In Perpetuum

Chapter 22

Peter and Ayemeric were speaking in hushed tones over their cottage pie, until Peter gave out a loud yelp. Apparently, Goyle had kicked him in the shins while simultaneously making rather indiscreet hand gestures to indicate to Peter that his friends had arrived.

Peter took one glance over his shoulder at the open mouths of his friends and shot up from his seat, almost upsetting the jug of pumpkin juice near his elbow.

“What is Peter doing at the Slytherin table?” whispered Lily to Hermione.

“No idea,” replied Hermione.

Their eyes followed his form as he quickly trotted from the other end of the Hall to where they were standing.

 “Oww! Sirius, let go.”

Hermione had become acutely aware of Sirius’ ever tightening grip on her hand. As he let go, Hermione massaged her fingers with her other hand as she felt the blood rush back into them.

“Who’s going to be the lucky one to speak to him about why the heck he was over there, talking to a Slytherin Fifth year?” questioned Sirius.

Lily, Hermione and Sirius all turned to look at James, whom Peter had an inherent fascination with.

“Come on, mate, summon up some of that Lion’s courage and find out what he was doing over there.”

James turned to look at his friend with a slightly put-out frown.

“Alright, but you owe me a chocolate frog for this,” said James as he began to stride over to intercept Peter before he joined the group. The ‘pain’ would be less apparent if he did not have an audience watching his every move.

James pulled his shoulders back, puffed out his chest and walked purposefully forward. Even though Peter was his friend, he still wanted to cast an aura of power around himself. He had the outward appearance of someone who knew what they were doing, however, on the inside he did not have a clue what about what he was going to say. Peter was his friend, how do you stand up to and question a friend?

Peter had been acting very strangely lately and James wondered whether Goyle’s sudden appearance in the picture had anything to do with it. Despite this thought, when James reached Peter and had a good, close look at him he thought better of his previous assumptions.

No Slytherin in their right mind would befriend this dopey lad and allow him to join their ranks. In fact, James often wondered why Peter was not placed in Hufflepuff.

“Peter, just a quick question about...something. What the heck were you doing over there with a Slytherin? Moreover, a Slytherin who could also pin you to the ground and beat the stuffing out of you?”

Peter adopted a neutral facial expression and spoke with almost practised precision.

“Goyle had a question about something and since I was the only other person around, he asked me.”

This did not sit well with James. Peter was not all that talented academically, and besides Goyle was in Fifth year. There would be no way Peter would be able to help him with that. James prodded further.

“What are you helping him with?”

“It is just some extracurricular activities. Do you want to go and sit over there with Remus? I’m famished.”

James was startled with this sudden, desperate need on Peter’s part to change conversation topics. He decided that perhaps a full frontal attack was not the best way to approach the topic and that he would re-visit the issue later, so as to not arouse suspicion.