Peter Pettigrew

“As if you ever had one?” She teased. Andy couldn’t help but keel over laughing at his wild attempts to come up with that many nicknames off of her names. “What do you think this is? Of course I’m not going to let it go. First five were pretty good though! Da was definitely my fave.” She shook her head laughing again, imagining being called Da. “If by I you mean we, rude to take all the credit!”

“Excuse me?! I’m offended. You’re breaking my heart.” He drapes his arm over his forehead, fake swooning. “I’ll pay you to let it go? In uh...free drinks at the place I work at? We make coffee?” He grins at her and winks, mostly joking. “Then I shall call you Da. I think it suits you.” He winks. “No one gets the credit here. I have no intention of telling the crazy lady I work for I lost her dog.”

“I suppose it depends on who you’d ask,” she replied simply, managing to hide her grimace at his appearance as she’d yet to speak to him since his fight with Glenda.

“Well, considering I’m asking the loveliest lady here...” He grins and winks. “Tell me. I make stressed and attractive look good.”

“Would you do it again? Or if I hadn’t brought it up would you still do it?” he asked, looking over at the other man. “You broke up with her, Peter. You don’t really get to decide when it’s okay to move on,” he said softly. “Get even for what?” he asked, the confusion clear in his expression and voice. “What did she do to you?” he questioned, certainly not having heard of Glenda doing anything that sounded remotely upsetting. “People are going to push you, Wormtail. These days, people attack others because of their blood status alone, don’t add to that by attacking people just because they’ve hurt your feelings. She’s pissed me off countless times, I’ve never drawn my wand on her. Even, let’s imagine your idea that everything was to spite you is true; you gave her exactly what she wanted. Her dad is the Minister of Magic. You’ll be extremely lucky if she doesn’t press charges.” He shrugged, looking down at his mug for a moment. “Do you? Because that’s what I thought and right now it doesn’t look like I was right.” He shook his head, looking up once more. “Peter.. Why would she do that? Why would she want to spite you so badly? Glenda was in the right place at the right time and she got a job. That’s all there was to it. I doubt Sienna even knew who she was.”

“No.” There isn’t a wasted second between James asking and Peter replying. The last thing Peter would want to do is upset Glenda again. Especially knowing how torn up over it she actually was. “Even if you hadn’t brought it up I wouldn’t have done it again.” He shakes his head. “I know. I know.” Saying it doesn't make him feel better. He takes a deep breath, steadying himself a little. “Get even...probably wasn’t the right words but...I-I wanted to upset her. I was trying so damn hard and it felt like she wasn’t even attempting and...stupid. I know. In hindsight...it’s beyond stupid.” He swallows hard. “I...hadn’t looked at it like that. That she was...playing me.” It pisses him off, just a little bit. “Do you think she’ll press charges?” He hopes not. He’s pretty sure he hasn’t pushed her that far...yet. “Because it’s no secret Sienna and I hate each other?” He shakes his head. “Maybe she did. Maybe she didn’t. But I can’t shake the feeling that she knew precisely what she was doing, Prongs.”

“She wouldn’t have if I hadn’t run into her crying,” Sirius admitted, frankly only becoming more irritated as their conversation went on and less and less sympathetic to hearing out what Peter had to say. “It won’t spiral into a fight if you control yourself, which you should be able to do. And if you don’t, then I’m not going to sit here and listen to you talk about how bad you feel. Because honestly, I don’t fucking believe it.” And truthfully, he didn’t believe that it was the reason as to why Peter refused to do it. “Except that you are,” he replied, voice raised for the first time during their conversation. “The way you’re talking about this sounds so fucking woe is me.” 

Crying? Peter’s caught off guard by that. He can’t recall leaving her on the verge of tears. Although, he’d be lying if he said he didn’t feel at least a little bit accomplished by it. Not that Sirius needed to know that though. Sirius’s continued distrust is enough to piss Peter off even more. “I’ve had enough of this.” He shoves back from the table. It’s not an angry motion but the tension in his shoulders is easy to see. “It doesn’t matter what I say you’re already convinced you’re right anyways.” If Peter had known all it took was Sienna crying like a child on his lap to hold sway over him again he’d have approached this differently. Right now? He’s over it. “I am a lot of things, Padfoot. But I haven’t lied to you once. I’m not sure what caused you to think I would start now.”

