A Little Testy
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(Excuse the pun, lol.) Sorry for the lack of updates, this is not my best chapter, but it needed to be said. I'll be working hard to crank out another update within a few weeks. Thanks for the patience, and check out my other stories. A new fluff one is up.
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Peter awoke the next morning still on the same bed he had fallen asleep on the night before. Madame Gurkins had apparently done some sort of spell work on his leg, as it could now move on his own without Peter being able to hear it. Madame Gurkin noticed him stir, and gave him a tablespoon of murtlap essence to ease any pain in his leg that still remained.
"I'm going to have to start stealing that from the Potions master if I want to survive the day." Peter thought, feeling his whole body glow pleasantly from the after affects of the Murtlap essence. Madame Gurkin gave him a very small vile of the essence and advised him not to take any more than absolutely necessary at one time.
"I've only got a bit of this, Pettigrew, and it's quite expensive these days, mind you, so don't go wasting it!" Peter gave her a nod, resisting the temptation to roll his eyes. Eye rolling had not always been a problem for Peter, either. It seemed to be an infectious bug that he had caught from Sirius, as had James who was obviously much more susceptible to it as he had caught it much more quickly, which had just now come in full swing. Peter fought the urge to do anything disrespectful, and left the Hospital wing, limping slightly and clutching the vile of the precious substance as though it were a precious gem. He caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror, and was almost concerned that he would hunch over and start calling it "the precious." Though, had Peter said this aloud, none of his friends would have understood. He knew all too well that his humorous references to muggle pop culture was unappreciated by his wizarding best friends, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and James Potter. It was tough being a muggle born Wizard at Hogwarts, as Peter was almost daily reminded.
"There you are, Peter, where've you been?" James asked as Peter entered the Great Hall, sitting down beside Remus Lupin and flinging his brown bag onto the bench at his side.
"I've been in the Hospital Wing since yesterday afternoon." Peter replied coolly raising an eyebrow at James. Had he really not noticed his absence? Wasn't he worried about him? Hadn't anyone been concerned about all this? Obviously not. Remus raised both his eyebrows, bit both his lips simultaneously, and looked at James before spearing a sausage and returning to his breakfast.
" Sorry Wormtail, we were just having so much fun studying for the test, you know." James added cheerfully, shoveling pancakes onto his plate and drowning them in maple syrup.
"Right…" Peter said, still somewhat aloof, but James didn't notice his tone.
"James asked Lily out." Sirius added between bites off eggs and toast.
"Again?" Remus asked looking at James with a half smile.
"Yep."
"Well what did she say?" Remus looked suspiciously in his direction.
"Oh, I think she's going to say 'yes' soon!" James replied almost shouting, "This time she said, 'Let me think about it….no.' See? She thought about it! That's almost as good as saying, 'I want to go out with you but now's just not a good time!'"
"I hate to break it to you, Prongs, but I think she was being sarcastic." Sirius said, patting James on the back, who looked completely deflated.
"Is there a chance that it was sarcasm for 'yes I'd love too?'" James looked up hopefully at Sirius, who shook his head and patted James on the back again before rolling his eyes. Sirius always got annoyed when James went on his "Lily" tangents. True enough, Sirius might have gone after Lily if his best friend hadn't been crazy about her, but hearing about her long crimson hair 50 times a day did get tiresome to most.
They quickly finished their Sunday breakfast, and ran up to the Gryffindor Common Room, settling down on the red velvet couches.
"Name the seer who predicted the death of Hercules in Greece." Remus asked Sirius. Remus was quizzing anyone who would sit still long enough over the material for the History of Magic Test.
"Why do we have to know that? I thought the test was over the ROMAN Empire." Sirius whined.
"It is, but it's over Greece too, you see, because we started the term with Greek History and ho wit lead into Roman history and how the two similar cultures-"
"All right! All right!" Sirius almost shouted, "How about…Nymphamadora? That's my cousin's name. That a good name for the seer, James?"
"Sounds fine." James nodded, " I can see a seer being named that."
"No! No! NO!" Remus shouted, getting very annoyed with them, "I don't want you to think of something to name her, I want you to tell me her NAME!"
"What, you don't know?" Sirius said, looking shocked.
"No! I want you to tell me so I can make sure that you know!" They continued to argue for the next hour or so, Remus asking Sirius more questions, and Sirius and James giving Remus hell in as funny a way as possible. Peter was drifting off and thinking about Lily. He had caught himself doodling on a piece of paper, and looked down to see that he had drawn a picture of Lily, her long hair blowing in the wind and fluttering around her slender shoulders. Peter had always been a good drawer, he thought as he sat there swooning. James suddenly shifted his focus to Peter and tried to see what he was drawing from 15 feet away.
