^enough said (or shown ig) - listen to this - (dynasty by MIIA)
Malfoy Manor had been volunteered by Abraxas Malfoy to be the host of the latest Death Eater meeting called by Voldemort. This one in particular was not for a specific mission as others had been, but instead just as a morbid sort of progress update and for new assignments to be given out to his followers when they weren't being useful or had just completed something else.
Peter let out a tiny breath of relief that he was not late as he apparated into the drawing room.
The drawing room was full of silent people, sitting at a long and ornate table. Illumination came from a roaring fire with pale emerald flames instead of comforting, orange glowing ones beneath a handsome marble mantelpiece surmounted by a gilded mirror that reflected downwards onto solemn faces.
Peter along with Yaxley took a seat at the end of the table farthest from Voldemort, who began to speak as all of his followers worth noticing had arrived.
The mousy boy at the very end of the table felt a tremor of fear go through him as the terrifying man spoke.
Despite this fear, however, Peter was very glad that he had joined Voldemort's ranks. Even while in Hogwarts, it had been starting to become clear to him that the Order was on the losing side of the wizarding war. And Pettigrew was not one to be on the weaker side, he had to protect themselves at all costs.
Even during his first year at school, he had followed James and Sirius for protection.
And now that pattern was repeating, but with Voldemort instead.
"Nott, is it true that you and Malfoy have successfully tracked down Marlene Mckinnon and Dorcas Meadowes?" he asked in a cold voice.
The two boys nodded without a shred of remorse.
Peter felt an unpleasant squirm go through him as he thought of the blonde girl that had always been the person who could make the entire class laugh with her lack of a filter. Marlene always had the brightest smile in the room and felt things very intensely, which was why so many things had happened revolving around her. A jolt of uncertainty went through him.
Then again, she had hurt Sirius, Peter thought. So maybe she deserves what's coming her way.
He stayed silent as Voldemort progressed his questions down the table, and his stomach flipped every time that the chair called began to get closer and closer to him. After Narcissa had been talked to, Peter fidgeted with his thumbs under the table in hopes that Voldemort would look past him as a mere foot soldier.
"Pettigrew."
All of the gazes in the room transferred to Peter, who tried not to show his fear.
"Yes, my Lord?" Peter asked, trying to show his loyalty as much as possible.
"You have not done much in the past few weeks besides merely showing up to meetings trembling," he said in a cold tone that echoed through the high ceilinged room. "And with all of that time you have been spending with blood traitors, mudbloods, and halfbreeds, should I be starting to question your loyalty?"
The last thing Peter wanted was to end up tortured like the other traitors to Voldemort, so he fervently shook his head in reply.
"No, my Lord, my loyalty is to you and only you," he said, a significant tremor in his voice. "I am staying close to them merely because you have instructed me to."
"That loyalty is useless unless you have gained something from that time with them," Voldemort replied. "You are a spy, so do your duty to our cause and report back to me before we have to do extract the information from you in a more painful way."
Peter felt a rush of heat go through him as if he was having a sudden fever.
"What about the Rosier girl?" Voldemort prompted. "She had been quite dangerous in the past, has she not?"
There was a general murmur of consent down the table; many of them had been on the wrong end of Hollis and never fully recovered from the damage the young woman had done.
"Y-yes, she has," Peter said because he was honestly scared of her.
And when Peter was scared of someone or something, he hid, and right now, there was no one to hide behind besides Voldemort.
"She's been the person preventing many of the attacks ever since Hogwarts," Peter said smoothly, his tongue suddenly becoming loose. "She had a false Dark Mark and a spy on the inside and told Dumbledore about the plans so he could prevent them."
An outraged cry went through the table.
All Voldemort had to do was hold up a singular hand to stop them, his gaze focused entirely on Peter.
Before, this troublesome little girl had been on his general radar of potential enemies to eliminate, but now, she was even higher with this infuriating and successful betrayal.
"Where is she now?" he asked with determination.
"Potter Manor."
"If I may interrupt, my Lord," Theodore said with a slight, respectful inclination of his head, and Voldemort gestured for him to speak. "The girl will not be alone. She has many friends that would risk their lives for her in a second. They might be more fierce than you expect."
"Yes, I am well aware of the group that calls themselves the Marauders," Voldemort confirmed, his dark eyes glistening. "They are all much less threatening than her, and it won't be much harm if they escape. We can always track them down later."
Peter flinched at the word Marauders, slowly realizing what he had done.
"The only person we are there for is the girl."
For some reason, a particular phrase said by Frank in their last days at Hogwarts was echoing in Peter's head as he sunk back in his chair while Voldemort moved to his next follower.
No one lives once You-Know-Who decides he wants to kill them.
.｡*ﾟ+.*.｡ ﾟ+..｡*ﾟ+
Meanwhile, at Potter Manor, Hollis had locked herself in the room she and Remus shared with six sheets of parchment and six envelopes, three of which had already been sealed.
After seeing the expression on Peter's face, something had clicked in Hollis that she desperately hoped was wrong. All of his absences to the people he would normally stay around for protection at any cost were starting to build up a clear picture in her head.
Peter had found someone else to protect him.
If he simply returned a few hours or days later because he genuinely needed to cool off after the tragic news of the Potter's deaths, then she would never have any use for these letters and would burn them as to not remind herself as to what could have happened.
But for now, she had to.
My Dearest and Most Darling James,
It was taking everything in her for tears not to spill down onto the parchment and blur the ink as she wrote, but her handwriting remained steady and clear without waver. A few minutes later, there was a thick stack of six envelopes sitting on the mahogany desk that she hoped would never be read.
Hollis stood up from the cushioned chair and rummaged around the room for a few moments until she found their book, and opened up to the page with the last picture on it, writing a short message before placing a dozen protective enchantments on both the letters and the book so that no harm could possibly fall to them.
Then, moving as quietly down the halls as she could, Hollis went through the attic and climbed up onto the roof with her wand in hand.
Waiting.
.｡*ﾟ+.*.｡ ﾟ+..｡*ﾟ+
Downstairs, Sirius, Remus, James, and Lily were completely silent.
None of them had gone up to check on Hollis because they were so deeply swallowed in their own grief at how suddenly two lives had been taken from them. There was the tiniest bit of comfort that Euphemia had reassured them that she was ready to die, but it wasn't much.
Whenever they thought of the more technical aspects of the deaths, like a funeral, it completely broke them and they returned to more conceptual regions of their minds.
Healing Hollis and Remus had been something as if on autopilot like they were acting through her instructions. Now that too was gone, it left them feeling more empty than ever.
Lily shifted against James's chest with a tiny motion that broke the silence with a tiny rustling of fabric. None of them noticed, they were too deep in their own thoughts.
A loud crack certainly snapped them out of it, however.
As soon as the meeting had been called to a close, Peter was given very specific instructions by the Dark Lord on what to do once he returned to Potter Manor.
I have the choice, he realized as he still had his eyes shut from the transition. I can still get them out of this.
But when he opened his eyes up, he was reminded by their broken expressions of how truly hopeless the Order was and knew he had done the right thing.
"Where were you?" James asked in a curious, not accusatory tone. "Are you alright?"
"Yea, I'm fine," Peter said softly. "I just went on a walk."
"I get that," Remus smiled a bit. "Nature helps."
There were a few moments of silence before Peter said down next to Sirius on the couch, who opened his arm to him without hesitation.
At least they were hurting together.
yes i am aware this was a very short chapter (1.7k words)
i will kill u if u hate on my new pfp
nicholas hoult as sebastian fink ty
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