The sun was still low in the sky on an early summer morning. The morning air was warm as Harry Potter slipped from his bedroom. Cautiously tip toeing down the staircase, to avoid waking his wife and five young children, Harry made his way to the kitchen to perform his usual goings-on.

Five minutes later, with a steaming mug of coffee in one hand, Harry opened the kitchen window to let in the newly arrived Daily Prophet owl. The little creature desisted his tapping against the glass and hopped onto the inside ledge of the window, holding out his skinny leg, affixed with a small, drawstring collection pouch. Harry dropped a few coins into the bag as the owl deposited the paper onto the table nearby. With a hoot, he spread his wings and took off through the open window.

Harry sank into a chair, sipping his coffee as he unrolled the morning’s Daily Prophet. The cover story, about corruption within the higher-ups of the Nimbus Racing Broom Company, barely caught his interest as he skimmed the story, reaching the bottom of the text box, and the italicized line continued on page 3. He lazily turned the page, letting his eyes briefly take in page 3 until he located the end of the first article.

Before he’d read a full sentence, another headline on the page caught his eye. Turning his attention to the headline, he read:

The Rat’s Tale 8.11.2012
The Story of Peter Pettigrew

Earlier this week, I took a trip to one of the most dismal places known to wizard kind, Azkaban prison, to find out the story behind Peter Pettigrew, the man responsible for the deaths of Lily and James Potter so many years ago. One of the most heavily guarded prisoners, Pettigrew was difficult to get an interview with. Currently serving time for aiding in the Potters’ murders, as well as many activities including and centered around the resurrection of Lord Voldemort 18 years ago, he has been disallowed any human contact for over 14 years. Once a short, portly man with blonde hair, watery blue eyes and a pinched, nervous expression, Pettigrew has been transformed by his years in prison, now much thinner, with matted greasy gray hair, and dull, almost clouded eyes that no longer dart about as though in search of an escape route. After observing Pettigrew’s change for a moment, I began our interview.

