The Pettigrew Perspective

Chapter 2. The first train ride

"So what are your last names?" Asks James, throwing the tin of a chocolate frog from one hand to another, lying his legs over Sirius's lap, who was slanted and leaning again the wall.

"Lupin" responds Remus who hadn't looked up from his book in the last hour while still remaining active in all the conversations and questioning of each other.

"Pettigrew, which you already knew" Peter says, rushing the last bit. He was very uncomfortable in his current position and was questioning how everyone was able to be so comfortable. Peter had already adjusted himself so many times that he was scared if he did it one more time then Remus and Sirius would think there's something wrong with him.

"I'm Potter" James says slightly lazily. He stops throwing the tin around momentarily and looks up at Sirius with an expectant look. Sirius catches it and appears to go very red.

"I- uh... I'm Black" he mumbles a bit but if you think that made anyone not hear him properly you have another thing coming. James swings his feet off his lap and sits up properly. Peter has his mouth hanging open. Remus finally looked up and rests his book on his lap.

"Oh," says James finally.

"If you want me to leave, I-I totally understand, I can go and hang out with..." Sirius rambles off and starts standing up.

"Hey! No! You aren't going anywhere. We all thought you were cool before we learned that and besides what does a name have to do with anything?" James says, grabbing Sirius's wrist and yanking it down, forcing him to sit back down.

James throws his legs over Sirius's lap again but something had shifted now. James wasn't throwing the tin around anymore. Sirius was sitting less slacked and more stiff. Remus was noticeably looking up from his book a lot more now even if nobody says anything. Peter was shifting around a lot more, trying to find at least a semi-comfortable spot but was still unable to do so.

Peter couldn't tell how long they sat in silence. Might've been seconds, could've been hours before he decided to speak up. "What you reading, Remus?" He asks.

Everyone almost jumps by the sudden voice. "Oh it's Hogwarts: a history" he says. Everyone looks at him with wide eyes telling him to talk more about anything. "It's really fascinating. My dad got it for me for my birthday last year, right after I received my Hogwarts letter," he says looking up at everyone. You could hear a pin drop. Everyone definitely hears Remus sighs when he realizes he will have to talk about this for a while.

"My dad told me that there is a very impressive library at Hogwarts. I can't wait to check it out. He said that there's something for everyone. There's enchanted magazines on different recipes, famous wizards witches, stuff like that. There's a collection of magic children books, even. I thought he was joking but he was actually serious. And there's books about Quidditch. The most popular being Quidditch: through the ages, of course and then there is some of the thickest books known to wizard kind that are bigger than my head. And then there's the restricted section where it goes into some deeper spells and potions. You need a written slip by a professor to get into there," he says. Not being able to think of anything else to say about the Hogwarts library. Peter could tell everyone wanted Remus to say more but nobody could think of what to ask to make him say more stuff. Until Sirius speaks up for the first time in an hour or so.

"Do you get along with your dad then?" He asks.

"He's alright, I s'posse," answers Remus, before remembering to say more things. "Last week he took me camping. Just the two of us. It was a goodbye trip before I had to leave. For three night I had to sleep in a muggle tent," Remus chuckled at the memory.

"Aren't those very small and have practically no space in them?" Asked James, who (to Peters knowledge) had never had much teaching in muggle things.

"Yeah those are the ones. Don't have any heating, one room. I wouldn't even call it a room. It was like sleeping inside a triangle," Remus explained, holding his book up to try and show what the tent was.

Before long everyone continued talking and joking. There was still a hint of awkwardness but everyone decided to ignore it and force it out. That is until Sirius decides to speak up again.

"Lads, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything or I should've told you a while before that. I just really dislike my family and I don't want anything to do with them. They are horrible pure bloods that keep marrying each other," he attempts a joke at the end with a smile that doesn't meet his light blue eyes.

"Again dude, it's fine, you're cool and we don't care about your na-" James starts again before getting cut off.

"No, don't just say everything is fine. I know it's not. It's like... what if Peter said he was a vampire we would still be fine with him but we would all be secretly be terrified that he is gonna suck our blood until we're dry. It's like you guys are going to be terrified that I'm going to turn out to be a scary, evil, pureblood like the rest of my family," Sirius exclaims, his voice cracking at the end with his face turning from very pale to pink.

"Ok, fine then. Let's talk about this!" James Exclaims. "Remus, what are your honest thoughts on Sirius being apart of the Noble and most ancient house of Black?" He says with a singsong voice in the last part.

"Well, I'm not sure I'm one who can really say anything about judging someone into what they are forced into," chuckles Remus only to be met with confused looks.
"I-um and none of us are? The stuff that my dad has said about the Blacks aren't exactly the type of things I see reflected on to Sirius so why judge him for it? I say we have a night where we save food from dinner, bring it to one of our dorms, and just bully his family, him not included. I mean there's probably a book in the library about them!" Remus says. For someone who doesn't seem rushed to speak, he sure does say a lot when he has the chance.

"Yeah that would be fun" agrees Peter.

By now there was no tension and Sirius was giving everyone the inside scoop on his family and talking about who is tolerable, who he likes and who he wishes would be swiped off the face of the earth (which was most of them). He really likes his cousin Adromeda and one of his uncles. He tolerates another one of his cousins, Narcissa and his little brother, Regulus at times and everyone else is practically dead to him.

When they finally pulled up to Hogwarts the four boys had learned more about each other than most friends do in a year. While they were all walking with the groundskeeper, they all had they same thought in their head that they are going to rule Hogwarts together and be inseparable.