Keeper Peter
I keep falling in love
This measuring cup
Is overflowing with the same damn problems
It's the first game of the season: Gryffindor vs Ravenclaw. Mary's arguing with Remus to let her paint his cheek with red and gold glitter. She has Marlene's number on hers. Peter's sisters come over for a bit to get their own cheeks painted with his number. They stay to chat for a bit but leave before the match starts to join their friends. A begrudging Regulus shuffles over to them with Pandora and an overly-excited Dorcas. It'd been Pandora's idea that she try befriending Marlene's friends "you look lovely today ladies"
"What are you reading Lily?" Pandora wonders with a slight tilt of her head
"Oh, it's a muggle book about concrete" Lily blushes, already expecting the same reaction as Mary who pretty much just mocked her for ‘such a fascinating topic’
"I heard it regenerates itself"
"That’s the Roman concrete! It doesn't regenerate itself but it repairs itself when it rains! I think it's insane how—” Pandora listens entranced and Mary shoots them a nasty glance while Dorcas questions her about Marlene.
I keep waiting for luck
To come swallow me up
I feel better when the boys stop calling
Ursa yanks Peter to the side in the locker rooms "what are you doing here?"
"Just wanted to remind you I'm the coolest person you know"
"Okay…?"
"I'm the best person in this school and I don't actually give a fuck about quidditch"
"You are not the best and coolest—"
"Who is then? Lupin? Mary? None of them care about quidditch, they don't care about how you actually play, they're just here to watch people they think are hot bent over with their bums un in the air for a few hours"
"What are you talking about?"
"You won't prove yourself, you won't impress anyone by being good at quidditch. Not anyone that really matters anyways"
"James ca—"
"You've already impressed him, and it would take more than one crappy game to lose it. He may love quidditch, but he loves you even more. You joined the team because you wanted to play, because you like to do it. Don't go out there pretending to achieve something that you can't, you won't, no matter how brilliant you play. Just ignore everyone and have fun. Enjoy yourself"
"Sirius would—"
"Sirius has always been and will always be an idiot asshole. About everything. Don't act like one matters more than the other, it's all the same blob of idiocy"
"You're trying to make me not be nervous, aren't you?"
"I would've tried a different approach for that" She smirks at him and before he can even process what that means James is there
"Ursa Black!" James roars when he spots her and Peter jolts upright "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN HERE?!"
"Ursa?" Sirius frowns at her while the rest of the team cheers, wolf whistles and some jokingly boo the inter-house disloyalty
"Relax Siri, I'm only here to wish you good luck" she kisses his cheek and Sirius furrows his brows at her
"She can't stay away from our keeper, can you Black?" Marlene flashes her a wicked grin
"Can you blame me? Have you seen his ass in those pants?"
“Slytherins aren’t allowed back here” Alice glares at her with a sober tone
"Black, get out, you're distracting my players!" James chides
"Alright, I'm leaving! Good luck" she pecks Peter on the lips and Sirius on the cheek "oh, before I go, you better come find me in the victory party" she winks to Fabian and he turns a deep shade of red and nods
"I didn't know you two were friends"
“Since when are you two friends?”
“Since when are you so obsessed with me?” She frowns at her brother
"You two are friends?"
"No need to be jealous Pettigrew" Fabian smirks at him and it’s Peter’s turn to turn red
"What? I'm not jealous" he isn’t, but there’s no possible way of saying that without sounding jealous
"Sure."
"You're jealous?!" Sirius scowls at him, he kind of looks like Regulus
"I'm not!"
“Aw,” Ursa wraps her arms around his waist and pulls him closer, he wants to shove her touch off him but stands still instead
"Guys!" James snaps their eyes back to attention "focus! We're out in— Shit. right now!" he yanks Peter away from Ursa and hisses for him to get his head in the game. She waves goodbye to them as they let the doors shut behind them. She lets her smile drop the second they do and turns on her heels. None of them lock up their things. Idiots. Unfortunately for her, they’re not very interesting either. She finds what she’s looking for in no time. She stares at the necklace and pulls out her wand with a smug smirk
This girl is a gun
And we've been having some fun
And I could show you if you turn the lights on
Peter realizes Ursa truly didn't care when she's not in the crowd with their friends. He takes a deep breath and kicks off the ground. James gave him his very own pep talk and Sirius offered him an encouraging nudge. Marlene whispered that he's got this. Now, he’s on his own.
