Officially Fake
Peter has to remind himself that he’s a Gryffindor an uncomfortable amount of times before he finds enough courage to confront Ursa. She’s not having breakfast in the great hall and when he approaches the canoodling pair of James and Regulus, Regulus tells him he's not his sister's keeper.
“Do you think I should apologize to your sister for letting everyone think I had a date or can I just ignore everything that happened entirely?” even his sisters had asked him about Marlene, the rumors had a quick and wide spread
“You don’t have to apologize, but if you two don’t start making people think you’re together my parents will know something’s fishy, two months is way too long for her not to have you wrapped around her little finger”
“Hey!” Peter protests
“What? You know it’s true. If she were trying to charm you, you’d already be long past doomed”
“Yeah” Peter sighs knowing it’s unfortunately true
“Let's just get it over with Pete and talk to her, we’ll come with you” James swings an arm around his shoulder and it’s decided. James lays a fleeting kiss on Regulus lips as they slide away.
They soon come back, Sirius and Remus along this time.
“You want me to let you, four Gryffindors, into the Slytherin common room in broad daylight when all the students are walking in and out of it and you'll surely be spotted by two dozen Slytherins?” James nods at Regulus' question and the younger one sighs “James, that was a rhetorical question to make you realize how deeply moronic that is. Weren’t you scared they’d beat me up for simply associating with you like a week ago?”
“I’ll let you in” Dorcas shrugs from her spot propped against the wall when Regulus glares at her “What? It might be fun. And, you know, if I ever happen to want to go into the Gryffindor common room, you might be willing to return the favor”
“We were until you just said that”
“Relax, I just— Reggie’s bad taste rubbed off on me and I—I like a—” she makes a dramatic pause to whisper the word but it’s too horrid so she mouths it instead: Gryffindor
“Who she has no chances with” Regulus adds for her
“That’s not true! You know, your twin was far more supportive about this than you're being”
“That’s because she enjoys watching you flaunder”
“And you’re a grumpy-grump, do you four want my help or not?”
“Why don’t you just tell her we want to talk to her?” Peter offers and Dorcas frowns at them
“Then send her an owl, or a paper airplane. I’m not playing owl” she turns on her heels
“Your friends are weird” Sirius tells his brother
“Your friends are a werewolf and a rat”
“And a stag!” James adds cheerfully
“I know, but a stag actually sounds cool”
“No way a stag is cooler than a werewolf!”
“Can we not talk about this here?” Remus whispers
“Sorry Moonshine” Sirius mumbles bashfully
“I’m not” Regulus stares at him with a deadpan expression
“Love, we talked about this” James sighs fondly and Remus rolls his eyes at them, too sickeningly in love
“I’m gonna go to Charms” Remus simply walks away and Regulus bite back the retort 'try not to sleep with anyone on your way there' he huffs away in the opposite direction instead and slams the door
“I feel like I’m missing something”
“Me too, are Remus and Regulus fighting?” Sirius frowns after the two of them
“Why do you sound so happy about it?”
“I don’t” he says but his smile only grows
“It’s called jealousy Jamie” they were too distracted to notice Ursa slipping out of the Slytherin common room. She walks past them and they chase after her like puppies.
“Can we talk to you? In private?” She wants to groan with annoyance but people are around them, so instead she puts a friendly smile on her face
“I have class right now, as do all of you, but we can have lunch outside afterwards” two birds, one stone
“Okay.” they agree
"Bye" she kisses their cheeks sweetly and vanishes round the corner
Sirius makes Peter switch seats with him during charms so he can berate Remus with questions on what is going on between him and his baby brother. James takes the time they’re supposed to be practicing aguamenti to write down a list “Rules of what you’re comfortable with” James clarifies after Peter frowns at the Dancing Queen title on the page “so you can be happy, like a Dancing Queen”
“Okay”
“Are you okay with holding hands with her?”
“I guess?” James nods as he scribbles down do’s: holding hands.
“What about hugging?”
“I don’t think she’ll be comfortable with that”
“But you?”
“I don’t really care” he shrugs. They don’t make it much further before Flitwick calls their attention and they’re forced to pay attention.