“No, but you made it sound like she was crazy for telling me, which comes off as trying to play it so that I might let it go.” Sirius shook his head, averting his gaze for a moment as he tried to word what he wanted to say. “It’s not me that you should be apologizing to. It’s Sienna,” he said, voice stern. “And Glenda too, while we’re on the subject of apologies.” Sirius felt his jaw clench in frustration. “You’re one of my best mates, Peter. I love you – and I’ve stuck by when you’ve done shit things just like you have for me. I’m not pretending that I’m perfect and haven’t acted like an asshole before, but I’m not going to pretend like I’m cool with this. I’m just not. And honestly, it makes it harder to believe that you regret any of it when you try to make yourself look the victim.” 

“I didn’t honestly think she would tell you anything.” Peter says candidly, softly. He hadn’t even been aware Sirius and Sienna were even on speaking terms anymore. “I’m going to apologize to Glenda. If she’ll have me. Prongs already grilled me.” Thanks for the two pronged attack. Just want Peter needed and wanted in his life. “I’m not going to apologize to Sienna. You and I both know it will only devolve into another fight.” He swallows at Sirius’s admission of love but it doesn’t resonate the way it used to. “I’m not asking you to be cool with this. And I’m not trying to make myself look like the damn victim either. The victim was Rowle." She’s the person that went home with horns. 

“So, you’re denying that you said it?” Sirius asked, genuinely surprised that Peter would lie now that he’d outright asked. He narrowed his eyes, getting annoyed now. “No, I don’t see it from your angle because I don’t think you could ever be justified for hexing her. I don’t give a fuck if you don’t like her, Peter. But you don’t get to just go around bullying and hurting people – we’re not back in school, we’re not kids anymore.” 

He could lie. See if he could spin this in his favor a little bit. Paint her as an emotional wreck and maybe save some face. But Peter already knows Sirius isn’t on his side. He’s made that abundantly clear so far. He wonders if he ever was on his side. And he hates lying to his mates. He swallows his pride, just enough to speak. “I’m not denying it. I said it. I said it to be mean. To be an asshole. To push her buttons.” He shakes his head, mostly at himself. “You’re right. We’re not in school and it’s time I grew up. I’m working on it. Believe me or don’t. But I am sorry. I never meant to let you down.”

“Dreading the days more likely,” he smiled. “Okay. But why didn’t you stop with the winking and nicknames when she asked you to?” he asked, really just confused by that part. “And getting sexual with her isn’t just normal friends stuff. At least, I hope you don’t talk about my girlfriend’s body like you supposedly did about Glenda’s. You have a past. You can’t just go back to being friends with her, the break up was messy and unresolved. I get that you both probably wanted to be friends for the sake of the group but I just don’t think that’s on the cards.” He looked over at Peter as he looked at the table, searching his face for an answer. “Why did you hex her? What drove you to do that to her?” he questioned. “Oh my– Are you serious, Peter? She’s her assistant. It’s a job plenty of people do, it doesn’t make her anyone’s lapdog. Why do you even care? Glenda’s happy. Is that not good enough?”

“I don’t know.” Peter admits softly. “Probably me being stubborn. That...That if I kept at it we’d get over the hurdle and be able to move on I guess.” He shrugs and swirls his finger through some of the collected condensation on the table top. “I know it’s a shitty excuse, but I got mad...and I wanted to get even and...It was stupid. Okay? I get it. I was a right arse. I’ll...I’ll figure out how to apologize to her. I don’t...I don’t want her to hate me Prongs. She doesn’t have to like me but...Yeah.” He sighs and doesn’t look up. “I lost my temper. I told her to stop insulting my mate and my mum and she just...kept...pushing. It’s a little fuzzy, honestly.” He shakes his head. “I shouldn’t have done it, I know.” A deep breath and then softly, “I want Glenda to be happy. I just wish it hadn’t happened because Sienna wanted to spite me. That’s all.”