"What you drawing Peter?" James asked. Peter panicked and flipped the page over as James started to get up and walk over. Peter drew a very quick sketch of a snitch and a half of a boy on a broom.
"Cool," James said looking at his sketch, "Can I see the rest?"
"Umm…no you see, because I don't have any more, um, drawings in here." He said, flipping to the back and very front showing him notes on one page, and the other being blank.
"Oh. Okay." James looked mildly disappointed, but picked up his copy of, "Classical Magic from Greece and Other Ancient Civilizations," and turning to a page titled, "Atlantis, Fact or Fiction?" Sirius gave up on studying with Remus and sat with James, laughing gleefully at Greek History.
"I wish this whole test would be over," James said throwing down his book, "I've got a big match against Slytherin next week!" He pouted and kicked the huge textbook a few yards, letting it hit the gate in front of the furnace.
"Wouldn't you know it? We do." Sirius responded looking at his watch, which had the date on it in the corner, "James, you'd better score more points than my little brother does. I'd hate for there to be a death in the family." Sirius added while grinding a chalky rock into the stone furnace.
"Ah, Regulus is the new Chaser for Slytherin?" James raised an eyebrow, trying not to say anything bad about Sirius' little brother, which Sirius could do a good job of himself.
"Yes, the big git." Sirius said, reducing the rock to dust, "Mr. and Mrs. Black paid his way onto the team, bought the whole lot of them new broomsticks and uniforms. He was so jealous of my being on the team, and our parents couldn't STAND their blood traitor son to have anything that dear little Reggie didn't have." Sirius had always hated his family, as long as Peter could remember, at least, and as the older brother to his mother's favorite child, Sirius often got angry when discussing his brother's house. Not that his brother was all there was to hate about Slytherin, there was Severus Snape too. He was a greasy haired, oily, pallid boy who knew too much about the dark arts for his own good. James and Snape were mortal enemies, and had been for ages. James hated Snape even more than Lily hated him, which was perhaps a stretch.
"But you know what REALLY hacks me off?" Sirius asked, fuming angrily, but did not wait for anyone to answer, "He's probably going to be CAPTAIN next year after that stupid Malfoy graduates." Lucius Malfoy was a tall, blonde, and very good looking Slytherin from a respectable Wizard family who could trace their blood back to before the days of Merlin. Lucius wouldn't have particularly bothered James or Peter except for the fact that he was a Slytherin, and he was terribly unkind to muggle born witches and wizards. And even this would not have been a cause for much concern, except that among the muggle born was the lovely Lily Evans, the red haired object of their affections. Well, Peter was a muggle born to, he supposed, but Malfoy had never really took out enough interest in Peter to make his life hell, for which he was both grateful, and slightly disappointed. In truth, Peter wasn't sure if Lucius knew he was a muggle born wizard. Peter had always that that he had some sort of muggle senses or something, like he could smell it in the air when he was around a muggle born wizard. However, this was a rather absurd suggestion, and Peter never mentioned it for fear of ridicule.
"Well, the good thing is, after Frank graduates, I'll be GRYFFINDOR Quidditch Captain, and we'll be squared."
"No, if I was Gryffindor Quidditch Captain, we'd be squared. Or maybe that wouldn't be enough. Maybe if I was Gryffindor Quidditch Captain, AND I played all 6 positions on the team, we might be squared."
"There are 7 positions on the team, Sirius." James said, laughing slightly.
"GADS! I can't do anything!"
"Nah Padfoot, you just can't add." James replied with a jovial pat on the back.
"Hmm…I guess you're right."
"What was the date of the second Punic War?" Remus asked them, resuming normal activity.
"How about…Marilyn Monroe. She'd be a good date." Sirius said, without paying much attention to the trying and annoyed look on Remus' face.
"You're insufferable, you know that?" Remus said banging the large book down on the polished oak table.
"And yet, you suffer me anyway!" Sirius replied cheerfully, throwing his hands in the air and slamming them down on his knees.
Peter was not really paying attention, and not really being paid attention to. This was how he spent most days. Sometimes it was lonely, feeling more like the lone ranger than a marauder, but he made do with the situation at hand. He ran his fingers over the curves on his red leather chair, and found himself drifting off into thoughts about the red chair. But as many things do, this let him into thoughts of Lily. Red Chair rhymed with Red hair; Lily had red hair, and it was beautiful. Lily was Beautiful. But did that make the red chair beautiful? No, of course not. Peter whacked himself on the forehead for thinking about such things. He was having a Remus Lupin moment, only he seemed to be able to turn love into a logic problem. That sure could suck the fun out of anything, relating it to schoolwork could. Lily was no math problem. Though, really, Lily WAS a problem. She was a problem for Peter, because he loved her, and he wouldn't give her the time of day.