They lay down on a blanket in front of the lake. Ursa’s lunch is different to what’s served in the great hall, a high protein salad instead of roasted chicken and mashed potatoes “We made a list of what Pete’s comfortable with doing” James waves it in the air as Peter licks his fingers and she holds back a gag, is cutlery too advance for these chimps? She focuses her eyes on the list so she won’t stare at the disgusting pools of grease dropping off his fingers
“You still want to do it?” she frowns at him, pointedly ignoring the oil stain on the corner of his lip, hasn’t he ever heard of a napkin? It’s a true testament to her abilities that she manages to feign empathy despite her disgust for the pig in front of her “What about Marlene?”
“What about her? I told you, it wasn’t a real date”
“But I thought you wanted it to be” she holds his gaze and he folds in admission, lowering his gaze the way she knew he would “of course you do” she smiles at him gently, it’s easier to fake caring if she pictures him as an actual pig in front of her “It’s okay”
“Who cares what he wants? He’s supposed to be dating you”
“It’s fine Siri, I’ll figure something else out, he should ask her out” it won’t last anyways she keeps that last bit to herself. Their idiocy truly makes manipulating them far too easy, even Dorcas would be able to tell Marlene isn’t into Peter but swinging a whole different direction if she wasn’t strayed by Ursa’s caprice every so often to believe it’s just her wishful thinking. Her insufferableness has been Marlene-centric ever since she saw her in the train and sometimes it’s a tad too tempting and Ursa can’t not mess with her, one minute convincing her they’re soulmates and convincing her it’s unrequited in the next breath. Dorcas is stubborn, and Ursa never really tries to truly disway her of her crush, so she never settles in the not-a-chance territory, Ursa isn’t a monster after all, just enough to ruffle her feathers and make her sweat a bit
“Do I need to remind you what will happen if you don’t—” her brother reminds her like they were too stupid to figure that part out for themselves until he said it in plain, simpleton words. She might’ve used too big words for him if they made him think she didn’t know what’s at stake.
“I can handle that. I’ll come up with a different solution. I’ll romance someone else or something, not your problem, just let your friend take a chance at being happy and disgustingly in love for once”
“We’re supposed to believe you care about him being happy and love?”
“No. But I’m trying to be someone who cares, okay?” she admits begrudgingly, she whispers to her hands “I’m trying”
“Okay” Sirius whispers and a smile creeps onto his face. Any hint at caring and Sirius dives in head first. It’s pathetic honestly, so predictable she almost feels guilty for lying. Almost
“Stop it” she glares at him to sell the blatant lie, it’s a puzzle piece falling into place and the smirk is hard to hide
“You love me” he coos at her with a shit-eating grin
“Shut up.” she growls. It’s a good thing she can mask the lack of eye contact behind anger, because she doubts she’d be able to hold back the smug smile threatening to fill her lips if she meets his eye
“She loves you” James chimes with a beam, always the meddlesome butt-head. Ursa gets up with a huff and stalks away the way she knows they expect. With her back to them, she smirks, even with unworthy opponents, there’s still the rush of lying and manipulating. The sorting hat definitely didn’t make a mistake with putting her in Slytherin.
“Okay, there she is,” James nods to Marlene. She's reading a book in a lonely corner of the extensive gardens with her feet tucked under her on the grass “you’ve got this” James pats Peter on the back and off he goes. But he isn’t moving, why isn’t he moving? He's telling himself to go but he’s still firmly planted to the ground. James nudges him towards Marlene and his limbs remember how to function.
“Is this seat taken?” his voice comes out wobbly and small, but Marlene looks up from her book and nods for him to sit, nice enough not to mention that it’s not really a seat. James nods to him from the corner in encouragement and Peter flaps his hand for him to go away “I was wondering…” Marlene peers up from her book and his cheeks burn “Nevermind” she goes back to her book and he nestles down into his defeat.
A paper smacks him on the back of the head. It’s a fancy handwriting he’s convinced belongs to Sirius until he reads it: worst case scenario she says no and you date the hottest girl in school. Ask her Ursa winks at him as she crosses the gardens and disappears back into the castle. He takes a deep breath and on the exhale lets out “wouldyoumaybeliketogooutwithme?”
