He had promised his mother he would not spend all summer back home, so when she said she was going to London for a few days on business, he decided to join her. Kaz didn’t like London, but then again, he didn’t like anywhere that wasn’t the safe comfort of his home or Hufflepuff common room. Since his mother was busy with work, it meant he was left to find something to do. Since he promised his mother he would not spend the whole time reading in the inn. That’s how he ended up lost in Diagon Alley. “Excuse me,” he said, softly approaching someone, “I think I’m a little lost.”
He didn’t want new robes, didn’t even think he needed them. What he had was fine, but his mother kept insisting he deserved new ones. For what? Peter wanted to ask the woman who always seemed coated in nerves about the boy. As if his robes being freshly mended in Malkins were going to make a difference. And all he had done the last half hour was stand there with his arms straight out while she waited to the side and offered him snacks. So fine. Yes. he did want one, but that was besides the point now. Now his mother as paying, and his freshly sore arms were back at his sides where they belonged as she pushed his way out of the shop to breath air that didn’t feel coated in fabric and dust. “Me too, yeah.” Was his immediate response. “Actually, sort of do know where I am, yeah.”
“ doesn’t mean you couldn’t use some more , mate . have you been out since term ended ? c'mon , just some drinks , hittin’ up muggle pubs where no one knows us ? ” merlin , he was a tricky bloke . the hand that was waving in the air marking her words didn’t stop as she spoke , eyes glinting with mischief as she imagined it . she wasn’t sure why pete was like this , why he seemed to try so hard to avoid . . . mostly anything that didn’t involve him and the rest of the blokes , but she thought it did him more harm than good . some nice , absentminded fun wouldn’t kill him . and as such dorcas simply rolled her eyes , the pencil in her hand moving to poke at the boy’s forearm gently , curls popping as she spoke again . " i’m working now , doesn’t mean i don’t get off later . plenty of free time to take you out on the town , loosen up a bit . you won’t regret it , i promise . gryffindor’s honor . "
Peter rubbed the side of his head. Clearly, Dorcas just did not get it. No, she just did not get it at all, not one bit, even a little. His hand rested on his temple, barely even considering her offer. “I don’t need to be loosened.” He did his best to not swallow his defense. That was the problem, wasn’t it? Nobody ever actually listened unless, of ocurse, there was something he could actually offer. And there wasn’t anything here anyway. “I mean, yeah. Your honor is great and all, yeah but. No thanks, I don’t want to.” People asking him to do things of this variety were just off, like dancing. It was all just off. He also assumed his parents were on their way back from respective toilets. “It’s nice and all, yeah. But it looks funny to me.”
" oi , if they were on a date you’d be home . brighten up , pete , won’t kill you to stop shittin’ on yourself for two seconds . " merlin her mother was going to kill her , but dorcas looked around the dining room for a moment before she slid onto an empty chair , eyes rolling and a hand armed with a blunt pencil waving around peter’s face . she couldn’t for the life of her understand why the boy was so . . . so that to himself — he was a funny enough bloke , he could use some confidence . " nah , mum’s in the kitchen with dad — he does the cooking and she does the expediting , beats me how they handle each other all day every day but whatever floats their boat . i’m just helpin’ out . we should go out sometime — as friends before you choke on air , mate — you look like you could use some fun . "
Concerned eyes fell over as she sat opposite him. He couldn’t tell if her comment was meant to be patronizing, like the way he interpreted his parents’ pride in him. Peter hoped he was keeping a straight face as she spoke...suggested what?... Merlin, and thank Godric. Going out with Dorcas would be a nightmare. Surely, she was nice, but brightly confident and curly dark hair was a thing of the past now. As far as he could tell from the likes of where the lads eyes were when he watched for that sort of thing. There would be no reason to like her that way anyway. “I have fun all the time, yeah. You should know....you’ve seen it.” Dorcas had to have gotten even a little caught in the crossfire of a prank once or twice. If he did the math, it would mean most of the schoo likely had. “But you’re working, yeah. Not going out if you’re here?”
❝ now you’re telling porkie pies there , wasn’t it ten galleons you offered me ? i’m almost certain it was . i wonder what dear little luella would say if i told her that ? that a mean old sixth year was thinking of such an awful thing ? ❞ twist and turn and lie and charm ; it was everything jasmine had taught her to do — if she had to . everything that was expected of her , everything she wasn’t . but with words laced with a near unconscious dip into the magic her mother had passed to her it came oh so sweetly and naturally to her lips . maybe she was a freak . just maybe . but she had her own gifts .
“It was your idea, so then...no money on it yeah. I don’t want to.” He rubbed the back of his neck, with that strange sensation of how bad it would look for him to walk away again. His nose was itchy too, unsure of what caused or his dreary feeling. “Who’s...porkie pie. I mean like,” The scary blonde caught him off guard again, yet a more tingly feeling towards the very back of his scalp. “I don’t wanna do it, allright. Yeah.”
