Harry Potter and the Prince of Slytherin

Chapter 13: Back to School (pt 2)

14 August 1993
9:00 p.m.
Inside the Marauder's Map

"Hullo there, Harry Potter!" exclaimed a young portly fellow in Gryffindor robes and bearing an unfortunate mullet. "Peter Pettigrew's the name! And I'm so looking forward to us being the best of friends."

Harry swallowed and then put on his best fake smile.

"Hello ... Uncle Pete," Harry said with as much cheerfulness as he could muster. Pettigrew grinned broadly.

"Uncle Pete!" he exclaimed. "I like that. I'm glad to see that I'm still a part of James's life so many years after graduation."

"Well of course you are," Harry replied easily. "Though I'm a bit surprised to see just you here and not the other three."

"Yeah, about that." Peter rubbed the back of his neck in what seemed to be genuine embarrassment. To Harry's surprise, he sensed none of the oily manipulative nature that the real Pettigrew radiated. This psychic impression of the younger Pettigrew actually seemed bashful and sincere, so far at least.

"We talked it over," he continued. "Well, for what passes for 'talking things over' when you're copies of four people stuck in a Map. But one of those copies is based on Remus Lupin who is the brains behind this operation, and he is of the opinion that it's too dangerous for all four of us to interact with you like this at the same time. Says it might overload the map's "mnemonic architecture," whatever the heck that means. You see the Map updates us with new memories every time one of the Real Us activates or deactivates it. James was the last person to do so before it was confiscated sometime after Halloween of our Sixth Year. Sirius was the one before him and then Remus. My personality hasn't been updated since early in our Fifth Year, so interacting with me will require slightly less magic than the others and might be a bit safer."

"Okay," Harry said uncertainly. "I don't understand that very well, but if that's what ... Uncle Remus said, I'll go along with it."

Peter smirked but not maliciously. "Just between us, there's another reason they sent me in first."

"Oh?"

"Yeah," he said with a chuckle. "Of the four of us, apparently I'm the only one without any dark, dirty secrets that I'm afraid to share."

Despite himself, Harry did a double-take. "Is that a fact?"

Peter nodded. "James is your dad. Sirius is your godfather. Neither one of them knows what sort of men they'll grow up to be in the future, and they're very worried that their grown-up selves would be embarrassed by how their Map personalities portray them. As for Remus, well, I don't know if you know, but he has ... a situation. And he's worried that you don't know about his ... situation and that finding out from us might embarrass his older self. Or possibly cause something worse than embarrassment." He paused. "So do you? Know about his ... you know?"

"I know he has an undisclosed medical condition. That's it really."

"Fair enough. I'll let the others know not to discuss that with you until after your Dad or one of us out in the real world has told you the truth."

Harry nodded. "I have to say ... Uncle Pete. You're ... not what I was expecting."

"Oh? How so?" Then, Pettigrew started. "Wait! Don't answer that! Remus also said that as much as possible you should avoid telling us anything about what happens after our last resets. He thought it might be damaging. Again, better safe than sorry."

"Noted."

Peter looked at him quizzically. "No offense, sport, but you seem ... sharper than James. Lily's influence?"