He feels clammy and if he doesn't stop sweating then he's gonna fall off. He takes a deep breath and spots Remus with his book on his lap. He's pretty sure he's staring at Sirius' arse. So that's the real reason he came. The real reason he never misses a Gryffindor game. He chuckles to himself and thinks fuck it.
Things don't go half bad after that. He lets a few quaffles past him but doesn't let that deter him in the slightest.
They win by 160 points. Sirius and James prop Peter up on their shoulders and they chant his name.
His face hurts from smiling when everything goes tits up.
It begins with Alice frantically asking them if they’ve seen her necklace, delicate silver thing with a small emerald stone on one side and ruby one on the other “Your sister. Black, your sister was here. She must’ve taken it!”
“Why would she take your necklace?” Marlene asks
“Because she’s a slimy slytherin snake!”
“So is one fourth of the school, don’t really think it’s enough basis to make an accusation”
“Shut up Frank! It was her, I know it was! They’re all the same worthless piece of shit!”
“I’m gonna give you a chance to take that back because you’re clearly upset, but—”
“I won’t” Sirius shoves James out of his way and lunges por her head “Fuck you! I—” James and Marlene hold him back by the waist
“Why don’t we just ask Ursa if she has it?” Peter suggests instead as Sirius squirms in James’ arms
“Shouldn’t you be defending your little girlfriend?!” Alice spits at him
“I’m pretty sure she’d rather defend herself, and I know she’s more than capable of doing so. Probably better than I’d be able to”
Alice stumps away, glaring at him.
When she finally spots Ursa it isn’t anywhere they expect but smiling with Dumbledore of all people. He’s nodding along to whatever she’s saying. So maybe she didn’t miss the game.
“BLACK! URSA!” Ursa’s head whips around, her long black hair flicks around her like on a commercial and she beams at them
“Oh, hi Pet, you did amazing!” she’s on her way to him when Alice intercepts her, they instantly attract curious stares
“I know you took my necklace!”
“What?” she clearly hasn’t got a clue what she’s talking about. Or maybe she does, Peter has to remind himself, she’s a good liar
“My necklace. Silver with a tiny stone that’s red on one side and green on the other!”
Ursa frowns at her like she hasn’t got a clue what she’s talking about and takes a step closer, reaching for her with a willing ear “You mean the one you’re wearing right now, you psycho bitch?” Dorcas chimes loudly. She points to her throat and sure thing, it’s right there
“You must’ve forgotten to take it off before the game” James suggests
“No. I always take it off before games”
“You clearly didn’t. You owe someone an apology!” Sirius cries from where Marlene and James have carried him out restrained. Alice glares at the ground, her jaw clenches
“No, it’s fine, I understand. Someone who's probably very important to you gave you that necklace, didn’t they?” Alice’s eyes snap up to meet Ursa’s gentle smile and she swallows. That’s when Peter knows for certain Alice was right, he doesn’t know how but he knows this was all Ursa Black. She somehow took her necklace and set it back on her neck without touching her.
“No!” Alice growls and Ursa gives her a worried look in return. Frank gently coxes Alice’s breakdown away from prying eyes.
Once the tension diffuses Ursa turns to them and smiles “Alright, I think there’s a party waiting fo— you need a shower first” she wrinkling her nose at their odor and steps away
“Oh, come on! No congratulatory hug?” Peter pouts at her
“No”
“What about your big brother? Don’t you want to congratulate me?” James and Marlene dump him on the ground with a thud and together the four of them fight Ursa into a stinky, sweaty smother
It's a shot in the dark
I'm not a walk in the park
I come loaded with the safety switched off
Ursa makes Peter lend her his only clean shirt in revenge for making her use an ugly, unsanitary quidditch locker room shower “wahrscheinlich mit Fußpilz gefüllt” probably filled with athlete's foot. He celebrates with James until Regulus decides he's waited long enough and drags him upstairs for a quicky. Sirius is flirting with a blushing Remus, Marlene is telling Dorcas Slytherins aren't welcomed in here
"What about Ursa and Reg?"