THE MARAUDERS ╱ aciiers , pettitail, @hvwliing, jcmesptter
𝑠𝑖𝑟𝑖𝑢𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑚𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑓𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑠 into simply staring ahead along with james as remus and peter discuss . he snaps back fully when james brings him up . ❛ or we could play in teams , ❜ sirius grins back to james , turning to cock a brow at both peter and remus in turn . ❛ and you — ❜ he jabs a finger into james’ chest , acting like the smile’s gone manic . ❛ get to play against me , if i’m apparently in need of practice . we’ll see who’s getting kicked out next fall , prongsie . ❜ he sits back in his seat again , arms around the back of it . ❛ you want to go fetch a board , pete ? or we can all just break into the library . ❜
Peter was already looking around for the cloak. The sooner back he was the sooner he’d offer his place on James’ side for a tag-team wizard’s chess. “If you want, yeah. That’s better...” That way he didn’t have to come back and just be assigned to a side. But his eyes faltered back to Remus, not sure if the lad was good to just walk with them and raid the library. “But if Pince is still here, yeah? Then I,” he bloody hated this part, “I still fit best under the cloak, yeah. I know that.” But, that is where he knew he could help the most, the role he thought he’d be appreciated in - so his eyes turned back to James, seeking permission to snatch the thing from yet another trunk of mischievous items stored away for this very occasion.
“you dropped something” cassian pointed out to the boy just escaping the train, in his defence it was a flood of students and parents ushering them to the side, he doubt the boy even saw that he dropped the pouch. lucius was taking his sweet time and here he was aiding the helpless, “here you go” he muttered, handing it over - there was his charitable act of the day, now if only someone could see it, then altheda, his publicist would be off of his arse about his image.
@pettitail
He told his parents to still meet him at the train station, even if it was a day later. If apparation was a NEWT instead of one measley exam he’d probably have done great. But this was a hassle, carrying all of his things.Trying to imagine himself with everything at one in his hand right on the platform. So upon his pop in - a few things scattered. But he turned rapidly at the appearance of another and when he turned....MERLIN. “Yeah, thanks.” Voice nothing but a little squeak when the chocolate frog card was given back to him. He quickly shoved it back in his pocket because...why look at the card when the real person was right there. And he didn’t want him to see....”Hello.”
" no , unless you're buying . my parents own the place , i'm on strictly work duty . “ she waved her paper around , the grin on his lips matching the twinkle in her eye as she rested her hip against peter's table — she really , truly liked the boy . sure , he was a bit . . . well , a bit something , but dorcas had grown to appreciate his company over the last year . the witch moved to pat his shoulder as her gaze moved over the table , brow raising when she turned back to the boy she now considered a friend . " you here alone ? pretty big table just for you , pete . oh — please tell me i'm not crashing a date . ”
Thank goodness he chose to not take a sip of water from his glass or else that water would have ended up all over the table, for Peter could not fathom what would put a line like that Dorcas’ mind. “No, yeah. No.” The words still choked out in the same fashion wish they would have had he been caught off guard by anything else. “My mum and dad, yeah. They went the toilet.” Weak finger pointed some direction as he frankly was not sure where exactly that was and followed with a weaker laugh. “I guess I’m...crashing their date...yeah.” Feeble attempts at humor were futile when he actually just wanted to change the subject. “Where’re your parents...do you do this alone?”
“i don’t doubt that, i’m just telling you i haven’t heard that name in this department before. these are the obliviator offices and i’m pretty sure you’re lost.” and he’d chosen to bother her, of all people. did she seem approachable? that was both good and bad, but for now she’d take the distraction she supposed. “the fireplaces? the floos?” she laughed at that a little. “i could tell you but i’m concerned you’d get lost again, so why don’t you just follow me and i’ll take you back down to the floos?”
“Obliviators, right, yeah.” As if that at all cleared up his confusion about this maze of a building. Was it even really a building? He swallowed down any more embarrassment to give the young woman a polite nod. Peter stepped away from the doorway, half convinced he’d end up on another floor without her in front of him. “Please, yeah. Thank you, yeah. Don’t know it well enough.”
❝ are you helping prove my point little petey ? oh how sweet of you . i asked if you would but i would never do that ! ❞ she lied , a look of mock affront across her face . ❝ but you asking me to ? i wonder , what are you capable of ? ❞
“I didn’t ask you to do anything, Borgin.” Peter defended. She was absolutely putting words in his mouth. More words than he would even ever say to her if given the option to just walk away. Why hadn’t he thought of that earlier? Merlin, Godric, and whoever else...hit stomach felt gross. “Have fun being,” Eyes darted away yet again “...all freakish, yeah.”
