Afterlife

Pettigrew's Punishment

Idea credit to: @user65795690 (from literally ages ago)

It was finally time. They all took a deep breath. Was it bad that Sirius was grinning? Probably, considering it was one of their supposed best friends who had just died.

Oh, but how long had James and Lily been looking forward to this?

"I still can't believe you didn't kill him when you had the chance, Padfoot," James muttered as they prepared themselves mentally.

"First impressions, Prongs. I didn't want to get straight back into Azkaban. Besides," Sirius looked around a few times to check the people in ear-shot, then nodded, "I sort of wanted to make a good impression on Remus. Before he revealed his admiration for Tonks and broke my heart."

"Sirius...." James never really knew what to do when Sirius brought up him and Remus. It was awkward - Sirius claimed he was over it but he wasn't - and whenever Sirius brought it up, it always made the atmosphere tense up.

"Sorry," Sirius sighed. "Is it bad that I sort of want him to die so he can be here with us?"

"Yes," James nodded. "That is bad. He has a wife and son, be patient."

"You know fully well I'm not a patient person."

"Well, Padfoot, on the bright side you now finally get to beat up the scum!"

"Indeed we do!" Sirius rubbed his hands together. "How are we going to execute this then?"

Lily, of course, was there with them. There was no way the proud mother who had been ripped away from her child was going to let the man who'd been at fault get away with this.

"Hello, Peter!" James began when he came staggering through. The rest of the zone had been cleared like it was a bomb site because absolutely no-one was going to underestimate the powers of the two Marauders and, more influentially, the angry mother.

But so what if no one was here to see it? Everyone was going to hear about it, anyways.

"J-James," Wormtail stuttered. Clearly he had been hoping that Prongs and his collection of buddies were going to wait around a little longer before finding him.

"Wormtail," Sirius growled, "You got away the first time but don't even try this time, there's no Harry Potter here to save you."

Peter was glancing around, looking to see if he could dart off somewhere.

"It's common courtesy to look someone in the eye when they talk to you," James commented. Peter's eyes were drawn back to the men facing him. Lily wasn't in sight yet, but anticipating the moment when she could appear.

"So...you thought rafting me out to pale-face was a good idea, did you? Thought that the baby you had held in you hands the day before would be fine to die?"

"I didn't mean it like that," Peter mumbled, "It was more about protection."

And now Sirius was irate - he marched closer to Peter's face and began to hiss and spit words at him. "We were brothers. Closer than brothers, and you go off and talk about protection? If it had been me, you know full well I easily would have died than give James up. You know that."

"Yes, but....well, I didn't want to die, okay?" Peter threw his hands up in surrender.

"YOU DIDN'T WANT TO DIE SO YOU KILLED ONE OF YOUR BEST FRIENDS, HIS WIFE AND ALSO HIS NEWBORN SON?" Lily screamed back.

"I DIDN'T KNOW HE WAS GOING TO KILL ALL OF YOU! I DIDN'T THINK HE WOULD KILL EITHER OF YOU, LILY, JAMES."

"SO YOU SACRIFICED OUR BABY SO YOU COULD LIVE?" James' eyes were ablaze with more fire than they had ever had. It was time.

This was a fight that was too easy to win with magic, so the two boys had tossed their wands aside. Pettigrew, at the end, looked the same as he had before, because the afterlife didn't allow harm to come to any of its occupants, which was a shame. But the fighting had been painful, even if there was nothing to show for it.

Lily had her turn too, a complex series of charms that eventually ended in Peter being tied up with ropes. Together, they all casted him out across the afterlife void.

Suffice to say, they never saw him again.