“What?” Marlene looks up with a frown “I didn’t catch that, what did you say?” he reminds himself to breathe and if she rejects him at least this time she won’t pity him because she’ll think he’s dating Ursa. Psychotic, scary Ursa. He sighs, what does he have to lose? This is his one chance not to date a future deranged criminal
“Do you want to go out with me? On a date” he clarifies and her eyes go wide.
“Peter, I…” her eyes dart to the ground and the corners of her lips turn down, he knows her answer before she says it “I really like you but—”
“Not like that?”
“I’m sorry” she whispers and he knows she means it
“Don’t be, it’s okay. I get it”
“It’s not you” she assures him and his pride doesn’t smother him, he knows at least no one in the school will think that once they believe he charmed Ursa Black
“Can we still be friends? I’m sorry if I made it weird, I like spending time with you”
“I'd like that a lot” she smiles at him
“So, what are you reading?”
“Care of Magical Creatures, did you read the chapter on Glumbumbles already?”
“Yes. I don’t think I’ve ever spent this much time in the library, there’s only so many places you can go hide when James and Regulus kick us out of the dorm, it makes Sirius insufferable to listen to and Remus is always on his way to the library” they fall into easy chatter about Glumbumbles and school until the sun kisses the horizon behind them
“Can I tell you something I’ve never told anyone?” she whispers and he nods “Promise you won’t tell a soul?”
“Promise”
“I don’t think I like boys” she closes her eyes, reading herself for the strike, the judgment.
It never comes. Instead she gets a shrugged “me neither” she turns to him and snorts “I mean, I’m not opposed to giving it a try. My best friend is Sirius Orion Black, do you really not expect me to at least be curious?"
"He's very pretty, isn't he?" she chuckles and he feels his chest warm inside with pride
"He knows it too"
When he gets back to his room Peter scribbles down on the other side of the paper looks like I’ll be dating the hottest chick in Hogwarts he sends it flying to find Ursa.
The answer comes back during dinner in the great hall: lucky you. She doesn’t know what she’s missing
He’s smiling at the paper when Sirius reaches over the table because he’s a stranger to subtlety, he's pointing at the Slytherin table “Look, he’s staring at Reg again” Sirius hisses at them. Peter follows his gaze to find it glued on Snape
“Why is Snape staring at your brother?”
“I don’t know” his teeth grind together “But i’ll make sure he stops” his anger freezes into a pause and he glances hesitantly at Remus, "not like that" he gives him a tiny nod and the anger seeps back in like a flood
“Though maybe lets not let him know it’s us” Peter suggests.
“Then maybe we should probably stop staring at him” apparently subtlety isn’t any of their specialty. They all pointedly turn around and away from them.
Their following meeting to discuss the Dancing Queen list occurs on the same spot the last one did. This time it’s just the three of them, James, Peter and Ursa, the rest are in class. James tries to direct it but she just snatches the list off his hands “Are you gonna try out for the Quidditch team?”
“Yeah”
“And he’s totally gonna make it! We’ve been trying what Reg suggested, about him playing as keeper and he’s brilliant at it!”
“When are tryouts?”
“Next week”
“Okay. If you make it into the team, kiss me”
“What?”
“In front of everyone?”
“Obviously”
“On the bright side, tryouts won’t be what I’m nervous about?” he sweats and James chuckles
“It’ll be great” James swings an arm around him and Ursa dodges his other arm in the same swift move she stands up and stalks away
When try outs happen, Ursa’s right there in the stands like she said she would. She cheers with a big beam on her face that to everyone who doesn’t know better, looks entirely sincere. Peter is honestly on fire. He doesn’t let a quaffle past him except for one from James he’s still beating himself up for, even if James insists he played brilliantly, when Frank calls his name “I know, I should’ve leaned further onto my left” he huffs
“No. Peter, I meant you’re on the team” he chuckles
“I am?” his jaw drops and only then does he realize he never really expected to make it, failing has grown to be his default setting to a point that it’s what he’s come to expect.
