Birthday Boy {Peter}
This was ridiculous. Bloody ridiculous. Peter was a marauder, for Godric’s sake! He contributed to the group just as much as any of the others. He had been there before any of the others- befriended James before even Remus had warmed up to the lot. He had been there longer than Lily- she hated them, at first! But there he was, sitting in the common room, all alone. For the thousandth time in the past seven years. He was damn well tired of it. Tired of always being left out, the last to be told of anything, the last to be listened to. He’d done so much for the others. Who came up with their biggest prank in fifth year, the one that made all of the slytherins hiccup pink bubbles? Granted, James had gotten the specifics of it after Peter accidentally hexed himself while taking a bath- but still! Who always got Moony’s Arithmancy notes after a full moon? Or helped Sirius and Prongs with their homework whenever they bunked off to practice quidditch or flirt with girls? That was, until James finally got Lily, and Padfoot and Moony paired off- but they still bunked off to play quidditch and do other things. Whatever those things were, they didn’t invite him. Hell, he’d been the one to come up with the idea to tell everyone they were taking a vow of silence in protest of that old prank store in Hogsmeade closing down, when they had to hold mandrake leaves in their mouths for a month while becoming animagi. That had worked right well, they’d even gotten the store to stay open thanks to intervention from Dumbledore, who surely knew what they were really doing and said nothing.
So, overall, it was safe to say that Peter was indignant to be left alone while everyone else did more important things together. More than indignant. Outraged! That lot had never treated him right- not since the beginning, when Prongs and Padfoot became best friends, and Padfoot decided that Peter was beneath him, and Moony was just too smart for Peter to keep up. They’d always made it clear that they were better than him, better without him, and he’s put up with it all these years! Why? He’d thrown his bloody life away, for a bunch of people who didn’t give two bollocks about him. He could have made other friends. There were plenty of slytherins who liked him just fine, even if he was a marauder, just for his pureblood status. And plenty of other people who liked him just for being him. He was nice, damn it. Even if he wasn’t the cleverest, or most charismatic, he was still perfectly fun to be around. He did pranks too, he flirted with girls too. He was a marauder too. And now, like every other marauder beside him had done a thousand times over, he was putting his foot down. This was just too much. They had all left him high and dry, without a word- on his birthday .
They’d been ignoring him and leaving him out for months now, always whispering, glancing around, never letting him in on whatever big prank they were clearly planning. He bet they forgot about his birthday altogether.
He was going to find them, and he would damn well give them a piece of his mind. Only, he had no idea where they were. And they had taken the map with them. Smugly, Peter pulled out his wand, waving it a bit too aggressively.
“Accio marauder’s map.”
That would show them- having their precious little map taken from them. He’d done a lot to contribute to that, too. Found plenty of nooks and crannies and secret passages to add in his animagus form, because he could get away with it, unlike the others. They needed him. Where would they be without him?
Peter stood for a few minutes, stewing, waiting for the map to arrive before it hit him. They had put anti-summoning charms on the damn map, after Snape tried to take it from Sirius one year and ended up with a broken nose. Padfoot ended up with two weeks’ detention. As if that ever did anything, Peter scoffed to himself. That lot got detention all the time. So did he, but that was beside the point. They were far too aggressive for his taste. Though he didn’t have abundant wit, he found that most problems could simply be solved with a bit of wit, and charisma if there was any to spare. Prongs and Padfoot (and Moony, though he rarely got caught- Sirius always took the fall for him) often resorted to some sort of violence or hexes rather than talking things out, as they should. They were purebloods, for Godric’s sake, they should know better.
No calmer than he had been when he decided to go after the others, Peter swung open the door to their room with force, stalking down to the common room. He was not to be trifled with. He would show those tossers- all of them, even stupid Lily and her muddy little friends. Peter could practically feel the steps shake with his anger and he trod down, and he entered the common room in a fury. No one would mess with him ever again! Not after this! He might even hex the first person he saw, just to make sure everyone stayed out of his way.
Raising his wand, Peter stepped into the common room, and--
“Surprise!”
Pettigrew’s rage fell away instantly, and he nearly dropped his wand from the shock. There they were- all of his friends. The gryffindor common room was nearly full to bursting. He even thought he saw some slytherins he played chess with, in the back, and some hufflepuffs and ravenclaws from his classes as well, and nearly every gryffindor student above fifth year. Some younger ones had managed to sneak in, as well. Mary MacDonald and Marlene McKinnon were there, off to the side, beaming at him. And there, front and center, were his best friends. James, Sirius, and Remus. Lily was there, too, which he didn’t quite mind in that moment. All bore gifts of sweets and drinks, chocolate and tarts and bottles of firewhiskey. He stood in stunned silence as they all began a very loud, very out of sync rendition of “happy birthday”, ending with raucous applause as they presented him with a messy cake. Prongs had baked it, he could tell the moment he saw it. James was never one for baking. Realising that he had been standing in complete silence the whole time, Peter let his face split into a grin, and blew out the candles that were nearly falling out of the cake. This was met with another round of applause, and most people’s attention turned away from him for the festivities. James stepped around and clapped him hard on the back, beaming wide.
“Happy birthday, Wormy! Took you proper long to get down here, we began to think you’d never come down those stairs. Good think Lil enchanted the candles not to melt, eh?”
