The Haunting of Peter Pettigrew

The Beginning

Harry, Ron, and Hermione were immediately transported to an unfamiliar place. But all of them were struck at the sight of familiar people.

Harry Potter, whose last year was finally catching up to him, felt tears prick the back of his green eyes.

The four of them were sitting at a small round table in the corner of a cozy looking kitchen. Lana Bowers was tucked under Sirius Black's arm while they smiled across opened Butterbeers at their companions. Remus Lupin sat in one chair across from them, his eyes tired but happy. He yawned, covering his mouth every so often while his head was propped up by the other arm. Beside him, James Potter, full of life and joy, was waving his arms around so wildly that he almost fell off of his chair.

The four looked peaceful and they looked happy in the way that only people who were exactly where they belonged could be.

"And I swear to you all now," James declared wildly, "That he's going to be Gryffindor Quidditch Captain one day!"

"That's a lot of pressure for a boy who is not even a year old," Lana chuckled into Sirius's shirt. "What if he doesn't like Quidditch? Or...if he's not in Gryffindor?"

James shrugged carelessly, his wild hair flopping around his forehead. "We'll first of all, he's being raised by me. He will love Quidditch. Second," he let out a mock sigh, "I suppose I'll need to disown him."

"Hardly," Remus scoffed. "How would you end up explaining that one to Lily?"

"I'd look right at her and I'd say, Lily, we have to exchange him. This one is broken."

They all laughed even as Lana balled up a napkin and threw it at his head. "HARDLY! YOU ARE OBSESSED WITH HIM James Potter!"

He sighed again, "True. I suppose I could expand my wardrobe to include another scarf if ABSOLUTELY necessary. Even..." He shuddered, "Even a green one. Merlin my dad would come back to haunt me for that one!"

"And then your mum," Sirius smirked, "would remind you that she was in Slytherin and it would serve you right."

"Well no matter what house our Little Dreamer is in, it's going to be amazing. He's going to be amazing," Lana pointed at him with her finger.

"He's already amazing," James grinned, "he's related to me, isn't he?"

All three groaned, but anyone could tell by their smiles that they agreed with him at least a little bit.

"Hopefully he'll have some of Lily's good sense," Remus said meaningfully. "I'd hate to be McGonagall if he's your twin. I'm certain that if that happens she'll put in for retirement."

"Nah," James laughed. "Minnie loves me!"

"We," Sirius gestured around the table, "are her favorite students."

"I miss those days," Lana said, a bit of sadness creeping into her voice, catching the attention of the table. "When things were easy. Before...before the war."

"Yeah," Sirius nodded. "Me too."

"I do too, sometimes. But," James broke in, "Then I look at Lily and Harry...and I remember that I was...I was a prat in school. Well, at least fifty percent of the time. Then I grew up and for some reason Lily Evans lost all common sense and agreed to go out with me and marry me and now we have Harry. As great as that time was, I like adult me and his life."

"There's life to be lived," Remus agreed. "It's not over and it won't be over whenever the war ends."

"No matter who we loose," Sirius spoke huskily. "We will have had this."