“Pete!” James jumps onto him in a suffocating hug and Sirius tumbles them to the ground in an embrace.
His chest soars with pride and it’s in Sirius’ smile and his new found confidence that he finds the power to strut over to the stands and pull Ursa into a kiss like she told him to.
For a moment it’s easy to pretend she’s just a beautiful girl who’s genuinely happy and excited for him, a celebratory kiss. But that’s not what’s happening. When he kisses her he can’t ignore it. Instead of a nice girl it’s Ursa in his arms glistening all her shimmering sharp edges of insincerity. It makes him squirm in his flesh with discomfort.
“Well there’s something I didn’t see coming” Frank’s eyes widen
“Told you you’d make it” she bops his nose with a silly little giggle that sounds so much like a regular teenage girl that it irks him with the reminder that the girl in his arm isn’t and he wants more than anything to rip his hands off her, but he keeps them there anyways and tries to ignore the feeling and focus on the fact that he just made the team
“Go Peter” Fabian bumps fists with Gideon without looking up
“Talk about keeping it in the family” Mary chimes and holds her palms up when Lily glares at her reproachfully “Sirius is the one who’s always calling them his family. He’s called James his brother more than once”
“Please kill me” Sirius whimpers and James pats his back but Sirius scoots away “Brother-profanator”
“Speaking of defiling me,” Regulus rises from his seat and hooks his finger on the neck of his Quidditch shirt “you looked good up there”
He speaks with his usual stoic expression but the dilation in his eyes makes James’ knees weak and his throat dry “Yeah?” he asks and Regulus nods
"I like your broom" he whispers so only James can hear. His mouth is dry and he's desperate to get on with that defiling he likes so much
“Can we get back to the team?!” Marlene smacks them back to the matter at hand impatiently
“Right, sorry” Frank picks his notepad again
“You’re not part of the team. You’re not even Gryffindor. You shouldn’t even be watching” Sirius shoos his siblings away
“But I want to see my baby brother make the team” Ursa pouts at him
“I’m older than you” he scowls at her
“But you whine just like a baby” Regulus finishes for her. Sirius lunges at them and she dives behind Peter, Regulus behind James
“Non Gryffindors off the field!” Frank stands between them and shoves Sirius backwards “Don’t make McGonagal regret letting you back in the team”
The second the team is finished being announced Marlene rounds on Peter “Since when are you and Ursa a thing?!” she pulls him aside by the arm
“I don’t know” he shrugs, Ursa instructed him extremely clearly to play a clueless idiot because apparently that would seem less suspicious. She hid it behind fancy words and flattery but, contrary to what she believes, he isn’t a total idiot “you said no, she said yes”
“Did you know she was an option before you asked me?”
“Kind of? Does that make me sound like an arsehole?”
“Who cares about that? Someone preferred me over dating Ursa! That’s like the greatest compliment I’ve ever gotten, have you seen what she looks like? And she’s nice and funny” Peter snorts, nice is definitely not an adjective he’d ever use to describe her. He wouldn’t use it to describe any of the Blacks really, it’s with love that he can admit even Sirius is an arsehole.
“Wait, do you have a crush on her?” he turns to her with a frown
“I don’t think I’d go as far as to call it a crush…” her cheeks burn a bright crimson and he chuckles “but, I mean… the thought did cross my mind, I’ve thought about it”
“Can’t say I blame you” he hums with a glance to her scuttering away from a sweaty Sirius who seems to be wanting a hug. Her giggles reach their eyes and he’s struck by the harsh contrast of not long ago when there were no people around for her to put on a show “she looks like a dream” but she’s a nightmare.
“There were a few times when I thought maybe…” Marlene cuts herself off with a shake of her head
“You thought maybe…”
“I thought she might be into me” she admits bashfully, scratching the back of her head
“Maybe she was” Marlene smiles at him and he grins softly back.
Sirius and Ursa’s quaffle leads them over to him and Marlene and Ursa hops onto his back begging for protection, another actor on her show. It turns his stomach and he doesn’t feel real.