Peter, who hadn’t quite recovered yet from the emotional shift, only nodded. Sirius took this as a queue to mean that, surely, Peter wanted the drinks to get pouring. He summoned some shot glasses and began distributing firewhiskey, while Lily gave Peter one of the warmest hugs he’d received in what felt like a long time.
“Happy birthday, Peter!”
When she let go, Remus nodded at him as well.
“Happy birthday.”
Other partygoers had begun taking it upon themselves to distribute cake and drinks, and Marlene and Mary joined the lot, each hugging Peter and wishing him a happy birthday as they took their drinks from Sirius. Peter downed his shot with a dopey grin, looking around at the decorated common room. Everything was red and gold, as was the usual business- it was gryffindor common room, after all. But there were streamers and lights and little quidditch and chess themed decorations everywhere- cheese decorations, too, which he assumed the other marauders had managed to play off as an inside joke.
“Alright, Wormtail?”
Peter turned his attention to James, and Sirius and Remus, who were all looking at him a bit curiously. Apprehension, he realized.
“Yeah, I love it!” he said quickly, “Bloody hell, I thought you lot had forgotten! I was coming down here to give you all a piece of my mind.”
He laughed the idea off, but when the others laughed, it left a bitter taste in his mouth that wasn’t from the whiskey. How ridiculous they must have thought that was. Little Wormy, standing up for himself.
“We’d never forget you, Wormtail. You’re a marauder! Before anyone else. You’re our best friend, of course we wouldn’t forget your bloody birthday.”
Remus nodded vigorously, already a bit red in the face. He’d probably not waited for the party to start before he started drinking. Sirius, again, took everything as a sign to pour another round of shots, and they all downed them with varying levels of experience.
“Hell,” Prongs said suddenly, “and how could we have forgotten your seventeenth birthday? You’re of age, now, Wormy, my boy. Finally caught up to us! Have to have a proper celebration, for that.”
Sirius went to pour another round, but Moony elbowed him.
“Enough of the booze, right now, eh?”
“Never.” Sirius smirked at Remus, who stared right back with a false scowl, and Peter could practically see them making out with their eyes. Ugh. He was glad for the crowd at least- kept the dogs at bay. Always all over each other in the dorm. Not that Lily and James were any better, and unlike Pad and Moony, they had no reason to hide it.
Peter’s attention was drawn to Lily, who pulled out a little red box. She must have been keeping it for the others, they knew she was far more organized and less likely to lose it to any of them. She handed it to James, who was next to her, and he held it out to Peter.
“From all of us,” he said, “the marauders, plus Lily and Mary and Marlene.”
Peter took the box carefully, and cast grateful looks around at the lot. Bloody hell. He felt proper bad, now. Here he was thinking they were the worst friends in the world, and they had forgotten him, when it was actually the opposite. They all cared and loved him so much. He was coming of age, and by the size of the box… surely they hadn’t? His parents must have a pocket watch just waiting to be sent by owl, some family heirloom. But a new one, right from his friends… No. His parents would never allow it, he'd have to keep whichever one was in the family. It would be awful having to return the watch to his friends.
Slowly, Peter cracked open the box, nerves doubling with each passing second. The moment it was open, before he even looked, he smelled it. It couldn’t be-
“Cheese?! You got me bloody cheese?!”
Peter stared down into the box, aghast, and everyone around him seemed to have a good laugh about it. His best friends had gotten him cheese for his coming of age. What absolute rubbish.
“Don’t be shy, Wormtail, take a little bite!” Sirius wheezed it out between laughs, and Peter shot him a deadly glare. Fine. That’s what they always wanted, after all. Make a fool of him. Make him the butt of the joke.
Picking up the slab of cheese- camembert, it must be, from the smell, and he was at least grateful that it was a good cheese- he took a small bite. Instantly, he felt magic rush through him, and everything heightened and felt absolutely wonderful.
“Well?” Remus asked, being the first to have stopped laughing.
“What was that? What’s in this?” He almost took another bite, but something stopped him, telling him to save it.
“Felix felicis,” Moony said, grinning, though from booze or happiness for his friend Peter didn’t know, “we managed to make it into the cheese. Was proper shit to get it working, and took hell to brew the potion- six months going, you can thank Lily for keeping us from mucking it up- but we just managed to get it right in time.”
“We figured your parents would get you a pocket watch,” James stepped in, “so we thought we’d get you something a bit more useful. And fun. Use it how you like, but probably don’t waste any more tonight.”
“We got some cheese filled with firewhiskey, too, and some with muggle booze, while we were practicing. You can have those as well. Or what’s left of them, at least.” Sirius grinned at him.
“D’you like it?” James seemed a bit concerned now, by Peter’s silence, which he must have taken as something being wrong. Peter turned the cheese around in his hand, staring down at it, before looking up at the group. They all watched him, nervous now.
His face split into a grin.
“I love you lot.”
He threw his arms around the three boys and pulled them in for a big hug, even dragging Lily in as well, which of course resulted in Mary and Marlene inviting themselves into the hug. Peter didn’t mind. He hugged all of them, and they all laughed and hugged back, and all of Peter’s rage from before completely left his mind.
Of course these people were his friends. Of course they loved him, and cared about him. They were marauders, for Godrick’s sake. They were all his best friends. They would never let him down. And in that moment, he swore to himself, that he would watch his anger, that he would communicate the same way he wished they would.
He swore that he would never let them down.