“she watched him, she could practically smell his nerves from where she stood as she planted her hands on her hips, waiting. did she intimidate the child? or was he nervous for another reason? “sorry, never heard that name before. try another floor perhaps?” surely he didn’t need an escort.
He hovered in the doorway, unsure if leaving entirely or entering was going to help more. “I mean, yeah. He works here, yeah.” Which that much was obvious, but the specifics of ‘here’ were not. Maybe he could just go one home? Surely he could manage that. “Um is there...the, yeah. You know hall with the...” His hand gestured, as if throwing something down. “The fireplaces?”
she sighed softly, this was clearly a mistake on the boys fault but she felt a little badly for him. still he looked a bit young to be wandering around the ministry, so she tried to be understanding even though she didn’t really want to be. she had plenty of work to get to but instead her time was being taken by this, and she began to wonder ( as she often did ) if he was muggleborn or not. you look a bit lost love, where is it you need to be?” she could get him out of her hair if he’d just spit it out.
Peter’s eyes circled the room, looking for something familiar but came up on literally nothing. In fact, he was sure he was on the wrong floor and it didn’t help that he could not even imagine what division is father actually worked in. “Um, Andrew Pettigrew?” He blurbed to the tall girl who seemed sweet enough. “Is this...” He trailed off not really hving any other questions.
THE MARAUDERS ╱ aciiers, pettitail, @hvwliing, jcmesptter
𝑠𝑖𝑟𝑖𝑢𝑠 𝑘𝑒𝑒𝑝𝑠 ℎ𝑖𝑠 attention on peter a moment , contemplating a bit before he suggests a plan . ❛ isn’t she always sending far too much , anyways ? we can always make for one last feast before taking off after the moon , too . merlin knows i’ll need it . ❜ even if his house elf did try to feed him without poison instructed to be included this time — if fed at all after this — he wouldn’t want to bother checking . at the jibe , he gives prongs a quick snap of his head , hand coming out in accusation , masking the bubbling laughter threatening to leave at the memories gobblestones caused them . ❛ that - was a result of nothing but pure luck . ❜ sirius huffs belligerently , leg coming out to kick at james’ .
“I mean, that’s it, yeah. That’s what I was saying about it....” Peter had popped up from his seat, having lugged down the trunk in the morning almost in sheer forget-fullness of their grand plan before turning around a bit suddenly. “Makes sense, too yeah...we’ll save it for later..or when Moony wants, yeah.” His leg leaned against the object, eyes darting between the other three for some sense of direction. He couldn’t help but grin as he watched their banter unfold for that brief moment, taking in a breath to speak but finding he had nothing to add. Instead he released an audible sigh, hoping it wasn’t too loud. It didn’t meant to sound tired, or bored, but what would he have done? Held is breath? “So gobstones or? library for chess peices?” He finally added, feet shifting weight.
“ i’m going , merlin , you’d think i’ve been sat on my ass all day . ” eyes rolled as dorcas jumped off the stool she’d been sitting at , her mother’s order to get her butt moving a little too pointed for the young woman to ignore — until money started coming in the easiest solution was to help out at pestle and mortar and while dorcas wasn’t the biggest fan of waiting tables . . . it could be worse . the summer rush had started and it was all hands on deck at the meadowes household . she was humming as she exited the kitchen , the pencil she’d used earlier to attempt to keep her hair back ( her mother’s doing , there was no reason to use a quill when pencils were much easier ) finding her way to her hand as she approached the table , taking a second too long to recognize the face looking up at her . " hello , i’m dorcas and — oh . hey . "
How was it possible for both of his parents to need the lavatory at once? Peter sat, hands crossed at the table somewhat in fear that a waiter would ask for their order before either of them returned. Of course, now, he would order for them, but no one had said what they wanted. And this was supposed to be some sort of celebratory plate? Hard to imagine that two people could be so proud of something like an Acceptable. Acceptable. A grade that was essentially the equivalent of a fucking shrug and that’s what they were happy abo- “Dorcas.” His glazed eyes came back to life at the sound of the voice. Okay, well she won’t make him order. “How, how are you, yeah?” Hand scratched behind his ear. “Are you eating?”
