The Marauders - Order of the Phoenix - Part Two

Must Be The Clouds in My Eyes

There was a knock on the door and it opened just a little bit and Peter Pettigrew peeked in, "Are you lot... decent?"

"Yes, we're decent you twit," Sirius said, eyes still closed.

"I heard music. I wasn't sure." Peter pushed the door open.

"Nobody shags to Daniel, Wormtail."

"I dunno what it was, only music..." Peter stepped into the room. "You lot hungry?"

"No," Sirius and Remus both answered at the same time, and Remus followed it up with, "Sirius, you should eat. You'll feel better."

"Why don't you?"

"Tomorrow's the Full moon," Remus reminded him.

Sirius looked at his tattoo 'round about his wrist. "Oh. Yeah. That's right. I forgot." He stared at the little wolf on his tattoo howling up at the nearly fully waxed moon. He looked up suddenly. "I want to go and get a tattoo."

"What?" Remus said, he looked at Sirius's arms. "You've already got so many."

"But I want one for Regulus."

Lily and James arrived before Peter had finished eating. He was sitting alone in the apartment, a radio played - the station was a wizarding news broadcast, tuttering on about some new legislature being passed by the Ministry concerning relations between MACUSA and the Ministry for Magic. Tensions were rising between America and Britain as speculation was being leveled against Harold Minchum's action in containing the Dark Lord's rise. MACUSA worried another international affair on the level of Grindelwald and they clapped back at the Ministry for having failed thus far at ending the looming threat.

"Didn't we learn from the last go 'round?" the leader of MACUSA said in a clip of the speech he had given in New York on the 23rd. The Ministry had yet to respond to the speech.

James looked nervous when he arrived. "Where's Sirius?" he asked.

"He and Remus went to get tattoos."

Lily blinked. "What?"

"Sirius said he wanted a tattoo and Remus took him to get some." Peter munched a toast. "Are you hungry? I made extra incase they decided they were hungry, but they left and didn't eat so now there's some for you if you want."

"No thanks, Peter," James said.

Lily sat down and reached out her hand and laid it on Peter's wrist. "You're such a good friend, Peter."

"Thanks," he said, still chewing his toast. He thought for a moment. "I thought about going with them, you know. To get a tattoo."

James looked at Peter, one eyebrow raised, "You were going to get a tattoo?"

"Yeah," Peter said. He picked up another piece of toast. "Why not?"

What James wanted to say was because you're you? but what he said was, "What of?" James asked.

"A rat, of course," Peter replied. He lit up. "Maybe you, me, Sirius, and Remus could go and get tattoos together of our animagus forms!"

"Maybe," James answered. But he didn't reckon he wanted one. He was fairly certain his mum would actually kill him if she found out he had made a permanent mark on his body on purpose. She still sighed as though she were in great pain whenever she saw the few scars he had - and - Merlin's beard - when she'd seen the scar on his ear from the night at the Chainwright Theater she had nearly lost her mind.

"What IS THAT?" she had sounded like a very large hen in a dither.

"Tis but a scratch mum," he'd answered.