Un Piccolo Restyling
Steve walks warily down the street
With his brim pulled way down low
Ain't no sound but the sound of his feet
Machine guns ready to go
Are you ready hey are you ready for this?
Are you hanging on the edge of your seat?
Out of the doorway the bullets rip
To the sound of the beat yeah
Ursa beams at the house elves. Apparently she deems them important enough to wear her charming mask for them. Peter isn’t sure how he feels about that. It’s odd, knowing the beautiful girl chatting and laughing with the house elves is the same person that killed a bunny, tortured her brother, decapitated a doll and honestly, the list is too long to draw.
The elves are quite the gossipers, Peter didn’t expect that. Just like he didn’t expect to see them whispering and giggling with Ursa. He didn't know House Elves could do that, and he's been down here enough times that he feels like he should know this. He didn’t expect Ursa to introduce him to every single elf and he didn’t expect her to ask them seemingly follow up questions from last year.
Because apparently she’d been doing this last year too. Ursa Black, befriending muggle-borns and house elves. What the utter fuck?
Some are chatting amongst themselves in their own language as they cook and clean, but others are sitting on a table with them. He’s never seen the elves sitting on the small round table before, just students.
“A spider as big as Master Hagrid’s pumpkins, Nandy swears” the elf named Nandy assures Ursa who gasps accordingly and fuels her fire with the according words “it was leaving Master Hagrid’s hut! Nandy went pale as ever, Nandy almost fell on her bum! Nando doesn’t believe Nandy!” she points to another elf, he looks a lot like her, but shorter and chubbier with a longer nose
“Nando, are you calling Nandy a liar?” Ursa gasps because even with a mask of nice and pleasantries, she still enjoys stirring the pot and riling people up
“Are you calling Nando a liar?” Peter counters and her lip twitches up
“Master Dumbledore would not allow for such a dangerous thing around students!” he squeals in his defense and his voice is much thinner than Peter expected.
“Nando is right that Dumbledore would never allow for a dark creature to roam around the school grounds” Ursa meets Peter’s eye over Nandy’s shoulder and winks, a sly smirk tugging at the corner of her lips, it’s soon gone when she turns back to a pouting Nandy. Peter bites down on a laugh and curses himself with the reminder that this is the same girl that tortured his best friend.
“Mrs Ursa, the food is ready” another elf beams at her and Nandy deflates
“Thank you Parles, you’re a king” she winks at him and turns back to Nandy “what do you say we take this to my friends and then I come back to say goodbye?” she beams at Nandy who instantly lights up, nodding with enthusiasm
“Mrs Ursa should sleep, it’s late”
“But then I’ll be sad” she pouts at Nando
“You don’t want us to be sad Nando, do you?” Peter feels slightly evil, but he can’t help the smile that rushes to his lips
“Fine.” he huffs, with a frown and crossed arms.
“I’ll see you later Nando” Ursa pecks his cheek sweetly “Goodbye”
“Bye, it was nice to meet you” Peter waves at them shyly on his way out, exiting rooms has always been a hazard for him, should he smile? Should he wave goodbye? Should he hug everyone goodbye? Maybe a group hug? Should he kiss each cheek on his way out? Should he blend into the shadows and disappear? He never knows, and now is no different.
She guides him out and through the deserted hallways, with a muffin in her hand and a cake levitating behind them and lumos in front of them “I thought you already knew them” she says, prodding the paper away from the single muffin.
“Not the way you do” She breaks off a piece and offers it to him, he takes it eagerly and desperate for something to fill his mouth “They’re nice” he says after a minute of quiet, uncomfortable silence
“No, they’re not. Nando is a grump and Nandy is a blabber-mouth” she chuckles and he joins her
“Alright, maybe not nice”
“You should hear Nandy slut-shaming girls for their ‘after-school activities’”
“Oh, I need to see that” they laugh
"The others are mostly nice though, Parles is the sweetest once you get past his shyness" she offers him another piece of the muffin but he shakes his head
“Hold on,” she slows down to a stop. Peter watches her with a frown, afraid she heard something he didn’t. Just because the prefects won’t catch them doesn’t mean Filch won’t. Instead of ahead she turns to him and takes a step closer into his space. Her gaze slides from his eyes down to his lips. He swallows, his mouth suddenly dry. Has the air always been so thick in this hallway? She cups his face and strokes his cheek. Her touch is soft and gentle, almost caring, everything she isn’t. She smiles, is she gonna…? He holds his breath, her eyes shoot back up to his, and she holds out her thumb “Eyelash” his skin still tingles from the brush, her touch.