If Lily is going on one train going from London to Hogsmede at 90 miles per hour, and Peter is going on another train from Hogsmede to London at 70 miles per hour, and both of the trains leave the station at 10 am, what time will it be when Lily finally notices Peter?
Never.
If Peter has 67 galleons and Lily has 43, and Peter gives Lily 67 galleons, when will Lily and Peter get married?
Never.
If Peter drove a bright orange 1968 Chevrolet Camero into Hogwarts honking his horn and playing Jingle bells and started rampaging through the school at 95 miles per hour, would Lily notice him?
Doubtful.
As far as she was concerned, Peter was living scenery. If her life were a movie, he would be an extra. Or maybe one of those guys who waits outside the red carpet waving his hands around begging for an autograph, only to be escorted to a nearby prison by her body guards for suspected stalking. They had no evidence, thought Peter. His obsession with Lily was his own business.
Sirius sneezed loudly, snapping Peter to attention. He couldn't believe he was still thinking about Lily. Obsession wasn't a strong enough word really. He had been silent for almost an hour now. No one seemed to worried about him, though, so Peter picked up a history of Magic book and started reading about the Roman Gods. He read about Juno, Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, and Ceres. Then he came to Venus, goddess of beauty, which couldn't help but remind him of Lily…
A few hours later, Peter and the other boys went up to the dormitory. Remus excused himself as he had done last night to check on the first years, and Sirius rolled his eyes at Remus, muttering something to James about, "if he wasn't such a goody two-shoes, I'd think he was UP to something." Sirus and James, tired of studying under the baleful eye of Remus Lupin, decided to play a rousing game of Exploding Snap, which lasted until about 12 o'clock in the morning, when Remus rejoined them and began to lecture the lot of them on the importance of…something. Peter didn't quite catch it, but he assumed that it had something to do with not staying up late playing stupid games when one should be studying for a huge test they have tomorrow. Peter yawned loudly, and, getting tired of all the arguing, decided to go to bed. He pulled on his pajama bottoms and climbed into his four poster, with a mumbled "G'night." Remus followed him soon after, but James and Sirius stayed up for at least another hour throwing little balls of paper at each other, and the very annoyed Remus Lupin, who was trying very hard to ignore the pair of them.
Peter couldn't sleep. It wasn't just Sirius and James' giggling that kept him up, he was horribly nervous. He should have studied more for that test, even Sirius and James had studied for that test. Unwillingly, to be sure, but nonetheless, they had gotten in at least SOME legitimate studying. Peter had overheard some of the questions Remus had asked Sirius and James, but he had never heard the correct answers, and he was fairy certain that "R" wasn't the capitol of Rome. If he got a "C" on this test, his average would drop a letter grade. He had an "B," but he was hanging on by a thread. He had an 80.1%, But this was still counted as simply as a "B," because Hogwarts only used whole letter grades on report cards. Peter tried to run through all the facts he knew in his head. Dates were spinning around in his mind. He was confusing dates with other dates and times and places with other times and places. His mind was muddled up and twisted up so much that facts began to run together like large puddles of information, impossible to determine one fact from the next. Who was Hercules mother? What was the real reason that many muggles thought they were seers? Who was the most famous Roman Seer? What was the name of the most pronounced wizard in Roman society? What did they attribute magical happenings to? What was the date of the first Punic war? What started it? Who was…what…the date...of Hercules…in Troy…
Peter awoke to a loud beeping, followed by an even louder "CRUNCH." That would be Sirius' alarm clock, and Sirius' left hand hitting the alarm clock. Peter always thought that Gringotts vaults should be made of the same materials as alarm clocks, they must be the most impregnable things in the world. As much as abuse as that alarm clock had taken from Sirius, the Gryffindor team's beater who had knocked many an unsuspecting student of his broom, Peter was very surprised that the alarm clock had neither combusted, nor learned its lesson. If anything, the clock was more annoying than it had ever been, Sirius having messed up the beeper, which now beeped more loudly, and with a greater frequency.
