While people with only a casual acquaintance with Lily Evans-Potter might think she was sugar and spice and everything nice straight to her core, those who knew her well knew she had a temper fit to match every stereotype associated with her flaming red hair. It was far from uncommon for her to work herself into a righteous fury over a grand injustice or perceived slight, lashing out to right the wrong. It was, however, uncommon for her to go looking for a fight. Lily wasn’t particularly proud of her temper, and it was rare for her to go out of her way to indulge it, but today was one of those days.

Lily had been on edge ever since the New Year’s Eve party when she’d begun to hear whispers about an Azkaban breakout. Part of her had just been waiting for something like this to happen, not yet quite trusting the peace people had been insisting on, but at the same time for once she wished she hadn’t been proved right. The final straw came when James mentioned his and Harry’s run in with Peter Pettigrew. Now, Lily had a target for all of her pent up frustration and she was on a warpath.

There had been a time when Lily had known Peter quite well, or at least thought she had. Despite her desire to completely erase the traitor from her life. She still had facts about him filed away in her memory. On this particular day, this served her aims. She didn’t know anything about Peter’s life since the war ended, other than he’d stopped working at the Leaky Cauldron, but she knew the most likely place she’d find him was behind a bar. It had always been a familiar, safe space for her former friend, and Lily was in the process of methodically checking each bar in wixen London when she entered the White Wyvern.

A savage sense of success shot through Lily when she saw Peter exactly where she’d predicted he’d be. Her face was darker than a thundercloud as she marched up to the bar, not even waiting for him to notice her. “If you ever so much as look at my son ever again, I will make your life a living hell the likes of which you cannot even imagine.”

@peter-valentine​

That’s where Evan came in. It wasn’t his official role nor one he was ever asked to take on, but over time he’d taken several younger Death Eaters under his wing. It was a less intense version of the relationship he had with his siblings. He’d support them and give encouragement when they needed it, but he also wanted to challenge them to push them to be the best they could be. Unlike his siblings, he wouldn’t trade his life for any of them, but he’d never let them know that.

“C’mon, you’ve got this Peter,” Evan shouted from the sidelines. Today’s training session was taking place in a specialized practice room that Evan had set up in the basement of one of their lesser properties. Though he and his siblings tended to practice on live subjects, he knew it wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Most people didn’t grow up following the cause. They had to work up to feeling comfortable with the responsibilities and play that came with being a Death Eater.

“Give the hex one more go and then we can stop for today.” Evan could see that Peter was getting tired, but he was so close to nailing it. He wanted Peter to end on a feeling of success so that he’d be motivated when they started again next time. However, if that didn’t happen, Evan was ready to reassure him and pump him up regardless.

@peterxpettigrewx

Shuffling around the house to see what needed to be done, Alex heard the doorbell ring and went to open the front door. “Peter! Hey. Come on in,” Alex said, smiling, as he stepped aside to let the other man in. “I don’t think there will be too much work to do, mostly just gettin’ the downstairs bedroom set up for Cass and Niko especially. Plus I’m sure you’ll be able to come up with something we hadn’t thought of yet that needs to be done.

@petervalentine​

It had become a habit, at some point, to pop into a bookstore every time she passed and part of her aim was to see if any of her books were being sold. It was perhaps strange that she had never been in Flourish and Blotts before, therefore, but she just didn’t tend to go down Diagon Alley if she could help it. She knew it was the big one, though. The one her publisher had made a point of telling her when Hairy Snout, Human Heart was stocked by the shop. She hadn’t had such a letter about her other books but she was still curious and, besides, it had been seven years since Hairy Snout, Human Heart so she wondered if they would still be stocking copies or not.

She’s working well past midnight, too afraid to even look at the clock after all this time. She’d gone home for dinner, just to spend a little time with James and Harry, but returned while James was putting Harry to bed--she had to, she’d apologized, she’d given James a kiss and Apparated back. There were meetings to prepare for, reports to deal with, Kingsley’s schedule to put in order. Too much to do. She was drowning in it.

And then a wolf appeared in her office and everything just froze, for a crystalline moment, at the words Peter’s here.

Lily gaped at the silvery figure. The message was so simple and so loaded. There was only one Peter he could’ve meant, only one Peter who’d been on their minds. Only one Peter who’d turned his back on them. Destroyed James for weeks, shaking in her arms, wracked with sobs over the friend who’d ruined them. The fourth goddamn Marauder who’d turned out to be no better than a common rat.

She’d assumed he was dead, when news of him stopped coming in. She’d been glad he was dead. And now he was--alive, alive and in Hogwarts, and Remus was calling her at fucking--one o’clock in the morning--and she had to go now, because if she didn’t go now then Peter might have a chance to slip away. And Lord knew Lily Evans-Potter was not going to let Peter fucking Pettigrew get away.

A quick letter to toss on Kingsley’s desk, saying she’ll be in late tomorrow, and Lily’s off to the Floo, where there’s a direct line to Minerva’s office. She’ll wake Minerva, most likely, but there’s no chance to wait to write ahead, and without a wand she has no Patronus to send. Lily tumbles out of the fireplace, sending sparks flying, rushing past a sleep-startled Minerva with some hasty apology.

She bursts into Remus’ office with enough force that the door hits the wall behind it. Her eyes scan the room, finding Remus’ grim expression, his own eyes directed at--Peter. There. Lily advances on him, already snapping, “you--fucking--bastard--”

James didn’t really remember much after seeing Sirius in the hospital wing. His entire world had narrowed down to that, the need to get to his best friend, and he was only distantly aware of Otto Bagman pulling him out of the hospital wing or Lily’s continual reassurances that Sirius would be fine. He’d been standing in one spot for what felt like hours but was probably on a few minutes, trying to calm down enough to think logically. He knew where Sirius was, but didn’t have any ideas about Remus or Peter, and he needed to know where they were. They had to be okay - what the fuck would he do if they were hurt too?

Finally stepping away from the hospital wing, James took a few hesitant steps down the hallway but it was hard to move more than a couple of feet down the hall without feeling more guilty. He could have gone to find them - he should have gone to find them. He shouldn’t have left them. Running his hands through his hair - not in his customary move to give him that windswept look, but rather a move of desperation - he turned and froze again, but this time in relief. “Peter?”

She was making the climb back up to Gryffindor for at least the third time that night, but it made have been more than that. She’d gone back and forth quite a few times, to check on younger students, to get a cup of tea, to walk off the linger effects of the night. But she thought she was finally ready to stay this time, and curl up with Marlene and Crookshanks to get some much needed sleep. By this time of night, she really expected to be alone in the corridor, so she was quite surprised to see someone else - surprised and a little scared, to be truthful. She didn’t want to experience a repeat of the events from the year before, although she wasn’t going to back down from anything.

But as she took another step, she realized it was Peter, and her fears fled, chased away by the fluttering in her stomach and quickened beat of her heart. Not fear, this time, but excitement. She had always been fond of Peter, and somewhere over the years fondness had turned a little deeper, not that she had told that to anyone. She wasn’t sure that it would do any good, really, and it was something she wanted to keep to herself for a little longer. But she moved to join him, offering a tired smile and a quick squeeze of his arm. “How are you, Peter?”