He clears his throat with a loud rasp and takes the muffin as an excuse to step back into his own space. She slips it off his hand a second before he bites into it “Share” she says and offers him a single piece he desperately digs into.
They make the rest of their trek towards the ravenclaw commonroom, Benjy's house, in uncomfortable silence as Ursa rations his muffin portions painfully slowly. He doesn’t dare rush her though, the awkwardness of what he thought was happening but obviously wouldn’t still colors his cheeks.
“What has a head and a tail but no legs?” they’re asked. Peter can’t imagine what it’s like to be asked a riddle when your lids can barely stay open and you just want a nice long rest
“A coin”
The door opens up for them, Peter's been here a time or two (at least in his human form, his rat a few times too many). It looks the same as ever, unlike Gryffindor, it isn't overwhelmingly one color but all of them loudly. He'd expected minimalism for Ravenclaw before he first stepped inside but boy was he wrong, it's overcrowded with books, art, half-baked potions, anything you could think of really.
They set the cake in the middle of a coffee table and Ursa turns to him "mind if I meet you later back at the dorm?"
"Oh, alright, tell Benjy I said goodnight" Peter says with a smirk. Her eyes travel him up and down before she grins, somewhere between a smile and a smirk
"I will" she hands him the rest of the muffin and he takes it gratefully "you should go back as a rat so you don't get caught"
"Right" he slips into a rat and turns to the closed door. He didn't think this through. Even in rat form his cheeks burn knowing he'll have to turn back into his human form to open the door and then back into a rat. He feels her eyes on him but instead of teasing him for being an idiot she opens the door for him
"Goodnight Peter, you can take my bed, I'll share with Sirius" he squeaks his thanks in response and scatters off.
He runs all the way back to his room, everyone else is still fast asleep. Regulus stirs when the door creaks open but James pulls him into his chest and he settles with a satisfied hum. Sirius is taking up the whole bed and Peter's glad not to sneak back into his bed but the welcoming empty one instead
He sets the reminder of the muffin down on the nightstand and closes the curtains around himself.
Oh take it - Bite the dust bite the dust
Hey Another one bites the dust
Another one bites the dust ow
Another one bites the dust he he
Another one bites the dust haaaa
Ooh shoot out
"Boo!" Peter wakes up to blinding sunlight abruptly smacking his eyes "Peter? What the hell? Why are you here?" Sirius frowns at him with the curtains still grasped within his hand "and where's my sister?"
Peter let's out a low whispering sound and sinks his face deep into his pillow
"Peter!" Sirius snatches back his blankets but he still doesn't answer "where the hell is my sister?"
"She's alright, she's in her bed" James tells him after checking the map
“Of course she went back to her room as soon as we fell asleep!” he raises off the bed with flair
“You make it sound like she’s a prisoner. She’s allowed to not sleep with a bunch of stinky, farting blokes” Regulus notes
“It was an accident! I already told you I was sorry!” James chimes
“And you are the one who insisted she sleep here!” Sirius reminds him with a snarl
“So she wouldn’t be lonely” James says, Sirius gapes at him like he just grew another head and Regulus glares like he shouldn’t have said that
“Lonely?!” Remus grimaces at the high shrill of Sirius voice and Peter groans into his pillow before sending it flying out the opened crack of curtains in Sirius’ direction “Peter, why the hell are you sleeping in there?” he takes the pillow that missed him by over a meter and smacks it back with the aim of a skilled beater
“She said she didn't mind" he rubs his hands through his tired eyes
"You slept with her?!"
"Of course not, you dolt, she said she'd bunk with you. I couldn't sleep with you taking over the entire bed so we went to the kitchens— did you know she's friends with the house elves and muggle-borns? Unless that entire night was a dream. Maybe I'm dreaming right now" he hums, slipping back into dreamland
"What? No, she's not." Sirius blinks "look, on the off chance that she doesn't hold our family's blood-supremacists views—"
"Lily believed her when she told her she didn't, I trust her judgment" Remus tells him from his bed, sleep still weighing on him
“Does that include when she hated James?” Peter yawns
“Definitely.”
“Hey!” James protest and only gets a small smirk in response
"Well, even if she doesn't, she still wouldn't risk pissing off our mother by befriending them, she doesn't even like people!"
"Probably why we didn't hear about it"
"She told 'em to keep 't hush" Peter chews on his pillow
"Ho—Wha— No.”