The clock continued to beep as Peter swung his feet around his bed, and walked over to Sirius, who had covered his head with his pillow and was now groaning and growling, and turned off his alarm clock by pressing a large round button on the top. Peter hurried into the bathroom to avoid the rush, brushed his teeth and combed his hair, and went back into the dormitories, packing his open History of Magic book into his book bag, and pushing his quills and ink bottles to the far corner of his bag. He slipped on his school robes, put a tiny bit of mousse in his hair, and rushed out of the dormitory into the Gryffindor common room. It was only 7:20. Classes, the first being History of magic, didn't start 'till 9, and he wouldn't go to Breakfast until at least 8:30. He had a whole hour to study, if he could concentrate that is, and he knew he was best to get started. Only problem was, he wasn't sure where to start. He skimmed the book again and again, picking up little bits of information, hoping to manage at least a B-. It was 7:30, maybe he'd manage to pick up some more about the Gods. It was 7:40, maybe a little Roman Government. It was 7:50, just a bit more about the Consulate. It was 8:00. People began to walk through the common room, going to Breakfast or deciding to sit on the couch resignedly, warming themselves by the crackling fireplace. At 8:05, Remus Lupin trotted down the stairs, hair brushed, though still messy, and 10 or 11 books under his arm and in his bag. He had circles under his eyes so dark that his brown eyes were almost lost in them. He picked up his wand, pointed at himself and muttered, "enervate," which brightened his face considerably, as he found a place on the couch next to Peter. Remus and Peter asked each other questions from the reading, though Remus was getting many more of them right than Peter.
At about 8:15, a large group of giggling girls rushed out of the 6th year girls dormitories. At the head of the pack, Lily Evans, crimson red hair falling delicately around her slender shoulders, trod down the stairs, laughing and chatting with a pretty but plain girl with Brown hair and blue eyes, Alice Muran, a close friend. Lily spied Peter and Remus sitting on the couch, and flashed them a smile, glistening brilliantly white teeth lighting up the room better than the fire ever could. Peter waved back at her, but he was not really acknowledged. She must have been waving at Remus. Why wouldn't she? He was the other Gryffindor prefect. But still, the way she waved at him seemed… different, oh he didn't know. Peter was just a part of the sofa that someone couldn't sit on. She saw right past him, and he couldn't say he blamed her. Remus continued watching Lily as she waved at him, walking in what seemed like slow motion to the portrait hole.
About five minutes later, Sirius and James burst through the dormitory. Sirius jogged quickly down the stairs stopping at the landing and leaning against the wall, while James chose to slide down the banister, hopping off right before the end, and stuck his landing 3 feet from the edge of the stairs. Sirius clapped and whistled, while James gave a mock bow, and thanked the Academy. Peter and Remus packed up their books, and Sirius, Remus, James and Peter all made their way to the dining hall. They found seats next to each other on the far right end of the Gryffindor table, and stuffed their plates full off eggs, bacon, kippers and pancakes. Between bites of food, Remus quizzed the 3 of them over History of Magic material, and Peter listened rather than talked for the first 15 minutes.
They were finished with breakfast with 25 minutes to spare before class started., and found themselves walking outside to sit on the lawn for a little while until they had to leave for the dreaded test. Remus had given up on quizzing the for now, and he and Sirius reclined with their heads against the tree, napping, while James read over the textbook and Peter sat by the tree glancing at his watch every so often. The grounds glistened like diamonds in the morning dew, and Peter was stricken by the beauty of the lake and the grounds, gentle rippling on the surface of the water attracted a group of 6th year girls, Lily included, who soaked their feet in the water waiting to go back up to the castle. After 20 minutes had passed, the marauders made their way up to the castle, Sirius stretching and yawning. They slowly walked up to the History of Magic Classroom, and pulled open the door, Peter almost shaking with worry.
Lily and her friends were all there, giggling nervously and dipping their quills in ink, readying themselves for the test. Peter's idea of preparation was freeking out so much that he spilled his ink everywhere, and then mopping it up off his desk leaving a sticky black residue on the desk. The exams were being passed out in alphabetical order. Abbot. Bell. Black. Bones. Diggory. Evans. Finch. Fletchly. Johnson. Lupin. MacMillan. Muran. Pettigrew… Peter stared at the paper, and looked at the first blank. Name. He could do that much, Peter Patrick Pettigrew. Of course, this made for an interesting initial, but that was not his concern. It was time to move onto the questions. He would have answer them all, or risk failing. He took his pencil to the paper. "What was the date of the second Punic War? He couldn't remember. He HAD to remember! He just had to think. Think hard. Lily would never like him if he was stupid. Think, Peter, think! You know this one! What could it be? Maybe he'd just skip that one. But he looked down, all the questions were like that. He'd have to do the best he could, and pray for the best. Yes, all he could do now was pray....
