up, he left his baby to not disturb him and went downstairs. Sitting in the dark family room he cried, because now more than ever the odds are stacked against one of his best friends. He's in the majority of the pictures in this damned room for merlin's sake!
How could he…
James’ magic must have alerted Regulus because a little while later, Regulus, plaid in pajama pants and no shirt, walked into the room to see James curled up on the couch, knees to his chest. Regulus walked over, sat next to him and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. “What's wrong Love?” He said gently to the crying Gryffindor.
“I started thinking about Peter…and at first I couldn't think of any reason he would go behind my back like that but then…Regulus, he would…he would betray me, Remus, Sirius…he would do it all just so he would get a little recognition from his family because he's a second son…” James said, his words forced and uneven.
“Reg…I don't think he would even hesitate either, or if he did, he still wouldn't feel bad after… he has always been obsessed with his family…Regulus how could I be so blind…” he said quietly, hands on his head.
Regulus took James' hands and unraveled the tight ball James put himself in, hugging him tightly. Regulus made James sit between Regulus’ legs as James held him tightly. He didn't know what to say to James, all he knew was that he was hurting, and Regulus needed to comfort him. Regulus laid them down on the couch and let James clutch him and cry.
The next morning after breakfast, dropping off Hadrian both Regulus and James looked like death. They had saved to explain what had happened in person to Lily and Mary. when they were done explaining they both were furious. Lily adamantly told them if they needed extra support that she could come with, Mary agreeing, saying she could handle Hadrian by herself.
“It's ok really, you two stay here with Hadrian. If something bad happens we know how to contact you quickly. Plus, I don't think it will escalate that much.” Regulus explained next to the oddly quiet James.
Lily huffed and held a babbling baby on her hip. “Fine but please if you need us to stay a few days after to help out with Hadrian because you need to recover from what will no doubt be a shitshow you always have us” Mary said crossing her arms and looking sternly at the two men.
James smiled softly, “thank you both, and we would appreciate it if you could spare time to stay at our place after” he said softly, remnants of his late-night cry still prominent; guess it wasn't as late as he thought. Lily still looked worried but gave them both a tight hug with Hadrian, Mary did as well before seeing them off.
The couple showered when they got back home, hoping it would lessen how terrible they knew they looked. They told the house elves ahead of time that if there was yelling to not worry, explaining what might happen. Tiny was anxious but nodded, holding Loopy's hands, Drifter the last and eldest house elf on the property was angry that someone dared to hurt his masters.
He usually worked behind the scenes and was rarely seen by anyone but the Potters which owned said property and who the Potters married, he disliked anyone but the masters of the home.
Soon after calming Drifter to not hex Peter right as he stepped through the door Sirius and Remus showed up. Drifter went with Loopy and Tiny grumbling about promising not to hurt the little rat.
They all sat in the sunroom once more, hoping the sun would calm their nerves. James shared what he realized last night and that had Sirius pacing the length of the sunroom. Regulus just watched the proceedings not knowing how to help in this situation. Remus had gone scarcely quiet, his eyes a dull gold, hinting that he was communicating with Moony.
The low growl from Remus made Sirius stop pacing and James stop spiraling. Remus cleared his throat rubbing his eyes, “sorry Moony’s angry as well. Maybe I shouldn't be here. It's only been a few days since the full moon and the link is more sensitive in that time” Remus said, looking ages older than he should be at that moment. “It's ok Moony, you can stay; we trust you” Sirius said sitting back down next to him in the love seat. Regulus nodded and James made a noise of agreement. Remus smiled at them “I'm sure you do but I still think it wise I don't be here for the confrontation” he stated more firmly. Regulus spoke up, hoping he wasn't crossing a line.
“You deserve the same closer they are going to get, if anything I shouldn't be here. I don't know Peter as well as any of you. But if you feel yourself getting overwhelmed there is a small study room downstairs that's soundproof made for when you're overwhelmed. It's called the silent study; James said it was because the last Potter family that lived here had an Autistic son and father duo…” Regulus trailed off realizing he had been rambling.
“Apologies” he said shortly but Remus just snorted and smiled. “Thank you, Reggie, show me where it is later before he arrives. I appreciate you trying to help” Regulus felt awkward but happy about the praise from the werewolf.
As time crawled by the trio became more restless, to them it felt like days had gone by. “You said to have him come at 1:00 right?” Sirius finally asked. “Yes, I did, and it's only 12:30” James responded.
Sirius let out a loud groan, flopping in his chair while he had his legs up on the table. “Be more patient Padfoot” James said, rubbing his eyes, already on his second cup of coffee, tea not being strong enough for the emotions he was feeling. “I just wanna get this whole bloody thing over with. I want to see little Pronglset~” Sirius said to the ceiling. Regulus snickered where he sat with his arms crossed, comfortable laying back in his wingback chair by the fireplace.