“No?” Regulus raises an unamused brow at his brother
“Ursa is not the type of person to befriend muggleborns and be nice to house elves for no reason. I would know if she were”
“Sirius, this isn’t about how little you know her, okay? Stop making everything about yourself. She’s not the villain you cast her as. Now please move on” Regulus rolls his eyes, stuffing his socked feet into shoes
“Tactful” Remus notes and Regulus glares at his sarcasm “Come on Pete, lets go get breakfast” he kicks the bed and Peter rolls with a grunt, he slumps to the ground and slides out the room “You’re coming with us” Remus tugs on Regulus collar who surprisingly goes without protest “I’ll save you two some toasts” he shuts the door and James puts a hand on Sirius’ shoulder.
“No,” he flinches away “James, he’s right”
“No, he’s not”
“But what if he is?” Sirius says with tears in his eyes “James, I gave up on her, I left her there, I didn’t even ask her to come, Regulus said we should but I was too sure she’d say no and tell our parents. James, what if she would’ve said yes? She said yes to Regulus”
“She wouldn’t have Pads, Reg just didn’t give her an option. She wouldn’t have gone with you”
“You can’t know that for sure, she might’ve” he sobs into his hands “she might’ve and then I just abandoned both my little siblings for nothing”
“Sirius, you couldn’t stay in that house, even they know that”
“But they could?”
“They weren’t as bad to them as they were to you” James rubs his back but Sirius pushes away from the comfort, convinced he isn’t worthy of it
“But what if they weren’t?! You said so yourself, she doesn’t want to be touched and the only time she didn’t cook she wouldn’t eat, what if there’s other things I don’t know about? I’ve been trying to ignore it but it just keeps playing in the back of my mind, what if, what if, what if”
“Maybe you should ask her, but Sirius, even if it is, that doesn’t take away from everything she’s done to you”
“Nothing takes away from what I did to Remus, but he still chose to forgive me”
“He chose to forgive him, because it was the right thing for him, not because he felt guilty, okay? Stop punishing yourself, not for this, you’re not responsible for this” James grabs his shoulders and doesn’t let go until Sirius sinks into the comfort of his arms.
There are plenty of ways that you can hurt a man
And bring him to the ground
You can beat him
You can cheat him
You can treat him bad and leave him
When he's down
But I'm ready yes I'm ready for you
I'm standing on my own two feet
Out of the doorway the bullets rip
Repeating to the sound of the beat
Another one bites the dust
Another one bites the dust
And another one gone and another one gone
Another one bites the dust yeah
Hey I'm gonna get you too
Another one bites the dust
Shoot out
Peter’s eating a strip of bacon in the great hall when two cold hands cover his eyes “Guess who” unfortunately, it’s not death but Ursa using her sweetest tone, also known as her fakest tone. Something more terrifying than death itself
“A Boggart?” he speaks with his mouth full
“Yes!” she doesn’t seem to mind the multiple sets of eyes she’s attracting, she's probably used to them. Peter hides his face behind his bacon. She waves her wand at the table and Remus slides away from the spot next to him, his plate included. He glances their way and goes back to eating, Ursa sits down on the table and crosses one leg over the other “Remember the little promise you made to me yesterday?” she runs her fingers up his arm “une petite cure de jouvence” a little makeover she taps his nose with a bright grin, he furrows his brows at her in confusion “Un piccolo restyling?” Italian is what makes it click for him if the way his face falls into regretting despair is anything to go by. She beams at him like a cat with its mice “Lets go” she snatches the bacon off his hand and sets it down on his plate before tugging him along and off the great hall. He would fight back if she wasn’t directing him away from everyone’s prying eyes and if doing so wouldn’t attract even more stares.
They crash into the dorm room to find Sirius sobbing in James arms “can you take your soap opera somewhere else? We have more important things to do”
“Ursa, I don’t think a makeover is more important than—”
“A makeover?” Sirius’ tears seem to sweep back into his eyes and he turns around, instantly ready for the task at hand
“Which one’s your trunk?” she asks Peter and he points to it with a defeated sigh
“Wait. First things first, we need music” Sirius rushes over and Another One Bites The Dust by Queen starts roaring through the charmed speakers reverberating through the room. Ursa smiles softly and grants her brother a small nod before she digs into Peter’s wardrobe. She tosses things out of the trunk with little to no care around the room
“Burn this” she pinches a pair of leather sandals worthy of a duck with disgust and hands them to Sirius, if she had gloves and a mask she’d be wearing them
“I’ve been waiting for this moment” he nods like a soldier sent on his favorite mission. He's never been shy to let him know of how ugly he finds them
“They’re comfortable!”
“And hideous. You’re a wizard, even heels can be comfortable”
“They can?”
