Sorry for taking so long (I keep saying this every time, but I AM truly sorry). Hope this chapetr meets your liking. I admit I have not read any of the comments from your guys yet, I will answer them (if needed) next chapter

Expecto Disclaimus - I don't own any of the characters, I'm not JK

Chapter 8 – A Rat, a Stool Pigeon and a Lion walk into a bar

Another week passed for Peter, a week of lessons, of sly trading of a copy of someone's notes on one subject for another person's notes on another subject, of studying in the library with Severus, Lily, Mary and Remus, another week of life in Hogwarts.

But it felt weird, unnatural. No matter how different this life was from his previous one, the fact that James and Sirius were not around to crack jokes with, to talk to, was disconcerting. Peter may have spent many years away from them and on the wrong side of the War, but his memories of Hogwarts, the 'happier days', were always filled with Marauder memories and the stark contrast of that with what he was facing now was saddening him greatly.

Peter had to find a way to get them back as friends. If a couple of weeks of this was already affecting him, there was no way he could continue through seven years of Hogwarts. Peter also wondered if he should at least make an effort to get James and Lily together for Harry's sake, he did owe the boy a lot and ensuring that he didn't have Snape as a father would be a good start at repaying that debt. Peter chuckled at the notion in his mind as he hiked his bag over this shoulder and left the Slytherin dorms and headed to the Great Hall for breakfast.

But once he exited the Common Room, he smelt something was off. There was a scent of a cloying perfume pervading the corridors leading to the Hall, something most people wouldn't catch easily, at least not without being an animagus. Peter steeled himself for trouble as he matched the scent in his mind. Lucius Malfoy's cologne.

Peter frantically looked around for a place to hide, but it was too late, Malfoy, Goyle and Crabbe walked out from around the corner and the evil grin on Lucius' face spelt trouble. Peter glupped hard. Even with the skill and spell repertoire of a thirty-something, Peter was still frightened of a fifteen-year old Lucius Malfoy staring him down like he was excrement on the bottom oh his shoe.

"Pettigrew, just the little boy I was looking for. It's time for a lesson in paying proper respects to your betters. And this time you have nowhere to hide or run off too. Expelliarmus!" Lucius Malfoy cast the disarming charm straight at Peter and hit him right in the chest.

Peter did not have his wand out yet, expecting more of a verbal insult tossing session than an all-out fight and was too slow to avoid the red bolt of magical energy flying his way. The spell not only caused his wand to fly out of his pocket and towards Lucius but also tossed him back against the corridor wall hard.

Peter groaned on the floor as Malfoy signaled with his hand for Crabbe and Goyle to pick him up and restrain him. The two silent bodyguards did as they were instructed and dragged him in front of Lucius, each holding on to one of Peter's arms to ensure he couldn't fight back "You are nothing, Pettigrew. The power my family wields will ensure that you will be crushed like a roach at my feet if you persist in opposing me. Now, let me hear you say that you acknowledge me as your better and promise not to continue in your meaningless campaign to demean me." Lucius spit into Peter's face.

Peter flinched as the spittle hit him squarely between the eyes. Meaningless campaign to demean him? All I did was to stand up to him, and then only twice. Once in the train and once after the Welcome feast. Is Malfoy's ego that bruised that he needs to physically bully me over those two incidents? Peter thought to himself. Probably began to see his own status and position within Slytherin start to drop after being stood up to by a little firstie and is taking it out on me. No one stood up to him in my previous life and he became so full of himself due to his sense of invulnerability and taught the same behaviour to his son. So wonder Draco was such a git.

Peter tried his best to stare back into Lucius' eyes despite his award position Goyle and Crabbe were holding him in. "I am n..not trying to d..d..demean you, M…malfoy. I am t..trying to say the truth. I mean, confronting your opponent f…face-on along the corridors? That sounds more like what a Gryf..f..findor would do. Slytherin is the house of the cunning and this was the plan you came up with? Th…three on one odds? Are you actually sc..scared of me that you need to bring your bodyguards along?"

"Yes, I am n,.n..othing beneath the p..political weight of the M..Malfoy name, a first year brat against a fif..fifth-year prefect. Do what you want from your high and mighty loft to those you see as beneath you, but one day, the rat you swoop down to attack will t…turn out to be a l…li..lion that will tear you to p…pieces" Peter spluttered.

Lucius' pale face slowly turned beet red in anger and ordered with a hoarse shout of rage "Beat him up, you fools!" Crabbe and Goyle slammed their huge fists into Peter's guts as Lucius ranted on "No one. NO ONE dares to talk to me like that, what makes you think you can spew such trash in my face. I'm going to make sure you know who your betters are!"

