The Losing One || Sirius Black

32. Meteor Wedding

Peter Pettigrew

Monday, 24th July 1972.

The Pettigrew Whales Residence

More than three weeks had passed since Peter last saw his friends. The Marauders communicated regularly via letters, but it just wasn't the same as being together in person. Granted, he did have William which helped a lot. They swam at the sea, played quidditch, took photos... he even managed to convince the boy to paint with him. It was really a wonderful three weeks, but Peter still missed his friends.

He also started joining his dad at work more regularly which was amazing. Peter loved every little thing portrait painters did, it was like watching someone built something magnificent from nothing. All in all, it was very inspiring.

Edwin started to give him some small exercises. For example, while at work, he would assign Peter to mix some specific color, then he would examine it and give positive and negative suggestions. It was quite interesting to get to know the art of painting in more professional setting. Up until this point, Peter only painted for fun so it wasn't a big deal if he messed something up, but now, everything had to be perfect.

No matter how amazing these experiences were, they were also very stressful. Edwin was a great dad, but ever since Peter agreed to continue the family portrait-making business, he became way stricter and demanding. It was like he had split personality. In one moment, he would be this great and amazing dad, but if the next moment had anything to do with portraits, he became the angry and frustrated mentor. It was all really confusing to Peter, but he tried to get the best out of it.

In just these three weeks, they have visited four families and finished two full portraits. Peter went to Longbottom's, Fortescue's, Podmore's and even to Patil's which resulted in him seeing Anthony, the Gryffindor house prefect and Quidditch captain. It was really fun for him to talk to all of those people seeing as they were also Hogwarts students.

He remembered Frank Longbottom from the Gryffindor Quidditch team, the boy played as a keeper. They had a lovely chat about the sport and Frank even asked Peter if he will be trying out for the team because they needed new Chasers and Beater. He politely declined since he didn't have time for homework let alone Quidditch practices. Frank warned him that Anthony will try to persuade him to give it a go seeing as the captain wanted to see as many students as possible at tryouts because then the chances of getting the best ones will be higher.

Then, when Edwin started the portrait of Alice, father and son started visiting Fortescue's Residence. They even got the tour of Florean Fortescue's ice-cream making station which was brilliant. Alice gave Peter some useful advices for the elective subjects he will have to choose in third year. He gathered that Divination, Care of Magical Creatures and Muggle Studies were the easy choice while Arithmancy and Study of Ancient Runes were mostly taken by more dedicated students. Guess I have three subjects to choose from instead of five, he thought to himself.

The Podmore Estate was their next destination. William joined them during every visit because Sturgis was his best friend. The two met after their Sorting Ceremony at the Ravenclaw table and they had been best friends ever since. For Mr. Pettigrew this was by far the hardest job because Sturgis couldn't keep still due to William's jokes, but Peter loved it. It gave him similar feeling he got every time the Marauders were together. The special feeling of friendship.

Lastly, they went to Patil Manor. The moment that Anthony saw Peter, big smile spread across his face. Frank was right, he did ask Peter to try for the Quidditch team which he, again, declined. There was a moment of panic when Anthony started to mention one of the pranks Peter took apart in, but thanks to the boy's observant personality, he saw Peter's wide eyes and changed the topic.