TBC
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(Excuse the pun, lol.) Sorry for the lack of updates, this is not my best chapter, but it needed to be said. I'll be working hard to crank out another update within a few weeks. Thanks for the patience, and check out my other stories. A new fluff one is up.
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Peter awoke the next morning still on the same bed he had fallen asleep on the night before. Madame Gurkins had apparently done some sort of spell work on his leg, as it could now move on his own without Peter being able to hear it. Madame Gurkin noticed him stir, and gave him a tablespoon of murtlap essence to ease any pain in his leg that still remained.
"I'm going to have to start stealing that from the Potions master if I want to survive the day." Peter thought, feeling his whole body glow pleasantly from the after affects of the Murtlap essence. Madame Gurkin gave him a very small vile of the essence and advised him not to take any more than absolutely necessary at one time.
"I've only got a bit of this, Pettigrew, and it's quite expensive these days, mind you, so don't go wasting it!" Peter gave her a nod, resisting the temptation to roll his eyes. Eye rolling had not always been a problem for Peter, either. It seemed to be an infectious bug that he had caught from Sirius, as had James who was obviously much more susceptible to it as he had caught it much more quickly, which had just now come in full swing. Peter fought the urge to do anything disrespectful, and left the Hospital wing, limping slightly and clutching the vile of the precious substance as though it were a precious gem. He caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror, and was almost concerned that he would hunch over and start calling it "the precious." Though, had Peter said this aloud, none of his friends would have understood. He knew all too well that his humorous references to muggle pop culture was unappreciated by his wizarding best friends, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and James Potter. It was tough being a muggle born Wizard at Hogwarts, as Peter was almost daily reminded.
"There you are, Peter, where've you been?" James asked as Peter entered the Great Hall, sitting down beside Remus Lupin and flinging his brown bag onto the bench at his side.
"I've been in the Hospital Wing since yesterday afternoon." Peter replied coolly raising an eyebrow at James. Had he really not noticed his absence? Wasn't he worried about him? Hadn't anyone been concerned about all this? Obviously not. Remus raised both his eyebrows, bit both his lips simultaneously, and looked at James before spearing a sausage and returning to his breakfast.
" Sorry Wormtail, we were just having so much fun studying for the test, you know." James added cheerfully, shoveling pancakes onto his plate and drowning them in maple syrup.
"Right…" Peter said, still somewhat aloof, but James didn't notice his tone.
"James asked Lily out." Sirius added between bites off eggs and toast.
"Again?" Remus asked looking at James with a half smile.
"Yep."
"Well what did she say?" Remus looked suspiciously in his direction.
"Oh, I think she's going to say 'yes' soon!" James replied almost shouting, "This time she said, 'Let me think about it….no.' See? She thought about it! That's almost as good as saying, 'I want to go out with you but now's just not a good time!'"
"I hate to break it to you, Prongs, but I think she was being sarcastic." Sirius said, patting James on the back, who looked completely deflated.
"Is there a chance that it was sarcasm for 'yes I'd love too?'" James looked up hopefully at Sirius, who shook his head and patted James on the back again before rolling his eyes. Sirius always got annoyed when James went on his "Lily" tangents. True enough, Sirius might have gone after Lily if his best friend hadn't been crazy about her, but hearing about her long crimson hair 50 times a day did get tiresome to most.
They quickly finished their Sunday breakfast, and ran up to the Gryffindor Common Room, settling down on the red velvet couches.
"Name the seer who predicted the death of Hercules in Greece." Remus asked Sirius. Remus was quizzing anyone who would sit still long enough over the material for the History of Magic Test.
"Why do we have to know that? I thought the test was over the ROMAN Empire." Sirius whined.
"It is, but it's over Greece too, you see, because we started the term with Greek History and ho wit lead into Roman history and how the two similar cultures-"
"All right! All right!" Sirius almost shouted, "How about…Nymphamadora? That's my cousin's name. That a good name for the seer, James?"
"Sounds fine." James nodded, " I can see a seer being named that."
"No! No! NO!" Remus shouted, getting very annoyed with them, "I don't want you to think of something to name her, I want you to tell me her NAME!"
"What, you don't know?" Sirius said, looking shocked.
"No! I want you to tell me so I can make sure that you know!" They continued to argue for the next hour or so, Remus asking Sirius more questions, and Sirius and James giving Remus hell in as funny a way as possible. Peter was drifting off and thinking about Lily. He had caught himself doodling on a piece of paper, and looked down to see that he had drawn a picture of Lily, her long hair blowing in the wind and fluttering around her slender shoulders. Peter had always been a good drawer, he thought as he sat there swooning. James suddenly shifted his focus to Peter and tried to see what he was drawing from 15 feet away.