"It's different, they're dating someone on the team" Marlene roars. Her hands are fists ready to pounce on her and tear her to pieces
"Well then I know how we can solve this problem" Dorcas says smugly and Marlene rises her wand at her
"Get. Out"
"Fisty, I like that in a woman" Marlene sends her out the door with a stinging hex
"What was that?" Peter slides next to her
"What was what?"
"Meadowes flirting with you"
"She's found this new way to torture me: pretend she's suddenly very into me" she throws her arms up in the air in exasperation "do you think she knows?" She adds in a whisper "about me, you think that's why she's doing it?"
"Honestly?" Peter can't hold back the smile that tugs on his lips "I think she just wants to fuck you"
"Shut up" she hisses with a furious red blush
"Holy shit,” his eyes go wide as plateds “do you want to—"
"No! Of course not! She's so not my type!"
"You have a type?"
"Well, no. I mean, not really but—"
I feel lighter in the waistline
With no hands around me
No spit in my teeth
"There you are! The two cuties of the hour!" Ursa calls loudly walking up to them and wraps her arms around his middle, burying her face in his chest and he can’t help feeling self conscious about his shape under her hands. Then he remembers whose hands those are and the sense of self consciousness flies out the window because he knows she cares more about the fact that she’s merely touching him than how that feels. And because he’s an asshole he squeezes her tighter into the meat of his body because he too cares more about the discomfort touch brings her than the insecurity it brings to his body. It’s such a vindictive thrill that in that moment it overpowers his body-complexes. At least until she bites his peck which Sirius has called both boobs and tits before
“Ouch! Don’t do that!” he swats her away and she kisses it better
No, I'm not your daydream
I won't have your baby
Stop 'cause you're killing my vibe
"I'll take that as my cue to leave" Marlene chuckles
"Pretty and smart" she beams at her "I promise to give him back in a bit"
"Keep him!" She yells back as she heads for a grumpy looking Mary
"Hear that? You're all mine" she bops his nose with bright, shining eyes. He still can't figure out how she does that with her eyes, how she unauthentically manages that authentic glitter in them. She stands tall on her tiptoes and leans into his ear to whisper "this is the part where you kiss me" he doesn't need to be told twice.
They end up on the couch and someone wolf whistles beside them. Peter turns a deep shade of red but Ursa simply beams at the whistler and yanks him down onto the couch with them, his limbs join the tangle of legs “Okay, Fabian Gustaff Prewett, you need to tell me everything!”
“Gustaff?”
“Tell me everything. I’m still waiting for you to say thank you by the way”
“Oh, I’m supposed to thank you?”
“Duh” she beams and he chuckles. Peter wonders how he can leave without drawing attention to himself "now spill" on the other hand, listening to gossip doesn’t sound like the worst thing that could happen
"There's no much to say, he stormed into our date and started yelling about how pretty your brother is but he still didn't want to shag him because—" he cuts himself off smiling at the memory
"Because his feet stink?" Peter suggests, he's been quiet for too long and reeling over whether he's being rude or not
"Because he's not his best friend or the one who can make him laugh so hard he stops being pretty" Fabian turns a soft red
"Oh no, please tell me you didn't tell him he never stops being pretty" Ursa gasp horrorized "tell me you did not— you did"
"But it's true" he whines "oh, shut up, who are you to judge me?"
"Excuse you, what is that supposed to mean?"
"It means I've heard the way James talks about your brother and the way your other brother talks about Remus, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree" he nods to Peter
"Not them" Peter snaps before he even realizes he's doing it "sorry, uh, they're not, they're nothing like their parents"
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean—"
"Oh it's fine, he's just being dramatic, he gets a bit overprotective when it comes to my parents"
His voice raises at the thought, she said it the same way she used to call James overprotective for wanting Sirius and Regulus safe "Wanting someone away from torturing psychopaths doesn't make you overprotective!" All of a sudden he remembers the girl on his lap is part of those same torturing psychopaths they longed to get his friend away from "I need some air" he isn't gentle enough about shedding her legs off him.