Remus was not paying attention to proceedings as he was lost in a book until further notice. They were now sitting in the sitting room, waiting for Peter to floo in. Regulus seemed to be the only one even close to the fire as the others seem to congregate on the furthest sides of couches and seats.
Just when Regulus thought Sirius and James were going to start bickering over Quidditch the fire glowed green. Everyone's attention snapped to the fireplace as a chubby, short man walked through, dusting soot off his clothes. Peter still had his thin and wild light brown hair and patchy beard.
“Hello Peter” Regulus was the first to speak, making Peter jump, not having seen the dark wizard. Peter turned to look at him, Regulus was looking him up and down like the dark wizard's mother did when looking at something particularly ugly. making the Rat Animagus nervous.
“H-hey Reggie…” he said finally. “Hey Wormtail, how have you been?” Remus spoke up. “I've been good actually, just got promoted at my job to overseer” he said proudly. They all made different noises of acknowledgement, but the atmosphere remained icy and distant. Peter’s skin started to crawl with the cold welcome. “Come in, come in, sit down, only Padfoot bites” Sirius said condescendingly. Peter awkwardly sat down on the armchair near the couch that James sat on. Regulus stayed near the fireplace; he didn't think Peter would try to floo out, but it didn't hurt to have all your bases covered.
Remus sat down his book, one leg crossed over the other, hands linked resting on his knee. “Do you have something to tell us Petey?” Remus said with a questioning look. Everyone knew when he called Peter, ‘Petey’ there was something wrong.
“I don- I don't know why you're angry with me?” Peter said it as more of a question. “We had dinner with my lovely parents the other day” Sirius was sitting forward now in his wingback chair on the other side of Peter and James; Remus being at the end of the coffee table near the entrance to the room. Peter visibly paled at that, “oh my god, what did they want this time?!” he said panicked.
“They just wanted to know why we made Lils our surrogate and godmother, or why we made ‘Disgraced scum’ Hadrian’s godfather. You wouldn't want to know the names they used for Lily” James said, much calmer than he should have.
Peter, if possible, went whiter than he did before, maybe a little green as well. “H-how did they find out? Who could have told them?” he said, wringing his hands, looking wide eyed.
“Well, we went down the list and everyone had a pretty good alibi or reason to avoid my parents…well, except you Peter. So, tell me, why did someone tell me that they saw my parents near your home?” The last bit of what Regulus said was a little white lie, but Peter didn't need to know that. Peter's reaction was enough to tell them that he was at least the one to tell Orion and Walburga.
Sirius got up and started pacing. “Did you at least hesitate!?” Sirius looked at Peter and he shrunk in on himself. “Why would you tell them?” Remus said, head in his hands. “Why are you jumping to conclusions! I wouldn't tell them anything!” Peter said, trying to sound offended but he just sounded scared. James scoffed, scooting even farther away from Peter.
“You can't lie to them peter…” Regulus said, looking far to calm in this situation. “I'm telling you that I would-” Remus shot up from his seat, throwing the book he had been reading. “Stop it! Just stop it! Peter. We know that you at least told them. we want to know when and if on purpose. Don't give us this bloody shite that you would never do it, because the fact is, Peter you would!” Remus screamed, his eyes a blazing gold.
Peter stared wide eyed at the enraged werewolf, without thinking his mouth started forming words. “A few days after you told me!” he blurted, and Remus was shocked into a calm. Everyone in the room was staring at Peter. James got up, looking at Peter with hurt. “Do you have any idea what could have happened if they really wanted Hadrian gone? They could have been harmed Peter…one or both of them could have died if those two were determined enough” James sounded distraught.
“Did you do it willingly?” Sirius was now sitting down once more, hands in his hair. Peter didn't speak for a long time, when he did it came out meek and small, like the rat he was.
“Yes…” James let out a strangled noise, turning away from Peter. Remus stormed out of the room, supposably to the silent study from the sound of a door slamming on the ground floor.
“Why…” James was defeated at this point. Peter seemed to gain some sort of sick courage because what he said next stunned the three left in the room into silence.
“It's not like any of you are going anywhere, I need to raise my position in my real family. Your parents said they would put in a good word for me. You're not my true family, we played a few pranks together in school and had fun but it's not like we are a family, that's only your blood!”
Sirius looked up at Peter slowly. James was rigid where he stood. Regulus had his mouth slightly open, staring at James.
James let out a deep breath through his nose before he slipped his wand into his hand from his arm holster. Regulus was up and holding James's' back in a second, making sure James wouldn't do anything that might get him in serious trouble. But since Regulus can't hold back two people at once Sirius had free reign to do whatever he wanted, not that Regulus was complaining.