"What you drawing Peter?" James asked. Peter panicked and flipped the page over as James started to get up and walk over. Peter drew a very quick sketch of a snitch and a half of a boy on a broom.
"Cool," James said looking at his sketch, "Can I see the rest?"
"Umm…no you see, because I don't have any more, um, drawings in here." He said, flipping to the back and very front showing him notes on one page, and the other being blank.
"Oh. Okay." James looked mildly disappointed, but picked up his copy of, "Classical Magic from Greece and Other Ancient Civilizations," and turning to a page titled, "Atlantis, Fact or Fiction?" Sirius gave up on studying with Remus and sat with James, laughing gleefully at Greek History.
"I wish this whole test would be over," James said throwing down his book, "I've got a big match against Slytherin next week!" He pouted and kicked the huge textbook a few yards, letting it hit the gate in front of the furnace.
"Wouldn't you know it? We do." Sirius responded looking at his watch, which had the date on it in the corner, "James, you'd better score more points than my little brother does. I'd hate for there to be a death in the family." Sirius added while grinding a chalky rock into the stone furnace.
"Ah, Regulus is the new Chaser for Slytherin?" James raised an eyebrow, trying not to say anything bad about Sirius' little brother, which Sirius could do a good job of himself.
"Yes, the big git." Sirius said, reducing the rock to dust, "Mr. and Mrs. Black paid his way onto the team, bought the whole lot of them new broomsticks and uniforms. He was so jealous of my being on the team, and our parents couldn't STAND their blood traitor son to have anything that dear little Reggie didn't have." Sirius had always hated his family, as long as Peter could remember, at least, and as the older brother to his mother's favorite child, Sirius often got angry when discussing his brother's house. Not that his brother was all there was to hate about Slytherin, there was Severus Snape too. He was a greasy haired, oily, pallid boy who knew too much about the dark arts for his own good. James and Snape were mortal enemies, and had been for ages. James hated Snape even more than Lily hated him, which was perhaps a stretch.
"But you know what REALLY hacks me off?" Sirius asked, fuming angrily, but did not wait for anyone to answer, "He's probably going to be CAPTAIN next year after that stupid Malfoy graduates." Lucius Malfoy was a tall, blonde, and very good looking Slytherin from a respectable Wizard family who could trace their blood back to before the days of Merlin. Lucius wouldn't have particularly bothered James or Peter except for the fact that he was a Slytherin, and he was terribly unkind to muggle born witches and wizards. And even this would not have been a cause for much concern, except that among the muggle born was the lovely Lily Evans, the red haired object of their affections. Well, Peter was a muggle born to, he supposed, but Malfoy had never really took out enough interest in Peter to make his life hell, for which he was both grateful, and slightly disappointed. In truth, Peter wasn't sure if Lucius knew he was a muggle born wizard. Peter had always that that he had some sort of muggle senses or something, like he could smell it in the air when he was around a muggle born wizard. However, this was a rather absurd suggestion, and Peter never mentioned it for fear of ridicule.
"Well, the good thing is, after Frank graduates, I'll be GRYFFINDOR Quidditch Captain, and we'll be squared."
"No, if I was Gryffindor Quidditch Captain, we'd be squared. Or maybe that wouldn't be enough. Maybe if I was Gryffindor Quidditch Captain, AND I played all 6 positions on the team, we might be squared."
"There are 7 positions on the team, Sirius." James said, laughing slightly.
"GADS! I can't do anything!"
"Nah Padfoot, you just can't add." James replied with a jovial pat on the back.
"Hmm…I guess you're right."
"What was the date of the second Punic War?" Remus asked them, resuming normal activity.
"How about…Marilyn Monroe. She'd be a good date." Sirius said, without paying much attention to the trying and annoyed look on Remus' face.
"You're insufferable, you know that?" Remus said banging the large book down on the polished oak table.
"And yet, you suffer me anyway!" Sirius replied cheerfully, throwing his hands in the air and slamming them down on his knees.
Peter was not really paying attention, and not really being paid attention to. This was how he spent most days. Sometimes it was lonely, feeling more like the lone ranger than a marauder, but he made do with the situation at hand. He ran his fingers over the curves on his red leather chair, and found himself drifting off into thoughts about the red chair. But as many things do, this let him into thoughts of Lily. Red Chair rhymed with Red hair; Lily had red hair, and it was beautiful. Lily was Beautiful. But did that make the red chair beautiful? No, of course not. Peter whacked himself on the forehead for thinking about such things. He was having a Remus Lupin moment, only he seemed to be able to turn love into a logic problem. That sure could suck the fun out of anything, relating it to schoolwork could. Lily was no math problem. Though, really, Lily WAS a problem. She was a problem for Peter, because he loved her, and he wouldn't give her the time of day.
