Ravens and Asphodels | Harry Potter Marauders Era (Regulus Black x OFC)

That October Night One Shot (Peter's POV)

31 October 1981

Peter wondered what led him here, sat as a rat on top of a gravestone in Godric's Hallow staring at the cottage where James, Lily, and Harry were staying, waiting for the Dark Lord to show up.

He wondered what had pushed him to do it.

Peter remembered first joining the Death Eaters at the end of his sixth year, months after Sirius and Remus had gotten together, and shortly after Lily finally said yes the James.

It wasn't like Peter was ever excluded by James, Sirius, and Remus, even after they started dating, so it wasn't that Peter joined the Death Eaters because he felt like an outsider. He knew he was just as much a Marauder as the other three.

Peter thought back to when he, James, and Remus had comforted Sirius in their first year after Sirius learned that what his mother was doing to him and Regulus wasn't normal. Peter thought about starting animagius training with Sirius and James for Remus in their third year and accomplishing their forms in fifth-year. He remembered seven years' worth of pranks and developing the Marauders Map. He remembered when Diana first came to Hogwarts, and they spent days outside with her playing American football. He remembered the various engagements, marriages, and births that followed their graduation from Hogwarts.

Peter remembered watching Marley bleed out next to Dorcas's corpse. It was hard to forget about how he had used her blood to write a slur next to the photograph taken at Marley's graduation of their entire firmed group. That was tough for Peter, but the Dark Lord had told him to do it, so he followed the orders given to him.

Peter always had his best friends' love and companionship, but that wasn't enough for him.

James, Sirius, and Remus would never understand Peter.

Peter was just as much a Gryffindor as the rest of them, but he also knew how to protect himself, and that was something James, Remus, and Sirius didn't know how to do.

The reason Peter had joined the Death Eaters was the exact reason why he initially became friends with the other Marauders.

Peter had lived his life finding people with more power and prestige than him and attaching himself to them. It was a way to make sure he was always safe and taken care of. So in sixth year, Peter realized James and Sirius wouldn't be able to help him after graduation, they would be going off to live their own lives, and they wouldn't adequately protect Peter anymore. So they graduated, and Peter found a more powerful protector since James and Sirius didn't make the cut.

As Peter watched through his rat forms eyes as the Dark Lord arrived in Godric's Hollow, he felt sorry for James, Lily, and Harry, but in the end, it was their fault for choosing the wrong side.

James should have realized that by marrying Lily and then joining the Order and fighting the Dark Lord, he put Harry at risk. It was James's fault, not Peter's. So Peter watched with a clear conscience as the Dark Lord approached the cottage.

━━━━━━━━┓ ✠ ┏━━━━━━━━

Peter watched, cloaked in darkness in his animagus form, as the roof of James and Lily's cottage was partially blown off.

For a moment, all Peter could do was sit there shell-shocked and watch as a screaming mass of what looked to be some black smoke fled the house from where there was now a gaping hole in the roof.

Ever the Gryffindor Peter gathered up his courage and moved to the still-open front door of the home.

In his rat form, Peter hurried past James's body without looking at it, rushing towards where he heard the sounds of a child screaming.

Upon arriving at the entrance of what he knew to be the nursery on the second floor, Peter shifted back to his human form and stared mouth agape as he looked at the very much alive screaming child in the crib among the two prone bodies of Lily Evans Potter and the Dark Lord.

Peter moved to look over the body of the Dark Lord, staring at the glassy red dead eyes of the man who offered Peter the world but was now nothing more than a cooling sack of meat. Peter tsked as his mind raced to adjust his plan for after this night. He straightened himself after a few moments having the outline of what he was going to do next planned out and grabbing his master's wand, just in case.

Peter couldn't even begin to wrap his head around what happened here, but he figured it had something to do with the screaming kid in the crib, with blood running down his face and the black screaming mass of smoke Peter saw fleeing the house moments earlier.

Peter sneered at the child, not even bothering to move closer to inspect the child's wound before turning on his heel and walking back downstairs, careful not to touch anything before stepping over James's body.

Peter paused for a moment staring down at James's wide fear-filled dead eyes, and for a moment observed the blood pooling around James's head like a halo which Peter assumed to be coming from where James must have hit his head on the stairs after he was hit with the curse and killed.

James gazed back at Peter as the living man cocked his head at the body before sighing, shaking his head. "No hard feelings, Prongs, you simply chose the wrong side, old friend." Peters's lip curled into a half-smile. "Ah, it is what it is, I suppose now if you'll excuse me, I have a problem to take care of, so many places to be and things to do." Peter chuckled darkly, tipping his hat in goodbye to the corpse and leaving the house to the soundtrack of toddlers' screams, taking his time to make sure his trail was just traceable enough.

Sure enough, only a couple of hours later, a now nine-fingered Peter stood in the middle of an alley in Muggle London as a familiar, albeit more manic than usual, a voice rang out behind him "PETER."

Peter smiled to himself, patting his coat pocket where his tenth finger now lay and slipping his wand into his palm before turning to face Sirius

"Lily and James, how could you betray them? They're dead because of you!" Peter shouted back at Sirius, taking time to make his voice sound hoarse with emotion and weepy.

Peter reveled in the horrified and confused look on Sirius's face. 'Not so pretentious now, huh, Black?' He thought before casting the Blasting Curse he had prepared for just this moment. Just as the blast hit, Peter changed into his animus form and disappearing into the London sewer system as the explosion coated the Muggle alley in death and destruction.

Peter paused in the sewer for a moment to allow the ringing in his ears to recede. Once the ringing stopped, Peters's ears twitched as the sound of Sirius's manic laughter mixed with sobbing drifted to him.

If rats could smile, Peter would be beaming as he began to move away from the scene of the crime and his perfect scapegoat.

That's it he won.