On the plus side, he has a clear opening to torture Ursa and get away with it. Too tempting of an offer to pass on. That makes him sound like a horrible person. Not real torture, just some mild discomfort for the sake of realistic acting. He flashes Sirius a smile that’s all teeth and sets off to tickle Ursa who calls for Marlene’s aid
“Save me!” she cries
“Don’t drag me into this” she chuckles and Ursa flips her off in her attempt to flee but Peter catches her by the waist and tickles her to the ground. It’s in this thrusting that a loose limb hits him where it hurts, where the sun don’t shine, where the marbles hang, where the bits hide. She flashes him a smirk hidden from all eyes but his own as he crumbles to the ground bent over in pain, so he’ll know it was on purpose. She swallows down her smug satisfaction and displays worry and regret instead for Marlene to witness and she’s a terrific actor, if Peter didn’t know better he’d believe her too
“I’m so sorry” she doubles over him with a gentle hand on his arm. He glares at her and Sirius nudges him with his foot, a silent plea not to be the reason he loses his sister. Right, no pressure there.
“I’m fine.” he assures them with clenched teeth “It was just an accident” his eyes narrow on Ursa and he wants to cause her pain. He’s never wanted to hurt anyone before. Okay. Maybe Snape a couple of times. Sirius parents’. Remus’ father. Maybe the list is longer than he expected. A bit too long for his liking. It’s not like he wants to actually hurt Ursa. Just prank her, or pinch her. it’s an impulse he should probably refrain from. Maybe he’s not as good of a person as he thought he was. He’s surprised by how little he cares about this. He knows how to cause Ursa discomfort and he wants it “It’s okay, hug it better?” he pouts at her and with hatred in her stormy eyes she delves into his open arms. Check, bitch he thinks as he rocks her back and forth in a smothering embrace. This, unlike their kiss, isn't uncomfortable, it's exhilarating and the grin on his face as he nestles his face into the crook of her neck sniffing loudly like a bloody hound may not be sweet nor loving, but it sure as heck is real.
She meets his eyes with a challenge, they drift to Sirius who’s standing just a few steps away from them in the open field, not a single obstacle in between them. Her gaze lands back on Peter with an evil little glint in them and she smirks at him. She fists his shirt and pulls him in for a bitter, dizzying, open mouthed kiss. Their teeth clatter together with a painful sound but neither of them relents, neither of them waves the white flag. His heart hammers in his chest and his mind fights for a way to win. He parts his lips and delves his tongue inside hers, licking at her mouth. Winning never felt so sweet and exhilarating.
“Okay, I think that’s enough” Sirius' voice calls from somewhere around them, but the thrill of winning roars too loud in Peter’s ears for him to care.
Then, he feels her smirk against his mouth and his heart beats in his ears dreading her strike. She pulls him against her without breaking the kiss that has grown into a battle of tongues with sizzling vengeful teeth. She pulls him towards her, his knees delve into the soggy, muddy grass, he straddles her between his thighs.
A hand coils around his collar and yanks him back. Sirius dumps his arse on the cold, wet grass “You’re done here” Sirius glares at him, shooting daggers at him with his eyes. Ursa smirks at Peter with the victory she stole from him. His eyes narrow on her, adrenaline still pumping in his veins from the afterglow of their battle, their game, because that’s what it is, he’d been playing Ursa’s game. His mind readies for another round, his brain already relishing on how to beat her, when his eyes land on Sirius’ frown and hard eyes set on him. He’s in trouble. Sirius is gone and Peter sighs. That’s great, Sirius is going to be a delight.
Sirius is a broody motherfucker, just as he expected. The arse ignores Peter like all of this is his fault. Like he had any say in any of it. He ignores him all throughout dinner and when they’re ready for bed he doesn’t say a word. Instead a heavy, uncomfortable fog settles over their dorm. Sirius’ moods have always been all-encompassing. It doesn’t help that James keeps rotating his worried looks around. Remus and Regulus still haven’t talked. Remus is determined to ignore that anything is happening, and everyone in the room knows it’s only a matter of time before he snaps at Regulus if he keeps his petty act up.
Peter sighs and settles for a restless week for what is sure to be a long week ahead.