“I…” Sirius paused, hesitating for a moment before he spoke again, “but I don’t believe you, Peter. If you actually regretted hurting her, you wouldn’t have approached and antagonized her again. Or you could have helped her after you hurt her the first time. Fuck, mate – I would be inclined to believe you regretted this if you didn’t tell her all of three days ago ‘who would believe you over me?’ I know you don’t like her, but honestly, I’m not going to pretend to understand why you hate her so much. She was my fiancee – I was the person who had history with her, not you. And yet, I don’t feel a fraction of an inch of as much hate as you do.”

That stung. Hard and deep. Peter flinches. “And who told you I said that? Sienna? That’s rich.” He scoffs and shakes his head, fingers balled into tight fists. “Of course you don’t. You don’t see it from my angle.” Sirius never would. And fuck it all, Peter wasn’t going to explain himself here, under siege. “I will never like Sienna. But I won’t go around hexing her again, okay? I’ll ignore her. I’ll walk on the other side of the street if that’s what you bloody want."

“Come on, I bet she misses us. Her life must be incredibly boring now,” he joked lightly. “I know but she is your messy ex. Things went to shit and it was bad but that’s life. You don’t get to treat her like she’s just any random girl, she’s not. Actually– You shouldn’t treat anyone like that, Peter, ex, best friend, enemy, whatever.“ He paused, taking a second before he answered. “Look, I don’t like Sienna anymore than you do. She pisses me off, she provokes me, she pokes at sore spots. But that’s like too. You’re going to dislike people in life, even hate them but you can’t bully them. Did we not learn that clear as fucking day in school? If she’s being a bitch walk away, ignore her. But Glenda said you hexed her. Amelia had to help try and come up with a spell to help but she didn’t even know who it was.”  He shook his head again, leaning back in his seat, looking at Peter with almost disbelief. “Peter, she loves that job. And she makes a mint doing it too. If anything Glenda’s using Sienna because she has no idea what a minimum wage is. And you know Glenda, you know her. She’s no one’s lapdog. She’s fiesty, and if Sienna was treating her badly she’d get out. She knows her shit, she knows what she’s doing.”

“I’ll bet she’s counting the days until we send her our kids.” He kind of half hopes she’ll have at least retired by then. “I wasn’t treating her like some random girl, Prongs! I was treating her like I treat my friends. Smiles, a wink, a nickname or two. Shit I always do. You can ask Amelia and Marlene if you don’t believe me...I didn’t for a second think that wasn’t...that it wasn’t the right way to handle things with Glenda.” Honestly, thinking about it makes him feel dumb but he’s loathe to admit that out loud. He flinches when he brings up Sienna and lowers his eyes to the table top. “Hexing Rowle was dumb. And I know...I should’ve been the bigger wizard and walked away and I didn’t. Instead I pulled out my wand and acted like a moron.” He didn’t know Amelia had gotten involved, not that he’d asked. “Yeah. I get it. Glenda’s got a swanky job and Sienna is the rich moron giving it to her. And you don’t have to be treated poorly to be someone’s lapdog. But just because she’s treating her right doesn’t mean it is...or was right, Prongs.”

“No, you hexed her because she was rude, and insulted me and your mum. I get why you could’ve gotten angry, that’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying that it doesn’t matter how angry you were, you had no right to pull out your wand like that. That’s not the reaction you should have.” He frowned, clearly frustrated. “And fuck – Peter, she’s the daughter of the Minister of Magic. Do you not realize how fucked you could be over this? If she told her father or even her brother she easily could have gotten you arrested, you’re lucky she didn’t.”

“I am very aware of what my actions could mean for me. I knew them about two seconds after I did it. I panicked. I’d hoped that was the end of things. It was dumb. It was down right childish and I regret it, believe me or not, but I do. I should’ve handled it better. Should’ve walked away or some shit. I know. I’ve thought about it a lot since then, okay?”

“You just said that it was stupid and nothing, Peter,” Sirius reminded him, somehow not believing the instantaneous regret that his best friend put forward. “It doesn’t matter what she said – you’re not me. I have my own history with her, and we’ve fought and we’ve said things, but I’ve never pulled a wand out on her.” 