Sirius and Regulus made eye contact over James trying to free his hands from the wall and screaming curses at Peter, who was now cowering behind the chair he was just sitting in.
Regulus gave him a stern look not to go overboard and Sirius looked at Peter. Before Peter could notice Sirius was next to him and dragging him to his feet. He got two good jabs in before Peter registered what was happening. Sirius knew not to use his wand, if Peter was cowardly enough to go to the Aurors they would check their wands. Sirius kneed him in the gut and dragged him outside, with a little bit of struggle from Peter which earned him a broken nose and some bruises.
Once he was at the apparition point, past the wards on the property, Sirius kicked him in the back. Making Peter fall forward on his face in the dirt. “You're lucky James wasn't able to use his wand, you would be dead right now” he said coldly.
“Get the fuck out of here. You won't be allowed within any wards in any of our homes again. When your ‘real family’ abandons you again, don't come crawling back to us. Rat” Sirius said while leaving Peter to pick himself up off the ground.
Sirius would have done more when he was younger, but he knew he had things to lose now.
Much later on when Regulus was able to convince James not to go after Peter, Remus came out of the silent room and learned what was done and said he had to go back in the room. After it all James had a breakdown and had started bawling. Sirius, who had also been tearing up, started crying seeing James break. Regulus also felt betrayed by the rat but couldn't bring himself to care when his brother, husband, and friend were all hurting worse than him.
Regulus planned to send letters to his own Friends letting them know that Peter was no longer friendly. Regulus knows Pandora and Barty will find interesting ways to get back at Peter, maybe he should even contact him and Sirius’ mentor. Once Remus seemed to get Moony under control he came back out once more and stayed out.
He helped get Sirius and James to sit on the couch in the family room and calm down a little. Remus sat in the middle of them, as the tallest of the three hugged both of them around the shoulders.
“I'll go and get Hadrian and the girls” Regulus said when it was nearing dinner time. None of them made a move of protest. When he got to Lily and Marys house he explained what happened. “How dare that two faced, slimy, ugly, fat, stupid…ugh!” Mary had been the one to explode surprisingly.
Lily looked like she was planning a murder. Hadrian was happy to see his papa. “Let's go and see how those three are doing,” Lily said with a sigh after calming down a little. “I left them sitting on the couch together, I've never seen any of them so…huggy before” Regulus said, and Mary snickered.
The four of them went back and found the trio still on the couch. Hadrian babbled in excitement at seeing James and the wizard looked up slightly. Regulus handed Hadrian to his husband, James in turn sat him on Remus’ lap so all three could interact with the little babe. Remus went stiff, he still had not held Hadrian yet. Hadrian sitting on uncle Moony’s lap was about as far as the werewolf would let the others take him.
Sirius hoped that the more time the two spent together the more Remus would loosen up around the fragile babe; Remus doubted it. “Loopy and Drifter said they would make dinner tonight, the yelling seemed to have scared Tiny more than she let on” Regulus explained sitting on a seat close to the trio, trying not to invade their space too much. Lily and Mary regarded the boys in front of them. They both knew that in the confines of Gryffindor tower they used to hunker down together on bad days like this, especially after full moons.
Lily and Mary sat on the couch opposite of the boys, pointedly ignoring the pictures on the walls and bookshelves that decorated the large room. Hadrian seemed determined to climb his uncle Moony and give the dark creature weird baby kisses. He was nearing 7 months old and had just started to crawl which was a nightmare for the adults around him because he seemed to pick it up right away.
Sirius snickered, it seemed to be helping to ease their sadness. Sirius looked over the struggling Remus’s shoulder, as well as James and saw Regulus sitting awkwardly next to the couch.
“James seemed to follow Sirius’ raised eyebrow stare and saw Regulus as well. Regulus stared awkwardly at the two of them as they stared expectantly at him. “What?” he said after the stars got too much. Remus seemed to have given up on keeping the baby away because Hadrian now had his head in a hug, Remus was scared he would fall so he held the baby there.
“Come here,” James said, opening his free arm. Regulus puffed out a breath and got up and stiffly fell into his husband's arm. Lily and Mary were shaking trying to hold in the laughter at the odd show that was going on in front of them.
Regulus being weird with physical affection, James and Sirius not having it and Remus trying hard to pry the baby off his head, Hadrian seeming to have his head in a death grip of a hug. After Hadrian let out an angry scream Remus seemed to give up and slump back with a surprisingly strong baby stuck to him. The two girls lost it and were leaning on each other as they laughed themselves silly. Remus was having a hard time trying not to smile while his friend laughed.