If Lily is going on one train going from London to Hogsmede at 90 miles per hour, and Peter is going on another train from Hogsmede to London at 70 miles per hour, and both of the trains leave the station at 10 am, what time will it be when Lily finally notices Peter?
Never.
If Peter has 67 galleons and Lily has 43, and Peter gives Lily 67 galleons, when will Lily and Peter get married?
Never.
If Peter drove a bright orange 1968 Chevrolet Camero into Hogwarts honking his horn and playing Jingle bells and started rampaging through the school at 95 miles per hour, would Lily notice him?
Doubtful.
As far as she was concerned, Peter was living scenery. If her life were a movie, he would be an extra. Or maybe one of those guys who waits outside the red carpet waving his hands around begging for an autograph, only to be escorted to a nearby prison by her body guards for suspected stalking. They had no evidence, thought Peter. His obsession with Lily was his own business.
Sirius sneezed loudly, snapping Peter to attention. He couldn't believe he was still thinking about Lily. Obsession wasn't a strong enough word really. He had been silent for almost an hour now. No one seemed to worried about him, though, so Peter picked up a history of Magic book and started reading about the Roman Gods. He read about Juno, Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, and Ceres. Then he came to Venus, goddess of beauty, which couldn't help but remind him of Lily…
A few hours later, Peter and the other boys went up to the dormitory. Remus excused himself as he had done last night to check on the first years, and Sirius rolled his eyes at Remus, muttering something to James about, "if he wasn't such a goody two-shoes, I'd think he was UP to something." Sirus and James, tired of studying under the baleful eye of Remus Lupin, decided to play a rousing game of Exploding Snap, which lasted until about 12 o'clock in the morning, when Remus rejoined them and began to lecture the lot of them on the importance of…something. Peter didn't quite catch it, but he assumed that it had something to do with not staying up late playing stupid games when one should be studying for a huge test they have tomorrow. Peter yawned loudly, and, getting tired of all the arguing, decided to go to bed. He pulled on his pajama bottoms and climbed into his four poster, with a mumbled "G'night." Remus followed him soon after, but James and Sirius stayed up for at least another hour throwing little balls of paper at each other, and the very annoyed Remus Lupin, who was trying very hard to ignore the pair of them.
Peter couldn't sleep. It wasn't just Sirius and James' giggling that kept him up, he was horribly nervous. He should have studied more for that test, even Sirius and James had studied for that test. Unwillingly, to be sure, but nonetheless, they had gotten in at least SOME legitimate studying. Peter had overheard some of the questions Remus had asked Sirius and James, but he had never heard the correct answers, and he was fairy certain that "R" wasn't the capitol of Rome. If he got a "C" on this test, his average would drop a letter grade. He had an "B," but he was hanging on by a thread. He had an 80.1%, But this was still counted as simply as a "B," because Hogwarts only used whole letter grades on report cards. Peter tried to run through all the facts he knew in his head. Dates were spinning around in his mind. He was confusing dates with other dates and times and places with other times and places. His mind was muddled up and twisted up so much that facts began to run together like large puddles of information, impossible to determine one fact from the next. Who was Hercules mother? What was the real reason that many muggles thought they were seers? Who was the most famous Roman Seer? What was the name of the most pronounced wizard in Roman society? What did they attribute magical happenings to? What was the date of the first Punic war? What started it? Who was…what…the date...of Hercules…in Troy…
Peter awoke to a loud beeping, followed by an even louder "CRUNCH." That would be Sirius' alarm clock, and Sirius' left hand hitting the alarm clock. Peter always thought that Gringotts vaults should be made of the same materials as alarm clocks, they must be the most impregnable things in the world. As much as abuse as that alarm clock had taken from Sirius, the Gryffindor team's beater who had knocked many an unsuspecting student of his broom, Peter was very surprised that the alarm clock had neither combusted, nor learned its lesson. If anything, the clock was more annoying than it had ever been, Sirius having messed up the beeper, which now beeped more loudly, and with a greater frequency.
