Marauders - Always - Part One

The Augury Nest

Peter's face dawned in surprise - genuine surprise. Hadn't James said nearly this same thing only just recently about Dumbledore? That Dumbledore couldn't be fully trusted? That there was more to the old headmaster than showed on the surface? Was it the same as whatever Barty was hinting at now? Peter wondered. And if it was... did that mean that James was actually, intellectually, on the same page as the followers of Grindelwald? Was it perhaps that they'd been misunderstanding the whole political game all these years - assuming they knew the "right" side because they'd only looked at the surface of it? Had Voldemort given Grindelwald's theories a bad face, a bad spin, which had blinded the masses to the truth of what Grindelwald actually had believed in?

It sounded almost like Grindelwald had wanted peace.

Oni Lamm said, "Yeah, Dumbledore's real dark," and the weight of her voice as she said it made Peter look at her and he could see it in her eyes that she meant it, too.

Barty smiled and looked them over, "Oni Lamm - I know you, I remember you at Hogwarts." He glanced at Peter, looked him over a moment.

Peter was sure Barty would remember him. He was one of the Marauders after all and even though it had been mostly James and Sirius that had been famous-famous around the school for the pranks and such, he and Remus had been carried along in the gale, too, hadn't they? Surely anyone that had gone to school with them would recognize him, too? Especially since Barty had been mates with Regulus, surely you recognize one of the best friends of your mate's brother at least a bit? And the Marauders had had plenty of run-ins with Barty's group about the castle, too. Hadn't there been arguments between Sirius and Regulus with Barty and Peter right there? Duels between James and Severus Snape with the pair of them about?

But Barty shook his head, "I'm sorry. What was your name again?"

"Peter Pettigrew," Peter said, and he felt a bit disappointed.

"Oh right, right," Barty said, and he grinned, "They call you Wormtail, don't they?"

Peter lit up with excitement at being remembered, even if it was by the funny moniker. "Yes, yes, that's right, that's me, yes!" he said excitedly.

Barty laughed, "Funny nickname, that is, how'd you come by it?"

"My mates," Peter said vaguely.

Barty didn't press, he simply said, "Well Oni, Wormtail... It sounds like my speech reached the pair of you, at least, so it wasn't for nothing. Hey, you ought to come 'round for a little get together me and my mates are having... You can learn more about what we believe."

And Peter felt a funny feeling come over him.

Like something had just fallen into place.

Sirius waved bye-bye to Nymphadora as Ted Tonks carried her down the stairs to the alley to disapparate home. She waved over his shoulder with energetic flaps of her arms. The moment Ted had spun on the spot and they'd disappeared, Sirius turned 'round, re-entered the flat, slammed and locked the door, and announced, "Where the fuck is the rat, I'm going to murder him."

Remus sighed from the couch, where he was sitting, a book open on his lap. "I dunno where he is. Maybe he figures we've come home by now and found out what he's done and he's too scared to show his face 'round here. Maybe he's ashamed of what an irresponsible thing it was to leave a child home alone like that."

Sirius was too frustrated to feel the love magic connection and his stomach was churning slightly, making the frustration even more pronounced. And for fucksake what wouldn't he give for a cigarette at that moment, to calm the jittering nerves that seemed to crawl under his skin? He stomped his way over to the coffee table and picked up the records he and Tonks had strewn all over, quickly stuffing them back into his case. "Anything could've happened, anything at all," he was grumbling.