"Sorry" Fabian tells her and she sighs, resting her head on his shoulder as she mumbles something in his ear but he isn’t listening. All he hears is some half sentence about letting him ‘cool off’ or something. He stumps away even louder and makes a trip to the kitchens for some cookies he devours all while mumbling to himself about that wench. On top of that Snape knocks points off when he spots him making his way back upstairs to the tower, just what he needed, he should’ve turned into his animagus form but he’d refused to stop eating and now Gryffindor had 10 points less.
Oh but God is it fun
When you can have more than one?
So lemme show you how to touch my trigger
"Hey, can we talk?" Ursa nods to the empty spot on the couch and doesn’t get a response. She sits down anyways but turns away, doesn't make eye contact. People are less likely to feel like you’re intruding into their space if you approach them from their side "she gave it to you, didn't she?" Alice sighs.
"Did she tell you?"
"No. But it looked familiar and then when I asked if someone important gave it to you…" in truth she hadn’t been the one to notice it but Regulus, he’d been thorny ever since, part of the reason why she delayed fixing his relationship with Remus like she told Peter she would, plus she’s busy and doesn’t want the rat to think he can go around asking her for favors.
"I freaked out" Alice laughs humorlessly
"I remembered seeing her wear it. She never took it off, I knew it meant something to her, just not what— though a ruby and an emerald? I expected something more subtle from Narcissa"
"You can't tell anyone about it, she's with him now, she chose him and his side, it's a thing of the past, we're not—"
"I miss her." Ursa whispers
"She's— she's a death eater now" Alice says past the lump on her throat
"I still miss her though. And she's still kind"
"She's a death eater"
"Cissa's had it harder than you could ever even imagine. I can't even imagine it, her parents are even worse than mine and trust me, they set the bar pretty high— pretty low? You know what I mean"
"I know. Them and her sisters-" Alice tells her before she looks up at her and meets her eye head on "And you."
"And me" she agrees sadly, holding her glare with gentleness "I don't know how she does it. Sometimes I'd just get so mad at our parents, at the people who were meant to protect us, I collected all that hurt and I took it out on her, on Sirius too, because I knew they wouldn't hurt me, not really, because they're good, they're kind. It never worked by the way. Taking your anger and sorrows out on other people? You only smear it around. You spread it and end up even more drenched in it"
"You did awful things to her"
"And even worse to my brother. I'm not good, I'm not nice, not like her, she was always nice to me, no matter what. I didn’t deserve to get out. Sometimes I think that I abandoned her"
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Because I miss her. And every time I mention her to my brothers, well Sirius thinks it means I want to back to our parents and Regulus— Regulus just goes quiet"
"What if I just get angry? Huh?"
"I think you get angry because you can't talk about her, you can't understand her" she says and Alice turns her head away with tears rolling down her cheeks
"She taught me how to make my heels less painful." She says softly after a while "we were at a ministry party our parents dragged us to and I pounded my heels against the counter in the bathroom because they were so bloody uncomfortable. That's how we met. She came in, chuckled and pulled out her wand, right then and there, didn't care about the law for underage magic or anything, she just wanted to help me. I was instantly infatuated" she lets out a wet chuckle
"She taught me that spell too" she hums, smiling at the memory of her cousin, and Alice breaks down into heavy, ugly sobs
"I miss her" she hiccups "why wasn't I enough for her? Why didn’t she—"
"You were enough for her to dare loving you"
"Not enough for her to choose me! Not enough for her to leave them!"
"I'm glad she didn't," Ursa whispers and she means it "if you knew what it takes to get out, you would too"
"You got out!" Alice shoves her away but Ursa doesn’t seem too bothered by it, just letting her body sway like a wave
"I almost didn't. And I don't want to risk finding out if can or if she'll end up like Bellatrix" the tide pours in and Alice chokes, it shatters something inside of her. She crumbles onto Ursa's ready embrace. Ursa swallows down a gag when she feels her snot meet her shirt, thank God it isn't one of hers but Pettigrew's. Alice sobs and Ursa pats her head. She feels like a bruise but the pain of Ursa’s gentle prodding feels welcomed.