The clock continued to beep as Peter swung his feet around his bed, and walked over to Sirius, who had covered his head with his pillow and was now groaning and growling, and turned off his alarm clock by pressing a large round button on the top. Peter hurried into the bathroom to avoid the rush, brushed his teeth and combed his hair, and went back into the dormitories, packing his open History of Magic book into his book bag, and pushing his quills and ink bottles to the far corner of his bag. He slipped on his school robes, put a tiny bit of mousse in his hair, and rushed out of the dormitory into the Gryffindor common room. It was only 7:20. Classes, the first being History of magic, didn't start 'till 9, and he wouldn't go to Breakfast until at least 8:30. He had a whole hour to study, if he could concentrate that is, and he knew he was best to get started. Only problem was, he wasn't sure where to start. He skimmed the book again and again, picking up little bits of information, hoping to manage at least a B-. It was 7:30, maybe he'd manage to pick up some more about the Gods. It was 7:40, maybe a little Roman Government. It was 7:50, just a bit more about the Consulate. It was 8:00. People began to walk through the common room, going to Breakfast or deciding to sit on the couch resignedly, warming themselves by the crackling fireplace. At 8:05, Remus Lupin trotted down the stairs, hair brushed, though still messy, and 10 or 11 books under his arm and in his bag. He had circles under his eyes so dark that his brown eyes were almost lost in them. He picked up his wand, pointed at himself and muttered, "enervate," which brightened his face considerably, as he found a place on the couch next to Peter. Remus and Peter asked each other questions from the reading, though Remus was getting many more of them right than Peter.
At about 8:15, a large group of giggling girls rushed out of the 6th year girls dormitories. At the head of the pack, Lily Evans, crimson red hair falling delicately around her slender shoulders, trod down the stairs, laughing and chatting with a pretty but plain girl with Brown hair and blue eyes, Alice Muran, a close friend. Lily spied Peter and Remus sitting on the couch, and flashed them a smile, glistening brilliantly white teeth lighting up the room better than the fire ever could. Peter waved back at her, but he was not really acknowledged. She must have been waving at Remus. Why wouldn't she? He was the other Gryffindor prefect. But still, the way she waved at him seemed… different, oh he didn't know. Peter was just a part of the sofa that someone couldn't sit on. She saw right past him, and he couldn't say he blamed her. Remus continued watching Lily as she waved at him, walking in what seemed like slow motion to the portrait hole.
About five minutes later, Sirius and James burst through the dormitory. Sirius jogged quickly down the stairs stopping at the landing and leaning against the wall, while James chose to slide down the banister, hopping off right before the end, and stuck his landing 3 feet from the edge of the stairs. Sirius clapped and whistled, while James gave a mock bow, and thanked the Academy. Peter and Remus packed up their books, and Sirius, Remus, James and Peter all made their way to the dining hall. They found seats next to each other on the far right end of the Gryffindor table, and stuffed their plates full off eggs, bacon, kippers and pancakes. Between bites of food, Remus quizzed the 3 of them over History of Magic material, and Peter listened rather than talked for the first 15 minutes.
They were finished with breakfast with 25 minutes to spare before class started., and found themselves walking outside to sit on the lawn for a little while until they had to leave for the dreaded test. Remus had given up on quizzing the for now, and he and Sirius reclined with their heads against the tree, napping, while James read over the textbook and Peter sat by the tree glancing at his watch every so often. The grounds glistened like diamonds in the morning dew, and Peter was stricken by the beauty of the lake and the grounds, gentle rippling on the surface of the water attracted a group of 6th year girls, Lily included, who soaked their feet in the water waiting to go back up to the castle. After 20 minutes had passed, the marauders made their way up to the castle, Sirius stretching and yawning. They slowly walked up to the History of Magic Classroom, and pulled open the door, Peter almost shaking with worry.
Lily and her friends were all there, giggling nervously and dipping their quills in ink, readying themselves for the test. Peter's idea of preparation was freeking out so much that he spilled his ink everywhere, and then mopping it up off his desk leaving a sticky black residue on the desk. The exams were being passed out in alphabetical order. Abbot. Bell. Black. Bones. Diggory. Evans. Finch. Fletchly. Johnson. Lupin. MacMillan. Muran. Pettigrew… Peter stared at the paper, and looked at the first blank. Name. He could do that much, Peter Patrick Pettigrew. Of course, this made for an interesting initial, but that was not his concern. It was time to move onto the questions. He would have answer them all, or risk failing. He took his pencil to the paper. "What was the date of the second Punic War? He couldn't remember. He HAD to remember! He just had to think. Think hard. Lily would never like him if he was stupid. Think, Peter, think! You know this one! What could it be? Maybe he'd just skip that one. But he looked down, all the questions were like that. He'd have to do the best he could, and pray for the best. Yes, all he could do now was pray....
TBC