Tragedies Of War - Marauders Era

Peter Pettigrew

The Burrow area

November, 1981

Peter felt sick to his stomach, and not for the first time in the last few months he wondered whether betraying Lily and James really was the right thing to do. You-Know-Who had threatened him with death, but Peter felt as if he'd just died anyway. 

Lily and James - gone. James, who he had known since childhood. James, who had been his neighbour since he was six. James, the life of the Marauders, was dead. And Lily - Peter couldn't even begin to describe Lily. At first, he'd thought she was a bit full of herself - weren't they all at that age? - he didn't see what James saw in her, but James always had a knack for seeing the things nobody else did. Over time, Lily's sympathy for, well, everything around her became abundantly clear. Peter couldn't help but think of the number of times he'd seen Lily next to a sobbing student, of how many times he'd been that sobbing student...

And Sirius - God, Sirius. Sirius, who would die for any one of them. Sirius, who would've laid down his life for Peter if he needed to. And Peter had just - he'd just framed him for his mistake! He'd just hidden in the shadows as aurors dragged Sirius away. And no one would believe Sirius when he said he was innocent, because he was a Black. Sirius had trusted him with Lily and James' lives and Peter had just -

And now Remus was alone. Merlin, Peter didn't even want to think about the guilt that he'd felt when the Order had begun suspecting Remus. When Sirius began suspecting Remus. Even James and Lily, as reluctant as they were... Remus' worst fear was being alone. They all knew that. He cared a lot more than he showed most of the time. Remus loved in his own quiet way. And now he was alone.

For a moment, Peter entertained the idea of going to Remus, just so he wouldn't be alone, but he dismissed the idea pretty quickly. Remus would know, instantly, and he'd hate Peter for it. He'd get Peter sent to Azkaban. But maybe - maybe it would be worth it if Remus had Sirius...?

Peter shook his head. It was too late now. The deed had already been done. You-Know-Who was gone. At least, Peter thought miserably, Lily and James hadn't died in vain.

He scurried along the bland countryside as wormtail, stopping occasionally to listen for predators. He stopped after hours of having nothing else but his guilty conscience to entertain him. A rather odd-looking house towered above him. Peter plopped to the ground and stretched in the sun, exhaustion overcoming him as he fell asleep.

He was awoken as large hands grabbed him.

'Guys!' called out the boy holding him, 'Guys look, I found something!'

'Forgie look!' another voice exclaimed excitedly as two more little boys appeared.

'It's a rat!' the one called Forgie answered, equally as excited. In fact, Peter was wondering if he was still dreaming because the boys reminded him of another set of twins - dead twins - despite being barely over the age of three. 

'Perc-y,' the twins said in unison sweetly, drawing out the last syllable of the name. 'Can we pleeeee-ase keep him?'

'Of course!' the boy called Percy replied matter-of-factly, as though there was some rule about keeping any random rat you found. Peter noticed all three boys had flaming red hair and freckly faces. The boy called Percy looked to be around five.

'Gred, we're getting a pet!' the one called Forgie, exclaimed positively bursting in happiness, and the twins proceeded to dance around Percy chanting; 'Pet! Pet! Pet!' 

'Whatcha doing?' asked another voice, and a boy looking to be around nine appeared.

'Pet! Pet! Pet!' the twins answered joyfully, still prancing around Percy who was holding Peter.

'Cool!' the nine-year-old grinned, 'What're you gonna call it?' Percy hesitated as he gazed down at Peter.

'Ratty?' Forgie suggested.

'Smelly?' Gred advised, waving his hand in front of his nose as though something smelled bad.

'Scabbers!' Percy decided firmly, causing the new boy to laugh and the twins to pull faces. Even Peter couldn't help but snort, that was even worse than wormtail.

'That's a silly name,' The nine-year-old informed them, still laughing.

'No, it's not!' Percy growled defensively, causing his brother to laugh even harder.

'It is,' he insisted.

'Mummm!' Percy whined, running towards the house, 'Mum, Charlie's being mean!' Still laughing Charlie, ran after his brother, who was still holding Peter.

'Wait- Perce! Don't tell mum, it was a joke!' Charlie called after Percy, wiping tears of mirth from his eyes even as he said it.

Peter allowed the Weasleys to adopt him. At least here, the only thing he had to watch out for was the kid's complete lack of mindfulness. He'd be safe from anyone who came looking, and he'd still be able to keep up to date with everything that happened. If Sirius ever escaped -

They were part of the Order, so he'd be able to know about the worst of things before they happened. Maybe things would be alright after all.