If Peter thought he should be in Ravenclaw before school began, he now knew that he was definitely wrong. In his second week of school, he was still having difficulties turning his match into a needle. Only yesterday, he got too excited when he saw a gleam of silver, and his match caught fire, causing Potter and Black to laugh mercilessly at him behind Professor McGonagall’s back.
In Potions, Professor Slughorn was fed up with his incapability to brew potions, and had declared him a “hopeless case,” when Peter’s swelling solution exploded over several near-by classmates, causing their bodies to swell up to ten times their size. “You’d do well to take a leaf out of Miss Evans’ or Mr. Snape’s book,” he had muttered, shaking his head.
Charms weren’t going much better. Though, he had, in fact, been able to perform the levitation charm, Wingardium Leviosa, correctly, he had pointed his wand at Professor Flitwick rather then his feather, causing the tiny professor to levitate high above his head before crashing to the floor.
The only classes that Peter was doing well in were History of Magic and Herbology. Which also were the two classes that the other first-years had the hardest time with. Peter couldn’t understand his classmates. Goblin Rebellions were much more fascinating then learning defensive spells, but maybe he had just found interest in the subject after listening to his father’s stories about medieval witch-hunting for the past eleven years. As far as Herbology was concerned, despite the fact that Professor Sprout annoyed Peter with the voice she spoke to him with, as if she was talking to a five year old, he found that tackling mad plants gave him pleasure and allowed him to release the anger he bottled up inside him every time that Potter and Black threw an insult his way.
Regardless, Peter spent all of his time in library, reviewing the day’s notes, and trying to improve his inept potion-making ability. He avoided Potter and Black, who had taken it upon themselves to take the mickey out of him every time he made a mistake in class. Just the other day, when Peter had tried to fix his needle in Transfiguration, he accidently confused the Solvo Charm with Stupefy, which resulted in Professor McGonagall being stunned to the head, and twenty points being taken from Gryffindor for his incapability to control his magic.
Peter had once or twice been tempted to point out their own potion-making skills were well below the standard set by Severus and Lily. But whenever they made a mistake, the pair of them would turn it into some kind of joke, causing several other Gryffindor girls around them to laugh.
One night, as Peter was walking towards the common room, two loud voices rang through the corridor, causing him to slip behind a statue. Knowing the voices of Potter and Black, he made sure to stay out of sight. He didn’t want to give them another excuse to make fun of him.
“So, did you hear that Taylor is looking for two new Chasers?”
“Taylor…the Gryffindor Quidditch captain?” asked Sirius.
“Yeah, and he’s looking for new players this year. What do you say, Sirius?” questioned James.
“What do I say? I don’t know. What do I say?” Sirius laughed.
“I mean, do you want to try out for the team, or what?”
Sirius stopped laughing. “You don’t think that they would take two first-years, would they?”
“Why not? I mean, I’m a fair flyer and growing up in an old wizarding family like yours, you must have played some Quidditch.”
Peter saw Sirius frown at the mention of his family. The first day of classes, Peter had arrived for breakfast to watch a Howler from Mrs. Black blow up in Sirius face, yelling things about disgracing the family name, and ruining the family pride. From what Peter could tell, Sirius was now on the wrong side of his family and he didn’t seem to care.
“Well, my mum never thought that a Quidditch player was a very respectable career path, and that we should uphold some of the finer traditions of Wizarding culture. It was my dad who would sneak a couple of brooms into the house when she wasn’t home, and we’d head over to a field and play. I was always Beater, so I don’t know how well I would do as Chaser…”
“Oh, come off it! You’ll be great, Sirius,” said James encouragingly. Sirius smiled, and they continued up the hall towards the common room.
When Peter was sure that the coast was clear, he emerged from his hiding place and continued up the corridor.
You know, I might just try out for the Quidditch team myself, thought Peter. He had never played, but his dad had taken him to the Quidditch World Cup when he was younger, and he had thoroughly enjoyed it. I wonder how good Potter really is?
When he arrived in the common room, Peter took a seat in his favorite chair before noticing Quidditch Throughout the Ages lying on a table near him. He went over and picked it up. If he was going to try out for the Quidditch team, he should probably know as much as he could.
The only significant change in Chasing came about in 1884, one year after the substitution of goal hoops for goal baskets. A new rule was introduced which stated that only the Chaser carrying the Quaffle could enter the scoring area. If more than Chaser entered, the goal would be disallowed. The rule was designed to outlaw “stooging” (see “Fouls” below), a move by which two Chasers would enter the scoring area and ram the Keeper aside, leaving a goal hoop clear for a third Chaser. Reaction to this new rule was reported in the Daily Prophet of the time.
Peter had just begun to read the clipping about “stooging” when he heard a voice behind him.
“That’s a brilliant book you’re reading there, Pettigrew,” came James Potter’s voice.
