The Truth Behind the Veil ✔️

Secret's Out

   Peter, James and Sirius exchanged glances, grinning widely. "Deal!"

   It was always so strange to see Peter being kind-hearted and innocent. There had always been the assumption that Peter had always been sort of twisted, always had an ulterior motive. On the contrary, Peter Pettigrew was a sweet, seventeen year old boy who always wanted the best for his friends despite his myriad of insecurity.

   He helped Remus with Herbology and gave him chocolate unquestionably, he joked loudly with James and Sirius, always encouraging them with their prank exhibitions, Quidditch matches, and, in James' case, always going out of his way to cheer James up after a rejection by Lily and being the first to throw a celebration when she finally fell for him.

   How this boy turned around in a course of four years, becoming a villain, a traitor, a murderer, was extremely difficult to understand. Knowing Peter now, made hating him difficult even though Fawn wanted to desperately. Right now, they were all just kids. It's hard to pin a crime on a kid when the crime was committed at a very different time. Four years could, did, change everything. Even more so with Fawn possessing the knowledge that she had and knowing she had the power to alter the timeline if she so desired.

   Sirius cleared his throat loudly, catapulting Fawn out of her thoughts yet again. "What?" she asked dumbly, sure her face reflected her lack of attention.

   "I asked if you're going to Sluggy's party with Reg again?"

  A snort exited her throat. "What?" This time the tone was amused.

  "You heard me," sang Sirius, "I know there is something going on there."

  "I can assure you, there is not. Who are you going with?"

   Sirius grinned goofily. "Moony asked me again." The twinkle in the eyes of Remus' friends was undeniable. Everyone was ready for those two to make it official already.

   Fawn wiggled her eyebrows at Remus who was very pointedly looking away.

  Sirius leaned close, stage-whispering. "He's embarrassed."

  "I am not!" declared Remus, his face ablaze with color. This declaration was met with a fit of giggles from the others and a pat on the back from Peter.

  "Sure you're not, mate," he said.

*****

   "Why are N.E.W.T.S right before the winter holidays?" whined Marlene, her face squished into a pillow, her body splayed out on a bed.

"Because otherwise they'd be before summer," Alice rationalized.

   The exams were now only a week away. Lily refused to look up, she was hunched over her desk scribbling study-notes furiously, pages turning at such an alarming pace it was shocking that they hadn't ripped yet. The other girls were far less worried about their scores. All three were going down the path of being Aurors—well, Fawn was technically becoming a Curse-Breaker but that required the same exams only with the addition of Ancient Runes and no need for Potions.

   For Marlene, Auroring was in her blood; her parents were both well-renowned Aurors as were many of her other family members.

   Alice on the other-hand, came from a family line of businesses owners like her great-uncle Florean who owned an ice cream shop in Diagon Alley, Professors; her ancestor Dexter Fortescue had been Hogwarts' headmaster a century or so ago and other self-fulfilling careers. So, Alice becoming an Auror was a big deal to her family who were simultaneously overjoyed and terrified for their little girl.