Peter screamed out in pain and curled up on the ground once Crabbe and Goyle let go of him in order to use both their hands to pummel him. Memories of being beaten up and undergoing the Crucio for failing tasks for Voldermort filled Peter's mind and he uncontrollably started to whimper and shake between hits.

Through the mist of pain and memories, Peter heard a voice shout "Someone's coming, quick, scatter!" and the beating stopped, but Peter's body couldn't stop shivering and convulsing as the memories of Voldermort's Crucios dominated his mind.

Sounds of running echoed through the corridors, getting progressively further away. Peter's vision began to blur away as the hurt rippled through his body.

Silence. Darkness started to fill Peter's vision and he could no longer feel his arms and nose. As Peter choked on the blood in his mouth, he took a deep breath and caught a whiff of blood and something else A smell of… radishes?

Then a voice, female, caught his attention. "Levicorpus, I'm going to get you to the infirmary, don't struggle." Peter tried to turn to the voice but a sharp pain around his neck stopped him. He felt himself float up as he gave in to the increasing pain and darkness.

Peter awoke to find himself in the Hospital Wing in a bed. His chest and abdomen ached and his arms were in slings. Looking around, he saw his wand on the side table and that his neck no longer hurt.

Had he been here long? What time was it? What day was it? All he could remember was the attack and some lady chasing Malfoy away. At least nothing permanent happened to him. Peter would never think that a fifteen year old Malfoy would actually resort to violence, actually beat up a firstie. Was this was the Snake Den was truly like? It really appeared to be like a Death Eater training camp, and Peter would know given he had been a card-carrying member. Though the things he said to Lucius and to anyone in hearing range was a bit too Gryffindor-ly espoused, Peter still could not understand why Malfoy would do such a thing.

A sudden coughing fit by Peter got Madame Pomfrey's attention. "Ah… you're awake, I see." she muttered as she ran multiple diagnostic spells over Peter. "You appear to be recovering well. The Headmaster and your Head of house wants to talk to you about what happened, if that's all right, dear? You feel up to it?"

Peter nodded slowly, unsure of what to tell them as of yet.

Headmaster Dumbledore and Professor Slughorn arrived via Floo after a short call from Madame Pomfrey and sat beside Peter's bed. "Tell me, Mr Pettigrew, what happened yesterday morning that resulted in your extensive injuries and can you inform me as who was involved in the attack?" Dumbledore asked in a rather serious tone. "It's ok, boy, we'll get those that did this to you" Slughorn added, patting Peter on his leg.

Peter looked at Slughorn, then at Dumbledore. "I..I don't know what happened, Sir. I was heading out of the Common Room to head to class when I was attacked from the back, I did not see who did it, just that there was definitely more than one based on how I was held and beaten. I'm sorry I cannot be of any help." Peter decided to just lie and not create any major incident. No sense getting Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle kicked out of school and into Voldermort's arms and besides, Peter would not break House solidarity, even if Malfoy had.

Dumbledore's narrowed his eyes at Peter, clearly not believing what he had said. Peter, remembering that Dumbledore was quite a powerful Legilimens, turned immediately to face Slughorn. Peter's previous life, if even the Hat could not see it, should be protected from Legilimency by the magic that brought him here, but his current life's memories, he wasn't too sure and he wasn't going to risk it. "M..maybe if you asked whoever saved me?" Peter stammered out in faked fear.

"She didn't see anything either, my boy" Slughorn said disappointly as he popped a crystallised pineapple into his mouth, not noticing the Headmaster's mild irritation of not being able to initiate legilimency on Peter. "If you remember anything, anything that can help, come find me. I promise you that I will act on it."

"Yes, sir. Thank you sir." Peter replied meekly and stared at the foot of his bed.

Dumbledore sighed audibly and got up to leave. "We will leave you to rest now, Mr Pettigrew, but I have been informed that there are a few of your friends waiting outside right now to come visit you, so please don't exert yourself too much."

"Yes, sir. Thank you sir." Peter repeated again, refusing to look the Headmaster in the eye.

Dumbledore and Slughorn opened the door out of the Hospital Wing to leave but were almost knocked over by two girls and two boys rushing in. As Severus, Lily, Remus and Mary squeezed past the Headmaster and Potions Master, Peter saw Dumbledore turn back towards him with what seemed to be a look of disappointment just as he left the room.

"Are you alright?"

"What happened?"

"Who ambushed you?"

Peter was bombarded by questions by Lily, Remus and Mary and with a rather painful smile, he told them exactly what he told Dumbledore, lest the truth be plucked out from their minds by the Headmaster.

"I am of the opinion that the assault on you would have been perpetrated by the Terrible Twosome and I suggest informing the Headmaster of our suspicions, especially what we know of the Slime Incident." Severus intoned clearly over the ruckus the others were kicking up.