THE MARAUDERS ╱ jcmesptter , aciiers , pettitail, @hvwliing
❛ 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡'𝑠 saying much , is it ? we never nick enough sweets ,❜ sirius responds to james idly , lips curling up to a roguish grin in the process . ❛ we won’t need the cloak — or elves — for more food . we have enough — we just need to find something else to do to distract us from just sitting here , ❜ he insists , leaning back and discarding the apple . he snaps his fingers toward remus as well at the insistence he gives , although still addressing peter . ❛ and don’t listen to him , ❜ he says . ❛ moony gets first dibs on food . ❜
“But I-” Peter had a whole trunk for this stuff, but apparently that was not the issue. Sirius’ words stopped him in his track - not that he had made much of an effort to jump up just yet. Distractions would be difficult in an empty castle, and his eyes turned a little sympathetically to Remus who probably didn’t feel like doing much of anything for most of the day. “I think that I’ve got...exploding snap cards? In there, yeah?” Same trunk, but now Sirius was likely to think he was grabbing another snack for James. “Or...yeah we can knick wizards chess set from the library, yeah?”
sitting down at her desk, she took stock of the paperwork already there. she was mostly caught up and was simply preparing for a meeting later in the day when someone approached and she smiled “did you need me for something?” she said kindly, ever the people pleaser and more than happy for a possible new assignment perhaps. but she wasn’t fond of her time being wasted either.
@beforedawnstarters
Wrong office. Why his dad thought bringing him to work was a brilliant idea he’ll never know. And he was anxious...waiting on a owl from James which he was sure his mother was going to find first if he didn’t get home soon. “Sorry, wrong office, yeah...I’m looking for...” Bloody shite, he really didn’t know what exactly his dad did for a living. “Its fine, yeah...I’ll get it....” Hopelessly lost in a maze, he was.
HIS PEOPLE - THIS IS THE BOYS - MARAUDERS - My interpretation of Peter is that he’s someone who is quite aspirational. Yet, his identity is completely formed by who is around him. He dreamt of being the hero in the story, but since he could never be that lead, he found the people who embodied that to him in his three friends. He seeks protection, but to also make proud those who embody his ideal personas. He admires them, tries his best to fit in, and offer his few skills when he knows they can be useful, if not vital. (He’s got a knack for cartography and calligraphy)
@jcmesptter James Potter
@hvwliing Remus Lupin
@aciiers Sirius Black
LET’S MAKE A DEAL - He isn’t into gambling per say but he will make quidditch bets with you and align with whoever has the most convincing argument for the outcome. These may be the few people who owe him money or vice versa. Or maybe they are the few regulars when it comes to quidditch bets.
open connection
THE ARTISTRY AND HEROISM - Peter is drawn to strong characters, ala Marauders. But Peter also has a side of him that he expresses through art and his love of great epic stories. This is someone who shares that. They may enjoy creative fantasy, drawing, anything sorta softboi activity. He doesn’t admire this person or try to mimic their behavior as he does with his other friends.
open connection
CRUSHES - Peter doesn’t get crushes unless he sees his friends like someone. I.e. Wow James likes a redhead…therefore I should like a redhead…James is dating a brunette therefore I should like a brunette?? This is really just meant to be something funny
@macmcry Mary Macdonald - She’s a ginger, just like Lily. For Peter, James embodies who he should be, by ‘liking’ someone of that same variety, he can be like him
@wecsleys Arthur Weasley - the perfect stand in for a chaotic blonde. Unfortunately, Peter’s sense of self limits his ability to stand in as an equally wild-hearted chaos demon as Sirius.
open connection and seeking others
FEAR ITSELF It doesn’t take much to wig him out. He likes his comfort and whoever takes that away from him is a truly terrifying being
open connection
SEEDS OF DOUBT - This could be multiple people who are extremely aware of Peter’s insecurities. They know he is likely aligned with the Order/Light, even if not officially. He’s a great entry point to that society. He won’t be betraying anyone yet, but he is the weakest link and that’s something to be noticed.
@bvrgins Kseniya Borgin - Peter is easily swayed. She recognizes that. It’s easy manipulation for now. There is time to continue this gaslighting, in ever so slow fashion. It’s a game for her probably.
Open Connection
TUTOR He usually gets help from da boys, but they all get so distracted. If there is any subject he wants to do better in, he’ll need a different tutor
@cfmeadcwes He’s almost angry that he can’t improve his grades as he’d like. She probably knows he’s smarter than he sounds.
THE MARAUDERS ╱ jcmesptter, aciiers, pettitail , @hvwliing
❛ 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 you’re headed ? ❜ sirius brings an arm over james’ chair , leaning in when he nabs the disregarded fruit , eyeing it and james like he’s seriously considering dropping it down his mate’s shirt for the audacity . ❛ might as well try and replenish our stock . we don’t have anything left laying around here , do we ?❜ he directs his question to peter , as if he were the resident hoarder — which . well .
His own breakfast was long gone, nerves getting to him about the plan. He hadn’t even sent an owl home until late last night to avoid...any potential repercussions. Peter chewed at his finger nail until the attention was directed to him. “Erm, what’s left....yeah.” Eyes darted to his trunk, since mum had sent him quite a bit for the ride home. A few sandwiches, wrapped sweets, biscuits. “We got stuff, yeah...I think I may have some chocolate left too”