SD: So, Mr. Pettigrew, your childhood nickname, Wormtail, has a bit to do with how this long tale began. How did you acquire such a nickname?
PP: Back in my fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, two friends and I became Animagi. I adopted this nickname when we and another friend formed the Marauders, four fifteen-year-old troublemakers. Before then, we were just four miscreant friends who ran amok about the school, causing mayhem far and wide.
SD: Why is it that your name does not appear on the Registrar?
PP: My friends and I were illegal-unregistered-Animagi. The guards here know, of course. That’s why the doors aren’t bars, but steel plates and the windows are far up.
SD: What animal do you turn into?
PP: A rat.
SD: And the other Marauders?
PP: Sirius Black could transform into a dog, and went by Padfoot. James Potter was Prongs, a stag. Of course Remus Lupin was a werewolf. We called him Moony. He was the reason we learned to be Animagi. The process took close to two years.
SD: It sounds as though you four were close and trusting early in your friendship.
PP: Very much. But soon after, I broke that trust.
SD: Please, tell me about that.
PP: In 1977, we all joined the Order of the Phoenix, every one of us, including Prongs’ new wife, Lily. By the following year, I’d fallen to the Dark Lord. Under his reign, I felt more self-empowered, though I was really very co-dependant. I was branded a Death Eater. From 1978 through Halloween of 1981, I passed information to the dark Lord from inside the Order.
SD: That’s horrible.
PP: I know, but my story only gets worse.
SD: Then, please, continue.
PP: In August of 1981, prongs and Lily had escaped a third attack launched by the Dark Lord, and fled with their one-year-old son, Harry Potter. A week later, the Longbottoms, two other members of the Order, had escaped a third attack by the Dark Lord as well. By September, both families, including the Longbottoms’ one-year-old son, had gone into hiding. Prongs had only allowed his and Lily’s families, Albus Dumbledore, Moony, Padfoot, and me know where they’d been hiding. Padfoot had been their Secret Keeper. I passed on the information two weeks before Halloween, once I’d gotten as much information as possible. Dumbledore became aware of the fact that the Dark Lord knew the general whereabouts of the Potters three days before Halloween. He told Prongs, and Padfoot and Prongs secretly agreed to switch Secret Keepers, knowing someone close to the Potters had been sneaking information to the Dark Lord. Moony may have been their first choice, but there was a full moon that night, and besides, they were suspicious of him being the leak. After all, who was I to be suspect? Small, not very powerful, and easily overlooked. I was very bitter of their opinions of me. That was partially what made my betrayal so much easier. So they chose me as their Secret Keeper, and I was thrilled. The night before Halloween, Padfoot put me into hiding. By Halloween morning, my agenda as a Death Eater became first priority.
SD: Oh my! What did you do next?
PP: I left the little cabin I’d been hiding in, and I Apparated to a set meeting point to give the Dark Lord James and Lily’s location.
SD: So then You-Know-Who went to Godric’s Hollow to kill the Potter’s? Why were they such a prime target?
PP: You see, in January of the same year, the Dark Lord had been informed of a prophecy. It said a boy would be born at the end of July to parents who had escaped him three times. By the end of August, 1981, our sources had found two families fitting the profile.
SD: The Potters and the Longbottoms.
PP: Precisely. I handed James, Lily, and Harry Potter over to the Dark Lord on a silver platter.
SD: And you let another friend take the fall.
PP: Padfoot had tracked me down. I believe his sneak brother, Regulus, had ratted me out to him. Maybe he was just smarter than I took him for. I had no choice but to frame him. Otherwise, he would have really killed me. Faking my own death was much harder than I’d thought it would be.
SD: When everyone thought you were dead, what were you doing? Where did you go?
PP: For twelve years, I stayed with a wizard family, disguised as a rat. They’d bought me at a shop I’d been picked up at. I was discount price because of my scraggly fur and missing finger. Their family was poor, but kept me comfortably. They never questioned my longevity. At first I was the pet of an older boy, but then I was given to the youngest boy, Ron Weasley. Imagine my surprise when the boy befriended Harry Potter himself. But Padfoot and Moony showed up at Hogwarts in the boys’ third year, and I was forced to run. My disguise was exposed to the boys and one girl before I could make my escape. During the summer of 1994, I fled to Albania.
SD: Why Albania?
PP: That was the last place the Dark Lord was rumored to be. My fellow rats told me of a deep part of the woods, where creatures would die mysteriously.
SD: What happened next?
PP: After finding the Dark Lord, I transformed into a human and stopped at an inn to find food. To my misfortune, I ran into Bertha Jorkins. I persuaded her to take a walk into the woods and brought her to the Dark Lord. He tortured her for information, then killed her when she was no longer useful to him. A month later, we were back in England. By the following year, the Dark Lord had successfully resurrected. Until my capture years later, I was commanded to assist higher-ranking Death Eaters. I was captured along with Fenrir Greyback, by Moony. Greyback, actually is next door, you know. The guards had to reinforce his entire cell to capacitate his strength during [werewolf] transformations. He refuses Wolfsbane.
SD: Is there anything else you’d like to share with the readers?
PP: Actually, there is. Being locked in Azkaban for 14 years has given me plenty of time to think back on all I’ve done in my despicable and miserable life. I realize how selfish I’d been in the past, always gravitating toward anyone exemplifying great amounts of power. That trait in me made me the traitor I’d become, and gave me a one-way ticket here, which I deserve. I say this, not to earn pity from you or anyone, but to tell you that there could be someone out there just like me, working for an evil overlord, bent on world domination, prepared to sell out those who care for him or her most. I wish to tell them now that they shouldn’t, it won’t do them any good and it will be the worst mistake they ever make. That’s all I have to say for now.
SD: Well, I must admit, that was a very…insightful story, Mr. Pettigrew.

I departed from his cell, and, as I glanced around and into the other cells, I saw Death Eaters and others facing time for various crimes ranging from theft or breaking and entering to murder. It made me wonder how many lives had been affected by Pettigrew, Voldemort, another Death Eater, or any dark witch or wizard. My only comforting thought was that those I saw before me were out of society, at least for the time being.

~Stephanie Draconis
Association of Correspondents,
Collaborators, and International
Orators (ACCIO)

Harry closed the paper, thinking hard on what he’d just read. After a few minutes of losing himself in thought, a voice called out to him.

“Daddy?”

Looking round, he spotted his six-year-old daughter, Jessica. She walked over to him and held out her arms. Placing the newspaper on the table, Harry lifted her and placed her in his lap. “Yes, my little princess?” he asked her.

“What were you reading?” she inquired sweetly, pointing to the paper.

“Well, sweetheart, daddy was reading an article about someone he met a long time ago,” he replied, picking his words carefully. “Why don’t you run upstairs and wake up your brothers and sister so we can surprise mommy with breakfast in bed to start off her birthday?”

With that he helped the little girl back to the floor and watched her dash off before standing and pulling out a few frying pans and skillets to start breakfast with.

~*~

Authors' Notes:
Dracoslovebunny: Hey all. Hope you all liked the story. I felt, when reading lily_writes's first draft, that this was an excellent story for getting a little window into the mind of Pettigrew, and all that. Enjoy!

lily_writes: I never imagined that I would ever come up with a story going into Pettigrew's life before and after becoming a Death Eater. This really took hold of my mind and pencil as I thought of a suitable interview. My Beta, Dracoslovebunny was so helpful on this story, so we decided to co-author it. I really hope you all like it as much as we did.