“Of course not, even magic has its limits, but they can be made bearable” she finds the new set of dress shoes his mother bought for him to wear with his uniform, after a complex charm she holds them out to him “try them on” with a hesitant frown, Peter takes them and slides his foot inside.
“Merlin’s balls!” It’s cushiony inside, he parades around the room, it’s like stepping on a cloud “how did you do that?!”
“I’ve been wearing heels since I was like ten years old, you pick up a few tricks” she takes out his two pairs of sneakers and repeats the same spell "Cissy actually taught me that one after Bella showed me how to make them bite"
"Oh, that's brilliant for a prank! Can you teach me how to do it?"
"Later. For now," he presses both pairs of trainers into Sirius' chest "fix and clean"
"I'm not your house elf" he huffs
"Of course not," she answers sweetly through a flutter of lashes "otherwise I would've said please"
"You can't order me around"
"I thought we were going to do this together, but if you'd rather go back to your bitching and crying then go ahead, I can probably do this better on my own"
“I wasn’t crying” he huffs
“Yes you were, and not even the pretty, glistening-eyes kind of cry but the ugly, snotty kind of crying”
“Would you have come with me if I asked?” he blurts out, always the gentle person
“I wouldn’t go anywhere with you even if you begged”
“Home. Would you have left home if I’d asked?” Peter can’t help but wish he weren’t here for their fraternal bonding
“Ugh, is that why you were crying?” she rolls her eyes. Okay, so maybe not that much bonding will happen “Sirius, you seem to have deluded yourself into believing you have any sort of urgency over my thoughts, actions or decisions, but I assure you that is not the case”
“Stop! Can you stop being an arrogant arse for a single second!?”
“Nope, now are you going to help me or should I ask Potter?”
“Please leave me out of this.” James slumps into his bed “Sorry Pads, that didn’t go how I hoped”
“That’s because you keep forgetting she’s a heartless cunt” Sirius grumbles
“And you’d best remember that” she smiles as she takes out shirt after shirt “Ugh, doesn’t anything in your wardrobe even fit you? Don’t you have anything your actual size?”
“They fit me!”
“You fit inside them, but they hang on you. There’s a difference.”
“It’s comfier that way”
“That’s just an excuse to hide your body, now try this on” she hurls a pair of trousers at him, a shirt and a hoodie.
“I’m already regretting this” he sighs and shuts the bathroom door
“Are you still whining or can I ask for your opinion?”
“About what?” Sirius huffs though crossed arms and a glare
“Hair, long or short?”
“Long” Sirius huffs through an annoyed snort, like the question isn’t even worth asking
“Lighter or darker?”
“Hm, darker would contrast more against his eyes”
“Yeah, but lighter would go better with his skin tone”
“I see what you mean” he narrows his eyes somewhere into the distance, picturing both looks “Hm, James, what do you think?”
“Try both and see which one looks better?” he offers and the other two nod, not the worst idea he’s ever had.
“Pettigrew! You done?”
“Yes, but I know if I step out you’ll all stare at me so I’m delaying it”
“Not you, the clothes” Ursa rolls her eyes and gets up off the ground, she shuffles over to the door, she leans against the wood and whispers “will it help if it’s just one of us?” to their surprise, her voice doesn’t sound as annoyed and exasperated as her face shows, instead she sounds gentle and caring
“That's really an option?” his voice is weak from the other side of the door, a small creak
“Yeah, of course” Peter can hear the smile in her voice. With a sigh he does what he was about to do anyways, only now it doesn’t feel as daunting. The door creaks open.
“Hey! Why do you get to go inside?!”
“Because I’m brilliant at tailoring spells and you’re not”
“James is actually quite good at—” the door’s shut behind her before he gets the words out.
“Muffliato. Can you relax? I’m not going to hurt you”
“I know” he tugs on his sleeves as her eyes scan his clothes with wand in hand “I just…”
“Feel exposed?” she says after a minute, when it’s clear he won’t get the words out
“Yeah, I’m not… I don’t look like you”
“Do you mean that in a transgender way or a—”
“No, just in the I’m ugly and I'm very aware that the only reason you're not outwardly judging me is because you promised to be nice but we both know what you're really thinking"
"Is that so?" She hops onto the sink and focuses her eyes on his, her brows branch together in concentration "and what exactly is that?"
"Oh, stop it"
"You really think i would laugh at you for having insecurities? Once when we were little Sirius said my ears were big and stuck out like an elephant and I've hated the way my ears look ever since. Everyone has insecurities, it's part of being human."