This girl is a gun
Before you know it, it's done
And you'll be wishing that you crossed your fingers
Peter’s best friends are busy with their tongues stuck down their respective boyfriends' throats. He waits for one of them to pull back for air but when an hour becomes two and they don’t seem any more likely to draw apart, he snaps them apart. It earns him a lot of protests and a few smacks but they agree to his urgent marauders meeting about Ursa "are you seriously abandoning me right now?" Regulus huffs to James and then glances to his brother with a bitter laugh "guess I’m siriusly used to it"
"Now love, that's not fa—"
"It's fine James" Sirius waves him off and leans into Remus
"No, it's not fine, you two—"
"I'll see you later James"
"No, wait, you two need to talk about—"
"Not when they're both drunk and tired" Peter tells him, he really isn't in the mood to witness that implosion, he's already got enough on his plate
"Yeah, you're right, we'll talk tomorrow, let me walk you back to the dungeons"
"It's fine James, go with your friends"
"Bu—"
"I said go!"
"Hey, don't talk to him like that!"
"Of course him you defend"
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"It means that when Petty-shit over here starts spewing some shit about Ursa you'll be the first to agree with him!"
"What the hell crawled up your arse tonight?"
"Love, what's going on?"
"Not now James!"
"Sounds more like what didn't crawl up his arse" Peter mumbles, eyeing James, and Regulus storms off with simple instructions not to follow him. He knows he should regret his words but come on, that was funny.
James is about to do the exact opposite from what Regulus told him when Peter pulls him back "you can deal with your boyfriend drama later, we need to talk" so they do. He tells them about her hanging with Dumbledore and how he's sure Alice didn't have the necklace until she walked out to yell at Ursa and how all of a sudden she's good friends with Fabian and how he's pretty certain he saw Alice curled up against her earlier and how the thing those three share in common is that they'll both be fighting for Dumbledore’s army next year when they leave school, the order of the phoenix.
"Yeah, but she wouldn't know that" James points out and Peter gives him a look that says she shouldn't know about Remus' furry little problem either. Or my insecurities. Or my crush on Marlene. Or—honestly, the list is too long to cover.
"So what? You expect her to not make friends at all?! Shouldn't we be happy she's making friends with the right sort? People from our side?" Sirius cries, clearly Regulus' words made a number on him
"But she isn't, Sirius! She's not! She's not on our side and I'm sure she'd be happy to tell you if you ask— she has told you this!"
"Regulus wasn't on our side and now he is, maybe if she makes some friends from our side then—"
"Regulus fell in love with James" Peter calls back with a power and authority he's never talked to Sirius before, but he needs him to understand this before she leaves him thrown on a ditch somewhere, bleeding and— "I don't think your sister's even capable of lov—"
"That's not true!" Sirius roars and Peter takes a step back, he might’ve gone too far
"Pads," James says carefully, gently as Sirius hides his face in Remus' neck "he didn't mean that she doesn't love you. She loves you, in her own way, I've seen it" He definitely went too far
"I'm sorry, of course I didn't mean that. But falling in love with someone requires a vulnerability I don't think she'll ever let herself feel," more than let herself feel, he means is capable of feeling, but that sounds a bit too harsh at the moment "at least not right now"
"You're dating, maybe she can fall in love with you" he whispers from Remus' neck, so soft and shy like a kid. Moony seems to thinks so too because he kisses the top of his head
"Fake dating. We’re not— She's not real. When she's with me she's charming and nice but she isn't— it's an act pads, I'm sorry, she’s never gonna fall in love with me"
"You both seemed to be pretty into 'the act'"
"Until I remember who she is, what she's done to you, what she'll do. Pads, we can't trust her, not with Dumbledore stuff at least, not if we want to win this war" Sirius nods against Remus’ chest, he knows Peter is right but it hurts.
My newest baby's testing me lately
Making me crazy from morning to evening
I cannot take it, I love it, I break it
Need it, leave it
If I believe it's a waste of my
Time is a blessing, with me it's a lesson
And I can't be stressing to give you attention
'Cause oh it's never enough
So I'm giving you up
And you'll be better with a nice girl, darling