Anxiety is me, I am Anxiety.
Peter was so embarrassed.
How could they do this to him? He’d been nothing but kind and loyal to them, and here they are, basically hoping he’ll have a panic attack. They were conspiring against him, the whole lot of them. There was no other explanation to their behaviour. He looked around the table, trying to find Clint or Sam.
He met Clints mirthful eyes, and could already tell that the fourth year Hufflepuff was having the time of his life. He mouthed for him to come over and sit with him. Clint rolled his eyes, but stood up and started walking over to him.
As soon as he sat down beside him, Peter gently tugged at Clints sleeve, beckoning him to lean closer to him. “Please help me, they’re staring. I don’t- I don’t like it”, he whispered in Clints ear. Clint looked at him with pity, took his hand, and nodded.
“‘Course I’ll help you Pete, I know how… these types of situations can make you feel”, he said, giving him a gentle smile. “Thank you”, he whispered back. Clint merely kissed his forehead, telling him to calm down. He then looked across the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor table, looking for Tony at the Slytherin table. Once their eyes met, Clint shook his head at Tony, and made a motion with his free hand, clearly signaling for the worrisome fourth year Slytherin to sit down.
If you didn’t know Tony, you would simply think that he just sat down, and continued talking to the rest of his friend. But Peter knew his brother, so he saw the way Tony's shoulders slumped with relief no doubt, and how he tapped the table with his fingers.
Tony had always been very protective of his little brother, so Peter wasn’t too surprised.
Slowly but surely, the rest of the room turned their attention from him, starting up conversations once more. Peter sighed in relief, and laid his head on Clints shoulder. Clint squeezed his hand, and started talking to one of the third years sitting beside him.
That’s when Peter realised that one of the other first years, Hannah Abbott, was looking at him with a look of… loathing? Why would she be looking at him like that?
“Sorry to disturb you, but uh… do you know each other?”, the girl sitting beside Peter, the one he had accidentally hit in the face, Megan Jones, asked him. He looked over at her, and tilted his head to the side. Or, well, as much as he could anyways. “Who?”, he asked.
“The girl over there. She’s been looking at you ever since your friend sat beside you”, she said, and discreetly pointed to Abbott. “Oh. Uh, no, I don’t know her. Do you know why she would be looking at me?”, he asked. “No, not really. I’m sort of new to this whole Magic thing. Maybe she knows one of your relatives or something? I heard that there were some big magical families in the wizarding world. Purebloods, I think they were called”, she answered.
“Yeah, maybe. Although I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone with her last name before”, he said, confused. “Well, maybe you should talk to her?”, Megan said. He shrugged, but looked back at Abbott either way. And just like Megan had said, she was staring at him.
“Uh, hi. My name is Pete-”, he started, but was quickly cut off. “Peter Benjamin Stark. Yeah, I know. My father has told me about you and your family, and the people you socialize with”, she said, disdain clearly in her voice. His eyes widened, not know what he did to cause such a reaction. He gaped at her, not knowing what to say.
“Hannah! Don’t be rude! I’m so sorry for her behaviour. Don’t take it to heart. She’s just mad that Howard Stark, your father, didn’t hire her father as one of his engineers. Petty, I know”, said a girl sitting beside her. Susan Bones. She shrugged at him, as if saying ‘what can you do about it?’.
“It’s fine. I know of the reputation my father has. It’s not the… best”, he finished, lamely. While he might act like he was fine, Clint could clearly tell that he was not. Clint let go of his hand, and instead decided to put his arm around his much smaller frame and squeezed him so tight he was afraid we would stop breathing. He in turn put his nose against Clint's neck, and breathed in his comforting sent. He’d grown up with Clint being constantly around, and he was feeling much better with him around.
That’s when Sam plopped down right across from him, now sitting right beside Abbott. “Hey there, nerd. How’s it going over here? Hope I’m not disturbing”, he beamed at them. Clint snorted at him, fully well knowing that was exactly what he was hoping to do.
“Who are you calling nerd, you lo-”, before he could continue, however, Professor Sprout walked up to their table and started handing out timetables. Then she ushered them out of the halls, telling the first years to follow the prefects.
Peter didn’t pay too much attention, seeing as he was still tired, even after his previous nap. As soon as they entered their dormitories, he sat down on the bed that was just by the window. He loved looking at nature, especially when he woke up in the morning.
He was sharing the dormitory with two other boys. Ernest Macmillan and Justin Finch-Fletchley. He got the formalities done with, he was after all raised to be polite, and quickly excused himself. He then changed into his pajamas, went to bed, closed the curtains, and put up a silencing charm. He then went to sleep, nervous for classes to begin.
He had to meet up with Draco, Blaise, Pansy and Theo tomorrow, so they could all freak out together.