“Merlin!” Peter gasps “Your ears do kind of—shut up. I’m shutting up. Sorry. I wish ugly ears were the only ugly thing about me”
“Definitely not the only ugly thing about me. You seem to be forgetting about my personality” she says with a smile and he tries hard not laugh, he fails
“You can change your personality if you want” he says a bit more serious than the situation calls for
“And you can change your appearance and stop being ugly”
“Did you just call me ugly?”
“Yep” she says without a trace of shame “In your mind you’re butt-ugly, so you are” He doesn’t know why but he snorts with laughter
“I’m so dumb, this is so dumb” he hides his face in his hands and his laughter blends with tears “caring about this is so stupid”
“An idiocy no one’s exempt from, so cut yourself some slack, okay? I’ll be quick, you can tell me to stop if you want” he tugs his sleeves past his hands and nods. “Besides,” she says as she points her wand at him, casting spells that make his trousers mold perfectly to his bum, his shirt tightens around his arms making it appear like he has biceps “it’s hard not to feel ugly when you’re standing next to me” he brings a hand to his mouth to hide his smile and feels the fabric hug his arm and pulls it back down. Ursa’s finishing touch is the hoodie she shrinks down three sizes to fit him correctly, not too snug but not to lose, it’s the perfect fit. A measuring tape is quick to slip and slide along his body, never lingering snug on a spot for too long. “Won’t you look at that, you actually have a bum.” she smirks at his face that matches the shades of the curtains, then tilts her face to the side and adds “And a cute one at that”
“I thought we talked about this” Peter frowns at her through his deep blush, why does his body insist on reacting like this to her relentless need to humiliate him? He tugs on the sleeves but they won’t go past his hands. He crosses his arms over his chest instead and feels the fabric of his shirt tightening underneath his hoodie, he hides a tiny smile at the feeling
“I wasn’t flirting, just stating a fact” she holds his gaze and he folds first “Come out when you’re ready, okay?" she kisses his cheek sweetly and slides out the bathroom, she shuts the door behind her and he traces the memory of her lips on his cheek with his fingertips. He slams his hands down when he catches himself doing that
“Why did you need a silencing charm?” Sirius jumps at her in an instant
“Because you don’t know boundaries” she shoves past him
"Where are you going?"
"To find Regulus" she says this as if it's obvious
"I'll go" James being oh so very selfless, volunteers himself "you two bond” he waves at the Black set that turns to him with the same glare, it only brightens his beam and he bounces off in search of the third matching glare, the loveliest one.
Ursa waves her wand at the measuring tape and starts making adjustments to Peter’s garments, a little tighter over here but not there. Sirius sits down beside her with a huff. She scoots off to the side with no regard to him and continues, a brighter color over here and a softer tone over there. Sirius glances at the still shut bathroom door and thinks here goes nothing “Would you have gone with me if I asked?” he nudges her and she sets her wand down with a sigh and rubs her temples
“No. Sirius, it wasn’t your job to get us out of there. You’re just a kid who did the right thing for yourself. I don’t resent you for it”
“Why can’t I believe you?!” he cries out to himself, tugging at his hair and slumping down on the bed. Tears prick his eyes and Ursa rolls her eyes, she cards her fingers through his hair in a soothing motion. He really is a dog.
“I wouldn’t have said yes, okay? I had a plan”
“A plan?” he peers up at her with puppy, tear-stricken eyes “What plan?” she presses her lips together in a thin line and glares at her own hands before, with a reluctant sigh, she talks
“I just had to hold on a little bit more until I turned of age and then I’d marry my rich, hot best friend and we would go travel the world together with our wealthy parents' money ‘trying to create an heir’ while in reality setting up our own fortune so we wouldn't have to depend on theirs. And then we’d go live happily in Canada with said fortune” Sirius blinks at her several times and his brows furrow together, deep in thought
“I don’t know what to make of that”
“That’s because you’re not good at the whole thinking bit of it” she teases him with a smile and no poison to her bite but he doesn’t snap back
“Was I part of your plan?”
“Not that one, no.” she admits and he nods down at his hands “Plans change though”
“Am I in your new plan?”
“You don’t want to be”
“I do” he stares into her eyes with earnest, with hope, a prayer “Do you want me in it?”
“I’d rather you be happy” she pats his face with regret over something that hasn’t happened yet. Regulus walks into the room before he can say anything in return and he wipes his eyes before they can see the tears clouding them.
How do you think I'm going to get along
Without you when you're gone
You took me for everything that I had
And kicked me out on my own
Are you happy are you satisfied?
How long can you stand the heat
Out of the doorway the bullets rip
To the sound of the beat look out