“I said it was dumb and stupid. And it was dumb and stupid because I was being dumb and stupid. I never said it was nothing.” He sighs. It was always going to be something. “I didn’t hex her because she insulted you.” He shakes his head. “I didn’t...I don’t really...” He sighs again, heavier and harder. “I just...reacted. I didn’t really think about it.”

“Yeah, but we barely said goodbye to anything anyway, we’ve all still got each other,” he said with a shrug. “Though I do miss McGonagall.” James listened intently, frowning slightly as Peter went on. “She… Honestly? Yeah. She’s furious with you. Why did you just heed her concerns?” he asked with a small sigh. “And what did you say to her about the job? About her working for purebloods? I’m a pureblood, Sirius, Marlene.”

“Seriously mate? McGonagall?” He tries a smile and fails. “I kinda miss her too.” He sighs. “I don’t have a good reason. I was just...trying to be normal me not...you’re my messy ex me. You know?” He closes his eyes and drowns the rest of his drink. “You’re a good pureblood, James. Rowle? She’s not. She’s got her head so far up her arse she can’t see straight. And you can’t deny her timing is suspicious. She’s made it no secret she hates me. Glenda and I were...strained and she found out and boom. She knew exactly what the final straw needed to be. Maybe it’s morphed into something real but I’ll never forgive her for making Glenda into her lap dog at first. Never.”

Sirius couldn’t help the look of confusion that spread across his face. “Of course it matters, Wormtail. She wasn’t fine, and it wasn’t dumb. And honestly, I am worried, because I found her sobbing in the bathroom after talking to you the other day. So I’m just trying to understand what’s going on.”

“She was sobbing?” He’s genuinely confused...and a little bit concerned by that. He frantically racks his brain trying to think of what he’ said that’d make her cry. Nothing he hadn’t said a million times before, right? He knocks back another drink. “She insulted you the whole conversation...which isn’t right but...Not unexpected. But then she insulted my mum and I told her to stop and she didn’t and...I lost my cool. And I...I regret it.”

“Okay maybe not forget about it,” James agreed, since it was incredibly important to him too. “But I don’t know, we might have moved on easier.” He frowned slightly, a mix of concern and nerves. “Mate, I’m your best bet right now. Just tell me what happened. How did it get to the point that she was more upset than Amelia has ever seen her? Amelia was crying about it when she told me.”

“Yeah. A real end to it all would have been nice...easier to say good bye. Instead of the ridiculous abrupt end we did get.” He sighs and shakes his head, feeling heavy. “We were talking and I kept ignoring her concerns and then it just kind of...imploded and I made something sexual that I shouldn’t have and...She probably hates me now doesn’t she? Can’t blame her. I didn’t mean to upset her, Prongs. I swear to God I just...I just wanted things be easy between us again.”

“Okay, but what happened?” He asked, “She’s told me some, but I obviously want to hear your side of it.”

“Does it matter, Padfoot? It’s over. She’s fine. It was dumb. I’m...I’m not going to do it again if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“Come on, Wormtail,” Sirius sighed. “She told me about the horns.”

“Oh.” Peter’s heart sinks. It ha been wishful thinking to think he’d have never heard about it, but still. “Okay. I’ll admit it was stupid...but...Merlin it’s all a little fuzzy. I was just so...so fucking mad.” He shakes his head.

“We missed a few months, by now we’d have forgotten about Hogwarts anyway,” he shrugged, even though there were certainly days when he missed life back in the castle. “Yeah, of course,” he said with a small nod, before hesitating for a moment. “Probably.. best for now anyway, Wormtail, she’s not particularly happy with you. She told me about your run in with Glenda. What happened there?”

“Forget about Hogwarts? You daft mate? How can I forget about the place that literally changed my life? I could never.” He grins wide but Jame’s hesitation is enough to make him worry, even more so when he brings up Amelia being upset...and then Glenda. The smile is gone. “I made some stupid mistakes. I don’t...I don’t really want to talk about it tonight Prongs."