"Terrible Twosome? When was that name coined?" Peter asked, raising his eyebrow and clearly knowing who Severus was referring to.

"That's what Severus over here has been calling Potter and Black, Pete. Ever since we heard that you were brought to the Hospital Wing yesterday, he has been adamant that they would be the ones behind it. We had convinced him to wait till you were able to talk and tell us who were the culprits and not jump to conclusions, but given your story, Severus may be right, since they were behind the Slime Incident." Remus explained.

"I don't know. I don't think they are capable of violence. They are still just eleven." Lily interjected softly, rather disturbed at the whole situation.

"So is Peter. I find the notion that an older student would beat up an eleven year old boy harder to believe than two eleven year old bullies beating up another eleven year old, Lily. You always try to see the best in people and ignore the truth that is before you." Mary jabbed at Lily, making Lily pout back at her.

Peter watched the two girls start to poke each other playfully and shook his head at how wrong Mary was. Malfoy's ego and the bruise it had taken from Peter defied such common logic (not that wizards had much of those). Peter had to find out what had caused the situation to become so tenuous for the blonde-haired death eater to be that Lucius beat up a first year and without drawing any much attention to himself in the investigation. Lying low was his best option now, like a snake in the tall grass staling its prey…

Wow, Peter jerked himself from his thoughts, I'm really thinking like a Slytherin now, scary.

"Well, I don't think it was them, honestly. I was attacked by at least three people and unless James and Sirius have recruited more people to help them and violent people at that, I really don't think it's them, I don't see any eleven year old as possibly being violent, as Lily said." Peter told his friends.

"I still wouldn't put it past them, though" Mary murmured, still irritated at the "Terrible Twosome" for what they had her do.

The others continued to discuss and argue about who could have done it, but Peter didn't catch much of it as he slowly dosed off.

Peter was let out of the Hospital Wing the next morning with instructions to take it easy for the next few days. "Like I chose to get beat up by Malfoy..." Peter mumbled to himself as he took a slow, very cautious walk to breakfast in the Great Hall.

As Peter entered the Great Hall and headed to the Slytherin table, he sensed a difference in the atmosphere that was present at the table. Pausing, Peter looked across the table at the faces of the people he knew and saw that most of the first years were smiling at him brightly, Ursula Fawley even had a cheeky hint to her smile. Several of the older Slytherin students nodded their heads towards him, some even gave him a thumbs-up. Lucius Malfoy was seated with the other fifth years but there was only Crabbe and Goyle beside him, all the other fifth years were seated a clear distance away from him and Lucius' face deepened into a terrible scowl once he caught Peter looking towards him.

Peter quickly turned away and headed towards Thorfinn Rowle who was waving for Peter to sit beside him. When Peter sat down, Thorfinn patted him on the back "Good one, mate. Good one." Peter blinked and looked at him with a look of confusion.

Severus, from the other side of Rowle, sighed "I do believe that our dear Peter here has no idea what has transpired given his stay in the infirmary, kindly enlighten him, especially since you did summon him to your side." he said with a small smirk.

"Oh, right. All of us were so worried when we found out what had happened to you, and an 'internal inquiry' was started by the older students to identify the culprits involved. When it was discovered by the sixth years that Prefect Malfoy had ambushed you just to sooth his ego, he was taken down a few pegs right there in the Common Room by the seventh years last night. He lost a lot of his standing in the House there and then for 'Un-Slytherin' behaviour, I mean, it's bad enough to confront a fellow Slytherin physically like that, but someone four years younger? That's just not on."

"Crude, Rowle, just crude. You're talking to the victim here, you know." Natalie Davens scolded Rowle

"Yeah, whatever." Thorfinn waved it off "Anyway, after that dressing down, Professor Slughorn comes into the Common room to tell us that you didn't identify your attackers to the Headmaster. Slughorn knew what the inquiry results were and pointed out that despite the opportunity to point your finger at Malfoy, you didn't. He then said that even though we were not Hufflepuffs, House unity is not something we take lightly. He said that if he punished Malfoy by taking away his badge, it would be clear who the perpetrator was, so he would not, but he stated clearly that Malfoy should no longer expect to be a prefect come next year. After Slughorn left, Malfoy started getting flak from the older students about getting shown up by a first-year in being a 'proper Slytherin', I nearly laughed out loud last night listening in from the dorm room."

Peter just sat there slack-jawed at Thorfinn's retelling of the events of the night before. Malfoy had been told off for the very thing Peter had mocked him for being during the fight and it would have hurt rather deep.

Rowle slapped Peter's back again and laughed as Peter turned to look towards the Gryffindor table on the other side of the Hall to see Lily Evans giving James Potter and Sirius Black a hard time for something Malfoy did to him. The looks the two boys were giving him made him sigh.

Oh what a tangled web we weave… Peter thought to himself.