“Cracking book,” agreed the voice of Sirius Black.
“It’s a shame it belongs to me,” James said.
“What were you doing reading that book anyways?” asked Sirius. “Not planning to try out for the team are you?”
“So what if I am? There’s no rule saying I can’t!” exclaimed Peter, angrily.
“Sorry,” said James, shaking his head. “We were only trying to warn you. Quidditch is a man’s game. Don’t want you getting hurt. Your mummy just might have herself a stroke if anything happened to you.”
Peter’s fists clutched in anger. His face began to turn purple and his eyes narrowed into little slits.
“Uh oh,” said Sirius. “Looks like little Peter is going to have a big tantrum. We best get out of here.” He laughed as he stepped backwards.
“Oh, and I’ll take my book back, thanks,” said James, laughing as the two of them headed up the stairs.
~*~
The sky was clear and blue, yet the air was bitter. Potter and Black were standing around casually, remarking on plays.
”Did you see that? Amazing!”
“What did he even bother showing up for?”
Peter stood off to the side, not wanting to give them any more reasons to make fun of him.
“First-years?” came the captain’s voice. “You do know that a first-year hasn’t made the Quidditch team in a good fifty years, right?” said Brandon Taylor, the sixth-year Captain.
Potter stepped forward. “Yes, but myself and Sirius, here, think that we might be able to break that tradition.”
Taylor grinned.
“Alright, then! Pettigrew, Potter, Quirk, you’re up. Show us what you’ve got!” Potter mounted his broom looking smug.
“All right, Pettigrew? Now don’t feel bad when I’m lapping you. You can just pretend that you’re in first because there will be nobody around you!”
“Why don’t you leave him alone,” said Quirk.
James’ eyes narrowed. “Who are you?” he asked.
“Trevor Quirk,” said the boy. He had brown hair, and was a good foot taller than Potter.
“Yeah, well, Quirk, you know that Comet of yours is rubbish. My father bought me the latest model this year, and it outstrips yours by a good bit.”
Quirk shrugged. “Well, seeing as first-years aren’t allowed their own brooms, you best have some talent of your own, because my Comet can outstrip a school broom any day.”
This shut Potter up, and Peter laughed before he mounted his broom, and pushed off of the ground excitedly.
“On my whistle then, I want you to race around the pitch. I will be timing you. After that, we’ll see how well you shoot,” called the captain.
When the whistle blew, James shot up the pitch with Peter trailing behind him. Wow, this isn’t so hard, thought Peter as he trailed closely behind Potter. Just then, though, as he tried to turn, he felt himself loosing his grip. He tried to veer left, and clipped Potter in the shoulder, causing them both to tumble off the broom.
He felt himself falling…everything around him was a blur before a hard and painful thud. Everything went black.
~*~
When he opened his eyes, Peter saw a woman busying herself over him, and realized he was in a bed.
“Where am I?” groaned Peter, as he looked around.
“You are in the Hospital Wing,” said the woman’s voice. Peter looked up to see the face he knew as Madam Pomfrey looking at him.
“What happened?” Peter heard James’ voice from the bed beside him.
“Young Mr. Pettigrew here clipped you as you were racing around the Quidditch Pitch on those preposterous brooms. Or so young Mr. Black tells me.”
Peter looked around to see Sirius standing over by James bed. He was glaring at Peter.
“Yes, it is lucky that you were not high off the ground or you could have been seriously injured. Why Dumbledore allows such nonsense sports to continue is beyond me,” she said as she spooned some awful tasting liquid into Peter’s mouth.
“I’ll be back to check on you both later. Mr. Black, you have ten minutes,” she said as she left the room.
James groaned.
“Good job, Pettigrew,” said Sirius, in a menacing tone.
“How is this my fault?” asked Peter.
“You just screwed James’ chances to make the Quidditch team. And he would have made it too!”
“Why’d you have to show up? It’s not like you had any chance. You couldn’t even stay on your broom,” James said, trying to keep his voice calm, though his eyes showed differently.
“I’m sorry,” Peter began to say, but was cut off.
“Sorry isn’t good enough, Pettigrew. It’s going to be a whole year until James can try-out again. If Madam Pomfrey wasn’t in the next room, I would hex you so hard, you wouldn’t sit down for a week,” Sirius said angrily before stomping out of the room.
The Fourth Marauder by ginnygirl16
Chapter Notes: I'm dreadfully sorry for the delay, but here it is! Thanks once again to Molly (OliveOil_Med)for beta-ing and doing a terrific job getting me to write at my full potential. If you notice, there is a quote taken from Quidditch Throughout the Ages somewhere in the middle of this chapter. Enjoy!
--ginnygirl16
Chapter Endnotes: Please tell me what you think. I should have the next chapter up very soon :)
--ginnygirl16